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(EUDORA, Ark.) — Officials in the city of Eudora, Arkansas, said they are enforcing a mandatory emergency curfew after struggling to stop what the city’s mayor described as a “rampage of shootings.”

The city of fewer than 3,000 residents has recently experienced more than 10 shootings, according to Mayor Tomeka Butler, including one which killed a local resident on Dec. 24. Facing increased crime, few actionable leads, and limited police resources, Butler announced the “civil emergency curfew” on Dec. 27.

The curfew applies from 8 p.m. until 6 a.m. with exceptions for both employment and medical emergencies, officials said.

In a statement to ABC News, Butler said that the frequency of these shootings are unprecedented, adding “this is the first time these acts of this magnitude have taken place.”

“Should you be caught during curfew hours, you will be subject to being stopped and searched,” Butler said in a video posted to Facebook, in which four law enforcement officers stood behind her.

In the video and on other posts, Butler pleaded for community members to work together to stop the violence.

“Please help us bring these senseless acts of crime to a stop,” she said.

A Community Responds

Members of the community, local leaders, and law enforcement officials gathered for an meeting on Wednesday evening in a local church. They voted to extend the curfew until Jan. 3 and asked community members for their help in stopping the violence.

“We’re pleading for your help, we really need your help,” Butler said. “And the only way that is going to change is if we pull together and change our city.”

With dozens of community members sitting in wooden church pews, aldermen sitting behind a drum set and leadership addressing the anxious community from a lectern, the meeting was both a venue for public announcements and a community venting session.

“This is not people’s houses getting shot in anymore, we have people actually dead on the street,” one unidentified community member pleaded. “We need some extra help”

Others said they were worried about the severity of the problem compared to resources available in Eudora.

“It’s too big for you guys,” a community member told local officials.

The Arkansas State Police is investigating the Dec. 24 shooting that killed one resident and injured another but are not involved with any curfew enforcement, according to Arkansas State Police public information officer Bill Sadler. At the moment, no arrests have been made for the homicide and the investigation is ongoing.

Officials from the Eudora Police Department said their department faced some limitations, including limited staff, a budget best described as “pretty much peanuts,” outdated safety equipment and broken vehicles. As an illustration of those issues, Eudora Chief of Police Mike Pitts pointed to the bullet-proof vest he was wearing and said it was not even his own.

A sergeant with the police department also noted that officials have been unable to act on tips because members of the community fear coming forward with information.

“Prosecutors would turn me around the door if they don’t have anything supporting evidence to back up what I’m presenting to them,” he said. “That’s the problem that I’m having right now in putting these cases together. The community is afraid to come forward and say what’s going on out here in the streets who’s really involved with the shootings that’s going on.”

Despite these limitations and concerns, Pitts stood by the curfew.

“I know it’s an inconvenience for some, but it’s a comfort for others,” he said, noting that a family member of a victim told him that they could finally get sleep after learning about the curfew.

“This action was by no means taken to violate any constitutional rights of any citizen, any business owner, any religious believer, or anyone traveling through the city of Eudora,” Butler said.

Freedom from fear

In a country where gun violence stories have become common, the issues facing Eudora might seem minor, officials said. But in a small city like Eudora, an uptick in crime has been destabilizing.

“I know that in bigger cities, larger cities, that sounds like peanuts, but here in a small community of 2,500 people, that’s too many,” Pitts said. “That’s too many in any city, but that’s unfathomable.”

The “Catfish Capital of Arkansas,” Eudora stretches across a few square miles across a largely rural Arkansas. Its population, over 80 percent African American, shares a grocery store, dollar store and liquor store. With little crime overall, residents at the town hall could easily recall unsolved crime, like a drive-by shooting from three years ago.

The recent uptick in shootings appears to have driven community members and leadership into action to fight back against what the mayor described as a “few senseless citizens” and the police chief described plainly as “murderers.”

“This is home, and if you can’t feel safe at home, then what are you doing?” Butler asked during the town hall.

Law enforcement told community members that they will not rest until the crime stops.

“Until we get justice for that, until we get justice for the people whose homes have been violated by people shooting into them, then we are not going to rest,” Pitts said.

He added, “This is not how Eudora is supposed to be, this is now how it was when I was a kid in the area growing up, and it is not going to remain this way.”

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(NEW YORK) — The growing popularity of e-bikes in the United States in recent years has led to a rise in fires and other hazards, local and federal officials are warning.

At least 19 people died in the United States in 2022 because of fires or overheating incidents related to battery-powered products such as e-bikes, scooters and hoverboards, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission said this week.

In New York City alone, fires caused by lithium-ion batteries powering these micro-mobility devices, also known as light electric vehicles (LEVs), have been responsible for at least 208 fires this year, resulting in 142 injuries and six deaths, a spokesperson for the New York Fire Department said.

In 2021, there were 104 fires caused by these batteries, 79 injuries and 4 deaths, according to city data. In 2020, there were 44 such fires, 23 injuries and zero deaths, the data shows.

Micro-mobility devices in 2022 caused four fires a week on average, based on data from the FDNY.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in a letter last week, urged over 2,000 manufacturers, importers, distributors, and retailers of LEVs to sell products that use batteries built with standards set by Underwriters Laboratory, an industry safety organization, in order to reduce the risk of injuries and deaths.

Compliance with these standards should be demonstrated by certification from an accredited testing laboratory, the agency urged.

While many battery manufacturers like Bosch follow the standards, experts say the standards need to be industry-wide. The move to required UL standards in all these products would make them far safer overall, they say.

Some industry experts see the recent moves by the CPSC as evidence it lacks the necessary regulatory muscle to cause a change in the industry. This concern comes as more Americans are embracing LEVs, with many expected to purchase these around the holidays.

The CPSC has jurisdiction over these products. The U.S. Department of Transportation established in 2018 the Lithium Battery Working Safety Group which includes officials from CPSC, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute for Standard and Technology. The group advises Congress on additional ways to mitigate fire hazards from these batteries and ways to establish uniform regulations for these batteries.

When asked about why they were not seeking to make UL certification mandatory, instead of just encouraging companies to adopt those standards, a CPSC spokesperson said it is time consuming to adopt mandatory rules, making voluntary standards a more common course of action to get important safety information to industry and consumers as quickly as possible.

New York problem

Fatiumata Dialo has been delivering food on his e-bike in New York for the last year. An immigrant from Guinea, he said his e-bike, for which he paid $1750, is the most expensive purchase he has made since arriving in the U.S.

Dialo cycles between several batteries for the bike over the course of the day. He charges his batteries overnight at his apartment, and he also pays a monthly fee to charge a battery during the day at a e-bike shop in Brooklyn.

Delivery workers pay about $40 a month to charge batteries in one of these e-bike shops, according to a worker in one store. One location in New York’s Chinatown visited by ABC News contained over 80 batteries charging at roughly the same time.

According to FDNY Deputy Commissioner Frank Dwyer, charging stations where dozens or even hundreds of batteries are being charged at the same time could pose fire hazards.

“That’s actually covered in the fire code. And we have our fire prevention people out there doing inspections on those properties if they’re not abiding by the proper fire code,” Dwyer said.

ABC News reached out to the fire departments for the 25 largest cities in the United States. New York City leads its metropolitan competitors with the highest number of fires caused by these devices, according to a review of city data. It’s also the leading city actively tracking the fires and working with government officials to understand and regulate the issue, according to interviews with fire officials.

The Los Angeles Fire Department said it does not have any data about fires attributable to e-bikes, and the San Francisco Fire Department does not actively track fires from LEVs like New York does.

Despite concerns about charging safety, Dialo said he was less concerned about the risk of fire than getting into an accident or getting robbed, he said. Other delivery workers ABC News spoke to seemed to agree with this prioritization of concerns.

However, recent reports of fires due to charging e-bike batteries have raised calls for action by many New Yorkers. A Nov. 5 fire at a high-rise building in midtown Manhattan that sent 38 people to the hospital was caused by a lithium-ion battery connected to a micro-mobility device, fire officials determined.

“It’s not just that there are fires, it’s that there could be a fire in my building where I sleep and my children’s sleep,” New York City Council Member Gale Brewer told ABC News.

The FDNY is attempting to learn more about how the fires are started. Often, the bikes and the batteries are too damaged by the fires to learn about the cause of the fire, type of bike and battery involved, and whether the cause could have been a manufacturing defect.

“So, it’s very hard to examine the actual battery that fails due to the explosive nature of these fires, and the damage that they’re subjected to after the fire occurs,” Dwyer noted.

Brewer sponsored recent legislation focused on e-bikes. The bills currently under consideration by the city council, which the FDNY has voiced support for, include measures to increase education about fire risks from batteries, ban the sale of second-hand batteries that have been reconditioned or manipulated and which are sold on the secondary market, require UL standards for bikes and improve reporting measures.

Some activists say the move is too late.

“They pass a law to legalize [e-bikes], but they never thought about the batteries? I mean, they’re talking about the batteries three years later,” said Hildalyn Colon Hernandez, the director of policy and strategic partnerships for New York City advocacy group Los Deliveristas Unidos.

The rise of LEVs

Light electric vehicles gained popularity as many Americans rethought common methods of transportation during the pandemic. A projected 1 million LEVs are expected to be sold in the U.S. in 2022, compared to the 288,000 sold in 2019, according to Ed Benjamin, chairman of the LEV Association.

But most consumers have gravitated to affordable models.

One of the priciest e-bikes listed in Consumer Reports retails at nearly $4,000, with the cheapest recommendation at $1,300. Some budget bikes retail on sites like Amazon for under $500.

According to Mike Fritz, a chief technology officer for micromobility industry consulting firm Human Powered Solutions, the economics of the $500 e-bike points towards concerns with the quality of the bike’s battery. Just to buy a high-quality battery costs around $750. A complete bike that costs less than that amount raises questions about the quality of the battery and other components.

Some manufacturers have cut corners to lower manufacturing costs, according to Jack Hao of battery manufacturer Phylion. This includes reusing parts of used battery packs from electric cars, which can increase the likelihood of a fire hazard, he said.

Combined with a weak regulatory environment in the U.S., consumers are sometimes left with poor options, said Percy Chien, the executive chairman of the Taiwan-based Fairly Bike Manufacturing Company.

How lithium-ion batteries fail

A battery charges or releases energy by moving an electron-carrying ion between a node and a cathode, across a semipermeable barrier, Fritz said. If that barrier begins to fail and overheat because of a manufacturing defect or from an issue stemming from a faulty charger, an electrolyte liquid in the battery will begin to boil, trigger a pressure release valve, and push a gas out of the battery, which can then ignite when interacting with outside air.

An e-bike battery, which is made of dozens of small battery cells about the size of an AA battery, can cause a cascading chain reaction where one cell triggers other cells to fail, which can lead to a fire or an explosion in a worse-case scenario, he said.

A combination of cheap batteries, mismatched chargers, overuse, damage from weather, poor servicing, and other factors can combine to create deadly consequences, according to Fritz.

Keith Moravick, a vice president of engineering for Swiftmile, a manufacturer of charging systems for LEVs, noted factors that can cause battery deterioration include poor management system communicating between the battery and charger, a lack of weatherproofing for electric connectors, and the damage possibly done to a removable battery that is knocked around.

According to multiple industry experts, a move towards requiring UL standards for all batteries sold would reduce the risk of fires; however, the CPSC is only recommending such a standard at the moment.

Chris Nolte, founder of New York retailer Propel Electric Bikes, which only sells UL-certified Bosch batteries, said the issue has been mainly centralized in New York City in recent years, which is why the federal government has been slow to crackdown on the problem.

“I feel that the federal government likely will step in by 2024 and require a certification,” Nolte said.

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(RIVERSIDE COUNTY, Calif.) — A California deputy was fatally shot during a traffic stop by a man who authorities said should have been incarcerated under the state’s “three strikes” sentencing law but instead was out on bond.

Riverside County Sheriff’s Deputy Isaiah Cordero, 32, was killed Thursday afternoon in Jurupa Valley when the driver opened fire after being pulled over, authorities said.

The suspect fled the scene and a manhunt ensued, authorities said. During a pursuit on several freeways in the area, the driver crashed on Interstate 15 in Norco. The suspect was cornered by a BearCat vehicle and fired several rounds at deputies before he was killed by deputies’ responding gunfire, authorities said.

The suspect was identified as William Shea McKay, a convicted felon who has an “extensive violent past,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said during a news conference Thursday night, citing multiple assaults with deadly weapons and the stabbing of a California Highway Patrol canine.

McKay was convicted on multiple felony charges in November 2021, marking his “third strike,” according to Bianco. Based on the state’s sentencing law regarding repeat felony convictions, he should have automatically been sentenced to 25 years to life, the sheriff said. However, his bail was reduced to $500,000, which he posted in March and was released while his sentencing was continued, according to the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office, which prosecuted the case.

McKay was granted another continuance for sentencing in July and ultimately failed to appear for his sentencing in October, at which point a bench warrant was issued, prosecutors said.

Bianco blamed the court’s actions for Cordero’s death.

“This terrible tragedy should have been prevented by the legal system,” Bianco said. “We would not be here today if the judge had done her job.”

A spokesperson for the San Bernardino Superior Court, which adjudicated the case, told ABC News it does not plan to issue a statement on the case at this time.

Court records show that on Nov. 8, 2021, McKay was found guilty of false imprisonment, evading a peace officer, criminal threats likely to result in death or great bodily injury and receiving stolen property. He was also found to be a felon who had serious prior convictions.

McKay was found not guilty of kidnapping and kidnapping to commit robbery or rape in that case.

His bail was reduced from $950,000 to $500,000 following the verdicts. The San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office said it requested at the time that it be set at no bail.

“Our Office upheld our oath of pursuing justice by prosecuting convicted felon McKay in November of 2021, however a failure in the process to separate McKay from society and hold him accountable for his crimes has resulted in the tragic loss of a law enforcement deputy,” San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said in a statement.

It was unclear what exchange Cordero and McKay had prior to the shooting, Bianco said, adding that investigators plan to review body-worn camera footage.

Cordero was transported to the Riverside Community Hospital following the shooting, where he succumbed to his injuries, officials said.

Cordero, of Rancho Cucamonga, joined the sheriff’s department in 2014. He was described as a “ray of sunshine” by the Riverside Sheriff’s Association, which represents law enforcement officers in the county.

“Deputy Cordero put on his uniform daily to make a difference in his community and keep families safe,” the association said in a statement. “Deputy Cordero’s death leaves a tremendous hole in the hearts of so many people who had the chance to know him personally.”

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered Thursday that flags at the state Capitol be flown at half-staff in his honor.

“He served his community selflessly, and with dedication and courage,” Newsom said in a statement. “We owe him our respect, gratitude, and will remember his sacrifice.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot has soared to an estimated $685 million ahead of Friday night’s drawing.

The prize is the largest Mega Millions prize ever offered in the final week of any year, according to the lottery.

The cash prize option is estimated to be $347.8 million.

The jackpot has grown over the 21 drawings since the lottery’s jackpot was last won on Oct. 14, when two ticket winners split a $502 million prize.

It’s continued to climb since the most recent drawing; after no tickets matched all six winning numbers in Tuesday’s drawing, the jackpot was estimated to reach $640 million.

Only six Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year. Winning tickets were in California, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Tennessee.

The Mega Millions jackpot has soared past $600 million just five other times in its more than 20-year history, according to the lottery.

In July, the jackpot surpassed the $1 billion mark for only the third time in its history.

The historic $1.34 billion prize was won by an anonymous ticket owner in Des Plaines, Illinois.

Mega Millions is played in 45 states plus Washington, D.C., and the U. S. Virgin Islands.

The next drawing is at 11 p.m. ET Friday.

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(MONROE COUNTY, Pa.) — A 28-year-old man, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students, according to a criminal complaint.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that authorities knew who they were looking for and had tracked Kohberger down to Pennsylvania. A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody.

He was arrested on a warrant for first-degree murder issued by Idaho authorities, according to the complaint. Kohberger appeared before a judge Friday morning.

Moscow police officers, members of Idaho State Police, Moscow city leaders and University of Idaho officials will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. local time Friday.

It’s been over six weeks since roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were all stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13.

Two other roommates — who police said are not suspects — survived and likely slept through the murders, according to officials. The survivors were on the ground floor while the four victims were on the second and third floors.

Police have been urging the public to come forward with information.

“We just want this person found so bad,” Kristi Goncalves, mom of victim Kaylee Goncalves, told ABC News earlier this month.

“Where are you? Who are you?” she said.

It’s been weeks since police and city officials have gathered for a news conference, choosing instead to release small updates through social media. This new announcement comes as University of Idaho students are away from campus for winter break.

On Thursday, Moscow police said they were planning to send a cleaning crew on Friday to the murder scene. According to property managers, in the wake of the arrest, that planned cleaning has now been put on hold.

ABC News’ Luke Barr and Nick Cirone contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Washington, D.C., reached its 200th homicide for a second straight year when a man was shot and killed Thursday night in the northeast part of the city.

According to the D.C. police union representing the Metropolitan Police Department, this is the first time since 2002 and 2003 that the city has experienced back-to-back years with more than 200 homicides.

There were 226 homicides in 2021, 198 in 2020 and 166 in 2019. In the last 20 years, homicides were at their lowest in 2012, when there were only 88 homicides.

However, crime in many instances is down from 2021, according to Metropolitan Police data as of Dec. 29.

Homicides are down roughly 12% from last year. Assault with a deadly weapon is down 16%. Burglary and theft from auto is down 11% and 10% respectively.

However, motor vehicle thefts and robberies are up by 7% and 2%, respectively.

“All crimes are down by 6,548 citywide during the past 2 years when compared to the previous 2 years,” according to MPD’s Crime map.

The police union said certain reforms – including chokehold bans, the improvement of public access to body camera footage and expanded civilian review boards – are responsible for the high homicide numbers.

The union also pointed to an exodus of “over 600 officers” from the Metropolitan Police Department.

“The Police Union remains dedicated to working with the DC Council and other elected officials to find positive ways in which we can achieve meaningful police reform while also keeping communities safe from violent crime,” the union said. “We hope these years of tragic, but largely avoidable loss of life does not go unnoticed.”

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(NEW YORK) — A 28-year-old man, Bryan Kohberger, was arrested Friday morning in Pennsylvania’s Pocono Mountains in connection with the murders of four University of Idaho students, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

Sources said that authorities knew who they were looking for and had tracked Kohberger down to Pennsylvania.

A SWAT team entered the location where he was staying in order to take him into custody Friday. Kohberger appeared before a judge Friday morning.

Moscow police officers, members of Idaho State Police, Moscow city leaders and University of Idaho officials will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. local time Friday.

It’s been over six weeks since roommates Kaylee Goncalves, Madison Mogen and Xana Kernodle, as well as Kernodle’s boyfriend, Ethan Chapin, were all stabbed to death in the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13.

Two other roommates — who police said are not suspects — survived and likely slept through the murders, according to officials. The survivors were on the ground floor while the four victims were on the second and third floors.

Police have been urging the public to come forward with information.

It’s been weeks since police and city officials have gathered for a news conference, choosing instead to release small updates through social media. This new announcement comes as University of Idaho students are away from campus for winter break.

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(NEW YORK) — Two storms are moving across the nation just in time for New Year’s Eve.

The first storm is expected to bring rain and unseasonably warm weather for the Northeast.

If you’re heading to Times Square in New York to usher in the new year, prepare for some rain.

But the temperature will be a mild 51 degrees in Boston and 49 degrees in New York City when the ball drops.

In Buffalo, New York, where residents are still digging out from a deadly and historic snowstorm, a flood watch has been due to ice jams, incoming rain and rising temperatures melting the snow.

It’ll be a mostly dry New Year’s Eve in the middle of the U.S. from Dallas to Chicago.

In the West, a new atmospheric river is set to bring flooding, mudslides and rockslides.

The worst of the atmospheric river will move into Northern California Friday night. The San Francisco area will get the heaviest rain on Saturday morning, with flooding and mudslides possible. Up to 4 inches of rain is expected this weekend in Northern California.

The rain will move into Southern California on New Year’s Eve.

This storm will then move into the Rockies on Sunday night and bring more snow to Denver to start 2023. There’s a very high danger for avalanches in the Colorado mountains.

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(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — The Buffalo storm hero who police have dubbed “Merry Christmas Jay” has been identified and is speaking out to ABC News.

Police in the town of Cheektowaga, just outside of Buffalo, credit 27-year-old Jay Withey with saving the lives of two dozen people during the deadly storm by rescuing strangers from cars trapped in the snow and bringing them into a school for shelter.

“I feel 100% that Jay’s actions were heroic and 100% saved lives,” Cheektowaga Police Chief Brian Gould said.

It all began when Withey went to pick up a friend who was stranded. But with only a quarter of a tank of gas left, his car quickly became stuck in the whiteout conditions.

“The wind blowing, the snow falling — you couldn’t see if you stuck your hand out. You couldn’t see the tap of your fingers of your own hand,” he said.

Soaking wet and freezing, Withey decided to seek shelter inside a local school and broke a window to get inside. But instead of hunkering down and resting, he ventured back out into the dangerous conditions to help others who were stranded.

“I can see there’s a couple other vehicles stuck in the vicinity of the school. So I go to them and tell them I’ve broken into the school and that there’s heat in there,” Withey said.

“It was a matter of survival. It was just a very scary situation to be in,” he said.

“I thought we were going to die,” said Sabrina Andino, one of the trapped drivers. “It was scary and unforgettable. But seeing Jay … and getting us in the school really saved us.”

After Withey gathered the stranded drivers inside the school, he pried open the kitchen door so they could find some food. He also went to the school nurse’s office for blankets and water. He left the school’s front door open overnight so anyone looking for safety could join them.

“We all came together,” Andino said.

And now that group of strangers is planning a reunion for the summer.

Police found a note Withey left at the school, apologizing for breaking in.

“I’m terribly sorry about breaking the school window & for breaking in the kitchen … I had to do it to save everyone and get them shelter,” the note said.

It was signed: “Merry Christmas, Jay.”

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(JACKSON, Miss.) — Water pressure has been restored to much of Jackson, Mississippi, but a precautionary boil water notice is still in effect as crews continue to look for leaks and make repairs on the city’s troubled water system, local and state officials said.

“The far reaches of the system are still not seeing full pressure recovery. We’ve identified approximately 20 to 25 active leaks all over the city,” Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba said at a press conference Wednesday.

Officials hope to have the boil water advisory lifted by Saturday, though Lumumba noted that was “an ambitious goal.”

The city issued a precautionary boil water notice on Christmas Day after severe winter weather caused unidentifiable breaks in its distribution system. Lumumba issued a local state of emergency, calling the situation a “worst case scenario.”

Environmental Protection Agency rules require the city to issue a boil water notice when water pressure at the city’s main treatment facilities drops below a certain threshold, Lumumba said.

“Loss of system pressure endangers public health because of the high potential for the introduction of contaminants,” according to the EPA.

The recovery in water pressure is from people turning off dripping faucets, Lumumba said.

Water distribution continued Wednesday at various locations throughout the city. Non-potable water will be given out to residents at the Mississippi state fairgrounds so they can flush their toilets. The mayor urged residents to conserve water and report leaks and open fire hydrants.

Water issues have long-plagued the city of Jackson. Historic flooding in August damaged a major pump at the O.B. Curtis Water Plant, which left around 150,000 of the city’s mostly Black residents without drinkable water.

This week, freezing temperatures also caused water pressure issues in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to boil water notices in the city’s metro-area counties, including Clayton, Butts, Forsyth and parts of Dekalb, Haralson and Monroe.

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