(NEW YORK) — More cases of locally acquired malaria have been detected in the United States, bringing the total up to seven across the country.
In a recent report, Florida health officials said they detected two more cases of the mosquito-borne illness in Sarasota County.
It comes just two weeks after four people in Sarasota County and one person in Cameron County, Texas, were found to have malaria.
ABC News reached out to the Texas Department of State Health Services to see if more cases had been identified in the state but did not immediately hear back.
These are the first malaria cases acquired locally in the US since 2003. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a health advisory last week, warning doctors and public health officials in the affected areas to be alert for more cases.
The illness is caused when a person is bitten by a mosquito carrying malaria parasites, the CDC said. Malaria isn’t contagious and can’t be spread person-to-person.
According to the CDC, people infected with malaria often experience symptoms including fever, chills, and flu-like illness. It can also cause anemia and jaundice because of the loss of red blood cells.
Although about 2,000 cases of malaria are diagnosed in the U.S. each year, these cases are typically among people who traveled to countries where transmission is common, such as sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Malaria used to be commonly acquired in the U.S, but a public health campaign beginning in 1947 consisting of spraying insecticides on the interior surfaces of rural homes or entire premises in counties where malaria was prevalent — as well as removing mosquito breeding sites and drainage — led to a total elimination of transmission by 1950.
The World Health Organization estimates that in 2021, the latest year for which data is available, there were 247 million cases of malaria around the world and 619,000 people died of the disease.
Any patient suspected of having malaria should be tested and treated promptly, the CDC said, because the disease can be life-threatening.
After the first cases were detected, the Florida Department of Health issued a statewide mosquito-borne illness advisory on June 26.
The department said that the original four patients reported to be ill “have been treated and have recovered” but the status of the other patients is unclear.
The CDC says that the risk to the public of locally transmitted malaria is low. People living in areas where cases have been reported should take steps to prevent mosquito bites by using insect repellant, wearing long-sleeved shirts and pants, using screens on windows, and dumping out standing water.
(WASHINGTON) — Police in Washington, D.C., are searching for the suspects who shot and killed a Lyft driver in one of many recent acts of violence in the city.
Nasrat Ahmad Yar, 31, was found shot in a car shortly after midnight Monday morning, the Metropolitan Police Department said.
Four suspects were seen on surveillance cameras running away from the scene, police said.
Yar’s friend, Matthew Butler, told Washington, D.C., ABC affiliate WJLA that Yar was an interpreter for the U.S. Army in Afghanistan for 10 years.
“He re-located to Philadelphia in 2022, and that was the last time I saw him and visited him there. [Then] he re-located to D.C. to be closer to family,” Butler told WJLA. “Last time I spoke to him was about a week ago and he was trying to start his own tow truck company.”
Butler said Yar is survived by his wife and four children.
A Lyft spokesperson said, “Our hearts are with Mr. Nasrat’s loved ones as they confront this unspeakable tragedy. We have reached out to his family to offer our support and are in contact with law enforcement to assist with their investigation.”
The police department is offering a reward up to $25,000.
Yar’s slaying is one of 10 murders in D.C. since July 1. And early Wednesday, nine people, including two children, were injured in a drive-by mass shooting in the city.
Homicides in the city are up 19% year-to-date from 2022, while all violent crime is up 30%, according to police data.
Local leaders gathered on Thursday to call for more help from the public as city officials prepared to vote on emergency legislation. Councilmember Brooke Pinto introduced a number of new bills geared toward closing loopholes in the district’s criminal justice system.
“We have an obligation not to let a few people destroy that peace and tranquility for all of the rest of us,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters Thursday.
(DOWNEY, Calif.) — A California man has been arrested in connection with serial murders targeting strip club workers in Mexico.
U.S. Marshals and the FBI on Thursday arrested 30-year-old Bryant Rivera, a U.S. citizen who lives in Downey, outside of Los Angeles, in connection with the case, a federal complaint shows.
Authorities in Mexico said late last year they were searching for a suspect responsible for the deaths of three women who worked in bars and strip clubs in Tijuana. Baja California Attorney General Ricardo Iván Carpio Sánchez said at the time that investigators believed the suspect was an American who lived north of the border and likened the alleged serial killer to Ted Bundy.
A federal complaint filed on June 29 for his provisional arrest alleged that Downey brought a sex worker back to his Tijuana hotel room on Jan. 24, 2022. The woman was found dead from strangulation the following day, according to the complaint.
The complaint features photos that prosecutors say show Rivera with the alleged victim outside of the hotel elevator the night of Jan. 24, 2022, and him heading back to the U.S. less than two hours later.
Mexico has 60 days to file its official extradition request, which it has not done yet, according to federal prosecutors. The complaint stated that Mexico intends to submit a formal request for extradition within the time required.
Rivera’s next court appearance is set for Monday. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Rivera has been charged in Mexico with the crime of femicide — a form of gender-based violence — in connection with the January 2022 incident and a warrant for his arrest was issued out of Baja California in November 2022, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that Mexican authorities have publicly discussed the case, citing media coverage of the Baja California attorney general’s investigation into the 2022 murders of three strip club workers, whom he said were all found dead in hotel rooms.
“This subject has criminal tendencies associated with violent and psychopathic behavior,” Carpio Sánchez said during a meeting with reporters in Tijuana last year. “His profile is very similar to someone who became very well-known decades ago: Ted Bundy.”
Bundy was one of the nation’s most prolific serial killers, having confessed to murdering 30 women across the U.S. between 1973 and 1978. He was executed in 1989.
ABC News’ Teddy Grant and Anne Laurent contributed to this report.
(JAMESTOWN, N.Y.) — Authorities are searching for a homicide suspect who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail just weeks after he was captured following a dayslong manhunt.
Michael Burham, 34, is a suspect in homicide and rape cases in Jamestown, New York, police said. He was being held in the Warren County Jail in northern Pennsylvania on arson and burglary charges and was also associated with the carjacking and kidnapping of a Pennsylvania couple while trying to evade capture in May, according to Jamestown police.
Burham escaped from the Warren County Jail sometime late Thursday night or early Friday morning, Warren County spokesperson Cecile Stelter told reporters. He was last seen around 11:20 p.m. Thursday wearing an orange-and-white-striped jumpsuit, a denim jacket and Crocs, police said.
Burham escaped from the recreation yard by “elevating himself” on top of exercise equipment and exiting the yard through a metal-grated roof, Stelter said. He then used bed sheets that had been tied together to lower himself to the ground and flee on foot, she said.
Burham normally would have been restrained while moving through the jail, but would not have been restrained in the recreation yard, according to Stelter.
Jamestown police urged residents to lock their doors and “stay vigilant” amid the search for the homicide suspect.
“He is considered dangerous by his past actions and the public is asked not to approach him, but if they see anything unusual to call 911,” Stelter said.
Burham previously led authorities on a multi-state manhunt and had three warrants for his arrest by the time he was apprehended on May 24.
Burham was initially wanted after being charged with the rape and unlawful imprisonment of a woman for an incident in Jamestown on March 13, authorities said. Local police had issued a warrant for his arrest in that case on April 27.
Amid that manhunt, Burham allegedly kidnapped an elderly couple at gunpoint on May 20 in Sheffield, Pennsylvania, and drove them to North Charleston, South Carolina, according to the FBI. He was charged with kidnapping and a warrant was issued for his arrest out of Warren County, Pennsylvania.
Burham was eventually captured in South Carolina on May 24 after a resident spotted him in their backyard, police said. “On Patrol: Live,” a program that airs on Reelz, included a segment about the manhunt for Burham, which the New York law enforcement credited for helping the investigation.
Burham was previously named a person of interest in the killing of 34-year-old Kala Hodgkin on May 11 in Jamestown. Amid the latest manhunt, Jamestown police are now referring to Burham as a suspect in that case.
Federal, state and local resources are being utilized in the search.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Jamestown Police Department’s anonymous tip line at 716-483-8477.
(BIG PINE, Calif.) — A summer avalanche took the life of a hiker and injured two others in California, investigators said.
The unidentified hiking party encountered a wet slide avalanche while descending Split Mountain on July 2 around 4:30 p.m., the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office announced Friday.
The hikers had reached the summit of the mountain, located above Red Lake, near Big Pine, California, earlier in the day, according to investigators.
None of the hikers were buried in the avalanche; however, it was strong enough to sweep the party onto rocky terrain, the Eastern Sierra Avalanche Center said in a statement. All three were hurt and one of the hiker’s wounds were fatal, according to the avalanche center.
The survivors called for help and the Inyo County Sheriff’s Office deployed teams, according to officials. The rescuers ascended 2,000 feet to extract the survivors but conditions forced them to wait another day before retrieving the body of the deceased member, according to the sheriff’s office.
The incident marked the second avalanche-related fatality in the Sierra in the last month.
The avalanche center warned that current weather conditions make avalanches more likely to happen even in the summer months.
“Loose, unconsolidated snow on the surface and the lack of a refreeze overnight mean that wet loose avalanches may be very easy to initiate, and arresting a fall in steep terrain may be very difficult,” the avalanche center said in a statement.
The avalanche center also warned hikers to be careful about objective hazards in the Sierra Mountains.
“Snow bridges are melting out and may be prone to fail under your weight and creeks continue to flow at very high levels making some difficult if not impossible to cross,” it said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has decided to send U.S. stocks of cluster munitions to Ukraine amid its fight against Russia, the White House said Friday, defending the controversial move as urgently needed.
The weapons are part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million.
The additional assistance comes as Ukraine pushes to recapture territory seized by Russia. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told ABC News the counteroffensive was “going to plan” but he’d like to see progress happen even faster.
Zelenskyy said any needed equipment supplied to Ukraine will help his troops “to move faster, to save more lives, to stand our ground for a longer time.”
But the decision to send cluster munitions to Ukraine isn’t without concern, as human rights groups cite the danger they pose to civilians and numerous countries have banned them for more than a decade.
The White House on Friday defended the action as necessary because Ukraine could run short on artillery ammunition otherwise, but said it still wasn’t an easy decision for President Biden.
“We recognize cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordinance,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters. “This is why we deferred the decision for as long as we could. But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery. That is intolerable to us.”
Here’s what to know about the weapons.
What are cluster munitions?
Cluster munitions scatter unguided submunitions, or bomblets, as small as 20 kilograms over a large area, maybe the size of several football fields. The U.S. last used them during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The weapons can be fired from aircraft or from the ground. Depending on the type used, anywhere from dozens to 600 bomblets may be released at a time, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
“These types of weapons are extremely dangerous,” said Richard Weir, a senior researcher in the Crisis and Conflict Division at Human Rights Watch. Weir noted there are various kinds of submunitions, some are designed to penetrate armor or concrete while others are made to unleash as many fragments as possible against troops.
A U.S. defense official told lawmakers last month they believed such weapons “would be useful” for Ukraine, “especially against dug-in Russian positions on the battlefield.”
But cluster munitions also pose significant risk to civilians as they are indiscriminately spread out over an area, and some release bomblets that fail to explode upon impact and can detonate much later — even decades later.
“These are very nasty, destructive weapons for use on the battlefield,” Daryl Kimball, the executive director of the Arms Control Association, told ABC News. “They are also particularly harmful for friendly soldiers as well as civilians after a conflict is over because the cluster munitions of all kinds have a failure rate.”
The Pentagon said Friday they will send their most modern dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICMs) that have a failure rate or “dud rate” of 2.35% or less. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said they have hundreds of thousands of those rounds available.
Kahl contrasted that figure with the failure rate of the cluster munitions being used by Russia against Ukraine, which he said is somewhere between 30 to 40%.
But Kimball said those working in the arms control field believe the failure rate of those munitions “in the U.S. stockpile are probably higher when it comes to actual wartime conditions.”
When asked if the dud rate studies conducted by the Department of Defense on the munitions being sent to Ukraine will be made public, Kahl said those reports are classified but they have “high confidence” in the numbers.
Why are they controversial?
More than 100 countries have essentially banned cluster munitions. Governments that signed onto the “Convention on Cluster Munitions” in 2008 committed to never using, producing or stockpiling cluster munitions.
Russia, Ukraine and the United States did not sign the treaty, though most NATO nations did. Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder declined to say Thursday if Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had any conversations with NATO allies to address their concerns about sending cluster munitions to Ukraine.
“They can injure or kill people who are just going about their daily lives — children playing in playgrounds, people tending to their land,” Weir told ABC News.
“In that sense, they act just like landmines,” Weir said. “So it’s the severe civilian harm associated with these weapons that makes them so controversial.”
Officials said Ukraine gave assurances to minimize the risk to civilians, including a pledge not to use them in urban areas, and will commit to post-conflict demining efforts to find any undetonated munitions that pose a threat.
“I’m as concerned about the humanitarian circumstance as anybody, but the worst thing for civilians in Ukraine is for Russia to win the war,” Kahl said. He added that the U.S. will monitor how the systems are being used and whether the Ukrainian assurances are being met.
Human Rights Watch previously called on both Russia and Ukraine to stop using cluster munitions.
Weir said cluster munitions were involved in one of the worst incidents of civilian casualties during the war so far: the attack on the Kramatorsk train station in April 2022. At least 50 people died and more than a hundred were injured, ABC News reported at the time.
“That tore people’s bodies apart and injured people all around the train station,” he said. “But this plays out again and again and again in regions all over Ukraine where there’s fighting and where we’ve documented the use of various types of submunitions.”
(NEW YORK) — Jennifer DeStefano answered a phone call from an unknown number earlier this year and was horrified to hear what sounded exactly like the panicked voice of her oldest daughter Briana, who was begging to be saved from kidnappers.
“I hear her saying, ‘Mom, these bad men have me. Help me. Help me. Help me.’ And even just saying it just gives me chills,” DeStefano told ABC News.
In reality, Briana was safe and sound. Scammers had allegedly used artificial intelligence to mimic Briana’s voice to try and extort money out of her terrified family.
The incident is just one example of an alarming trend. One of the largest cybersecurity firms in the country, Check Point Technologies, says they’ve seen a substantial increase in AI-based scams and attacks from just the last year. Phone and cyber scams, in total, took approximately $10 billion out of the pockets of Americans in 2022, according to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center.
When DeStefano got that disturbing call on Jan. 20, her 15-year-old daughter Briana had been away on a ski trip.
“This man gets on and he says, ‘Listen here. I have your daughter. If you call anybody, you call the police, I’m gonna pump your daughter so full of drugs, I’m gonna have my way with her, I’m gonna drop her in Mexico, and you’re never gonna see your daughter again,’” DeStefano said.
Then, DeStefano says, the scammer asked for $1 million.
“That’s when I went into panic mode. And I just opened up the door, put the phone on mute, and started screaming for help,” DeStefano said.
A nearby acquaintance overheard the commotion and called 911. The dispatcher told her it sounded like DeStefano was being targeted by a popular scam and asked if she had spoken to her daughter directly.
DeStefano was finally able to get through to her husband, who was also on the ski trip, and he was able to confirm that Briana was OK.
But some questions remained unanswered – who or what was actually on the other end of the line and how were they able to impersonate Briana well enough to fool her own mother?
Experts warn that even just a few seconds of social media content can give scammers all they need to recreate someone’s voice using artificial intelligence.
Reports of the elaborate scam have increased in recent months. In May, a Texas man told “Good Morning America” that his father was scammed out of $1,000 after receiving a distressed call from a scammer allegedly impersonating his grandson, Christian, saying he had gotten into trouble in Mexico and needed some money to get out of the situation.
Pete Nicoletti of Check Point Technologies advises that all family members adopt a “safe word” that can be used when talking with a loved one who has supposedly been kidnapped.
Former FBI special agent and ABC News contributor Rich Frankel says this kind of cybercrime is hard to stop. He recommends recording any type of suspicious call and then trying to reach loved ones directly.
“I would call law enforcement right away, because if it is a real kidnapping, you want law enforcement involved. And if it’s a scam, you wanna know about it right away,” Frankel said.
DeStefano is now trying to protect others from falling victim to this type of scam, testifying at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing on AI and human rights in June.
“Is this the future we are creating by enabling the use of artificial intelligence without consequence and without regulation?” DeStefano asked lawmakers.
(EL PASO, Texas) — The El Paso Walmart gunman was formally sentenced to 90 consecutive life sentences for the racist 2019 massacre that killed 23 people and injured nearly two dozen others, according to El Paso ABC affiliate KVIA.
Judge David Guaderrama handed down the sentence on Friday after hearing two days of emotional impact statements from victims and the family members of victims.
The gunman, 24-year-old Patrick Crusius, pleaded guilty in February to dozens of federal hate crimes and firearms charges.
Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could after driving from his home in Allen, Texas, about 650 miles east of El Paso, officials said.
Twenty-two shooting victims died within days of the attack, while a 23rd person died eight months later. There were also 22 people injured in the attack.
In a statement given on behalf of Crusius prior to the sentencing, defense attorney Joe Spencer claimed his client suffered from a severe mental illness called schizoaffective disorder that led him to commit the horrific act, KVIA reported.
Dozens of victims and family members were in El Paso federal court for the sentencing hearing, which began on Wednesday.
Dean Reckard’s mother, Margie Reckard, was among those killed.
When Dean Reckard took the stand on Thursday, he confronted Crusius, saying, “You’re young and stupid. You made a bad choice. You’re beyond pathetic,” according to KVIA.
When Dean Reckard asked, “Are you sorry you did it?” Crusius reportedly nodded “yes,” according to KVIA.
Dee Margo, who was the mayor of El Paso when the mass shooting occurred, was also in the courtroom.
“The killer, the whole time, he showed very little emotion whatsoever. He did not look over at any of the victims or their families,” Margo told reporters outside the courthouse on Wednesday.
Crusius had initially pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, but requested a rearraignment hearing after federal prosecutors agreed to not seek the death penalty in their case.
He pleaded guilty to 90 federal charges, including 23 counts for hate crime acts that resulted in death, 22 hate crime acts that caused bodily injury, 23 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence resulting in death and 22 counts of using a firearm in a federal crime of violence.
Following the conclusion of the sentencing hearing, Crusius will face a restitution hearing on Sept. 25, KVIA reported.
Crusius is also facing capital murder charges in state court. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges.
El Paso District Attorney Bill Hicks told reporters Thursday he still plans to seek the death penalty in that case, which could go to trial as soon as next year. A jury would ultimately decide whether Crusius faces the death penalty, Hicks said.
“I am committed to seeking justice for the people of this community,” Hicks said.
(NEW YORK) — Dozens of new shark-monitoring drones will be sent to New York beach towns amid an uptick in incidents, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Friday.
The state will provide funding to teach the local personnel in New York City and on Long Island how to operate the drones, the governor said.
Hochul’s announcement comes after five apparent shark bites were reported on Long Island over the July 4 holiday weekend.
“This makes it clear that what we’re looking at is likely a new normal,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone told reporters.
New York state agencies have increased surveillance in response to this week’s attacks, Hochul said Friday.
The governor said the new drones will build on the enhanced shark safety measures at Long Island State Park beaches that were announced in May, including more trained staff; new jet skis; and more buffer zones between swimming areas and fishing areas.
Last year, out of the 41 confirmed, unprovoked shark bites in the U.S., eight were in New York, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History.
Click here for tips on how to stay safe from sharks.
(NEWARK, N.J.) — Investigators are searching for answers after two firefighters were killed and five more were injured while battling a raging blaze aboard a cargo ship docked in Newark, New Jersey.
It was the first time since 2007 that a Newark firefighter was killed on the job, according to city officials.
The fire was still smoldering as of Friday morning, some 36 hours after it broke out on the massive vessel. There is also a sheen on the water around the boat, city officials said.
While the cause of the blaze remains under investigation, there is an indication that the firefighters’ equipment was incompatible with the European-made ship’s fire suppression system, sources close to the probe told ABC News on Thursday. The firefighters also weren’t trained to handle blazes that take place on cargo boats, a source said.
Local, state and federal officials are expected to provide an update on the situation during a press conference on Friday at 10 a.m. ET.
Firefighters were dispatched to the Port Newark Container Terminal on Wednesday at around 9:30 p.m. ET, after receiving a report about multiple vehicles on fire aboard a 692-foot cargo ship named the Grande Costa D’Avorio. They managed to extinguish the main body of the blaze but the flames had extended to multiple levels of the vessel, according to city officials.
The United States Coast Guard also responded to the fire, describing the boat in a Twitter post as a “roll on/roll off vehicle cargo ship.”
At 10:25 p.m. ET, the firefighters called a “Mayday” after two of their own became trapped inside the burning vessel and were nowhere to be seen. That was followed by a second “Mayday” call 15 minutes later, city officials said.
Two Newark firefighters — 45-year-old Augusta Acabou and 49-year-old Wayne Brooks — were ultimately found early Thursday and subsequently taken to a hospital where they both died, according to city officials. New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy ordered flags to be flown at half staff across the state on Friday to mourn the fallen firefighters.
“Augusto Acabou served as a firefighter for over 9 years and Wayne Brooks, Jr. served for over 16 years, with honorable devotion, remarkable courage, exceptional professionalism, loyalty, and commitment to the city of Newark and this state,” Murphy said in a statement. “New Jersey has lost two courageous heroes who dedicated their lives to keeping our communities safe.”
Three other firefighters from the Newark Fire Department as well as two from the Elizabeth Fire Department were injured during the incident, according to city officials.
As of 5:20 a.m. ET on Thursday, the blaze was under control and firefighting operations were mostly completed, though crews were continuing to monitor the ship. The fire was contained in an area of the 11th and 12 floors of the vessel, which has a Halon fire suppression system, city officials said.
Firefighters were still trying to put out the lingering flames on Thursday night, both from the pier and from waterside. Crews were working to gain access to the upper decks of the ship, which is believed to be the primary source of the ongoing blaze, according to the Coast Guard.
One of the issues encountered by the firefighters was that their two-and-a-half-inch fire hose lines weren’t compatible with the boat’s one-inch connections, a source close to the investigation told ABC News. Instead, the firefighters were forced to use the fire hoses on the ship, which output less water and pressure than they were used to, the source said.
Sailing under the Italian flag, the Grande Costa D’Avorio left the Port of Baltimore on Sunday and recently arrived in Newark. The vessel was built in 2011 and is operated by the Grimaldi Group, a Naples-based company that describes itself as Italy’s largest ship-owning group.
The fire began as the boat’s crew was completing cargo operations of loading automobiles on board. The crew immediately activated the ship’s fire suppression procedures, while the local fire department was alerted, according to the Coast Guard.
The vessel is reportedly carrying 1,200 vehicles and 157 containers that were scheduled to be exported, none of which are electric cars or hazardous cargo, the Coast Guard said.
Newark firefighters are trained to battle blazes on cruise ships and other boats that contain living quarters but not ones that carry vehicles, according to Newark Fire Chief Rufus.
“This was definitely a unique fire for us,” Jackson said during a press conference on Thursday.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio, Jessica Gorman and Josh Margolin contributed to this report.
