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Foul fumes in South Jersey have been contained and identified, officials say

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PAULSBORO, N.J.) — Officials have cracked the code on what was stinking up southern New Jersey this week, after authorities removed a truck that was releasing chemical fumes on Thursday morning.

According to New Jersey officials, the foul smell has been reported across several counties before being identified on Wednesday.

A tanker truck at a truck stop was releasing a chemical that caused the stench around Paulsboro, Gloucester County, officials said.

Gloucester County Emergency Management issued a shelter-in-place around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday for East Greenwich, Paulsboro, Gibbstown and areas across the Delaware River after the fumes worsened. The issue was lifted approximately two hours later.

“It’s doing exactly what it should do. When the temperature rises to a certain level, the vessel itself will actually expel fumes. So it’s built to do that,” East Greenwich Township Police Chief Matthew Brenner said on Wednesday. “There’s no leak per se.”

The smell, which affected the noses of numerous South Jersey residents, led to several 911 calls to emergency crews around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. Soon after, authorities tracked down the reeking vehicle at the TA Truck Service Area on the 100 block of Berkley Road in Paulsboro off I-295 where it was releasing fumes from its rear tanker.

According to officials, complaints came from neighboring counties as far as Buena Vista Township, Atlantic County.

However, the truck wasn’t actually removed until Thursday morning.

The East Greenwich Township Police Department said the tanker is expelling fumes from a fuel additive chemical called Lubrizol 1395 (Zinc Alkyldithiophosphate).

The chemical can cause health hazards such as possible skin irritation and eye damage, according to its safety data sheet. However, its data doesn’t say the level of its toxicity if inhaled.

Hazmat crews monitored and tested the air quality around the scene and officials confirmed there is no risk to the public, despite the uncomfortable odor.

To remove the truck, officials evacuated the surrounding area within 200 feet of the tanker, as officials said the chemical is combustible under the right conditions. Officials said that there is little risk to the public, however, especially as the truck is now removed.

No injuries have been reported due to the chemicals released.

A representative from Lubrizol told ABC News Philadelphia station WPVI they are aware of the situation and investigating but have no further comment.

The Gloucester County Office of Emergency Management will be opening a call center for residents with questions or concerns. The call center phone number is 856-384-6800. It will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Donald Trump received subpoena in spring for documents not turned over to investigators: Sources

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump received a subpoena in the spring for documents related to what Trump is believed to have failed to turn over to federal investigators, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

It is not immediately clear what specifically the subpoena was seeking and whether Trump provided any documents in response to the subpoena, the sources said.

The subpoena came in the spring and played a role in a visit by federal investigators in June, the sources said.

CNN and The New York Times were first to report the information about the subpoena.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

One killed, three hurt in shooting outside 24 Hour Fitness: Brentwood police

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BRENTWOOD, Calif.) — One person was killed and three others were injured in a shooting that stemmed from an altercation at a Northern California gym, police said.

The three people hurt self-transported to hospitals and are expected to survive, Brentwood police told ABC News.

The gunshots rang out just before 2 a.m. outside a 24 Hour Fitness in Brentwood, which is about 55 miles east of San Francisco.

The “altercation” began inside the gym, on or near basketball courts, and carried out into the gym’s front parking lot where it “escalated,” police said.

At least two people pulled out guns and fired multiple shots, police said, citing surveillance video.

One of the four people shot, a man in his 20s, died at the scene, police said.

No motive is known, according to police, who called it an isolated incident.

One suspect has been detained but no arrests have been made, police said.

Officers of color barred from guarding Derek Chauvin get $1.5 million in settlement

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Officers of color barred from guarding Derek Chauvin get .5 million in settlement

(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — Eight corrections officers of color were barred from guarding Derek Chauvin in May 2020 – now, they’re receiving almost $1.5 million as a settlement for racial discrimination.

Chauvin is a former Minneapolis Police officer who has since been convicted in the death of George Floyd. The murder prompted nationwide protests, calling for racial justice and police reform.

According to court documents, Steve Lydon, then-Superintendent of the Ramsey County Adult Detention Center, issued an order on May 29, 2020, that banned corrections officers of color from entering the fifth floor where Chauvin was being held.

The order was rescinded about one hour later.

Several officers filed charges of discrimination with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights the following month. Those files were later closed, as officers prepared for a separate lawsuit.

In a February 2021 complaint that followed, eight officers alleged multiple violations of the Minnesota Human Rights Act, including race and color discrimination and a hostile work environment.

Three plaintiffs — Devin Sullivan, Stanley Hafoka and Nathaniel Gomez-Haustein — also asserted claims of retaliation. They alleged emotional distress, as well as loss of income.

According to the Star Tribune, Lydon made the decision “to protect and support” employees of color, hoping to quell any pain that the presence of Chauvin might cause them.

Ramsey County Board Chairwoman Trista MatasCastillo apologized Tuesday to the officers affected.

“The actions taken by Sheriff’s Office leadership that day were more than just wrong — they were racist, heinous, highly disrespectful and completely out of line with Ramsey County’s vision and values,” MatasCastillo said in a statement. “No one ever should have questioned your ability to perform your job based on the color of your skin.”

At least 31 people injured on ride at Legoland park in Germany, police say

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(GUENZBURG, Germany) — Dozens of people were injured on a ride at an amusement park in Germany on Thursday, police said.

The incident occurred at a Legoland park in Günzburg in Bavaria.

At least 31 people were injured in the accident, including one severely, a local police spokesperson confirmed to ABC News. It is unclear how many people have been hospitalized.

Several helicopters responded to the scene.

All passengers have been removed from the ride, which will remain closed, police said.

Investigators will be on the scene Friday, police said.

ABC News did not immediately receive a response from the amusement park when seeking comment.

Last week, a person died in a roller coaster accident at another German amusement park, Klotti Park, after falling off the ride, officials said. Authorities are investigating the cause of the accident.

Man with rifle and body armor tries to break into FBI office: Police

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(CINCINNATI) — Ohio state troopers and the FBI are pursuing a man who allegedly tried to break into the FBI’s Cincinnati office on Thursday.

Ohio State Highway Patrol followed the suspect, who was driving a white Ford Crown Victoria, to Clinton County, where shots have been fired, according to officials.

The suspect, who officials said is armed with a rifle and wearing body armor, has been contained in a corn field off Interstate 71 near Wilmington, according to Clinton County Emergency Management. The suspect appears to have a gunshot wound to his leg but remains mobile, according to a law enforcement source.

The suspect is allegedly armed with an AR15-style rifle and also brandished a nail gun during the alleged break-in attempt at the FBI field office in Cincinnati, according to multiple law enforcement sources.

There’s a lockdown in effect within a one-mile radius of the standoff scene. People have been instructed to lock doors and stay inside.

The man led police on a chase along Interstate 71 before exiting near Wilmington. Ohio State Highway Patrol said shots were fired from the suspect’s vehicle before it exited and, once it pulled off the interstate, gunshots were exchanged between the suspect and police.

No officers have been injured, police said.

It remains unclear why the man allegedly tried to break into the FBI office but it comes amid a series of threats following the FBI’s court-authorized search of former President Trump’s Florida residence.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

FDA’s move to stretch monkeypox vaccine supplies could pay off, experts say

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SILVER SPRING, Md.) — The Food and Drug Administration announced an emergency use authorization to move forward with their plan to stretch out the current monkeypox vaccine supply with a new injection method that will try to stretch one dose into five. Vaccine experts say that the scientific rationale behind this decision is sound, but technical challenges with the rollout technique may still be ahead.

“In recent weeks, the monkeypox virus has continued to spread at a rate that has made it clear our current vaccine supply will not meet the current demand,” FDA Commissioner Bob Califf said Tuesday during a press briefing.

But this swift decision has some asking if this way of giving a vaccine that is still experimental.

Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy coordinator for the White House Monkeypox Response, sought to reassure gay, bisexual and men who have sex with men — the group most affected by the outbreak right now — that the new strategy is evidence-based.

“I think that the due diligence done by the FDA, looking into the data, should assure them that the vaccine is immunologically equivalent and safe,” Daskalakis, a leading expert on LGBTQ health, said during a Tuesday briefing.

Experts say the scientific rationale is sound, but the data isn’t robust

The data Daskalakis is referring to comes from a 2015 study that evaluated both ways of administering the vaccine, that found “a similar immune response,” according to the FDA. Other data comes from smallpox and influenza vaccines.

“We look at the totality of the available scientific evidence and we bring that together to try to do the best by public health,” Dr. Peter Marks, FDA’s vaccine chief, said on Tuesday.

Vaccine scientists interviewed by ABC News agreed that the scientific rationale supporting the new injection technique is strong, but note prior studies have been small.

“The data supports this based on the original clinical trial data and their approval from FDA,” Dr. Richard Kuhn, Krenicki Family Director of Inflammation, Immunology, and Infectious Disease at Purdue University, told ABC News.

Dr. Dan Barouch, Director, Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center says it’s crucial to continue collecting data to better understand if the new injection technique will be equally effective in this outbreak.

“There is some data, but it’s a small amount of data — and it needs to be studied in larger numbers with more sophisticated assays that we have today with the actual vaccine that’s being used right now,” Barouch told ABC News.

The National Coalition of STD Directors, a nonprofit representing sexual health clinics that have been on the frontlines of the current outbreak – questioned the decision. Without clear data on efficacy, giving smaller, shallower injections could give people a false sense of security, they argued on Twitter.

Trickier injection method can be taught

Healthcare providers will need to be trained in how to give shots between layers of the skin, instead of the more typical deeper injections below the skin. The technique is not overly complex and has been done in the past with other vaccines. But because it is slightly more difficult, the shallower injection into the skin is not commonly used.

“There is a lot of history of getting vaccines by the intradermal route, but not recently,” Barouch said. “Most people are not trained or experienced in administering vaccines by the intradermal route.”

Despite challenges, vaccine scientists say dose sparing technique could still pay off

“Currently we have a larger demand for monkeypox vaccine than we have doses of the vaccine. I am confident this is why a dose sparing strategy was authorized,” Dr. Robert Frenck, director of the Vaccine Research Center at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, told ABC News.

Kuhn also agrees with FDA’s decision to allow shallower injections to stretch limited vaccine supply.

“The guidance on the intradermal is supported by earlier trials and is meant to increase availability of the current vaccine stocks,” Kuhn said, but warned that we need to be thinking about opening vaccine eligibility.

“I would prefer that we move now with this attenuated non-replicating vaccine,” he continued. “This is not a gay disease, and my concern is that we should be open to larger segments of the population, independent of sexual orientation, for the application of diagnostics and therapeutics.”

“Now is the time to try to get in front of this outbreak since we have a reasonable history of smallpox vaccination and some data on monkeypox,” he added.

But no one can perfectly predict the future of this outbreak.

“Only time will tell if this was the right decision or not,” Barouch said.

Dr. Jade A Cobern, board-eligible in pediatrics, is a member of the ABC News Medical Unit and a general preventive medicine resident at Johns Hopkins.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

Three-month-old boy dies after being left in hot car: Police

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A 3-month-old boy has died after being left in a hot car in Washington, D.C., authorities said.

Officers responded to a home shortly after 6 p.m. Tuesday and found the baby, Aaron Boyd Jr., unconscious and not breathing, D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department said. Aaron was taken to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

The heat index — what temperature it feels like — soared to 106 degrees in D.C. on Tuesday.

It was not clear how long Aaron had been left in the black Honda Accord, police said.

The investigation is ongoing, police said Thursday. An autopsy will determine Aaron’s cause and manner of death.

Aaron is the 15th child to die from a hot car in the U.S. so far this year, according to national nonprofit KidsAndCars.org.

Click here for tips to keep your kids safe in hot cars.

In Iowa, GOP leaders decry Mar-a-Lago search and vow investigations if they retake Congress

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate was searched by agents on Monday in relation, sources told ABC News, to documents that he took with him when he departed Washington, including some records the National Archives said were marked classified. (Both the FBI and Department of Justice have declined to comment.)

The operation marked a notable development in one of several legal challenges facing Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing.

During the annual Lincoln Dinner on Wednesday celebrating Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus status, Republican leaders repeatedly attacked the FBI — echoing and building on widespread outcry from the GOP.

At the dinner, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said potential action against the FBI or the Department of Justice relied on Republicans taking back control of Congress in the November midterms.

“There’s not much the committee can do. The best thing we can do is is win back the House and win back the Senate, and I do think the American people want transparency when you are raiding the home of a former president,” she said. “The FBI is raiding the home of a former president. The American people deserve to know why.”

McDaniel also argued that this week’s actions were “creating distrust in our institutions.”

“What piece of paper did he [Trump] take? I asked him the other day — I’m like, ‘Was it the Declaration of Independence or what did you take?’ I think this is really deeply troubling,” she said, suggesting the search was an overreach

Sources told ABC that the FBI had court authorization; Trump and his attorneys have not released any information about the search warrant, which they would have been provided.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley said at Wednesday’s dinner he “didn’t know enough” about the FBI operation to “say what’s legitimate to say or not” but compared it to the ongoing investigation of President Joe Biden’s son Hunter’s taxes and to a past probe of how Hillary Clinton also handled classified information. (Hunter has said he believes he will be cleared; Clinton was never charged with a crime.)

“When I had a conversation yesterday with the FBI director [Christopher Wray], I had a chance to discuss this with him, and I tried to point out: How come you did not negotiate something with the president, as you did with Hillary Clinton about her email?” Grassley said.

Grassley said he reached out Wray to ask for “some justification for what you’re doing” but the department didn’t respond, saying any comment would come from Attorney General Merrick Garland. At a separate event in Nebraska on Wednesday, Wray said only, “I’m sure you can appreciate that’s not something I can talk about.”

“We can’t have a two-tiered system of justice in America,” Grassley said at Wednesday’s dinner.

“We’re at a point where the culture and the credibility of the FBI is at stake,” he added. “We’re at a point where you ought to have upmost confidence in the No. 1 law enforcement agency in America. And I don’t think most of you do.”

In their own remarks, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Rep. Randy Feenstra used the search at Mar-a-Lago to try and galvanize people ahead of the midterm elections.

“This administration has unleashed the DOJ, the FBI, on parents, on taxpayers, on gun owners and a former president of United States of America. We are at an all-time low folks,” Reynolds said. “Elections matter and we need to step up and we need to show up and we need to let them know that enough is enough and we are not going to take it any longer.”

“That’s why we’re here, because we are passionate about making sure that we save our country — save this greatest country that’s in the world. But each one of us has to do our part, including myself,” Feenstra said.

“So it’s my job to make sure that we fire [House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi … because then we can investigate Hunter Biden and then we can have hearings on all these other things that are happening, especially what happened to Trump just a few days ago,” Feenstra added.

Iowa Republicans started off the night with a prayer, saying “evil surrounds us” while attacking the DOJ and the “out of control” FBI.

“Lord, we know that we’re a tipping point in our country. … Lord, help us be vigilant in defending our religious and our personal freedoms,” said Steve Scheffler, a state party leader.

Republicans spent most of Wednesday’s Lincoln Dinner focusing their base on the midterm elections and also reaffirmed their commitment that Iowa will be the first state in the nation to choose a Republican presidential candidate during the 2024 cycle.

Their embrace of Iowa comes as Democrats are poised to remove the state from leading off their own nominating process.

“Most of all, it comes down to the grassroots and the investment from you and the serious nature in which you put in into selecting who Iowa will choose in your caucus, so I didn’t want to change it,” McDaniel said.

Trump and allies raising funds off FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago

August 11, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump and his Republican allies are fundraising off Monday’s FBI raid of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, providing another platform for Trump to capitalize financially on government investigations related to him.

Trump’s Save America PAC sent out a fundraising email Tuesday morning in which Trump urged supporters to “rush in a donation IMMEDIATELY to publicly stand with me against this NEVERENDING WITCH HUNT.”

Trump, in the email, cast the lawful search of his estate as an attack on all his supporters, saying the FBI raid “violated” not only his home but the “home of every patriotic American who I have been fighting for since that iconic moment I came down the Golden Escalators in 2015.”

“I need every single red-blooded American Patriot to step up during this time,” the email read.

Justice Department and FBI officials declined to comment on the raid, saying that they don’t discuss ongoing investigations.

Trump’s latest fundraising push comes amid what appears to be a gradual slowing down of his massive fundraising prowess, as Trump’s fundraising committees have been bringing in relatively smaller hauls over the past few months.

Last month, Trump’s Save America Joint Fundraising Committee reported raising just $17 million during the entire three-month period from April through June, including a little under $6 million for the Save America PAC itself. The amount represents a big drop from the hundreds of millions of dollars Trump’s team and the Republican Party raised together in the months following the 2020 election.

The Republican National Committee, which has continued to raise money in Trump’s name even though it no longer fundraises in conjunction with Trump’s PAC, also sought to raise funds off the FBI raid. It sent out an email with the subject line “BREAKING NEWS” to supporters late Monday night, just as the news about the raid was unfolding, saying that “This is UNPRECEDENTED.”

“We need YOU … to step up RIGHT NOW to stand with the GOP & STOP JOE BIDEN,” the email read.

Early Tuesday morning, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel continued the fundraising appeal during an appearance on Fox News, where she urged supporters to donate to Trump-endorsed 2022 Senate candidates including Herschel Walker in Georgia, J.D. Vance in Ohio, Adam Laxalt in Nevada, and Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s campaign, meanwhile, was selling hats and T-shirts that say “Defund the FBI.”

“The FBI raid at Mar-a-Lago provides not just Trump, but the whole Republican base that affiliates with Trump, a significant but temporary boost in fundraising as well as an opportunity to propagandize for the upcoming election,” Craig Holman, a government affairs lobbyist at the Washington-based progressive watchdog group Public Citizen, told ABC News.

Holman said he expects the appeals to be “highly successful at first, but probably short-lived,” depending on what the FBI uncovered at Trump’s estate.

“At this point, the FBI is not saying anything, which allows Trump and his affiliates to scream the most extreme conspiracy messages for fundraising,” Holman said. “But once the FBI starts unveiling what it found hidden away in Mar-a-Lago — assuming that the FBI did in fact find incriminating records — the appeals will lose their legs.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., who is leading the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, said he doesn’t know the details of the FBI raid but that it must have been based on a warrant approved by a judge.

“In any investigation, you follow the facts,” Thompson said. “I’m not certain as to the specifics of why the FBI did the raid on Mar-a-Lago, but as you know, a judge had to approve the affidavit for the warrant.”

Trump himself said Monday’s raid was just the latest “political targeting” against him and his supporters.

“The political persecution of President Donald J. Trump has been going on for years,” he said in a statement Monday night. “It just never ends.”

In the meantime, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who ran against Trump for the presidency in 2016, also appeared to be capitalizing on news of the raid. On Monday she tweeted out a donation link for her political organization, and promoted existing campaign merchandise like hats and T-shirts that read “But her emails.”

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