(PLUMAS COUNTY, Calif.) — Five people are missing as the Dixie Fire rages on in California, the Plumas County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement Saturday.
“We are seeking the public and the media’s assistance is helping us locate the individuals so we can report back to their loved ones,” they said, adding that their investigation unit has already located 21 other individuals who were previously unaccounted for.
The sheriff’s office had said earlier that eight people remained unaccounted for, but five were located and two others reported missing.
“We request if you know where any of these people are to contact them and have them call the Sheriff’s Office at 530-283-6300 to let us know they are safe, so we can report back to the person(s) looking for them,” the police said.
The names of the five unaccounted for individuals are: Danny Sczenski of Greenville, Glen Gallagher of Greenville, Donna Shelton of Chester, Dianne Doppert of Greenville and Lena Rhynes of Greenville, according to the statement. Authorities said Gallagher and Shelton were reported safe, but they have not made contact with them.
Cal Fire public information officer Rick Carhart said Saturday afternoon that four firefighters were injured in the west zone during the morning. They were taken to area hospitals. Three have been released, while one remains in the hospital in stable condition.
The Dixie Fire has been burning near Feather River Canyon for weeks and has now scorched through more than 446,723 acres since it sparked on July 13.
It is 21% contained and is now considered the third-largest fire in California history. More than 5,100 fire personnel are currently working on containing and putting it out, according to Cal Fire.
The fire “burnt down our entire downtown. Our historical buildings, families homes, small businesses, and our children’s schools are completely lost,” Plumas County Supervisor Kevin Goss wrote on Facebook.
It is one of 90 large wildfires, many of them uncontained, that are currently burning in the West.
(NEW YORK) — The Coast Guard has released a video that shows a nail-biting race to save lives aboard the tragic Seacor Power — an oil industry boat that capsized off the Louisiana coast in April, killing 13 people.
The video shows a rescue worker suspended from a helicopter searching for survivors in murky and turbulent waters. Towering waves batter the vessel, flooding the boat’s deck.
Three men desperately held onto the side of the 175-foot-long boat during the rescue effort, NOLA reported, with one of the three men describing his harrowing rescue.
“When we first got on scene, I remember them right there waving,” the helicopter’s pilot, Jim Peters told NOLA.
As of Aug. 1, the Coast Guard and the National Transportation Safety Board are convening in a series of daily public hearings, expected to last through Aug. 13.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A 4,600-year-old intact wooden boat bearing the name of Fourth Dynasty Egyptian pharaoh, Khufu, was transported to a new museum about 7 kilometers away from Cairo’s Great Pyramid in a 48-hour journey that Egypt’s antiquities ministry described as a “unique archaeological and engineering project.”
The boat, measuring 42 meters in length and weighing 20 tons, was transported from the Great Pyramid to the Grand Egyptian Museum in a “metal cage lifted on a smart remote-control vehicle,” the antiquities ministry said in a statement.
Surrounding roads were sealed off, with residents taking glimpse of the low-key parade through their home windows as the journey concluded in the early hours of Saturday.
“The boat was exhibited inside a museum bearing its name at Giza Plateau, which was not equipped with the latest technological equipment to house and display this magnificent artifact,” the ministry statement read.
“The aim of the transportation project is to protect and preserve the biggest and oldest organic artifact made of wood in the history of humanity for the future generations.”
The subdued event stood in stark contrast to the glittering ceremony Egypt held in April to convey 22 mummies from the 120-year-old Egyptian Museum in Cairo’s central Tahrir Square to the newly inaugurated National Museum of Egyptian Civilization in the old Islamic city of Fustat.
However, Saturday’s procession still looked imposing, with the giant black vehicle decorated with a drawing of the ancient boat and illuminated with fluorescent colors as it roamed through an ancient area housing many of its pharaonic treasures.
The boat was discovered in 1954 at the southern corner of the Great Pyramid, which was built as a tomb for Khufu and is the only surviving wonder of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
“The transportation of Khufu’s first boat is one of the most important, challenging, and unique archaeological and engineering project,” said Atef Moftah, the general supervisor of GEM.
GEM, which Egypt says will be the biggest museum in the world dedicated to a single civilization, is due to open later this year.
Egypt hopes the museum’s inauguration and a series of high-profile discoveries made in recent years will help revive its ailing tourism industry, which makes up around 15% of the country’s gross domestic product.
(NEW YORK) — The Albany County sheriff said during a press conference that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo could face a possible misdemeanor charge following a criminal complaint filed against him this week.
Sheriff Craig Apple told reporters Saturday that the investigation is in its “infant stages” and the complaint made against Cuomo is “criminal in nature” and the alleged conduct was “sexual in nature.” No reports will be released to the public.
The claim was filed Thursday by a former New York State employee who claimed the governor groped her breast at the governor’s state residence in 2020. She is referred to as “Executive Assistant #1” in New York Attorney General Letitia James’ report released Tuesday.
Apple said that authorities sat with the complainant and her lawyer for an hour Thursday.
He said that the county sheriff’s office has reached out to James’ office to request investigative material used in the report, which concluded Cuomo violated state and federal law in sexually harassing at least 11 women.
Apple said next steps include waiting for the attorney general’s investigation material to come in and an interview with the victim. From there, the sheriff’s office will sit with the Albany district attorney’s office to decide whether to move forward with a criminal charge.
When asked what possible charge Cuomo could face, Apple said: “From what I’ve read so far I can say we’re floating around a misdemeanor, but again, that’s just from the attorney general report.”
Cuomo has denied all allegations of sexual harassment.
He responded to the Tuesday report with a video address stating: “I want you to know directly from me that I never touched anyone inappropriately or made inappropriate sexual advances.”
Cuomo’s lawyer, Rita Glavin, has said the groping allegation by Executive Assistant #1 was fabricated.
“He is 63 years old. He has spent 40 years in public life and for him to all of the sudden be accused of a sexual assault of an executive assistant that he really doesn’t know, doesn’t pass muster,” Glavin said in a press conference Friday in response to the complaint.
So far at least five district attorney offices — Manhattan, Albany, Westchester County, Nassau County and Oswego County — have launched investigations into Cuomo for alleged incidents outlined in the report that took place in their jurisdictions.
Following the Saturday press conference, Fabien Levy, the press secretary at the New York State AG office released a statement saying, “We will cooperate fully with the Albany sheriff and turn over all evidence related to this complainant. Similarly, we will cooperate with all law enforcement agencies, as appropriate.”
(WASHINGTON) — With multiple Republicans joining Democrats in the effort, the bipartisan infrastructure bill cleared another hurdle on its way to passing the Senate on Saturday afternoon.
By a vote of 67-27, the Senate voted to advance the bill toward final passage. It’s not yet clear when the bill will receive a final vote, but Saturday’s vote makes all but certain that it will pass the Senate.
At least 60 votes were necessary to move forward on Saturday, a hurdle easily cleared with 18 Republicans joining all Democrats.
The bill, worth $550 billion in new spending, will address core infrastructure needs. It includes $110 billion in new funds for roads and bridges, $66 billion for rail, $7.5 billion to build out electric vehicle charging stations, $17 billion for ports, $25 billion for airports, $55 billion for clean drinking water, a $65 billion investment in high-speed internet and more.
Passage of the bill will prove a huge success for President Joe Biden, who campaigned on a promise to work across the aisle, and for the lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, who huddled for weeks in an effort to craft the bill.
The Senate has been working through the weekends to try to finish up this bipartisan bill and move on to work on a second, larger budget bill that Democrats hope will include the remainder of Biden’s American Families Plan priorities.
That bill, set to include funding for housing, health care, child care and more, will likely need to be forced through along party lines. Democratic leadership in both chambers has insisted that both the bipartisan bill and the budget bill must move together.
Once the Senate finishes work on the bipartisan bill, it will head to the House, where Speaker Nancy Pelosi has threatened to postpone a vote on it until the budget bill is sent her way.
Democrats hold a razor-thin margin in the House, and some progressive Democrats, underwhelmed by the scope of the bipartisan infrastructure bill, have threatened to withhold their support for the bill without a robust budget bill in tandem.
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 615,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 58.4% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.
Aug 07, 11:41 am
7-day average of daily US vaccinations highest since June
The nation’s current seven-day average of 481,000 new COVID-19 vaccinations a day is the highest rate recorded since June 18, White House COVID Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said.
More young Americans are getting shots as well, with the daily average of 12-to-15-year-olds doubling over the last month.
Aug 07, 10:51 am
Florida reports over 134,000 new COVID-19 cases in past week
Florida’s COVID-19 cases have continued to soar week after week, with 134,506 new virus cases reported over the past week, according to the state Department of Health.
That beats last week’s weekly record of 110,420 new infections.
Now the weekly case positivity rate in the state stands at 18.9%. There were also 175 virus deaths reported over the past week.
-ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos
Aug 06, 11:49 pm
409 positive cases at Tokyo Olympics
As of Saturday, there are 409 positive COVID-19 cases at the Olympics, According to Tokyo 2020’s coronavirus case list.
That is an increase of 22 cases since Friday.
All of the people who tested positive are either Games-concerned personnel, Tokyo 2020 contractors, media or volunteers. One Games-concerned employee was in the Olympic Village at the time of their positive test.
Aug 06, 10:06 pm
Amazon mandates warehouse workers wear masks
Amazon said Friday it was mandating all 900,000 of its warehouse workers wear masks, regardless of whether they are vaccinated.
The company had previously only required unvaccinated workers to wear masks. It blamed the change on the increasing risk presented by the delta variant.
“In response to the concerning spread of new COVID-19 variants in the U.S. and guidance from public health authorities and our own medical experts, we are requiring face coverings indoors regardless of vaccination status,” Amazon said in a statement. “We are monitoring the situation closely and will continue to follow local government guidance and work closely with leading medical healthcare professionals, gathering their advice and recommendations as we go forward to ensure our buildings are optimized for the safety of our teams.”
Many companies have taken the added step of requiring vaccinations, including fellow tech giants Google and Facebook.
Aug 06, 6:27 pm
US records highest single-day COVID case total in 6 months
The U.S. has recorded its highest single-day COVID-19 case total in exactly six months with more than 120,000 new cases reported, according to newly updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
The country is now averaging more than 96,000 new cases a day.
Additionally, every single state in the country is reporting “high” (a seven-day new case rate ≥100) or “substantial” (a seven-day new case rate between 50-99.99) community transmission.
(NEW YORK) — Firefighters are still battling a large blaze on the island of Evia in Greece, where fires closed in on the beaches, forcing residents to flee via boats and ferries.
More than 1,100 were transported from the island to safety overnight on boats, after authorities issued evacuation alerts in dozens of towns.
People were trapped in villages on the island and calling for help on Greek television on Saturday morning, including a mother and her baby pleading for air tankers to be sent to her home.
Greek authorities reported the first casualties, with two dead including one volunteer and dozens injured. Volunteers rode in on motorcycles to bring water and help put out fires in the suburbs of Athens. A Kryoneri resident called them “a gift from God,” as firefighters are spread thin across the country.
Reinforcement coming in from Europe and the U.S. — 90 helicopters and planes, 23 vehicles and roughly 400 firefighters — are continuing to arrive on Saturday. Residents of Kryoneri, 14 miles north of Athens, were still undecided on what to do and whether to leave their home behind.
“I’m very scared,” Eleni Glibti, a resident of Kryoneri told ABC News. “I don’t know what to do, it’s illegal to be here.”
Sixty-four fires were still active overnight.
Weather conditions slightly improved in north of Athens on Saturday morning, with temperatures dropping to 91 Fahrenheit, giving firefighters a break and allowing them to get control over fires in the Attica region and the north of Athens.
Temperatures are expected to pick back up again next week.
Fires have raged across the Mediterranean for the past 11 days, including in Italy, France and Turkey, where the fires killed at least eight people.
The vast majority of the fires in Turkey had been brought under control on Friday evening, 198 out of 208 fires nationally, per the Turkish Forest and Agricultural Ministry.
Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced that a total of 252 million tree saplings — three saplings for each citizen — will be planted before the end of the year, as part of the Breath for the Future campaign, launched in 2019 among several countries as part of an environmental effort.
(DENVER) — One person is dead and another is in critical condition following a shooting in Denver, near the Coors Field baseball stadium, Denver police said.
The Denver Police Department responded to the area of 22nd and Blake Streets around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, about 45 minutes after the Colorado Rockies game ended.
Two shooting victims were transferred to the hospital and one adult male was later pronounced dead.
No suspects have been arrested. The investigation is active and ongoing, according to Denver police.
The shooting so close to a baseball stadium comes less than a month after gunfire rang out outside Nationals Park in Washington D.C., which stopped the game and sent panicked fans running for cover.
Three people were injured in the shooting and no arrests have been made.
(NEW YORK) — Florida’s controversial anti-riot law is going to have its day in court.
Civil rights groups including the ACLU of Florida, the Dream Defenders and the Black Collective have sued the state and Gov. Ron DeSantis, alleging HB 1, the law called “Combating Public Disorder,” specifically targets Black people, infringes on Floridians’ First Amendment rights and “deters and punishes peaceful protests.”
Chief Judge Mark Walker will hear from the plaintiffs in a hearing set for Aug. 30 in U.S. District Court in Tallahassee.
Ahead of the hearing, here’s what the law is supposed to do, what to expect at this month’s hearing and what’s at stake for protesters — not just in Florida but throughout the U.S.
The law
HB 1 criminalizes protests that turn violent and could have serious consequences for demonstrators. Protests can be deemed “mob intimidation,” which is a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a penalty of up to one year in prison, or classified as a “riot,” a second-degree felony with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Under the new law, protesters can’t post bail until after making an initial court appearance, and any damage to historical property, such as a Confederate moment, is classified as a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. The law also protects drivers who potentially injure or kill protesters with vehicles by granting them affirmative defense, excusing them from civil or criminal liability.
DeSantis proposed the legislation after a summer of protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. At the bill signing on April 19, Gov. DeSantis proclaimed HB 1 was the “strongest anti-rioting, pro-law enforcement piece of legislation in the country.”
“In Florida, we are taking an unapologetic stand for the rule of law and public safety,” the governor’s office said in a statement to ABC News. “We are holding those who incite violence in our communities accountable, supporting our law enforcement officers who risk their lives every day to keep us safe and protecting Floridians from the chaos of mob violence.”
Opponents of the law say HB 1 is a racist reaction to protests that were mostly peaceful.
“It’s all an effort to demonize Black and brown people to further create division in our country,” state Rep. Anna Eskamani of Florida told ABC News, adding that the governor’s statements only stoked the fire because “statements like that are also against Black voices, because it’s Black voices who are who are speaking for a new vision of law enforcement.”
Civil rights groups suing Florida allege HB 1 makes people afraid to exercise their constitutional right to protest. Representatives from the Dream Defenders said they’ve seen turnout at protests drastically decrease and have even had to cancel demonstrations to protect members from violence, according to the filing.
Section 15
The plaintiffs argue HB1 is “unconstitutional in its entirety,” but this month’s hearing is a preliminary injunction against Section 15. That’s the part of the law that defines what a riot is.
HB 1 challengers say the definition is vague and overbroad, authorizing selective interpretation where “police officers decide in every instance what constitutes a riot and who can be arrested.”
“Section 15 is kind of the central enforcement mechanism of HB 1,” said Max Gaston, a staff attorney of the ACLU of Florida. “So, just to put it into perspective, Section 15 essentially means that peaceful protesters could be arrested, held without bail, charged with a felony punishable by up to five years in prison just for standing in an otherwise peaceful demonstration if violence occurs nearby.”
Republican leaders don’t see the law that way.
“There is a clear difference between a riot and a peaceful protest. A riot is, by legal definition, violent,” Christina Pushaw, DeSantis’ press secretary, said. “The legislation protects First Amendment freedoms while ensuring that law enforcement professionals are empowered to use their discretion to maintain public safety.”
Potential consequences
This month’s hearing, in addition to clarifying the reach of Section 15, could decide the constitutionality of the entire law. That’s because so many of the other penalties in the law rely on the definitions laid out in Section 15.
“The goal of getting Section 15 blocked would essentially allow us to block some of the more problematic provisions,” Gaston told ABC News.
The preliminary injunction asks the court to enjoin the law. If Walker sides with the plaintiffs, HB 1 would be blocked immediately while litigation challenging its constitutionality goes through the courts.
Lawsuits over HB 1 are piling up. Gainesville city commissioners voted Thursday to sue the state over HB 1, becoming the first Florida city to do so.
However, anti-riot bills aren’t just being passed in Florida. Just this week, legislators in Nassau County, New York, approved a bill saying anyone who harasses or injures a first responder can be fined up to $50,000 and that first responders can sue a person directly.
At least 45 other states have considered similar legislation — 36 initiatives limiting the rights of protesters have passed, and 51 of them are currently pending, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, which tracks federal and local anti-protest laws.
Gaston and other organizers said now they’re concerned about the type of precedent HB 1, if upheld in court, could set nationwide.
“When lawmakers with a certain agenda see that something like HB 1 is able to happen here in Florida,” Gaston continued, “the credible threat exists that they might look at that and say to themselves, ‘Well, maybe we can get away with that here too.'”
Eskamani, the state representative, agreed.
“It’s always like one step forward, two steps back, where you just constantly feel like as you’re marching forward with systematic changes — the status quo pushes back, flexes its muscles and tries to silence you,” she said. “But, I mean, we are preparing for those fights — 100%.”
(PHOENIX) — The school year began on Monday in classrooms across the Phoenix Union High School District, and despite Arizona’s ban on mask mandates, students and staff were all wearing masks indoors in adherence to the district’s mitigation requirements.
Arizona has seen its daily case average increase by 327% in the last month, and hospitalizations are now at their highest point since early February, with more than 1,400 patients currently receiving care, according to federal data.
Given the changing circumstances, several districts in Arizona are now opting to require masks, as recommended by the updated Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for “localities to encourage universal indoor masking for all teachers, staff, students, and visitors to schools, regardless of vaccination status.”
Dr. Chad Gestson, superintendent of the Phoenix Union High School District, has vowed that he will do whatever he feels is best for the health and safety of his students and staff, including defying the governor’s orders, and thus requiring face coverings in classrooms.
“This decision — all decisions that we made — but this particular one is not about defiance. It’s ultimately about science,” Gestson told ABC News.
According to state law, the law prohibiting mask mandates will not go into effect until 90 days after the end of the legislative session. Thus, the mask mandate will not formally begin until Sept. 29.
Following the updated recommendations from the CDC, Ducey reasserted his stance on banning masking in schools.
“Arizona does not allow mask mandates, vaccine mandates, vaccine passports or discrimination in schools based on who is or isn’t vaccinated. We’ve passed all of this into law, and it will not change,” Ducey wrote in a statement on July 27. “The CDC today is recommending that we wear masks in school and indoors, regardless of our vaccination status. This is just another example of the Biden-Harris administration’s inability to effectively confront the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Gestson, who has led the Phoenix Union district high schools since 2015, explained that the decision was the result of concerns over high transmission, and the rapidly spreading coronavirus infections in the area, as he brought nearly 30,000 students back to in-person learning across the district.
“We made a commitment from day one, this was March of 2020, that we would do absolutely everything in our control, to protect our staff and our students and our families, and we made a commitment to our communities that we would be courageous,” he said.
With the emergence of the delta variant, he continued, the district became very concerned about the aggressive nature of the virus.
Gestson said he is fully aware of the legislation that bans masks mandates, and the potential litigation and public backlash that could follow the move.
However, he said, the decision was ultimately an easy one.
“Lives are at stake,” Gestson said. “We are bringing back 32,000 souls, and we had to weigh the implications and the consequences. Our people need us to protect them.”
One of the district’s teachers, Douglas Hester, has already filed a lawsuit against the district over the decision to mandate masks for students and faculty, asserting that it was “in violation of state law,” Health Freedom Defense Fund’s legal team, who is representing Hester, told ABC News in a statement.
“The power to legislate with respect to health issues is reserved to the states and no school district can decide to unilaterally implement rules which contradict the will and intent of the people’s elected representatives in the legislature,” the group wrote, ahead of a hearing planned for next week.
When asked about the lawsuit, Gestson declined to give details on the active litigation, but said that he felt “very comfortable” with the decision, both from a legal perspective and because, he asserts, “we made the right decision,” following the guidance of the CDC and other health professionals.
“If we get to the 29th, and the spread is still high or substantial, the recommendations from CDC and others still say that masks indoors, regardless of vaccination status, are critical to the health and safety, then Phoenix Union is prepared, as always, to do whatever we need to protect our people and ultimately we’ll cross that bridge when we get there at late September,” Gestson said.
“Well over 90% of our students are back on campus,” Gestson said. “We don’t want to find ourselves in a position where we’re back in remote learning, which is why we are really clear that if the science teaches us how to mitigate the spread of COVID, we’re gonna follow that. And ultimately the decision that we made our mask as a part of that.”
Alongside masks, other mitigation strategies are also being implemented. Although social distancing is not always feasible among students in large high schools, other measures, such consistent disinfecting, ensuring that sick people stay home and good contact tracing protocols, have been put in place.
The No. 1 mitigation strategy, asserted Gestson, is vaccination.
Phoenix Union has taken the lead on hosting vaccination events, partnering with local pharmacies, and having drive-thru vaccinations in parking lots, Gestson noted. Over the summer, he said, gyms, cafeterias and auditoriums were also the sites of vaccinations for staff, parents and students older than 12, ultimately inoculating more than 10,000 people.
When asked how parents, staff and students in his district felt about the mask mandate, Gestson said that although they would prefer not to wear masks, they understand it is important if schools are to remain in person.
“I’ve heard from so many students who said, ‘Hey, I will wear this mask every day if that means I get to come to school every day.’ And I have not had any issues with compliance of our mask requirement,” said Gestson.
Gestson said he has heard from some parents who do not like the decision to require masks, but was happy with the “overwhelming support that we received from our staff, our students, our parents.” Parents, he said, understand that the reason behind for the masks is to protect their kids, and ultimately, they are “extremely appreciative, not just of this decision, but all the work that we’ve done over the last year and a half to really prioritize their safety.”
