(WASHINGTON) — United States Capitol Police said Monday they arrested a man in a truck who was armed with multiple knives, a bayonet and a machete near the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington.
A Special Operation Division Officer noticed a Dodge Dakota pickup truck with a swastika and other white supremacist symbols painted on it while on patrol around midnight outside of the DNC, according to a press release from U.S. Capitol Police. The truck allegedly had a picture of an American flag where the license plate should have been.
Capitol Police say Donald Craighead, a 44-year-old man from California told them “he was “on patrol” and began talking about white supremacist ideology and other rhetoric pertaining to white supremacy.”
He was arrested on prohibited weapons charges.
“This is good police work plain and simple,” said Capitol Police Chief Tom Manger. “We applaud the officers’ keen observation and the teamwork that resulted in this arrest.”
It is unclear if he was attempting to attend any upcoming demonstrations, Capitol Police said.
The development comes as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called a briefing for lawmakers from U.S. Capitol Police on Monday concerning ongoing security threats ahead of a planned demonstration at the Capitol on Saturday in support of those arrested during the Jan. 6 attack.
Fencing outside U.S. Capitol is expected to return ahead of the “Justice for J6” rally, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to ABC News.
The fencing, erected after Jan. 6, was removed in July.
(LOS ANGELES) — Every weekend, Shirley Raines gets up early to head to Skid Row, a neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles known for its struggles with homelessness and poverty.
At Skid Row, Raines wears many different hats: she’s a makeup artist, a hair technician, a provider and a mother figure. She gives makeovers, dyes hair, hands out food and sends her clients off with a warm, “I love you.”
Beauty 2 The Streetz, a group started by Raines herself, has served hundreds, if not thousands, of homeless people in the region for six years. She and her team provide those in need with hot showers, hygiene products and other necessities to make life easier for those living on the streets.
Raines has begun documenting her work, and the stories of the people she serves, on social media, earning millions of views and likes on TikTok. In the comments section, she fends off stigma against homeless and impoverished communities. But she hopes her videos remind viewers that her clients are just as deserving of love, happiness and a good life.
“I would like for people to understand and know that at any given time, this could be you,” Raines said, referring to those living with homelessness. “How come we taught society that these people are to be blamed for their circumstances?”
How Beauty 2 The Streetz began
In 1987, Raines lost her son Demetrius just days before his third birthday. She spent years mourning, looking for answers to her loss and pain.
Six years ago, in an effort to make sense of her grief, she stumbled upon a friend at church who was off to feed the homeless and invited her along. That was the start of Raines’s path to Beauty 2 The Streetz.
“I think it just hit me — that I’ve got to do something with this pain,” Raines said. “I never expected this work to be so healing for me.”
She continued her work at Skid Row with a local charity organization at first, and soon enough, she was known as the “makeup lady.” Raines always rolled up with a full face of makeup and a head of colorful hair when she volunteered. It quickly grabbed the attention of her clients.
She began to provide hair and makeup services herself, fully funded with her own money. And though the makeup and hair skills of her and her team help others look and feel great, she says it’s the connections and friendships that keep her clients coming back.
“I really, really in my heart do not think it’s the hair color or the makeup, I think it’s the time that someone spends with them,” Raines said. “It’s the time that someone spends touching them, it’s the time someone spends catering to them. … A lot of people don’t even look in the mirror, girl!”
There’s a brightness in their eyes when they walk away from the salon chair. That joy is healing for Raines, but she also knows that’s not enough.
Though she offers help and assistance in the ways that she can, she is adamant that local officials do the work to address systemic issues of poverty, addiction and violence that plague the neighborhood.
Improving Skid Row
Skid Row has one of the largest stable homeless populations in the United States, with roughly 3,000 homeless people out on the streets, according to the Community Redevelopment Agency of the city of Los Angeles.
It’s a heavily condensed area; the Community Redevelopment Agency reports that the neighborhood contains roughly 3% of the county’s homeless population, yet it makes up only 0.0001% of the county’s total land area.
“It’s one of the most dangerous areas in Los Angeles,” Raines said. “It’s considered toxic, it’s considered an area that’s filled with dangerous people and people who have been dismissed by life.”
But she denounces that understanding of the Skid Row community, a fact evident in her TikTok videos, which she hopes can crush the stereotypes and preconceived notions of homeless people that her viewers have.
Kirkpatrick Tyler, director of Skid Row Strategy at the Mayor’s Office of Public Engagement, said that the work to improve Skid Row and the conditions of life there is ongoing.
Tyler said initiatives on mental health care, substance abuse rehabilitation, violence and affordable housing are in progress, building on years of attempts to address these issues. He said community members are helping lead the discussions on how to move the city forward.
“Skid Row is full of vibrant people with big hearts that believe in themselves, that believe in one another, and that are committed and dedicated to transforming that community,” Tyler said.
“For our office, that was actually one of the first things that we had to address — that we were no longer going to speak about Skid Row as an area in downtown that had a homeless problem, that we would speak about Skid Row as a community,” he added.
He said efforts like Raines’ help give people that human connection that makes the neighborhood the community that it is.
Turning strangers into friends
Every time she hands out food or works on someone’s hair, Raines tells her clients that she loves them. She never expected them to say it back, but since her son’s death, she knew how important and impactful those words can be.
“I love you” were some of the last words she told her son before he died. Now, those words are said back to her every time she heads to Skid Row.
“It’s so funny when I watch back videos, there are random strangers coming to my window like, ‘OK, love you, see you next week.’ I’m like, ‘Oh, OK, love you too,'” Raines said, laughing. “It just feels good, because I know how hard it is to trust when life hasn’t been kind to you, people haven’t been kind to you.”
And though nothing can heal the wound of a lost child, Raines said she finds solace and recovery in her work. She reminds her viewers to have compassion for people experiencing homelessness — and to give back to those in need as much as possible.
She thanks the many donors on social media who have already helped her fund the initiative.
“We think that they’re a burden to society but they’re not a burden to society. Society is a burden to them,” Raines said. “The goal in life is not to have as much as you can; the goal in life is to give as much as you can.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — Fourteen content providers in China including Tencent and Weibo are promising a “healthy” cyberspace environment as Chinese authorities expand control over the entertainment industry.
The China Association of Performing Arts, an organization affiliated with the Chinese government, summoned representatives from content providers last Friday to discuss ways to promote contents with positive values in order to “clear” the cyberspace.
“The platforms would strengthen their management of accounts and restrict those that spread baseless star gossip or stir up conflicts between fan groups,” the association said on its WeChat statement Saturday, just a week after China’s major microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, restricted the use of 21 fan club accounts.
Weibo’s crackdown on fan accounts took place shortly after an extravagant birthday celebration event for a K-pop star went viral on Twitter on Sept. 5. Fans following the Weibo account “JiMIN JMC,” a fan community for BTS member Jimin, raised money to plaster an airplane with his photo. Weibo blocked the fan page from writing new posts for 60 days, explaining that the procedure for collecting money was not legitimate.
“Irrational star-chasing behavior, when found, should be dealt with seriously,” Weibo said on its official website, referring to the fundraising activities of fandoms. “The company promptly banned 21 accounts for 30 days, and erased related inappropriate posts.”
The statement also said that stricter oversight of the fan groups would “purify” the online atmosphere and fulfill the platform’s responsibilities to society.
“Since China is a one-party state under a strict communist ideology, other social media companies will follow suit without any resistance once the authorities take control of one large company,” Kim Hern-sik, a commentator who studies and analyzes K-pop, told ABC News. “[For] Weibo, being the most influential social media in China, there will be setbacks in selling K-pop goods and keeping up online fan communities within the country.”
The Chinese government has been clear that it intends to have pop culture under control this year. Last month, the Cyberspace Administration of China posted a guideline to take care of “disorderly fandom management.” The guidelines include restricting minors from spending money on fan club activities and giving entertainment agencies the responsibility of managing fan clubs. There is strong solidarity among fan-made communities on Weibo and Twitter that raise funds for birthday events and gifts for celebrities, but the Chinese government depicted the particular fan culture as “chaotic.”
“Do not induce fans to consume. One should not organize contests to encourage or stimulate consumption,” the Cyberspace Administration of China clearly states in its guidelines published on Aug. 27. China’s National Radio and Television Administration went on to ban broadcasters and internet platforms from organizing “marketing activities to stimulate fan consumption” in a notice on Sept. 2.
Following the announcements, QQ Music and Tencent’s music streaming service in China decided to restrict customers from purchasing more than one copy of an album online.
Album sales are considered an index of popularity for pop stars. According to the South Korean music chart Hanteo, China had the third largest share of K-pop album sales verified on the Hanteo website in the first half of 2021 among 96 countries, following the U.S. and Malaysia.
The largest Twitter fan community of BLACK PINK member Lisa informed followers it would not be able to order as many copies of Lisa’s new album as planned.
“As we are writing this, we are sorry to inform you that we may not be able to order as many copies as we had expected. We have run into unexpected obstacles with tightened restrictions on fan clubs,” the account said in a tweet Aug. 31.
Last Thursday, China’s National Radio and Television Administration announced that Chinese media should stop effeminate male celebrities as well as celebrities who are not politically vocal from appearing on television.
“Tackling down people’s fan community participation cannot be finished at one stroke, but it seems the Chinese authorities will continue expanding its influence step by step,” Kweon Sang Hee, a professor at Sungkyunkwan University, told ABC News.
(NEW YORK) — When Lt. Nathan Brashear saw the call for National Guard service members to help as hospitals were reaching a crisis point during Kentucky’s delta surge, he didn’t hesitate to volunteer.
For about two weeks, Brashear, a member of the Kentucky Army National Guard, has been leading a team of 30 National Guard members at The Medical Center at Bowling Green, doing “everything little thing” they can to help give the hospital staff a much-needed break.
“That’s one thing that makes this mission so important to us as soldiers,” Brashear, who was a deputy jailor before he went on active-duty orders, told ABC News. “We live and work in these communities. So for us to be able to support the communities is something that really impacts us.”
In recent weeks, several states have deployed hundreds of National Guard service members to help overwhelmed and understaffed hospitals, as COVID-19 hospitalization rates have reached points not seen during the pandemic.
The service members are not doing clinical work, but instead offering administrative and logistical support so hospital staff can focus on patient care. That could be anything from taking patients to appointments to cleaning beds to serving and clearing food.
“This is really the latest in demonstrated need that we’re seeing, obviously across the state and nation, that a lot of these hospitals are feeling the strain — both increased patients and a decrease in the available personnel to really help take care of everybody,” Lt. Col. Stephen Martin, director of public affairs for the Kentucky National Guard, told ABC News. “Our main mission there is really just to offload the logistical and administrative support that those hospitals have so that the full-timers there can better care for the needs of the patients that are coming in.”
The Kentucky National Guard was winding down its pandemic response, which has included helping set up drive-through COVID-19 testing sites and assisting food banks, when, about three weeks ago, it was called for the first time during the pandemic to assist hospitals overburdened by COVID-19 patients — most of them unvaccinated.
The size of National Guard teams and length of their deployment varies by hospital size and demand, and will stay as long as they can in whatever capacity is needed, Martin said.
“We as Guardsmen fancy ourselves as Swiss Army knives. We’ve got multiple skillsets, not only in what we’re trained on but being able to accomplish the mission before us,” he said. “We can send a small team into the hospital and say, ‘Here’s your left and right limits, these are the things that we want you to focus on and provide support to, and more than anything, just help these folks out.'”
“They’re in a bad way and we’re really just helping to alleviate that workload for a little it, let them catch their breath and catch up and really focus on the needs of the patients in the hospital,” he added.
Over two-thirds of Kentucky hospitals have critical staffing shortages as they’re overrun with COVID-19 patients, and doctors are “quickly approaching” the point where they would need to ration care, Gov. Andy Beshear told CNN on Wednesday.
More than 100 soldiers and airmen had already been deployed to four hospitals, including The Medical Center at Bowling Green, when Beshear announced Friday that over 300 more will be sent to 21 additional hospitals in the state’s largest-ever National Guard deployment for a health crisis.
“Our hospitals are at a breaking point,” Beshear said during a COVID-19 briefing Friday. “We have 93 total ICU beds left statewide. That is one of the lowest numbers, I think they would tell you, in our lifetime.”
The announcement came a day after Kentucky set new records for its statewide COVID-19 testing positivity rate, reaching 14%, and the number of patients on ventilators, the governor said.
Kentucky is not the only state to turn to the National Guard for COVID-19-related hospital support in recent weeks.
Late last month, Idaho Gov. Brad Little announced the state was deploying up to 150 Guardsmen, among other personnel, to help overwhelmed hospitals.
More than 600 patients are hospitalized with COVID-19 in Idaho, the highest on record for the state, as the number of intensive care unit beds dwindles and hospital staff are stretched thin. On Tuesday, Idaho public health leaders announced they had activated “crisis standards of care” for the state’s northern hospitals, enabling them to ration care.
In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown announced last month she was deploying up to 1,500 National Guard members to hospitals around the state to provide support.
The service members have been met by applause by grateful health care workers as they’ve arrived at their hospitals.
Over the past few weeks, they’ve helped with nonclinical tasks, including screening visitors at hospital entrances, manning COVID-19 hotlines and changing patients’ bedding in the ICU.
Some have even used their talents to boost morale. Senior Airman Skadi Freyr of the Oregon National Guard has been playing piano during her lunch break while working at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland.
“A beautiful moment of someone in uniform who was blessing us on her break with some beautiful music, which really was grounding for me, to remind me of the beauty and the good in the midst of this really hard time,” OHSU oncology social worker Jen Smith told the Oregon National Guard last week.
Freyr said she doesn’t have any plans to stop playing after seeing the impact on staff.
“Now that I’ve seen that it has such a good sort of healing effect on people, it makes me more driven to do it, because I know that it’s really gonna just help them,” she said. “And I really like to be of service.”
(NEW YORK) — North Korean officials announced they test-fired long-range missiles this weekend.
The “long-range cruise missiles” were launched on Saturday and Sunday and allegedly hit a target 1,500 kilometers away, officials said on North Korea’s state-run media.
The missiles flew for over two hours, according to the report.
The officials claimed the test was successful, and said the missile is “a strategic weapon of great significance,” to North Korea’s defense plans.
Although the report said several top North Korean leaders and scientists were in attendance for the launches, there was no mention of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un being present.
South Korean officials have not yet commented on the test launch.
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Nicholas is closing in on Texas where a hurricane watch has been issued along the coast.
Nicholas, now churning with 60 mph winds, could strengthen to a hurricane when it makes landfall Monday (hurricanes have 74 mph or higher winds).
Nicholas is slow moving and will likely remain in Texas from Monday to Wednesday.
Flash flooding is possible along the Texas coast, including Houston. Some areas could see about 1 foot of rain.
Storm surge could be as high as 5 feet south of Galveston.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner in a tweet Monday morning urged residents to stay off the roads.
In Louisiana, where residents are still recovering from the devastating hurricanes Laura and Ida, Gov. John Bel Edwards has declared a state of emergency.
“The most severe threat to Louisiana is in the Southwest portion of the state, where recovery from Hurricane Laura and the May flooding is ongoing. In this area heavy rain and flash flooding are possible,” the governor said in a statement. “However, it is also likely that all of South Louisiana will see heavy rain this week, including areas recently affected by Hurricane Ida. This tropical storm has the potential to disrupt some power restoration and recovery work currently underway.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 655,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 62.7% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Sep 12, 9:14 pm
Nearly 74% of eligible Americans have at least 1 vaccine dose
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest vaccine numbers Sunday afternoon and revealed that over 209.2 million Americans 12 and older have received a COVID-19 vaccine dose.
That represents 73.8% of all Americans 12 and older, the agency said.
In 13 states, over 80% of the population has at least one dose, CDC data shows.
Hawaii is in the lead, as 88% of its residents have at least one shot, according to the CDC. West Virginia is last, as just 54.6% of its residents over 12 have at least one dose, the CDC data shows.
More than 40.9 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
And more than 659,000 Americans have been killed by the virus.
Sep 11, 4:25 pm
West Hollywood orders restaurants, bars and gyms to require vaccination proof indoors
The city of West Hollywood, California, issued an emergency executive order Friday requiring patrons to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter the indoor portions of businesses such as restaurants, bars and gyms.
The order comes “as the transmission rate of the COVID-19 delta variant remains high in Los Angeles and throughout the entire nation,” the city said in news release.
Anyone 18 or older must show proof of vaccination prior to entering “any indoor portion of a facility, subject only to certain exceptions.” The requirement should be enacted “as soon as possible but no later than Oct. 11,” according to the order.
Individuals who do not provide proof of full vaccination will be allowed to use outdoor portions of business facilities.
Other businesses affected by the order include nightclubs, theaters, cannabis consumption lounges and entertainment venues as well as yoga studios and tattoo parlors.
Employees 18 and older and all affected businesses must “ensure all staff who routinely work onsite provide proof of full vaccination before entering or working in any indoor portion of the facility” by Nov. 1.
Sep 11, 3:01 pm
74 million in US eligible for vaccine but remain unvaccinated
Some 74 million Americans eligible for the vaccine still aren’t vaccinated, White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said Saturday.
Still, many are flocking to get their shots with “+903K doses reported administered over yesterday’s total,” Shahpar said, with 395,000 of them being new vaccinations.
Sep 10, 9:13 pm
Texas suing 6 school districts over mask mandates
The Texas attorney general has filed lawsuits against six school districts that mandate masks, the office said Friday.
The lawsuits target the school districts of Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring and Sherman for flouting Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting local entities from requiring masks — what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxon referred to in a statement as “acts of political defiance.”
In a statement to ABC News, Sylvia Wood, a spokesperson for Spring Independent School District, said the district had yet to be served and had no details about the lawsuit beyond a press release.
“Spring ISD will let the legal process unfold and allow the courts to decide the merits of the case,” Wood said.
Elgin Independent School District Superintendent Jodi Duron also told ABC News the school district had not been served yet, and that schools in Travis County, part of Elgin ISD, are required to have students wear masks. “To the District’s knowledge, the Travis County Order has not been suspended,” she said.
Round Rock Independent School District spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo told ABC News the school district is following Texas Education Agency guidance that allows for mask requirements “for adults or students for whom it is developmentally appropriate” and is working with local authorities “who advise us that masks remain an essential tool in stemming the spread of COVID-19 in our classrooms.”
Sherman Independent School District told ABC News in a statement that it had not received any information on the lawsuit yet and for now “will continue to focus on promoting a safe and healthy learning environment for our students and staff.”
ABC News has reached out to the other school districts for comment.
Nearly 90 school districts currently have mask mandates, according to a list compiled by Paxton’s office. The attorney general anticipates more lawsuits if school districts “continue to defy state law,” his office said in a statement.
Several school districts have sued the state to challenge the ban on mask mandates.
Last week, the Texas Education Agency said it is not enforcing the governor’s executive order “as the result of ongoing litigation.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.
More than 659,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Just 63% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 13, 9:35 am
North Carolina school board votes to stop quarantines, contact tracing
In Union County, North Carolina, the school board voted Monday to end quarantines and contact tracing, meaning students can go to school even if they’ve been in close contact with someone who tested positive, ABC Charlotte affiliate WSOC reported.
Students and staff can only stay home if they test positive or have symptoms, WSOC said.
Sep 12, 9:14 pm
Nearly 74% of eligible Americans have at least 1 vaccine dose
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released its latest vaccine numbers Sunday afternoon and revealed that over 209.2 million Americans 12 and older have received a COVID-19 vaccine dose.
That represents 73.8% of all Americans 12 and older, the agency said.
In 13 states, over 80% of the population has at least one dose, CDC data shows.
Hawaii is in the lead, as 88% of its residents have at least one shot, according to the CDC. West Virginia is last, as just 54.6% of its residents over 12 have at least one dose, the CDC data shows.
More than 40.9 million COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. since the pandemic began, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.
And more than 659,000 Americans have been killed by the virus.
Sep 11, 4:25 pm
West Hollywood orders restaurants, bars and gyms to require vaccination proof indoors
The city of West Hollywood, California, issued an emergency executive order Friday requiring patrons to show proof of COVID-19 vaccination to enter the indoor portions of businesses such as restaurants, bars and gyms.
The order comes “as the transmission rate of the COVID-19 delta variant remains high in Los Angeles and throughout the entire nation,” the city said in news release.
Anyone 18 or older must show proof of vaccination prior to entering “any indoor portion of a facility, subject only to certain exceptions.” The requirement should be enacted “as soon as possible but no later than Oct. 11,” according to the order.
Individuals who do not provide proof of full vaccination will be allowed to use outdoor portions of business facilities.
Other businesses affected by the order include nightclubs, theaters, cannabis consumption lounges and entertainment venues as well as yoga studios and tattoo parlors.
Employees 18 and older and all affected businesses must “ensure all staff who routinely work onsite provide proof of full vaccination before entering or working in any indoor portion of the facility” by Nov. 1.
Sep 11, 3:01 pm
74 million in US eligible for vaccine but remain unvaccinated
Some 74 million Americans eligible for the vaccine still aren’t vaccinated, White House COVID-19 Data Director Cyrus Shahpar said Saturday.
Still, many are flocking to get their shots with “+903K doses reported administered over yesterday’s total,” Shahpar said, with 395,000 of them being new vaccinations.
Sep 10, 9:13 pm
Texas suing 6 school districts over mask mandates
The Texas attorney general has filed lawsuits against six school districts that mandate masks, the office said Friday.
The lawsuits target the school districts of Richardson, Round Rock, Galveston, Elgin, Spring and Sherman for flouting Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting local entities from requiring masks — what Texas Attorney General Ken Paxon referred to in a statement as “acts of political defiance.”
In a statement to ABC News, Sylvia Wood, a spokesperson for Spring Independent School District, said the district had yet to be served and had no details about the lawsuit beyond a press release.
“Spring ISD will let the legal process unfold and allow the courts to decide the merits of the case,” Wood said.
Elgin Independent School District Superintendent Jodi Duron also told ABC News the school district had not been served yet, and that schools in Travis County, part of Elgin ISD, are required to have students wear masks. “To the District’s knowledge, the Travis County Order has not been suspended,” she said.
Round Rock Independent School District spokesperson Jenny LaCoste-Caputo told ABC News the school district is following Texas Education Agency guidance that allows for mask requirements “for adults or students for whom it is developmentally appropriate” and is working with local authorities “who advise us that masks remain an essential tool in stemming the spread of COVID-19 in our classrooms.”
Sherman Independent School District told ABC News in a statement that it had not received any information on the lawsuit yet and for now “will continue to focus on promoting a safe and healthy learning environment for our students and staff.”
ABC News has reached out to the other school districts for comment.
Nearly 90 school districts currently have mask mandates, according to a list compiled by Paxton’s office. The attorney general anticipates more lawsuits if school districts “continue to defy state law,” his office said in a statement.
Several school districts have sued the state to challenge the ban on mask mandates.
Last week, the Texas Education Agency said it is not enforcing the governor’s executive order “as the result of ongoing litigation.”
(ATLANTA) — Four people are injured and at least two people unaccounted for after an explosion rocked an apartment complex in an Atlanta suburb Sunday afternoon, first responders said.
At 1:24 p.m. the Dunwoody, Georgia, police department received a call about the explosion at the Arrive Apartments, a luxury apartment complex roughly 15 miles north of downtown Atlanta.
At least 15 to 20 units of the three-story building were damaged in the blast, Dunwoody Deputy Fire Chief Melvin Carter told reporters at a news conference Sunday afternoon. Jaeson Daniels with DeKalb County Fire Rescue told ABC News that four people were transported to the hospital with minor injuries.
Two people were unaccounted for, he said.
“Right now we’re still searching a building, we had a lot of structural damage and structural instability to the building,” Carter said.
First responders were using thermal imaging from drones to search the building, according to officials.
Daniels said that the explosion impacted three apartment units across three floors.
A leasing manager called Atlanta Gas prior to the explosion about a reported gas order, Carter said. But the cause of the explosion is still under investigation, Daniels said.
The utility is at the scene of the explosion, assisting first responders, Carter said. A spokeswoman Atlanta Gas Light told ABC News that the utility is cooperating with the emergency response.
The gas has been shut off in the impacted buildings, the spokeswoman said.
(NEW YORK) — If you want to find the best deals for holiday flights, experts say you will find the lowest prices of the season this week.
Airlines are being forced to drop fares this fall as business travelers that used to fill the skies are opting to work from home.
Nationwide domestic fares are projected to plummet 10% this month, with tickets expected to average $260 round trip, according to travel-booking app Hopper.
The cheapest destination this fall is Fort Lauderdale at $169 roundtrip — the only destination in the country that is still under $200.
Outdoor destinations are still overwhelming popular, Hopper says, with flights to Colorado Springs averaging $243.
International fares are also hitting record lows.
Flights from Washington D.C. to Dublin are a mere $281, and a ticket from Los Angeles to Paris will only cost you $305.
“We are seeing great prices to Europe, historically low in fact,” Hopper Economist Adit Damodaran told ABC News. “And as we approach Thanksgiving, we’re expecting prices for European travel to not only be lower than pre-pandemic 2019 airfares but also lower than 2020 airfares.”
If you are monitoring flights for Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Hanukkah, analysts say these low prices won’t last long.
“We found that the absolute cheapest prices are going to start appearing around mid-September or this week,” Damodaran said. “Make sure you’re booking at least four weeks in advance, at least three weeks in advance for Thanksgiving as well.”
Hopper predicts fliers will face an 11% increase in fares by November, making Halloween the cut-off for finding any potential deals.
“We expect that prices will remain relatively low until about Halloween, so that’s kind of the day where if you know you get to Halloween, that’s when you should definitely book if you haven’t booked yet,” Damodaran said. “Because after Halloween, we’re expecting prices for Thanksgiving to start rising about 40% for domestic and international flights for Christmas.”
Scott Keyes, founder of Scott’s Cheap Flights and author of “Take More Vacations,” recommends at the very least starting to monitor flights you are thinking of taking in November or December.
“Right now we are in that sort of Goldilocks window when cheap flights are most likely to pop up,” Keyes said, “And so now is when you should be monitoring and pulling the trigger when you see a flight price that you really like that’s attractive to you for the particular route that you’re hoping to fly.”
He said you could wind up paying double the price if you wait another few weeks.
“Be one of those folks planning ahead, getting the better deals that we’re seeing pop up now,” he recommended, “and don’t be one of the folks who put it off and procrastinate and wind up paying double the price for their flights than folks who booked ahead.”
