National

(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Elsa made landfall at about 11 a.m. Wednesday in Taylor County, Florida, along the Sunshine State’s Gulf Coast.

Taylor County, in Florida’s Big Bend region, is about 50 miles southeast of Tallahassee.

Elsa, which is slamming Florida with gusty winds and heavy rain, strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane Tuesday night before weakening back to a tropical storm.

A boat capsized near Key West as Elsa blew through on Tuesday, according to the Coast Guard. Nine people remain missing.

As of Wednesday morning, Florida had no reports of fatalities or significant structural damage, Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

About 26,000 customers in Florida are without power, he added.

A hurricane warning was issued for Florida’s west coast from the Chassahowitzka River to the Steinhatchee River.

Tampa Bay is among the areas under a storm surge warning.

Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Savannah and Charleston, and a tropical storm watch extends up to Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

After blowing through the South, the storm is expected to move up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the mid-Atlantic, New Jersey shore, New York City, Long Island and New England.

Elsa is forecast to weaken to a tropical depression as it moves up the East Coast, but it could regain tropical storm status as it passes over the waters of the mid-Atlantic.

By Thursday night Elsa will reach mid-Atlantic, dropping flooding rain and gusty winds near Washington, D.C., and into Philadelphia.

The latest path shows Elsa’s center passing right over the Interstate 95 corridor, heading just east of D.C. to near Philadelphia and then north over New York City.

Northerners should be prepared for gusty winds up to 50 mph, heavy rain and potential flash flooding.

By Friday morning, Elsa will be dropping heavy rain along the Jersey shore, New York City and Long Island.

Elsa will move into New England late Friday morning into Friday afternoon. Boston and Portland, Maine, could face strong winds, power outages and flooding.

Flooding is possible in Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts and northern New England. Some areas could see up to 5 inches of rain.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Tropical storm Elsa is slamming the Sunshine State with gusty winds and heavy rain as it barrels north near Florida’s west coast.

Elsa is expected to make landfall later Wednesday morning by Florida’s Big Bend.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Florida’s west coast from the Chassahowitzka River to the Steinhatchee River.

Wet grounds and rough winds have already caused some downed trees in Hillsborough County, which encompasses Tampa.

Tampa Bay is among areas under a storm surge warning.

Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

After blowing through the South, the storm is expected to move up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the mid-Atlantic, New Jersey shore, New York City, Long Island and New England.

By Thursday night, Elsa will reach the mid-Atlantic dropping flooding rain and gusty winds near Washington, D.C., and into Philadelphia.

By Friday morning, Elsa will be dropping heavy rain and rough winds along the Jersey shore, New York City and Long Island.

Elsa will move into New England late Friday morning into Friday afternoon. Boston and Portland, Maine, could face strong winds, power outages and flooding.

Flooding is possible in Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts and northern New England. Some areas could see up to 5 inches of rain.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Wednesday is a day of celebration as New York City gears up for a ticker tape parade honoring the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hometown Heroes Parade starts at 11 a.m. along the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan, about 16 months after New York City became the nation’s first COVID-19 epicenter.

The parade is a way “to celebrate and appreciate the heroes who often go unsung,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month.

“Floats for health care workers, first responders, educators, municipal workers, transportation workers, grocery and bodega workers, delivery people, you name it,” the mayor said. “All the essential workers who made it happen.”

Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jul 07, 8:49 am
Pittsburgh nurse who came to NYC for COVID returns to ride on float

Justin Davis, a traveling nurse with AMN Healthcare, left his wife and three children behind in Pittsburgh to care for COVID-19 patients in an overwhelmed Manhattan hospital when the pandemic began.

“Never seen anything like it,” said Davis, who trained as an Army field medic and has been a nurse for 17 years. “I had more bodies, not enough people to take care. There were unqualified people there because there was nobody else.”

When New York’s crisis subsided, he moved to COVID hot spots in Orlando and Buffalo.

He will ride atop one of 14 floats that will make its way through the shower of confetti on Wednesday.

Davis told ABC News the parade is also a way to put his pandemic work behind him.

“I’ll accept the thanks,” he said.

Jul 07, 7:53 am
Ceremony scaled back due to heat

The City Hall ceremony at the end of the parade will be “a much smaller, stripped down version” than originally planned due to the heat, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday.

“We will be greeting the marchers at the end of the parade and thanking them,” de Blasio said. “Not a big ceremony, but the parade itself of course will be the central salute to our heroes.”

“We will be adding additional cooling centers and water stations along the route,” the mayor added.

Jul 07, 7:24 am
New York to hold first ticker tape parade in two years

Ticker tape parades along the Canyon of Heroes are a historical part of New York City. These parades have honored people from Amelia Earhart in 1932 to Winston Churchill in 1946. The most recent ticker tape parade was in 2019 for the U.S. women’s national soccer team after they won the World Cup.

“Ticker tape parades up the Canyon of Heroes, they’ve happened for generations,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month. “But this one will have a special spirit to it, a special heart and soul, because it’s about celebrating everyday New Yorkers who did something heroic and need our thanks.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(PHILADELPHIA) — A construction worker has died after a drilling rig that was being used to move heavy equipment fell on top of him while he was working.

The deadly incident happened on Tuesday at approximately 8:30 p.m. local time in downtown Philadelphia near a train station. Heavy equipment was being moved off a tractor-trailer to a construction site when a drilling rig that was being used to lift equipment in the area fell onto a worker, fire officials told ABC Philadelphia station WPVI-TV.

Officials have not yet named the 55-year-old man but said he became trapped beneath the equipment and that it took about 15 minutes to free him from the scene of the accident, according to WPVI.

The man was immediately taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries suffered in the construction accident. The rig operator was also injured in the incident and was hospitalized for treatment but their condition was unknown.

“It’s fortunate that it was this time of the evening where this is a high traffic area during the day and it could have been a lot more potential for danger to many folks, but still there were two individuals who were hurt here so that’s still tragic,” Philadelphia Assistant Fire Chief Charles Walker told WPVI on Tuesday night.

Officials said the rig fell away from the building site, meaning no property was damaged and that the area was clear of pedestrians at the time of the accident, according to WPVI.

Officials said there was fuel leaking from the equipment in the aftermath of the accident and that Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections was called in to investigate.

The incident is currently under investigation but the construction site was still active on Wednesday, even as the drilling rig that fell over remains on its side.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WORCESTER, Mass.) — A police chase of a woman in a stolen truck ended at a McDonald’s drive-thru as she attempted to order some food amid the pursuit.

The incident occurred at approximately 8:45 a.m. local time on Tuesday, July 6, in Worcester, Massachusetts — about 42 miles west of Boston. The Worcester Police Department said it received a 911 call about a stolen pick-up truck in the eastern part of the city.

When officers arrived on scene, they spoke with the man who made the call and he informed them that a woman, whom he said he did not know, climbed into his vehicle and drove away. But he told the officers that his pick-up truck had GPS and he could see its location.

As the officers made their way to the area of the stolen vehicle, they were flagged down by another driver who told them that their car had been hit by the pick-up truck only minutes before, according to police.

With that information plus tracking the vehicle by GPS, it didn’t take long for officers to find the suspect — identified as 38-year-old Johanna Gardell of Worcester — in the stolen pick-up truck only a few blocks away.

But the chase didn’t end there.

“The officer activated his blue lights, got out of his cruiser, and approached the stolen vehicle,” the Worcester Police Department said in a statement. “The operator … drove away as the officer walked toward her. The officer got back into his cruiser and followed her at a low rate of speed, but she did not stop. Ms. Gardell began to increase her speed on Main St and drove through red lights. The officer deactivated his lights and sirens and stopped following her for safety reasons.”

Gardell then came upon heavy traffic before deciding to crossover into the wrong lane, as well as oncoming traffic, and subsequently ended up driving into a van with the stolen pick-up truck, according to police.

“At this point, two officers working a detail and another officer in the area approached the vehicle in an attempt to extract Ms. Gardell,” the Worcester Police Department said. “She backed up the vehicle at a high rate of speed and struck a cruiser behind her, and knocked down and dragged one of the detail officers. Officers pursued the stolen vehicle at a low rate of speed before the pursuit was called off for safety reasons.”

Gardell then pulled into the drive-thru at a nearby McDonald’s restaurant in an attempt to order food but officers again were able to locate her and attempt to arrest her, according to police.

Officers approached her in two vehicles but she intentionally struck one before veering off the road and getting the stolen pick-up truck stuck in a pile of mulch that was on the McDonald’s property, police said.

Officers were then able to pull Gardell out of the vehicle as she fought and struggled with them during the arrest, according to police.

Gardell is facing a litany of charges including failure to stop for police, leaving the scene of an accident with personal injury, assault and battery by means of a dangerous weapon, malicious mischief to motor vehicle, disturbing the peace, disorderly conduct and use of motor vehicle without authority, among several others.

The Worcester Police Department said that Gardell will now be arraigned in court and the investigation into the incident is ongoing.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Tropical storm Elsa is slamming the Sunshine State with gusty winds and heavy rain as it barrels north near Florida’s west coast.

Elsa is expected to make landfall later Wednesday morning by Florida’s Big Bend.

A hurricane warning is in effect for Florida’s west coast from the Chassahowitzka River to the Steinhatchee River.

Wet grounds and rough winds have already caused some downed trees in Hillsborough County, which encompasses Tampa.

Tampa Bay is among areas under a storm surge warning.

Tropical storm warnings have been issued in Savannah, Georgia and Charleston, South Carolina.

After blowing through the South, the storm is expected to move up the East Coast, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the mid-Atlantic, New Jersey shore, New York City, Long Island and New England.

By Thursday night, Elsa will reach the mid-Atlantic dropping flooding rain and gusty winds near Washington, D.C., and into Philadelphia.

By Friday morning, Elsa will be dropping heavy rain and rough winds along the Jersey shore, New York City and Long Island.

Elsa will move into New England late Friday morning into Friday afternoon. Boston and Portland, Maine, could face strong winds, power outages and flooding.

Flooding is possible in Philadelphia, New York City, Connecticut, Massachusetts and northern New England. Some areas could see up to 5 inches of rain.

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Wednesday is a day of celebration as New York City gears up for a ticker tape parade honoring the heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Hometown Heroes Parade starts at 11 a.m. along the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan, about 16 months after New York City became the nation’s first COVID-19 epicenter.

The parade is a way “to celebrate and appreciate the heroes who often go unsung,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month.

“Floats for health care workers, first responders, educators, municipal workers, transportation workers, grocery and bodega workers, delivery people, you name it,” the mayor said. “All the essential workers who made it happen.”

Here is how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jul 07, 7:53 am
Ceremony scaled back due to heat

The City Hall ceremony at the end of the parade will be “a much smaller, stripped down version” than originally planned due to the heat, Mayor de Blasio said Tuesday.

“We will be greeting the marchers at the end of the parade and thanking them,” de Blasio said. “Not a big ceremony, but the parade itself of course will be the central salute to our heroes.”

“We will be adding additional cooling centers and water stations along the route,” the mayor added.

Jul 07, 7:24 am
New York to hold first ticker tape parade in two years

Ticker tape parades along the Canyon of Heroes are a historical part of New York City. These parades have honored people from Amelia Earhart in 1932 to Winston Churchill in 1946. The most recent ticker tape parade was in 2019 for the U.S. women’s national soccer team after they won the World Cup.

“Ticker tape parades up the Canyon of Heroes, they’ve happened for generations,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said last month. “But this one will have a special spirit to it, a special heart and soul, because it’s about celebrating everyday New Yorkers who did something heroic and need our thanks.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — At least 36 people, including three children, have been confirmed dead and 109 others remain unaccounted for after a 12-story residential building partially collapsed in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last month.

The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced Tuesday morning that four more bodies were recovered from the rubble. In the evening, she announced another four bodies had been recovered, bringing the official death toll to 36. Twenty-six of the victims have been identified.

Meanwhile, investigators have confirmed that 70 of the 109 people who are still missing were in fact inside of the condominium at the time of the partial collapse. Another 191 people who were living or staying in the building at that time have been accounted for and are safe, according to Levine Cava, who has stressed that the figures are “very fluid” and “will continue to change” as detectives continuously audit the list.

Although officials wouldn’t say when the search and rescue operation will formally transition into a recovery mission, Levine Cava told reporters that the crews will “continue as now to thoroughly, carefully sift through these piles,” looking for “bodies and belongings.” The process is a “very thorough and exhaustive” one, she said.

Crews have hauled away nearly 5 million pounds of concrete from the vast scene of wreckage, but large piles of rubble still remain. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said the rescue workers have been “aggressively” searching for any voids or “liveable spaces” within the debris where there could be trapped survivors but that they are “not coming across that.” No survivors have been discovered in the wreckage of the building since the morning it partially collapsed.

“We’re not seeing anything positive,” Cominsky told reporters on Tuesday morning.

The massive search and rescue mission is now in its 13th day, as teams are able to operate at full capacity and search in areas that were previously inaccessible.

The part of the building that remained standing was cleared of any people or pets before it was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity. However, it was too dangerous for surviving residents to enter the building to retrieve their belongings, officials said.

Video released by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday night showed crews working atop the piles, braving the elements as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the Sunshine State.

The incoming storm, which has weakened from a hurricane, initiated the discussion about demolishing the rest of the building and fast-tracked the process, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday and by Tuesday morning the storm’s center was moving through Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.

Prior to the demolition, the search and rescue operation was halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns for the crews regarding the remaining structure. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.

The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.

“The whole world wants to know what happened here,” Levine Cava told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I look forward to learning the truth, as do we all, but I think it’ll be a while before it is understood.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — They were called the “path of least resistance” by energy giants proposing a new crude oil pipeline. Now, after months of activism and resistance, a Black community in Memphis, Tennessee is celebrating the announcement that construction of the pipeline has been called off.

“This is a significant victory for our community, and for all people who have been pushed to the margins of our society,” Justin J. Pearson, a local resident and one of the co-founders of the grassroots group Memphis Community Against the Pipeline (MCAP), told ABC News on Tuesday, adding that the community responded to the news by erupting in “jubilation.”

“It’s an extraordinary feat for people who were called the path of least resistance to have pushed back and beat back two billion-dollar crude oil pipeline companies,” he added. “You can walk through the neighborhood and see all these signs and the spirit that endures, showing that we really are the path of resilience.”

Plans for the Byhalia Connection pipeline, a joint venture from Plains All American and Valero Energy, were officially called off last Friday. The proposed 49-mile crude oil conduit faced mounting community opposition, and lawmakers and celebrities also added their voices to the resistance movement.

Brad Leone, the director of communications at Plains All American, said in a statement posted to the Byhalia Connection’s website that the company was no longer pursuing construction of the project “primarily due to lower U.S. oil production resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“We value the relationships we’ve built through the development of this project, and appreciate those that supported the project and would have shared in its ongoing benefits including our customers, communities, energy consumers, landowners, area contractors and suppliers,” the statement added.

The pipeline initially threatened to cut through predominantly Black communities that have historical significance to those who live there — such as Boxtown, an area in Southwest Memphis that got its name after formerly enslaved people built their homes there out of train boxcars.

A representative of the pipeline company initially told the community the route was chosen because it was the “path of least resistance.” A company spokesperson later clarified to ABC News that, “What should have been said is that we looked for the path with the fewest collective impacts.”

Still, community members protesting the project said they were tired of bearing the brunt of industrial projects and potential pollutants in their backyard.

Former Vice President Al Gore, who attended anti-pipeline rallies, reacted to the cancellation news on Twitter. Gore congratulated MCAP and the community, “who made their voices heard to stop this reckless, racist ripoff!”

Byhalia Pipeline canceled! Congrats to @MemphisCAP_org & the community of SW Memphis who made their voices heard to stop this reckless, racist ripoff! No more oil in our soil!https://t.co/kEw56NYEWG

— Al Gore (@algore) July 3, 2021

Actor Danny Glover, of the Lethal Weapon franchise, also sent well-wishes on Twitter to the community, calling the news a “huge win.”

This is a HUGE WIN for the people of Memphis and all those who organized to prevent the Byhalia Pipeline! Congrats all!!!! https://t.co/VWpsFzIhNn

— Danny Glover (@mrdannyglover) July 5, 2021

The Southern Environmental Law Center, which represented MCAP and other community organizations as they fought state and federal permits for the project, applauded the news as “a victory for the people of Southwest Memphis, for the city’s drinking water, and perhaps most monumentally, it is a triumph for environmental justice,” according to a statement from Amanda Garcia, the group’s Tennessee office director.

Pearson, who was at the forefront of the pipeline resistance movement over the past several months, said the battles for environmental justice for all are not over. Still, he said he hopes others can see this victory as inspiration to fight for what they believe in.

“There’s no power more powerful than people power,” Pearson told ABC News. “Even when we don’t have as much money or clout as these billion-dollar businesses, we have our bodies, we have our voices, we have our time. We have our spirits, which cannot be broken.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Courtney and Kale Buchholtz had just put their 5-month-old son Cannon to bed and sat down on the couch the night of July 2 when a loud bang shook the walls of their Prairieville, Louisiana, home.

The couple said they thought lightning had struck their house until Courtney Buchholtz looked down at the baby monitor and saw debris flying into Cannon’s room.

Thinking a window had busted open, the couple ran to their son’s room and discovered that instead, a giant oak tree had fallen through the roof.

“When I saw the tree I almost couldn’t even comprehend what was happening, that there was a tree in our house,” Courtney Buchholtz told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “And the thought of it being on top of Cannon, I felt physically ill.”

The Buchholtzes said they heard Cannon crying in his crib, which they took as a good sign that he was at least alive.

Courtney Buchholtz weaved through the debris in the room to pull Cannon out of his crib and handed him to her husband, who checked the infant for injuries.

“I just turned him over and checked him really well to make sure there was nothing wrong with him,” said Kale Buchholtz. “He had been crying, but as soon as I got him in my hands, he was laughing as I was turning him.”

Cannon escaped the incident without a scratch, according to the Buchholtzes, who said he only had to be washed clean of debris from the fallen ceiling.

The family of three quickly evacuated the house and drove to a family member’s nearby home. When Kale Buchholtz returned that night, he found the weight of the tree had destroyed nearly the entire house, aside from Cannon’s crib.

“It was just kind of like a little bubble around him,” he said. “The hallway on one side of his room was where most of the tree was, and around his crib it was just wood and sheetrock and everything else.”

When Courtney Buchholtz re-watched the footage of the tree falling, as captured by the baby monitor app on her phone, she described it as being like there was a “shield” protecting Cannon.

She said she immediately thought of her late son Kasen, who died in 2016, one month after he was born prematurely.

“We always say that he’s watching over his little brother, so my immediate thought was that Kasen was protecting his brother and keeping him safe,” she said. “Losing one child and the thought of anything happening to another child is gut-wrenching.”

The Buchholtzes, who had to rebuild after water flooded their home in 2016, are now trying to salvage whatever they can from their home and prepare to rebuild again.

“It’s been a pain but, you know what, we can deal with that. We’ll clean up a mess any day,” said Courtney Buchholtz, adding, “It could have been so much worse.”

“It makes you realize a house is just a house and the material things can be replaced,” said Kale Buchholtz. “Family is what matters.”

Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.