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(NEW YORK) — Five months after the massive wildfires destroyed Maui and displaced thousands of residents, many are still facing hurdles when it comes to housing and rebuilding their homes.

Thousands of insurance claims are still being processed, leaving many policyholders with unanswered questions about their claims and not enough funds to cover their growing expenses, according to experts.

Mahealani Strong, a Lahaina native and insurance executive who is overseeing over 1,000 home and auto claims, told ABC News Live that, on average, policyholders need 40% more than what they were insured for “in order to cover the cost to rebuild.”

“Nobody bought their home thinking it would be completely toasted by a fire,” she said. “There are a lot of people that under-bought insurance because they didn’t plan for something like this to happen.”

As the wait continues, some displaced residents said they are feeling desperate as they are running out of options for temporary housing.

“Everything here is so expensive. So I’m just hoping and praying for the best,” Nelan Ceser, a displaced resident who has been living in a hotel shelter since August, told ABC News Live.

As of last October, more than 3,700 homeowners have filed insurance claims in the Maui fire, with nearly 1,500 of those properties suffering a total loss, according to Hawaii’s state insurance division. The agency’s data shows roughly 40% of claim money has not been paid, totaling more than $440 Million.

Strong said she and her team of six have been trying to help policyholders since the day of the fire and trying their best to quell their exasperation with the complicated process.

“I think some of my biggest frustrations are fighting for what I believe they should be getting and getting a kickback or having to wait until it goes through a process,” she said.

Strong said there are some cases where a current policyholder inherited their generational home from a family member and all of the insurance information wasn’t reviewed.

Another roadblock for some was homeowners who moved off the island and rented the home to tenants, but didn’t have the correct policy for rental properties.

Ceser said she has only received some money from her insurance company but is still waiting for when more money can be delivered.

“There’s no answer to that question we asked. We don’t know. We don’t know. So that’s the big problem and issue for me and for everyone,” she said.

The state stepped in to assist homeowners with insurance claims. Shortly after the fire, state insurance commissioner Gordon I. Ito urged insurers not to cancel policies or refuse renewals.

Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, told ABC News Live that that she and other elected officials are asking insurance companies to be more supportive.

“I think a message that we have to all the insurance companies, the carriers out there – we need your help. We need you to be a part of taking care of our people now in the disaster they have experienced,” she said.

However, carriers are making changes, according to Strong.

“The way that they are protecting themselves moving forward is by putting stipulations and conditions on the policy when it’s time for renewal,” she said of insurance companies.

As some homeowners wait for the money to rebuild, others are stuck in legal roadblocks when it comes to plans for emergency housing.

Alfy Basurto, a Maui businessman, plans to build 11 more mobile homes on the land he owns in an upscale gated community in Lahaina.

The mobile homes would be operated through his nonprofit organization, Rebuild Maui.

Basurto told ABC News Live before the fires he was planning on building five small homes on his land but changed his proposal after the fire.

“I want to share my land with people that would provide housing. Waiting for the government is not going to come in and make us whole. It is truly not. So I think our responsibility to help each other out, I believe in that so strongly,” he said.

However, the Pu’unoa Homeowners Association sued Basurto contending he doesn’t have the right to build on his property.

“The Maui County Code requires permits for the construction of residential building or structures,” the suit contended. “Defendants have failed to properly obtain such permits as are required.”

Basurto claimed he spoke with county executives about his mobile home proposal and was told “because it’s an RV and because it’s got registration for the DMV and it’s got a safety certificate, it doesn’t require permitting.”

A court hearing is scheduled for Jan. 11 about the matter.

Housing experts stressed that solutions need to be made soon, as more than 2,400 households remain displaced, with the governor pushing for 1,500 short-term rentals on Maui to convert to long-term housing by March 1.

Ceser said she is in forbearance on her mortgage until she gets more details and hopes that this year can bring closure to her tragedy.

“I want to rebuild our house. So I’ve been there for, like, seven years, and it’s so hard for me to leave Lahaina. My heart belongs to Lahaina,” she said.

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(NEW YORK) — Two major storms are moving across the United States from west to east with blizzard conditions, flooding, tornadoes, strong winds and heavy snow.

There are currently 13 states on flood watch from Georgia to Maine as the storm is expected to reach the East Coast with severe weather for the Carolinas, Florida and Georgia with tornadoes and flash flooding possible.

Heavy rain will arrive in the Mid-Atlantic by around noon on Tuesday and will gradually move up the I-95 corridor through the afternoon as heavy rain is expected to begin in Philadelphia and New York City with a chance of flooding possible.

Additionally, New England is predicting heavy rain on Tuesday night into Wednesday with possible flooding as an estimated 2 to 4 inches of rain is forecast in the Northeast on top of all the melting snow.

Strong damaging winds are expected to accompany the heavy rain as, locally, 50 to 65 mph gusts are possible from the Virginia coast all the way up to Maine with power outages possible in swathes of the Northeast.

On the back side of this storm, heavy snow is also forecast from Missouri to Iowa and into Wisconsin and Michigan where, locally, up to 10 inches of snow could be possible.

The city of Chicago will be right on the line of rain and snow with only a few inches of sloppy snow possible in the city and up to 5 to 10 inches can be expected just west and north of the Windy City.

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(FORT WORTH, Texas) — An explosion at a downtown Fort Worth, Texas, hotel possibly caused by a gas leak injured 21 people, sent heavy debris across a block and forced nearby employees to evacuate Monday afternoon.

Fort Worth Fire Department officials said one person is in critical condition following the explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel, which occurred around 3:30 p.m. local time.

Fire department officials said a gas leak was part of the incident, but they couldn’t immediately determine if it caused the explosion.

“We do know that there was some construction that was being done down at the restaurant. We’re not 100% sure that that’s where it actually started at this point in time,” Forth Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek told reporters at a news conference.

It was not known how many of the injured were guests at the hotel or pedestrians. Fourteen people were transported to area hospitals, according to officials.

One person who was initially unaccounted for was found during a sweep by firefighters, according to officials

Trojacek said that firefighters rescued people who were inside the hotel’s basement.

Shortly after the explosion, firefighters were seen going through debris from the incident spread throughout the street, including window pieces and parts of the exterior.

The investigation into the cause is ongoing.

“We’ll talk about the structural integrity … after that, and we’re just trying to make sure that when we walk out of that building, we can definitively say that we’ve got everybody removed from that structure,” Trojacek said.

The Sandman Signature Fort Worth Hotel communications team confirmed in a statement that the hotel was “impacted by an explosion.”

“Emergency responders are onsite and we are working closely with the authorities to understand the origin of the event and the extent of the harm caused,” the company’s statement read. “The safety and well-being of our team members and guests is our priority. We are working with those who have been injured to fully support them at this time.”

The hotel, located near the Fort Worth Convention Center, opened last May following an extensive reconversion of the Waggoner Building, a Fort Worth historical building.

The building was originally built in 1920, and “many of the original features” were retained during the conversion, according to the hotel’s website.

Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that he was monitoring the situation and ready to deploy additional resources if needed.

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(NEW YORK) — As federal investigators seek answers into how a door plug detached from the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines aircraft prompting a midair emergency and the temporary national grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets globally, an aviation expert told ABC News Monday that he suspects investigators will be looking closely at the Boeing assembly line for the possible cause of the incident.

On Monday, United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on its 737 Max 9 fleet during inspections ordered after Friday’s incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight. United wouldn’t say how many planes had loose bolts but added that the emergency inspection caused it to cancel at least 200 Max 9 flights on Monday and that more cancellations are expected on Tuesday.

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said they recovered the door plug that fell off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, giving them the key piece of evidence which they are examining with a laboratory microscope.

The plug, measuring 26-by-46 inches and weighing 63 pounds, was discovered intact Sunday evening in the backyard of a Portland, Oregon, teacher’s home, according to NTSB officials.

The part fell off the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, around 5:11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Friday as the aircraft with 171 passengers, including three babies and four unaccompanied minors, had climbed to 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland International Airport, according to the NTSB.

The incident caused the plane, which was destined for Ontario, California, to return to Portland International Airport to make an emergency landing.

The door plug is used to seal unused exits on planes and, according to a diagram released by the NTSB, is attached to the plane with a series of bolts, cables and stop pads.

The discovery of the missing door plug came shortly after NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy announced at a news conference that the investigation found three previous incidents on the same Alaska Airlines plane where the auto pressurization fail light illuminated during flights on Dec. 7, Jan. 3 and Jan. 4.

“In these previous flights after the light illuminated, they flipped the switch to alt mode, which is normal. There’s a backup. It was very benign. Nothing occurred,” Homendy said.

It remains unclear if there is a correlation between the auto pressurization light illuminating and the door plug blowing out, Homendy said. Alaska Airlines ordered that the aircraft not be flown to Hawaii over water and restricted it to overland use “so if some light did illuminate, it could return quickly to an airport,” she said.

John Nance, an ABC News aviation analyst, said he doesn’t believe the auto pressurization light coming on and the door falling off the aircraft are connected.

“If it was leaking, it would be making a terrible squeal,” said Nance, adding that he had not heard of such a sound being reported before the door plug incident.

The door plug, which was meant to be a permanent seal of the additional unused exit doors, is usually not wired to a control panel to alert the crew of a pressure problem, Nance said. He added that the only way Alaska Airlines maintenance crews could have inspected the plug would have been to remove it.

Nance noted that Alaska Airlines had only received the aircraft from Boeing on Oct. 31.

“More than likely, if [Alaska Airlines] maintenance didn’t have any reason to go into that heavy maintenance in the three months since the airplane was delivered, then very likely this came off the line at Boeing,” Nance said. “Boeing should be chewing their fingernails this morning because I think that’s greatest likelihood. But I could be entirely wrong.”

Another possible scenario is a structural failure in the plug in one form or another, he said.

“That’s a little hard to see if you’ve got four bolts holding it in place because you’d almost have it split in two. The initial indication that we have is that it was found whole,” Nance said.

“If it was an inherent failure of the door plug, that could get very serious very quick because you might have to have to re-engineer the plugs,” Nance said.

On Sunday evening, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he canceled a two-day leadership summit and instead will hold an all-employee safety meeting from the 737 factory in Renton, Washington on Tuesday. Calhoun also sent out a company-wide memo to staff addressing the incident and ensuring that safety is a top priority.

“When it comes to the safety of our products and services, every decision and every action matters,” Calhoun said in his statement. “And when serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again. This is and must be the focus of our team right now.”

On Monday, Boeing issued a statement in response to United Airlines announcing the inspection of its 737 Max 9 jets had found “bolts that needed additional tightening.”

“As operators conduct the required inspections, we are staying in close contact with them and will help address any and all findings. We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards. We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers,” Boeing’s statement said.

The incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to order that all 737 Max 9 aircraft operating in the United States remain grounded “until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe.”

Nance said he supports the FAA’s decision to ground 737 Max 9 jets “so we can make sure that we don’t have something sitting out there like a ticking time bomb ready to go and do it again.”

It was “miraculous” that no one was injured in the incident and no passengers were sitting in seats 26 A and B, where the blown-out door plug was located, Nance added.

“We very well likely could have lost whoever was sitting in 26 A and B if they had been there without their seatbelts,” Nance said. “If this had been at 39,000 or 40,000 feet, a lot more stuff would have gone out and anybody who wasn’t tied in might have gone out as well.”

Nance said that now that the door plug has been found, he is “100% confident” that the NTSB will determine a cause quickly.

“These guys are absolute wizards,” Nance said of the NTSB investigators. “If any metal scraped against any other metal, they’ll find it, including knowing exactly where it came from. I seriously doubt there will be any speculative nature of the final understanding of this, which will come very rapidly because they’ve got to get these other airplanes back in service.”

Michael Huerta, a former FAA administrator, told ABC News that the flying public should remain patient and let the NTSB investigation play out.

“At this point in the investigation, a lot of times what you’re going to hear early on in the investigation will either be incomplete or in some instances wrong,” Huerta said. “So, you have to give the investigators time and space to kind of figure out what the full scope of things are. The NTSB is a very professional organization, and they will get to the root cause.”

Huerta added, “What we don’t know is whether this was a freak incident or whether there was some kind of factory defect in the way the door was originally installed.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals will hear arguments today over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case based on his claim of presidential immunity.

Trump, who in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is seeking the dismissal of the case on the grounds that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution for actions taken while serving in the nation’s highest office.

The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.”

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 09, 6:09 AM EST
Trump plans to attend today’s hearing

Donald Trump plans to attend today’s arguments on his efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case, the former president said in a social media post early Monday.

It will be the first time that Trump appears at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., since his arraignment on federal election subversion charges in August, when he pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Trump, who is seeking the dismissal of the case based on presidential immunity, wrote on social media, “Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity. I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was long over. I was looking for voter fraud.”

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(NEW YORK) — Special Counsel Jack Smith was targeted with a swatting call at his Maryland home on Christmas Day, according to two sources familiar with the situation.

Montgomery County Police quickly engaged with the U.S. Marshals and determined there was no threat to Smith, sources said.

The U.S. Marshals and the Special Counsel’s office declined to comment.

Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate election interference and mishandling of classified documents.

Smith charged former President Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents in Florida. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

In recent weeks state and federal officials have been the target of swatting incidents around the country, according to statements from their offices.

Montgomery County Police directed ABC News to the U.S. Marshals. U.S. Marshals, which protect Smith, did not comment and the Special Counsel’s office also declined to comment.

Smith isn’t the only federal official to have been targeted by a swatting incident in recent weeks.

The judge overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case, Tanya Chutkan, was the victim of swatting Sunday night at her Washington, D.C., home, law enforcement sources told ABC News Monday.

The Washington, DC Metropolitain Police Department said in a statement they responded to a house in the District around 10 p.m. for a report of a shooting that hadn’t taken place.

The situation was quickly contained and there was no further incident, law enforcement sources said.

U.S. Marshals, which protect federal judges, did not comment.

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(NEW YORK) — A new round of court records from a lawsuit related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Monday, which include photos from an accuser as well as an exhibit that mentions discredited allegations she made about Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson.

At least 17 documents were unsealed. More than 200 documents have been released since Wednesday.

The records are part of a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein, against his longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell that the two settled in 2017. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan, New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2021 of aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women and girls. Her appeal will be heard in March.

The documents unsealed Monday include several photographs produced by Sarah Ransome, who filed a lawsuit against Epstein, Maxwell and other alleged co-conspirators in 2017 under the pseudonym “Jane Doe 43.” Ransome was also involved in the Giuffre case as a witness. She was deposed and provided dozens of photographs showing Epstein, Maxwell, herself and other young women on Epstein’s private island.

According to another unsealed filing, Ransome testified that some of the pictures were taken by Jean Luc Brunel, a French model scout and associate of Epstein, and given to her by him.

Brunel died by suicide in his prison cell in February 2022 while awaiting trial on charges of rape of underage girls and sexual harassment — a crime in France. Brunel had maintained he was innocent.

Several of the photographs unsealed Monday appeared in the media following Epstein’s arrest and death. Ransome spoke publicly at a hearing in a New York courthouse in August 2019 and has granted several interviews since.

Also included in Monday’s document unsealing is an exhibit that contains emails sent by Ransome to a New York Post reporter in the fall of 2016.

In those messages, Ransome made allegations that implicated former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson. She also described alleged videotape evidence she claimed to possess that would back up her allegations but said she could not provide it, according to the messages.

Ransome subsequently told the New York Post reporter, who did not publish any story related to the allegations, that she wanted to “retract everything I have said to you and walk away from this,” according to an unsealed message from October 2016.

In 2019, The New Yorker reported that Ransome told the magazine she had invented the claims of videotapes to draw attention to Epstein’s behavior and to make him believe she had “evidence that would come out” if Epstein harmed her, according to the magazine.

These emails from Ransome had been unsealed in a previous round in 2022, but with the names of the men accused redacted.

Ransome was deposed in 2017 as a witness in the Giuffre versus Maxwell litigation. No evidence supporting the allegations Ransome shared with the reporter was entered in the record of this case.

The lawsuit Ransome filed in 2017 under the pseudonym “Jane Doe 43” against Epstein, Maxwell and other alleged co-conspirators was settled the following year.

Neither ex-President Clinton, nor Donald Trump, nor Richard Branson was accused by Giuffre, or anyone else besides Ransome, of any wrongdoing in the course of Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Maxwell. Clinton has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Trump has said he cut off contact with Epstein many years ago.

According to The Independent, a Branson spokesperson on Monday cited to the 2019 New Yorker article and called Ransome’s claims “baseless and unfounded.”

Prince Andrew has long denied allegations that he had sex with Giuffre on three occasions, as she has claimed in court records and interviews, and claimed he could not recall ever meeting Giuffre. The prince, in 2022, settled a lawsuit Giuffre filed against him.

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal more than 150 names of “John and Jane Does” mentioned in the records.

So far, 208 documents have been unsealed out of an anticipated total of around 250.

A total of 132 documents were released Friday. About 19 documents were released Thursday and the first 40 were released on Wednesday.

Friday’s documents detail how Maxwell reacted after Giuffre made explosive allegations in a court case filed by Epstein’s alleged victims against the federal government, which challenged the lenient treatment the sex offender received. It was the first time Giuffre alleged publicly that she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew and other prominent men.

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(ATLANTA) — One of former president Donald Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia election interference case is seeking to dismiss the indictment against him and disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, alleging that she “engaged in a personal, romantic relationship” with one of the top prosecutors she brought in to work on the case, which allegedly resulted in financial gain for both of them.

In a court filing Monday, former Trump campaign staff member Michael Roman accuses Willis of having potentially committed “an act to defraud the public of honest services” based on her “intentional failure” to disclose the alleged relationship that she allegedly “personally benefitted from.”

“Accordingly, the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter,” the 127-page filing from Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, said.

A spokesperson for the Fulton County DA said in a statement to ABC News that the office would “respond through appropriate court filings.”

The filing alleges that, based on “discussions with individuals with knowledge,” Willis and a special prosecutor she brought in to lead the case, Nathan Wade, were “romantically involved” prior to her bringing him on to the case and continued their relationship during it, and accuses Willis of bringing Wade on as a special prosecutor without getting proper government authorization to appoint him as such.

“Sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship during the pendency of the special prosecutor’s divorce proceedings,” the filing says.

The filing claims that Wade had a “lack of relevant experience” but that he has been paid approximately $650,000 in legal fees since being appointed to the role — which the filing claims was a “self-serving arrangement.”

“Willis has benefitted substantially and directly, and continues to benefit, from this litigation because Wade is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute this case on her behalf,” the filing claims. “In turn, Wade is taking Willis on, and paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis.”

Trump seized on the allegations in the filing, writing on social media, “ALL CHARGES AGAINST ME, AND OTHERS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED, WITH APOLOGIES, AND MONETARY DAMAGES FOR THE ILLEGAL AND HIGHLY POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF INNOCENT PEOPLE.”

Chris Timmons, a former Georgia prosecutor who is now an ABC News contributor, said that, “After preliminary review, I don’t think it puts the indictment in jeopardy — but it might result in some disqualification of prosecutors moving forward.”

Roman, Trump and 17 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.

The former president has blasted the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.

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(WASHINGTON) — One person has been arrested after a vehicle collided with an exterior gate at the White House complex on Monday during rush hour, according to the Secret Service.

The Secret Service confirmed the incident happened shortly before 6:00 p.m. ET, and the driver was taken into custody.

Secret Service, D.C. Police, and Fire and EMS are all assisting in the investigation. Police are still trying to determine what caused the crash.

This isn’t the first collision near the white House involving a vehicle. In May, a rented box truck crashed into a security barrier near the White House.

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(RIVERSIDE, Calif.) — More than three decades after she was murdered by a notorious serial killer, police and prosecutors in Riverside, California, are hoping the public can help them identify the unknown victim.

Riverside County officials launched a new, nationwide effort Monday to discover the identity of the woman who was murdered in 1992, the last unidentified victim of Keith Jesperson — the “Happy Face Killer.”

“Our goal is to identify this victim and provide closure to her family,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said in a statement.

Police have referred to her as “Claudia” because that is how Jesperson, who was convicted of her murder 14 years ago Monday, has referred to her. The authorities, though, do not know if that is her real name.

In a new law enforcement interview with investigators, details of which Riverside officials released Monday, they say Jesperson told them he met “Claudia” at a brake check area near Victorville, California, while he was working as a trucker. She was hitchhiking and took a ride with him, he reportedly said. During that ride, he told them, they argued about money, and he killed her in his truck. He admitted to dumping the body in Blythe.

Jesperson allegedly described her as having shaggy, wild blonde hair. She was wearing tight clothing, he said. She was about 20 to 30 years old in 1992. Investigators believe she was living in, or frequented, Southern California and Nevada.

Investigators hope that recent advances in DNA technology and tips from the public could help them discover her name.

Forensic investigators and genealogists have traced her to a now-deceased father who was from Cameron County, Texas, but traveled extensively. Half siblings were identified but they were not aware of the woman as none were biological matches to her mother. Her mother may have had ties to Louisiana or Texas, authorities said.

Jesperson terrorized the country in the ‘90s. A Canadian-born long-haul trucker and divorced father of three, Jesperson claimed to have killed women in five states: Washington, California, Florida, Wyoming and Oregon.

His killing spree lasted from 1990-1995, when he turned himself in to police.

The unidentified woman’s body was found on Aug. 30, 1992, along Highway 95 near Blythe, California. Jesperson pleaded guilty to her murder in 2010 and was given a sentence of 15 years to life.

He received the name the “Happy Face Killer” due to the smiley faces he drew on a letter he sent to a newspaper in which he bragged about his crimes.

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