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Seven juveniles, including a 12-year-old, were injured when gunfire erupted outside a mall in downtown Indianapolis late Saturday night, authorities said — the third consecutive weekend city police have responded to a mass shooting.

The violence occurred despite more than 25 officers patrolling downtown Indianapolis as part of a scaled-up police presence to control roving bands of juveniles in the area during the evening hours, according to Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Chief Chris Bailey.

“My assumption, based on what we know right now, is that there was some sort of disturbance that occurred right before this and someone or persons decided to use a gun to solve that problem, which is never the right answer,” Bailey said during a news conference early Sunday.

The shooting unfolded at 11:36 p.m. local time outside the Circle Centre Mall at the intersection of West Maryland and South Illinois streets in the city’s Mile Square entertainment district and several blocks from the Indiana State Capital building, according to police.

Officers patrolling Mile Square heard the gunshots and raced to the scene, finding six young victims suffering from apparent gunshot wounds, said Deputy Chief Tanya Terry, head of IMPD operations.

A seventh juvenile victim later showed up at a hospital seeking treatment for a bullet wound, Terry said.

She said one victim was taken to a hospital in critical condition but has since been upgraded to stable condition. She said the other victims suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are all in stable condition.

The victims range in age from 12 to 17, Terry said.

No suspects have been identified and no arrests were announced as of Sunday afternoon.

Investigators are asking anyone who witnessed the shooting to contact the police department’s Aggravated Assault Unit. Investigators are combing through security video in the hope of identifying those responsible for the shooting, police said.

Terry said that based on the evidence collected at the scene, investigators believe there was more than one firearm involved.

“It is extremely concerning to us that so many of our young people have been victims of gun violence this evening. Once again we have a situation in which young people are resolving conflict with firearms,” Terry said.

Before Saturday night’s shooting, the IMPD said it had increased the number of police officers deployed to the Mile Square area to control large groups of juveniles circulating in the downtown area.

“Until there is some kind of crime committed, the officers can only observe the crowds and attempt to get them dispersed,” Terry said.

Terry said she had a message for the parents of the victims: “I think everybody sees the messages in the evening at 10 o’clock of ‘Parents do you know where your children are?’

“We would ask our parents to get involved in what their children are out doing, especially at these hours of the evening,” Terry said. “This is 11:30 at night, the evening right before Easter. So, if you don’t know where your 12-year-old is, I think that should be a priority for you.”

Chief Bailey echoed Terry’s statement.

“I’m extremely disappointed that we’re here again talking about mass violence in our city,” Bailey said. “We all have to take a collective look in the mirror and find out what more we can do to try to prevent these things from happening in the first place. But I will say this: It starts at home.”

The shooting came a week after one person was killed and five others were wounded, including a police officer, during an early morning shooting outside a bar east of downtown Indianapolis, police said. Two uniformed police officers, who were moonlighting at the bar as security, engaged in a gunfight with the suspect, who was killed in the March 24 incident, according to police. One of the officers involved in the gunfight was shot in the leg and suffered a shoulder injury when he fell, police said.

On March 16, an early morning shooting inside a bar north of downtown in the Broad Ripple neighborhood left one man dead and six other patrons wounded, police said. A 25-year-old suspect was arrested in the shooting and charged with murder, according to police.

On Feb. 19, a 35-year-old woman was fatally shot and four other people were wounded when gunfire broke out inside a Waffle House restaurant west of downtown Indianapolis, police said. The shooting erupted during an argument between two groups of customers, police said. No arrests have been announced.

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Two people were killed as a single-engine plane crashed while attempting to land in Truckee, California, on Saturday, local airport and law enforcement officials said.

The Daher TBM 900 took off from Denver, Colorado, on Saturday afternoon, according to aircraft tracker FlightAware.

The aircraft crashed at about 6:38 p.m. “near the area of Glenshire Drive and Olympic Blvd.,” a crossroads northwest of the Truckee Tahoe Airport, police said in a statement.

“At this time there is no threat to any structures and no road closures,” police said. “There will be a heavy presence of emergency responders in the area for an extended period of time.”

Investigators from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) arrived at the crash site Sunday morning to begin documentation, according to a statement from the NTSB.

“The wreckage will then be recovered to a secure facility for further evaluation,” the NTSB said. A preliminary report is expected within 30 days of the accident, according to the NTSB.

Its investigation will involve three primary areas — the pilot, the aircraft and the operating environment, the agency said.

The NTSB has requested witnesses of the accident or those who have surveillance video or other information that could be relevant to the investigation to contact the agency at witness@ntsb.gov.

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Christian communities in the U.S. and Canada are holding walks this Easter weekend to advocate for a cease-fire in Israel’s war with Hamas.

Members of Vancouver’s Christian community made a 25-mile solidarity march on Saturday, to match the approximate length of Gaza’s Mediterranean coast. More than 2,000 miles away, many in Nashville’s Christian community did the same. About 560 miles from there, Pittsburgh Christians made a similar trek. Gaza Cease-fire Pilgrimage walks were also held in San Diego, California; Buffalo, New York, and Spokane, Washington, as well as other cities.

Gaza’s Mediterranean coast ends in the south in Rafah, the city that holds the crossing into Egypt. More than 1 million Palestinians have made this journey to Rafah to leave the heavy fighting in northern Gaza in the hopes of entering Egypt.

According to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed since Israel launched its military campaign in response to Hamas’s surprise attack on Israel on Oct. 7. Terrorists killed 1,200 people and took 253 others hostage, according to Israeli officials, who say roughly 100 hostages may remain alive inside Gaza. Israel maintains its goal is to free the hostages and destroy Hamas.

Holding the public’s attention on the conflict “makes critical movements like this even more consequential,” said Jer Swigart, lead organizer for the walk in Spokane.

The organizers say the purpose of the walks is to draw attention to four main goals, including a cease-fire in the war, the unblocking of humanitarian aid, the end of Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and regional peace through the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners. The pilgrimage is overall ecumenical — primarily Lutheran, Episcopalian, Methodist, Catholic and Evangelical, according to organizers.

“Jesus was a Palestinian Jew who lived his life serving others and promoting liberation,” said Jonathan Walton, organizer for New York City’s walk that took place Friday. More than 150 people attended the walk, organizers said. The actions of both Hamas and the Israel Defense Forces are “totally outside the call and teachings of Jesus,” Walton said.

Organizers of the walks told ABC News they are against antisemitism and advocate for nonviolent demonstrations, but are critical of Israel’s military actions.

Holding a pilgrimage during Lent is significant as Holy Saturday is traditionally a day of lament within Christianity, according to organizers. Lindsay Acker, an organizer for the Buffalo walk, said this is a time to sit with grief and mourn together as a community amid the rising death toll in Gaza. Some participants say they are even fasting to mirror the Palestinian experience during the religious month of Ramadan, during which Muslims fast between dawn and sunset.

Organizers credit peace advocate James Harris for sparking the idea for the walks. At the start of Lent in February, he documented his pilgrimage from Australia’s Byron Bay to Ballina, a similar distance from Gaza City to Rafah. Similar walks advocating for a cease-fire have taken place in dozens of cities across 19 countries, organizers say. Many of the walks are put on by Christian churches, they say.

“We’re utilizing the power of media and experience and access to grow more pro-human understanding of the conflict, with the hyperfocus on U.S. American Christians,” Swigart said. He emphasized his outreach to Evangelical Christians.

As director of Global Immersion, a faith-based peace advocacy organization, Swigart, who holds a doctorate in leadership in global perspectives from Portland Seminary, said he was in Gaza on Oct. 7 doing on-the-ground work as a delegate between his Palestinian colleagues and his Israeli colleagues. When he returned to the U.S., he said, he put his work into overdrive, knowing that the events of Oct. 7 were going to “fundamentally change everything.”

Spokane’s walk began Saturday morning and followed Centennial Trail in six intervals, denoting periodic breaks for prayer. Swigart said more than 200 people attended.

“The essence of this is that this is a pro-human movement. It’s not a pro-Palestinian movement because while it’s wildly pro-Palestinian, to say ‘pro-Palestinian’ suggests that it’s anti-Israeli. That is just not the case,” said Swigart. “Our one-sideism is lethal, and if there’s ever been question on how lethal our one-sideism is on this particular issue, we’re looking at it right now.”

Organizer David Vidmar has worked closely with Swigart and is leading this weekend’s walk in Buffalo. For him, the walk is an entry for Christian involvement in calling for a cease-fire in the war.

“We’re not feeling starvation,” said Acker. We’re not feeling the bombings. We’re not feeling the effects of the genocide, but in this very tiny way, we can feel what it’s like to flee 25 miles.”

Organizers say they will split the proceeds from the walks between several charities. Acker says she has dedicated a third of Buffalo’s proceeds to a Palestinian immigrant in Buffalo who has been trying to get his mom and five sisters out of Gaza.

“Together we channel this into action of the body, action with our money, action in our community, and also action in prayer,” Acker said.

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(NEW YORK) — Slain New York Police Department Officer Jonathan Diller was remembered as a hero who gave the ultimate sacrifice during his funeral on Saturday.

Police said Diller, 31, was shot and killed while conducting a traffic stop in Queens on Monday — becoming the first NYC police officer killed in the line of duty in two years.

“Our pouring of grief for this young man is real, and it is raw,” Mayor Eric Adams, a retired NYPD captain, said during Diller’s packed funeral service at Saint Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church in Massapequa, Long Island. “When you see the photos of him with his wife and young son, our hearts break.”

NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said Dillen lost his life in a “sudden and senseless act of violence,” but that the fallen officer’s legacy will be “his grit, his devotion, his love” and a life rooted in service.

“He loved this work and he was darn good at it,” Caban said in his remarks during the funeral. “He went toward the danger, he put himself in harm’s way, and he did it so that other New Yorkers wouldn’t have to.”

On Monday, Officer Diller approached an illegally parked vehicle with another officer and asked the two men inside to move their car, according to police. Police say the men in the car refused to roll down their windows — and instead of showing their hands as requested, one shot the officer.

Diller yelled out that he had been shot but was able to wrestle the firearm away from the gunman, officials said.

“Even after he was mortally wounded, John kept fighting,” Caban said. “He wrestled the gun out of the shooter’s hand, saving lives to the very end.”

Caban posthumously promoted the fallen officer to detective first grade with the shield number 110 — his 1-year-old son’s birthday.

Through tears, Stephanie Diller said her husband was her soul mate, and that he always wanted to be a dad.

“He loved to make everyone laugh and he had the most infectious personality,” she said during the funeral service.

She said their lives were “pretty much perfect” until five days ago.

“He wasn’t the type to sugarcoat anything, so I won’t sugarcoat this: This is devastating,” Stephanie Diller said. “It’s a devastating, senseless and tragic loss for so many — our family, our friends and the entire city of New York.”

“It’s a shame that someone who brought so much positivity to the world was given such a negative ending,” she continued.

Stephanie Diller said it breaks her heart that her son was robbed of getting to know his dad, and that her husband won’t be able to teach him how to play ice hockey, ride a bike or drive.

“How many more police officers and how many more families need to make the ultimate sacrifice before we start protecting them?” she said. “I don’t wish this kind of pain on anyone.”

Guy Rivera, 34, the suspect accused of fatally shooting Diller, was charged with murder of a police officer, attempted murder and criminal possession of a weapon. He was being treated for a gunshot wound to the back after Diller’s partner shot him during the incident. Rivera has yet to be arraigned on the charges.

The second suspect in the incident — 41-year-old Lindy Jones — was charged with criminal possession of a weapon and possession of a defaced firearm. During a court appearance on Wednesday, prosecutors highlighted his history of violent crime and missed court dates in arguing for holding him without bail. The judge agreed that he posed a flight risk and remanded him.

Both suspects have a lengthy criminal history: Jones, who has had 14 prior arrests including attempted murder and robbery, was out on bail in connection to a separate crime, police records indicate. Rivera was previously arrested by the NYPD 21 times, according to police records.

Adams vowed to never forget Diller’s sacrifice.

“We will do everything in our power to ensure that all New Yorkers and police officers live in the safest big city in America,” he said. “We’re going to make sure you have everything you need to do your job, including making sure that violent career criminals are held accountable for their crimes, and doing all we can to end gun violence in this city.”

“That is what Jonathan was committed to doing, and that is what we will continue to do,” the mayor continued.

The funeral followed two days of wakes. Former President Donald Trump attended the wake on Thursday, telling reporters afterward, “What happened is such a sad, sad event, such a horrible thing.”

President Joe Biden spoke to Eric Adams on Thursday to offer his condolences for Diller’s killing, according to the White House.

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(TEXAS) — A 21st birthday party turned deadly when two men in their 20s were fatally shot in San Jacinto City, Texas, according to the Harris County Sheriff’s Office.

The party had about 50 people in attendance and a live band. Police said it was unclear whether the deceased were partygoers or suspects, according to a post from Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on X.

Shots were fired and at least two people were struck. The two were then transported to the hospital where they were pronounced dead, Gonzalez said.

Police initially received a report that a third person was shot dead, but they have not been able to confirm that.

The investigation is still underway and officers remain on the scene.

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(FLORIDA) — Scientists are puzzled over what’s causing hundreds of fish to wash up dead in South Florida, including an endangered species native to the region.

The fish are “spinning and whirling” onto shore in the Florida Keys, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), which is labeling the incident as an “abnormal fish behavior event.”

But there are no signs of a communicable pathogen, the commission published in an update on Wednesday, based on fish necropsy data.

In October, fishers and fishing guides began to notice erratic behavior of fish spinning in circles and upside down, Mike Parsons, professor of marine science at the Water School at Florida Gulf Coast University, told ABC News. The university is working with the FWC, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and other agencies to determine the source of the unusual behavior.

Dissolved oxygen, salinity, pH and temperature are not suspected to be the cause of the fish behavior or kills, according to the FWC. Red tide toxins have not been detected in water samples either.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection conducted a lot of analyses looking for different pollutants, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals and nothing showed up, Parsons said.

A different kind of harmful algal bloom or neurotoxin could be at play, Parsons said, adding that the affected fish stopped spinning when they were placed in “clean” water. Researchers are essentially approaching the tests as a “needle in a haystack,” he said.

“This is unusual,” Parsons said. “We really haven’t seen this before — so trying to figure out what’s going on is a bit of a mystery.”

The critically endangered smalltooth sawfish are the species among the fish deaths that marine researchers are most concerned with, Adam Brame, NOAA Fisheries’ sawfish recovery coordinator, told ABC News. NOAA Fisheries has launched an emergency response effort due to the sawfish deaths and is attempting to rescue sick sawfish — an complex effort that has never been attempted before, according to the agency.

Additional sawfish tissues are still being processed for analysis, according to the FWC, which sent 52 fish, including and 12 smalltooth sawfish to University of South Alabama for analyses.

While researchers have several theories on what could be causing the unusual fish behavior, it is too soon to speculate, Brame added.

“As it stands currently, it’s a mystery that’s yet to be solved,” he said.

Dozens of carcasses of smalltooth sawfish have been among the piles of dead fish, according to the FWC.

There have been at least 28 confirmed sawfish mortalities and 265 reports to the hotline for fish deaths, according to data from the FWC.

Most of the sawfish mortalities have been in the lower Florida Keys, but wildlife agencies have begun to get reports of sawfish displaying similar symptoms outside of the Keys, including near Everglades National Park, Brame said.

NOAA Fisheries has been getting regular reports of affected sawfish since January, Brame added. Health officials are warning residents to not eat any spinning fish or fish caught in areas where spinning fish were reported, Parsons said.

It is unclear how many smalltooth sawfish are left in the wild, Brame said. They historically ranged from North Carolina to Texas, but they are now only found regularly in South Florida.

The population of this species was decimated as sawfish were captured in fishery bycatches, Brame said. Coastal development has also impacted their habitat, as they rely on shallow steam waters for their nurseries.

“It reduces the amount of habitat that’s available for these mothers to come in and concert them,” Brame said.

The smalltooth sawfish was the first marine fish to receive protections under the Endangered Species Act in 2003.

Genetic analysis of the species has shown that a limited number of breeding females could be the reason why the smalltooth sawfish population has been unable to recover quickly, Brame said.

Brame stressed the importance of public participation and urged anyone who sees unusual behavior to report it to the hotline at 1-844-4SAWFISH (1-844-472-9347) or Sawfish@myfwc.com.

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(NEW YORK) — Gas prices have surged higher at the outset of 2024, stressing household budgets and complicating efforts to cool inflation.

Since the beginning of the year, the average national price for a gallon of unleaded regular gas has jumped nearly 14%, amounting to an increase of more than 40 cents per gallon, according to AAA data shared with ABC News.

In some states, prices have climbed dramatically over the past month. In Utah, the average price of a gallon of gas has increased by 60 cents, while prices over that same period have jumped 55 cents in Alaska and 43 cents in Oregon, AAA data showed.

Drivers may be distressed by the eye-popping price hikes but they roughly match the typical bounce in spring, when warm-weather travelers drive up demand and refineries switch to a more expensive blend of summer fuel, analysts told ABC News.

“Prices are doing what they always do: rise in the spring,” Andrew Gross, a spokesperson at AAA, told ABC News.

“Spring break travel is here,” Patrick de Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told ABC News. “This is the time of year Americans start using more gasoline.”

Alongside that uptick in demand, refineries have begun shifting to a more expensive, less-polluting blend of summer fuel. The summer blend accounts for changing weather conditions in an effort to mitigate environmental impacts, de Haan said.

Over the past six years, excluding a pandemic-related anomaly in 2020, gas prices in the U.S. have risen an average of nearly 50 cents between Jan. 1 and late March, de Haan said.

“We’re basically right on par with what we tend to see,” de Haan said.

Gross, of AAA, differed slightly, saying gas prices are seven cents higher than they were at this same point last year. However, Gross said he expects the gap between this year and last year to close within the next two weeks as price increases moderate.

The added cost, however, arrives at an inopportune time for U.S. consumers. Inflation ticked up in February, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) data showed, offering the latest sign that the path toward lower inflation has struck a rough patch.

Energy and housing costs accounted for more than 60% of the overall price increases last month, the BLS said.

Price increases have cooled dramatically from an inflationary peak of about 9%, but inflation still stands more than a percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.

Additionally, a range of factors could exacerbate gasoline price increases in the coming months, analysts said. Crude oil, the key component in gasoline, accounts for more than half of the price, and oil prices have climbed so far this year, owing to supply limitations and geopolitical unrest, de Haan said.

The U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures price has jumped 16% since Jan. 1, reaching $83 a barrel on Friday.

The Atlantic hurricane season from June to November also risks damage to major refineries in Louisiana and Texas, de Haan said. “There can be disruptions,” he added.

Looking ahead, de Haan said gas prices will rise further as the summer nears but he doesn’t expect the peak national average to exceed $4 a gallon.

Fortunately, the spike in consumption over recent months will reverse itself in the fall as temperatures drop, bringing supply and demand into better balance, de Haan said.

“By the end of the year, lower gas prices will return,” he said.

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(NEW YORK) — Electrical engineer Katya Echazarreta made history nearly two years ago when she became the first Mexican woman in space.

Echazarreta was aboard Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight as part of The Space For Humanity initiative.

Before that feat, she was already a star through her viral social media posts about her field.

Echazarreta spoke with ABC News’ Phil Lipof about her career.

ABC NEWS LIVE: I guess just first off, because so many people would like to know what it’s like [in space]. What was it like?

KATYA ECHAZARRETA: Thank you so much. First of all, thank you so much for having me and truly this experience, I really wish I could put it into words. I wish I could explain it in such a way that people would be able to understand the full magnitude and extent of it. But really, just to sum it up: It is the most incredible and beautiful experience a human being can have.

ABC NEWS LIVE: I can only imagine there are so many people who would love to have that experience, and you really can never truly understand it until you’re there in some situation. So I get what you’re saying.

From your early days in Guadalajara, Mexico, to your work with NASA and pursuit of a master’s degree in electrical engineering, when did your passion for reaching the stars first take flight? When did you set your sight on doing that?

ECHAZARRETA: Well, I really love that question because for me, I made my official final decision at just 7 years old. That is the age when I just decided and I started telling my parents, started telling everyone, and from that moment on, my mind did not change.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And that’s amazing. And, and there you were. You also lead the Katya Echazarreta Space Foundation known for its educational initiatives like the Air and Space Camp. Talk to us a little bit about your mission, your second year of camps in Mexico.

ECHAZARRETA: Yes. So all of this started after I came back from my experience in space. This for me, this experience is something that I thought was going to take me the rest of my life.

And so when you’re 26 years old and the mission you have for the rest of your life, you’ve already achieved it, what’s next?

And I actually had an amazing conversation with the vice president. And she said to me, you know, I really relate to what you are going through, what you will go through. Because for people like us or the first to do something, the job is not to be the first. The pride and the honor is not in being the first, but in making sure you’re not the last. So that’s why we decided to create these camps and these training educational programs for people of my own community.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Well, you’re not just an electrical engineer and a citizen astronaut. You’ve graced the covers of Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, Vogue in Mexico. Plus, you were Glamour’s “Woman of the Year,” and you even have your own Barbie. That’s amazing. How do you use this diverse career that you’ve had so far in your life to sort of challenge stereotypes?

ECHAZARRETA: I think that the last portion of what you just mentioned is so important and it’s so vital to our entire mission.

Part of breaking down those stereotypes has also been breaking them down within myself first.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Back home, you were told this dream of yours would never come true. And I know for so many people, that can be one of the best motivators. As we conclude Women’s History Month, what message do you have for young girls out there beyond those aspiring to join STEM fields?

ECHAZARRETA: I think the biggest message is just no one is going to hand you opportunities out of the blue. If you want something, and that thing that you want is very large and sometimes larger than life itself, then you are going to be the one that has to go out there and believe in yourself first.

I really just want to encourage all women to think that way, that maybe that one dream that you have for you is just the biggest thing you can come up with. Maybe that’s not the biggest thing you will achieve if you truly commit and really believe in what you can do.

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(NEW YORK) — “The Godmother” of Manhattan’s go-to spot for everything bling has neither a cat nor cannolis, but she has cemented her position as a leading jeweler in a field dominated by men.

Kerri Lavine, who earned her nickname after a photo captured her holding a cognac snifter in one hand and a cigar in the other, has been a longtime jeweler in the Diamond District, a strip of 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues that is home to over 2,600 businesses, according to the Diamond District Partnership, a business improvement coalition.

Lavine, the co-owner of Diamanti NYC who has been a jeweler for over 43 years, told ABC News that her business has always been a hustle — not only because she had to compete in one of the busiest jewelry shopping districts in the world, but also in an industry controlled by men.

“The only thing that matters is your reputation. You have one chance to give a first impression. If you lose that opportunity, it ruins you forever,” she said.

As more women get into the business and set up shop in the district, some are taking their hustle to new avenues and adding their own chapter to the district’s legacy.

The Diamond District has encompassed several locations in Manhattan since the 18th century, but its 47th Street location has been around since the 1940s, according to the Diamond District Partnership.

Some European Jewish refugees who fled to New York set up shops in the district and many of them are still in operation, the partnership said.

Lavine said that while the stores may have more modern amenities, such as lavish lights, more high-tech security and web retail options, owners still follow a lot of the old-time traditions of working with customers to find the right item and, more importantly, a bargain.

“Everything was always done on a handshake in our business. It was like you shook a hand, [and] you said ‘mazal,’ [it] meant the deal is done,” she said.

Lavine, who said she once had to duck for cover during a shootout in the district in the 1980s, said she has no intention of retiring.

“They’ll take me out in a wooden box on 47th Street because I don’t look at it going to work as a job,” she said.

She added that she’s excited by the growth of female jewelers in the area, including one of her younger colleagues, Julia Azeroual.

Azeroual, who specializes in watches, told ABC News that she’s drawn to the hustle of the industry and also feels pride in putting her own stamp on a sale.

“I came from nowhere, and I’m a woman and I put my name on it,” she said.

Azeroual said she, too, anticipates the challenge of working in a male-dominated industry

“And having the respect on men, that they’re like 20 years in the block. It’s the best thing ever. Your ego goes up,” she said.

And Azeroual’s talents go far beyond 47th Street. She started social media accounts for herself, Lavine and the store and they quickly took off, especially on TikTok.

Videos of the jewelers feature them showing off their bling, talking about their expertise and sharing their personalities to a new audience.

Lavine said she is pleasantly surprised when very young customers come in and recognize her from social media.

“The young kids today come to me like I’m their mother. ‘Help me. Talk to me. You’re the OG,'” she said, referring to the term “original gangster,” describing someone who has a pioneering impact on an industry.

Azeroual said her goal was to get more women in the watch industry and to become an even bigger seller than she is now.

“I would like to inspire more women in the business, to be honest, and to grow,” she said. “And to be first successful watch dealer woman on 47th Street or in the word, who knows?”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Environmental Protection Agency announced its new emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles on Friday, which the agency claims will avoid 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions.

The move comes in an election year when the Biden-Harris campaign is working to demonstrate achievements in their climate agenda.

The new standards impact vehicles such as freight trucks and buses manufactured for model years 2027-2032. This follows last week’s announcement of updated standards for light and medium-duty vehicles.

“In finalizing these emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles like trucks and buses, EPA is significantly cutting pollution from the hardest working vehicles on the road,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in a news release. “Building on our recently finalized rule for light- and medium-duty vehicles, EPA’s strong and durable vehicle standards respond to the urgency of the climate crisis by making deep cuts in emissions from the transportation sector.”

The new performance-based standards reduce the allowed emissions across manufacturer fleets, but are technology-neutral, according to the EPA. This means manufacturers can utilize different combinations of emissions control technologies in order to meet the emissions requirements, including advanced internal combustion engines, hybrids, battery electric vehicles and others.

Over the period covered by the new standards, model years 2027-2032, the required emissions reductions will gradually increase each year.

The administration noted in its announcement of the new rules that heavy-duty vehicles are “vital to the United States economy,” but said that they do create about 25% of greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector.

“The 1 billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions avoided by these standards is equivalent to the emissions from more than 13 million tanker trucks’ worth of gasoline,” the EPA said in the release. “With this action, the Biden-Harris Administration is continuing to deliver on the most ambitious climate agenda in history while advancing a historic commitment to environmental justice.”

American Lung Association President and CEO Harold Wimmer celebrated the announcement in a statement on Friday.

“Transportation is the largest source of pollution driving climate change. These strong standards that will help drive toward a zero-emission future for trucks, buses and other heavy-duty vehicles are a critical part of the solution The American Lung Association celebrates this new rule, which will improve the health of people across the U.S.,” Wimmer wrote.

The administration estimates the new standards will also provide $13 billion in net societal benefits via savings related to public health, the climate and for truck owners and operators.

“EPA’s clean truck standards will cut one billion metric tons of climate pollution by 2055. They’ll also reduce smog-forming nitrogen oxides by 53,000 tons in 2055,” the Environmental Defense Fund noted. “And they’ll save our country money — $3.5 billion in average annual savings for fleets, $300 million in average annual health benefits and $13 billion in total annual societal benefits.”

The Heavy-Duty Leadership Group, a self-described “informal alliance of the nation’s leading heavy-duty manufacturers and supply companies,” responded to the new standards Friday, emphasizing their own commitment to reducing emissions from their products. The companies also credited the EPA’s prior rules for “accelerating the industry’s adoption of advanced technologies while minimizing market disruption.”

Cynthia Williams, Ford Motor Company’s global director of sustainability, homologation and compliance, said the EPA’s new rule is “challenging,” but that “Ford is working aggressively to meet the moment.”

“Our industry is making important progress to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in both light- and heavy-duty vehicles,” Williams said in a statement. “We also need policymakers to pair emission standards with incentives and public investment so that we can continue to deliver on the next generation of vehicles and for our nation to lead the future of this industry.”

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