(NEW MEXICO) — More than 20 people became trapped overnight in a tram car on the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as rescue efforts are underway for one remaining employee, authorities said.
The tramway cars had been stuck since 2 a.m. due to icy conditions in the area, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Twenty people stranded in one of the tramway’s two cars were evacuated via helicopter two to four at a time, authorities said. The sheriff’s office livestreamed the rescue operation for over an hour.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time, Bernalillo County fire officials updated that all 20 passengers in the car had been rescued.
An employee still remains in the second tram car, as responders are “actively working” on a rescue plan, the fire department said.
Metro Air Support, the Bernalillo County sheriff’s office and fire department, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Search and Rescue Teams are involved in the rescue efforts.
Sandia Peak Tramway general manager Michael Donavan told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT earlier Saturday that all passengers were in good condition and had water and blankets on board the tram car.
The Sandia Peak Tramway is closed Saturday due to high winds, the company said.
The tram ride typically takes 15 minutes to the peak of the Sandia Mountains, and another 15 minutes back to the lower terminal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(NEW MEXICO) — Twenty-one people have been rescued after becoming trapped overnight in tram cars on the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, authorities said.
The tramway cars had been stuck since 2 a.m. due to icy conditions in the area, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Twenty people stranded in one of the tramway’s two cars were evacuated via helicopter two to four at a time, authorities said. The sheriff’s office livestreamed the rescue operation for over an hour.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time, Bernalillo County fire officials updated that all 20 passengers in the car had been rescued.
An employee still remains in the second tram car, as responders are “actively working” on a rescue plan, the fire department said.
Metro Air Support, the Bernalillo County sheriff’s office and fire department, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Search and Rescue Teams are involved in the rescue efforts.
Sandia Peak Tramway general manager Michael Donavan told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT earlier Saturday that all passengers were in good condition and had water and blankets on board the tram car.
The Sandia Peak Tramway is closed Saturday due to high winds, the company said.
The tram ride typically takes 15 minutes to the peak of the Sandia Mountains, and another 15 minutes back to the lower terminal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
GETTY/Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post
(DENVER) — Prosecutors who charged Rogel Aguilera-Mederos following a deadly crash vowed to release previously undisclosed information from the case to the public after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted the truck driver clemency on Thursday, commuting his 110-year sentence to 10 years.
“We look forward to sharing more information with our community that we were ethically prohibited from releasing while the case was pending,” Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King, the prosecutor in the case, said in a statement on Thursday.
It is unclear when the DA will release the new information or what it would include. ABC News has reached out to King’s office, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Mederos was sentenced on Dec. 13 to 110 years in prison for a 2019 fatal crash on Interstate 70, outside Denver, that killed four people and injured several others — a sentence the judge said he wouldn’t have chosen if he had the discretion.
Aguilera-Mederos’ attorneys, Leonard Martinez and James Colgan said they were “surprised” by how fast Polis acted, adding that it is “unusual” for a governor to act on clemency before the appellate process takes place.
But now that Polis has acted, Colgan said they believe that the case is no longer in the jurisdiction of the courts or the DA’s office and King’s promise to release new information is a case of “sour grapes” and based on “political motivations.”
“It wouldn’t matter what she disclosed now,” Colgan told ABC News.
“I’m not aware of any law that allows [the DA’s office] to have jurisdiction over the case,” he added.
Asked what the new information may be, “I have no idea,” the attorneys both said.
Polis commuted Mederos’ sentence two weeks after his legal team applied for clemency and ahead of a scheduled hearing next month requested by King for the court to reconsider the sentence.
“After learning about the highly atypical and unjust sentence in your case, I am commuting your sentence to 10 years and granting you parole eligibility on December 30, 2026,” Polis wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Martinez said he was on the phone when Polis’ office called Mederos to inform him that his sentence was commuted.
“He was shocked … and he said he was very grateful,” Martinez said.
“Rogel is very grateful for all the support he’s gotten not only locally, but nationally. He’s humbled by it,” Martinez said.
His mother, Oslaida Mederos, who spoke exclusively with “Nightline” earlier this week, is also “grateful” and “celebrating” the decision but would like her son home “even sooner,” Martinez added.
Amid mounting public backlash over the sentence, King filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to reconsider the 110 years and suggested a sentencing range of 20-30 years instead.
King said that the range was determined after conversations with the victims and their families.
“We are disappointed in the Governor’s decision to act prematurely,” King said on Thursday.
“We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time,” she added.
Martinez said he believes that the clemency from the governor takes any other legal avenues, including an appeal, off the table.
But because it is so “unusual” that Polis acted before the appellate process took place, the legal team needs to “review” all options, he added.
The court has not officially vacated the hearing to reconsider the original sentence, which is set for Jan. 13, but Mederos’ attorney said they expect the judge to do so next week.
Mederos was charged with 42 counts and found guilty by a Jefferson County jury of 27 counts — the most serious was first-degree assault, a class-three felony.
The number of the charges, mandatory minimum laws and a classification that mandates some sentences be served consecutively resulted in the lengthy sentence.
Mederos testified that his brakes failed – a point not contested by prosecutors, but some points of contention in the case appear to be decisions Mederos allegedly made before the crash took place and once he found out that he was having brake problems.
ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(ILLINOIS) — Police have arrested a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting of two Illinois police officers that left one of them dead, while a second suspect remains at large, authorities said.
Darius Sullivan, 25, was taken into custody Friday morning without incident after authorities conducted a search warrant on a home in North Manchester, Indiana, police said. Narcotics and multiple weapons were found inside the home, according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield.
Sullivan had warrants out of Illinois for his arrest on first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm charges, Fifield said, in connection with Wednesday’s fatal shooting at a hotel in Kankakee County, Illinois.
Bradley Police Department Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, 49, was killed after responding to a noise complaint at a Comfort Inn, authorities said. Her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, 27, was wounded in the shooting and remains hospitalized in critical condition, Illinois State Police said in an update Thursday night.
Sullivan, of Bourbonnais, Illinois, will be transferred to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department, Fifield said. Police are still determining his connection to the North Manchester residence. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for a second suspect in connection with the shooting, Xandria Harris, 26, of Bradley, Illinois, state police said. She was not present at the North Manchester home when Sullivan was taken into custody, according to Fifield.
“We are actively looking for her,” Fifield said.
The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office was offering a $25,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of Sullivan. Fifield said the reward still stands for information leading to the arrest of Harris.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 31, 5:13 pm
People infected with omicron variant have reduced risk of hospitalization: Study
A report published on Friday by the U.K. Health Security Agency found that people who were infected with the omicron variant had a reduced risk of requiring hospitalization, as compared to people who were infected with the delta variant.
The risk of hospital admissions among those with omicron was about half of that for delta, researchers found.
Individuals who had a booster dose were also found to have a “substantial reduction” in the risk of hospitalization, compared to those who are unvaccinated.
Researchers noted that these lower risks do not necessarily correlate to a reduced hospital burden during a COVID-19 surge, particularly given the higher growth rate and immune evasion seen with omicron.
Preliminary analyses also estimated a lower risk of hospitalization among omicron cases in school-aged children 5 to 17 years old, compared to delta cases in the same age group.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 31, 4:24 pm
Rep. Ayanna Pressley latest lawmaker to test positive
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is the latest lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19. Pressley announced the news Friday afternoon, saying she was experiencing “relatively mild ” symptoms and isolating.
She also took the opportunity to say she was vaccinated and boosted and advocate for others to do the same.
“Vaccines save lives,” she said in a statement. “With this unprecedented pandemic continuing to rage, I am deeply grateful for the scientists, researchers, and frontline healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to develop vaccines that are safe and effective, and ensure that our communities are protected.”
Pressley, who has garnered national attention as a member of “The Squad” alongside Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, is one of more than a dozen members of Congress to test positive in the past two weeks. Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia announced Thursday that he had also tested positive for a breakthrough case and was experiencing mild symptoms.
Dec 31, 2:24 pm
COVID surge continues in New York, single-day case record broken
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to surge in New York. The state is reporting more than 76,000 positive cases over the last 24 hours, marking another single-day record for the state.
“We’re breaking records every day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday at a COVID-19 briefing.
Meanwhile, nearly 8,000 New Yorkers were in the hospital with the virus on Thursday, an increase of more than 500 from the previous day.
Hochul announced that students in the State University of New York and City University of New York systems will need to receive their booster shot by Jan. 15, or whenever they are eligible for the extra shot. The requirement affects roughly 2.3 million students across the state.
The governor also said she is extending the mandate that businesses require either masks or vaccines, by two weeks, to Feb. 1.
Hochul pushed the importance of vaccines, especially for 5 to 11-year-olds, only 28% of whom have received their first dose, according to Hochul.
“We are not going to leave any stone unturned in terms of finding out how we can get parents to do the right thing for their children,” she said.
In a piece of encouraging news, the number of hospitals in the state with less than 10% capacity has dropped from 35 to 21, according to Hochul, who signed an executive order in November that required hospitals with such limited capacity to pause non-essential surgeries.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Dec 31, 12:40 pm
Texas governor requests federal COVID-19 aid
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has requested resources for federally-supported COVID-19 testing locations, medical personnel, as well as additional federal allocations of monoclonal antibodies.
“Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus,” Abbott said in a press release Friday.
Texas has seen more than 104,000 confirmed COVID cases in the past week, with a 22.30% testing positivity rate, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronaivrus Research Center. The center also reports that the state has a 58.45% vaccination rate.
Dec 31, 10:47 am
US breaks weekly COVID-19 case record
The United States has recorded 2.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases over the last week, setting a grim record as the highest number of cases confirmed in one week.
The previous record was set just a few days earlier from Dec. 22 to Dec. 29, when the U.S. confirmed 1.9 million COVID-19 cases. Before that, the previous record totaled 1.75 million cases from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 at the start of 2021.
(FLORIDA) — An official at the Naples Zoo, where a tiger attacked a man who allegedly stuck his hand in the cage, said on Friday that it supports that deputy’s decision to shoot the animal.
The man had called 911 after the tiger attacked him at the Florida zoo. Initial reports suggest that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man jumped over the initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing, authorities said on Thursday.
The tiger, named Eko, died after being shot in the neck by a responding deputy. Eko was a Malayan tiger, a species that is critically endangered due to poaching and habitat loss, according to the Naples Zoo.
President and CEO of Naples Zoo, Jack Mulvena, said the zoo hasn’t considered pressing charges against the man, identified as a 26-year-old River Rosenquist.
“It was a bad mistake, a bad decision, but we only wish him well in the recovery,” he said during a press conference Friday.
Mulvena said he spoke with the zoo’s weapon’s team and they said if they were in the officer’s position, under the same circumstances, they would have made the same decision.
“The deputy faced a very difficult decision and we support that decision,” Mulvena said.
Rosenquist, who worked for a third-party cleaning company, had entered an unauthorized area of the Florida zoo. Authorities said on Thursday that he could face criminal charges.
Mulvena said that third parties hired to work for the zoo, including HMI Commercial Cleaners, where Rosenquist worked, were aware they should not be in certain areas.
“Their responsibilities were very specific; cleaning of our new hospital and commissary, our gift shop, admissions and our two public bathrooms,” Mulvena said.
The zoo’s security team never saw Rosenquist or any cleaning crew members depart from what they were supposed to be doing, Mulvena said Friday.
“In this instance, unfortunately, River made the decision to breach a visitor barrier and get close to the exhibit itself. We don’t know what happened and why he did that. We suspect it was to pet or to feed, but we don’t know that for certain. Only River knows that,” Mulvena said.
The zoo is in the process of conducting an internal investigation and review of all its policies and protocols, he said.
“[We] don’t believe our policies and protocols were in any way responsible for this,” Mulvena said.
The zoo will also consider whether it should install security cameras.
“I think the lesson learned here is you can’t 100% prevent people from making really, really horrible decisions,” Mulvena said.
The zoo established the Eko Tiger Conservation Fund in memory of the tiger. All the proceeds from the fund will be going to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which Mulvena said has been doing some of the best work in the world on Malayan tiger conservation.
“We want his memory to live on and we want it to live on in terms of saving Malayan tigers in the wild,” Mulvena said.
Eko’s body is currently in the zoo’s hospital and a necropsy is scheduled for Monday.
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors in New York officially dropped charges against Tova Noel and Michael Thomas – the two correctional officers on duty when Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a federal lockup there.
In August 2019, Epstein was found dead in his cell in the early hours of the morning at the now-closed Metropolitan Correctional Center, where he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Noel and Thomas allegedly falsified government records and fell asleep on the job according to a November 2019 indictment. Leaders from the federal correctional officers union argued this case was unprecedented and typically would be handled administratively.
In May, the two officers entered into a deferred prosecution agreement – contingent on Thomas and Noel completing community service and having good behavior.
In a Thursday court filing, prosecutors said they were dropping the case, formally ending the prosecution of the two officers.
The Justice Department has yet to release any report regarding the timeframe leading up to Epstein’s suicide or days after.
Documents obtained by ABC News through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request in early December from the Bureau of Prisons do shed a little light on what occurred.
“I have no interest in killing myself,” Epstein told a BOP psychologist two weeks before he died by suicide, according to the documents.
Epstein also previously attempted suicide on July 23, according to the records, which were first obtained by the New York Times.
Included in the records was an e-mail from an unnamed inmate who worked in the kitchen at MCC.
“Jeffrey Epstein definitely killed himself. Any conspiracy theories to the contrary are ridiculous,” this inmate wrote to the BOP. “He wanted to kill himself and seized the opportunity when it was available.”
This inmate told BOP officials he heard Epstein ripping up the bed sheet he used to hang himself.
Former Attorney General William Barr told The Associated Press shortly after the suicide that it was the “perfect storm of screw ups” that lead to his death.
Earlier this week, Ghislaine Maxwell, the longtime associate of Epstein, was convicted on five of six counts related to the abuse and trafficking of underage girls.
Maxwell faced a six-count indictment for allegedly conspiring with and aiding Epstein in his sexual abuse of underage girls between 1994 and 2004.
Prosecutors alleged that Maxwell played a “key role” in a multi-state sex trafficking scheme in which she allegedly “befriended” and later “enticed and groomed multiple minor girls to engage in sex acts with Epstein” and was also, at times, “present for and involved” in the abuse herself.
(NEW YORK) — The travel chaos continues for an eighth consecutive day Friday, with almost 1,300 U.S. cancellations as of 11 a.m. ET. The airlines have been grappling with the one-two punch of bad winter weather and a surge in crew COVID cases that have left them short-staffed, and forced airlines to cancel nearly 10,000 flights since Christmas Eve.
Now the Federal Aviation Administration is warning of staffing issues of its own, such as sick air traffic controllers. In addition, the FAA warned on Thursday that weather, holiday traffic and COVID-19 “are likely to result in some travel delays in the coming days.”
“Like the rest of the U.S. population, an increased number of FAA employees have tested positive for COVID-19,” the FAA said in a statement. “To maintain safety, traffic volume at some facilities could be reduced, which might result in delays during busy periods.”
The travel turbulence couldn’t have come at a worse time as millions of Americans travel during what could be the busiest travel period since the start of the pandemic. Roughly 8.5 million fliers are expected to pass through U.S. airports from now until Jan.3, according to estimates from the Transportation Security Administration.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has been hit particularly hard this week — holding the No. 1 spot for the most cancellations in the world for three days in a row. Denver International took its place on Friday morning, topping the list with more than 250 cancellations.
Carriers are trying to proactively cancel flights to give travelers time to rebook.
JetBlue Airways, which has seen sick calls in some departments up 200-300% more than average, canceled more than 1,200 flights over the next few weeks.
“While the new CDC guidelines should help get crewmembers back to work sooner, and our schedule reduction and other efforts will further ease day-of cancellations, we expect the number of COVID cases in the northeast — where most of our crewmembers are based — to continue to surge for the next week or two,” the airline said in a statement. “This means there is a high likelihood of additional cancellations until case counts start to come down.”
Delta Air Lines is already planning to cancel 200 to 300 daily flights for the upcoming weekend, citing “increasing winter weather and the omicron variant.”
Thousands of travelers who have had to call the airlines to change their flights have been met with long wait times.
Alaska Airlines was reporting hold times of up to 20 hours on Thursday.
Delta and JetBlue are quoting hold times of one hour and 35 minutes and two hours and 16 minutes, respectively.
On Monday, airlines got their first sign of possible relief when the CDC shortened the isolation period for asymptomatic and fully vaccinated individuals who contract COVID-19 from 10 days to five.
JetBlue CEO Robin Hayes told CNBC Thursday that the new guidelines are definitely going to help, but that “the size of the problem really is just the number of people contracting it.”
“Things are likely to get worse before it gets better,” he said.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — While the Biden administration has once again extended the pause on student loan repayments, some progressives said that unless more is done, it could cost Democrats in the midterms in 2022.
The progressive wing of the Democratic Party is sounding the alarm over potentially losing voters and subsequent races due if the campaign promise from the Biden-Harris administration go unfulfilled.
Before the pause was extended, several prominent Democrats voiced their concerns about payments starting again and how it could cost them the midterms.
Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., tweeted, that “forcing millions to start paying student loans again” will cost Democrats the midterms.
The total amount of student loan debt in the U.S. currently stands at $1.75 trillion.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said it would be “delusional” to believe that Democrats can get reelected without taking action on student debt.
It is actually delusional to believe Dems can get re-elected without acting on filibuster or student debt, Biden breaking his BBB promise, letting CTC lapse, 0 path to citizenship, etc
Esp when they run from convos abt race+culture (which is what 1/6 was abt)
Natalia Abrams, president of the Student Debt Crisis Center, a nonprofit focused on ending the student debt crisis, told ABC News that “Democrats and lawmakers need to be careful because this is something the public has said they want.”
“If you can afford to pause student loan payments over and over again, you can afford to cancel it,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson tweeted after President Joe Biden announced his administration would extend the federal pause on student loan repayment for the third time in December.
Vice President Kamala Harris responded to Ocasio-Cortez’s comment in a recent interview with CBS News, saying that Secretary of Education Cardona is looking into what the Biden administration can do to alleviate the pressure that borrowers are enduring from student loan debt. However, Harris also acknowledged the impact student debt is having on individuals across the country.
“Graduates and former students across our country are literally making decisions about whether they can have a family, whether they can buy a home,” she said.
Harris was then asked if the Biden administration needs to deliver on its promise of forgiving student loan debt before the 2022 midterms in which Harris agreed.
“Well, I think that we have to continue to do what we’re doing and figure out how we can creatively relieve the pressure that students are feeling because of their student loan debt. Yes.”
During the 2020 election, Biden promised to forgive a minimum of $10,000 of federal student loans per borrower.
Additionally, we should forgive a minimum of $10,000/person of federal student loans, as proposed by Senator Warren and colleagues. Young people and other student debt holders bore the brunt of the last crisis. It shouldn’t happen again.
There are two major issues standing in the way of Democrats tackling student debt. First, there’s no agreement within the Democratic Party on who has the power to cancel student debt.
Several Democrats, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Warren, have pushed the Biden admin to use executive authority to cancel federal student loans. Still, the Biden administration has pushed back, saying they do not know if Biden has the authority to do so.
When asked about Biden’s campaign promise to cancel $10,000 of federal student loan debt in mid-December, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said that if Congress sent Biden a bill to cancel student debt, he would be “happy to sign it.”
Back in July, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a press conference that President Biden does not have the legal authority to use executive action to cancel federal student loan debt.
“People think that the president of the United States has the power for debt forgiveness; he does not,” said Pelosi. “He can postpone, he can delay, but he does not have that power, that has to be an act of Congress.”
Another issue that stands in the way of Democrats making any headway on student debt is that there seems to be no consensus on how much to cancel.
Several Democrats, including Schumer and Rep. Ayanna Pressley D-Mass., have urged canceling $50,000 of federal student loan debt, which Biden said he would “not make happen” when asked about it during a CNN town hall in February.
In that same town hall, Biden reiterated his support for canceling $10,000 dollars in student loan debt.
Democrats have about five months before the pause on federal student loans repayment expiries.
“I think one of the best things that Democrats can do to secure midterms would be to cancel student debt,” Abrams told ABC News. “At the very least keep loans on pause.”
GETTY/Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post
(COLORADO) — The wildfires that tore through Boulder County, Colorado Thursday afternoon are an unfortunate example of how climate and weather can combine to disastrous effect.
As with many climate change-amplified disasters, the conditions that set the stage for the explosive and fast-moving fires had been developing and intensifying in the months prior.
It has been very dry and very warm across Colorado for several months with various temperature and precipitation records broken in both Boulder and Colorado as a whole. The period of July 1 to Dec. 15, 2021, was the warmest and driest on record for the city of Denver. The city is also on track to have one of their warmest Decembers on record.
Earlier in the month, Denver set a record for its longest stretch without snow, 232 days. When it finally snowed on Dec. 10, it was the latest measurable amount on record, and was two months later than the average first measurable snowfall. Through the end of December, Denver typically sees around 20 inches of snow. On the evening of the fires on Dec. 30, it had only seen 0.3 inches.
The drought monitor released just hours before the fires showed all of Colorado in drought, with over 22% of the state, including eastern Boulder County, in extreme drought.
While strong wind events are common in Colorado, a wind event with gusts over 100 mph, combined with very dry conditions became a recipe for disaster. Strong wind events in Colorado can also be extremely localized due to several microclimates caused by rapid elevation and terrain changes within the state.
Unfortunately, these conditions were the key player for the rapid and erratic spread of the Marshall fire in Boulder County, which has become the most destructive fire ever in Colorado based on the number of structures destroyed. This makes back-to-back years Colorado has seen its most destructive fire ever. Prior to Marshall fire, Colorado’s most destructive fire was the East Troublesome Fire in 2020.
While it is challenging to link climate change to any single event, or a even a couple events over the years, as the parts of the western U.S. become drier and deal with more extreme temperatures, that events like erratic and rapid fire spread will likely become more common.
