New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division and Operation Game Thief
A Massachusetts hiker, who had gone missing after departing on a solo hike over the weekend, was found dead in New Hampshire on Wednesday, according to the New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division and Operation Game Thief.
Emily Sotelo, 20, was found on northwest side of Mount Lafayette, in Franconia after departing on a hike of Franconia Ridge on Saturday.
A family member had reported Sotelo missing when she did not return at a planned time.
Sotelo was dropped off at Lafayette Place Campground in Franconia, New Hampshire on Sunday morning. She planned to hike Mount Lafayette, Haystack and Flume in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, according to law enforcement.
Three search teams were sent out to look for her on Sunday night, but temperatures along the ridge where she was hiking were about zero degrees with 30 to 40 mph winds, according to Pemigewasset Valley Search and Rescue Team, which helped with the search efforts.
“Due to the harsh weather conditions a search commenced Sunday evening and [through] the night. Searchers were hampered by high winds, cold temperatures and blowing snow,” New Hampshire Fish and Game Law Enforcement Division and Operation Game Thief said in a statement Wednesday.
Searchers spent two days looking for Sotelo before finding tracks and some of her belongings at the headwaters of Lafayette Brook on Tuesday. Her body was found Wednesday morning.
A New Hampshire Army National Guard helicopter was able to help with the extradition of Sotelo to the Cannon Mountain Ski Area, according to law enforcement. Officials did not release any information regarding Sotelo’s cause of death.
(WASHINGTON) — It’s been nearly half a year since Secretary Deb Haaland released the first report in the Interior Department’s investigation into the legacy and lasting trauma from Indian boarding schools.
For more than a century, from 1819 to the late 1960s, the federal government and some religious organizations took Indigenous children from their families, their land and forcibly assimilated them into White European culture.
“I called the boarding school era, one of America’s best kept secrets,” said scholar Denise Lajimodiere. “Boarding school and the legacy of boarding schools has impacted every…Native family.”
Lajimodiere chronicled the experience of boarding school survivors in her book Stringing Rosaries.
“Their hair was immediately cut…some had kerosene put in their hair. And they said it burned…they were given uniforms,” Lajimodiere said. “They had to work half a day… in the kitchen, in the laundry room…work in the fields that they didn’t get paid for.”
For more than a decade, Lajimodiere has researched the number of schools that existed in the United States, something the government didn’t begin to do until last year.
The report released by the Interior Department found that more than 500 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian children died over the course of 150 years in the boarding schools. Scholars estimate the numbers could be much higher. Countless others were physically, mentally and emotionally abused as their language and cultural identities were forbidden by school staff, according to the investigation.
Haaland, the first Indigenous cabinet member, has been traveling around the country as part of the “Road to Healing Tour,” to meet with Indigenous communities.
“I want apologies. I want my language back. I want our land back. I want everything back,” an emotional Ruby Left Hand Bull Sanchez told Haaland during her stop at the Rosebud Sioux reservation last month.
Haaland, a member of the Laguna Pueblo, recounted her own family’s history with boarding schools.
“We all carry the trauma from that era in our hearts. My ancestors endured the horrors of the Indian boarding school assimilation policies carried out by the same department that I now lead. This is the first time in history that a United States Cabinet secretary comes to the table with this shared trauma. That’s not lost on me. I’m determined to use my position for the good of our people,” Haaland said at the Oct. 15 meeting.
For those who lived through the abuse, the pain is still raw.
Dorothy McLane was six years old when she became a student at a Rosebud boarding school, where Haaland’s meeting took place. The school has long been closed but the memories still fresh for McLane.
She told “Nightline” she vividly remembers being forced to run laps around a building and being beaten by a school matron as punishment.
“I see myself as a little girl here, 6-years-old and trying to just…be a kid, trying to be a child and trying to be loved and it wasn’t in here,” McLane said. “I mean, there’s I don’t ever remember anybody telling me they loved me. What I remember most is the punishment.”
Shylee Brave, a granddaughter of a boarding school survivor and an alum of the Sicangu Youth Council, has been pushing for the federal government and others to acknowledge the abuses and help tribes rebuild their lost culture.
“We didn’t go to boarding school, but we still deal with the same traumas that our grandparents and great-grandparents went through,” Brave said.
Brave told “Nightline,” that Haaland’s visit sent a powerful message.
“I kind of just I’m hoping that people see how resilient we are as Native American people because they pretty much tried to kill us off and they couldn’t,” she said.
Brave said she was optimistic that the federal government would make amends.
“I think that Secretary Haaland and her team are doing what they can and what they know they should do, because if they didn’t think that the government did anything wrong, they wouldn’t be doing what they’re trying to,” Brave said.
The work of the youth council Brave belonged to has helped to heal some open wounds.
Last year, the remains of Indigenous children who died at the Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania over a century ago were finally returned to Rosebud Sioux reservation.
The Sicangu Youth Council helped lead 6 years of negotiations between the tribe and the U.S. Army which oversees the grounds where the school once stood.
The Rosebud Sioux community has also launched a new education program to help preserve their dying language.
Brave is among the people working at an immersion school that teaches children of Indigenous families as young as 4 the Lakota language. Tribal leaders predict the language could be wiped out in a decade.
“In order to do our ceremonies, we have to be able to sing and speak in the language to the spirits. And so if we can’t do that, then we can’t continue to do our sacred ceremonies,” Carmelita Shouldis, who teaches at the school, told “Nightline.”
The school is looking to expand beyond its kindergarten to second grade classes.
Brave said she is proud of the work she’s done to regain her community’s heritage and culture and hopes that it will pay off for generations to come.
“I just really hope to be able to one day sit down with my kids, if I ever have any, and speak the language and just be able to converse in the Lakota language,” she said.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has been contacted by the Justice Department, which is seeking to question Pence in connection with DOJ’s ongoing probe into former President Donald Trump, the Jan. 6 riot and the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter confirm to ABC News.
The former vice president is said to be considering the request, per sources.
The Department of Justice declined to comment when contacted by ABC News. A spokesperson for Pence did not respond to a request for comment.
Pence, who recently broke his silence on Trump and the events of Jan. 6 in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ David Muir, would be a critical witness for prosecutors.
As Pence told Muir, he was called on by Trump and his allies multiple times in the days leading up to Jan. 6 to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory.
“I mean, the president’s words were reckless. It was clear he decided to be part of the problem,” Pence told Muir regarding Trump’s speech to supporters on the morning of Jan. 6 prior to the attack on the Capitol.
The DOJ news was first reported by The New York Times.
(HONG KONG) — Violent clashes erupted between workers and hazmat-suited police officers at China’s so-called “iPhone city,” where about half of Apple’s smartphones are assembled.
Accounts on Chinese social media point to a combination of strict “zero-COVID” measures, a brewing labor dispute and the pressure for factory workers to deliver ahead of a busy holiday season that caused frustration among employees at the manufacturing plant in the central Chinese city of Zhengzhou.
Videos that appear to show hundreds of angry workers throwing sticks and bricks at security forces and then officers subduing and beating protestors popped up on Chinese social media Tuesday night into Wednesday as quickly as Chinese government censors raced to delete them.
The enormous factory complex is operated by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that is the world’s largest technology manufacturer.
COVID-19 infections across China are nearing record levels this week, testing Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature “zero-COVID” strategy — a program that seeks to track and eliminate every new COVID case — as well as the slowing Chinese economy.
In late October, tens of thousands of Foxconn workers walked off the job at the same factory fearing a COVID lockdown after widespread claims that the city of Zhengzhou had mismanaged a COVID-19 outbreak. This led to Apple issuing a statement earlier this month that shipments of its latest lineup of iPhones will be “temporarily impacted” by COVID restrictions in China.
In an effort to keep remaining workers to stay on, the local government and Foxconn offered generous incentives and started an aggressive recruitment drive for new workers willing to move to the Zhengzhou campus.
Recruitment ads circulating on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter, touted a 6,000 to 10,000 Yuan (roughly $840 to $1400) signing bonus. Those ads began being censored late in the day Wednesday.
Last week, an executive at the Foxconn campus told the Chinese business outlet Yicai that they had successfully recruited more than 100,000 new workers who began arriving from around China last weekend.
Video on TikTok-like app Kuaishou said the workers who arrived over the weekend having to first quarantine at an isolation facility for four days.
When the new crop of workers emerged out of quarantine, many started to accuse Foxconn on social media of changing the terms of their contract and withholding the incentive bonus until they work through May of next year.
Foxconn in a statement to ABC News acknowledged the “violence” at the plant and said “on the evening of November 22, some new hires to the Zhengzhou Park campus appealed to the company regarding the work allowance, which they had doubts about.”
The statement added, “[Foxconn] has emphasized that the allowance has always been fulfilled based on contractual obligation.”
Foxconn also highlighted “speculation” among the new recruits that they would be sharing dorms with COVID positive employees, calling it “untrue.”
The new employees will only be allowed in once a government inspection clears the facility, the company said.
Foxconn said that they “will continue to communicate with employees and the government to prevent similar incidents from happening again.”
(WASHIGTON) — The National Institutes of Health has launched a website MakeMyTestCount.org which allows people to anonymously report the results of any brand of at-home COVID-19 test.
The website is a collaboration between the NIH and a healthcare technology company, CareEvolution.
Data collected is anonymous and sent to public health systems that receive test results from laboratories and doctor’s offices. Users provide general information such as age and zip code and have the option to include race, ethnicity, sex, and symptoms, but it is not required.
Given the rise of at-home tests, accurately tracking the number of COVID-19 cases has become increasingly difficult. This new website may help provide scientists with a clearer picture of how many people are testing positive and may not require medical care which would normally alert public health systems of the positive test. More accurate data may allow public health departments to modify responses to address outbreaks and spread.
A study done in March suggested at-home test use varies by demographics. COVID at-home test use was highest among persons who identified as white, adults aged 30–39 years, those with annual household incomes of $150,000, and those with postgraduate degrees.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who appears to be eying a run for the presidency in 2024, cruised to reelection this month with the backing of a Rolodex of wealthy GOP donors — topped by an aerospace mogul who says that UFOs are real and that space aliens are here on Earth, “right under people’s noses.”
Robert Bigelow, a Las Vegas hotel executive who went on to found Bigelow Aerospace with the goal of building the first commercial space station, donated a record $10 million to a political action committee supporting DeSantis’ reelection campaign in what was the state’s single largest political donation ever made by an individual, according to campaign filings.
The donation, which was Bigelow’s first major contribution to a Florida candidate, made him DeSantis’ single biggest individual benefactor over the last two years.
After making relatively modest political donations in prior years, Bigelow ramped up his donations in 2022, writing six- to seven-figure checks to a variety of Republican causes across the country, including donating a combined $8 million to a super PAC supporting Nevada Republicans running for Congress, and giving $2 million to the GOP-aligned super PAC Club for Growth Action.
Although he made no contributions during the last election cycle to former President Donald Trump or Trump’s other fundraising vehicles, Bigelow gave contributions to a super PAC supporting Trump-endorsed Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker, and a PAC connected to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
Bigelow, who has been a vocal advocate in the search for extraterrestrial life, told CBS’ 60 Minutes in 2017 that he is “absolutely convinced” that aliens exist and that “there has been, and is, an existing presence” of UFOs.
“I spent millions and millions and millions — I probably spent more as an individual than anybody else in the United States has ever spent on this subject,” Bigelow told 60 Minutes. His company was part of a multimillion-dollar Pentagon program that investigated UFO sightings, according to The New York Times, which said the program reported no conclusions about the origin of unidentified objects.
His record contribution to DeSantis puts Bigelow on a long list of wealthy supporters who could support the Florida governor if he and Trump face off in the 2024 presidential primary. GOP megadonors who have already endorsed DeSantis for 2024 include billionaire financier Ken Griffin, who after Election Day this month told Politico, “I think it’s time to move on to the next generation.”
Griffin, who was the GOP’s biggest donor at the federal level during the 2022 election cycle, previously gave $100,000 to Trump’s 2016 inaugural committee and has continued to donate to the Republican National Committee, which been closely aligned with Trump.
But Griffin was the second largest individual donor, after Bigelow, to a pro-DeSantis PAC, donating $5 million early in the election cycle. He later gave another $5 million to the Republican Party of Florida, which was a major supporter of DeSantis’ campaign.
Other big-name Trump supporters who became major DeSantis supporters this past cycle include financier Walter Buckley Jr., who donated $1.3 million to DeSantis’ PAC; Home Depot cofounder Bernard Marcus, who donated $500,000; and shipping executive Richard Uihlein, who, together with his wife, donated a combined $1 million, according to filings.
The longtime conservative PAC Club for Growth also contributed $2 million to DeSantis’ PAC this past cycle.
Of note, Florida supermarket heiress Julie Fancelli — a major Trump donor who reportedly helped fund the Jan. 6 rally on the Ellipse — also supported DeSantis in recent years, giving a total of roughly $59,000 to his PAC in 2018 and 2019.
Buoyed by support like this, allies of DeSantis last week registered a new super PAC dubbed “Ron to the Rescue” to back his potential presidential run. The organization has already launched its first round of digital ad campaigns and this week is launching its first television ads in Iowa, only a week after Trump announced last Tuesday that he was running again in 2024.
“Right after last Tuesday, my phone was exploding with supporters urging us to move forward again and get the governor’s back,” said California-based GOP operative John Thomas, who had been working on and off to organize the super PAC over the last year.
“The only way we saw Gov. DeSantis having a meaningful path against Trump or to the nomination was if the Republicans didn’t win the majorities in the midterms and Trump-backed candidates dramatically underperformed,” Thomas said. “Not only is that exactly what ended up happening, but on the flip side, Gov. DeSantis not only got reelected but he created his own self-made red tsunami in Florida, turning it from a swing state to a red state.”
Thomas said backers of the new super PAC include “some former Donald Trump donors” as well as “traditional DeSantis supporters.” He said a “prominent law enforcement union” is also “financially supporting” the super PAC and endorsing DeSantis.
(WASHINGTON) — The number of abortions performed in the U.S. decline in 2020, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The annual report, published Wednesday by the CDC, looks at how common abortion is in the United States and who is getting the procedure.
In total, 620,327 abortions were reported during 2020, a 2% decline from 2019. This data includes every state aside from California, Maryland and New Hampshire.
The rate of abortions also declined to 11.2 per 1,000 women between ages 15 and 44 in 2020, a drop from 11.4 per 1,000 the year before.
Women in their 20s accounted for more than half of all abortions in 2020 at 57.2%. Specifically, women between ages 25 and 29 made up 29.3% and women between ages 20 and 24 made up 27.9% of those who had an abortion.
In addition, of all women who had abortions that year, 86.3% were unmarried and 60.9% already had at least one child, according to the report.
Comparatively, teenagers under age 15 and women aged 40 or older accounted for the fewest abortions in 2020 at 0.2% and 3.7%, respectively.
When looking at abortions in the U.S. by race and ethnicity, large disparities could be seen.
Although white women and Black women each accounted for the highest number of abortions in 2020 — making up about one-third each — the rates were dramatically different.
Black women had an abortion rate nearly four times higher than that of white women at 24 abortions per 1,000 Black women compared to 6.2 abortions per 1,000 white women.
Additionally, while Hispanic women made up a smaller share of the abortions performed in 2020 at 21%, the abortion rate was 1.8 times that of white women at 11.4 abortions per 1,000 Hispanic women.
According to the CDC, reasons for these disparities include unequal access to family planning services, poverty and mistrust of the medical system.
The report also examined how far along women were when they received abortions. The overwhelming majority of abortions in 2020, 80.9%, were performed at or before nine weeks’ gestation. In 2020, 93.1% of abortions were performed before the second trimester.
About half of all abortions, 51%, were medical abortions in 2020 followed by surgical abortions at or before 13 weeks at 40%.
Additionally, the report discussed abortion trends from 2011 to 2020. Data showed the total number of abortions declined by 15% and the rate per 1,000 women decreased by 18% — with that rate decline seen across all age groups.
Particularly, the decrease in abortion rate was highest among adolescents aged 15 to 19, dropping by 48% between 2011 and 2020.
The authors did not state whether the drop in 2020 occurred because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions nor did they discuss what may be seen after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade — which guaranteed the constitutional right to an abortion — this summer.
However, they did write that abortion surveillance is “to help evaluate programs aimed at promoting equitable access to patient-centered contraceptive care in the United States to reduce unintended pregnancies.”
(MARBLE FALLS, CA) — Marble Falls High School announced its plans this week to investigate reports of alleged racist behavior by student spectators at a girls basketball tournament on Friday.
The incident at the Texas school, which was captured on camera, depicts several students shouting monkey noises as East Central High School senior Asia Prudhomme, who is Black, was shooting free throws. Marble Falls High School’s student body is almost 50 percent white and only 1.5% Black.
“I’ve always been taught not to pay attention to the stands, so I wasn’t really paying attention to them,” Prudhomme, who successfully sank her free throw, told ABC News. “I was just focused on making my free throws and getting my team back into the game.”
After watching the video of the incident, however, Prudhomme said she was shocked.
“I’ve never had this happen to me,” she said. “I was heartbroken. In my head, I was just thinking why would anybody do this. It’s 2022.”
Marble Falls High School Principal Damon Adams said in a statement that administrators are reviewing video footage and will interview students and spectators who attended the game to ensure a thorough investigation.
He said the school takes the allegations of racism seriously and will “hold students accountable for any behaviors that violate our expectations.”
“As campus principal, I regret that any player or guest in attendance at our tournament experienced anything from our student body that made them feel uncomfortable or devalued,” he said. “I am saddened that the behaviors of a very small number of students could tarnish the impression that others have of the incredible group of kids who make up our student body.”
Marble Falls Independent School District also said in a statement that it will continue to work with administration at East Central High School to fully investigate the incident.
“Marble Falls ISD does not condone any form of discrimination, and we would like players at East Central to know they have our full support,” the statement reads.
Prudhomme said she is asking for a “sincere public apology” from the students who made the noises. Her mother Pamela Prudhomme added that she would also like to see the students suspended.
In September, Katy Independent School District, also in Texas, launched an investigation into reports of spectators making monkey sounds at Patricia E. Paetow High School’s junior varsity volleyball team, made up of predominantly Black and Hispanic girls, during their game against Jordan High School.
Prudhomme, who hopes to play basketball in college and eventually make it to the WNBA, said she is grateful for the support she has received from her coaches, teammates and fans.
“I have a lot of love at my school,” she said. “It’s really building me up to become a stronger person.”
(WASHINGTON) — Measles is an “imminent threat” around the world, according to a new joint report released Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.
Despite a two-dose vaccine that is more than 97% effective at preventing infection being available for decades, gains made at beating back the potentially dangerous childhood disease have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report found that in 2021, nearly 40 million children — a record-high — missed a dose of the measles vaccine. Specifically, 25 million missed their first dose and 14.7 million missed their second dose.
“The paradox of the pandemic is that while vaccines against COVID-19 were developed in record time and deployed in the largest vaccination campaign in history, routine immunization programs were badly disrupted, and millions of kids missed out on life-saving vaccinations against deadly diseases like measles,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, in a statement.
“Getting immunization programs back on track is absolutely critical. Behind every statistic in this report is a child at risk of a preventable disease,” the statement continued.
To prevent the disease from spreading and to achieve herd immunity, the CDC and WHO say at least 95% of children need to receive the vaccine.
However, just 81% of children globally have received the first dose and 71% have received the second dose, the lowest coverage worldwide seen since 2008.
Consequently, there were 9 million cases of measles and 128,000 deaths around the world with at least 22 countries experiencing “large and disruptive outbreaks.”
“The record number of children under-immunized and susceptible to measles shows the profound damage immunization systems have sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic,” CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said in a statement. “Measles outbreaks illustrate weaknesses in immunization programs, but public health officials can use outbreak response to identify communities at risk, understand causes of under- vaccination, and help deliver locally tailored solutions to ensure vaccinations are available to all.”
(New York) — Donald Trump reported nearly $1 billion in operating losses over a two-year period about a decade ago, an accountant testified at the criminal trial of the Trump Organization, spilling into public tax information that the former president has tried repeatedly to keep private.
The accountant, Donald Bender, a partner at Mazars USA, the firm that prepared tax returns for Trump and his company, testified Tuesday that Trump reported losses each year for 10 years from 2009 to 2018.
“There are losses for all these years,” Bender said.
The disclosure at the Manhattan trial of Trump’s family business came the same day the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the IRS is required to turn over six years’ worth of Trump’s tax information to the House Ways and Means Committee.
Prosecutor Susan Hoffinger questioned Bender about Trump’s taxes during cross-examination as the trial nears an end. The Manhattan district attorney fought for nearly three years to obtain the records, including two appearances before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Hoffinger asked Bender about Trump’s losses in 2009 and 2010, when the company lost nearly $1 billion.
“Do you recall in 2010 Donald Trump had losses of almost $200 million on his personal tax returns?” Hoffinger asked.
“I believe so,” Bender said after examining the records.
“Do you recall in 2009, Donald Trump had, his personal tax returns had losses around $700 million?” Hoffinger followed.
“Sounds about right,” Bender replied.
The staggering losses belie the reputation Trump has carefully tried to cultivate as a shrewd and successful businessman. That image helped carry him to the White House once, with Trump hoping it will again as he now embarks on a new run for president.
The numbers largely mirrored a report in The New York Times in September 2020 when they acquired select portions of Trump’s tax returns.
Trump is not a defendant in the case and the line of questioning had no obvious connection to the tax scheme the Trump Organization is charged with carrying out over a 12-year period when former chief financial officer Allen Weisselberg and other executives were allegedly paid off the books with perks like rent, car leases and private school tuition.
Weisselberg, who has pleaded guilty and testified pursuant to a plea agreement with prosecutors, has aided the defense by saying he hatched the scheme out of his own greed and Trump was unaware. He also testified that the scheme helped the Trump Organization reduce its payroll taxes, assisting the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office prove there was a benefit to the company.
Bender was the first witness called by the defense, which has suggested it was his responsibility to alert the Trump Organization to any fraud but didn’t in order to keep a lucrative client happy.
“Fair to say the Trump account represented roughly two-thirds of the revenue you brought into Mazars?” asked defense attorney Bob Brennan.
“Closer to 60 [percent],” Bender replied.
“But it was your largest account?” Brennan asked. “Yes sir,” Bender said.
Prosecutors showed the jury a letter from Mazars that said the firm’s work for the Trump Organization “does not include any procedures designed to detect errors, irregularities, or illegal acts, including fraud or defalcations, should any exist.”
Bender appeared to help the prosecution when he testified that Weisselberg never told him the company was paying his rent and other personal expenses tax-free.
“At any time before the year 2021, did you actually know that The Trump Corporation and Donald Trump were paying these personal expenses as part of Allen Weisselberg’s compensation and not reporting them to the tax authorities?” Hoffinger asked.
“No, ma’am,” Bender answered.
“If you had known all of that at that time, what would you and Mazars have done?” Hoffinger asked.
“We would have had a serious conversation about continuing with the client,” Bender responded.
