(NESCOPECK, Pa.) — At least three people are dead and several remain unaccounted for after an intense fire tore through a home in central Pennsylvania on Friday, authorities said.
Crews responding to the early morning fire in Nescopeck could not initially get inside the home due to the flames and heat, according to Pennsylvania State Police Lt. Derek Felsman.
Three bodies have been found so far, with the victims ranging in age from 6 to 70, Felsman said. More fatalities are expected, he said.
Nescopeck volunteer firefighter Harold Baker, one of the first on scene, said 14 people were in the home, many of them family. He has not heard from 10 of them and expects he lost his son and daughter as well as several grandchildren and his father-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law.
“When we came, pulled up, the whole place was fully involved,” Baker told Scranton ABC affiliate WNEP. “We tried to get into them; there wasn’t no way we could get into them.”
The investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
ABC News’ Leo Mayorga contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to eastern Kentucky Monday to visit flood victims, the White House announced, despite another positive COVID-19 test Friday.
Physician to the president Dr. Kevin O’Connor said in a letter Biden’s cough “has almost completely resolved” and he will continue with “strict isolation measures,” after testing positive for the seventh day in a row Friday.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention quarantine and isolation guidelines recommend that people who test positive for COVID-19 isolate for at least five days after a first positive test and avoid traveling for a full 10 days.
The Bidens will join Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and his wife Britainy Beshear in meeting with families affected by the devastating flooding, according to the White House. At least 37 people died and at least two more remained unaccounted for as of a Friday morning news conference.
Over 500 people were being housed in state-run emergency shelters Friday. Biden declared a state of emergency in Kentucky on July 29, ordering federal aid to the affected counties and deploying a team from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to assist in rescue efforts.
“Our hearts break for the families of those who have lost their lives or are missing, and to all those who have been impacted,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre in a briefing the same day.
The trip will be the second disaster-related visit to Kentucky during Biden’s presidency. He traveled there in December after declaring a state of emergency over the deadly tornadoes that ravaged the region.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Will Gretzky and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Friday celebrated stronger than expected job growth in July as a strong economic sign as Democrats look to pass a major spending bill focused on climate, health care and tax policies.
Speaking from the Blue Room Balcony because he’s still isolation with COVID, Biden said the 528,000 jobs added in July marks 10 millions jobs created since he entered office.
“That’s the fastest job growth in history,” he said. “Today, we also matched the lowest unemployment rate in America in the last 50 years: 3.5%.”
White House officials initially prepared reporters for data indicating a slowdown in growth but the Bureau of Labor Statistics report marked a significant increase from the 372,000 jobs added in the month of June.
In marking a week of political wins, Biden also took a victory lap on lower gas prices, as costs at the pump have declined for 50 straight days.
JUST IN: Pres. Biden hails strong July jobs report: “Today there are more people working in America than before the pandemic began. In fact, there are more people working in America than at any point in American history.” https://t.co/u0fZFR8Yedpic.twitter.com/lkGEyaIQMm
Still, he acknowledged that a lot of Americans are still feeling the pain of inflation.
“Now, I know people will hear today’s extraordinary jobs report and say they don’t see it, they don’t feel it in their own lives,” he conceded. “I know how hard it is. I know it’s hard to feel good about job creation when you already have a job, and you’re dealing with rising prices, food and gas and so much more.”
More relief could soon be coming, he said, from the Inflation Reduction Act — a $740 billion spending bill Democrats are looking to pass through a fast-track process known as reconciliation.
Biden homed in on provisions in the bill that will allow Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices and provide incentives for Americans to invest in clean energy.
The president said they’re “on the cusp” of passing the legislation after Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., announced Thursday she would move forward with the bill after getting a tax provision she opposed removed from the legislative text.
Sinema was the last holdout and is a critical vote as Democrats need the support of all 50 caucus members to pass the bill amid expected unanimous opposition from Republicans in the chamber.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has teed up the first vote to begin debate on the bill on Saturday afternoon.
Biden said the bill is a “game changer for working families and our economy.”
“You know, I know most families are focused on just putting three meals on the table, taking care of their kids and paying their bills,” he said. “Helping you do that is my job.”
(WASHINGTON) — Fallout continued Friday from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan as China announced it is canceling dialogue with the United States on military talks and climate change.
The Chinese foreign ministry said Friday that working meetings with the U.S. Department of Defense and China-U.S. Maritime Military Security Consultation Mechanism have been canceled as a result of Pelosi’s visit.
The ministry said it will also no longer be cooperating with the U.S. on climate change talks, drug control, repatriation of illegal immigrants, criminal investigations and combating transnational crimes.
These were seen as the remaining guardrails to a fraught U.S.-China relationship, but Beijing has long said that the only guardrail that matters is the “One China” principle — that the U.S. recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal government of China but only acknowledges the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China.
The action raises questions on the potential impact for global climate benchmarks, as China and the U.S. are the world’s top climate polluters. Just last year, the U.S. and China issued a joint pledge to take “enhanced climate actions” to meet the goals of the 2015 Paris climate agreement of limiting warming to below 2 degrees Celsius.
The White House “summoned” China’s ambassador Qin Gang over China’s provocative actions overnight, spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement.
“We made clear to the Ambassador that Beijing’s actions are of concern to Taiwan, to us, and to our partners around the world,” Kirby said.
Kirby also reaffirmed the U.S. commitment to the One China policy, as has Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Pelosi and members of a congressional delegation arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday despite warnings not to from mainland China. Pelosi, the highest-ranking American official to visit Taiwan in decades, said the trip — which also includes stops in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Malaysia — is about “advancing a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”
In response, China has also ramped up military drills and imposed new trade restrictions on Taiwan.
Kirby confirmed on Thursday that China launched an estimated 11 ballistic missiles towards Taiwan, impacting areas to the northeast, the east and southeast of the island.
“We condemn these actions, which are irresponsible and at odds with our long-standing goal of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and in the region,” Kirby said, calling China’s response an overreaction to Pelosi’s visit.
The U.S. expects these actions to continue over the coming days, Kirby said, noting the U.S. is “prepared” for what Beijing decides to do.
The Taiwanese Ministry of Defense released new numbers on Friday stating China’s deployed 68 fighter jets, 13 warships to the areas and waters around Taiwan. Taiwanese President President Tsai Ing-Wen said the nation remains on high alert.
Kirby said Thursday The USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier and its strike group would remain in the “general area to monitor the situation” and would actually “conduct standard air and maritime transits through the Taiwan Strait in the next few weeks.”
Blinken on Friday called China’s response a “serious overreaction.”
“The fact is, the speaker’s visit was peaceful,” the secretary of state said in between meetings at the ongoing Association of Southeast Asian Nations conference in Cambodia. “There is no justification to this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response.”
Pelosi herself commented on China’s reaction to the trip during a press conference Friday alongside the rest of the congressional delegation, stating Beijing was “probably using our visit as an excuse” for their missile strikes.
“Our friendship with Taiwan is a strong one,” she said. “It is bipartisan in the House and the Senate, overwhelming support for peace and the status quo in Taiwan.”
Republicans in Congress this week have applauded Pelosi’s trip, with more than half the GOP caucus in the Senate signing onto a statement backing her decision to go to Taiwan.
Pelosi has also been sanctioned by China, which means that neither she nor her family will be able to visit Mainland China, Hong Kong or Macau.
ABC News’ Molly Nagle, Lauren Minore and Joe Simonette contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Following its emergency authorization last month, just 7,300 doses of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine have been administered to Americans across the country, newly updated data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveals.
According to John Brownstein, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, the sluggish start may be, in part, due to the fact that the vaccines were not immediately made available after authorization, and thus, there could be some reporting delays
The total Novavax doses represent just a fraction of the shots put into arms each day, though the overall number of vaccines administered has plummeted in recent months.
In addition, the vaccine has not been widely available, with just 385 sites initially offering the Novavax vaccine out of the more than 53,000 locations with COVID-19 vaccines, Brownstein said. However, in recent days, that number has jumped to 986 sites, which Brownstein suggested may help boost uptake.
“A mix of lower access, limited promotion and a slowing of the vaccination campaign means that Novavax has not been of high priority for remaining unvaccinated Americans,” Brownstein said. “As supply increases, we could see increased access but it’s unlikely to make a real dent.”
In July, the Biden administration secured 3.2 million doses of Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine, in hopes that some unvaccinated Americans would get the shot.
A number of health experts had expressed their hope that some of the individuals, who are still hesitant to be vaccinated, would be more inclined to get the Novavax vaccine, because it is based on a more traditional protein-based technology, one already used for the flu vaccine and other shots, while Pfizer and Moderna vaccine platforms tapped a new genetic technology — with messenger RNA — to produce their vaccines.
“A more traditional delivery route has to be seen as incentive to convince those that have yet to roll up their sleeves,” Brownstein explained.
However, early indicators suggest that the authorization has yet to substantially move the needle with the most hesitant Americans.
Even so, health experts previously told ABC News that no matter how widespread the use of Novavax’s vaccine is, it will still save lives.
Nationally, there are still more than 26 million American adults who remain completely unvaccinated.
There has not been a significant bump in the number of people receiving a first COVID-19 dose since November 2021. Since then, the average number has steadily fallen to around 50,000 first shots, administered across all eligible age groups, each day.
(KALAMAZOO, Mich.) — Federal prosecutors have charged a 25-year-old man for allegedly setting a Michigan Planned Parenthood clinic on fire.
Joshua Brereton allegedly set fire to the Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo on July 31 around 4 p.m., when the clinic was closed and no patients were inside, according to authorities.
Officials said the suspect breached the fence outside the clinic then used a fuel to ignite bushes surrounding the building before lighting a fireplace starter log that he threw onto the building’s roof.
Investigators found evidence that Brereton purchased torch fuel and a Duraflame starter log from a nearby Walmart, as well as a baseball cap that he apparently wore during the arson attack.
According to investigators, Brereton posted to his personal YouTube channel before the incident, where he spoke about abortion policy in a video and called abortion “genocide.”
In the same video, officials said Brereton told viewers to “step out of your comfort zone” and lend a hand in the fight.
If convicted, Brereton faces up to 20 years in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of five years. It is currently unclear if Brereton has an attorney.
After the fire last week, Planned Parenthood of Michigan said its alarm systems appeared to have worked properly and it thanked firefighters for their quick response.
“As always, our top priority is the health and safety of our patients and staff, and we are grateful that no one was hurt,” Paula Thornton Greear, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Michigan, said in a statement to ABC News. “We remain committed to serving our patients — no matter what.”
According to officials, the fire was extinguished in less than ten minutes and only resulted in minimal damage to the exterior of the clinic. The clinic was able to open at 1 p.m. the next day, according to the clinic’s website.
“Yesterday I saw the destruction at Planned Parenthood in Kalamazoo with my own eyes. This is a heinous and reprehensible act and I am hopeful that law enforcement will bring the person responsible to justice,” Michigan state Sen. Sean McCann tweeted Aug. 1.
The fire was set just one day before a Michigan judge ruled to temporarily block the state’s 1931 abortion ban. The block came just hours after a different judge ruled to allow the state to prosecute based on the law.
“This lack of legal clarity — that took place within the span of a workday — is yet another textbook example of why the Michigan Supreme Court must take up my lawsuit against the 1931 extreme abortion ban as soon as possible,” Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said in a statement that day.
(NEW YORK) — Ten miners remain trapped underground in a flooded tunnel in northern Mexico on Friday after first becoming trapped nearly two days ago.
Mexican officials said the incident was reported around 1:35 p.m. on Wednesday, when miners allegedly encountered a tunnel filled with water that then flooded the Sabinas mine.
There were 15 miners inside when the flooding began, but rescuers were able to extract five of them on Wednesday, according to officials.
The remaining miners are trapped between two 200-foot deep mine shafts, with half of the area flooded with water, authorities said.
Laura Velazquez, Mexico’s national coordinator of civil protection, said on Thursday that authorities are now working to pump water out of the flooded areas of the mine.
“We have not slept, we are working day and night, uninterrupted,” Velazquez said at a briefing Thursday.
Velazquez said officials are strategically using the pumps to extract the greatest amount of water and gain access to the miners inside as soon as possible.
No one has had contact with the 10 miners who remain trapped since Wednesday.
Six special force divers arrived from the National Guard on Thursday morning, but officials had not given updates on their mission as of Friday morning.
Gov. Miguel Riquelme of Coahuila and Zaragoza state visited the Sabinas mine, located about 75 miles southeast of the Texas border, on Thursday.
Riquelme tweeted that work was being done through three wells to extract water using eight specialized pumps. Seventeen additional pumping teams with more resources were being called in, he added.
Riquelme said 150 people were working on the rescue, with officials from the Mexican Office of National Defense, the National Guard and expert rescuers from the Carboniferous region adding to the effort.
“The rescue work at the Agujita coal mine continues without rest, #Sabinas,” Riquelme tweeted on Thursday evening.
This is the third mining incident in Sabinas since 2006; 65 people were killed that year in a mining blast, followed by another 14 miners that were trapped and confirmed dead after a different explosion in 2011.
Officials have not yet begun investigating this new incident’s cause.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said in his daily press briefing on Thursday that investigations will have to come later.
“Those responsible — the permits, the inspections, everything, all of that — we are leaving until after. We already have the basic information. But let’s not talk about that now, let’s look to save the miners,” he said.
The specific mine shaft where 10 workers are now trapped only began operations in January 2022, the secretary of Labor and Social Welfare said in a statement. However, the agency said there has been “no history of complaints of any type of anomaly.”
(WASHINGTON) — Two Wisconsin residents have died following a lightning strike near the White House on Thursday night, police confirmed to ABC News Friday.
Police said 76-year-old James Mueller and 75-year-old Donna Meuller, both from Janesville, Wisconsin, died after being injured in the strike in Lafayette Park in front of the White House.
Thursday night, D.C. Fire and EMS said it had responded and was treating four patients that were found in “the vicinity of a tree.”
It said the two men and two women were transported to area hospitals with “life-threatening injuries.”
Officials said it’s still unclear what the adults were doing prior to the lightning strike, if they knew each other and why they were in the park.
Uniformed U.S. Park Police officers and members of the Secret Service were also on the scene and immediately rendered aid to the victims, an EMS official said during a news conference.
The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area Thursday evening.
ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Tuesday night’s lopsided result in the Kansas abortion referendum — which saw the anti-abortion measure defeated some 59-41 in a traditionally red state — has Democrats and Republicans wondering if the post-Roe fight over the social issue marks a sea change in the midterm landscape or a less dramatic shift in an environment that still favors the GOP.
The proposed amendment, which gave voters a direct choice over whether or not to strip the state constitution’s abortion protections, marked the first tangible answer to the question of how June’s Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade will influence the electorate.
Turnout in the summertime primary spiked to nearly the same level of the 2018 midterm general election. And with an approximately 18-point win for abortion access advocates in one of the nation’s conservative bastions, debate is underway among many over whether that victory could ripple outward.
Democrats who spoke with ABC News insist they have a new lease on life after being pummeled by President Joe Biden’s low approval rating, historic inflation, high gas prices, the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and more.
Republicans, meanwhile, insist the wind is still at their backs — though even some GOP operatives acknowledge the Kansas results indicate that their gains could be curtailed as the party largely embraces a strict anti-abortion agenda.
“If I were a Republican House or Senate candidate or a Republican strategist, I would be panicking right now,” said Democratic strategist Jon Reinish. “Voters are furious, and voters are mobilized. Looking at [Tuesday’s] extremely definitive results, I think that this scrambles a lot of conventional wisdom and calculations on the whole midterm landscape this November.”
Had the amendment passed, it would have offered the GOP-controlled state legislature a path to restricting or banning abortion, continuing a pattern seen in other conservative areas of the country. Kansas law currently allows most abortions to take place up to 22 weeks in a pregnancy.
However, Tuesday night’s results marked a comprehensive win for abortion rights supporters in a state former President Donald Trump won by nearly 15 points just two years ago and where registered Republicans outpace registered Democrats by hundreds of thousands.
In a sign of intense enthusiasm on the issue, the vote against the amendment significantly outran President Joe Biden’s showing in Kansas in 2020.
Abortion access supporters won in Shawnee County, home of Topeka, by a 66-34 margin Tuesday. Biden won the county by only 3 points in 2020.
The same trend followed in Kansas’ rural expanses. In Hamilton County, for example, abortion opponents only defeated the amendment by about 12 points, whereas Trump beat Biden in the county in 2020 by 65 points.
Democratic operatives cited that as persuasive evidence of an argument they’ve made since before Roe’s demise: Abortion has the power to supercharge turnout in a midterm cycle that was previously expected to be characterized by a depressed Democratic base, given Biden’s unpopularity and economic headwinds.
“When voters know that abortion is on the ballot, they show up and they send a resounding message,” said Democratic pollster Molly Murphy. “Republicans are on the wrong side of that message, and as voters learn what Republicans’ priorities are if they take power, it is incredibly encouraging to see the way voters will respond.”
“Voters understand the difference between the parties on abortion, and they are increasingly seeing Republicans take steps to ban it,” Murphy said, “which can help create a real choice between the two parties.”
Leading Democrats seized on the results Wednesday.
“The voters of Kansas sent a powerful signal that this fall the American people will vote to preserve and protect the rights and refuse to let them be ripped away by politicians,” Biden said in remarks before his interagency task force meeting on reproductive health care.
“The people of Kansas spoke yesterday, and they spoke loud and clear. They said this is not a partisan issue,” Vice President Kamala Harris added in her own remarks. “The women of America should not be the subject of partisan debate or perspective.”
It’s still unclear, though, how much voter enthusiasm on that one issue will translate to Democratic support.
Biden’s approval ratings have been stuck in the 30s, weakened in part by dissatisfaction among his base that key campaign promises are mired in the narrowly divided Congress, stymied by legal and administrative uncertainty or blocked by the courts.
ABC News polls and other surveys have also shown that economic issues remain top of mind for voters in a cycle that won’t feature many more single-issue referendums like the one in Kansas.
On top of those dynamics, some Republican strategists and pollsters cautioned against extrapolating the results of a unique abortion referendum onto the more typical midterm races this fall.
“A difficult-to-pass constitutional amendment ballot issue in a state does not erase two years of mismanagement, higher costs and incredible dysfunction in Washington,” said GOP pollster Robert Blizzard. “For those on the left and in the media breathlessly trying to change the political headwinds facing the Democratic Party, they should be reminded the midterm elections will not be an up-or-down [vote] on codifying abortion but instead a referendum on Biden, the economy and dysfunction in D.C.”
On top of that, the timing of Tuesday’s referendum could offer advice to Republicans running this November on how to message on abortion to avoid the significant backlash seen in Kansas.
Democrats have been pouncing on some states’ efforts to outright ban abortion, even in instances of rape and incest — proposals some Republicans said should be avoided.
“This result does not mean pro-choice candidates are going to win in a rout this November. Other issues are still far more important, and candidates are a bundle of issues. The key for Republican candidates is to back away from a total ban and get in line with public opinion, including conservative opinion, that favors time limits and exceptions for the mother’s health,” said one GOP strategist.
Still, Republicans conceded they may have to temper their expectations for the fall.
Last year’s election results in Virginia, where now-Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin won by 2 points in a state Biden took by 10 points in 2020, had the GOP boasting that even congressional districts Biden won by 10 points were no longer safe.
But with such a potent and prominent issue giving Democrats late momentum, operatives now say Republicans’ target lists may face a crunch even as their chances of flipping the House remain strong.
“There’s no doubt overturning Roe has given Democrats some momentum,” said one GOP strategist working on midterm races. “It seems the front-line races this fall won’t be as far down as a lot of folks had hoped. I think realistically we’re back to where D+5 districts are the front-line battles this fall.”
(LAUREL, Neb.) — Foul play is suspected after four people were found dead at multiple homes in a small Nebraska town Thursday morning following reports of an explosion and fires, authorities said.
A suspect is in custody, Nebraska State Patrol announced Friday morning. More details on the suspect and arrest are forthcoming.
Nebraska State Patrol Superintendent Col. John Bolduc said during a press briefing Thursday afternoon that state and local authorities were “investigating multiple crime scenes” in Laurel, in northeastern Nebraska.
Authorities first responded to a home shortly after 3 a.m. after a 911 caller reported an explosion at the residence, Bolduc said. There was a fire at the home, he said.
Once inside, responding officers and deputies found one person dead, he said.
While at the first home, a fire was reported at a second home three blocks away, Bolduc said. Three people were found dead inside that home, he said.
Bolduc said foul play is suspected in the four deaths, and that responders at the second home worked to preserve any evidence while putting out the fire.
A Nebraska State Patrol statement after the fires were suppressed said “gunfire is suspected to have played a part” in both homes.
Authorities were searching for a silver sedan in connection with the investigation, Bolduc said Thursday. The car was initially reported leaving Laurel shortly after the second fire was reported, and the male driver may have picked up a passenger before leaving the town, he said. The later Nebraska State Patrol statement indicated the car may have left the town later than initially reported.
Fire investigators believe accelerants may have been used in both fires at the homes, said Bolduc, noting that the suspect or suspects may have burn injuries.
Authorities are working with local residents and businesses to obtain any relevant security camera footage as part of their investigation.
The identities of the victims will be released pending family notification, and a cause of death will be determined following an autopsy, Bolduc said.
It is too early in the investigation to determine any connection between the victims, or if this can be characterized as a domestic incident, Bolduc said.
Cedar County Sheriff Larry Koranda said Thursday the community of 1,000 is shaken by what happened.
“Everybody knows everybody in this small community,” he said.
