(NEW YORK) — Ida, which became a Category 1 hurricane Friday afternoon, is forecast to strengthen into a Category 4 hurricane with 140 mph winds before landfall in Louisiana late Sunday.
On Saturday morning Ida crossed over western Cuba and entered the southern Gulf of Mexico, where it is expected to begin rapid intensification as it careens toward the Louisiana coast, according to the National Hurricane Center.
New Orleans will begin to see high winds as early as Saturday night, Mayor LaToya Cantrell said at a Friday news conference, warning that the storm presents a “dramatic threat” to the city.
Mandatory evacuations, for areas outside the levees, were ordered south of New Orleans, effective 3 p.m. local time Friday. In the rest of the parish, evacuations are voluntary.
“We’re not calling for a mandatory evacuation, because the time simply is not on our side,” Cantrell said. “We do not want to have people on the road, and therefore in greater danger, because of the lack of time.”
Ida is forecast to reach major hurricane status and close in on the Louisiana coastline Sunday morning, making landfall between 5 and 11 p.m. By early Monday morning, Ida will rapidly weaken and move inland; however, much of Louisiana will still experience strong winds.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said people who are evacuating should get to their destinations by Saturday evening.
“This could be a life-altering storm if you’re not prepared,” Edwards said at a Friday press conference.
“We need to take this storm very seriously. Now is not the time for jokes, for playing around,” Cantrell said. “We need to take it seriously, we need to reach out to our neighbors, our family members and our friends.”
Storm surge could reach 15 feet along parts of the Louisiana/Mississippi coastline and 6 feet on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans.
A storm surge watch is in effect along parts of the northern Gulf Coast, from Sabine Pass, Louisiana, through New Orleans to the Alabama-Florida border.
The dangerous storm surge will be exacerbated by extreme rainfall. Much of Louisiana and Mississippi could get 6 inches of rain, while parts of southeast Louisiana and the Mississippi could get 10 to 20 inches. Flash flooding is also possible through early next week.
Some COVID-19 testing and vaccine sites are closing early Friday due to the storm, the Louisiana Department of Health said.
The high number of COVID-19 patients in Louisiana also means the state will not be able to evacuate hospitals, the governor said. Cantrell also said New Orleans hospitals were not being evacuated at this time.
“We’ve been talking to hospitals about making all the preparations possible to make sure that their generators are working, that they have way more water on hand than normal,” Edwards said.
Health officials are asking people to avoid emergency departments throughout the storm if possible.
Residents should be prepared for power outages, downed trees and significant street flooding, said Collin Arnold, director of the New Orleans Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness.
Hurricane warnings and states of emergency have been declared in New Orleans and Louisiana.
Ida should weaken to a tropical storm by Monday, but it’s forecast to move inland across Louisiana, with more potentially devastating downpours.About 20 inches of rain are expected, which means extreme floods are possible.
President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Louisiana.
Biden is “closely tracking” the developments and will host a call with the Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator and governors of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi to discuss preparations, press secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.
The administration, Psaki added, also is working to free up hospital beds and pre-position resources, in addition to sending a search-response team, 50 FEMA paramedics and 47 FEMA ambulances to assist with care.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 634,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 60.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:
Aug 28, 9:47 am
2 men die in Japan after receiving Moderna shots from suspended batch
Two men died in Japan after receiving shots of Moderna from a batch that was later suspended due to contaminants, Japan’s Health Ministry said Saturday.
The men were in their 30s and died this month, days after receiving their second Moderna doses, Reuters reported. Moderna’s Japanese partner Takeda pulled three lots of its vaccine in Japan Thursday, after reports of a foreign substance in the vials.
It’s not clear if the men died due to a problem with the shots and an investigation will take place.
“At this time, we do not have any evidence that these deaths are caused by the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine,” and the company is working closely with the Japanese Ministry of Health to investigate, Moderna said in a statement.
The pause in Japan does not affect doses distributed in the United States.
Moderna put more than 1.6 million doses of its COVID-19 vaccine on hold last week in Japan after it was notified about the potential contamination in some vials of its vaccine.
To date, more than 200 million doses of the Moderna vaccine have been administered to 110 million people in 45 countries, according to the company.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman and Sasha Pezenik
Aug 27, 9:40 pm
Florida still threatening school districts over mask mandates
Despite a court ruling Friday ordering Florida to stop enforcing a ban on school mask mandates, the state’s education commissioner has since told eight school districts that they must drop their mandates by Wednesday or potentially face sanctions.
The districts notified on Friday — which include Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Orange — adopted mask requirements this month but had yet to hear from the state about repercussions.
In letters sent to leaders of the eight districts, Florida Education Commissioner Richard Corcoran said he was opening investigations and threatened to withhold the salaries of school board members if the districts didn’t reverse their mandates by Wednesday.
Two other districts have already been sanctioned by the state board of education.
State officials have said they plan to appeal Friday’s ruling “immediately.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Aug 27, 9:20 pm
14 portable morgues headed to central Florida hospitals
As Florida continues to battle a surge in COVID-19 hospitalizations, 14 portable morgues are headed to central Florida hospitals.
ABC News confirmed the order with Lynne Drawdy, executive director of the Central Florida Disaster Medical Coalition, which is sending the coolers.
Each portable morgue can hold up to 12 bodies, Drawdy told ABC Orlando affiliate WFTV.
The coolers will go to hospitals across central Florida, as some have reached morgue capacity due to an influx of COVID-19 patients, and are expected to arrive by Monday, according to WFTV.
Aug 27, 6:34 pm
Delta more likely to lead to hospitalization among unvaccinated than alpha: Study
A new peer-reviewed study estimates that the delta variant doubles the risk of being hospitalized if you’re unvaccinated compared to the alpha variant.
The study — an analysis of more than 40,000 COVID-19 cases from the United Kingdom — primarily included unvaccinated people, so the findings don’t apply to vaccinated people with breakthrough infections.
Vaccines dramatically reduce the risk of hospitalization and death for both the alpha and delta variants.
-ABC News’ Sony Salzman
Aug 27, 3:14 pm
7 Southern states have ICUs over 90% full
Seven states, all in the South, have intensive care units over 90% full, according to federal data: Alabama (100%), Florida (94.98%), Georgia (94.68%), Louisiana (90.15%), Mississippi (92.07%), Oklahoma (91.68%), and Texas (93.86%).
The U.S. is continuing to experience its steepest and most significant increase in hospitalizations in seven months, according to federal data. On Wednesday alone, more than 12,800 patients were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, marking the highest number of patients seeking care over the span of 24 hours since January.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Aug 27, 3:14 pm
7 Southern states have ICUs over 90% full
Seven states, all in the South, have intensive care units over 90% full, according to federal data: Alabama (100%), Florida (94.98%), Georgia (94.68%), Louisiana (90.15%), Mississippi (92.07%), Oklahoma (91.68%), and Texas (93.86%).
The U.S. is continuing to experience its steepest and most significant increase in hospitalizations in seven months, according to federal data. On Wednesday alone, more than 12,800 patients were admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, marking the highest number of patients seeking care over the span of 24 hours since January.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Aug 27, 1:48 pm
50% of adolescents now vaccinated
Half of all U.S. 12- to 17-year-olds have had their first vaccine shot, White House COVID-19 coordinator Jeff Zients said at Friday’s briefing, which he called “critical progress.”
“The vaccination rate among adolescents is growing faster than any other age group,” Zients added.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said a new CDC report out of Los Angeles County showed that schools following the health agency’s guidelines had 3.5 times lower cases during the winter peak as compared to case rates in the community. (This study did not account for the delta variant).
“Even when communities were experiencing high levels of COVID transmission, in the LA County study, layered prevention measures in schools provided a shield of protection, helped to keep COVID out of school and reduced the spread when cases did occur,” Walensky said.
She continued: “I want to strongly appeal to those districts who have not implemented prevention strategies and encourage them to do the right thing to protect the children under their care.”
-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett
Aug 27, 1:05 pm
Judge rules Florida governor stop banning mask mandates in schools
A Tallahassee judge ruled Friday that Florida school boards can enact student mask mandates, going against Gov. Ron DeSantis, who in July issued an executive order that set off a public feud with school districts.
Judge John C. Cooper found that a blanket ban on face masks in schools “does not meet constitutional muster” and ordered the Florida Department of Education to stop enforcing a state rule that requires districts to allow parents to opt-out of mask mandates.
Cooper, over about two hours, picked apart the state’s defense, saying the science presented during the weeklong trial did not support the state’s argument against masking children.
Ten Florida school districts have adopted mask mandates for students this month. Two — Broward and Alachua — were sanctioned by the Florida commissioner of education, who said he would begin withholding the salaries of board members who voted to require masks.
DeSantis will “immediately appeal” the ruling, the governor’s press secretary, Christina Pushaw, said in a statement. “This ruling was made with incoherent justifications, not based in science and facts,” Pushaw said.
A spokesman for the Florida Department of Education said, “We are immensely disappointed that the ruling issued today by the Second Judicial Circuit discards the rule of law. This decision conflicts with basic and established rights of parents to make private health care and education decisions for children. … We are committed to the fundamental rights of parents and will push forward on appeal to ensure that this foundation of democracy is upheld.”
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Aug 27, 9:20 am
Kentucky sees third-highest day of cases
As Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear announced the state’s third-highest day of COVID-19 cases, he said at a news conference Thursday, “I’m gonna admit up front today I’m a little emotional and a little raw.”
“Seeing nearly 5,000 cases and 65 Kentuckians that we lost in just one day’s report is tough,” the governor said, adding that “it is entirely preventable.”
Hospitalizations have increased every day in the last 42 days, he said.
On July 14, there were 60 people in intensive care units. As of Wednesday there were 549, he said.
At the beginning of the summer Kentucky’s positivity rate fell to 1.79%. It’s now soared to 13.16%, he said.
Aug 27, 4:27 am
Houston sees 5-fold increase in COVID-19 vaccinations
COVID-19 vaccinations in Houston increased more than five-fold on Thursday as the city launched a new incentive program.
The Houston Health Department is now providing up to $150 in gift cards to get vaccinated against COVID-19. A total of 740 vaccine doses were administered at the health department’s eligible sites on Thursday, the first day of the program, marking a 51% increase over Wednesday’s total of 121 doses.
Of the total shots administered Thursday, 658 were first doses and 82 were second dose, according to a press release from the health department.
Aug 26, 10:29 pm
SCOTUS suspends eviction moratorium
The U.S. Supreme Court suspended the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium in an unsigned, 6-3 opinion Thursday night
“It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the COVID–19 Delta variant. But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,” the court wrote. “It is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here.”
“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” it continued. “The application to vacate stay presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan dissented.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki lamented the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying the CDC moratorium “saved lives by preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”
“As a result of this ruling, families will face the painful impact of evictions, and communities across the country will face greater risk of exposure to COVID-19,” Psaki said in a statement, before reiterating President Joe Biden’s call for states, localities, landlords and local courts to do what they can to prevent evictions.
The Biden administration has repeatedly called on Congress to act in regard to the eviction moratorium, but Republicans have opposed the proposals.
The CDC had issued a 60-day extension to the moratorium the first week in August after the previous one expired July 31.
Aug 26, 6:37 pm
Every state now reporting high community transmission
Every state in the country is now reporting high community transmission of COVID-19, according to newly updated federal data.
In mid-June, no states were reporting high transmission, and just six states were reporting substantial transmission. Now, 10 weeks later, all 50 states are in that category, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The development comes as the delta variant has also rapidly spread. In June, the highly contagious variant accounted for just 26.4% of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S.; today, it accounts for nearly 99%, according to the CDC.
Aug 26, 4:07 pm
US reporting more than 800 deaths per day, marking highest average in 5 months
The U.S. is continuing to experience its steepest increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since the winter of 2020, with more than 101,000 patients now in hospitals, according to federal data. This marks the highest number of patients in seven months.
Eight weeks ago, there were under 12,000 patients receiving care.
The country’s daily death average has increased to more than 800 deaths per day. This is a 317% jump in the last seven weeks and marks the highest average since mid-March 2021.
(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Thirteen American troops were among the nearly 200 people killed in an attack at the Kabul airport in Afghanistan on Thursday.
A detonation set off by an ISIS-K suicide bomber near the airport’s Abbey Gate amid evacuation efforts killed at least 170 Afghans, including several children, as well as two Brits and a child of a British citizen, according to Afghan and British officials.
President Joe Biden called the U.S. service members killed in the attack “heroes who have been engaged in a dangerous, selfless mission to save the lives of others.”
Those killed included 11 Marines, as well as an Army soldier and a Navy medic, U.S. officials said.
“Those warriors who died gave their lives to save thousands of men, women and children, Americans and Afghans alike,” Adm. Mike Gilday, the chief of naval operations, said in a statement. “Their courage and selflessness represent the highest ideals of America. We pay solemn tribute to their sacrifice.”
The names of the service members are being released 24 hours after next-of-kin notifications, though some of those killed have been identified by family and officials. Here’s what we know about them so far.
Navy Fleet Marine Force Hospital Corpsman Max Soviak, of Ohio, was “very proud” to serve his country, his mother said in a statement to ABC News.
“He was very passionate about helping his fellow Americans and trying to get them home safely,” Rachel Soviak said. “There are no words to describe the pain our family is feeling. There will forever be a hole in our hearts.”
The family is praying for the troops to arrive home safely, she said.
Max Soviak was a 2017 graduate of Edison High School in Milan, Ohio. School leaders remembered him as “full of life in everything he did.”
“Max was a good student who was active in sports and other activities throughout his school career,” Superintendent Thomas Roth said in a statement. “He was well respected and liked by everyone who knew him.”
Marine David Espinoza was a native of Laredo, Texas, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas, who released a statement confirming his death.
“Mr. Espinoza embodied the values of America: grit, dedication, service, and valor,” Cuellar said. “When he joined the military after high school, he did so with the intention of protecting our nation and demonstrating his selfless acts of service.”
Espinoza graduated from Lyndon B. Johnson High School in Laredo in 2019 and is survived by his brother, mother and stepfather, Cuellar’s office said.
Marine Rylee McCollum, of Bondurant, Wyoming, was among the service members killed, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon confirmed.
“I’m devastated to learn Wyoming lost one of our own in yesterday’s terrorist attack in Kabul,” Gordon said on Twitter. “Our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Rylee McCollum of Bondurant.”
Marine Kareem Nikoui was among those killed in the attack, ABC News has confirmed.
Nikoui “always wanted to be a Marine,” his father, Steve Nikoui, a carpenter in California, told the Daily Beast.
“He was devoted — he was going to make a career out of this, and he wanted to go,” Nikoui told the outlet. “No hesitation for him to be called to duty.”
Marine Cpl. Hunter Lopez was the son of two members of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department in Southern California — Capt. Herman Lopez and Deputy Alicia Lopez — the department said.
The 22-year-old planned on “following his parents’ footsteps” and becoming a deputy himself upon returning home from his deployment, Sheriff Chad Bianco said in a Facebook post announcing his death.
As a teen, Lopez was a Riverside Sheriff’s Explorer Scout with the Palm Desert Station. After graduating from La Quinta High School, he joined the Marine Corps in September 2017, Bianco said.
“Like his parents who serve our community, being a Marine to Hunter wasn’t a job; it was a calling,” the Riverside Sheriff’s Association said in a statement. “He loved his family, and as we grieve for Hunter and his fellow Marines taken from us too soon, there are simply no words to express how deeply he will be missed.”
His family is requesting all donations be made to the Riverside County Deputy Sheriff Relief Foundation in their name.
-ABC News’ Alondra Valle and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — A Florida police officer was supported by his fellow officers as he was flown out of the state for COVID-19 treatment due to a lack of availability in local hospitals, according to his wife.
Police officers lined the tarmac Wednesday as their colleague, West Palm Beach police officer Anthony Testa, was flown to Ohio.
In Ohio, Testa, who is on a ventilator, is expected to be placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, machine, which removes carbon dioxide from blood and sends back blood with oxygen to the body, allowing the heart and lungs time to rest and heal.
Amid a summer surge of COVID-19 brought on by the delta variant and low vaccination rates in the United States, doctors were not able to place Testa on an ECMO in Florida, according to his wife,
“He deserves this,” Janine Testa told “Good Morning America.” “He can fight and I know he will.”
In Florida, state statistics in late July showed virus-related hospitalizations are nearly at their highest point since the onset of the pandemic, with more than 1,200 COVID-19 patients being admitted to the hospital every day.
Now, 95% of the intensive care unit (ICU) beds in the state are full.
Some hospitals in the state are also running out of morgue space and using rented refrigerated trucks for bodies.
“Our morgues are just not designed to hold that many bodies,” Armando Llechu, chief officer of hospital operations at Florida’s Cape Coral hospital, told “GMA.” “This is not being exaggerated or blown out of proportion by the media. This is real.”
In West Palm Beach, as officers saw Officer Testa off for further treatment, they also mourned one of their own already lost to COVID-19.
Officer Robert Williams, with the force since 2001, died on Aug. 21 due to complications from COVID-19, the department shared on Twitter.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 633,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.4 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 60.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing Friday. All times Eastern:
Aug 27, 4:27 am
Houston sees 5-fold increase in COVID-19 vaccinations
COVID-19 vaccinations in Houston increased more than five-fold on Thursday as the city launched a new incentive program.
The Houston Health Department is now providing up to $150 in gift cards to get vaccinated against COVID-19. A total of 740 vaccine doses were administered at the health department’s eligible sites on Thursday, the first day of the program, marking a 51% increase over Wednesday’s total of 121 doses.
Of the total shots administered Thursday, 658 were first doses and 82 were second dose, according to a press release from the health department.
Aug 26, 10:29 pm
SCOTUS suspends eviction moratorium
The U.S. Supreme Court suspended the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium in an unsigned, 6-3 opinion Thursday night
“It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the COVID–19 Delta variant. But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends,” the court wrote. “It is up to Congress, not the CDC, to decide whether the public interest merits further action here.”
“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” it continued. “The application to vacate stay presented to THE CHIEF JUSTICE and by him referred to the Court is granted.”
Liberal justices Sonia Sotomayor, Stephen Breyer and Elena Kagan dissented.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki lamented the Supreme Court’s ruling, saying the CDC moratorium “saved lives by preventing the spread of the COVID-19 virus.”
“As a result of this ruling, families will face the painful impact of evictions, and communities across the country will face greater risk of exposure to COVID-19,” Psaki said in a statement, before reiterating President Joe Biden’s call for states, localities, landlords and local courts to do what they can to prevent evictions.
The Biden administration has repeatedly called on Congress to act in regard to the eviction moratorium, but Republicans have opposed the proposals.
The CDC had issued a 60-day extension to the moratorium the first week in August after the previous one expired July 31.
Aug 26, 6:37 pm
Every state now reporting high community transmission
Every state in the country is now reporting high community transmission of COVID-19, according to newly updated federal data.
In mid-June, no states were reporting high transmission, and just six states were reporting substantial transmission. Now, 10 weeks later, all 50 states are in that category, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The development comes as the delta variant has also rapidly spread. In June, the highly contagious variant accounted for just 26.4% of all new COVID-19 cases in the U.S.; today, it accounts for nearly 99%, according to the CDC.
Aug 26, 4:07 pm
US reporting more than 800 deaths per day, marking highest average in 5 months
The U.S. is continuing to experience its steepest increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations since the winter of 2020, with more than 101,000 patients now in hospitals, according to federal data. This marks the highest number of patients in seven months.
Eight weeks ago, there were under 12,000 patients receiving care.
The country’s daily death average has increased to more than 800 deaths per day. This is a 317% jump in the last seven weeks and marks the highest average since mid-March 2021.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Ida, which formed Thursday, is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane before targeting Louisiana this weekend.
Ida is set to hit the Cayman Islands and Cuba as a tropical storm on Friday morning, delivering up to 20 inches of rain. Tropical storm warnings are in effect for both locations.
By Friday night into Saturday morning, Ida is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico and rapidly strengthen into a hurricane.
From Saturday morning to Sunday morning, Ida is forecast to grow even stronger, with winds likely approaching those of a Category 3 hurricane, which is considered a major hurricane.
Landfall is forecast for Sunday afternoon or evening, west of New Orleans and east of Lake Charles, though effects could be felt as early as Saturday night. Louisiana residents should expect storm surge up to 11 feet, 15 inches of rain, flash flooding and hurricane-force winds of up to 115 miles per hour.
After making landfall, Ida is expected to move north inland and could bring more heavy rain to middle Tennessee, which was hit by deadly floods last week.
The National Weather Service has issued a hurricane watch for parts of Louisiana and all of the Mississippi coast, including the cities of New Orleans and Biloxi. Those areas could see hurricane conditions within 36 to 48 hours.
Meanwhile, a tropical storm watch is in effect for parts of Mississippi and the entire Alabama coastline. A storm surge watch has also been issued for the entire coastline of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, including the cities of Lake Charles, New Orleans, Biloxi and Mobile.
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards declared a state of emergency Thursday evening as the threat of Ida looked more certain.
“Unfortunately, all of Louisiana’s coastline is currently in the forecast cone for Tropical Storm Ida, which is strengthening and could come ashore in Louisiana as a major hurricane as Gulf conditions are conducive for rapid intensification,” Edwards said in a statement. “Now is the time for people to finalize their emergency game plan, which should take into account the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.”
After landfall, Ida likely will move north into Tennessee with flooding rainfall. Areas in Tennessee hit with deadly, catastrophic flooding this weekend could suffer further destruction.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A Minnesota judge is considering whether to drop charges against an alleged drug dealer after his lawyer claimed Minneapolis law enforcement officers destroyed critical evidence in a panic prompted by a blaze and takeover of another police department precinct during a 2020 protest over the murder of George Floyd.
An attorney for 36-year-old Walter Power argued during a court hearing on Wednesday that Minneapolis police officers destroyed a search warrant obtained on Power’s home that prosecutors said resulted in the seizure of 3,000 doses of the painkiller oxycodone and other illegal drugs.
Power has pleaded not guilty to a charge of felony first-degree sale of drugs.
“Those officers made that decision. I think what’s difficult with this case is we all have to live with that decision,” Power’s attorney, public defender Elizabeth Karp, said during Wednesday’s hearing on her motion to dismiss the case, according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Karp said the lost search warrant presumably contained the evidence narcotics officers used to obtain the warrant to search Power’s home in April 2020.
Karp argued that moving forward with the case would violate Power’s constitutional right to due process under the law if she does not have the ability to review and challenge a court document that no longer exists, even in digital form.
“We’re in the dark,” Karp told Judge Todd Fellman of the Hennepin County Fourth Judicial District.
On May 28, the Third Precinct in southeast Minneapolis was torched during a protest over the police killing of Floyd, forcing officers to abandon the station.
In a motion filed in June, Karp included a supplemental report written by Minneapolis Police officer Logan Johansson stating why he and other investigators in the Second Precinct across the Mississippi River from the Third Precinct in northeast Minneapolis destroyed records. Johansson, according to his report, wrote that he and other officers suspected the station was going to be attacked too and decided to destroy or move documents “in direct response to the abandonment of the Third Police Precinct in Minneapolis by city leadership.”
Johansson’s report did not mention destroying the search warrant. The officer’s report, according to court records reviewed by ABC News, says that “all non-active case files and files containing CI (confidential informant) information (were) destroyed.”
Protesters, however, never went to the Second Precinct, which is about five miles from the Third Precinct.
Assistant Hennepin County Attorney Emily Liebman asked Fellman to reject Karp’s motion and allow prosecutors to proceed with the case against Power, arguing in court that the missing documents are immaterial to the charges.
Liebman said none of the evidence collected from Power’s home was destroyed and that prosecutors plan to use it at trial. She said investigators also conducted surveillance on Power and discovered evidence in the suspect’s trash that supported the cause for the search of his home.
In her motion, Karp stated that GPS information investigators obtained by tracking Power’s cellphone has also been lost.
Fellman said he will take the motion under advisement and render a decision soon.
(WASHINGTON) — Seven U.S. Capitol Police officers are suing former President Donald Trump, his campaign, his associate Roger Stone, and members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, alleging that “their unlawful efforts culminated in the Jan. 6 mass attack on the United States Capitol.”
The lawsuit, filed on Thursday in federal court, alleges that the defendants violated the federal KKK Act and the D.C. Bias Related Crimes Act, both of which protect victims of prejudice against political violence and intimidation.
“Trump and other Defendants propagated false claims of election fraud, encouraged the use of force, intimidation, and threats, and incited violence against members of Congress and the law enforcement officers whose job it was to protect them,” the lawsuit says. “Defendants’ unlawful efforts culminated in the January 6 mass attack on the United States Capitol and the brutal, physical assault of hundreds of law enforcement officers. Many Defendants in this case planned, aided, and actively participated in that attack. All Defendants are responsible for it.”
The suit alleges that because Trump and his associates targeted majority-minority communities in their allegations of election fraud, the attack on the Capitol drew white supremacists who hurled racial epithets at officers.
“Many Black law enforcement officers protecting the Capitol were assaulted, threatened, spat on, and subjected to racial slurs,” says the suit. “In a striking example, one attacker marched through the Capitol’s halls displaying an unfurled Confederate flag, a symbol of white supremacy and racism. Across the Capitol grounds, attackers brazenly displayed other symbols of white supremacy, flashing white power hand symbols and displaying anti-Semitic imagery and slogans on their clothes.”
Representatives for Trump, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.
An attorney for Roger Stone told ABC News that Stone had not yet been served with the suit and was unaware of the allegations.
“Mr. Stone has been clear, he had nothing to do with the events of Jan. 6,” Stone’s attorney said.
The lawsuit alleges that Trump, in addressing supporters prior to the attack, knew that the crowd would react with violence, and that he praised the attackers.
“Trump knew the crowd would, and did, understand his speech and those of other speakers to be a provocative call to action, and as instructions [said] to proceed directly to the United States Capitol and use force, intimidation, and threats to stop the count of electoral votes,” the lawsuit says. “Knowing all this, and in a calculated attempt to provide himself with cover, Trump said, ‘Everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol Building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.'”
The officers said they sustained physical injuries, and an African American officer identified as Officer Fortune said he was called the N-word by numerous Capitol rioters.
“He had to force his way through the attackers and injured officers to join his unit,” the suit says. “When he arrived at the Capitol, he saw that it was like a war zone, with chemical fog in the air, tables flipped, statues defaced, feces on the walls, and blood and broken glass on the floors. For the next several hours, while inhaling a smog of chemical pollutants and sustaining burns from those chemicals, Officer Fortune helped clear the Capitol of remaining attackers, search for any hidden improvised explosive devices, and carry injured officers to a triage center for medical treatment.”
The officers are seeking unspecified damages.
“We joined the Capitol Police to uphold the law and protect the Capitol community,” the seven officers said in a statement released by the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which brought the suit on behalf of the officers. “On Jan. 6 we tried to stop people from breaking the law and destroying our democracy. Since then our jobs and those of our colleagues have become infinitely more dangerous. We want to do what we can to make sure the people who did this are held accountable and that no one can do this again.”
-ABC News’ Will Steakin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — At least two children have died in hot cars this week as a heat wave blasted the U.S.
On Tuesday afternoon, a 4-year-old boy died in East Manchester Township, Pennsylvania, the York County Coroner’s Office said.
After the family wasn’t able to find the boy around the home, they discovered him dead outside in their closed, parked car, the coroner’s office said.
An autopsy was scheduled for Thursday morning.
On Sunday afternoon in Cullman County, Alabama, a 3-year-old boy was found in a car and then taken to a hospital where he died, Cullman County coroner Jeremy Kilpatrick told ABC News on Thursday. The boy’s cause of death has not yet been determined, the coroner said.
The Cullman County Sheriff’s Office declined to provide specifics, only confirming there was an incident involving a small child on Sunday that appeared to be a tragic accident. A sheriff’s office spokesman said Thursday the investigation remains in the early stages and said no arrests have been made.
If autopsies confirm these deaths to be due to the heat, they would be the 16th and 17th hot-car deaths this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.
“Hot car deaths continue to take place because nobody believes this could happen to them,” KidsAndCars.org president Janette Fennell said in a statement. “The unfortunate reality is that this has happened to even the most loving, responsible, and attentive parents.”
A record 54 children died in hot cars in 2018, followed by 53 fatalities in 2019, according to KidsAndCars.org. Last year, 25 children died in hot cars, a drop that KidsAndCars.org director Amber Rollins attributed to the pandemic.
The professor at the Industrial and Labor Relations and Economics School at Cornell University had been looking for a kidney transplant for two years, testing every friend and family in hopes of finding a potential donor.
With no one meeting the requirements, Ehrenberg, who was living with end-stage renal disease, began dialysis to give him more time with his family. As a result, his life was tethered to the hospital because a dialysis machine and supplies would fill up his entire car for a two-day supply. He was also not allowed to travel during a five-year period because if a call came in saying that a kidney was available, he would have to go to the hospital almost immediately.
“I was so fatigued and had so little energy,” said Ehrenberg. “We were so worried.”
Ehrenberg resigned himself to waiting for a kidney from a deceased donor, knowing that those kidneys tend to wear out sooner and are more rare.
A kidney from a live donor can start functioning immediately rather than taking a few days to kick in as with a deceased donor, according to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. What’s more, relatives’ kidneys tend to have less risk of rejection and a potential donor can be tested ahead of time, making the process more convenient, according to the National Kidney Foundation.
Along with finding a donor, Ehrenberg, 75, worried about contracting a disease from an unknown deceased donor and not being healthy enough for a transplant, along with any complications from cancer to heart conditions that could disqualify him from being a recipient.
Finding a hero and finding hope
Five years after being placed on the transplant list, Ehrenberg got a call from the nurse that a live donor had come forward. The donor asked to remain anonymous, but Ehrenberg begged the hospital to tell the donor he wanted to know who they were.
The nurse passed along Ehrenberg’s request. That’s when his co-worker of seven years, Adam Seth Litwin, an associate professor at the school, sent an email revealing his life-saving gift.
Litwin said he got serious about donating after his mother-in-law died.
“She and I were very close and she was actually the same exact age as Ron,” explained Litwin. “She was not a candidate for a transplant, but it brought home to me how little time she was able to spend with her grandchildren, my children, and that there is something I could do for someone else that would kind of prevent that from happening again.”
“I’m kind of grumpy and curmudgeon on the outside, so this is definitely not consistent with whatever images that I have created to those around me,” he added.
Initially, Litwin was not allowed to donate his kidney, but he spent two years secretly improving his health. He improved his diet, stabilized his blood sugar and lost around 25 pounds. He kept it off for a year and got approved to donate on April 20, which happens to be Ehrenberg’s birthday.
Ehrenberg said that Litwin initially wanted to remain an anonymous donor, but Ehrenberg convinced his friend to come forward to help potentially save more lives. Litwin said that he donated his kidney not just to give more years to his friend, but also to teach a lesson of love to his two children.
“I keep joking that I don’t want people to think just because I did this that I’m not still a miserable b——,” said Litwin.
While Litwin may not think of himself as a particularly generous person, Ehrenberg disagreed.
“Adam was the real hero,” said Ehrenberg. “I am deeply indebted to Adam and I will spend the rest of my life trying to think about how I can repay him.”
“We hope we could encourage more people to be donors either alive or deceased kidney donors,” said Ehrenberg.
Ehrenberg said he plans to spend his new retirement making up for years lost to illness. Litwin plans to spend more time with his family. Both are excited to see Ehrenberg spend many more years with his grandchildren.
