(NEW YORK) — Even though Beryl lost its status as a tropical storm, it still packed a punch as it moved from Arkansas to Michigan, bringing with it tornadoes and flash flooding.
The remnants of the storm, which had made landfall in Texas on Monday as a Category 1 hurricane, are expected to move on Wednesday afternoon and evening into western Pennsylvania, upstate New York and northern New England, where tornadoes are possible.
In addition to tornadoes, there is a significant threat for flash flooding from northern New York into Vermont and New Hampshire, with up to 5 inches of rain is possible in a short period of time.
The worst of Beryl should stay just north and west of Interstate 95 corridor.
At least eight people were killed when Hurricane Beryl tore through Texas and Louisiana on Monday, including a civilian employee of the Houston Police Department who drove into flood conditions on the way to work, officials said.
Multiple fatalities were due to fallen trees, officials said.
Two reported tornadoes had ripped through Kentucky and Indiana on Tuesday.
Up to 8 inches of rain fell just out of Little Rock, Arkansas, flooding homes and neighborhoods on Tuesday. And Up to 3.6 inches of rain fell in about 1 hour and 40 minutes in Lansing, Michigan, producing flash flooding.
More than 1.7 million power customers were without power in Texas early on Wednesday, almost two days after the storm rolled through the state, according to PowerOutage.us, a website that tracks power providers.
NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test Commander Butch Wilmore (L) and Pilot Suni Williams walk out of the Operations and Checkout Building on June 05, 2024 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The NASA astronauts who were aboard the first crewed flight into space on Boeing’s Starliner will participate in a press conference on Wednesday morning.
Flight commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore, 61, a former U.S. Navy captain, and Sunita Williams, 58, a former Navy service member, the flight’s pilot, both of whom are currently aboard the International Space Station (ISS), are set to answer questions about the test flight and the mission.
Wilmore and Williams lifted off on June 5 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida and docked with the ISS on June 6.
The pair were initially expected to spend one week aboard the ISS evaluating the spacecraft and its systems and return June 14. However, Starliner has experienced several mechanical issues, including helium leaks and a thruster issue, leaving the astronauts stuck onboard the ISS with no set return date.
NASA has insisted Wilmore and Williams are safe while they remain onboard the ISS with the Expedition 71 crew. The agency has said the ISS has plenty of supplies in orbit, and the station’s schedule is relatively open through mid-August.
“I want to make it clear that Butch and Suni aren’t stranded in space,” Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, said during a June 28 teleconference. “Our plan is to continue to return them on Starliner and return them home at the right time.”
NASA and Boeing say Wilmore and Williams are “integrated” with the Expedition 71 crew aboard the ISS and are helping the crew with station operations as needed, as well as completing “objectives” needed for NASA’s possible certification of Starliner.
“Since their arrival on June 6, Wilmore and Williams have completed half of all hands-on research time conducted aboard the space station, allowing their crewmates to prepare for the departure of Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft,” NASA wrote in a recent update.
This week, teams at NASA’s White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico are performing ground tests of Starliner’s thruster, putting it through similar conditions the spacecraft experienced on its way to the ISS, according to an update on Boeing’s website.
The tests will replicate Starliner’s docking, when some of the thrusters failed, and what the thrusters will experience from undocking to landing back on Earth.
“We really want to understand the thruster and how we use it in flight,” said Dan Niedermaier, the lead Boeing engineer for the thruster testing, in a statement. “We will learn a lot from these thruster firings that will be valuable for the remainder of the Crew Flight Test and future missions.”
Starliner has been plagued by issues even before launch. The flight test was originally tentatively scheduled for May 6, but was scrubbed after a problem with an oxygen valve on a rocket from United Launch Alliance, which manufactures and operates the rockets that launch Starliner spacecraft into orbit.
A new launch date was subsequently set for May 25, but then a small helium leak was discovered in the Starliner service module, which contains support systems and instruments for operating the spacecraft.
Those helium leaks and a thruster issue threatened to delay Starliner’s docking, but it docked successfully. Five days after docking at the ISS, NASA and Boeing announced that the spacecraft was experiencing five “small” helium leaks, but added at the time that enough helium remained for the return mission.
(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old man who worked for a business in Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming allegedly threatened to carry out a mass shooting before being killed in a shootout with rangers on the Fourth of July, officials said Tuesday.
Samson Lucas Bariah Fussner, of Milton, Florida, was confronted by Yellowstone law enforcement rangers early on the morning of July 4 while allegedly shooting a semi-automatic rifle toward a dining facility at Canyon Village, according to the National Park Service. Approximately 200 people were in the facility at the time, NPS said in an update on the incident Tuesday.
During an exchange of gunfire, Fussner was shot by law enforcement rangers and died at the scene, NPS said. A ranger was also shot in a lower extremity, NPS said. The injured ranger was transported to an area hospital in stable condition and has since been released, NPS said. No other injuries were reported.
Fussner was an employee of Xanterra Parks and Resorts, a private business authorized to operate in Yellowstone, according to NPS. ABC News has reached out to the business for comment.
Law enforcement rangers initially began searching for the suspect after Yellowstone’s 911 dispatch center received a report just after midnight on July 4 “that a woman had been held against her will by a man with a gun in a residence at Canyon Village,” NPS said in a press release.
“She also reported to law enforcement rangers that Fussner threatened to kill her and others, including plans to allegedly carry out a mass shooting(s) at July 4th events outside the park,” NPS said.
Rangers were “strategically deployed” in the park amid the search for Fussner, NPS said. Those posted near Canyon Lodge — which houses employee and public dining rooms in the center of the park — encountered him around 8 a.m. local time as he “reportedly walked toward the service entrance of the facility while firing a semi-automatic rifle,” NPS said.
The investigation into this incident is being led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and will be reviewed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming, the NPS said. The probe will include the shooting involving the rangers, who have been placed on paid administrative leave amid the investigation per NPS policy.
“Thanks to the heroic actions of our law enforcement rangers, many lives were saved here last Thursday,” Yellowstone Superintendent Cam Sholly said in a statement. “These rangers immediately confronted this shooter and took decisive action to ensure he was no longer a threat to public safety. We are working now to provide maximum support to those involved and their families.”
(NEW YORK) — A Delaware woman who was allegedly assaulted by New Castle County police during a traffic stop on June 29 gave her first public comments Tuesday about the stop and her arrest.
Bystander and police body camera video show N’Finitee Coleman being detained by four officers in a parking lot where she was stopped by police.
“My hair was pulled up and down,” Coleman said during Tuesday’s press conference. “My head was punched by a male and by a female. I have constant migraines.”
In police body camera footage, released by the New Castle County Police Department, an officer can be seen stepping out of his vehicle after he pulls Coleman over. He approaches Coleman’s car and asks her to step out of the vehicle.
The officer tells Coleman she was being arrested for multiple unsafe lane changes, not using a turn signal, and because her registration was suspended for no insurance.
“An officer with the New Castle County Division of Police was traveling in the area of Walther Road and Pulaski Highway when he observed a car commit several traffic violations,” New Castle County Police said in a statement obtained by ABC News. “The officer was also able to confirm that the car’s registration was suspended without insurance and observed an old bullet hole in the driver’s side door that had police evidence markings on it. The officer activated his emergency lights behind the car at Pulaski Highway and Wellington Drive to initiate a traffic stop. However, the car continued down Pulaski Highway, making the right turn onto Brookmont Drive. The car then continued to the Royal Farms parking lot before backing into a parking space.”
The body cam video shows Coleman refusing the officer’s instructions to exit the car and asking for his supervisor. The officer then pulls her car door open. The two of them argue for a few minutes, with Coleman continuing to refuse to comply with instructions to exit her vehicle, until other officers arrive on the scene.
Three male officers can then be seen on body cam video pulling Coleman out of her car and forcing her to the ground. A female officer is then seen arriving on the scene as the other three policemen struggle with Coleman on the ground. The female officer proceeds to punch Coleman in the head area multiple times. One of the male officers is also seen throwing punches in body camera video as he claims that Coleman is holding his foot.
Coleman was eventually handcuffed and placed in a police vehicle. In addition to traffic violations, she was charged with two counts of offensive touching of law enforcement, one count of resisting arrest, and one count of disorderly conduct, according to New Castle County police.
Emeka Igwe, Coleman’s lawyer, said at Tuesday’s press conference that his client had legitimate registration for her car at the time of the incident.
“I do think there is a perception out there that when an officer approaches someone who may have an attitude or may be mouthy that they can then do whatever, whether retaliate with force or assault,” Igwe said. “That’s not OK. As an officer, you’re trained to be a professional. You’re going to encounter people with mental health challenges.”
Coleman claimed at the press conference that she has post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and her anxiety and PTSD were contributing reasons for her “verbally aggressive” behavior during the traffic stop.
“The New Castle County Division of Police Professional Standards Unit is conducting an administrative investigation to determine whether the officer’s actions were within policy,” the New Castle County Police Department said in a statement. “Additionally, the Division’s Use of Force Review Unit is conducting a use-of-force analysis, including a detailed video examination. Finally, the incident was referred to the Delaware Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust. These investigations and reviews are still ongoing.”
The Delaware Department of Justice, Office of Civil Rights and Public Trust or the New Castle County attorney’s office did not immediately respond to ABC News requests for comment. The New Castle County Police Department declined to comment when ABC News asked if any of the officers involved with Coleman’s arrest have been disciplined.
(NEW YORK) — A pastor is facing federal charges after he allegedly hit his wife in the head during a flight when she got upgraded and he didn’t.
The incident allegedly occurred on July 2 on board an Alaska Airlines flight from Seattle to Anchorage, Alaska.
According to the complaint, Roger Allan Holmberg, Sr. and his wife were traveling for an event related to their ministry.
According to witnesses interviewed by Anchorage Airport Police detailed in the complaint, Holmberg asked his wife, “How the hell did you get the upgrade?”
She responded, “I’m a Gold Point member. Don’t speak to me like that.”
Holmberg allegedly handed his phone to his wife from the aisle while telling her to read it and gestured with his middle finger, according to the complaint.
Some time after handing her his phone, Holmberg allegedly attempted to swing toward his wife and struck the top of her head.
Another witness told airport police, according to the complaint, that Holmberg went to the first-class lavatory after the incident. When he came out, the witness confronted him and said, “If there were any further incidents, we would put him in handcuffs.”
In her interview with airport police, Holmberg’s wife said he struck her in the head with the back of his knuckles. She said Holmberg knew she had epilepsy and contact with her head could cause a seizure. She claimed he had a history of abusing her and had previously broken her finger.
According to the complaint, Holmberg told authorities he was upset that his wife “had been upgraded to first class because he wanted his wife to travel with him and sit next to him. Although he was upset, he stated he was not a violent person and did not intend to hurt his wife.”
He told authorities he “tapped his wife on the head in passing to get her attention,” and added he and his wife had been going to marriage counseling and that his wife was “disrespectful to him often and had anger issues.”
He told authorities of a previous incident where she allegedly grabbed his leg while he was driving and broke her finger.
The complaint said once the flight crew became aware that the incident occurred, they notified law enforcement. Holmberg was arrested upon landing for simple assault and transported to the Anchorage Correctional Center. According to court documents, he has since been released and cannot come within 100 yards of his wife.
In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for Alaska Airlines said, “Mr. Holmberg has been banned from our flights and a simple assault charge was filed against him by the U.S. Gov’t. (FBI) on July 3rd.”
(NEW YORK) — No criminal charges will be filed in connection with a deadly National Guard helicopter crash that occurred near the U.S.-Mexico border in March.
The Starr County Sheriff’s Office in Texas has closed its investigation into the March 8 incident, which involved a UH-72 Lakota chopper assigned to Washington, D.C.’s Army National Guard.
“No criminality was found,” Major Carlos Delgado of the Starr County Sheriff’s Office told ABC News by email.
The crash killed U.S. Border Patrol agent Chris Luna along with Casey Frankoski and John Grassia, both of whom held the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 2 with the New York Army National Guard.
National Guardsman Jacob Pratt survived the collision and was transferred less than a month later to Brooke Army Medical Center to recover from his injuries, according to a report by ABC affiliate KRGV-TV.
The Pentagon could not immediately be reached for comment.
The existence of the sheriff’s office’s investigation, which is separate from the Army’s safety probe, was disclosed in the spring after ABC News filed a request under the Texas Public Information Act seeking public records associated with the incident.
The county initially denied the request, citing a Texas law that says that the “release of the information would interfere with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime.”
With the criminal investigation having concluded without charges, the sheriff’s office released body-worn camera videos of the response to the crash to ABC News on Friday.
The videos show the crumbled remains of the helicopter in a remote field alongside a dirt road, but do not shed additional insight into the cause of the incident.
“What a tragedy,” a sheriff’s deputy can be heard saying.
(NEW YORK) — A man hiking in the Grand Canyon has died after being found unresponsive over the weekend, marking the third death in the national park within the last three weeks.
A 50-year-old unresponsive male hiker was found on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon about 100 feet from the trail head on Sunday, according to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center.
Bystanders began CPR while emergency personnel responded to the scene, but efforts to resuscitate the hiker were unsuccessful.
The hiker was a San Angelo, Texas, native and had been attempting to reach the rim from an overnight stay at Havasupai Gardens. He has not been identified by authorities.
The National Park Service is conducting an investigation into the incident.
Two other hikers have died in the Grand Canyon in recent weeks.
A 41-year-old man was found unresponsive on the Bright Angel Trail on June 16 and attempts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful. The hiker was also hiking from an overnight stay.
A semi-responsive 69-year-old hiker was found on the River Trail in the Grand Canyon on July 1, and later became unresponsive. Attempts from bystanders and National Park Service personnel to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
The hiker was identified as Scott Sims of Austin, Texas, and he had been attempting to reach Phantom Ranch.
Last week, the NPS said temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120 degrees in the shade. The NPS does not advise hiking in the inner canyon during the heat of the day between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.
The NPS also said efforts to assist hikers may be delayed during the summer months because of limited staff, the number of rescue calls, employee safety requirements and limited helicopter flying capability during periods of extreme heat or inclement weather.
(NEW YORK) — One of nature’s most awe-inspiring creatures, the rare and giant blue whale, was seen off the coast of Massachusetts in a rare back-to-back sighting.
Cape Ann Whale Watch, a touring group based in Gloucester, Massachusetts, took to Facebook on Monday to share footage of one of two blue whale sightings that day.
“We got to see this ‘largest animal on our planet’ on both of our trips today,” the group wrote alongside footage of the blue whale spouting water and breaching to the surface.
Blue whales are indeed the largest animals on Earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), which reports in the North Atlantic and North Pacific, blue whales can grow up to about 90 feet and are over 100,000 pounds.
The agency notes that blue whales are found in all oceans except the Arctic, generally migrating based on the season between feeding in the summer and breeding in the winter.
Cape Ann Whale Watch noted that blue whale sightings are incredibly rare in the region, believing there hasn’t been a known occurrence in two decades.
“This whale is not common to our waters at all,” the group wrote, adding, “I believe the last time we heard of a blue whale sighting in our waters was over 20 years ago.”
The reaction to seeing the blue whale was very emotional, according to the group, “Our naturalist shed tears and could barely speak,” they wrote, adding, “Interns too had tears and were in total awe.”
Blue whales are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act and protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, according to NOAA, which they note has led to population increases worldwide.
Commercial whaling was a major threat to the species throughout the 1900s before these protections were instated. According to NOAA, the primary threats blue whale populations currently face are vessel strikes and getting entangled in fishing gear.
During the back-to-back whale watching trips Monday, Cape Ann Whale Watch reported seeing several wildlife species in addition to the blue whale, including a small pod of harbor porpoise, humpback whales, fin whales, lots of huge basking sharks and a pod of common dolphins.
“My main goal on the boat is to get people curious about nature,” Christina McMahon Foley, senior naturalist with Cape Ann Whale Watch, told ABC News. “And this was like a little gift from mother nature,” she said of the blue whale sighting.
(NEW YORK) — The ongoing scorching heat in the West caused a road to buckle in Washington this week while at least a dozen California cities broke all-time high-temperature records.
A heat wave enveloping much of the nation has been especially sweltering on the West Coast, where some areas have experienced multiple days of triple-digit weather that has turned deadly.
More than 70 million people are under heat alerts in the West as a scorching heat wave continues.
In Oregon, the Multnomah County Medical Examiner’s Office reported Monday that it is investigating at least four suspected heat-related deaths since the state of emergency was declared on July 5 amid dangerously hot temperatures.
Those who perished in the soaring heat included an 87-year-old man, a 75-year-old man and a 64-year-old man, all living in the Portland area, the medical examiner’s office said. A 33-year-old man was taken to a Portland hospital from outside Multnomah County, and also died from a suspected heat-related illness.
The temperature hit 101 degrees in Portland on Monday and 104 degrees in Eugene and Salem, Oregon, according to the National Weather Service (NWS). All three cities set new daily high-temperature records, the weather service said.
Portland is forecast to see its fourth straight day of triple-digit weather on Tuesday, where thermometers are expected to climb to 105 degrees, according to the NWS.
Road buckles in Washington
In Washington, extreme temperatures caused State Route 111 in Skagit County to buckle on Monday, creating potentially dangerous conditions for drivers, according to the Washington State Department of Transportation.
“Our crews were dispatched and found that the concrete panels under the asphalt had buckled due to the heat,” Madison Sehlke, a spokesperson for the Washington State Department of Transportation, told ABC affiliate station KOMO in Seattle.
Washington saw temperatures on Monday climb to the high 90s in some areas. In Olympia, the temperature hit 99 degrees on Monday, breaking a daily record set in 2010, according to the National Weather Service. Seattle also broke a daily temperature record on Monday when the temperature reached 91 degrees, according to the NWS.
Excessive heat warnings in most of California
The entire state of California was either under an excessive heat warning or a heat advisory on Tuesday.
Palm Springs, which set an all-time heat record on Sunday when the temperature peaked at 124 degrees, was forecast to reach 121 degrees on Tuesday, according to the NWS.
A long-duration heat wave is expected to continue through this week in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley.
Fresno is forecast on Tuesday to see its seventh straight day of temperatures hitting 105 degrees or higher, Andy Bollenbacher of the NWS office in Hanford, California, told ABC News.
Bollenbacher said the record for consecutive days of 105 degrees or higher in Fresno is 14. He said the extended forecast shows a temperature in Fresno of 105 degrees or higher lasting through at least Sunday.
The temperature on Tuesday in Fresno is forecast to hit 109 degrees, Bollenbacher said.
Death Valley, California, remains the hottest spot in the nation. At 11 a.m. local time on Tuesday, the temperature in Death Valley was 112 degrees and forecast to reach 128, according to the NWS.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Death Valley was 134 degrees set in 1913, which is also the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth, according to the NWS.
At least 12 cities in California have seen all-time heat records broken since Saturday, including Redding in Northern California which hit 119 degrees on Monday and Dagget in Southern California which reached 118 on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service.
Dangerous heat to drag on in Arizona
Oppressive heat is forecast to continue through the remainder of the week in Arizona, where an excessive heat warning was extended for the Phoenix metro area.
In Phoenix, the temperature is expected to peak at 117 degrees on Tuesday and remain above 109 degrees through at least Monday, according to the NWS. Lake Havasu City is forecast to hit 120 degrees on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before cooling down to 117 on Friday and 110 on Sunday, according to the NWS.
A 50-year-old man hiking in the Grand Canyon died after being found unresponsive over the weekend, marking the third death in the national park within the last three weeks.
A man was unresponsive when he was found on the Bright Angel Trail in the Grand Canyon about 100 feet from the trailhead on Sunday, according to the Grand Canyon Regional Communications Center.
NPS said temperatures on exposed parts of the trail can reach over 120 degrees in the shade.
Las Vegas expected to break consecutive hot-day record
Just days after recording its hottest day ever, Las Vegas is aiming to break another record: consecutive days of 110 degrees or higher.
The NWS is forecasting high temperatures of 114 to 118 degrees for the rest of this week, putting Las Vegas in a position to break the current record of five straight days of 110 degrees or higher.
Las Vegas has a 90% chance of breaking its all-time record for consecutive days of 110 degrees or above, meteorologist Matt Woods of the NWS office in Las Vegas told ABC News.
Tuesday’s temperature in Las Vegas is forecast to reach 117, making it the seventh straight day it surpassed the 110-degree mark, Woods said.
Las Vegas’ record of 10 consecutive days of 110-degree weather was set in 1961 and tied in July 2023.
“Tomorrow through Saturday we have a 90% chance of reaching a 110,” Woods said. “So it’s very likely we’re going to shatter the record.”
On Sunday, Las Vegas reached 120 degrees, breaking the record for the city’s hottest day ever.
Hot weather in other parts of the nation
By this weekend, the record heat will move into the Rockies, where cities like Denver, Colorado, and Rapid City, South Dakota, could see record highs.
Numerous cities along the East Coast are forecast to hit the century mark or get close.
In Washington, D.C., the temperature hit 98 degrees on Tuesday afternoon and is forecast to reach 96 degrees on Wednesday. Philadelphia hit 94 degrees on Tuesday afternoon. Further south, the temperature Tuesday afternoon in Richmond, Virginia, climbed to 95 degrees and it was 94 in Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the NWS.
(NEW YORK) — Gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash the FBI found in Sen. Bob Menendez’s home were not given to him as a bribe, a defense attorney insisted Tuesday during closing arguments in the New Jersey senator’s federal corruption trial.
While waving his arms and pacing in front of the jury box, the defense attorney, Adam Fee, used a sarcastic tone to mock the government’s case as “cherry-picked nonsense.”
Fee accused prosecutors of “fudging” the facts and said the story they told about Menendez is false and insufficient to convict.
“The only honest verdict I submit here is to acquit him on each count,” Fee told the jury during closing arguments Tuesday in the Manhattan federal courthouse. “His actions were lawful, normal and good for the country.”
Prosecutors painted a much different picture of Menendez, whom they accused of corruption on a “massive scale” and of selling his office to businessmen willing to pay.
“The buck stops here. Thousands upon thousands of bucks stop here. It’s time to hold him responsible,” prosecutor Paul Monteleoni said as he wrapped his closing argument on Tuesday.
While Fee said he would not blame jurors for believing “something fishy” was going on after they saw multiple photographs of the nearly $500,000 seized from Menendez’s home stuffed in boots, jackets and bags, he urged the jury to resist a “knee-jerk” reaction.
“The story the prosecutors tell is that it is so weird … it is so inherently unusual and suspicious that Bob must have known it was a bribe,” Fee said. “That is false.”
The defense insisted Menendez hoarded cash because of his father’s experience in Cuba and that it was “common” for his wife to have gold.
The defense also attempted to exploit a weakness in the government’s case: the lack of direct evidence linking Menendez to bribe payments.
“What text, what email, what document suggests to you that that story is credible?” Fee asked the jury. “They have not supplied to you any compelling evidence for the theory they have offered you.”
Prosecutors claimed the cash, gold and a luxury convertible were all bribes from Menendez’s co-defendants, Fred Daibes and Wael Hana, and accused the senator of using his power to benefit the New Jersey businessmen and foreign governments.
All three defendants have pleaded not guilty to their charges.
Closing arguments for Daibes and Hana are expected to follow on Wednesday.
