(GRAND RAPIDS, Minn.) — A federal grand jury indicted a Minnesota man on Tuesday for allegedly stealing a pair of the ruby slippers that actress Judy Garland famously wore playing Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.”
Federal prosecutors allege that Terry Martin stole the iconic slippers in 2005 from the Judy Garland Museum in Grand Rapids, Minnesota — one of only four remaining pairs worn by Garland in the 1939 film.
The shoes were ensured at a $1 million valuation at the time they were stolen, prosecutors said, but their current market appraisal could price them around roughly $3.5 million, according to estimates.
The shoes were recovered by the FBI and Grand Rapids police in a sting operation in July of 2018, the Justice Department said.
The charges against Martin are the result of a long-running federal investigation launched following the initial disappearance of the shoes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Dakota provided no further details on Martin’s background or his role in the alleged theft of the slippers and the office says they are declining to comment further at this time, citing the ongoing case.
Martin faces one count of theft of an object of cultural heritage from the care, custody or control of a museum, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if he is convicted.
At this time, Martin does not have an attorney listed for him on his court docket.
That pair was one of several custom-made for the role of Dorothy in the film.
In the classic film, Garland, as Dorothy, is seen clicking her heels of the ruby slippers together and saying the famous phrase, “There’s no place like home,” which the American Film Institute considers one of the 100 greatest movie quotes of all time.
Private collectors own at least two existing pairs, including a pair jointly acquired by Leonardo DiCaprio and Steven Spielberg for display at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro and Karma Allen contributed to this report.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A federal appeals court in New Orleans on Wednesday heard arguments in a high-stakes bid to invalidate FDA approval of the most widely used abortion medication in the country more than two decades after it hit the market and despite its safe use by millions of women.
Three judges on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals — one of the most conservative courts in the country — appeared open to limiting access to the medication as they questioned a Biden administration attorney about FDA’s assessment of the drug mifepristone’s safety and effectiveness.
A federal judge in Texas last month concluded the agency’s process was deeply flawed and illegal from the start. That decision remains on hold for the duration of the legal challenge, which is expected to ultimately reach the U.S. Supreme Court, possibly next year. Mifepristone continues to be widely available under longstanding FDA guidelines.
The coalition of anti-abortion doctors and associations, represented by the conservative legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, which brought the case is seeking to remove the drug from use, even in states where abortion is currently legal.
For two hours, the appeals court panel peppered attorneys on both sides with questions on the issue of legal standing: whether the doctor plaintiffs in the case suffer a specific and direct injury from the availability of the abortion pill sufficient to allow them to bring a lawsuit.
The government argued that none of the doctors involved has been directly impacted by FDA’s regulations of Mifepristone and that the entire challenge should be tossed out.
“Seeing and treating patients isn’t an injury,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Sarah Harrington. “These are not directly regulated parties.”
The government attempted to discredit the doctors, who have claimed in court filings that their religious conscience rights were violated by having to treat patients who had alleged complications from taking Mifepristone. None of the doctors in the case had raised objections at the time of providing care, and some of the patients they treated could not confirm that mifepristone was involved, according to court records.
An attorney for Danco Laboratories, which manufacturers mifepristone, also hammered the standing argument hard in defending the FDA.
“There must be a specific doctor with a specific injury from the regulation,” the company’s attorney Jessica Ellsworth said. “There’s no link to these doctors.”
Moreover, the drug maker’s attorney noted, Texas and Indiana — home states of the doctors involved in the case — have largely outlawed abortion, including mifepristone, minimizing the prospect that they could suffer any “injury” in the future.
“These declarations offer generalized statements and no acknowledgment of the changed laws,” Ellsworth said.
Attorney Erin Hawley, representing the doctors, forcefully pushed back, insisting that a doctor’s involvement in removing a fetus after a “failed” chemical abortion could compromise conscience rights and that the risk remains real for many providers nationwide.
Judge James C. Ho, a Trump appointee, seemed to agree that conscience rights are recognized as sufficient to establish standing.
But Judge Cory Wilson, also a Trump appointee, voiced some skepticism, asking Hawley why doctors with conscience concerns didn’t object at the time of treating a patient with abortion complications. “What about handing it off to another doctor who doesn’t have an objection?” he said.
Wilson also raised concerns about broader implications. “Does approval of any drug that a doctor has a conscious objection to give standing? Where do you draw the line?” he said.
Hawley countered that, If abortion clinics have standing to challenge state restrictions meant to protect women, then their doctors should have standing as well.
The panel also zeroed in on the FDA’s drug-approval process and whether the agency adequately examined potential risks to women when drafting regulations for the drug in 2000 and revising them in subsequent years.
After initially approving mifepristone, the FDA retooled its guidelines in 2016 — reducing the recommended dose, allowing use of the drug up to 10 weeks of pregnancy (from 7), eliminating in-person doctor visits to receive it, among other measures.
Did the agency conduct any studies before 2016 looking at safety of the changes in total? Judge Wilson asked. The government conceded one had not been done.
Judge Jennifer Walker Elrod, a George W. Bush appointee, wondered whether the FDA had properly considered safety risks of allowing the pill’s prescription via telemedicine. “Did the FDA consider safety of the drug with a mail-order regime?” she asked of the agency’s recent approval of distribution by mail.
The government also argued that the challenge to FDA approval of mifepristone is beyond the statute of limitations — coming more than a decade out of time.
At least one judge, Judge Elrod, suggested she may agree with the time-cap, but that some of the FDA’s subsequent revisions to the regulations might be fair game.
The revisions in 2016 “stripped away every safeguard,” argued Hawley.
“This case isn’t about ending abortion, it’s about challenging a particularly dangerous type of abortion,” she said. (Her claim is not supported by scientific evidence endorsed by the FDA or dozens of health and medical associations.)
The government and drug maker attorneys warned the judges against taking a middle ground approach – upholding approval of mifepristone but invalidating some FDA restrictions of it – saying that would create massive upheaval.
Among other things, they said, manufacturers would effectively have to halt production for “months” to retool their guidance and labeling for the drug. They also said reverting to the old guidelines prior to 2016, for example, would tell women to take a higher dose than has now been deemed necessary.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Danco’s attorney said. “It’s a strange remedy to have women take four times as much.”
None of the panelists appeared entirely persuaded by the government’s argument that a rollback of regulations would be harmful.
The judges, who each have previously voted to uphold restrictions on abortion, voiced frustration with not having thousands of pages of the FDA’s administrative record from decades ago detailing the steps and procedures. The government says it is working to provide those documents.
The panel also bristled at the government and drug maker’s assertion that it would be unprecedented for a court to overrule an FDA determination of drug safety.
“We’re allowed to look at the FDA just like any other agency,” declared Judge Ho.
The appeals court is expected to deliver a decision in the case in the coming months but is not on a fixed timeline. Regardless of the outcome, a Supreme Court order has preserved status quo around mifepristone until such time that it rules on the case.
(NEW YORK) — Police sources are countering a claim by Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, that they were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” while being pursued by paparazzi in Manhattan on Tuesday night.
A spokesperson for the couple, who were returning from an event along with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, accused paparazzi of being “highly aggressive” and driving on the sidewalk and running red lights during a two-hour “relentless pursuit” of the famous pair. Police sources, however, are saying the whole episode only took about 20 minutes and did not involve the amount of paparazzi the spokesperson claimed.
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety,” the spokesperson said.
Harry and Meghan appeared Tuesday night at the Ziegfeld Ballroom as Meghan received the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award at the foundation’s annual gala.
The foundation was co-founded by feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem, a friend of Meghan’s, who presented her with the award.
Police sources described to ABC News a different version of events from the one described by Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson.
Two New York Police Department detectives were present at the Ziegfeld when Harry and Meghan emerged from the event and drove alongside the couple’s private vehicle to get them home. Harry and Meghan were home no more than 20 minutes after their departure from the event, according to police sources.
Along the way, police sources said photographers on bicycles are visible on security cameras but not the kind of caravan described by sources close to Harry and Meghan.
The NYPD said in a statement: “On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
The NYPD is running down reports that members of the paparazzi had license plates covered on their motorcycles, scooters and cars, and that they were driving on sidewalks and backward on streets.
At one point, Harry and Meghan’s private security detail believed there was a car following them, so they drove toward the 19th Precinct, which is close to where the couple is staying, and pull into a driveway, according to sources.
Private security flagged a yellow cab and Harry, Meghan and a security guard climbed in. The cab circled the block and returned to the precinct, unable to shake the photographers, according to sources.
At no time did Harry and Meghan enter the police precinct, the sources said.
Celebrity news agency Backgrid USA said it received photos and videos from four freelance photographers — three who were in cars and one on a bike — who were covering Harry and Meghan’s stay Tuesday night, and it also refuted claims of a “near catastrophic car chase.”
According to the photographers, “there were no near-collisions or near-crashes during this incident,” Backgrid USA said in a statement. “The photographers have reported feeling that the couple was not in immediate danger at any point.”
Some of the photos “even show Meghan Markle smiling inside a cab,” the statement said.
The photographers claimed that one of the four SUVs in Harry’s security escort “was driving in a manner that could be perceived as reckless,” including blocking off streets, according to Backgrid.
The couple warned in their statement that people should not share photos of the incident.
“Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved,” the spokesperson said.
The couple has widely criticized the press and paparazzi and asked for privacy in the past.
Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana of Wales, was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said it was “a bit reckless and irresponsible” for paparazzi to chase Harry and Meghan and he noted echoes of Princess Diana’s death as he took questions from reporters during an unrelated event.
“I don’t think there are many of us who don’t recall how his mom died,” Adams said. “I thought that was a bit reckless and irresponsible.”
The mayor, however, expressed skepticism the chase lasted two hours.
“I would find it hard to believe there was a two-hour high-speed chase,” the mayor said. “But if it’s 10 minutes, a 10-minute chase is extremely dangerous.”
Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Duke of Sussex Prince Harry attend the ceremony, which benefits the Ms. Foundation for Women and feminist movements, in New York, May 16, 2023.
In his first statement confirming their relationship in 2016, Prince Harry called out the “abuse and harassment” Meghan Markle faced from the press amid speculation that the couple were dating.
In a statement issued by Kensington Palace at the time , Prince Harry said he “has never been comfortable” with the significant curiosity surrounding his private life, rarely taking “formal action” on the “very regular publication of fictional stories that are written about him.”
“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” the statement read. “It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”
The royal couple stepped down from their role as senior members of the royal family in 2018. In a docuseries released since, the couple has said they are prioritizing privacy for their children , with Harry saying the constant harassment from paparazzi and press that he endured throughout his childhood was never fair.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Army National Guardsman charged with leaking a trove of military secrets was twice admonished by his superiors last year over “concerning actions” he took with regards to classified information, federal prosecutors said in a court filing on Wednesday.
Jack Teixeira, who is set to appear in court on Friday afternoon where a judge will determine if he should remain detained pending trial, was told by superiors in September and October “to no longer take notes in any form on classified intelligence information and to “cease-and-desist on any deep dives into classified intelligence information,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Teixeira has not yet pleaded to his charges.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — U.S. airlines are gearing up for the busiest Memorial Day holiday since before the pandemic.
United Airlines said it’s preparing for its busiest Memorial Day in over a decade, expecting to carry nearly 2.9 million passengers from Thursday May 25 to Tuesday May 30.
The airline said it will see the most passengers Friday, May 26, when it expects to transport 500,000 customers.
Delta Air Lines said it’s expecting to fly 2.8 million customers over the holiday – a 17% increase from the number of passengers it flew during last year’s Memorial Day weekend.
American Airlines said it will carry more than 2.9 million customers, operating over 26,000 flights this upcoming holiday.
“The busiest airports over Memorial Day weekend will be Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles, all with more than half a million passengers departing over the weekend,” Haley Berg, economist at Hopper, said in an interview with ABC.
According to AAA, airports could see the busiest Memorial Day Weekend since 2005, with 5.4% more passengers than 2019.
“Despite high ticket prices, demand for flights is skyrocketing,” AAA said in a news release.
(SCHOHARIE, N.Y.) — A limousine company operator was found guilty of second-degree manslaughter for a 2018 crash in upstate New York that left 20 people dead.
Nauman Hussain was in charge of the day-to-day operations of Prestige Limousine when the company rented the stretch Ford Excursion SUV to a group celebrating a 30th birthday party on Oct. 6, 2018.
The limo was traveling on a downhill stretch of road when it went through an intersection and crashed into a parked Toyota Highlander in Schoharie, a town about 40 miles away from Albany. All 17 passengers, the driver and two pedestrians were killed.
The limo had failed an inspection by the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles the month prior to the crash and the driver did not have the appropriate driver’s license to be operating that vehicle, state officials said at the time.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators found in a 2020 report that the vehicle had failed an inspection just over a month before the crash, and that one of the brakes was non-operational at the time of the incident.
Prestige Limousine “knowingly” operated a limousine in “poor mechanical condition” the day of the crash, according to the NTSB. The agency also said the company’s maintenance program was not “effective” to ensure passengers’ safety.
Hussain pleaded guilty to 20 counts of criminally negligent homicide in 2021. The trial came after a judge threw out a plea deal reached with Schoharie County prosecutors last fall that would have spared him a prison sentence.
Jurors heard six days of witness testimony before prosecutors rested their case on Monday. Prosecutors have argued that Hussain removed an out-of-service sticker from the limo’s windshield prior to the crash, Albany ABC affiliate WTEN reported.
The defense filed a motion seeking to dismiss the charges against Hussain, which the judge denied, saying there is sufficient evidence for the second-degree manslaughter counts, according to WTEN.
The defense did not call any witnesses before resting on Monday.
Jurors deliberated for several hours on Tuesday and Wednesday before reaching their verdict. He was found guilty of all 20 counts of second-degree manslaughter, his top charge in the case.
Gasps and crying could be heard in the courtroom as the verdict was read.
Hussain, who had been out on bail during the trial, was remanded into custody following the verdict. His sentencing hearing has been scheduled for May 31. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
During the trial, defense lawyer Lee Kindlon argued the accident was caused by faulty repair work on the brake system, according to The Associated Press.
The incident was the deadliest transportation crash in the U.S. since 2009.
In the wake of the incident, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a ban on stretch limos, among other reforms.
ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(TALLHASSEE, Fla.) — PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting free expression, and Penguin Random House, one of the country’s largest book publishers, filed a lawsuit Wednesday targeting a Florida school district for removing certain books from the shelves of public school libraries.
Authors and parents of children affected by the book bans in the Escambia County School District have also joined the federal lawsuit, which is asking for books to be returned to school libraries.
The lawsuit argues that the school board’s removal and restriction of books that discuss racism and have LGBTQ themes violates the First Amendment. Several authors whose books have been impacted by book bans across the country, including David Levithan, George M. Johnson and Ashley Hope Pérez, are backing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges, in every decision to remove a book, “the removals have disproportionately targeted books by or about people of color and/or LGBTQ people, and have prescribed an orthodoxy of opinion that violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”
Members of the school board declined ABC News’ requests for comment. Local news outlet Pensacola News Journal reported that the district purged their book selection after a teacher challenged more than 100 books for inappropriate content.
Recent legislation in Florida, including the Parental Rights in Education Bill and the Stop WOKE Act, have led to restrictions and removals of books across the state, impacting stories representing marginalized communities, critics of the legislation argue.
“Young readers in Escambia schools and across the nation deserve a complete and honest education, one that provides them with full access in libraries to a wide range of literature that reflects varied viewpoints and that explores the diversity of human experiences,” said Pérez, in a statement. Her book, “Out of Darkness,” is one of the most targeted books in the U.S.
She continued, “as a former public high school English teacher, I know firsthand how important libraries are. For many young people, if a book isn’t in their school library, it might as well not exist.”
The “Stop WOKE Act” restricts lessons and training on race and diversity in schools and in the workplace, particularly anything that discusses privilege or oppression based on race. WOKE in the bill stands for “Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees.”
The Parental Rights in Education law states instruction on “sexual orientation or gender identity may not occur in kindergarten through grade 3 or in a manner that is not age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards,” according to the bill’s language.
A record-breaking 1,269 demands were made to censor library books and resources in 2022, the highest number of attempted book bans since the American Library Association began collecting data over 20 years ago, the association said.
A record 2,571 unique books were targeted for censorship in 2022, a 38% increase from 2021 when 1,858 titles were targeted.
Book bans particularly affect books written by and about people of color and queer communities, according to the ALA.
Penguin Random House has faced book bans involving several of their titles throughout the years, including “1984” and “Animal Farm” by George Orwell, “The Bluest Eye” and “Beloved” by Toni Morrison and more.
“Books have the capacity to change lives for the better, and students in particular deserve equitable access to a wide range of perspectives. Censorship, in the form of book bans like those enacted by Escambia County, are a direct threat to democracy and our constitutional rights,” said Nihar Malaviya, CEO of Penguin Random House.
Malaviya continued, “We stand by our authors, their books, and the teachers, librarians and parents who champion free expression.”
(NEW YORK) — Sayfullo Saipov, the ISIS-inspired attacker who was convicted of killing eight people earlier this year, was sentenced to eight consecutive life sentences on Wednesday.
Saipov was convicted in January of all 28 counts he faced in connection with carrying out the deadly attack along a Manhattan bike path with a rented Home Depot truck.
The Uzbekistan native was spared the death penalty after jurors deadlocked on sentencing for the nine charges he faced that were eligible for capital punishment and instead agreed to a sentence of life imprisonment without the possibility of release.
Judge Vernon Broderick noted the “sheer unrepentant nature” of Saipov before he imposed eight consecutive life sentences, plus 260 years and two concurrent life sentences.
“The conduct in this case is among the worst, if not the worst, I’ve ever seen,” Broderick said. “The eight people you murdered in cold blood were living their best lives.”
The judge scolded Saipov for his indiscriminate killing, which he said left their families forever scarred.
“You did not care and do not care about their suffering,” Broderick said.
Ahead of the judge’s sentencing, survivors of the attack and families of those killed delivered heart-wrenching statements to the court as Saipov sat at the defense table in a navy smock, full beard and glasses.
Marion Van Reeth was unconscious for over a week, lost both of her legs and suffered paralysis below her waist after she was struck by Saipov. She introduced herself through tears.
“Mr. Saipov, I am one of your victims,” Van Reeth said.
She spoke from a wheelchair, telling Saipov that she would never be able to walk like he can.
“Are you still convinced that your cruel act against innocent people was the right thing? Do you still see yourself as a soldier for ISIS?” she asked. “I really hope over time you will be able to rethink your beliefs.”
Monica Missio’s son, Nicholas Cleves, was the last of the eight people killed when Saipov sped down a Hudson River bike path in the truck.
“I am a mother subsumed by grief,” Missio told the court. “I’m going to grieve for Nicholas for the rest of my life because my love for him is endless.”
Cleves was the only New Yorker killed in the deadliest terror attack in the city since Sept. 11. His mother said the 23-year-old grew up a few blocks from where he was struck and killed as the truck hurtled through pedestrians and cyclists at 66 mph.
“People witnessed him getting struck and catapulted into the air,” Missio said. “I am haunted by the brutal way Nicholas died.”
She added that she has “nothing but contempt” for Saipov.
Cleves’ aunt, Nicole Missio, called Saipov and his attack evil.
“I don’t care if the monster lives or dies. I never did,” she told the court. “But I’m especially disturbed by the thought that if his relatives knew or could see that he was radicalized then they have blood on their hands, too.”
Hernan Mendoza was one of five friends from Argentina who were celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation in New York when they were killed in the attack. His widow, Ana Evans, could not make it to court in person so submitted a statement in writing: “I can only think of Hernan and our children, who can never again exchange glances, gestures, smiles or signs of support with their father. Equally incredible and terrifying is the disaster that a single person can cause.”
The wife of Alejandro Pagnucco, another Argentinian killed in the attack, castigated Saipov for keeping his neck bent and eyes down during victim impact statements.
“Saipov, you cannot even look at us. You cannot raise your face and look,” Pagnucco’s wife, Maria, said, her voice rising in anger. “You’re worthless. You do not even deserve a place in this world. You are worth nothing. You are pitiful. You have humiliated your family. You have humiliated your father and your mother. Your last name brings shame. God is ashamed.”
The father of the attack’s first victim, Ann-Laure Decadt, also questioned Saipov, who did not look up.
“Mr. Saipov, you drove that truck into my beloved daughter and you killed her,” he said. “Why, Mr. Saipov? Why did you do this to her?”
Federal prosecutors argued in a sentencing memorandum to the judge this week that Saipov deserved multiple life sentences “to provide just punishment” for the Oct. 31, 2017, attack.
“The defendant’s conduct before, during and after his attack warrants a sentence that reflects the extraordinary depravity of his crimes. The government respectfully requests that the court impose the maximum statutory penalty on each count of conviction,” prosecutors said in the sentencing memorandum filed Monday.
The sentencing memorandum included statements Saipov made after the attack.
“Saipov admitted that his goal was to kill as many people as possible, and that he was happy with what he had done. Saipov smiled and asked to hang an ISIS flag in his hospital room. Saipov admitted that he had decided to commit an attack a full year before he executed it, and that he had spent two months planning his truck attack,” prosecutors said.
The jury agreed Saipov intentionally killed his victims after “substantial planning and premeditation” and did it for ISIS. However, the jury did not unanimously find Saipov represented a future danger or would likely commit acts of violence while in prison.
Saipov will spend at least 22 hours a day alone in his cell at ADX in Florence, Colorado, following his sentencing.
(NEW YORK) — Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, along with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” while pursued by paparazzi in Manhattan on Tuesday night, according to a spokesperson for Harry.
The couple accused paparazzi of being “highly aggressive” and driving on the sidewalk and running red lights at they pursued the famous pair for two hours.
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety,” the spokesperson said.
Harry and Meghan appeared Tuesday night at the Ziegfeld Ballroom as Meghan received the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award at the foundation’s annual gala.
The foundation was co-founded by feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem, a friend of Meghan’s, who presented her with the award.
The New York Police Department said in a statement: “On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
The NYPD is running down reports that members of the paparazzi had license plates covered on their motorcycles, scooters and cars, and that they were driving on sidewalks and backwards on streets.
Harry, Meghan and her mother were taken to the 19th Precinct following the chase to calm the situation. They then continued to a location where they were staying.
The couple also warned that people should not share photos of the incident.
“Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved,” the spokesperson said.
The couple has widely criticized the press and paparazzi and asked for privacy in the past.
Prince Harry’s mother, Princess Diana of Wales, was killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997 while being pursued by paparazzi.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said it was “a bit reckless and irresponsible” for paparazzi to chase Harry and Megan and he noted echoes of Princess Diana’s death as he took questions from reporters during an unrelated event.
“I don’t think there are many of us who don’t recall how his mom died,” Adams said. “I thought that was a bit reckless and irresponsible.”
The mayor, however, expressed skepticism the chase lasted two hours.
“I would find it hard to believe there was a two-hour high speed chase,” the mayor said. “But if it’s 10 minutes, a 10-minute chase is extremely dangerous.”
In his first statement confirming their relationship in 2016, Prince Harry called out the “abuse and harassment” Meghan Markle faced from the press amid speculation that the couple were dating.
In a statement issued by Kensington Palace at the time, Prince Harry said he “has never been comfortable” with the significant curiosity surrounding his private life, rarely taking “formal action” on the “very regular publication of fictional stories that are written about him.”
“Prince Harry is worried about Ms. Markle’s safety and is deeply disappointed that he has not been able to protect her,” the statement read. “It is not right that a few months into a relationship with him that Ms. Markle should be subjected to such a storm.”
The royal couple stepped down from their role as senior members of the royal family in 2018. In a docuseries released since, the couple has said they are prioritizing privacy for their children, with Harry saying the constant harassment from paparazzi and press that he endured throughout his childhood was never fair.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.
Two inmates escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, authorities said. — WPVI
(PHILADELPHIA) — An inmate accused of killing four people has been taken apprehended after escaping from a Philadelphia jail more than a week ago, police said.
Ameen Hurst, 18, was taken into custody without incident at a home in Philadelphia, the city’s police commissioner, Danielle Outlaw, announced Wednesday morning. No other details on the arrest were provided.
Hurst is accused of killing someone in December 2020, fatally shooting two people in March 2021 and, a few days later, fatally shooting a man who had just been discharged from a Philadelphia correctional facility, according to Philadelphia Police Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore.
The teenager was one of two inmates who had escaped from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on May 7 through a hole in the recreation yard’s fence, authorities said.
The second inmate — 24-year-old Nasir Grant — was taken into custody by the U.S. Marshals on May 11, police said.
Grant had disguised himself as a woman and was wearing “full female Muslim garb and a head covering” when he was caught, said Robert Clark, supervisor deputy marshal for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
The Philadelphia Police Department and U.S. Marshal’s Office were involved in the search for the two inmates.
The two men were discovered missing from the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center during a headcount on the afternoon of May 8, according to Philadelphia Prisons Commissioner Blanche Carney. They had escaped through the fence the night before but were erroneously considered accounted for during three subsequent headcounts, according to Carney.
Hurst had initially been brought to the facility in March 2021 on multiple counts of murder, while Grant was being held since September 2022 on charges including criminal conspiracy, narcotics and firearm violations.
Two people have been arrested in connection with their escape, police said. Michael Abrams and Xianni Stalling, both 21, face charges including escape, conspiracy and hindering apprehension.
