(PHILADELPHIA) — The Philadelphia Department of Health is tracking a measles outbreak in the city, with eight confirmed cases as of Monday.
Health officials told ABC News all confirmed cases are among non-immune individuals.
The health department said it’s actively tracking current cases and has listed several known exposure sites across the city, mostly at health care facilities and a daycare.
The first known case was identified as a patient who was admitted to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in early December, where three other non-immune children were exposed and later tested positive for the virus, health officials said. At least three of the cases have resulted in hospitalization.
Health officials recommend anyone who thinks they may have been exposed to quarantine alone at home and stay away from other people.
Measles is one of the most contagious infectious diseases and can easily spread from one case to dozens of others in a contained area, said Dr. Indi Trehan, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the University of Washington/Seattle Children’s Hospital. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, measles virus particles can remain infectious for up to two hours once airborne.
After an initial flu-like illness, patients with measles can develop, ear infections, severe diarrhea, superimposed pneumonia, or brain infection and swelling.
“It’s a ‘surface’ disease, which means that all the major exposed surfaces of your body get broken down, like your respiratory tract, GI tract and eyes,” Trehan said.
Measles infection can lead to blindness, weakness of the immune system and even rare neurologic symptoms years later in life. According to the Philadelphia Department of Health, one in five patients require hospitalization.
Individuals with measles should follow strict isolation measures, or risk spreading it to unvaccinated individuals. High-risk groups for serious illness include young children, the elderly, pregnant people and people with weakened immune systems.
The CDC recommends vaccination with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age, and again at 4 to 6 years of age. There is no known treatment for measles besides supportive care and giving vitamin A to help reduce the risk of death. Experts do not recommend giving vitamin A to prevent measles.
The measles vaccine has prevented 56 million global deaths between 2000 and 2021, according to the World Health Organization. The United States declared measles an eliminated disease in 2000, but outbreaks have been increasing from unvaccinated individuals due to immigration, disrupted vaccine schedules from COVID-19 isolation regulations, and growing vaccine hesitancy since a debunked study falsely linked the MMR vaccine to autism.
The only way to prevent measles is to get the highly effective MMR vaccine, said Dr. Danielle Kerr, medical director for infection prevention at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
“We have to hear families out and respect their concerns and fears, and provide them data-driven evidence and stories that illustrate why it’s so important to be vaccinated,” Kerr said.
She recommended parents and caregivers use reputable sources to answer questions about the vaccine, such as the CDC or their pediatrician.
Trehan encouraged parents and caregivers who notice symptoms of measles in their child to call their local health care center ahead of time so the facility can prepare precautions. These symptoms include a high fever of around 103 to 105 degrees, copious congestion, red eyes, a rash that spreads head to toe and extreme irritability, according to the CDC.
“It’s on all of us to protect each other as a society, as a human family,” Trehan said.
(FORT WORTH, Texas) — An explosion at a downtown Fort Worth, Texas, hotel possibly caused by a gas leak injured 21 people, sent heavy debris across a block and forced nearby employees to evacuate Monday afternoon.
Fort Worth Fire Department officials said one person is in critical condition following the explosion at the Sandman Signature Hotel, which occurred around 3:30 p.m. local time.
Fire department officials said a gas leak was part of the incident, but they couldn’t immediately determine if it caused the explosion.
“We do know that there was some construction that was being done down at the restaurant. We’re not 100% sure that that’s where it actually started at this point in time,” Forth Worth Fire Department spokesman Craig Trojacek told reporters at a news conference.
It was not known how many of the injured were guests at the hotel or pedestrians. Fourteen people were transported to area hospitals, according to officials.
One person who was initially unaccounted for was found during a sweep by firefighters, according to officials
Trojacek said that firefighters rescued people who were inside the hotel’s basement.
Shortly after the explosion, firefighters were seen going through debris from the incident spread throughout the street, including window pieces and parts of the exterior.
The investigation into the cause is ongoing.
“We’ll talk about the structural integrity … after that, and we’re just trying to make sure that when we walk out of that building, we can definitively say that we’ve got everybody removed from that structure,” Trojacek said.
The Sandman Signature Fort Worth Hotel communications team confirmed in a statement that the hotel was “impacted by an explosion.”
“Emergency responders are onsite and we are working closely with the authorities to understand the origin of the event and the extent of the harm caused,” the company’s statement read. “The safety and well-being of our team members and guests is our priority. We are working with those who have been injured to fully support them at this time.”
The hotel, located near the Fort Worth Convention Center, opened last May following an extensive reconversion of the Waggoner Building, a Fort Worth historical building.
The building was originally built in 1920, and “many of the original features” were retained during the conversion, according to the hotel’s website.
Gov. Greg Abbott said in a statement that he was monitoring the situation and ready to deploy additional resources if needed.
NTSB investigators have recovered the door plug from the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737-9 MAX, flight 1282 that was found in the backyard of a home in Portland, Oregon. (NTSB)
(NEW YORK) — As federal investigators seek answers into how a door plug detached from the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines aircraft prompting a midair emergency and the temporary national grounding of Boeing 737 Max 9 jets globally, an aviation expert told ABC News Monday that he suspects investigators will be looking closely at the Boeing assembly line for the possible cause of the incident.
On Monday, United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on its 737 Max 9 fleet during inspections ordered after Friday’s incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight. United wouldn’t say how many planes had loose bolts but added that the emergency inspection caused it to cancel at least 200 Max 9 flights on Monday and that more cancellations are expected on Tuesday.
Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said they recovered the door plug that fell off Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, giving them the key piece of evidence which they are examining with a laboratory microscope.
The plug, measuring 26-by-46 inches and weighing 63 pounds, was discovered intact Sunday evening in the backyard of a Portland, Oregon, teacher’s home, according to NTSB officials.
The part fell off the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, around 5:11 p.m. Pacific Standard Time Friday as the aircraft with 171 passengers, including three babies and four unaccompanied minors, had climbed to 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland International Airport, according to the NTSB.
The incident caused the plane, which was destined for Ontario, California, to return to Portland International Airport to make an emergency landing.
The door plug is used to seal unused exits on planes and, according to a diagram released by the NTSB, is attached to the plane with a series of bolts, cables and stop pads.
The discovery of the missing door plug came shortly after NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy announced at a news conference that the investigation found three previous incidents on the same Alaska Airlines plane where the auto pressurization fail light illuminated during flights on Dec. 7, Jan. 3 and Jan. 4.
“In these previous flights after the light illuminated, they flipped the switch to alt mode, which is normal. There’s a backup. It was very benign. Nothing occurred,” Homendy said.
It remains unclear if there is a correlation between the auto pressurization light illuminating and the door plug blowing out, Homendy said. Alaska Airlines ordered that the aircraft not be flown to Hawaii over water and restricted it to overland use “so if some light did illuminate, it could return quickly to an airport,” she said.
John Nance, an ABC News aviation analyst, said he doesn’t believe the auto pressurization light coming on and the door falling off the aircraft are connected.
“If it was leaking, it would be making a terrible squeal,” said Nance, adding that he had not heard of such a sound being reported before the door plug incident.
The door plug, which was meant to be a permanent seal of the additional unused exit doors, is usually not wired to a control panel to alert the crew of a pressure problem, Nance said. He added that the only way Alaska Airlines maintenance crews could have inspected the plug would have been to remove it.
Nance noted that Alaska Airlines had only received the aircraft from Boeing on Oct. 31.
“More than likely, if [Alaska Airlines] maintenance didn’t have any reason to go into that heavy maintenance in the three months since the airplane was delivered, then very likely this came off the line at Boeing,” Nance said. “Boeing should be chewing their fingernails this morning because I think that’s greatest likelihood. But I could be entirely wrong.”
Another possible scenario is a structural failure in the plug in one form or another, he said.
“That’s a little hard to see if you’ve got four bolts holding it in place because you’d almost have it split in two. The initial indication that we have is that it was found whole,” Nance said.
“If it was an inherent failure of the door plug, that could get very serious very quick because you might have to have to re-engineer the plugs,” Nance said.
On Sunday evening, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun announced he canceled a two-day leadership summit and instead will hold an all-employee safety meeting from the 737 factory in Renton, Washington on Tuesday. Calhoun also sent out a company-wide memo to staff addressing the incident and ensuring that safety is a top priority.
“When it comes to the safety of our products and services, every decision and every action matters,” Calhoun said in his statement. “And when serious accidents like this occur, it is critical for us to work transparently with our customers and regulators to understand and address the causes of the event, and to ensure they don’t happen again. This is and must be the focus of our team right now.”
On Monday, Boeing issued a statement in response to United Airlines announcing the inspection of its 737 Max 9 jets had found “bolts that needed additional tightening.”
“As operators conduct the required inspections, we are staying in close contact with them and will help address any and all findings. We are committed to ensuring every Boeing airplane meets design specifications and the highest safety and quality standards. We regret the impact this has had on our customers and their passengers,” Boeing’s statement said.
The incident prompted the Federal Aviation Administration to order that all 737 Max 9 aircraft operating in the United States remain grounded “until the FAA is satisfied that they are safe.”
Nance said he supports the FAA’s decision to ground 737 Max 9 jets “so we can make sure that we don’t have something sitting out there like a ticking time bomb ready to go and do it again.”
It was “miraculous” that no one was injured in the incident and no passengers were sitting in seats 26 A and B, where the blown-out door plug was located, Nance added.
“We very well likely could have lost whoever was sitting in 26 A and B if they had been there without their seatbelts,” Nance said. “If this had been at 39,000 or 40,000 feet, a lot more stuff would have gone out and anybody who wasn’t tied in might have gone out as well.”
Nance said that now that the door plug has been found, he is “100% confident” that the NTSB will determine a cause quickly.
“These guys are absolute wizards,” Nance said of the NTSB investigators. “If any metal scraped against any other metal, they’ll find it, including knowing exactly where it came from. I seriously doubt there will be any speculative nature of the final understanding of this, which will come very rapidly because they’ve got to get these other airplanes back in service.”
Michael Huerta, a former FAA administrator, told ABC News that the flying public should remain patient and let the NTSB investigation play out.
“At this point in the investigation, a lot of times what you’re going to hear early on in the investigation will either be incomplete or in some instances wrong,” Huerta said. “So, you have to give the investigators time and space to kind of figure out what the full scope of things are. The NTSB is a very professional organization, and they will get to the root cause.”
Huerta added, “What we don’t know is whether this was a freak incident or whether there was some kind of factory defect in the way the door was originally installed.”
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump arrives for a “Commit to Caucus” rally in Clinton, Iowa, on Jan.6, 2024. (TANNEN MAURY/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals will hear arguments today over former President Donald Trump’s efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case based on his claim of presidential immunity.
Trump, who in August pleaded not guilty to charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is seeking the dismissal of the case on the grounds that he has “absolute immunity” from prosecution for actions taken while serving in the nation’s highest office.
The former president has denied all wrongdoing and denounced the charges as “a persecution of a political opponent.”
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 09, 6:09 AM EST
Trump plans to attend today’s hearing
Donald Trump plans to attend today’s arguments on his efforts to dismiss his federal election interference case, the former president said in a social media post early Monday.
It will be the first time that Trump appears at the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., since his arraignment on federal election subversion charges in August, when he pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Trump, who is seeking the dismissal of the case based on presidential immunity, wrote on social media, “Of course I was entitled, as President of the United States and Commander in Chief, to Immunity. I wasn’t campaigning, the Election was long over. I was looking for voter fraud.”
(NEW YORK) — Special Counsel Jack Smith was targeted with a swatting call at his Maryland home on Christmas Day, according to two sources familiar with the situation.
Montgomery County Police quickly engaged with the U.S. Marshals and determined there was no threat to Smith, sources said.
The U.S. Marshals and the Special Counsel’s office declined to comment.
Smith was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate election interference and mishandling of classified documents.
Smith charged former President Donald Trump with mishandling classified documents in Florida. The former president has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
In recent weeks state and federal officials have been the target of swatting incidents around the country, according to statements from their offices.
Montgomery County Police directed ABC News to the U.S. Marshals. U.S. Marshals, which protect Smith, did not comment and the Special Counsel’s office also declined to comment.
Smith isn’t the only federal official to have been targeted by a swatting incident in recent weeks.
The judge overseeing Trump’s federal election interference case, Tanya Chutkan, was the victim of swatting Sunday night at her Washington, D.C., home, law enforcement sources told ABC News Monday.
The Washington, DC Metropolitain Police Department said in a statement they responded to a house in the District around 10 p.m. for a report of a shooting that hadn’t taken place.
The situation was quickly contained and there was no further incident, law enforcement sources said.
U.S. Marshals, which protect federal judges, did not comment.
Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell is seen on Epstein’s private island in a photo from 2006 that was included in a batch of newly unsealed court documents released Monday. (United States District Court Southern District of New York)
(NEW YORK) — A new round of court records from a lawsuit related to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein were released Monday, which include photos from an accuser as well as an exhibit that mentions discredited allegations she made about Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson.
At least 17 documents were unsealed. More than 200 documents have been released since Wednesday.
The records are part of a defamation lawsuit brought by Virginia Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein, against his longtime companion Ghislaine Maxwell that the two settled in 2017. Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan, New York jail while awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after she was convicted in 2021 of aiding Epstein’s sex trafficking of young women and girls. Her appeal will be heard in March.
The documents unsealed Monday include several photographs produced by Sarah Ransome, who filed a lawsuit against Epstein, Maxwell and other alleged co-conspirators in 2017 under the pseudonym “Jane Doe 43.” Ransome was also involved in the Giuffre case as a witness. She was deposed and provided dozens of photographs showing Epstein, Maxwell, herself and other young women on Epstein’s private island.
According to another unsealed filing, Ransome testified that some of the pictures were taken by Jean Luc Brunel, a French model scout and associate of Epstein, and given to her by him.
Brunel died by suicide in his prison cell in February 2022 while awaiting trial on charges of rape of underage girls and sexual harassment — a crime in France. Brunel had maintained he was innocent.
Several of the photographs unsealed Monday appeared in the media following Epstein’s arrest and death. Ransome spoke publicly at a hearing in a New York courthouse in August 2019 and has granted several interviews since.
Also included in Monday’s document unsealing is an exhibit that contains emails sent by Ransome to a New York Post reporter in the fall of 2016.
In those messages, Ransome made allegations that implicated former Presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump, Prince Andrew and Richard Branson. She also described alleged videotape evidence she claimed to possess that would back up her allegations but said she could not provide it, according to the messages.
Ransome subsequently told the New York Post reporter, who did not publish any story related to the allegations, that she wanted to “retract everything I have said to you and walk away from this,” according to an unsealed message from October 2016.
In 2019, The New Yorker reported that Ransome told the magazine she had invented the claims of videotapes to draw attention to Epstein’s behavior and to make him believe she had “evidence that would come out” if Epstein harmed her, according to the magazine.
These emails from Ransome had been unsealed in a previous round in 2022, but with the names of the men accused redacted.
Ransome was deposed in 2017 as a witness in the Giuffre versus Maxwell litigation. No evidence supporting the allegations Ransome shared with the reporter was entered in the record of this case.
The lawsuit Ransome filed in 2017 under the pseudonym “Jane Doe 43” against Epstein, Maxwell and other alleged co-conspirators was settled the following year.
Neither ex-President Clinton, nor Donald Trump, nor Richard Branson was accused by Giuffre, or anyone else besides Ransome, of any wrongdoing in the course of Giuffre’s defamation lawsuit against Maxwell. Clinton has denied any knowledge of Epstein’s crimes. Trump has said he cut off contact with Epstein many years ago.
According to The Independent, a Branson spokesperson on Monday cited to the 2019 New Yorker article and called Ransome’s claims “baseless and unfounded.”
Prince Andrew has long denied allegations that he had sex with Giuffre on three occasions, as she has claimed in court records and interviews, and claimed he could not recall ever meeting Giuffre. The prince, in 2022, settled a lawsuit Giuffre filed against him.
U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled last month there was no legal justification for continuing to conceal more than 150 names of “John and Jane Does” mentioned in the records.
So far, 208 documents have been unsealed out of an anticipated total of around 250.
A total of 132 documents were released Friday. About 19 documents were released Thursday and the first 40 were released on Wednesday.
Friday’s documents detail how Maxwell reacted after Giuffre made explosive allegations in a court case filed by Epstein’s alleged victims against the federal government, which challenged the lenient treatment the sex offender received. It was the first time Giuffre alleged publicly that she was forced by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew and other prominent men.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis speaks during a news conference at the Fulton County Government building, Aug. 14, 2023, in Atlanta. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — One of former president Donald Trump’s co-defendants in his Georgia election interference case is seeking to dismiss the indictment against him and disqualify Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, alleging that she “engaged in a personal, romantic relationship” with one of the top prosecutors she brought in to work on the case, which allegedly resulted in financial gain for both of them.
In a court filing Monday, former Trump campaign staff member Michael Roman accuses Willis of having potentially committed “an act to defraud the public of honest services” based on her “intentional failure” to disclose the alleged relationship that she allegedly “personally benefitted from.”
“Accordingly, the district attorney and the special prosecutor have violated laws regulating the use of public monies, suffer from irreparable conflicts of interest, and have violated their oaths of office under the Georgia Rules of Professional Conduct and should be disqualified from prosecuting this matter,” the 127-page filing from Roman’s attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, said.
A spokesperson for the Fulton County DA said in a statement to ABC News that the office would “respond through appropriate court filings.”
The filing alleges that, based on “discussions with individuals with knowledge,” Willis and a special prosecutor she brought in to lead the case, Nathan Wade, were “romantically involved” prior to her bringing him on to the case and continued their relationship during it, and accuses Willis of bringing Wade on as a special prosecutor without getting proper government authorization to appoint him as such.
“Sources close to both the special prosecutor and the district attorney have confirmed they had an ongoing, personal relationship during the pendency of the special prosecutor’s divorce proceedings,” the filing says.
The filing claims that Wade had a “lack of relevant experience” but that he has been paid approximately $650,000 in legal fees since being appointed to the role — which the filing claims was a “self-serving arrangement.”
“Willis has benefitted substantially and directly, and continues to benefit, from this litigation because Wade is being paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to prosecute this case on her behalf,” the filing claims. “In turn, Wade is taking Willis on, and paying for vacations across the world with money he is being paid by the Fulton County taxpayers and authorized solely by Willis.”
Trump seized on the allegations in the filing, writing on social media, “ALL CHARGES AGAINST ME, AND OTHERS, SHOULD BE IMMEDIATELY DROPPED, WITH APOLOGIES, AND MONETARY DAMAGES FOR THE ILLEGAL AND HIGHLY POLITICAL PERSECUTION OF INNOCENT PEOPLE.”
Chris Timmons, a former Georgia prosecutor who is now an ABC News contributor, said that, “After preliminary review, I don’t think it puts the indictment in jeopardy — but it might result in some disqualification of prosecutors moving forward.”
Roman, Trump and 17 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
The former president has blasted the district attorney’s investigation as being politically motivated.
(WASHINGTON) — One person has been arrested after a vehicle collided with an exterior gate at the White House complex on Monday during rush hour, according to the Secret Service.
The Secret Service confirmed the incident happened shortly before 6:00 p.m. ET, and the driver was taken into custody.
Secret Service, D.C. Police, and Fire and EMS are all assisting in the investigation. Police are still trying to determine what caused the crash.
This isn’t the first collision near the white House involving a vehicle. In May, a rented box truck crashed into a security barrier near the White House.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Defense’s press secretary apologized Monday for not being more transparent about information regarding Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s recent hospitalization — which the White House learned about three days after he was hospitalized for complications resulting from what was characterized as “a minor, elective procedure.”
Austin had an elective procedure on Dec. 22 and then went home the next day; however, on Jan. 1, “he began experiencing severe pain and was transported” back to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Department of Defense press secretary.
Ryder said he was informed about Austin’s hospitalization on Tuesday, Jan. 2. The White House learned about it on Thursday night; Congress was first notified hospitalization on Friday afternoon — shortly before it was made public in a Pentagon news release.
“I recognized that I should have tried to learn more, and to press for an earlier public acknowledgement,” Ryder said Monday to the Pentagon press corps. “So I want to offer my apologies and my pledge to learn from this experience. And I will do everything I can to meet the standard that you expect from us.”
Ryder knew of Austin’s hospitalization when he went to the podium on Thursday afternoon for an on-camera briefing — but said he had not followed up on Austin’s condition.
On Tuesday, Austin’s Chief of Staff Kelly Magsamen was sick with the flu, but she was made aware of his hospitalization, as was Austin’s senior military aide, Ryder said. However, Magsamen’s illness caused a delay in the notifications, he added.
“We are currently reviewing how we can approve these notification procedures to include White House and congressional notifications,” Ryder said.
Ryder offered additional details about which of the country’s top defense officials knew what and when.
Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was made aware of Austin’s hospitalization on Thursday, Ryder said. She worked with Magsamen on a plan to notify the White House and Congress as well as issue a press statement, he added. It appears it took them almost a full day to contact Congress and work up a press release that was issued Friday afternoon.
The surprise disclosure of Austin’s hospitalization had raised questions inside and outside of government about why it was disclosed so late into his medical treatments.
Hicks had not been informed in advance and was on vacation in Puerto Rico when Austin was hospitalized, a U.S. official told ABC News. Hicks — who has regularly made routine decisions on behalf of Austin — was automatically tasked with assuming his authorities.
Austin is no longer in the ICU, but remained hospitalized Monday. He is making good progress and is in some discomfort, Ryder said.
“We do not have a specific date for his release from the hospital at this time but will continue to provide daily updates until then,” Ryder said Monday evening.
