(TUSCON, Ariz.) — A housing assistance agency in one of the hottest regions in the country has found a sustainable way to provide relief from scorching temperatures.
Two shipping containers that used to sit on the U.S.-Mexico border have been repurposed into cooling stations for residents in Tucson, Arizona, who may not have access to air conditioning – especially homeless communities, ABC Tucson affiliate KGUN reported.
Dubbed ‘COOLtainers’ and located on northern Tucson’s so-called ‘Miracle Mile’ commercial corridor, the air-conditioned stations are solar-powered. One is equipped with cots for napping, while the other has tables and chairs, and also offers snacks and hygiene items, according to officials from Tucson Housing First Program, a city-run program that assists individuals and families facing homelessness.
“Having something like this would have been a game changer,” Erica Dallo, an employee with the Tucson Housing First Program who once was homeless herself, told KGUN. “…There is no relief when you’re out on the streets like that.”
Being able to provide such a critical service to those in need has led to a full-circle moment for Jeannette Garment, another Tucson Housing First Program employee who was formerly homeless, she told KGUN.
“I hope that people take advantage of it and that they can come down here and take a couple of hours off their feet,” she said. “Try to get some rest and see how better their life can be one day.”
The new cooling station joins six that the city already has in operation throughout the city, according to the City of Tucson.
Temperatures in Tucson over the next week are forecast to be in the triple digits, with lows in the 80s. Any prolonged exposure to that kind of heat could induce heat-related illness, especially for medically vulnerable populations, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Extreme heat affects disadvantaged communities disproportionately, research shows, due primarily to lack of access to air conditioning or funds to pay the increased utility bills.
Many in the Tucson area don’t have anywhere to go to escape the sweltering temperatures and intense sun, Dallo said. In triple-digit temperatures, cooling centers could be very helpful in preventing heat-illness and fatalities.
“We are aware that there’s a need, especially with this extreme heat we’re supposed to have today,” Allison Chappell, community services manager for housing operations at the Tucson Housing First Program, told KGUN.
The cooling centers are scheduled to operate through Aug. 31, but are not open on Sundays and Mondays due to lack of funding, according to the housing program.
(FRESNO, Calif.) — A 4-year-old boy was found safe after going missing overnight at a campground in California, authorities said.
Christian Ramirez’s family reported him missing Thursday shortly before 11 a.m. PT at the Rancheria Campground near Huntington Lake, according to the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office.
More than 50 sheriff’s deputies and volunteers joined in a search for the child that continued overnight. Christian was ultimately found around 8 a.m. PT Friday outside the campground, about a quarter-mile from where he went missing, by members of the Tulare County Search and Rescue Team, authorities said.
“He’s tired, he’s hungry, but he’s alive and he’s healthy,” Lt. Brandon Pursell with the Fresno County Sheriff’s Office told ABC Fresno affiliate KFSN. “This is overall just a great victory for the sheriff’s office, for the kid’s family and for our searchers that … spent all night last night out working tirelessly to find this boy.”
The search effort included helicopters, drones, dog teams, boats and a ground search through rough terrain, according to Pursell.
The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office released footage and photos of the child after he was found and reunited with his parents. He was shown wrapped in a coat and eating a sandwich upon his rescue in a wooded area.
Pursell told KFSN it was fortunate the boy was found unharmed, given the location where he went missing. Bears, snakes, waterways and “slip and fall hazards” posed potential dangers, he told the station. The child was also wearing only a T-shirt and shorts overnight in the cold, though he was cleared by medical staff to be released to his family and was in “decent spirits,” Pursell told the station.
“There’s a lot of things that could have gone really, really wrong with this one,” he told KFSN. “We got lucky, the family got lucky.”
Pursell told KFSN they were still working to determine exactly what happened but that it appears the child wandered off while the family was camping.
“We believe that it was just an unfortunate event,” he told the station, adding that no criminality is suspected.
Pursell reminded parents to be “extra diligent” this summer.
“Kids wander, and especially when you’re in wooded areas, near water, we want to remind parents, you have to stay incredibly diligent and watch your children at all times,” he told KFSN.
(LAS VEGAS) — A Clark County, Nevada, judge on Friday dismissed the charges filed by Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford against six so-called “alternate electors” related to their alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in favor of former President Donald Trump.
The move makes the Nevada case the first one among the five state-level 2020 fake elector cases to be dismissed.
Judge Mary Kay Holthus ruled during a hearing Friday that she is not convinced that Clark County is the appropriate jurisdiction for the case, given the allegedly fake elector documents were originally mailed from Douglas County and the so-called false signing ceremony took place in Carson City — both in western Nevada.
The defendants’ attorneys had argued that Carson City or Douglas County would be a more appropriate jurisdiction for the case.
“We disagree with the judge’s decision and will be appealing immediately,” a spokesperson for the Nevada attorney general’s office told ABC News.
According to the Nevada Independent, the attorney general is unable to re-file the case in Carson City or Douglas County because a three-year statute of limitations expired in December.
The six so-called “alternate electors” were indicted last December on charges of falsely portraying themselves as Nevada’s presidential electors after the last presidential election — each charged with felonies including offering a false instrument for filing, offering a forged instrument, and offering a false instrument titled “Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Nevada” to the state and federal governments.
Those charged were some of Nevada Republican Party’s top officials, as well as Trump’s key allies in the state, including Nevada Republican Party Chairman Michael McDonald, Nevada Republican Party National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid, Nevada Republican Party Vice Chairman Jim Hindle, Clark County Republican Party Chairman Jesse Law, and Republican operatives Shawn Meehan and Eileen Rice.
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
In Arizona, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, several Trump allies and several alleged fake electors pleaded not guilty in May for their alleged efforts to overturn that state’s 2020 election results.
In Michigan, Attorney General Dana Nessel charged 16 “alternate electors” last July for conspiracy to commit forgery, among other charges.
Three Trump associates allegedly tied to the former president’s efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election were also charged with forgery earlier this month in Wisconsin.
(NEW YORK) — Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, in a court filing Friday, opposed lifting the limited gag order on Donald Trump as the former president awaits sentencing in his criminal hush money case.
The limited gag order prevents Trump from targeting witnesses, jurors and others associated with the case.
Trump’s lawyers have argued that Trump’s “political opponents” — including President Joe Biden, Robert DeNiro, Michael Cohen, and Stormy Daniels — are using the gag order as a “sword” to attack the former president.
Trump last month was found guilty on 34 felony counts of falsifying business records related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.
With the trial over, Trump’s attorneys asked the judge overseeing the case, Juan Merchan, to lift the limited gag order as Trump awaits his sentencing on July 11, arguing that the court’s concerns no longer apply.
But Bragg’s office said the protections should remain in effect at least through sentencing.
“Defendant’s demand that this Court precipitously end these protections, even before the sentencing hearing on July 11, is overstated and largely unfounded,” prosecutors said in Friday’s filing.
Prosecutors argued that the gag order was necessary to protect staff and lawyers with the Manhattan district attorney’s office from Trump’s “dangerous attacks.”
According to an affidavit filed Friday, the New York Police Department’s Threat Assessment and Protection Unit identified 61 actionable threats against Bragg, his family and staff in 2024, including 56 threats during the last three months when the trial was active. Threats included bomb threats, doxing, and online threats, such as messages including “Your life is done” and “we will kill you all.”
“The Court’s orders as to prosecutors, court staff, and their families continue to strike the appropriate balance under the Constitution to mitigate the threat to the judicial process posed by defendant’s dangerous attacks,” the DA’s filing argued.
Prosecutors also accused defense attorneys for including “a number of categorically false accusations” in their recent filings, including suggesting that Bragg was coordinating with a “cast of associates” to limit Trump’s speech ahead of this month’s upcoming presidential debate.
“Defendant offers no factual basis for this assertion, and there is none: the claim is a lie,” the filing said. “These knowing falsehoods are just the latest examples of defendant’s patent disrespect for the rule of law and the impartial administration of justice.”
While prosecutors argued that the gag order should remain in place to protect jurors, court staff, prosecutors, and their families, they conceded that the provisions of the gag order prohibiting Trump’s statements about witnesses no longer need to be enforced.
“Now that the jury has delivered a verdict, however, the compelling interest in protecting the witnesses’ ability to testify without interference is no longer present,” the DA’s filing said.
On Tuesday, the New York Court of Appeals declined to take up Trump’s challenge to the limited gag order, saying their rejection is based “upon the ground that no substantial constitutional question is directly involved.”
(FORDYCE, Ark.) — Three people were killed and 10 were injured in a mass shooting at a grocery store in Arkansas on Friday, authorities said.
The suspect, who was shot by law enforcement, will be charged with capital murder, Arkansas State Police said.
Police responded to the shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, about 70 miles south of Little Rock, at about 11:30 a.m., police said.
Three civilians were killed and eight civilians were hurt, and some are in extremely critical condition, police said.
Two law enforcement officers were also shot and suffered non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
In addition to the 13 people killed or injured, the lone suspect was shot by law enforcement and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
The suspect — identified by Arkansas State Police as 44-year-old Travis Eugene Posey, of New Edinburg — is being held at the Ouachita County Detention Center. He will be charged with three counts of capital murder, with additional charges pending, police said.
The situation is contained, police said.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she’s been briefed on the shooting.
I have been briefed on the tragic shooting in Fordyce, and I’m in constant contact with State Police at the scene. I am thankful to law enforcement and first responders for their quick and heroic action to save lives. My prayers are with the victims and all those impacted by this…
— Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) June 21, 2024
The FBI said it is sending personnel to the scene to help state and local police.
The White House said President Joe Biden has been briefed on the shooting and his team will continue to keep him updated.
(RICHMOND, Va.) — After nearly three decades, a convicted serial rapist has been identified as the suspect in the 1996 double murder of two women in a Virginia national park, federal authorities said.
But the suspect won’t face charges, as he died in prison six years ago, authorities said.
On May 24, 1996, Laura “Lollie” Winans, 26, and Julianne “Julie” Williams, 24, were sexually assaulted and killed in a “brutal” attack at their Shenandoah National Park campsite, Christopher Kavanaugh, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, said at a Thursday news conference.
Winans and Williams met through an organization providing outdoor adventure and educational programs for women, Kavanaugh said.
The women went into the park on May 19 and were last seen alive on the evening of May 24, Kavanaugh said.
Their relatives called the National Park Service when they didn’t come home, and their bodies were discovered a week later, the FBI said.
Decades went by without answers.
Then, in 2021, a new FBI team was assigned to investigate the case, and the team determined what evidence would be suitable for retesting, FBI Richmond special agent in charge Stanley Meador said.
A lab recently “pulled DNA from several items of evidence,” and that DNA profile was submitted to CODIS, the national law enforcement DNA database, the FBI said in a statement.
The DNA profile was a positive match to Walter “Leo” Jackson Sr., a convicted serial rapist and avid hiker who was known to visit Shenandoah National Park, the FBI said.
“Even though we had this DNA match, we took additional steps and compared evidence from Lollie and Julie’s murders directly to a buccal swab containing Jackson’s DNA,” Meador said in a statement. “Those results confirmed we had the right man and finally could tell the victims’ families we know who is responsible for this heinous crime.”
The FBI said, “Jackson had a lengthy criminal history, including kidnapping, rapes, and assaults.”
On June 5, 1996, just days after the double murder at Shenandoah National Park, Jackson kidnapped and raped a woman at knifepoint in Ohio, Kavanaugh said. One month later, he kidnapped and raped another woman at knifepoint, Kavanaugh said.
Jackson was most recently sent to prison in 2011 and died behind bars in Ohio in March 2018, the FBI said.
Kavanaugh noted that 22 years ago, a federal grand jury returned an indictment charging another man in the murders of Winans and Williams, but “that case was not built on forensic evidence.”
In 2003, in the lead up to the trial, prosecutors “moved to continue that case because the government’s experts concluded that DNA” from the crime scene was from a then-unidentified man — not their defendant, Kavanaugh said.
Prosecutors then dismissed the case, Kavanaugh said.
The re-testing of the crime scene evidence developed the DNA profile that was uploaded to CODIS, leading to Jackson, Kavanaugh said.
(NEW YORK) — Few modern-day structural mysteries have garnered as much international fascination as the tall, mirrored monolith columns that have appeared in seemingly random locations since 2020.
Reminiscent of the prehistoric Stonehenge in Wiltshire, England, but rooted in Millennium-era fictional lore, monoliths are long vertical metal slabs, each approximately 10 to 12 feet tall.
Monoliths are believed to stem from Arthur C. Clarke’s “Space Odyssey” series and Stanley Kubruck’s 1968 famed sci-fi film “2001: A Space Odyssey,” where aliens used large, black monolith-shaped machines as a guide to monitor and control humans’ evolution.
However, the scores of monoliths that have appeared around the world since 2020 look slightly different from those Clarke and Kubrick imagined — opting for a metal, often stainless steel structure.
From Utah in the United States, Wales in the United Kingdom and as far as Romania in southeastern Europe, these often unexplained structures have left officials and Internet sleuths questioning their makers and intentions.
Below is a timeline of monolith appearances internationally since 2020.
Nov. 18, 2020: Utah The first unaccounted-for monolith appeared in Utah’s remote Red Rock Country on Nov. 18, 2020, during the height of the pandemic.
The Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau was working to conduct a count of big horn sheep in a portion of southeastern Utah when crew members “spotted an unusual object” and landed nearby to investigate further, according to a press release at the time.
The crew members discovered the metal monolith installed in the ground in a remote area of Red Rock, according to the release.
Just 10 days later, the monolith disappeared, with officials saying it was removed by an “unknown party.”
“We have received credible reports that the illegally installed structure, referred to as the ‘monolith’ has been removed by an unknown party,” the Utah Bureau of Land Management wrote on X on Nov. 28, 2020.
A man named Andy Lewis later took credit for the removal, sharing a YouTube video of him and a small crew detaching the monolith from the rocks.
“We removed the Utah Monolith because there are clear precedents for how we share and standardize the use of our public lands, natural wildlife, native plants, fresh water sources, and human impacts upon them,” Lewis said in an interview at the time.
Despite Utah officials never specifically saying where the monolith was located, online detectives allegedly found it on satellite images dating back to 2016 and determined its GPS coordinates, according to Britain’s The Independent at the time.
Nov. 27, 2020: Romania Just as the monolith was removed from its location in Utah, another monolith was discovered across the world in Romania.
The prism was found near an archaeological site outside of the city of Piatra Neamt, on the plateau of Bâtca Doamnei, officials said at the time.
Piatra Neamt Mayor Andrei Carabelea took to Facebook to joke about the mysterious monolith in Romania, “My guess is that some alien, cheeky and terrible teenagers left home with their parents’ UFO and started planting metal monoliths around the world. First in Utah and then at Piatra Neamt. I am honored that they chose our city,” the mayor wrote.
Four days after it first appeared, the Romanian monolith disappeared as mysteriously as it arrived.
Dec. 2, 2020: California The streak of monolith appearances continued the exact day the column was removed in Romania — this time in California.
On Dec. 2, 2020, another monolith was discovered on Pine Mountain in Atascadero, a city in San Luis Obispo County in central California.
The 10-foot-tall and approximately 18-inch-wide monolith was found by hikers two miles up from the base of the mountain, according to local reports.
“I think it disappeared in Utah and landed right here in Atascadero,” hiker Blake Kuhn told ABC News’ Fresno affiliate at the time.
However, unlike the mysteries surrounding the other monoliths, the makers of the California column came forward to reveal themselves.
The four men who created and installed the third monolith are Travis Kenney, his father Randall Kenney, Wade McKenzie and Jared Riddle, they said in a statement.
“The purpose of this project was to create a positive and encouraging environment in a rather negative 2020, a year that has been plagued with health issues, political separation, and systemic racism,” Riddle said in an interview with Your Tango. “This event separated all of that!”
December 2020: Various locations After the Internet frenzy the string of back-to-back monoliths caused, several copycat monoliths started popping up around the world in Pittsburgh, Joshua Tree, Las Vegas, Boulder, Albuquerque, Russia, Colombia, Spain and more.
A Business Insider report in Dec. 2020 estimated there were 87 monolith sightings globally.
March 12, 2024: Wales Years after the initial monolith obsession died down, the tall, mysterious structure reemerged in Wales, United Kingdom, in 2024.
The 10-foot-tall silver monolith was discovered in Hay-on-Wye in Powys, Wales, by construction worker Craig Muir while he was out for his regular hike.
Muir posted a video of the bizarre find on TikTok, saying, “I come up here most days, and I’ve never seen this before. Almost looks like a UFO just put it on the ground.”
June 17, 2024: Las Vegas This month, the monolith mystery continued when the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department took to X to share two photos of the long, vertical slab of metal they said appeared on a hiking trail near Gass Peak on the northern side of the Las Vegas area.
“We see a lot of weird things when people go hiking like not being prepared for the weather, not bringing enough water… but check this out,” the department wrote alongside photos of the column.
In the photos, the tall, geometric figure reflects the rocky desert and perfectly aligns with the horizon.
A similar monolith appeared in downtown Las Vegas in December 2020, standing under the Fremont Street Experience canopy.
The monolith was removed by Las Vegas police on June 20, saying it was necessary “due to public safety and environmental concerns.”
MYSTERIOUS MONOLITH UPDATE:
A lot of you have asked about the mysterious monolith that was recently spotted north of Las Vegas. Yesterday afternoon, we assisted with the removal of the item due to public safety and environmental concerns. pic.twitter.com/4NrR9FDo4T
(NEW YORK) — In the organization’s first network television interview in nearly a decade, new NRA President Bob Barr explored the organization’s relevance in an election year.
With Barr assuming leadership of perhaps the nation’s most controversial advocacy group, a significant shift in the NRA’s stance on gun control is not expected. This change comes after years of the NRA consistently thwarting efforts to implement such legislation.
NRA elected new leadership following the resignation of former CEO Wayne LaPierre and another executive, who were found liable for using NRA funds for lavish personal expenses. LaPierre has previously stated he would appeal that decision.
Barr sat down with ABC News to discuss the organization’s relevancy.
ABC NEWS LIVE: One of your opponents, the organization Everytown [for Gun Safety] said because of the turmoil inside the NRA “the gun lobby has never been weaker.” Is the NRA weak?
BARR: No, the NRA is…You look at. Yeah, I suppose our opponents could take this one slice at a time, or one issue.
ABC NEWS LIVE: It’s a pretty big slice. Financial impropriety. A civil judgment.
BARR: It depends on how you look at it. If we’re talking about successes and the impact and the relevancy of the NRA, you look at our victories. 29 states now, the highest ever, have constitutional carry. That’s because of this organization. We are emerging, you know, from the challenge posed by the state of New York attorney general that tried to put us out of business. That was her goal.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Your political contributions are down, your membership revenue is down. There were concerns about making payroll at some point.
BARR: Listen, every organization has its naysayers, but they’re in the minority in whatever organization I’ve been involved in and this one is no different.
ABC NEWS LIVE: In Uvalde, in Buffalo, the list goes on.
BARR: Uvalde was a, the most awful example I’ve ever seen of ineffective law enforcement.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But he bought the gun. That’s true, but he bought the gun legally. And how do you stop that?
BARR: Are ever going to be able to stop everybody from committing a crime with a gun? No, that’s the same way.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But you can’t cut it down?
BARR: Sure. We can cut it down. We can cut it down by better, more effective enforcement of existing laws.
[on U.S. gun legislation and types of guns]
BARR: The difference is one is fully automatic and one is not. I mean, that is a key difference that a lot of our critics just either don’t understand or they know better and they just slough over it anyway.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You’re making the distinction between automatic and semiautomatic.
BARR: Absolutely, there’s a major difference.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But even still, have you seen what an AR-15 does to a body versus what a 9-mm. pistol does?
BARR: I’ve seen what a shotgun can do to a body.
ABC NEWS LIVE: An AR-15. It leaves a cavity.
BARR: Any, any, any, virtually any firearm can do tremendous damage to a human body.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Do you think the United States has a gun violence problem?
BARR: The United States has a violence problem.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But a gun violence problem?
BARR: We have a problem with crime in this country. And if we focus on the instrumentality, we’re going to lose sight of the forest for the trees. We have a cultural problem in America that is many faceted. We can talk about any one of those.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But does it involve guns?
BARR: We have a lot of crime that doesn’t involve guns in this country.
ABC NEWS LIVE: But a lot of it does.
BARR: Well, and those people should be identified, investigated, prosecuted and put in jail.
There are many areas where the NRA would be willing to work with people from anywhere on the political spectrum, such as increasing the safety in our schools, increasing the training for those who might be in contact with groups of young people.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Is this going to be a fundamentally different NRA?
BARR: No, I mean, the fundamental mission of the NRA is the same today as it was 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years ago, and that is to teach responsible gun ownership, responsible gun usage, and to make programs available to both our members and the population generally that allow people to exercise their God given and constitutionally guaranteed right to defend themselves.
(NEW YORK) — Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon on Friday filed an emergency appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to remain out of prison for his contempt of Congress conviction.
Bannon was ordered by Judge Carl Nichols to surrender to prison by July 1 to serve his four-month sentence.
“An even-handed approach thus strongly favors allowing Mr. Bannon to remain on release,” Bannon’s attorney argued in Friday’s filing.
“There is also no denying the fact that the government seeks to imprison Mr. Bannon for the four-month period immediately preceding the November presidential election,” Bannon’s attorney said. “There is no reason for that outcome in a case that presents substantial legal issues.”
Bannon was sentenced to four months for contempt of Congress in October 2022 after he was found guilty of defying a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, but Judge Nichols agreed to postpone the jail term while Bannon appealed the conviction.
After a federal appeals court upheld the criminal conviction in May, prosecutors requested Bannon begin serving his prison term.
“All of this is about one thing. Shutting down the MAGA movement. Shutting down grassroots conservatives, shutting down President Trump,” Bannon said to reporters in June.
(NEW YORK) — Thirteen states in the East from Massachusetts to Kentucky are on alert for more extreme heat before the dangerous temperatures move to the South and the West.
Record highs were shattered in New England on Thursday, including 99 degrees in Manchester, New Hampshire; 98 degrees in Hartford, Connecticut; and 97 in Augusta, Maine.
On Friday, the temperature is forecast to hit a scorching 98 degrees in Louisville, Kentucky; 84 degrees in Indianapolis; 96 degrees in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C.; 95 in Philadelphia; and 92 in New York City.
In Philadelphia, this could be the longest stretch of 90-degree temperatures this early in the season in 30 years.
This weekend, the heat will spread into the South.
Washington, D.C., may hit 100 degrees this weekend, which would be the first time the city reached triple digits in June in 12 years.
Record highs are possible in Little Rock, Arkansas, by Monday.
The dangerous heat is also returning to the West this weekend, with heat alerts in effect in California, Arizona and Utah.
Temperatures could climb to 110 degrees in Palm Springs, California; 114 in Phoenix; and 107 in Las Vegas.
There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher.
