(FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.) — Dangerous fire conditions are creating the perfect fuel for wildfires to scorch through the arid landscapes of the Southwest.
The Tunnel Fire, which sparked Sunday about 14 miles northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona, exploded to more than 16,000 acres by Wednesday morning, destroying at least 25 structures, according to Coconino County officials. More than 200 firefighters are battling the fast-moving inferno, which is currently 0% contained.
An additional 250 structures are threatened, which has prompted evacuations of nearly 800 homes and 1,000 animals in the area. While the Red Cross has opened a shelter at a local middle school, the Fort Tuthill County Stables has been opened for horses, goats, sheep, pigs and chickens that reside in the evacuation zone, according to the county.
A red flag warning has been canceled in Arizona due to relaxing winds but remains in five neighboring states from Nebraska to New Mexico.
Videos taken in the region show skies covered in orange flames and thick plumes of smoke as the blaze continues to gain traction and spread. Some flames are reaching up to 100 feet, according to officials.
A decades-long megadrought, combined with low humidity and high winds, has created tinderbox conditions in the area.
The Southwest is experiencing the driest conditions in at least 1,200 years, a study published in Nature Climate Change in February found.
Officials have declared a state of emergency in the area affected by the Tunnel Fire.
ABC News’ Max Golembo and Marilyn Heck contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Common prenatal tests done to test for genetic abnormalities are the subject of a new warning from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The FDA issued a notice Tuesday warning people about the risk of “false results, inappropriate use and inappropriate interpretation of results” from non-invasive prenatal screening tests, also called non-invasive prenatal tests and cell-free DNA tests.
The tests are used to screen for possible genetic abnormalities in fetuses that could indicate the possibility of a health condition like Down syndrome, a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome, which changes how a baby’s brain and body develop, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
In its new warning, the FDA reminds people that the prenatal tests are screening tests, not diagnostic tests that would confirm a health condition.
“While genetic non-invasive prenatal screening tests are widely used today, these tests have not been reviewed by the FDA and may be making claims about their performance and use that are not based on sound science,” Jeff Shuren, M.D., J.D., director of the FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, said in a statement. “Without proper understanding of how these tests should be used, people may make inappropriate health care decisions regarding their pregnancy.”
“We strongly urge patients to discuss the benefits and risks of these tests with a genetic counselor or other health care provider prior to making decisions based on the results of these tests,” said Shuren.
The prenatal screening tests that are the subject of the FDA’s warning are standard in prenatal care in the United States, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent and a board-certified OBGYN.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) recommends that prenatal genetic screening options should be made available to “all pregnant patients regardless of maternal age or risk of chromosomal abnormality.”
In the U.S., 25% to 50% of pregnancies undergo non-invasive prenatal screening tests, according to data published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology
The screening tests, which are up to 99% accurate for screening out diseases like Down syndrome, are done by taking a blood sample from the pregnant woman. An ultrasound of the fetus is typically done in conjunction with the screening tests, according to Ashton.
If the tests flag an increased risk that the fetus may have a problem with its chromosomes, more testing will be done, either via an amniocentesis — a procedure in which a small sample of amniotic fluid is removed for testing — or chorionic villus sampling (CVS), in which a small piece of tissue is removed from the placenta for further testing.
Ashton said the FDA’s warning centers on the fact that the initial screening tests are not 100% accurate, explaining, “What the FDA is worried about is that women may make incorrect decisions about continuing their pregnancy based on this result.”
Both Ashton and ACOG stress that the results of non-invasive prenatal screening tests should be analyzed by a qualified medical provider, and that pregnant women should be in close touch with their provider about the results.
“This is a perfect example — anyone can do a test. It’s using the results of that test, which requires medical credentials and judgment and experience, that matters,” said Ashton. “So a woman should talk to their midwife, their obstetrician about what to do with the results of this test.”
(SYRACUSE, N.Y.) — Police officers in Syracuse, New York, are under scrutiny after a video went viral of an 8-year-old boy being put into the back of a police cruiser after allegedly stealing a bag of chips.
The boy is seen crying and screaming while an officer walks him to a marked police vehicle. Bystanders are heard shouting at police to let go of the child, offering to pay for the chips and to walk him home themselves.
The boy was not handcuffed or arrested and was not injured, officials said. Police say they drove the boy home to his father following the incident on Sunday in the city’s northside.
Kenneth Jackson, the man who took the video, can be heard shouting in protest: “I’m taking this video to help to make sure you all don’t kill him because that’s what you all do.”
He told Good Morning America in an interview that he believes the incident highlights the tension between law enforcement and the people they serve.
“We have a policing problem when it comes to policing the community,” Jackson said. “Clearly, as the world can see, there’s a big disconnect.”
The footage has been viewed millions of times on social media, sparking outrage and criticism of the police officers’ actions.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul denounced the officers’ actions.
“As a mother, that was a heart-wrenching video to witness,” she said Wednesday at a press conference. “Many of us are parents and you can’t help but imagine the fear in that child as he had to endure that experience.”
Syracuse Mayor Ben Walsh released a statement on the incident, saying, “What occurred demonstrates a continuing need for the city to provide support to our children and families and to invest in alternative response options to assist our officers.”
He added that the child was not handcuffed nor arrested during the incident.
“He was placed in the rear of a patrol unit where he was directly brought home,” the department statement said. “Officers met with the child’s father and no charges were filed.”
The Syracuse Police Department has said that the incident is under investigation. The department is also reviewing body camera footage taken of the incident.
(MILWAUKEE) — Milwaukee Public Schools reinstated the school district’s mask mandate Tuesday after just one day of making face coverings optional for students.
In a press release, MPS cited “significant transmission” of COVID-19 within the city as the reason for the mandate returning. Starting Wednesday, all students through 12th grade and staff will be required to mask up while inside district buildings.
MPS said the district can go back to a mask-optional policy if school leaders determine risk is low for viral transmission within the city and within the school district over the next few weeks.
In late March, the MPS board voted during its monthly meeting to make masks optional starting April 18, but warned face coverings would return if cases began rising. MPS did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
As defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Milwaukee County is still considered an area with “low” community levels of COVID-19. However, the city is reporting an increase in cases. According to the City of Milwaukee Health Department, there is “substantial” transmission of the virus with 58.1 confirmed cases per 100,000 people.
The school district is not the only agency in the city to reverse its policy on masks.
Earlier Tuesday, Milwaukee County Transit System announced face coverings would be optional for riders on county buses. However, later in the day, it announced the mask mandate would remain in place “out of an abundance of caution” due to rising case counts.
Milwaukee County Chief Health Policy Advisor Dr. Ben Weston said COVID cases have risen 200% over the last three weeks from 34 new cases per day to 104 new cases per day. Additionally, he shared the test positivity rate is back over the 5% threshold for moderate transmission.
“That number is rising each day due to a combination of factors,” Weston said in a statement, according to local ABC affiliate WKOW. “The emergence of new, more transmissible variants and low vaccination rates throughout the county means we must remain vigilant to slow the spread of the disease.”
Data from the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management shows 61.9% of residents in the county have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, far below the national average of 77.4%.
Weston urged Milwaukee residents to continue wearing masks in high-risk settings and to get vaccinated and boosted if they haven’t already.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will attend the White House Correspondents’ Dinner next weekend in Washington, the association announced Wednesday on Twitter, the first time a sitting president has attended since 2016.
The event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and former President Donald Trump snubbed the dinners during his presidency.
In April 2019, Trump told reporters on his way to California that he was skipping for a third year “because the dinner is so boring and so negative that we’re going to hold a very positive rally.”
Typically held the last Saturday in April, the annual gala returns after two years next Saturday, April 30, at the Washington Hilton. Comedian Trevor Noah is set to host.
Some theorize that the 2011 Correspondents’ Dinner may have pushed Trump to run for president — as well as pushed his disdain for the dinners — after then-President Barack Obama made him the target of his jokes for five full minutes. Trump, present in the room, was listening but not smiling.
“No one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald,” Obama said at the time. “And that’s because he can finally get back to the issues that matter, like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened in Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
This year’s gala is expected to draw hundreds of power players to Washington and follows the Washington Gridiron Club dinner earlier this month that resulted in at least 80 COVID cases, including some administration officials and members of Congress.
It coincides with concerns over a rise of the BA.2 variant, particularly as the Biden administration’s transportation mask mandate was struck down this week.
All attendees will have to show proof of a negative test the day of the event, and there is a vaccine requirement.
“This year’s dinner will be the WHCA’s first since 2019 and offer the first opportunity since 2016 for the press and the president to share a few laughs for a good cause,” the association said in a press release.
Held for the first time in 1921, the event is intended to honor the First Amendment and raise money for journalism programs.
(NEW YORK) — A preliminary report released Wednesday found no abnormalities before last month’s China Eastern Airlines plane crash that killed all 132 people on board, the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration said.
“There was no abnormality in the radio communication and control command between the crew and the air traffic control department before deviating from the cruise altitude,” the report said, before the Boeing 737-800 suddenly nosedived into the ground from 30,000 feet in the air.
At a briefing on the report Wednesday, Chinese aviation officials said that their investigation has not found a cause and the crash continues to be a mystery to investigators who will continue an in-depth investigation with the help of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and other international groups.
The report said that cabin crew and other maintenance personnel had met all requirements and the plane had certified airworthy and was up to date on inspections.
It also detailed that there was no dangerous weather forecast in the area of the crash and there were no declared dangerous goods on the aircraft.
The “black boxes” — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder — that can tell exactly what was going on aboard the aircraft were badly damaged in the crash, authorities said, and investigators are still trying to recover data from them to determine what happened.
According to the report, the plane took off at 1:16 p.m. local time and cruised at an altitude of nearly 29,000 feet until around 2:20 p.m. when regional radar found that the aircraft began to “deviate” from that altitude. Radar then recorded the aircraft at around 11,000 feet traveling at 117 degrees.
Local air traffic control called the crew, but did not receive a reply. Shortly after, the radar signal of the plane disappeared.
The crash site in a mountainous area in Teng County, Wuzhou, Guangxi left a crater nearly 500 square feet large and 10 feet deep. Wreckage from the plane has been searched and collected by investigators.
ABC News’ Gio Benitez and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has announced nearly two dozen arrests of alleged fraudsters who prosecutors say have engaged in elaborate and brazen schemes to exploit the COVID-19 pandemic, raking in nearly $150 million in illicit proceeds so far.
In a TV network exclusive, officials told ABC News the enforcement action includes criminal charges against 21 individuals in nine federal districts across the country for their alleged participation in COVID-19 fraud schemes.
The charges, brought against individuals ranging from medical business owners and executives to physicians and marketers, also involve multiple alleged manufacturers of fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.
Losses from the alleged schemes top $149 million and counting, according to the Justice Department. Officials say the DOJ has so far seized more than $8 million in cash from the coordinated takedown.
“This COVID-19 health care fraud enforcement action involves extraordinary efforts to prosecute some of the largest and most wide-ranging pandemic frauds detected to date,” Director for COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Kevin Chambers said in a statement. “The scale and complexity of the schemes prosecuted today illustrates the success of our unprecedented interagency effort to quickly investigate and prosecute those who abuse our critical health care programs.”
Behind the scenes, federal officials say they have quietly persevered to “root out” fraudsters in action and hold them accountable, leveraging an interagency approach.
“Today’s enforcement action reinforces our commitment to using all available tools to hold accountable medical professionals, corporate executives, and others who have placed greed above care during an unprecedented public health emergency,” Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr. of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division said in a statement.
The alleged fraud varies widely, from accusations of exorbitant billing for sham telemedicine encounters, to COVID-19 testing allegedly used as bait to bundle with other unrelated and unnecessary testing services for the submission of false claims, to the large-scale manufacture of forged vaccination records. The Justice Department has charged individuals across eight states — California, New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, Maryland, Tennessee and Utah — in connection with the schemes over the past week.
In one such alleged scheme in California, two owners of a clinical laboratory, Imran Shams and Lourdes Navarro, have been charged with a health care fraud, kickback and money-laundering scheme aimed at defrauding Medicare of over $214 million for laboratory tests, including more than $125 million in false and fraudulent claims during the pandemic for COVID-19 and respiratory pathogen tests. No pleas have yet been entered in the case.
In two separate cases, one in Maryland and one in New York, owners of medical clinics allegedly obtained confidential information from patients seeking drive-through COVID-19 testing, submitting fraudulent claims for lengthy office visits that investigators say did not, in fact, occur.
According to the indictment, the profits from these false claims were then allegedly laundered through shell corporations in the U.S., transferred abroad, and used to buy real estate and other luxury items.
In another case, investigators allege that a postal worker in New Jersey made “thousands of dollars” on sales of more than 400 fake COVID-19 vaccination cards, and enabled others to resell and redistribute the cards she made — which she produced using a printer and ink at the postal office where she worked, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday. The defendant, Lisa Hammell, allegedly sought to hide their electronic payment transactions by describing them as items like “movie tickets” or “dinner and drinks.”
Hammell, who was arrested Tuesday and does not currently have an attorney listed on her court docket, allegedly messaged an unidentified individual on March 27, 2021, showing off two fake cards she printed.
Through “deceit, craft, trickery, and dishonest means,” investigators say those they have now brought charges against “knowingly and intentionally” conspired to defraud the United States by impairing federal health authorities’ efforts to get shots in arms and beat back the spread of COVID-19. No further pleas have yet been entered.
In another unsealed indictment, investigators allege a Colorado man and unnamed co-conspirators made “hundreds” of fake vaccine records earning “thousands of dollars” from the scheme, selling fraudulent cards to “hundreds of individuals in at least a dozen states,” according to the indictment.
The man, Robert Van Camp, allegedly sold cards to at least four undercover law enforcement officers for between $120 and $175 per card, and claimed that he had sold fake cards to three unnamed Olympians and their coach.
“I’ve got people that are going to the Olympics in Tokyo, three Olympians and their coach in Tokyo, Amsterdam, Hawaii, Costa Rica, Honduras,” Van Camp told an undercover agent, according to the indictment.
Van Camp took care to customize the cards, according to a criminal affidavit, asking one undercover agent if they preferred any particular dates for when they purportedly got their shots — explaining if they were flying soon, airlines preferred the second dose to be administered at least a couple weeks before the flight. He allegedly asked if any of the individuals getting the fake cards were married, offering to make a partner’s card “look different from one another, so that the cards would not look like they came off an assembly line when they travelled together,” the filing said.
“My cards are f—ing worldwide,” Van Camp told one undercover agent, according to the affidavit. “I mean, these things are gold.”
He boasted he had a “hookup on the real, real ‘V’ card,” that he had “done it for about 700 of my customers.”
As of Wednesday morning Van Camp has not entered a plea or retained an attorney in his case.
ABC News first reported last year on the burgeoning market for counterfeit COVID-19 vaccination cards, which had set off alarm bells for federal health officials, who warned the demand for fake proof of immunity was on the rise, threatening the nation’s hard-fought gains against the virus.
The illicit industry for forged cards hit its stride just as new vaccine requirements were put in place at the federal, state and local levels, and in both the public and private sectors — requiring proof of inoculation in order to work at a hospital, teach or attend school, work out at the gym, or eat inside a restaurant — yet some Americans held back, with some railing against the mandates.
For enterprising fraudsters, that hesitance posed a ripe opportunity.
One unnamed individual listed in the indictment allegedly privately messaged Hammell last summer: “Good morning, random question … can you get me a vaccine card? My mom works for [a hospital] and they are forcing everyone to get the vaccine and she definitely is adamantly against it.”
“I can as long as no one knows where it came from,” Hammell allegedly responded, according to the indictment.
Earlier this month, a naturopathic doctor in California who was arrested last year for allegedly scheming to sell fake COVID-19 immunizations and vaccination cards pleaded guilty — and is allegedly linked to the larger string of arrests announced by federal authorities Wednesday.
“The attempt to profit from the COVID-19 pandemic by targeting beneficiaries and stealing from federal health care programs is unconscionable,” Inspector General Christi Grimm of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a statement Wednesday. “HHS-OIG is proud to work alongside our law enforcement partners at the federal and state level to ensure that bad actors who perpetrate egregious and harmful crimes are held accountable.”
Appraising fraudsters’ exploitation of the pandemic relief system this spring, top federal oversight officials warned members of Congress that the COVID-19 pandemic had created a “perfect storm” for fraudulent compensation claims, with a lack of proper oversight pairing with an unprecedented cash infusion to incentivize criminals amid a global crisis.
Criminal COVID-19 schemes have been an ongoing and thorny issue for the government to pursue, with the pandemic creating an avenue for fraudsters to supercharge their schemes. So far, the Justice Department has filed criminal charges against more than 1,000 defendants, opening more than 240 civil investigations into more than 1,800 individuals and entities, “together involving billions of dollars in suspected fraud,” OMB deputy director for management Jason Miller estimated in March.
But officials note that the current figures likely reflect only a fraction of the funds that experts believe may have been defrauded over the pandemic’s two plus years.
The ultimate amount of COVID-19 fraud will be “very large,” Justice Department Inspector General and Chair of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee Michael Horowitz testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in March, adding that agencies would jointly use “all of our tools — criminal, civil administrative suspension and debarment, forfeiture, to try and recover the funds that have been stolen.”
“We’re doing that and we’re making every effort,” Horowitz said.
(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military issued another warning to Ukrainian forces in a Mariupol steel plant on Wednesday, telling them to lay down their arms and leave, according to Russian state media.
Russia claimed a ceasefire would begin at the Azovstal steel plant at 2 p.m. Moscow time to allow Ukrainian fighters to safely leave. Ukrainian forces rejected a similar offer on Tuesday.
The Mariupol city council claimed Tuesday that there are at least 1,000 civilians seeking shelter in the plant, mostly women with children and the elderly. Ukrainian authorities have not confirmed the number of Ukrainian marines and Azov fighters at site.
A Russian official, Dmitry Polyansky, accused Ukrainian troops of using civilians at the plant as human shields.
“One month into the siege of Azovstal plant, those same radicals and neo-Nazis suddenly declared that allegedly there had been civilians inside the plant all that time, even though until yesterday, they had never uttered a word about it,” Polyansky told the U.N. Security Council during a session on Ukraine on Tuesday.
In a video posted online, Serhiy Voyna, the commander of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade and commander for Ukraine’s marines in Mariupol, made an appeal to world leaders, asking for an extraction from the plant to the territory of a third-party state.
“This could be the last appeal of our lives. We are probably facing our last days, if not hours. The enemy is outnumbering us 10 to 1. They have advantage in the air, in artillery, in their forces on land, in equipment and in tanks,” Voyna said.
Voyna spoke to the Washington Post via satellite phone on Tuesday, and said his forces would not make the same mistake made by others and trust Russian guarantees of safe passage, only to see them open fire.
Voyna said more than 500 Mariupol military battalion soldiers are wounded.
“We are only defending one object, the Azovstal plant where, in addition to military personnel, there are also civilians who have fallen victim to this war. We appeal and plead to all world leaders to help us. We ask them to use the procedure of ‘extraction’ and take us to the territory of a third-party state,” Voyna said.
(SAINT-DENIS, France) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, his far-right rival in the presidential elections, will face off in the highly anticipated televised debate Wednesday, which could prove crucial in swaying voters ahead of the final round of voting this weekend.
Macron and Le Pen took the top two spots in the preliminary round of voting earlier this month, just as they did in 2017. The debate of that year proved disastrous for Le Pen, who struggled under questioning. Macron ultimately won a sweeping victory in 2017, winning 66% of the vote.
This campaign cycle has been notably different, however. The war in Ukraine has dominated the headlines, Le Pen has sought to soften her National Rally party’s image and ease voters’ concerns about a far-right president, while Macron has been a notably absent figure on the campaign trail.
Polling in France has shown an upswing in Le Pen’s popularity and decline in Macron’s, though the French president retains a narrow lead in most reported opinion polls.
Le Pen has faced criticism in France for a softer approach to Russia and past support for President Vladimir Putin. While she has said she is in favor of the broad package of sanctions announced by the French government, she has publicly opposed restrictions on oil and gas imports from Russia, citing concerns about the rising cost of living in France that has become a critical issue in the campaign.
Le Pen was previously banned from entering Ukraine in 2017, when she spoke out in favor of Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
While Le Pen has pledged if elected to take France out of NATO’s integrated command, she said she would not intend to leave the organization altogether, nor renounce Article 5, which refers to the “mutual protection between members of the Atlantic Alliance.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an interview with French television channel BFMTV aired Wednesday, went as far as to urge Le Pen to reconsider her position on Russia.
“If the candidate were to understand that she was wrong, our relationship could change,” Zelenskyy said. While ensuring not “to have the right to influence” the French electoral campaign, Zelenskyy recognized that “obviously, I have relations with Emmanuel Macron and I would not want to lose them.”
The final outcome of the election may well be decided by matters closer to home, however, with Macron’s team touting his experience in power at a time of stability, while Le Pen’s campaign has targeted the incumbent for, they say, being out of touch with ordinary people.
The far-right candidate focused her campaign on purchasing power, a topic expected to be one of the main factors in deciding the outcome of the election. Le Pen’s project, however, still centers on the fight against immigration. The National Rally candidate has presented several flagship proposals, including a bill to drastically limit immigration, the abolition of the right of soil, and restricting the routes for people to claim asylum in France.
“Fear is the only argument that the current president has to try and stay in power at all cost,” Le Pen said in a new clip posted by her campaign Tuesday.
Much will depend on which candidate the supporters of far-left candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon turn to in the final round. Mélenchon secured 22% of the first round of voting in third place, and while he publicly told his supporters not to vote for Le Pen, her populist vision may prove more enticing to a base dissatisfied with Macron, a centrist with a background in the financial sector.
The debate, airing at 8 p.m. local time (3 p.m. EST), is the first and only time voters will have a chance to see the candidates face off.
ABC News’ Ibtissem Guenfoud contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — An alleged “intruder” at the Peruvian Embassy in Washington, D.C., was shot and killed by Secret Service Wednesday morning, according to authorities.
The suspect was found smashing windows of the Peruvian ambassador’s residence, D.C. Metropolitan Police Chief Robert Contee told reporters.
The ambassador’s relatives were inside and called the police just after 8 a.m., Contee said.
The suspect was shot “following a confrontation” in the backyard of the residence, the Secret Service said. Contee said the suspect allegedly pulled a metal stake on police. Officers used lethal force when Tasers didn’t work, he said.
Contee said a motive remains under investigation, adding that it’s unclear if the suspect knew it was an ambassador’s residence.
The Peruvian ambassador’s residence was damaged by the break-in but the ambassador, his family and staff, along with Secret Service agents, are all safe, the embassy said in a statement.
Two officers are being evaluated for injuries, Contee said.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
