(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — Five people were killed in a twin-engine plane crash in Little Rock, Arkansas, on Wednesday, officials said.
The twin-engine Beech BE20 crashed in a wooded area after taking off from Little Rock’s Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport. It was en route to John Glenn Columbus International Airport in Ohio, the Federal Aviation Administration said.
Five people were on board, according to the FAA, and Little Rock police said there were no survivors.
A Little Rock police spokesperson said, “We had a bad storm front move in at that time. I don’t know if the two are related, but the winds were bad, the rain was bad for a few minutes.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The Southern Baptist Church Executive Committee announced it will oust five churches for having female pastors, including one of the largest churches in the convention, California’s Saddleback Church, according to the church’s news service, Baptist Press.
After Saddleback Church’s founding pastor, Rick Warren, retired last year, the megachurch hired Andy Wood and his wife Stacie Wood to head the church, according to the church’s website.
The convention deemed Saddleback Church as “not in friendly cooperation with the Southern Baptist Convention,” it said in a Facebook post.
The convention cited Stacie Wood’s role as a teaching pastor of the church as the reason for the ousting, stating that the Baptist Faith and Message says only men can members of the office of the pastor, according to Baptist Press.
“As stated in the Baptist Faith and Message Article VI, the SBC holds to the belief that the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture. These churches have been valued, cooperating churches for many years, and this decision was not made lightly. However, we remain committed to upholding the theological convictions of the SBC and maintaining unity among its cooperating churches,” executive committee chairman Jared Wellman said in a statement to ABC News.
The other churches ousted for having female pastors were New Faith Mission Ministry in Griffin, Georgia; St. Timothy’s Christian Church in Baltimore; Calvary Baptist Church in Jackson, Mississippi; and Fern Creek Baptist Church in Louisville, Kentucky, according to Baptist Press.
A sixth church was also ousted for failing to cooperate with the credentials committee regarding a sexual abuse allegation against its senior pastor, according to Baptist Press.
All six churches will have the opportunity to appeal the decision in June at the SBC Annual Meeting in New Orleans. Fern Creek said it would appeal the decision, according to Baptist Press.
The Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention was formed in 1917. It is made up of 86 representatives chosen from qualified states and regions.
Saddleback Church did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(LOS ANGELES) — Eric Holder, Jr., the man who was convicted in the 2019 murder of hip-hop artist Nipsey Hussle, was sentenced to 60 years to life in prison, according to ABC station in Los Angeles, KABC.
Holder was found guilty on July 6, 2022, of first-degree murder in the fatal shooting of the rapper, whose real name is Ermias Asghedom.
Holder also was convicted of two counts of attempted voluntary manslaughter and possession of a firearm. He pleaded not guilty.
During the trial, Holder also was found not guilty of attempted murder against two men who were wounded in the 2019 shooting attack.
Following the verdict, Holder’s attorney Aaron Jansen told ABC News there’s “deep disappointment” with the conviction and said that Holder plans to appeal his sentence.
“It was always going to be tough given the high-profile circumstances surrounding the case,” Jansen said. “We are grateful that the jury agreed with us, in part, that the case was overcharged and voted to acquit Mr. Holder, Jr. of the two attempted murder charges.”
Although Holder pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, he did not deny that he killed Hussle.
Jansen argued during the trial that while Holder did fatally shoot Hussle, it was a crime of passion and not a premeditated act.
“Mr. Holder has always been willing to accept responsibility for the charge of voluntary manslaughter for the life he took,” Jansen told ABC News in a statement on July 2, 2022.
Nipsey Hussle, known as “Neighborhood Nip” to his community and fans in South Los Angeles, was a Grammy-winning rapper who dedicated his life to building the streets of Crenshaw where he grew up and where he owned several businesses. It is on those streets that the rapper was killed on March 31, 2019, outside his Marathon Clothing store.
Holder, an aspiring rapper from the same neighborhood, belonged to the same gang as Hussle – the Rollin 60s of the Crips. But in the last years of his life, Hussle had worked to stop the violence and broker peace between rival gangs.
The rapper’s murder at age 33 sent shockwaves through the music world and the Marathon Clothing store, which has reopened at a new location, and become a memorial where thousands of fans flock to pay their respects to Hussle.
Since his death, millions have posted tributes to the rapper on social media, punctuated with #TheMarathonContinues – Hussle’s own metaphor for overcoming the struggles of life.
“I think I speak for the entire city of LA when I say that we’ve always known that Hussle was destined for greatness,” the rapper’s girlfriend Lauren London said as Hussle was honored as a hometown hero on Aug. 15, 2022, when he received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “Nip would’ve been honored by this moment.”
“So whenever you’re in the City of Angels, and you see this star, I hope that it encourages you to break away from whatever might be holding you back, and for you to run your marathon until God says that it’s finished,” she added.
ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca contributed to this report.
(COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.) — Preliminary hearings began Wednesday in the trial of Club Q shooting suspect Anderson Lee Aldrich, who allegedly opened fire in a Colorado LGBTQ bar in November 2022.
Aldrich is nonbinary, according to court filings released by the Colorado state public defender.
As prosecutors attempt to prove that the evidence is strong enough for Aldrich to stand trial, details about a potential motive, the moments leading up to the shooting, and what unfolded during the tragedy will likely be played out in court.
The suspect accused of killing five people — Daniel Davis Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh, Raymond Green Vance, Tara Bush — in the mass shooting at the Colorado Springs bar, faces 323 charges, including first-degree murder, attempted murder and bias-motivated crimes.
At least 19 people were also injured.
Investigators and witnesses said the suspect allegedly opened fire as soon as they walked into Club Q at about midnight on Nov. 19. Patrons at the venue tackled Aldrich, subduing the suspect until police arrived, according to witnesses.
The defense has not openly commented on the case, as per Office of the State Public Defender policies.
(NEW YORK) — A massive winter storm is wreaking havoc on a large swath of the country, including in Minneapolis, where the city is bracing for a potentially historic snowstorm.
Minneapolis is forecast to get more than 17 inches of snow, which could be a top-five storm for the city.
Minneapolis Public Schools are moving to remote learning for Wednesday through Friday due to the storm.
“Plan ahead, drive safe, and limit travel,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz tweeted.
By Wednesday night, blizzard conditions will be possible in the Dakotas and Minnesota.
Further south, an ice storm warning was issued from Iowa to Michigan.
In the Northeast, a winter storm warning is in effect in upstate New York and New England. An icy mix is possible from Pennsylvania to Connecticut.
In the southern Plains, from Oklahoma City to St. Louis, damaging winds and isolated tornadoes are possible.
The storm in the Midwest and Northeast comes as a rare winter storm hits California. A blizzard warning has been issued for the mountains just outside of Los Angeles, marking the first blizzard warning in Southern California in more than 20 years.
Over 1,000 flights have been canceled across the U.S. on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, record February heat is expected from Florida to Washington, D.C.
New Orleans hit a whopping 83 degrees on Tuesday, making it the warmest Mardi Gras on record.
On Thursday, temperatures are forecast to jump close to 80 degrees in D.C., 83 degrees in Nashville and 84 in Raleigh, North Carolina.
In Orlando, Florida, it could reach a sweltering 90 degrees on Thursday, which would be the city’s all-time warmest February temperature.
(NEW YORK) — The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said he thinks Norfolk Southern Railway could have been more “aggressive” in its initial response to the hazardous train derailment in Ohio.
“They absolutely did not handle themselves appropriately when they didn’t show up for the community meeting,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan told ABC News on Tuesday afternoon, following a press conference in East Palestine, Ohio.
Norfolk Southern had said that its representatives did not attend the Feb. 15 town hall meeting in East Palestine due to concerns “about the growing physical threat to our employees and members of the community around this event stemming from the increasing likelihood of the participation of outside parties.”
The EPA administrator returned to the tiny village in northeastern Ohio to meet again with affected residents, speak with officials and tour a newly opened health assessment clinic. When asked whether he believes the headaches, sore throats and other ailments reported by residents are related to the Feb. 3 derailment, Regan told ABC News: “You know, we just don’t know and I don’t want to speculate. What I want to do is assure people if they are experiencing an adverse health impact, seek medical attention and, hopefully, that information will make its way to the county health officials.”
Regan also had strong words for Norfolk Southern during Tuesday’s press conference, announcing that the EPA is ordering the Atlanta-based rail operator “to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the East Palestine train derailment.” Norfolk Southern will be required to continue cleaning up the contaminated soil and water and transport it safely; reimburse the EPA for cleaning services; and attend public meetings at the EPA’s request and share information. If Norfolk Southern does not comply, the company will be ordered to pay triple the cost, according to Regan.
“Let me also be crystal clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess that they created and the trauma that they inflicted on this community and impacted Beaver County residents,” he said. “I know this order cannot undo the nightmare that families in this town have been living with, but it will begin to deliver much-needed justice for the pain that Norfolk Southern has caused.”
When asked by ABC News why the EPA waited almost three weeks to make demands, Regan said state officials had the primacy of leading the response.
Earlier Tuesday, Regan met privately with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway.
“During that meeting, I expressed our concerns and expectations regarding the clean-up efforts,” Conaway said in a statement that night. “I was assured by both that we will not be alone throughout this process and have their full support. After that meeting, I am confident that we will receive the help we need.”
The meeting came after Conaway told Fox News on Monday evening that U.S. President Joe Biden’s surprise visit to Ukraine was “the biggest slap in the face.” The mayor told reporters the next day that he was frustrated but still stands by those comments.
While in Poland on Tuesday night, Biden made five telephone calls to officials in Ohio managing the derailment response. Conaway was notably missing from the call list provided by the White House.
On the night of Feb. 3, about 50 cars of a freight train operated by Norfolk Southern derailed in a fiery crash on the outskirts of East Palestine, which is nestled near Ohio’s state line with Pennsylvania. Eleven of the derailed cars were transporting hazardous materials, five of which contained vinyl chloride, a highly volatile colorless gas produced for commercial uses. There were no injuries reported from the accident, officials said.
Efforts to contain a fire at the derailment site stalled the following night, as firefighters withdrew from the blaze due to concerns about air quality and explosions. About half of East Palestine’s roughly 4,700 residents were warned to leave before officials decided on Feb. 6 to conduct a controlled release and burn of the toxic vinyl chloride from the five tanker cars, which were in danger of exploding. A large ball of fire and a plume of black smoke filled with contaminants could be seen billowing high into the sky from the smoldering derailment site as the controlled burn took place that afternoon, prompting concerns from residents about the potential effects.
A mandatory evacuation order for homes and businesses within a 1-mile radius of the derailment site was lifted on Feb. 8, after air and water samples taken the day before were deemed safe, officials said.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency deployed a team to East Palestine on Feb. 18 to help support the ongoing operations there.
Last week, the National Transportation Safety Board shared an update on its ongoing probe into the Feb. 3 incident, saying “investigators have identified and examined the rail car that initiated the derailment.”
“Surveillance video from a residence showed what appears to be a wheel bearing in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment,” the NTSB said in an investigative update on Feb. 14. “The wheelset from the suspected railcar has been collected as evidence for metallurgical examination. The suspected overheated wheel bearing has been collected and will be examined by engineers from the NTSB Materials Laboratory in Washington, D.C.”
Norfolk Southern announced Monday that 15,000 pounds of contaminated soil — equivalent to 7.5 tons — as well as 1.5 million gallons of contaminated water have been excavated from the derailment site and “will be transported to landfills and disposal facilities that are designed to accept it safely in accordance with state and federal regulations.” The company did not say which chemicals were found in the material that was removed.
Meanwhile, a “series of pumps” are rerouting Sulphur Run around the derailment site, according to the Norfolk Southern. The “affected portion” of the creek, which flows through downtown East Palestine, “has been dammed to protect water downstream” as “environmental teams” treat it “with booms, aeration, and carbon filtration units,” the company said.
“Those teams are also working with stream experts to collect soil and groundwater samples to develop a comprehensive plan to address any contamination that remains in the stream banks and sediment,” Norfolk Southern added. “The majority of the hazardous rail cars have been decontaminated and are being held on-site to allow the National Transportation Safety Board to continue its investigation. Once that is completed, the cars will be scrapped and moved off-site for disposal.”
Since the Feb. 3 derailment, Norfolk Southern said it has committed more than $5.6 million to the community of East Palestine, including $3.4 million in direct payments to affected residents.
During Tuesday’s press conference, the governors of Ohio and Pennsylvania revealed that their state attorneys general are considering legal action against Norfolk Southern — a potential addition to the steep financial penalties federal officials say they are levying against the company.
When asked if he believes officials when they say they won’t leave East Palestine behind when the cameras are gone, the mayor told reporters he “has to trust the people behind me.”
In his statement on Tuesday night, Conaway announced a local effort launched to disseminate accurate information will be launched Wednesday. He warned residents not to “fall prey to anyone else that may be going around trying to scare folks by handing out flyers that simply are not accurate.”
“Something that was brought up with the difficulty for residence to find information and resources available to them,” the mayor said. “In response to these concerns, our state partners collaborated with our local EMA to put together a single source resource packet. Starting tomorrow, local volunteers will go door to door and hand deliver this packet to all those that are in a one-mile radius. Our folks will be easily identifiable and the packet will be from local and state government.”
(NEW YORK) — A grandmother has been arrested and charged with attempted murder after allegedly stabbing her 7-year-old granddaughter multiple times with a kitchen knife.
The incident occurred on Tuesday morning when police were called to a home in the Morrisania neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City regarding a 7-year-old girl who had allegedly been stabbed multiple times with a kitchen knife by her own grandmother, according to ABC News’ New York City station WABC-TV.
Police found the young girl lying on the bed of her apartment and was immediately taken to Lincoln Hospital where she was listed in critical condition, according to WABC.
“[The police officer] came out running from where he was at with the little girl. The property that they have is a couple of houses away. So we just seen that he came out running,” witness Ana Martinez told WABC in an interview following the incident. “The cop car was right in front of my property. So he just put her right in the cop car. He didn’t wait for the ambulance.”
The girl’s grandmother, 65-year-old Mariza Yauger, was immediately taken into police custody as a person of interest and was later arrested and charged with attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, assault, criminal possession of a weapon, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child, according to WABC.
“I’m a grandmother myself,” neighbor China Aponte told WABC. “I just don’t even have words for it. My heart is broken. It is sad. Very sad.”
The girl’s uncle told WABC that she has since undergone surgery and is recovering in the hospital. There is currently no known motive for the attack.
(NEW YORK) — Three climbers have been killed in an avalanche after the lead climber accidentally triggered it while attempting to reach the peak of an 8,705-foot mountain over the weekend.
The incident occurred on Sunday when a group of six climbers — all from the East Coast — were attempting to climb Colchuck Peak which sits at the south end of Colchuck Lake, approximately 8 miles south of Leavenworth, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest.
“The lead climber triggered an avalanche while attempting to climb the Northeast Couloir of Colchuck Peak,” officials from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office in a statement following the tragedy.
Four of the climbers were swept approximately 500 feet down the mountain during the avalanche that ended up killing three of them. The fourth climber, a 56-year-old man from New York, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was able to hike back to base camp with the two remaining survivors, a 50-year-old man from New York and a 36-year-old man from New Jersey.
When they finally arrived at camp, they sent a seventh member who did not venture out climbing for the day — a 53-year-old Maryland man — to go get help.
The three climbers that died as a result of trauma sustained in the fall were a 60-year-old female from New York, a 66-year-old male from New Jersey and a 53-year-old male from Connecticut, authorities confirmed. None of the identities of those involved in the incident have been released.
“Sheriff Mike Morrison reports on February 20th, 2023, deputies were contacted at the CCSO Leavenworth substation about an avalanche that occurred near Colchuck Lake the previous day,” read the statement from Chelan County Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of the avalanche. “A total of 22 rescuers responded to the trailhead to assist with this effort. They were from Chelan County Mounty Rescue, Chelan County Volunteer Search and Rescue and ORV unit, Seattle Mountain Rescue, Tacoma Mountain Rescue, and Yakima Mountain Rescue.”
Once officials reached the base camp at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Monday, they determined that, due to the avalanche conditions, it was too dangerous to continue their recovery mission of the three deceased climbers and made the decision to return with the surviving climbers back to the trailhead, authorities said.
As of Wednesday, rescuers have still not been able to return to the scene due to the continuing hazardous conditions and officials from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office say they are continuing to work with the Northwest Avalanche Center to assist in a recover plan for the bodies of the three climbers.
In total, nine people have died this winter in avalanches across the United States, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center — four in Colorado in three separate instances, one in Montana, one in Nevada and now three in Washington following this event.
Last winter, 17 deaths from avalanches were reported in the United States with no single incident killing more than two people, making this the largest avalanche death toll since an avalanche at Wilson Glade in Mill Creek Canyon, Utah, killed four people on Feb. 6, 2021, according to the Colorado Avalanche Information Center.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Even though he was fired for cause, Pete Arredondo, the Texas school district police chief terminated for his actions on the day of a schoolhouse massacre last year, won an appeal to remove a blemish from his discharge file, according to a state think tank that studied his case file.
The decision does not enable Arredondo to get his job in Uvalde back, but it clears his record in the event he seeks employment at another agency.
“The whole point of this … discharge system is to be a red flag for hiring agencies,” said Luis Soberon, a policy adviser for think tank Texas 2036 who released the report Tuesday. “If that is the primary function of this system, it doesn’t work very well.”
A gunman killed 19 students and two teachers at Robb Elementary school last May. The law enforcement response, which Arredondo presided over, has been criticized by experts and other law enforcement officials. Arredondo was fired after a unanimous vote by the Uvalde School Board.
When any law enforcement officer is fired in Texas, the firing agency submits a termination report to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement classifying the firing as dishonorable, general or honorable. The officer can then appeal to upgrade the classification through the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
Agency records show Arredondo appealed his status in September, a month after he was fired. The case file shows a default judgment and decision was reached at the end of January, indicating Arredondo had won his bid to upgrade his termination classification.
Neither Arredondo nor his lawyer responded to requests for comment on his appeal.
Soberon said, “The only time you see a default decision and order is when it is in favor of the petitioner, the former officer.”
The case result was first reported by the Houston Chronicle.
The actual case documents are confidential, according to Shane Linkous, general counsel at State Office of Administrative Hearings. So Soberon doesn’t know what termination classification Arredondo had received prior to his appeal, nor the arguments he made in favor of his appeal.
But, winning his appeal means that he doesn’t have a dishonorable discharge — the lowest of the three tiers — on his policing record.
A default judgment also means that the agency who filed the report — in this case, the Uvalde school district — did not “show up” to fight the appeal, said Soberon. The entire agency was disbanded in October, so the responsibility to reply to Arredondo’s appeal would have fallen on Interim Police Chief Josh Gutierrez when he was hired in November. Last week, the district began the process of reconstituting the police force, hiring two new school police officers under Gutierrez.
The Uvalde School District did not respond to repeated requests for additional information about the termination report or why Arredondo won his appeal by default.
Arredondo has repeatedly defended his actions on the day of the shooting. He called his firing a “public lynching” and said his actions during the tragedy saved lives.
(WASHINGTON) — Former Proud Boys official Jeremy Bertino — who last year pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy related to Jan. 6 — took the witness stand in Washington on Tuesday in the seditious conspiracy trial of the far-right group’s principal leadership.
Bertino said interest and membership requests for the Proud Boys surged after then-President Donald Trump addressed the group by name during a 2020 presidential debate.
“Proud Boys, stand back and stand by,” Trump said at the time. “But I’ll tell you what, I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about [leftist movement] antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.”
Bertino, whom the government has said joined the Proud Boys in 2018 and served as vice president of his local chapter, testified on Tuesday that he was “stunned and excited” to hear Trump mention the group.
His baseless belief that the 2020 election was stolen continued to grow in the months and weeks leading up to Jan. 6, 2021, a view that he shared with other members of the Proud Boys, he said. (He previously testified before the House Jan. 6 committee.)
Proud Boys’ former leader Enrique Tarrio and four associates are on trial facing charges of seditious conspiracy against the U.S. over their involvement with the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
They have all pleaded not guilty, and their attorneys have argued some of their conduct was constitutionally protected speech.
“Mr. Tarrio is looking forward to the start of the trial,” his defense attorney, Nayib Hassan, previously said in a statement to ABC News. “We look forward to making our presentation of the evidence and acquitting Mr. Tarrio of the government’s allegations.”
On the stand, Bertino described the mindset of him and other Proud Boys.
“Everything seemed like a conspiracy at that point,” he said.
The group also held strong views against anyone they deemed to be part of “the left” or “antifa,” a reference to far-left protestors who take drastic and sometimes violent measures to, they say, oppose fascism.
“I believed they were the foot soldiers of the left,” Bertino testified.
He went on to note that the Proud Boys believed they were the “foot soldiers of the right.”
Under questioning by a government prosecutor, Bertino’s testimony painted a picture for the jury which connected the Proud Boys’ hatred of “antifa” with their involvement in Jan. 6. Bertino said he believed at the time that “antifa” was funded by Democrats.
The Proud Boys call themselves “Western chauvinists,” believing that they are responsible for “creating the modern world.”
Defense attorneys on Tuesday objected to several questions the government posed to Bertino, especially when he was asked to describe the collective views of the group.
But Bertino testified to having a close and friendly relationship with Proud Boys leadership before ultimately deciding to leave the group.
Prior to his departure, Bertino led recruitment for the Proud Boys in North Carolina and was close to the highest levels of the group’s leadership. He was not in Washington on Jan. 6 and was recovering from a stabbing that occurred at a previous demonstration the Proud Boys had attended.
