(NEW YORK) — Interstate 10 in Los Angeles re-opened Sunday night following a fire that led to its closure the prior weekend, officials said.
“ALL LANES ARE NOW OPEN ON INTERSTATE 10 BETWEEN ALAMEDA ST. AND THE EAST LA INTERCHANGE,” the California Highway Patrol announced in a post on X Sunday night.
At a press conference earlier in the day, Vice President Kamala Harris saif the freeway was close to opening.
“Tomorrow, the commute is back on,” Harris said during the Sunday press conference alongside California Gov. Gavin Newsom, LA Mayor Karen Bass and local officials.
Meanwhile, authorities are seeking to identify a person of interest in connection with the fire, which damaged a large portion of the I-10 freeway near downtown Los Angeles last week.
Cal Fire officials said the fire, which was reported shortly after midnight on Nov. 11, was determined to be arson.
Cal Fire released photos of a person of interest sought in the alleged arson. The individual was described as a man of unknown race, approximately 6′ tall and 170 to 190 pounds. The person was captured on surveillance footage wearing a black hoodie, blue shorts, gray shoes, a green scarf, a knee brace on his right knee, and a dark backpack.
“The subject appeared to have visible burn injuries on his left leg,” Cal Fire said in an alert on Saturday.
The person left the immediate area of the I-10 freeway and Alameda Street and has not been located, Cal Fire said.
The fire broke out underneath the I-10 — a major east-to-west artery for the city — and ripped through numerous wooden pallets, trailers, and vehicles stored below the raised interstate, officials said previously. The out-of-control fire burned for three hours and spread over what authorities described as the equivalent of six football fields before it was extinguished. More than 160 firefighters responded to put out the blaze.
About 16 people living underneath the highway were evacuated to shelters, officials said.
A stretch of I-10 freeway between Alameda Street and the East Los Angeles interchange had been closed since the fire.
A 250-person crew is currently working 24 hours a day at the site to shore up damaged pillars and replace wood posts and steel beams, the California Department of Transportation said.
(WASHINGTON) — A Washington, D.C., appeals court will hear arguments Monday regarding former President Donald Trump’s limited gag order in his federal election interference case.
The hearing, before a panel of judges, is Trump’s latest effort to lift the limited gag order issued by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that prohibits Trump from making or reposting statements statements “publicly targeting” special counsel Jack Smith and his staff, as well as targeting the judge’s staff and the staff of other D.C. district court personnel.
At the moment, the appeals court has paused the order as Trump continues to fight it.
Trump’s lawyers argue that the limited gag order violates his First Amendment rights, while the special counsel has urged the judge to impose restrictions on Trump in order to protect potential jurors.
During the hearing on Monday, Trump’s attorneys and prosecutors will each get 20 minutes to argue their case, according to the court order.
Trump in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election by enlisting a slate of so-called “fake electors,” using the Justice Department to conduct “sham election crime investigations,” trying to enlist the vice president to “alter the election results,” and promoting false claims of a stolen election as the Jan. 6 riot raged — all in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.”
Chutkan issued the limited gag order last month after Trump made comments and online posts that included calling Smith “deranged” and a “thug.”
Last week, a New York appeals court temporarily lifted a similar limited gag order imposed by Judge Arthur Engoron in Trump’s civil fraud trial, citing constitutional concerns over Trump’s free speech rights.
“Considering the constitutional and statutory rights at issue, an interim stay is granted,” New York Judge Friedman of the appellate division’s first department wrote in his order.
Americans are bracing for inclement weather during one of the busiest holiday travel weeks of the year.
A potent storm will be making its way across the country as travelers make their way to their Thanksgiving destinations.
Heavy snow will begin to fall in the Rocky Mountains on Sunday, leading to a foot or more in some of the highest elevations, forecasts show. Winter alerts have been posted for much of Utah, as well as parts of Colorado and Arizona.
Gusty winds could also pose potential problems for a large swath of the West, forecasts show. Wind alerts are in effect for nearly 16 million Americans on Sunday, with gusts approaching 50 mph this afternoon in some regions.
Severe weather threats are possible elsewhere in the country over the next several days. Oklahoma may be seeing a few strong thunderstorms on Sunday, but the bulk of the threats will begin on Monday.
A severe weather outbreak is likely across parts of the South on Monday, with powerful storms expected from eastern Texas through Louisiana and Arkansas and eventually into Mississippi. Damaging winds, large hail and scattered tornadoes are the main concerns.
As this large storm system moves eastward, it’ll bring cool and wet weather to much of the East.
Travel will likely be disrupted for millions of people as moderate to heavy rain falls on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Snow could lead to a white Thanksgiving from the Adirondacks in New York to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Maine.
Colder air will move in once the storm subsides.
Temperatures will be into the 20s and 30s by Thanksgiving morning for much of the northern half of the country. There will be enough of a gusty breeze to knock those wind chills into the teens in a few locations.
The pandemic created an education crisis in America, with more than 25% of students nationwide chronically absent, missing 10% or more of classes, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The places most affected by truancy are Alaska, with 49% of students chronically absent; followed by Washington, D.C., with 48%, and New Mexico with 40%, according to a Stanford University study.
In Nashville, Tennessee, school officials have created a truancy court to address chronic absenteeism. If a student fails to show up to the classroom for more than 15 days, they can be called to a truancy court. The state has 20% chronic absenteeism.
“Absenteeism creates gaps in learning,” Carol Brown, the Director of Attendance for the Metro Nashville Public Schools, told ABC News. “It’s so important for families and students to understand that you got to be in class every single day. You know, again, that’s our motto with our ‘Attendance Matters’ campaign. Attendance matters all day, every day. That means being on time to school and staying all day.”
“So, we do utilize truancy court as an intervention,” Brown told ABC News. “Often it is the last intervention and a way to support families.”
“For students and families that are summoned to court, that simply means now you have to come in front of the magistrate and maybe talk through why you weren’t able to come to school, what barriers you’re facing, what supports you may need, and then again, how we can best support you,” she said.
Brown works directly with the Metro Student Attendance Center, which runs the truancy court. She says that speaking to the magistrate isn’t necessarily a punishment, but rather a way for the system to better understand why a student is facing the obstacles that are preventing them from attending class.
Magistrate Alan Calhoun presides over truancy cases in Nashville.
“All their circumstances are different,” Calhoun said of the students and parents who appear in his courtroom. “You can be very different with a 16-year-old than you can with a parent of a 9-year-old who’s missing school. They’re oftentimes very different problems.”
Calhoun says the more school a student misses, the more they are likely to drop out of school entirely. In 2021, there were 2 million dropouts nationwide, down from 2.8 million in 2010.
“So even if you miss a lot of school when you’re in second grade, it can be a red flag for your odds of graduating high school,” Calhoun said. “When you see kids who are slipping through the cracks, that’s lost potential to me. And it’s the sad thing that you don’t want to see.”
Calhoun says the team he works with comes up with strategies for each student. The Metro Nashville Public Schools and the Juvenile Court work with community organizations to ensure each family gets help – if someone is experiencing homelessness, that student and their family is then connected to the necessary support systems in the community.
But Calhoun says that sometimes the solution to going to school is simple – it’s finding joy.
“The one thing that they always say is my school attendance problem was fixed because my student is enjoying school more,” Calhoun said. “It’s typically a welcoming school environment where a kid is valued. And so, in the end, if I could say one thing, it’s you’ve got to figure out ways to make those connections.”
But Sonya Douglass, a professor of education and leadership, says she’s personally disappointed by the current education system.
“I think we continue to focus on what students aren’t doing and why they aren’t doing it, and not looking at the real source of the problem, which is the system that we have created,” said Douglass, who is founding director of the Black Education Research Collective at Teachers College of Columbia University. “And so, it’s time to reimagine that system and change it to adapt to the needs of the 21st century.”
“The education system is working for some and not for others,” Douglass told ABC News.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, dropout rates vary by race and ethnicity. In 2021, the total dropout rate for 16- to 24-year-olds was 5.2%. Whites dropped out at a rate of 4.1%, while Blacks and Hispanics dropped out at a rate of 5.9% and 7.8%, respectively. American Indians/Alaska Natives dropped out at a rate of 10.2%.
Across the nation, both federal and local programs have been put into play to try to address the issues of truancy. In Los Angeles, school superintendent Alberto Carvalho has gone door to door; in Alabama, signs stressing the importance of attendance are displayed on front lawns; in Philadelphia, local programs have been established that send out text messages to potentially truant youths’ parents.
“I think that although local communities are doing a lot to increase student attendance, we really have to spend more time understanding the root causes,” Douglass said. “The research has shown that they are so varied, and it really depends on the community and the individual student. And so, until we really identify the root cause, it’s going to be hard to engage in activities that are going to bring students to school.”
While absenteeism is not new, the COVID-19 pandemic amplified the problem. Students are missing school for myriad reasons, at a higher rate. Experts point to sickness, anxiety, depression, taking care of a sibling, transportation and homelessness as common reasons why students fail to keep showing up to school.
“There’s a wide range of reasons why students may miss school,” Douglass said. “We are now at a moment where we need to determine what the future of public education is in this country. What type of nation do we want to be? And what type of public education system do we need to create to make that a reality? And so we’re at a crossroads, if you will.”
ABC News’ Byron Pitts, Lizann Robinson, Mack Muldofsky, Lauren DiMundo, Caroline Kucera, and Deb Jones contributed to this report.
One year ago, five people were killed in a shooting at an LGBTQ nightclub that left a small Colorado community grieving: Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Raymond Green Vance, Ashley Paugh.
More than a dozen others were also injured in the shooting.
ABC News went to Colorado Springs earlier this year to speak with survivors about their recovery, resilience and stories about the ones they lost in the tragedy.
Friends, family, and community members described Aston’s wit, Loving’s fighting spirit, Rump’s humor, Vance’s soft nature, and Paugh’s charisma.
Daniel Davis Aston, 28
Daniel, a bartender at Club Q, was someone people could open up to, according to his close friends and partner.
“He just had these ways of creeping under your skin and making you feel safe and at home,” said his partner and Club Q shooting survivor, Wyatt Kent.
Daniel was hailed as a star writer, who wrote poems and letters that now leave his loved ones in tears.
“I wish my hands can speak so they could say what it is that lights my every fiber on fire when I touch your face,” Kent said, reciting one of Daniel’s poems. Kent found the poem wrapped in bubble and plastic wrap on the windshield of his car while he was at work.
“He had the ability to appreciate the tiniest of things,” said Kent. “He was too good.”
Daniel lived across the way from Hysteria Brooks, a drag queen who also worked at Club Q. Brooks was all smiles and laughter when reminiscing on their friendship.
“Daniel would always come over with a six pack of beers and he would just sit there and drink and I would drink wine and we would just talk for hours on end,” Brooks said.
Daniel, a transgender man, acted as a resource for the LGBTQ community in the Springs by directing people to the right resources, raising money for trans people in need, and answering questions about trans-affirming care.
“That man wanted a sense of community so bad that he was willing to build it from the ground up himself if he needed to,” said Brooks.
They continued, “I can’t say enough good things about him. He was what I consider to be one of the most queer people, like he loved anything queer, queer art, queer people, he just he lived for it all.”
Derrick Rump, 38
Derrick, as a bartender at Club Q, was there for many pivotal moments for LGBTQ residents in the Springs.
Derrick was the first person John Arcediano met when he moved there from New York, a welcoming face in a new city eager to hear his stories.
“Derrick and [Daniel’s] presence really created that sense of community there,” said Arcediano.
Derrick was also the bartender for Svetlana Haim’s first ever date with a woman. She smiles as she tells the story, which marked the beginnings of a close friendship.
“I remember, I’d gotten a little tipsy because I was nervous … I’d gone up to him, and I went, ‘you see that girl? I’m on a date. Do you think she likes me?’ He goes, ‘I don’t know, you got to ask her!'”
He was described as both sassy and sweet — who loved drama but was a “protector” of his friends, according to Brooks.
Ashtin Gamblin, one of his close friends, joked that she and Derrick were running themselves poor with the amount of things they did together.
“Derrick was the only person that I had out here when my husband deployed,” said Gamblin, whose husband was deployed in the U.S. military overseas. “He was my partner in crime.”
Raymond Green Vance, 22
Raymond’s family still expects him to walk into the room at any moment, popping up out of the blue as he used to do.
“He just comes home and he was just full of life and happiness,” said Estella Bell.
Raymond was a gentle giant — a tall, soft-spoken man full of life and dreams, his mother and grandparents told ABC News. He had a long-term girlfriend and had recently started a new job that he enjoyed.
“He was such a big man, but a big heart, kind heart,” said Adriana Vance, his mother. “Very popular in school, lots of friends. He was a great big brother.”
His little brother Marcus used to climb on Vance and “beat up on him” and Raymond would “just act like he wasn’t even doing anything to him,” said Adriana.
But that soft-spoken nature went away when he was playing video games, they remember fondly: “He was a battalion commander, shouting orders,” said his grandfather, Ron Bell.
Raymond had a thirst for travel — often traveling with his grandparents and immersing himself in the activities they did together.
“Life was just beautiful to him,” said his grandmother.
They continued to learn more about Raymond after he passed, hearing new stories about friends they had never met.
“The stories we heard about how he had affected other people were just — we couldn’t really wrap our head around it,” said Ron Bell. “I met so many people that were his friends. And so in a way he kind of left his own legacy.”
Kelly Loving, 40
Kelly had marked new chapters in her life just before the tragedy, according to her loved ones. She had just turned 40 and had recently moved to Colorado.
As a transgender woman, she was excited to get involved with the LGBTQ community in the Springs, according to her friend Natalee Skye Bingham.
Natalee says Kelly “taught me a lot about my whole transition and is someone I look up to in the community, it’s really hitting home, it’s hurting more and more.”
Kelly’s sister, Tiffany Loving, remembered her as “my compass, my best friend, my sister,” she said in her victim impact statement following the sentencing of the shooter who killed the five victims.
Kelly “loved herself and wanted others to unapologetically be themselves,” her sister said.
“Just like that my sister became a number of a violent statistic,” she said, pointing to the disproportionate rate of violence and victimization facing the transgender community around the world.
Ashley Paugh, 35
“Ashley was an amazing woman who always showed so much love and kindness toward people,” Ashley’s sister, Stephanie Clark, said in her victim impact statement following the sentencing of the shooter.
Ashley, who is survived by her husband and daughter, worked at a nonprofit called Kids Crossing that helps find homes for foster children, her husband told The Denver Post.
The non-profit honored and commended her work following her tragic death.
“Ashley served our Kids Crossing families with so much love and kindness,” said Kids Crossing in an online post. “She was always someone our families trusted and wanted to talk to. Her love for kids never went unnoticed and she would go above and beyond to make sure every child felt safe and loved. Our love and prayers are with her family.”
Her nephew told ABC News in a past interview that Ashley “was a very caring, compassionate woman; she loved her job, it was a passion.”
“She put her all into being a mother, wife, and a truly loving charismatic family member all around the board,” he said. “She loved the outdoors growing up hunting and fishing… she had just harvested a nice whitetail deer a week and half before this horrific incident.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Authorities are seeking to identify a person of interest in connection with a fire that damaged a large portion of the 1-10 freeway near downtown Los Angeles last week.
Cal Fire officials said the fire, which was reported shortly after midnight on Nov. 11, was determined to be arson.
Cal Fire released photos of a person of interest sought in the alleged arson. The individual was described as a man of unknown race, approximately 6′ tall and 170 to 190 pounds. The person was captured on surveillance footage wearing a black hoodie, blue shorts, grey shoes, a green scarf, a knee brace on his right knee, and a dark backpack.
“The subject appeared to have visible burn injuries on his left leg,” Cal Fire said in an alert on Saturday.
The person left the immediate area of the 1-10 freeway and Alameda Street and has not been located, Cal Fire said.
The fire broke out underneath the I-10 — a major east-to-west artery for the city — and ripped through numerous wooden pallets, trailers, and vehicles stored below the raised interstate, officials said previously. The out-of-control fire burned for three hours and spread over what authorities described as the equivalent of six football fields before it was extinguished. More than 160 firefighters responded to put out the blaze.
About 16 people living underneath the highway were evacuated to shelters, officials said.
A stretch of 1-10 between Alameda Street and the East Los Angeles interchange has been closed since the fire.
The freeway is on track to reopen by Tuesday, “weeks ahead of schedule,” the California Department of Transportation said in an update on Saturday.
A 250-person crew is currently working 24 hours a day at the site to shore up damaged pillars and replace wood posts and steal beams, the agency said.
(BOCA CHICA, Texas) — SpaceX launched its Starship rocket Saturday morning for the deep-space vehicle’s second test flight, during which the booster exploded after separating and the spacecraft apparently detonated after reaching space.
SpaceX officials said the mega rocket — which is designed to bring NASA astronauts to the moon — successfully lifted off from Boca Chica, Texas, under the power of all 33 engines. The booster then successfully separated from the spacecraft before shortly experiencing what SpaceX called a “rapid unscheduled disassembly” and exploding.
Starship’s engines continued to fire for several minutes on its way to space until SpaceX lost data from the second stage of the rocket, SpaceX officials said during a livestream. The spacecraft appears to have detonated, officials said.
“The automated flight termination system on second stage appears to have triggered very late in the burn as we were headed downrange out over the Gulf of Mexico,” aerospace engineer John Insprucker said during the livestream.
SpaceX congratulated its team on a successful lift-off and booster separation, which comes months after the booster failed to separate during the first flight test.
“With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today’s test will help us improve Starship’s reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary,” SpaceX said on X on Saturday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said no injuries or public property damage have been reported after a “mishap” occurred during the launch, resulting in the loss of the vehicle.
The FAA said it will oversee a mishap investigation led by SpaceX to determine the root cause of the event and ways to prevent it from happening again.
SpaceX will not be able to conduct a third Starship flight test until the FAA determines there is no risk to public safety. SpaceX will also need to submit a request to modify its license to add flights, the FAA said.
During the first test in April, the rocket was forced to self-destruct about three minutes after liftoff when the boosters failed to separate.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and NASA administrator Bill Nelson congratulated those involved following the second test flight.
“Spaceflight is a bold adventure demanding a can-do spirit and daring innovation,” Nelson said in a statement on X. “Today’s test is an opportunity to learn — then fly again.”
“Together @NASA and @SpaceX will return humanity to the Moon, Mars & beyond,” he continued.
Starship is designed to carry passengers to the moon and Mars as part of NASA’s Artemis program, and eventually will take 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights.
ABC News’ Gina Sunseri and Gio Benitez contributed to this report.
(BALTIMORE) — At 15, Tyeeshia Cannady had to leave school when she became a mother.
The 33-year-old Baltimore resident, even though she had help from her parents, had to focus on work to keep her children safe and healthy.
Today, the mother of seven is getting a second chance through a new program.
Cannady attends classes at the Goodwill Excel Center in downtown Baltimore to earn her high school diploma at no cost. She told “Nightline” that this is the first time she has caught a break since she dropped out.
“I’ve been trying to get my GED for a while, but life has happened in between,” she said. “There was no support…I put it on the back burner for so long.”
The Baltimore Excel Center opened in September and is funded by a mix of donations, state and federal funding. It provides adults who once dropped out of high school with classes, career planning and other services to finish their high school degree, like day care to provide that support.
Cannady said she has felt welcomed by the facility’s staff.
“I’m not just a student. My kids are not just a number… I’m not just a number to the school. I am a person here. My children are people here,” she said.
Goodwill has opened over three dozen Excel Centers across the country, and is open to all ages.
Experts say there is an ongoing need for these types of facilities.
Cannady was one of more than 420,000 students who dropped out in the 2006-2007 school year, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Since then, 7 million or more young people have withdrawn from high school, according to the data.
Sonya Douglass, an associate professor of Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University, told “Nightline” that people without high school diplomas face an uphill battle for employment.
The median weekly income for someone who doesn’t complete high school is roughly 25% less than a high school graduate, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
“It’s very important that learners are able to complete school so that they don’t run into those challenges,” Douglass said.
Ashley Gaines-Seay, a life coach at Excel, told “Nightline” that she has seen a lot of students who come from families where no one earned a high school diploma, and that has held them back.
“We see that it’s kind of a pattern within the families and they really want to break those cycles,” she said.
Shamar Rice, a 22-year-old Excel student, told “Nightline” that he was among that group, revealing that his mother and brother both dropped out of high school.
Rice said he was bullied at school and couldn’t stay motivated to go to classes.
He is pursuing acting, has appeared on television and has recently been accepted to a performing arts school in Los Angeles, but cannot attend until he gets his high school diploma.
“I will be breaking a generational curse in my family,” Rice said of finishing high school.
Cannady also said that her goal of completing high school goes beyond the diploma.
She has over come a lot in the years since she dropped out of school. One of her children was murdered by a boyfriend who abused her, and she has worked hard to take care of her family.
Completing this goal would be a personal accomplishment that showed she persevered, Cannady said.
“I don’t want to leave this Earth and the only thing is like, “Oh, she just had children. She didn’t finish school. She just had children,'” she said. “Now it’s like, ‘She had children, but she also went back to school. She completed school.'”
ABC News’ Kyle Rollins, Stephanie Lorenzo and Jada Clarke also contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — When Ben Greene speaks to transgender support groups across the country, he said he references his wedding ring, his high spirits and his beard. He told ABC News he does this to serve as an example for transgender youth that a bright future lies ahead of them.
“All those examples and stories of trans people that we see are really tragic,” Greene, 24, a transgender advocate and author, said. “It doesn’t occur to them that there are just happy trans adults living their lives out there.”
Support groups have been a lifeline for many in the transgender community who may face isolation and discrimination in other circles.
Transgender people are more likely to experience mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression or suicidal thoughts than their cisgender peers, studies have shown. This is often due to discrimination from both social and political forces, as well as gender dysphoria.
Greene said that anti-transgender rhetoric makes it seem as though transgender people “have a lot of depression because we’re trans — which, to be clear, we have depression because of the way the world treats us for being trans,” said Greene.
But support groups for youth, for adults, or for parents of LGBTQ youth can ease these burdens. Studies have shown that support from the trans community, as well as family and friends, can greatly improve mental health outcomes for transgender people and could be a key factor in one’s resilience.
In these groups there are weekly or monthly regular attendees, as well as new, shy parents of transgender youth and eager and nervous transgender youth looking for answers about the transgender community.
These meetings offer a safe, often confidential space for people to talk about their identity, to ask questions and to ask for advice without judgment, members say.
In states where anti-transgender legislation and stigma is rife, some say it’s a necessity to find that kind of community.
Regional LGBTQ advocacy groups, like Greene’s PFLAG chapter in Missouri and Jennifer Wilcox’s support group called Trans North Alabama, are often a vital resource to host these in-person or online meetings when resources are lacking elsewhere.
Wilcox, an organizer for the support group, told ABC News that even having people to point you in the direction for trans-affirming or safe services such as hair care can ease anxieties.
“When I picked my name, it was like, ‘well, nobody has called me that name before.’ So it was a way to try out a name,” Wilcox said. “And then trying out like different kinds of like gender expression, like I started dressing differently and things like that and the support group was really helpful for that.”
She continued, “There’s a lot of pressure put on trans people where you’re expected to conform to whatever gender you were assigned at birth … having a support group, I think, is really helpful for having like a safe space to kind of express yourself more openly.”
Brit, a support group member from Alabama who is nonbinary and asked to be identified by only their first name for safety reasons, grew up in a very strict and traditional household. They didn’t get to explore their identity until much later in life, and were left with many questions, searching on the internet and relying on the trans people they knew for answers.
Social media helped them connect with support groups like Trans North Alabama, which has led to connections that will last a lifetime — a chosen family.
“I’ve never been part of a more generous community,” they said. “I’ve joked that we pass around the same $20 to help each other out.”
They have since moved out of the state, citing increasingly hostile legislation against transgender identities, such as anti-trans sports bans.
The transgender community is small — with some estimates showing that they make up less than 1% of the population over the age of 13, according to research from the University of California, Los Angeles.
However, the demographic has dominated recent political conversation, which Greene said can make it seem like so many people are against the transgender community.
“Most people are not leading with hate in the way it might feel like they are,” Greene said. “I have seen the number of people in this country who are leading with curiosity or who are leading with love, who have questions and want to learn more, but I don’t find hate in every corner of this country.”
He said that’s why it’s important to be surrounded by people who are safe and supportive, to remind ourselves of the community that’s out there waiting with open arms. Representation is important, he adds.
Greene remembers when he was young — about 18 years old — and he saw a trans actor play a trans character in a plot that included a happy ending, and it brought him to tears.
He thought at the time: “Everything I do from this moment onwards is going to be to the goal of being that for as many people as possible because that interaction changed everything for me.”
Brit reminds readers that transgender people are looking to live safely and happily — just like everyone else, they said.
“We’re just people,” said Brit. “There is no difference between me and the person next door. Except for, you know, maybe I have a hobby that they don’t have.”
(LAGUNA HILLS, Calif.) — A bartender has been charged with the murder of a 27-year-old woman after she was found beaten to death with a fire extinguisher and her body was left on a construction site with a sandbag covering her head, police said.
The suspect, Dino Rojas-Moreno, a 26-year-old bartender from Laguna Hills, California, was arrested after the body of 27-year-old Tatum Goodwin was discovered on Sunday at about 8:20 a.m. by a worker at a construction site in the 100 block of S. Coast Highway in Laguna Beach.
Goodwin’s body was under a chain link fence on a construction site and a sandbag had been placed on her head at the time of the discovery, according to a statement released on Friday by the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.
“Rojas-Moreno is accused of approaching Goodwin in a nearby parking lot around 1 a.m. that morning and assaulting her near her parked car,” the district attorney’s statement read. “Rojas-Moreno then forcefully dragged her to the rear of the parking lot, down a short alley, and to a secluded area behind a movie theatre that was under construction. Rojas-Moreno is then accused of beating Goodwin to death with a fire extinguisher. Goodwin was found several hours later.”
It is currently unclear whether Goodwin had any prior relationship with Rojas-Moreno but the suspect failed to show up to work the day of the murder after claiming he had been jumped by several men in Santa Ana, authorities said.
“The loss of an innocent life is a travesty for the entire community,” said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. “It is heartbreaking that a young woman with her entire future ahead of her had her life ended in such a brutal way and then discarded like her life never matter. She mattered, and the Orange County District Attorney’s Office is committed to ensuring justice is served.”
Rojas-Moreno has since been charged with one felony count of murder, one felony enhancement of special circumstances of committing the murder in the commission of a kidnapping and one felony enhancement for the personal use of a weapon, a fire extinguisher, according to the district attorney’s office.
Rojas-Moreno is currently being held in custody without bail and he is scheduled to be arraigned at on Monday at the Central Justice Center in Santa Ana.
The investigation into the murder is still ongoing but, if convicted, Rojas-Moreno is eligible for the death penalty.
