(WASHINGTON) — Maryland Gov. Wes Moore detailed his plan to protect abortion access after his announcement that his state will stockpile abortion pills in the wake of a federal court ruling.
“Maryland is going to lead on this,” Moore pledged Sunday in an exclusive interview on This Week.
On Friday, Moore, who is roughly three months into his first term as governor, announced the state would begin stockpiling mifepristone after a judge struck down FDA approval of the abortion pill. On Wednesday, a federal judge put a temporary stay on that order, leaving a split decision for that the Supreme Court could decide on.
“Maryland is going to be a state where we are going to protect reproductive health and reproductive rights,” Moore told co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “We passed three bills that was focusing on things like increasing access, increasing privacy, and also making sure that when people come to Maryland they’re not going to be criminalized.”
Next November, Maryland voters will vote on a constitutional amendment to protect the right to an abortion.
Also high on the governor’s agenda is public safety, with Moore noting the state suffered an increase in shootings and homicides over the last decade. Moore highlighted Maryland’s budget, which put $107 million towards mental health and $122 million into local law enforcement.
“This is an all of the above approach in the way that we’re looking at public safety,” Moore said.
Moore has been open in the past about his own experience being arrested when he was 11.
“I was spray painting and trying to leave my mark on the world via a spray paint can,” Moore said Sunday. “People showed me that there was another way to leave your mark on the world.”
Moore says second chances, including joining the Army, helped lead him to the path of becoming governor.
“The reason I wanted to run for governor in the first place is I said ‘we can actually build a new type of legal system and politics in our state and one that says this is not about how we’re going to exclude, but how we’re going to include.”
The Maryland Democrat specifically cited his proposal that would allow an optional year of public service for high school graduates as an opportunity for young people who might otherwise choose the wrong path.
“This is going to redefine patriotism in the state of Maryland,” Moore said. “Being a patriot means lifting your neighbors up, not tearing them down.”
The plan passed Maryland’s legislature April 10, and would be funded by the state budget, federal agencies and private sector partners.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., called a judge’s ruling rescinding FDA approval of an abortion pill “unbelievable.”
Three Trump-appointed judges “should not be making the decision for women across the country,” Klobuchar said on This Week.
“What is going to be next? Is that judge going to not like birth control pills? Are we going to have a judge that doesn’t like [cholesterol medication] Lipitor? There’s a reason that Congress gave the FDA the power to make these decisions about safety.”
Klobuchar said if the Supreme Court upholds this decision, women will be “harmed.”
“It’s women that are going to have to take a bus across the country from Texas to Minnesota or to Illinois. That’s the problem right now,” Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar said abortion access and laws will be a central issue for voters in the 2024 election.
On Dianne Feinstein’s absence
When asked about her colleague Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee and has been absent from the Senate for months due to shingles, Klobuchar said Feinstein made the “right decision” to temporarily step off of the committee.
But Klobuchar does not support the current calls from House Democrats for Feinstein to resign due to her absence.
“As for the long term, many people have been out as you know, for periods of time when they’re sick, and they have come back. In this case, we are going to need her vote on the Senate floor eventually. We have things like the debt ceiling coming up. But I think what we need to do is take her at her word,” Klobuchar said.
After the United States reached its borrowing limit in January, the country was thrown into a political standoff, with Republicans and Democrats disagreeing about how Economists at Moody’s Analytics currently project the “X date,” defined as the day the Treasury Department will run out of money, to be Aug. 18.
Still, Klobuchar acknowledged that Feinstein’s absence “is going to become an issue as the months go by” if the senator does not return.
“This isn’t just about California. It’s also about the nation. And we just can’t with this one-vote margin and expect every other person to be there every single time,” Klobuchar said.
The Minnesota Democrat says she expects Feinstein to return to the Senate, saying “it sure better happen before the debt ceiling vote.”
“I sure hope not because that is against the precedent of the Senate and how we’ve run things,” Klobuchar said when asked if Republican senators will block a vote to appoint another Democratic senator to the Judiciary Committee, which will likely happen this week.
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said people need to be held accountable following a stunning leak of classified documents that did “a lot of damage.”
“I don’t know what led to this airman’s actions, but he’s done a lot of damage in our standing. It’s very hard to get people to come forward right now to tell us about things we need to know about if they feel like they’re going to be compromised,” Graham, a former Air National guardsman, told This Week co-host Jonathan Karl.
“The question is how they did it, and why did they do it? And some people need to be fired over this.”
Last week, Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the Massachusetts Air Force National Guard, was charged with unauthorized retention and transmission of national defense information and willful retention of classified documents, which collectively carry a maximum of 15 years in prison.
The documents Teixeira allegedly leaked first appeared on the platform Discord, a site often used by gaming enthusiasts. They were first shared with a small group before being more widely noticed.
The leak set off a firestorm in the Biden administration and intelligence community over details the documents laid bare over Russia’s war in Ukraine, U.S. spying efforts on allies and more.
Graham said he would have been shocked if he had the kind of intelligence access Teixeira had while he was in the military. He said the leak indicated broader systemic issues, while also swiping at members of the GOP’s right flank who have come to Teixeira’s defense.
“The system failed. This is a major failure,” he said. “And those who are trying to sugarcoat this on the right, you cannot allow a single individual of the military intelligence community to leak classified information because they disagree with policy.”
“There is no justification for this, and for any member of Congress to suggest it’s okay to leak classified information, because you agree with a cause is terribly irresponsible and puts America in serious danger,” he later added.
Graham also defended his previous legislative efforts to impose a federal 15-week abortion ban while saying he would wait for a likely upcoming Supreme Court decision on the accessibility of mifepristone, a pill commonly used in abortions. The high court issued a temporary stay of a ruling by a district judge in Texas that would have suspended the pill’s Food and Drug Administration’s approval.
“I don’t like a district court judge issuing an actual decree, even if I agree with the judge,” Graham told Karl. “I think the radical abortion policies of the Biden administration are wrong. But at the end of the day, we’re a rule of law nation, and let’s see what the Supreme Court does with this.”
When Karl pressed Graham on his recent meetings with Saudi Arabian officials after he pledged not do so following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the senator defended the meetings, saying, “Saudi Arabia [is] changing very quickly for the better.”
(DADEVILLE, Ala.) — At least four people were killed and multiple others injured when a shooting broke out late Saturday at a crowded birthday party in a small rural Alabama town, authorities said.
The shooting in Dadeville, Alabama, about 60 miles northeast of Montgomery, unfolded around 10:34 p.m., according to a statement released Sunday morning by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
Special agents from ALEA launched a death investigation at the request of the Dadeville Police Chief, according to the ALEA statement.
ALEA released no further details.
Brownie Caldwell, a Dadeville city council member councilwoman, confirmed to ABC News that an investigation of a shooting at a venue in downtown Dadeville was underway Sunday morning. Caldwell said she could not confirm the number of casualties.
Caldwell referred all questions to the |Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Apr 16, 1:05 PM EDT
Biden briefed on Dadeville shooting
President Joe Biden has been briefed on the deadly shooting at a birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, according to the White House.
Biden and his staff are closely monitoring the investigation and has been in touch with local officials and law enforcement to offer support, according to the White House.
Apr 16, 12:40 PM EDT
Police chief pleads for prayer
An emotional Dadeville police chief pleaded for prayer for his city on Sunday and law enforcement investigators pleaded for tips from the public in finding those responsible for a shooting at a birthday party that left four dead and multiple people injured.
“The city of Dadeville is a tight-knit community, full of wonderful people. I ask you to please keep our community in your prayers. I ask you to please keep my police department in your prayers,” Police Chief Jonathan Floyd said at a news conference.
Sgt. Jeremy Burkett of the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency confirmed the shooting broke out at a birthday party and asked for any witnesses to call the state police tip line at .
Burkett also confirmed that four people were killed and “a multitude” of people were injured, but did not disclose the conditions of those wounded.
Burkett did not take questions during the news conference. He released no information on whether any arrests have been made in the incident.
Tallapoosa County Schools Superintendent Raymond Porter said grief counselors will be at Dadeville schools on Monday, but did not say whether any students were among the dead or injured.
The district will make “every effort to comfort” children impacted, said Porter.
“Don’t lose sight of the fact that those are the ones most impacted by this situation,” said Porter, who also called on local clergy to reach out to families of those killed or injured to offer assistance.
“I’m also asking that you please do not let this moment define what you think of the city of Dadeville,” Floyd said. “What we’re dealing with is something no community should have to endure.”
Apr 16, 10:48 AM EDT
Loved ones of those killed, injured say shooting preceded by argument: Pastor
Ben Haynes, the senior pastor at First Baptist Church in Dadeville, told ABC News Sunday morning that he’d been at a hospital overnight with the families of those killed and injured.
Haynes said family members told him gunfire erupted inside a small venue where a birthday party was taking place when tempers flared during an argument. Haynes said there were more than 50 people at the party when the shooting occurred.
Apr 16, 10:14 AM EDT
‘I grieve with Dadeville’: Alabama governor
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey released a statement Sunday expressing grief over a shooting at a birthday party in Dadeville, Alabama, that left four people dead and multiple others injured.
“This morning, I grieve with the people of Dadeville and my fellow Alabamians. Violent crime has NO place in our state, and we are staying closely updated by law enforcement as details emerge,” Ivey tweeted.
(NEW YORK) — Michael Critchley’s job is to persuade his longtime Ford customers to swap their gas-guzzling pickups for the F-150 Lightning.
Ford started production of the all-electric Lightning in late 2021 and the Dearborn automaker still cannot keep up with demand. Critchley says he has so many requests for the electric truck that he’s forced to turn away wannabe owners.
“People are offering me a lot of money over MSRP. I’ve been offered $20K above sticker price,” Critchley, the sales manager of Romeo Ford in Kingston, New York, told ABC News. “A lot of pickup guys are coming to the Lightning.”
Higher material costs and ongoing chip shortages have hampered production of the $60,000 pickup, which gets at least 230 miles on a full charge, forcing eager buyers to wait months or longer for theirs to arrive. The Dearborn automaker sold 15,600 F-150 Lightning units in 2022.
Critchley says he has been seeing customers trade out of a Tesla or a hybrid SUV for a Lightning. Some of his upstate New York customers are so fed up with the long wait they’re going to competing dealerships and paying more.
“I have about 25 customers waiting for one … the higher prices haven’t deterred customers,” Critchley said. “My dad has one and loves it. He’s never getting rid of it.”
Ford has raised the price of the Lightning multiple times since its launch. Customers who choose the entry-level Pro model now pay at least $20,000 more than the original $40,000 price.
Ivan Drury, senior manager of insights at Edmunds, said Ford could charge even more and customers would pay up. The average transaction price of a Lightning this year costs $84,192 versus $64,331 for the standard F-150 truck, Drury pointed out.
“The Lightning is a home run for Ford,” he told ABC News. “The company has hundreds of thousands of reservations — it’s sold out through 2024. There is no cooling down in this market.”
The F-150 Lightning may be wildly popular with Americans but competition in the burgeoning electric market is just heating up. Rivian’s compact R1T electric pickup has already won accolades with the automotive community. GMC has seen unprecedented interest in its $110,000 Hummer EV pickup. The brand’s $107,000 Sierra EV Denali goes on sale in early 2024.
Stellantis recently unveiled the Ram 1500 REV, a battery-electric light-duty pickup.
Common complaints of trucks — noisiness, hefty fuel costs — no longer apply with electric models.
“They’re getting consumers to think about EVs. The adoption rate is going up,” said Drury. “Electric trucks are removing all barriers to entry … I see them as the holy grail of EVs.”
Drury also noted that electric trucks post performance numbers not found in standard gas-powered pickups. The R1T and Hummer EV can sprint from 0-60 mph in 3 seconds; the Lightning completes the task in less than 4 seconds.
“No one expects a truck to be that fast,” said Drury.
The rapidly expanding lists of electric trucks could help President Joe Biden meet his latest climate goals that call for two-thirds of new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. to be all-electric by 2032. The Biden administration says these proposed rules would cut nearly 10 billion tons of CO2 emissions and save consumers $12,000 on average over the lifetime of a vehicle.
Electric vehicle sales are rising though they still account for a small share of the U.S. auto market. Drury said electric trucks totaled a fraction — 0.20% — of total vehicle sales in 2022. Cox Automotive forecasts EV sales will surpass 1 million units this year in the U.S.
Jonny Lieberman, senior features editor at MotorTrend, took the electric plunge when he bought a Rivian R1T in June of 2022. Lieberman said the truck’s off-roading capabilities convinced him to embrace the EV lifestyle.
“The truck has four motors — that’s game-changing for off-roading,” he told ABC News. “It’s also a performance vehicle with 845 horsepower and 908 lb-ft of torque.”
Lieberman, who lives in Southern California, installed a home charger to juice the truck’s battery for his outdoor adventures. He gets 270 miles on a full charge and hasn’t experienced range anxiety yet, he says.
“I stopped thinking about worse-case scenarios like what do I do on a road trip,” he said.
He’s even become an unofficial spokesperson for the brand, preaching to friends and strangers about the benefits of owning one.
“I have convinced many people to buy a Rivian. I am an evangelist,” he said. “Imagine never having to go to a gas station again.”
Tony Caravano, senior director of customer engagement at Rivian, said 75% of R1T and R1S customers are new to EVs. Moreover, 60% of R1T customers have never owned a pickup truck before.
“People are really excited by the design, capability and performance,” Caravano told ABC News. “The vehicles are durable. Customers put baby strollers in the truck’s gear tunnel.”
He added, “We’re exposing EV technology to a lot of people.”
Owners of the $73,000 Rivian R1T truck are some of the happiest in the industry, according to a new J.D. Power survey. Many buy the R1T and the R1S, the company’s three-row SUV, for their daily commutes or to shuttle their kids to and from school, Caravano said.
The R1T may also soon act as a backup power generator, similar to what the F-150 Lightning can do. Ford customers who purchase the Lightning’s extended range battery can power up their homes for up to three days.
Rivian, like Tesla and Mercedes, is also busy building out its “Rivian Adventure Network,” where Rivian customers can exclusively charge their vehicles at various U.S. locations. Rivian currently has 113 DC fast charging sites and 34 additional locations are coming online soon, Caravano said.
“Charging infrastructure is very important as well as and education around charging,” he said.
The all-electric 2025 Ram 1500 REV, which made its debut in New York this month, has a targeted range of 350 miles with a standard 168 kilowatt-hour battery pack. That number jumps to 500 miles if owners choose the larger 229 kilowatt-hour battery.
The 1500 REV marks the first battery-electric light-duty pickup truck from Ram Trucks. The truck can add up to 110 miles of range in about 10 minutes with 800-volt DC fast charging.
“We believe in bringing the right range of powertrain solutions to our customers and will continue to redefine the pickup truck segment. Our all-new Ram 1500 REV pushes past the competition in areas customers care about most including range, towing, payload and charge time,” Ram CEO Mike Koval Jr. said.
The Silverado EV will be available next summer and GM is already accepting deposits online. The Detroit automaker said the truck will get an estimated 400 miles of range, utilize GM’s Ultium EV Platform and include the Super Cruise driver-assistance technology.
Jim Farley, the president and CEO of Ford, told ABC News in March a second electric will soon be built at Ford’s BlueOval City manufacturing campus in Stanton, Tennessee.
“Lightning is the best-selling electric pickup in the U.S. but this will be its successor,” he said.
Electric trucks’ gargantuan size and massive battery packs have not gone unnoticed. The beefy Hummer weighs more than 9,000 lbs; the Lightning tips the scale at 6,500 pounds — 2,000 to 3,000 pounds more than the internal combustion F-150. The extra weight has prompted federal officials and industry watchers to warn of their safety risks.
“I’m concerned about the increased risk of severe injury and death for all road users from heavier curb weights and increasing size, power, and performance of vehicles on our roads, including electric vehicles,” Jennifer Homendy, the head of the National Transportation Safety Board, said in January. “We have to be careful that we aren’t also creating unintended consequences: More death on our roads. Safety, especially when it comes to new transportation policies and new technologies, cannot be overlooked.”
Another criticism of electric trucks: Range drops precipitously when towing. MotorTrend found the F-150 Lightning’s range fell from 300 to 115 miles when towing a 3,140-pound camper. The magazine’s testing also discovered the truck’s max range was 100 miles when pulling a 5,260-pound camper. The R1T’s estimated 314-mile range gets slashed by half when hauling a heavy load, according to reports.
Critchley of Romeo Ford said “die-hard diesel and gas guys” who live in rural, upstate New York may be the last holdouts in the electric truck revolution. If these trucks can reliably tow, pull and travel long distances, Critchley’s customers — farmers, construction workers and locals needing a reliable winter ride — may forgo diesel and gasoline for battery power.
“The Lightning is the best pickup I’ve driven,” he said.
Drury has already put down a deposit on the Ram 1500 REV, his first electric vehicle. The long wait may be the toughest part of owning one.
“You can have everything with these trucks,” he said. “I would choose an electric truck over anything.”
(LOUISVILLE) — Two people were killed and other four were injured in a shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday night.
Louisville Metro Police said they received a call at about 9 p.m. reporting multiple people had been shot at Chickasaw Park.
Two people were dead when police arrived at the scene, Deputy Chief Paul L. Humphrey said. Another four people were transported to University of Louisville Hospital, where one was in critical condition, Humphrey said.
The shooting comes days after a gunman opened fire at Old National Bank in Louisville, killing four people.
Mayor Craig Greenberg said on Saturday that “this is not who we are.”
He said that “the love and support and strength that we’ve seen all week long throughout the city continues to bring us together and move us towards a safer city, a stronger city and a healthier city.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Maymah, a weightlifter and social media influencer who just goes by her first name, was part of Gymshark’s sports hijab launch in London.
When asked about what it’s like working out or weightlifting with a regular hijab, she says, “If I was doing something like running or skipping when there’s a lot of head movement, it could be quite annoying and it distracts you from your actual workout.”
So when her manager told her about Gymshark’s sports hijab, she immediately agreed to join their campaign.
The sports hijab is a one piece adjustable head scarf designed to stay in place, so that hijabis don’t have to wear a cap underneath their scarf and use pins.
Gymshark isn’t the first company to design a sports hijab. Ibtihaj Muhammad made history in 2016 as the first U.S. Olympic athlete to compete in a hijab made by Nike.
She says, “it was an opportunity, I think, to show Muslim women around the globe that there is no limits to what we’re capable of… and sport, I’ve always believed, is a place for everyone to exist.”
However, athleticwear isn’t the only challenge for Muslim athletes. Once a year, Muslims fast for the month of Ramadan – including athletes, even those who compete at elite levels.
“I competed for Team USA for about 11 years and Ramadan was just a part of, you know, life. And though it’s difficult, I do find fasting to be like riding a bike. And as an athlete you learn how to prepare your body for, you know, the month of Ramadan,” Ibtihaj shares.
Abstaining from food and drink isn’t the only challenge for her.
“If we as a community, society, made more of an effort to really understand why Muslims are fasting and really making more inclusive spaces, in a sense that especially young athletes feel comfortable talking about the fact that they’re fasting, making spaces more comfortable for athletes to even express that like, yes, not even water we can have water, I think would go a long way.”
Progress is being made, however. There’s now more Muslim representation in sports. From Ibtihaj on that grand stage in the Rio Olympics, to Adama Sanogo, a UConn basketball player who led his team to the NCAA Men’s Basketball championship while fasting, alongside fasting teammates Samson Johnson and Hassan Diarra.
There’s also some accommodation. The English Premiere League this year began pausing soccer matches for Muslim athletes to break their fasts.
“Growing up I can only think of a couple of athletes to even look up to as role models let alone now the situations and scenarios we see like the Premiere League example and like hockey player like Nazem Kadri that wins the Stanley Cup and decides, every player gets a day with the cup to celebrate with their friends and family, and he decides I’m going to bring this championship to my childhood mosque. And the Stanley Cup had never stepped foot in a mosque previous to that.” says Arda Ocal, one of the few Muslim sports anchors for ESPN.
He says there’s something to admire about Muslims who compete while fasting.
“The science of peak level athletics is fascinating to begin with and how they become champions etc but to add a layer to that, one that’s already grueling and challenging like fasting during Ramadan but then still competing at those highest levels, that’s remarkable.”
Muslim athletes have told him, it isn’t always easy, but…
“They like putting their bodies to the test in that way, to give them an extra layer of challenge. Continuing to compete and continuing to train while fasting gives them something to look forward to and they feel an immense sense of pride and accomplishment when they’re able to do that.”
To Arda, it’s about planting seeds for the next generation.
“If I’m inspiring one kid out there to say wow that name looks similar to mine or this person has the same faith as me or we’re from the same part of the world, maybe I can do this, I see myself in this person… that’s extremely important to me.”
(NEW YORK) — SpaceX is eyeing a Monday morning launch of its powerful Starship rocket — which is expected to eventually carry passengers to the moon and Mars.
The unmanned launch of the world’s largest rocket will mark the first flight test of a “fully integrated” Starship spacecraft and the so-called Super Heavy rocket, SpaceX said.
The 150-minute test window opens at 7 a.m. CT Monday, SpaceX said, while noting that the schedule is “dynamic and likely to change.” A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 45 minutes before liftoff.
The timing comes after the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved SpaceX’s launch of the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket from a remote site on the southernmost tip of Texas near Boca Chica Beach.
Following blastoff, the first stage of the super heavy rocket is expected to splash down about 20 miles off the coast of Boca Chica while the Starship vehicle orbits around the globe before splashing down off the coast of Hawaii.
The timing comes after the Federal Aviation Administration on Friday approved SpaceX’s launch of the nearly 400-foot-tall rocket from a remote site on the southernmost tip of Texas near Boca Chica Beach.
For this first flight test, SpaceX said it will not attempt a vertical landing of Starship or a catch of the booster.
SpaceX said this flight test will “inform and improve the probability of success in the future as SpaceX rapidly advances development of Starship,” which is designed to carry up to 100 people on long-duration, interplanetary flights.
NASA has already announced plans to use a Starship to put astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025.
ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
(VIRGINIA) — Two men were shot and killed at a party in off-campus housing near James Madison University in Rockingham County, Virginia, according to police.
The Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department responded to a report of shots being fired at around midnight Saturday. When they arrived on scene, police determined that there had been a party and two males were shot.
Rescue units responded to the scene and both subjects were pronounced dead in the residence. Virginia State Police and JMU Police also responded to the scene.
Police identified the deceased as 22-year-old D’angleo Marquise Gracy and an unnamed 17-year-old male. Neither were students at JMU.
No suspects are in custody, but police said there is no known reason to believe there is an ongoing threat to the community.
“At this time the incident appears to be an isolated one that stemmed from an incident at the party. It is strongly believe there are individuals with specific information relating to this crime, and anyone who may have any information of any kind is encouraged to please contact the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office at (540) 564-3800,” Sheriff Bryan Hutcheson said in a press release.
A representative for JMU told ABC News that the residence where the shooting occurred was not JMU-owned property.
JMU President Jonathan Alger also released a statement in an email to the JMU community, according to university student newspaper The Breeze.
“Although they were not JMU students, they have connections with our local community and many across our campus will be impacted,” Alger wrote. “As a university, we believe in the importance of supporting one another during difficult times. We extend our deepest condolences to the families and friends of these two individuals.”
The ongoing investigation is being handled by the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Office.
(MICHIGAN) — Nearly 100 probable cases of a rare fungal infection, including one fatal, have been linked to a Michigan paper mill.
Public Health Delta & Menominee Counties (PHDM) said 21 cases of blastomycosis have been confirmed while another 76 are suspected. All cases are in employees, contractors or visitors of the Escanaba Billerud Paper Mill on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
Amid the outbreak, 12 people have been hospitalized and one person — a contractor who worked at the mill — has died due to blastomycosis, health officials said.
The department was notified about the first cases on Feb. 28 among workers with the mill.
“The health and safety of our Escanaba employees is our first priority,” Brian Peterson, vice president of operation at the mill, said in a statement. “Although the source of the infection has not been established, we continue to take this matter very seriously and are following recommendations from health and government officials.”
Public Health Officer Michael Snyder told ABC News the health department sees a few cases of the infection every year but rarely an outbreak of this magnitude.
Here’s what you need to know about blastomycosis and how it can be treated:
What is blastomycosis?
Blastomycosis is a fungal infection caused by a group of fungi known as Blastomyces.
“These are fungi that live in the environment as a mold and they make spores,” Dr. Teresa O’Meara, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan, told ABC News. “And what happens is that when people inhale too many of those spores, they can sort of set up and evade some of these innate immune responses and cause pneumonia and spread throughout the body.”
The fungi are found in the environment, mainly in moist soil and in decomposing organic material such as wood and leaves, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Most cases of the infection occur in the United States and Canada but are very rare, with the annual incidence being about one to two cases per 100,000 people, the CDC said.
In the U.S., O’Meara said blastomycosis is most common in eastern parts of the Midwest — including states like Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin — the Great Lakes region and Southwest.
“On average over the past five years, only 26 cases have been reported for the entire state of Michigan annually,” PHDM said in a release. “However, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan is a known risk area for blastomycosis infection.”
The infection is not transmitted from person to person or from animals to people and can only be contracted by breathing in the microscopic spores, often after activity that disrupts the soil or the decomposing material.
What are the symptoms?
Symptoms can be wide-ranging, O’Meara said. Some patients are asymptomatic while others develop symptoms including coughing, fever, chest pain, muscle aches and fatigue.
Because symptoms resemble other types of infections, it can be hard to diagnose the illness in a person, O’Meara said.
“And so diagnosis is pretty hard, even in places where it’s endemic, just because it’s so rare,” she said.
O’Meara added that evidence suggests symptoms can appear anywhere from three weeks to three months after inhaling spores.
According to the CDC, the infection can spread from the lungs to other areas of the body, including the joints, bones, brain and spinal cord among those who are immunocompromised.
Which treatments are available?
Those infected with blastomycosis need to be treated with a prescription antifungal medication.
Those with mild to moderate cases can take a medication known as itraconazole, which stops the growth of fungi.
Patients with severe infections are usually given amphotericin B, an intravenous medication. Because it can have a wide range of side effects, it’s only given to critically ill patients or those who are immunocompromised.
Treatment can range from six months to a year and can depend on how severe a person’s infection is as well as the strength of their immune system.
“One of the really important problems I would like to highlight just for people to know is that we often think about antibiotic resistance as being a real problem,” O’Meara said. “But there’s actually dozens of classes of antibiotics and antifungals. There’s only three classes of antifungals available.”
She continued, “And so this is going to be a big problem going forward just because there are more and more fungal infections that are on the rise and we need to develop new antifungal treatments.”
Is blastomycosis deadly?
It is very rare for blastomycosis to result in death. According to the CDC, there have been 1,216 blastomycosis-related deaths between 1990 and 2010.
What’s more, the age-adjusted mortality rate is 0.21 per 1 million person-years, the federal health agency said.
How can I protect myself?
Because there is no vaccine and it is endemic in some environments, it may be hard to protect yourself against the fungus.
If you work in areas where the fungi is prevalent or you might disturb soil, O’Meara said you can consider wearing protective equipment.
If you think you’ve been exposed, get tested and — if positive — start antifungal treatment if needed.
