(WASHINGTON) — After nearly a year of planning and a more than 4,500-mile trek across the country, the U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree arrived in Washington Friday, just in time for the holiday season.
Architect of the Capitol Brett Blanton accepted the tree from Forest Supervisor Ted McArthur of the Six Rivers National Forest in Northern California, overseen by the U.S. Forest Service.
“We are glad to have such a beautiful Christmas tree that all Californians and, frankly, all Americans can be proud of,” Blanton said.
This year’s tree is an 84-foot white fir nicknamed “Sugar Bear.”
After being harvested on Oct. 23, it made stops at various communities along the continental U.S. on its way to the nation’s capital.
The Six Rivers National Forest said the motto for this year’s donation was “Many Peoples One Tree.”
Over the next few days, the tree is expected to be decorated with LED lights and ornaments made in different California communities.
The U.S. Capitol Christmas Tree tradition started back in 1964 when then-Speaker of the House John W. McCormack, D-Mass., placed a live tree on the Capitol lawn.
The tree lived for a few years before succumbing to wind and root damage.
In order to keep the tradition alive, in 1970 the Architect of the Capitol asked the U.S. Forest Service to provide a Christmas tree and since then, a different national forest is chosen each year to provide “The People’s Tree.”
A lighting ceremony is expected to happen in early December with the Architect of the Capitol and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(NEW YORK) — New details were revealed Friday about an outside independent probe launched to investigate the treatment of the Turpin siblings since their dramatic 2018 escape from captivity, casting new light on how a Southern California county is grappling with allegations that the 13 siblings have been mistreated under its care.
Nearly four years ago, the Turpin children escaped from their Perris, California, home where they were subjected to brutal violence and deprived of food, sleep, hygiene, education and health care. At the time, advocates and county leaders assured the siblings — and a concerned public — that help was on the way. But some officials and some of the Turpin children are speaking out to say they still don’t have access to many of the resources and services guaranteed to them.
An ABC News investigation found that some of the Turpin children continue to face challenges and hardships since they were rescued and placed in the care of the county. Some of them have even faced assault and alleged child abuse again.
Watch the Diane Sawyer special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror,” on Friday, Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. ET on ABC and stream on Hulu.
In a statement to ABC News earlier this week regarding the Turpin siblings’ treatment, Riverside County Executive Officer Jeff Van Wagenen acknowledged that “there have been instances in which those we seek to protect have been harmed,” and said his office has hired a law firm to “conduct an independent and comprehensive investigation” into what happened in the cases of the 13 Turpin children.
Officials told ABC News on Friday that Van Wagenen initiated the investigation on Oct. 28, one day after ABC News requested an interview with him to discuss the Turpin case.
As part of the probe, the California law firm Larson LLP “will be seeking” to interview the Turpin children, the county said. Current county employees will be “directed to participate in this investigation,” but not required to do so. Former county employees and those who do not work for Riverside County will be asked to cooperate with the probe as well, officials said.
The results of the inquiry will be released publicly when the investigation concludes, which officials said would be in March.
The county has not imposed a budget on the law firm, which “has been instructed to take all reasonable steps consistent with best practices in conducting its investigation,” the county said.
Mike Hestrin, the district attorney who prosecuted the Turpins’ parents, said the mistreatment of the 13 siblings has exposed serious systemic fissures that exist across the American social services system — where the most vulnerable should be able to seek help in their time of need.
“If we can’t care for the Turpin victims, then how do we have a chance to care for anyone?” Hestrin told ABC News’ Diane Sawyer in an interview for the 20/20 special event, “Escape From A House Of Horror.”
The investigation into the Turpins’ treatment will be led by former U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson, who served nearly 10 years on the bench in California, including three years in district court after being appointed by George W. Bush in 2006, according to his bio.
ABC News’ Lucien Bruggeman, Josh Margolin and Allison Hope Weiner contributed to this report.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Defense attorney Kevin Gough called the homicide trial of Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black jogger, a “public lynching” of his client — who is one of three white men accused of chasing and killing Arbery.
He claimed that the trial has been “infected by mob violence by the woke-left mob,” and asked the judge for a mistrial once again. His request was denied by the judge.
“Third parties are influencing this case,” Gough said, referring to the “spectator activity” and “media frenzy” concerning public figures attending the trial and gathering outside of the courtroom. “This is what a public lynching looks like in the 21st century.”
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski had argued that “there’s absolutely no evidence here that the jurors have been influenced in any way by the first and only larger crowd that came yesterday. No evidence that they even knew it was out there.”
Travis McMichael — who fatally shot Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020, while Arbery was jogging — claims he shot him in self-defense.
That day, McMichael was accompanied by his father Gregory and their neighbor Bryan. They followed Arbery, because they say they had believed that the 25-year-old was a criminal following recent reports of crime in the neighborhood.
Detective Parker Marcy testified that Gregory claimed he armed himself because he suspected Arbery may have stolen a handgun from his son’s truck several weeks earlier, but he acknowledged he had no proof of this.
The McMichaels claimed, through their lawyers. that they were attempting to make a citizens’ arrest. On the witness stand Thursday, McMichael said that Arbery never verbally threatened him or brandished a weapon during the five minutes the three of them chased Arbery before he was fatally shot.
The men have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
(KENOSHA, Wisc.) — A Wisconsin jury has acquitted Kyle Rittenhouse on all charges in his homicide trial.
The 18-year-old fell to the ground after hearing the verdict.
Rittenhouse pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, first-degree reckless homicide and first-degree intentional homicide and attempted first-degree intentional homicide, claiming he shot three men, two fatally, in self-defense during a 2020 protest.
A charge of violating a curfew that was imposed during the protests in Kenosha was dropped during the trial.
The charges stemmed from the fatal shootings of Joseph Rosenbaum, 36, and Anthony Huber, 26, and a shooting that left 27-year-old Gaige Grosskreutz wounded.
During his testimony, Rittenhouse said he shot all three men with an AR-15-style semi-automatic rifle in self-defense.
“I didn’t intend to kill them. I intended to stop the people who were attacking me,” Rittenhouse repeatedly said, at one point breaking down and sobbing on the witness stand.
The chaos in Kenosha unfolded on Aug. 25, 2020, after protests erupted over a police officer shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Riots, vandalism and looting broke out, prompting an online call for armed “patriots” to come to the city to protect lives and property.
Rittenhouse, who was then 17, answered the call to help, his attorney, Mark Richards, said. Rittenhouse, who said he was a nursing student at Arizona State University and a former firefighter EMT cadet, claimed during his testimony that his primary purpose for going to downtown Kenosha on the night of the shootings was to provide first aid to people in need.
The prosecutors’ case hinged heavily on multiple videos showing Rittenhouse shooting the unarmed Rosenbaum as well as Huber, who allegedly struck him with a skateboard twice.
Video also captured Rittenhouse shooting Grosskreutz, a trained paramedic, in the right bicep after Grosskreutz approached him with a loaded pistol.
(SMITHSBURG, Md.) — Four people were pronounced dead following an attempted traffic stop in Maryland, as a manhunt was underway in the state for two former police officers who were considered armed and dangerous. On Thursday night, police confirmed two of the deceased were the former officers.
Three passengers were pronounced dead at the scene in Smithsburg late Thursday afternoon, including a female driver, an adult man and one child, according to Maryland State Police.
A fourth passenger, another child, was medevacked to a local hospital and pronounced dead, police said.
All four appeared to have been shot, Elena Russo, a spokesperson for Maryland State Police, said during a press briefing. The car had run off the road and hit a fence line, she said.
Maryland State Police said in a statement later Thursday that they were able to identify the deceased individuals.
The woman in the front seat of the car was Tia Bynum, 35, a former Baltimore County police officer. She was pronounced dead on the scene by emergency medical service personnel. “Bynum was wanted by the Baltimore County Police Department and considered armed and dangerous,” they said. The man in the back seat was identified as Robert Vicosa, 41, also a former police officer. He was also pronounced dead on the scene and was previously wanted for committing multiple felony crimes in Pennsylvania and Maryland.
“Police believe the two juveniles located in the back seat were Vicosa’s children,” the police department said. One was pronounced dead at the scene and the other was transported by police to Meritus Medical Center in Hagerstown, where she was also pronounced dead.
Both adults and both children have been transported to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Baltimore for autopsy, police said.
“This is a complex incident. It is going to take time,” Russo said. “We are really working hard to understand what occurred.”
Russo would not confirm Thursday afternoon if the deadly incident was related to the manhunt for former Baltimore County police officers Vicosa and Bynum, who were being sought for an alleged kidnapping and armed robbery that occurred Wednesday in Baltimore County, Maryland. Vicosa has also been accused of stealing a car in York County, Pennsylvania, and fleeing with his two young daughters earlier this week.
Russo did say that investigators believe the Smithsburg incident is potentially related to two incidents in Maryland and Pennsylvania.
“The Pennsylvania State Police were attempting a traffic stop on a car that matched the description of a suspect vehicle involved in an incident in Baltimore County,” Russo said.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan appeared to reference the incident in a statement on Twitter Thursday night, calling it a “horrific tragedy.”
“We are grieving tonight over the unfathomable loss of two innocent children in what is clearly a horrific tragedy and heinous crime,” he said. “Maryland State Police have begun what will be a thorough investigation into today’s events.”
Authorities began searching for Vicosa after he allegedly held a woman at gunpoint at a home in York County, stole her car and fled with his two daughters, ages 6 and 7, police in York County said. The stolen car was found in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, police said.
On Wednesday afternoon, Vicosa and Bynum allegedly committed a kidnapping and robbery in the Cockeysville, Maryland, area, the Baltimore County Police Department said.
Vicosa was allegedly armed with a semi-automatic handgun, police said, adding that his daughters were present during the robbery.
The suspects allegedly carjacked a man and forced him to drive them, before releasing the victim unharmed, Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt said.
Baltimore County police said Vicosa was fired in August for several disciplinary violations, according to records obtained by Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, ABC affiliate WHTM. Police said Bynum, who was in the criminal investigations bureau, is currently suspended and stripped of police powers.
Vicosa and Bynum were believed to have been “armed with at least one handgun and possibly several semi-automatic rifles,” police said in a public alert Thursday morning.
Hyatt began her remarks at a news conference Thursday morning with a personal plea to Bynum.
“Our priority is the safety and well-being of [Vicosa’s daughters] Giana and Aaminah. Please get these two innocent and precious children to a safe location,” Hyatt said. “We want to work with you on a safe and peaceful resolution.”
She urged both suspects to “peacefully surrender to authorities.”
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 768,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Nov 19, 6:35 am
Austria to enter full lockdown, make vaccination mandatory
Austrian Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg announced Friday that the country will go into a full nationwide lockdown to curb a fourth wave of COVID-19 infections.
“We do not want a fifth wave,” Schallenberg warned.
The lockdown will begin Monday and last for at least 10 days before the situation is reassessed. If the number of new COVID-19 cases has not dropped significantly, the lockdown can be extended to a maximum of 20 days.
Under the restrictions, people will be told to work from home, non-essential shops will close and public gatherings will be canceled. Schools will remain open for students who require in-person learning, but parents have been asked to keep their children at home if possible.
COVID-19 vaccination will also become mandatory by law in Austria, starting on Feb. 1.
It’s the first country in Europe to make COVID-19 vaccines compulsory and the first to reimpose a full lockdown this winter, as the continent grapples with rising infections.
The Austrian government had initially imposed a nationwide lockdown only for the unvaccinated that began last Monday.
Nov 18, 9:11 pm
Masks cut COVID-19 incidence by 53%, new analysis finds
Mask-wearing cuts COVID-19 incidence by 53%, according to a new analysis that pooled results from multiple studies.
The analysis, published Thursday in the medical journal The BMJ, found that mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing were all effective in reducing the spread of COVID-19.
The bulk of the studies included in the analysis were conducted before mass vaccinations. The researchers, who were from several universities in Australia, Scotland and China, said that more studies are needed to understand the effectiveness of these public health measures in the context of widespread vaccination coverage.
-ABC News’ Guy Davies, Esra Demirel and Sony Salzman
Nov 18, 2:19 pm
Northeast, Midwest see biggest jump in cases, hospitalizations
The Northeast and Midwest are seeing the largest jump in cases and hospitalizations, according to federal data.
Twenty-seven states have seen at least a 10% jump in daily cases over the last two weeks: Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, New York City, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.
Eighteen states have seen at least a 10% increase in hospital admissions over the last week: Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, South Dakota, Texas and Wisconsin.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed legislation that prohibits private employer vaccine mandates and says employers that violate the ruling will be fined.
The legislation also states educational institutions can’t require students to be vaccinated; school districts can’t have face mask policies or quarantine healthy students; and families can “sue violating school districts.”
“Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates,” DeSantis, a Republican, said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) — Skywatchers, the longest partial lunar eclipse since 1440 will take place Friday, and you’ll have the chance to view a historic cosmic wonder in the sky.
The partial eclipse is the longest of its kind, and NASA estimates it will not occur again for another 648 years.
This partial lunar eclipse will reach its highest point at 4:03 a.m. ET, for those on the East Coast and 1:03 a.m. PT, for those on West Coast. North America, South America, Eastern Asia, Australia and the Pacific region will be able to see at least part of it.
NASA predicts the eclipse will last for 3 hours, 28 minutes and 23 seconds.
The moon is pictured above Suva in Fiji on May 26, 2021, during a total lunar eclipse as stargazers across the Pacific casted their eyes skyward to witness a rare “Super Blood Moon.”
In a lunar eclipse, the sun, Earth and moon align, and the moon moves into Earth’s shadow.
This time, viewers can expect to see the moon turn red and about 99.1% of the moon will be in the Earth’s umbra, according to NASA.
NASA said the best way to see the eclipse is with binoculars or a telescope to bring out the color, but you can also go outside and just look up.
The longest total eclipse will take place on Nov. 8, 2022.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Hundreds of pastors gathered and prayed Thursday outside the Georgia courthouse where the trial over Ahmaud Arbery’s killing is underway, a week after a defense attorney said there shouldn’t be “any more Black pastors” in the courtroom.
Rev. Al Sharpton, whose presence in the courtroom prompted the attorney’s denied request to prevent pastors from sitting with Arbery’s family during the trial, called on clergy “across ecumenical lines” to join him outside the Glynn County Courthouse for a “power of prayer vigil” in solidarity with the family.
“No lawyer can knock us out. Because wherever you are, God is always there,” Sharpton told the crowd. “I’m here this week. … And we’re going to keep coming until we get justice.”
Judge in trial over death of Ahmaud Arbery admonishes defense attorney over his comments about Rev. Al Sharpton’s presence in courtroom gallery, after the attorney said, “We don’t want any more black pastors coming in here.” https://t.co/XIbLQnBhwYpic.twitter.com/8NBnKzL3XP
Arbery’s parents thanked the pastors for their support.
“My heart is full of just joy in the midst of this broken heart,” his mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, told the crowd.
Sharpton said he was joined in Brunswick by hundreds of Black pastors from “all over the world,” shouting out Seattle, Philadelphia and New York City. Also in attendance were human rights advocate Martin Luther King III, the son of slain civil rights leader Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., and the Arbery family’s attorneys.
Protesters also gathered alongside the clergy, holding signs that said “Black pastors matter” and “Justice for Ahmaud.”
The rally was announced last Friday, a day after defense attorney Kevin Gough told Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley that he took major offense over the fact that Sharpton had been in the courtroom with Arbery’s family that week. Gough called Sharpton’s presence “improper,” “intimidating to the jury” and “an attempt to influence.”
“We have all kinds of pastors in this town, over 100. And the idea that we’re going to be serially bringing these people in to sit with the victim’s family, one after another, obviously there’s only so many pastors they can have,” Gough said. “If their pastor’s Al Sharpton right now, that’s fine. But then that’s it. We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here.”
Gough later apologized, saying in court that his statements had been “overly broad.”
“My apologies to anyone who might’ve been inadvertently offended,” he said.
In an interview with ABC News’ Linsey Davis this week, Sharpton said the comments were “one of the more outrageous things I’ve ever heard.”
“He didn’t just say, ‘We don’t want ministers,’ or, ‘We don’t want civil rights leaders’ — ‘We don’t want Black pastors,'” he said. “And I think that that is one of the most bigoted and biased things I’ve heard.”
Gough is representing William “Roddie” Bryan, who filmed Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, chasing down Arbery while the 25-year-old Black man was out for a jog last year. Arbery was fatally shot during the confrontation.
The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
The high-profile trial entered its 10th day Thursday, with Travis McMichael taking to the stand for the second time to testify as the defense’s first witness. The defense rested its case in the afternoon, and court is adjourned until Monday morning.
(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Travis McMichael returned to the witness stand on Thursday and under cross-examination from the prosecutor repeated that Ahmaud Arbery never verbally threatened him or brandished a weapon during the five minutes he, his father and their neighbor chased Arbery before McMichael fatally shot him.
Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski attempted to undermind the 35-year-old McMichael’s credibility by getting him to concede to inconsistencies between what he told police the day of the shooting and what he told the Brunswick, Georgia, jury during his direct testimony on Wednesday.
“Not once in your statement to police did you say that you and your father were trying to arrest Mr. Arbery?” Dunikoski asked after inquiring about the defendant’s training on probable cause during his time in the Coast Guard.
Travis McMichael acknowledged that in none of his statements did he tell police that he and his father were attempting to make a citizens’ arrest of Arbery. He also conceded that he had suspected another individual of stealing a pistol from his truck on Jan. 1, 2020, and that he had also surmised that person, not Arbery, was the one responsible for a spike in crime in his Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick.
Dunikoski grilled Travis McMichael on why he suspected Arbery of burglarizing a home under construction on the day of the killing, writing on a flipchart a series of assumptions and statements in which he said “maybe” a neighbor had seen him in the unfinished home, “maybe” he had broken in, “maybe” he was running from a crime, “maybe” Arbery had been caught in the act.
Travis McMichael testified that he based his suspicions on a totality of circumstances, including a brief encounter at the construction site in his neighborhood he had on Feb. 11, 2020, with a man that turned out to be Arbery, whom he thought was armed because he reached into his pants.
Travis McMichael, his 65-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.
Complaint about Rev. Jesse Jackson
During Travis McMichael’s testimony on Thursday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson sat in the courtroom gallery with Arbery’s parents, raising the latest of several recent objections from Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, that the presence of prominent Black ministers in the court was an attempt to intimidate the jury.
Judge Walmsley said he has already ruled twice on Gough’s motions to bar the Black ministers from the courtroom, finding that they have not been disruptive to the proceedings.
In an apparent reaction to Gough’s complaints, hundreds of Black ministers held a prayer vigil outside the courthouse on Thursday as the trial was going on.
The chase
Dunikoski directed Travis McMichael’s attention to the pursuit of Arbery that he and his father, Gregory McMichael, initiated after his dad saw Arbery running past their home on Feb. 23, 2020, causing them both to grab their guns.
During his direct testimony on Wednesday, Travis McMichael testified that he walked out of his house with his shotgun and saw a neighbor pointing in his direction as if signaling where he saw the young Black man running.
Travis McMichael testified on Thursday that at no time did he go and speak to the neighbor about what had occurred before he and his father jumped in his truck with their guns and set out after Arbery.
He testified that he drove close enough to Arbery on three separate occasions to ask him to stop running so he could speak to him, but in each instance, Arbery kept running, never said a word to him and altered his course in an apparent attempt to get away from the McMichaels.
“When you first see him, he’s not reaching into his pockets?” Dunikoski asked.
Travis McMichael answered, “No, ma’am.”
Dunikoski continued her line of questioning, saying, “And he never yelled at you guys, never threatened you at all?”
Travis McMichael responded, “Did not threaten me verbally.”
He agreed that Abery never brandished a knife, gun, or had anything in his hands at any time during the pursuit, testifying, “He was just running.”
(NEW YORK) — One of the men convicted in connection with the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X appeared in court Thursday where a judge cleared his name.
Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance moved to throw out the convictions of Muhammad Aziz, 83, and Khalil Islam, who died in 2009, based on “newly discovered evidence and the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence,” according to a joint motion Vance’s office filed with the defense.
“We are moving today to vacate the convictions and dismiss the indictments,” Vance said. “I apologize for what were serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”
Aziz, previously known as Norman Butler, spent 22 years in prison before he was paroled in 1985. Confessed assassin Thomas Hagan, who served 45 years in prison, had long said neither man participated in killing the fiery civil rights leader.
Vance said that certain witnesses, acting under orders from then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were ordered not to reveal they were FBI informants.
“Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongly convicted of this crime,” Vance said.
Aziz sat at the defense table wearing a white mask next to his attorney, David Shanies, who called Aziz and Islam “innocent young Black men” and accused the New York Police Department and the FBI of covering up evidence.
“Most of the men who murdered Malcolm X never faced justice,” Shanies said.
Aziz read from a statement in court, saying, “The events that led to my conviction and wrongful imprisonment should never have happened. Those events were the result of a process that was corrupt to its core — one that is all too familiar — even in 2021.”
“While I do not need a court, prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I am innocent, I am glad that my family, my friends, and the attorneys who have worked and supported me all these years are finally seeing the truth we have all known officially recognized,” he continued.
The exoneration resulted from a nearly two-year investigation by the district attorney’s office and the Innocence Project that uncovered FBI documents that revealed a description of the killers that did not match Aziz or Islam, an admission that the only witnesses who fingered Aziz and Islam were FBI informants and a report that said sources reviewed photos of Islam and failed to place him in the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965.
“In short, it is unknown whether the identification procedures used in this case were properly conducted,” the motion to vacate said.
The district attorney’s office stopped short of proclaiming the actual innocence of Aziz and Islam, citing the deaths of witnesses, co-conspirators and police officers, the missing identification and physical and other evidence.
