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(NEW YORK) — A pair of dinosaur fossils of species that roamed the Earth millions of years ago are expected to garner millions in an upcoming auction.

The pterandon, described as one of the “largest” and “most fearsome species ever to roam Earth,” is predicted to fetch between $4 million and $6 million at auction, while the the fossils of the plesiosaur, the “best-preserved” of the species ever offered on the market, is expected to sell between $600,000 and $800,000, according to Sotheby’s.

The dinosaurs, “Horus” the pteranodon, nicknamed after the falcon-headed Egyptian god of kingship, protection and sky, and “Nessie” the plesiosaur, which shares the same nickname of the Loch Ness monster, are among the most feared predators to have ever lived on this planet, according to Sotheby’s.

The pteranodon, one of the largest known flying reptiles, lived in the late Cretaceous Period, around 100.5 million years ago to 66 million years ago, in North America in present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota and Alabama. The dinosaur would typically feed far from shore, sometimes hundreds of miles from the coastline, and would hunt aquatic prey by dipping or plunge diving.

In the air, pteranodons were superior over the feathered dinosaurs and birds during the Mesozoic Era, before going extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period. The pteranodon is currently displayed in Sotheby’s galleries with wings outstretched in a soaring position and is mounted on a custom armature rigged for ceiling suspension.

The specimen for sale has a displayed wingspan of approximately 20 feet and is believed to be a fully mature adult. It was discovered in 2002 in what was once the Western Interior Seaway, an inland sea that divided the continent of North America into two landmasses, known as Laramidia and Appalachia, according to Sotheby’s.

Almost all of the original fossil bones remain on the pteranodon’s remains and are essentially unrestored, meaning that artificial filler was not used to replace missing bone sections. This makes the fossil “ideal” for scientific study and transparency of authenticity, according to Sotheby’s.

The exception is the pteranodon’s skull, which utilized 3D restoration for accurate and aesthetic display of skull sections that were not found at the dig site. Those fragments were replaced with high-resolution 3D printed elements, primarily mirrored from the specimen itself, according to Sotheby’s.

The plesiosaur, a long-extinct marine reptile, lived in the lower Jurassic Period, about 200 million years ago, and is thought to have inspired the legend of the Loch Ness Monster, a mythical creature in Scottish folklore that was believed to live in a lake in the Scottish Highlands.

They evolved a unique body design not seen in other marine creatures, with a relatively small head and jaws packed with numerous long pointed teeth on a snake-like neck. While the body of the plesiosaur was rigid, it could swim rapidly using its big, powerful flippers.

Plesiosaurs were extremely fast predatory reptiles, and may have hunted fish, squid and other small prey.

The specimen for sale was discovered in the 1990s in Gloucestershire, England, and measures nearly 11 feet in length. It is the most valuable of its kind to ever be offered at auction and the best preserved to ever come to market, according to Sotheby’s.

“Both of these species have long played an important role in our collective imaginations, from inspiring ancient folklore and myths to appearing in Hollywood blockbusters and television shows,” Cassandra Hatton, Sotheby’s global head of science and popular culture, said in a statement. “They are each instantly recognizable and are remarkable witnesses to the incredible evolutionary power that has shaped life on Earth for eons.”

A public exhibition for the fossils will open on July 20, while the live auction will take place on July 26.

Last year, Sotheby’s auctioned the first-ever Gorgosaurus skeleton in July 2022 for $6.1 million, and the first sale of a standalone Tyrannosaurus rex skull for $6.1 million the following December.

“These specimens mark the next significant new additions to Sotheby’s history of groundbreaking Natural History sales,” the auction house said of the dinosaur fossils up for auction.

The auction is part of Sotheby’s “Geek Week,” which features sales that celebrate the history of science & technology, space exploration and the natural world from July 18 to July 27.

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(LOS ANGELES) — The federal government has launched a civil rights investigation into how Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles treats Black women who give birth at the hospital, a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed to ABC News.

“Maternal health is a priority for the Biden-Harris Administration and one in which the HHS Office for Civil Rights is working on around the country to ensure equity and equality in health care,” the HHS spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Wednesday. “To protect the integrity of this ongoing investigation we have no further comment.”

Asked about the probe, a Cedars-Sinai spokesperson told ABC News in a statement on Tuesday that the medical center is “concerned” about the racial disparities in maternal care and is working to address the issue.

“Cedars-Sinai clinicians, leaders and researchers have long been concerned with national disparities in Black maternal health, and we are proud of the work we’ve done (and continue to do) to address these issues in Los Angeles as well as at the state and national levels,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson also said the medical center has made ongoing efforts to address the issue, including distributing more than $2.2 million in grants to nonprofits addressing racial disparities in maternal care, holding annual training on unconscious bias, conducting research to identify racial disparities and partnering with organizations and Black leaders to find solutions.

The medical center is working with the California Maternal Quality Care Collaborative to develop and implement “standardized treatment protocols for the most common causes of maternal morbidity and mortality,” the spokesperson said.

The federal probe into Cedars-Sinai’s treatment of Black mothers comes over seven years after the April 2016 death of Kira Dixon Johnson, who died after she suffered internal bleeding following a cesarean section. The baby, Langston Johnson, survived.

The death of Kira Dixon Johnson sparked a national conversation about the racial disparities in Black maternal care.

Charles Johnson, Kira Johnson’s husband, told ABC News in a phone interview on Wednesday that the federal probe has been an “extremely long time coming.”

“I am extremely proud that HHS is going forward with this [investigation]; that they are taking it seriously and this has been I think an extremely long time coming,” Johnson said. “This investigation is a very important step toward accountability, transparency and ultimately, an important step in making sure that families from all walks of lives receive the safe, dignified, respectful care that they deserve not only in material health but healthcare as a whole.”

After his wife’s death, Johnson worked with former Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., on legislation to prevent maternal deaths that was signed into law in 2019 by then-President Donald Trump.

Johnson, while advocating for the legislation, shared his family’s story with ABC News in 2019.

He said that after seeing blood in his wife’s catheter after she delivered their second son, he pleaded with medical staff to provide her care, but his pleas were ignored for hours. She was taken into a procedure room 10 hours later and died of internal bleeding.

Johnson filed a medical malpractice lawsuit in March 2017 and a civil suit against the medical center in May 2022, alleging that racism played a role in the treatment that his wife received at Cedars-Sinai. Both lawsuits have since been “resolved,” Johnson said, but the terms were not shared publicly. Plaintiffs named in the 2017 lawsuit denied wrongdoing, per court documents.

ABC News has reached out to Cedars-Sinai for further comment.

In 2017 Johnson founded 4 Kira 4 Moms, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for legislation and resources to address the disparities in Black maternal care.

Johnson told ABC News on Wednesday that his wife’s story and the awareness the family has worked to raise about disparities in maternal health care played a role in holding Cedars-Sinai and other hospitals around the country accountable.

“My hope is that this will have an impact not only on what’s happening at Cedars-Sinai but other hospitals across the country,” he said.

A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows that 861 women died of maternal causes in the United States in 2020, compared to 754 in 2019. According to the CDC, more than 80 percent of those deaths were preventable and the data shows significant racial disparities, where “American Indian, Alaska Native, and Black women are two to three times more likely to die of pregnancy-related causes than White women.”

Maternal mortality rates in the United States rose in 2021 and Black women continue to be most affected, according to a March 2023 report published by the National Vital Statistics System.

According to the report, non-Hispanic Black women died during and just after pregnancy at a rate 2.6 times that of non-Hispanic white women, and the gap is consistent with previous reports.

ABC News’ Lauren M. Cuénant contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The woman who was dating a Colorado dentist at the time he was allegedly poisoning his wife to death spoke exclusively to ABC News about the case and maintains she had no idea James Craig had lied to her about his marital status during their dates.

Karin Cain told ABC News Chief National Correspondent Matt Gutman that she doesn’t believe she was the motive behind Angela Craig’s alleged poisoning because there was “no planning a future together” with James Craig. In fact, they had only been dating for three weeks and she said James Craig told her that he and his wife were not together.

“If I had known what was true, I would not have been with this person,” Cain told ABC News.

Cain, who lives in Texas, said she is still trying to get her head around the entire case.

James Toliver Craig, 45, who is charged with first-degree murder, was arrested in March after his wife and the mother of his children died of apparent arsenic poisoning.

He’s set to appear at a preliminary hearing on Wednesday.

Angela Craig, 43, was hospitalized three times over the span of 10 days. On March 15, when she was admitted to the hospital for the last time, she was put on a ventilator. Soon after, she was declared medically brain dead and taken off life support, officials said.

Angela Craig’s sister told police that James Craig had multiple affairs with other women, according to the affidavit.

Cain said she met James Craig at a dentist conference in February. Cain was in the process of divorcing her husband and said that she and Craig spent time talking and texting and connecting.

Cain claimed Craig told her he was also deep in a divorce process with his wife, along with other things that weren’t true.

“He told me…they hadn’t been living together. He had an apartment,” she said.

The two kept in contact after the conference ended.

Authorities allege that the dentist poisoned his wife’s protein shakes.

In the weeks before Angela Craig died, James Craig allegedly used a computer at his dental practice to create a new email address and make online searches including: “How many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human” and “Is arsenic detectable in autopsy,” according to the affidavit. He allegedly bought arsenic online on Feb. 23 and the shipment was delivered to his home on March 4, according to the affidavit.

Two days later, Angela Craig texted her husband saying she was dizzy and felt “drugged,” the affidavit said. James Craig responded: “Given our history I know that must be triggering. Just for the record, I didn’t drug you. I am super worried though.”

Angela Craig’s sister told investigators that her sister had disclosed to her several years earlier that she’d been drugged, allegedly by her husband.

When James Craig asked his wife if she’d eaten anything, she replied that she had her protein shake, according to the affidavit. Angela Craig was hospitalized for the first time and then treated and released.

While Angela Craig was hospitalized again from March 9 to March 14, James Craig allegedly ordered the highly lethal chemical compound potassium cyanide, which was delivered to his dental practice on March 13, according to the affidavit.

On March 15, when Angela Craig was hospitalized for the final time, one of James Craig’s business partners told a nurse about the potassium cyanide delivery and how there was no need for it at their dental practice, prompting the nurse to contact police, according to the affidavit.

Cain claimed that she visited James Craig in Colorado around the time Angela Craig was hospitalized. During one of two dinners they had together, Cain said he looked stressed and anxious.

“It wasn’t until the media started reporting on it that I realized the timeline was so tight, that it was two days after we had left that meeting,” she said.

Cain said she never consummated the relationship and said she feels remorse for the victims and the family.

“I can’t even imagine the loss of a family member and then to consider that it could be at the hands of someone that had been in the family for 25 years,” she said.

ABC News’ Mola Lenghi, Jenn Leong and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.

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(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — Two firefighters have been shot inside a Birmingham, Alabama, fire station in what police say may be a targeted attack.

Both firefighters were hospitalized in serious condition after the shooting, which took place at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday, Birmingham police told reporters.

The suspect and motive are unknown, police said, adding that it’s “extremely unusual for someone to come target one of our fire stations.”

About three firefighters were at the station at the time, authorities said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Flood-ravaged areas in the northeastern United States could see even more rainfall on Thursday as communities try to recover from a historic deluge.

A severe weather system moving through the Plains and the Midwest is forecast to reach the Northeast by Thursday evening with scattered storms. That means potentially more rain from New York to Vermont, areas where the ground is already so saturated that it won’t take much to cause more flooding.

In Vermont, some areas had recorded up to 9 inches of rain over a 24-hour period by Tuesday afternoon as small creeks turned into raging rivers that swallowed roads in the worst flooding to hit the Green Mountain State since Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Swift water rescue teams have rescued more than 100 people across Vermont since Sunday, though no injuries or deaths have been reported so far, according to officials.

The Winooski River, which runs through Vermont’s capital, crested at 21.02 feet in Montpelier on Tuesday, its highest level since 1927. The river gradually receded, reaching below flood stage by Tuesday evening. The Wrightsville Dam, which forms a reservoir just outside Montpelier, was also beginning to recede and was not expected to breach the spillway, officials said.

The Lamoille River, running through northern Vermont, reached its highest level on record of 455.13 feet in the village of Jeffersonville on Tuesday.

President Joe Biden has declared a state of emergency in Vermont, freeing up federal resources.

Meanwhile, at least one person was killed in floodwaters in upstate New York. More than 500 homeowners have reported damage in the Empire State’s hard-hit Orange County so far, according to officials.

The extreme weather began on Sunday, affecting much of the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions, prompting flash flood alerts in parts of New York. The storm system pushed north on Monday, with the heaviest rainfall hitting Vermont.

The Northeast was expected to get a break from the downpours on Tuesday and Wednesday before more storms strike the region on Thursday, including in New York and Vermont, with potentially another 2 to 4 inches of rain.

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(ANNAPOLIS, Md.) — The Caucus of African American Leaders (CAAL) voted unanimously Tuesday evening to present a reparations resolution to Maryland officials, seeking programs to address the damage of slavery among Black Maryland residents.

“I’m inspired,” said Carl Snowden, the convenor of the caucus, which is composed of Black organizations, elected officials and activists, in a statement to ABC News following the vote. “This is the time to energize, mobilize, and organize people of goodwill to make this happen.”

The resolution will be presented to Annapolis Mayor Gavin Buckley next week, and then to Gov. Wes Moore and Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman in August.

“What we’re hoping is that those elected officials would agree that this is important,” Snowden said in an interview with ABC News the morning of the vote.

Part of asking them “to look at this issue is they will undoubtedly appoint a committee or commission, which would have the responsibility of looking at the local jurisdictions in the state and determine the best way to move forward,” he added.

Some cities and states are aiming to gain reparations for Black residents, notably California. The state’s reparations task force, held its final meeting last month, placing its recommendations into the hands of the state legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom.

While reparations are popular among Black people, it’s not among white people, according to the Pew Research Center. Last year it found that 77% of Black Americans support the action, compared to 18% of white Americans.

To gain insight about how the Caucus of African American Leaders should pursue reparations, it held a meeting Monday with Robin Rue Simmons, a former alderman in Evanston, Illinois. She spearheaded a reparations resolution in the city, which became the first in the nation to fund reparations for Black residents — committing $10 million to Black residents targeted by discriminatory policies.

“I didn’t even intend to call the question of reparations in my local government when I became an alderperson,” Simmons said. “I was really running to just change the life circumstances of the Black community, the Black experience — make sure that our neighborhood had the same access to everything, livability, quality of life, and opportunities as the rest of Evanston, which we did not have, although we are highly celebrated for our diversity, equity and inclusion and all of these things.”

Underscoring the need for reparations, Snowden said the harm to African Americans due to racist policies is self-evident.

“It explains why we have this wealth and health gap,” he said. “When you look at the problems that are in the African American community, many of these problems can be traced directly back to slavery.”

“The idea of reparations is not new,” Snowden noted, pointing to how Japanese Americans incarcerated in internment camps during WWII received them. “I’m confident we can do the same thing here in Maryland.”

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(NEW YORK) — A 26-year-old Boulder, Colorado, woman died after falling 500 feet while climbing a ridge at the Rocky Mountain National Park, park officials said Monday.

The woman was doing a free-solo climb at the site on Ypsilon Mountain when she fell on Sunday, according to the National Park Service.

Her 27-year-old hiking partner called park rangers, notifying them of the fall, officials said.

Members of the Rocky Mountain National Park Search and Rescue Team requested a Colorado Air National Guard helicopter to help with removing her hiking partner, who was not hurt, NPS said.

The search and rescue team recovered the woman’s body on Monday morning, where she was flown to the Upper Beaver Meadows part of the park and then transported to the Larimer County Coroner/Medical Examiner’s Office, according to NPS.

The name of the woman will be released once her next of kin are informed, according to officials.

Rocky Mountain National Park covers about 415 square miles, or 265,807 acres of different mountain environments, including meadows to alpine lakes, and has more than 300 miles of hiking trails and areas to view wildlife, according to NPS.

Over four million hikers visit the park every year, making it one of the most visited parks within the National Park System, according to National Parks Conservation Association.

The incident is the second death at Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park in the past week.

A 25-year-old man from Rhode Island died after he fell and was pulled underwater at West Creek Falls in the park on July 2, the National Park Service said in a press release.

“Mountain rivers, streams, and waterfalls are running very cold and very fast this time of year,” NPS said in a statement. “The depth and current of all waterways can be deceivingly deep and swift. Park visitors are reminded to keep back from the banks of streams, rivers and waterfalls.”

In another tragic hiking incident, a 57-year-old woman was on an 8-mile hike in the remote area of Arizona’s Grand Canyon National Park on July 2 when she lost consciousness as temperatures reached triple digits.

A park ranger pronounced her dead a day later, according to the National Park Service.

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(MIAMI) — A 6-year-old girl in Miami thwarted her own kidnapping outside her home after she bit the attacker, according to the Miami Police Department.

Police arrested Leonardo Venegas on Saturday in connection to the alleged abduction, an arrest affidavit shows. He was charged with kidnapping and child abuse.

The child was playing with her siblings in the courtyard of their apartment complex in Miami on Thursday when they noticed a white SUV near the apartment, according to the affidavit.

After her siblings went inside, the 6-year-old girl sat on the rear stairway of her apartment when she was suddenly grabbed by the suspect, whom police identified as Leonardo Venegas, the affidavit shows.

Police said Venegas allegedly picked up the child and began to carry her away when she bit him on the arm, resulting in him dropping her. Venegas allegedly slapped the child and ran toward the front of the apartment complex, according to the affidavit.

“I bit him,” the 6-year-old told ABC News Miami affiliate WPLG-TV.

“He picked me up and then he slapped me,” she told the station. “Then he threw me on the floor and started running.”

The 6-year-old ran to the front of the building and told her aunt what happened, according to the affidavit.

Miami police said CCTV footage showed a white Range Rover entering the apartment complex and the suspect walking to the rear of the complex towards the staircase, where the 6-year-old was sitting.

The victim confirmed the man seen in the CCTV footage was the same person who allegedly tried to kidnap her, Miami police said.

Police found the white SUV at an address in Miami and then took Venegas into custody, according to the arrest record.

An attorney for Venegas did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

In a separate incident in Florida from May, a 6-year-old girl in Daytona Beach was almost kidnapped after walking home from church with her mom on Mother’s Day, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department.

The child and her mother were walking home hand-in-hand from Our Lady of Lourdes Church when a woman blocked them from moving any further, according to an incident report obtained by ABC News affiliate WFTV.

The woman then “intentionally grabbed” the 6-year-old, trying to break the grip between her and her mother, the report said. Ultimately unsuccessful, the suspect fled.

In another alleged abduction attempt from March, Jamaal Germany, 30, allegedly tried to kidnap a student standing at a bus stop in Gaithersburg, Maryland while waiting to be picked up by their school bus, according to the Montgomery County Police Department.

Germany is still in custody and his next court appearance is in September, according to the Montgomery County Detention Center. His plea information was not immediately available.

The alleged kidnapping attempt was foiled by a group of kids who came to the victim’s defense, police said.

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(NEW YORK) — Former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten was released from prison on Tuesday after serving 53 years behind bars, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

According to her attorney, Van Houten is now in a “transitional living facility.”

She was released to parole supervision and “will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year,” the department said.

Her release comes after California Gov. Gavin Newsom said last week that he wouldn’t ask the state’s Supreme Court to block her parole.

“Governor Newsom reversed Ms. Van Houten’s parole grant three times since taking office and defended against her challenges of those decisions in court,” Erin Mellon, communications director for the Office of the Governor, said Tuesday.

Mellon continued, “The Governor is disappointed by the Court of Appeal’s decision to release Ms. Van Houten but will not pursue further action as efforts to further appeal are unlikely to succeed. The California Supreme Court accepts appeals in very few cases, and generally does not select cases based on this type of fact-specific determination.”

Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the Aug. 10, 1969, murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home. The LaBiancas were both stabbed to death and the word “war” was carved on Leno LaBianca’s stomach.

Van Houten told ABC News in 1994 that she and another Manson follower took Rosemary LaBianca into a bedroom and “the sounds of Mr. LaBianca dying came into the bedroom — horrible, guttural sounds. She started calling out to him and yelling for him. And at that moment, for a brief moment, I realized, you know, these are people that love each other.”

She said Manson follower Charles “Tex” Watson handed her a knife.

“He said, ‘Do something,’ because Manson had told him to make sure that all of us got our hands dirty,” Van Houten said. “And I stabbed Mrs. LaBianca in the lower back about 16 times.”

Van Houten did not participate in the “Manson family” murders of actress Sharon Tate and four others, who were killed at another Los Angeles home one night earlier.

While Manson didn’t commit the killings himself, he commanded his followers to do so. Manson died in prison in 2017.

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(NORTH CAROLINA) — A family of four were assaulted after an early-morning robbery in the small North Carolina city of Morganton, according to police.

Officers initially responded to the incident at approximately 4 a.m. Saturday, finding two adults and two children who reported that they had been assaulted by three intruders, according to the Morganton Department of Public Safety.

A Morganton Department of Public Safety representative told ABC News that two of the three intruders were armed, though police are not releasing information on the type of weapons the intruders used.

Investigators said that the intruders duct taped the mouths and hands of the 6- and 7-year-old children and placed them in a closet, according to ABC affiliate WSOC, which reports the mother was also assaulted and the father was “pistol-whipped” by the intruders.

The family, whose identities were not released, told WSOC that they were staying temporarily in the house while their home is under construction.

“The only thing I can say is it was traumatic,” the female adult victim told WSOC. “Looking back now, I don’t know why we are still living. I woke up with an AR-15 pointed to my head, and I watched as they pistol-whipped my husband.”

Unable to locate the perpetrators following the break-in, law enforcement used a reverse 911 call to notify the surrounding area about the dangerous suspects, according to the Morganton Department of Public Safety.

The family told WSOC that the intruders wore ski masks and demanded money, including their Social Security and work checks, while robbing the home.

No arrests have been made in the case. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call the Morganton Department of Public Safety at 828-437-1211.

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