National

(NEW YORK) — Anyone looking to ditch Amtrak or the long commutes to and from La Guardia, JFK, or Newark Airport when traveling between New York City and Washington, D.C., will now have another option—a float plane.

Tailwind Air will start flying two daily flights between the Skyport Marina near East 23rd Street in Manhattan and College Park Airport just outside D.C. The plane will take off from the water in New York and land on the runway at the Suburban D.C. airport in College Park, Maryland.

Tailwind said the flights will operate using eight-seat Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft. The flight time will be between 80-90 minutes and cost $395 one-way.

The airline is touting the ease of the smaller planes, saying passengers have up until 10 minutes before departure to check in for the flight.

“When factoring in the full journey—one hour and twenty minutes in the air (comparable to DCA-LGA service except with no need to access crowded and congested airports on both ends) or the three hours fifty minutes for the Acela—Tailwind Air will offer the fastest, least stressful, premium way to travel between DC and Manhattan. That, paired with the unforgettable views, makes this a compelling experience,” Tailwind Air co-founder Peter Manice said in a press release.

College Park Airport is 30-minute drive from Downtown D.C. and connects directly to Metro’s Green Line.

The first departure is Sept. 13.

“Bypassing the congestion of the northeast corridor between New York and Washington, DC remains the core mission of Tailwind Air,” Alan Ram, CEO and co-founder of Tailwind Air, said in a statement.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Adam Foss, a former prosecutor in Boston whose TED Talk brought him into partnership with singer John Legend on criminal justice reform, raped a woman in a New York City hotel, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office said Tuesday.

According to court documents and statements made on the record in court, Foss, 42, met the 25-year-old woman at a Midtown Manhattan hotel after exchanging calls and texts for approximately one month. After the survivor repeatedly said no to Foss’s sexual advances, the two fell asleep, before he allegedly raped the woman as she slept.

Foss pleaded not guilty.

Bragg urged other potential victims of Foss to come forward.

“Our Special Victims Division is survivor-centered and trauma-informed, and we encourage anyone who believes they have been the victim of a sex crime to call our Hotline at 212-335-9373. Our prosecutors, investigators, and service providers are available to help.”

Foss was an assistant district attorney in Suffolk County, Massachusetts. The National Law Journal named him among the 40 most up-and-coming lawyers in the US. In 2013, the Massachusetts Bar Association voted Foss prosecutor of the year.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MERRICK, N.Y.) — Sal’s Shoe Repair in Merrick, New York, was doing more than fixing heels and worn soles.

The Genovese organized crime family operated an illegal gambling operation out of the shop, generating “substantial revenue,” which was then laundered through cash transfers, federal prosecutors in Brooklyn said.

Nine purported members and associates of the Genovese and Bonanno organized crime families were charged Tuesday with racketeering and illegal gambling offenses for running gambling parlors out of other legitimate-seeming establishments in Queens and on Long Island, including a coffee bar and La Nazionale Soccer Club.

Salvatore Rubino, 58, known as “Sal the Shoemaker,” was among those arrested, prosecutors said.

A Nassau County police detective, Hector Rosario, is also among the defendants. He allegedly accepted money from the Bonanno family in exchange for offering to arrange police raids of competing gambling locations, according to the indictment. He is charged with obstructing a grand jury investigation and lying to the FBI.

“Current members of the five families demonstrate every day they are not adverse to working together to further their illicit schemes, using the same tired methods to squeeze money from their victims. Enlisting alleged assistance from a member of law enforcement also proves they are willing to do all they can to hide their illegal behavior,” FBI Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll said in a statement.

Beginning in May 2012, the Genovese and Bonanno families jointly operated a lucrative illegal gambling operation in Lynbrook, New York, called the Gran Caffe. The profits earned through this and other gambling locations generated substantial revenue, which was then laundered through cash transfers to the defendants and through “kicking up” to the crime families’ leaders, the indictment said.

“Today’s arrests of members from two La Cosa Nostra crime families demonstrate that the Mafia continues to pollute our communities with illegal gambling, extortion, and violence while using our financial system in service to their criminal schemes,” U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace said in a statement.

Among those charged are Anthony “Little Anthony” Pipitone, a captain and soldier in the Bonanno family, and Carmelo “Carmine” Polito, acting captain in the Genovese family, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors detail one call Polito made in October 2019 to an associate asking him to relay a message to a debtor: “Tell him I’m going to put him under the f——- bridge.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in West Virginia on Tuesday rejected the plea deals of Jonathan Toebbe, a former nuclear engineer for the U.S. Navy, and his wife Diana, because she said they did not allow for enough prison time.

Jonathan Toebbe’s plea agreement called for a sentence of 12-17 years and Diana Toebbe’s plea agreement called for a sentence of three years after they pleaded guilty to offering to sell secrets about submarine nuclear propulsion systems to a foreign country.

Toebbe had faced life in prison for violating the Atomic Energy Act before reaching the agreement with federal prosecutors in West Virginia, where he put an SD card at a “dead drop,” according to the charging documents.

“These are serious crimes but we are talking about serious punishment. Twelve-and-a-half years is not a slap on the wrist,” defense attorney Nicholas Compton said.

The judge, though, said it was not in the best interest of the community to accept the plea agreements since the proposed sentences failed to account for the “grave harm” she said the Toebbes caused.

“Make no mistake these defendants have been charged with very serious crimes,” Judge Gina Groh said. “I find the sentencing options available to me to be strikingly deficient.”

The Toebbes, of Annapolis, Md., seemed to neighbors and co-workers as the typical suburban couple before they were arrested last October for allegedly scheming to sell secrets about Virginia-class nuclear submarines to a foreign country, which was not identified in court papers but was Brazil, a source told ABC News.

At the time of his plea, Toebbe conceded he sent a package to a foreign government, listing a return address in Pittsburgh that contained a sample of restricted data and instructions for establishing relationship to buy additional restricted data.

Toebbe said he began corresponding with someone he thought was a representative of the foreign government who was really an undercover FBI agent.

On June 8, 2021, the undercover agent sent $10,000 in cryptocurrency to Toebbe as “good faith” payment.

A few weeks later, Jonathan and Diana Toebbe traveled to a location in West Virginia, prosecutors said. There, with Diana Toebbe acting as a lookout, Jonathan Toebbe placed an SD card concealed within half a peanut butter sandwich at a pre-arranged “dead drop” location, they said.

After retrieving the SD card, the undercover agent sent Jonathan Toebbe a $20,000 cryptocurrency payment, prosecutors said. In return, Jonathan Toebbe emailed the undercover agent a decryption key for the SD card. A review of the SD card revealed that it contained restricted data related to submarine nuclear reactors, the indictment said.

Both the Toebbe’s withdrew their plea agreement after a judge rejected the agreement.

“Yes, your honor, I’d like to withdraw my plea,” Jonathan Toebbe said.

The judge on Tuesday set a trial date of Jan. 17, 2023, giving the parties time to negotiate a new plea agreement or proceed to trial.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Six people, including four teenagers, were shot in related incidents in Memphis overnight, police said.

The first shooting was around midnight Tuesday, when officers heard multiple shots and saw a white SUV fleeing the scene, Memphis police said.

Officers responded to where the shots were fired and found an empty white Infiniti SUV in an apartment complex, police said. The SUV, which had been reported stolen, had bullet holes and part of a gas pump hanging from the tank, police said.

Police said they later learned that 19-year-old Reginald Felix, a 17-year-old boy and a 16-year-old boy had been in the stolen SUV when they were shot around midnight.

A 25-year-old was also shot at the scene, police said.

A 14-year-old boy and a 25-year-old man took Felix, the 17-year-old and the 16-year-old from the apartment complex to Methodist North Hospital, police said.

While en route to the hospital they were shot by unknown suspects in a dark car, according to police.

The five of them abandoned the SUV and ran to the hospital, police said.

Officers responded to the scene at Methodist North Hospital at 12:47 a.m., according to police.

It’s not clear if the suspects in the dark car and the victims are known to each other, police said. No one from the dark car has been arrested.

Felix and the 16-year-old have since been released from the hospital and are charged with theft, police said.

The 17-year-old remains in the hospital and is expected to be charged with theft, police said.

The 14-year-old and two 25-year-olds remain hospitalized, according to police.

ABC News’ Keith Harden contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — A suspect remains at large after three men were killed in a hit-and-run outside a Chicago gay bar, police said.

A fourth victim was struck and injured in the “horrific act” outside Jeffery Pub, which took place at about 5 a.m. Sunday, Chicago police said.

The attack “appears to be intentional” but is not being investigated as a hate crime, Chicago police said at a news conference Monday.

The incident began as an argument inside the bar, which then spilled into the street, police said. An “altercation” ensued, after which the suspect got in the car and drove into the pedestrians, police said.

The car involved was found abandoned four blocks from the scene, police said, but no one is in custody.

Police are looking to the public for help and asking anyone with information on the driver to come forward.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Communities on the East and Gulf coasts of the U.S. could soon be preparing for a longer hurricane season as the formation of tropical cyclones shifts to earlier in the year, according to a new study.

Researchers who analyzed changes in the onset of Atlantic tropical cyclone activity from 1979 to 2020 found that the first named storms of the North Atlantic hurricane season have been occurring five days earlier every decade since 1979, according to a study published in Nature Communications on Tuesday.

Currently, the North Atlantic hurricane season runs annually from June 1 to November 30 — a definition that was established in 1965.

Last year marked seven consecutive seasons that the National Hurricane Center issued watches or warnings for the continental U.S. before the start of the season on June 1, which prompted the researchers to study the phenomenon further, Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at Weather Tiger, a consulting and risk management firm, and author of the study, told ABC News.

“The concern here is that this is, you know, historically very unusual,” Truchelut said.

This trend could soon change the current definition of the North Atlantic hurricane season, and a panel at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is currently weighing whether to adjust the current season to start earlier, Truchelut said.

“I think that that’s going to be an important signal to coastal residents and people living well inland who are at risk from tropical storm-driven flooding events,” Truchelut said of the potential change in season.

In addition, the findings also suggest that the first named storm to make landfall in the U.S. occurred earlier by about two days per decade since 1900, according to the study.

In 2021, climate factors such as La Niña, above-normal sea surface temperatures earlier in the season and above-normal West African monsoon rainfall were the primary contributors to the early start and the above-average season. But springtime warming in the western Atlantic Ocean, which has also shown an increasing trend during the same period, could be linked to the earlier onset of named storms, the authors said.

Additional increases in ocean temperatures may exacerbate the exposure of populated landmasses to tropical cyclones by shifting the onset of their formation earlier, according to the study.

While it does not appear that the timing of the peak or end of hurricane season has changed, information about the earlier onset of hurricanes will be important for communities to properly assess necessary risk management measures as hurricanes continue to intensify as a result of global warming, Truchelut said.

“Hopefully it’ll help people be more prepared to respond to those watches and warnings, and respond and react if they receive an emergency flash flood warning,” Truchelut said of the research.

ABC News’ Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — Six people were shot outside a Memphis hospital early Tuesday and four of the victims remain in critical condition, police said.

The shooting was reported around 12:42 a.m. at Methodist North Hospital, Memphis police said.

Two victims were taken to Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital in critical condition, one of whom is now non-critical, while four were taken to Regional One Hospital. One of those taken to Regional One is also now out of critical condition, police said.

Three victims involved have been detained for allegedly possessing a stolen vehicle, police said.

All of the victims were reportedly shot by suspects in a black SUV, according to police. No arrests have been announced.

Methodist North Hospital said no hospital staffers were hurt during the gunfire.

“We appreciate the swift action from our employees to guide patients away … so our security team and Memphis Police Department could respond quickly,” hospital officials said in a statement. “We are working with local law enforcement who are continuing to investigate.”

ABC News’ Keith Harden contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — In an exclusive interview with Good Morning America, Amber Escudero-Kontostathis sits down to talk for the first time about being the sole survivor of a lightning strike near the White House earlier this month, on her 28th birthday, and her road to recovery.

“I don’t remember much of that day at all,” Escudero-Kontostathis told GMA in her first interview since the incident.

On Aug. 4, Escudero-Kontostathis, 28, was canvassing outside the White House for Threshold Giving, a nonprofit organization through the International Rescue Committee that helps refugees, when she and three others took cover underneath a tree at Lafayette Square after it began to rain.

Six bolts of lightning struck the group within half a second, killing three others, including 76-year-old James Mueller and 75-year-old Donna Mueller, a married couple celebrating their anniversary, and Brooks Lambertson, a 29-year-old Los Angeles man who was in D.C. for business.

Escudero-Kontostathis said the lightning struck her through the ground and traveled through her body, resulting in significant burns on her body.

“I don’t know why I survived,” she said. “I don’t feel good about being the only survivor, that’s for sure. I’m grateful, but I just don’t feel good about being the only one.”

She doesn’t recall much of her stay at the hospital, where she was placed in the Intensive Care Unit, but does remember the nurses trying to keep her calm and telling her things would be OK.

Escudero-Kontostathis praised the burn and ICU nurses for checking on her and providing constant care.

“You would hit the little things saying you were in pain and they’d be like ‘we’re coming,’ and they walk in and their name was always on the board,” she said. “I had more of a personal relationship and memory with the burn center nurses, but I’m excited to eventually get to meet the ICU nurses in person again now that I’m more conscious of that.”

She said her path to recovery has been frustrating both physically and mentally. “I forget that I can’t just get up and do stuff. I have to use a walker, for example,” she said.

“You wake up and you think that you can just get up and go and brush your teeth or get a cup of coffee yourself and I can’t, my whole left sides like pretty charred,” Escudero-Kontostathis said. “Mentally, also a little frustrated because I want to be working and doing things.”

Escudero, who’s the director of Threshold Giving’s canvassing team, said she enjoyed the work she did and that being unable to work while she recovers is one of the more painful parts of this experience.

“I get to help people find their inner activist and bridge them to the work they want to see in the world,” Escudero-Kontostathis said. “Not getting to do that every day is probably more painful than cleaning the burns, which is pretty painful.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(UVALDE, Texas) — During Monday night’s school board meeting, Uvalde citizens demanded financial transparency regarding the millions of dollars in grants announced last week aimed at strengthening school security before children return to the classroom this September.

“We just saw lump sum $100,000 here, $500,000 here,” one community member said during the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District meeting. “Now what I would like to see is further breakdown. OK, who is that money going to?”

The school board announced last week that it plans to spend more than $3.5 million on projects such as replacing locks, installing fences and hiring more counselors. The school district received grants from the state of Texas, the Department of Justice and the Las Vegas Raiders football team to fund these projects.

Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.

The district also outlined its plan to offer remote classes this year in response to parents’ concerns that their children do not feel comfortable returning to school in person.

Becky Reinhardt, the administrator for virtual learning, said there would not be a limit on the number of students who can be virtual, and that students could switch back to in-person learning whenever they wanted.

For their part, the school board members did not speak much about the massacre that killed 21 people in May. They did not answer when asked about the progress of fence-building at the other schools, the likelihood they would conduct their own investigation or the timing of Police Chief Pete Arredondo’s termination hearing, which has been delayed twice.

The board will meet next Monday to hear community grievances.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.