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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge appeared inclined Wednesday to enter a permanent ruling barring the Trump administration from implementing an executive order targeting the law firm of Perkins Coie, after repeatedly pressing a government attorney over whether President Donald Trump’s sweeping efforts to target the legal community run afoul of the Constitution.

U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell, who Trump criticized on social media earlier Wednesday over her assignment to the case, suggested repeatedly in the hearing that the administration’s efforts to target law firms who had represented or hired Trump’s political opponents echoed the repression of McCarthyism and the “Red Scare” era in American history.

Trump’s executive order, which cited Perkins Coie’s former representation of Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign, sought to strip security clearances from the firm’s layers, virtually halt any dealings with the federal government and restrict its attorneys from accessing most federal buildings.

Trump has issued similar executive orders targeting four other law firms, while at least nine law firms have entered into controversial deals with the White House, offering millions of dollars in pro bono work on causes supported by conservatives to avoid being targeted.

Howell and three other federal judges overseeing legal challenges brought by law firms targeted by the White House have voiced concerns about the constitutionality of the White House’s actions, and have granted requests from the firms to temporarily bar the administration from enforcing them as litigation plays out.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Deputy Associate Attorney General Richard Lawson repeatedly sought to defend the executive order as lawful, arguing that Trump’s views about the firm reflected his right to free speech and that the administration has broad discretion to raise national security concerns about a law firm’s work.

But Howell was highly skeptical of those defenses and only grew more frustrated as Lawson refused to answer direct questions about the purpose of the executive order.

“The purpose was not to force Perkins to its knees?” Howell asked.

“I don’t view it that way,” Lawson replied.

At one point in the hearing, Judge Howell chastised the government for a memo sent to government agencies in the wake of her initial temporary restraining order that included “extra language” stating that the administration took the position Trump’s executive order was lawful and they believed her TRO was “erroneous.”

“I’ll be honest — it struck me as sort of a temper tantrum by the Department of Justice and OMB,” Howell said, referencing the Office of Management and Budget. “Worthy of a three year old — not the Department of Justice and OMB.”

Dane Butswinkas, a lawyer for Perkins Coie, argued the executive order plainly retaliates against Perkins Coie, and that the Trump administration has failed to demonstrate how the move protects national security.

“This is exactly the kind of conduct the Constitution forbids,” Butswinkas said, calling the order a “complete sham.”

Comparing the order to the worst of the government’s actions during the Red Scare, Butswinkas urged Judge Howell to defend the rule of law by blocking the order from taking effect.

“Silence and fear are the playbook of authoritarianism,” Butswinkas said before thanking the other law firms, media organizations, and professors that have pushed back against the order. “Democracy may bend, it may get bruised, but what 250 years has shown is it will not break.”

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(OCEAN COUNTY, N.J.) — A wildfire in New Jersey has exploded to 12,000 acres after igniting Tuesday in Ocean County and threatening more than 1,000 structures, shutting down a major highway and causing thousands of people to flee the flames.

The Jones Road Wildfire was 35% contained on Wednesday afternoon, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Shawn LaTourette, New Jersey’s Commissioner of Environmental Protection, said fire officials expect the blaze to grow and that it could turn out to be the largest wildfire in New Jersey in 20 years.

“Thanks to the incredible, heroic work of the good men and women of our New Jersey fire service folks, homes and lives have been saved and we truly averted a major disaster,” LaTourette said.

LaTourette said that no injuries have been reported.

Fanned by dry vegetation and low relative humidity, the fire was first reported in Ocean County at 9:45 a.m. ET on Tuesday and exploded overnight from a few hundred acres to 8,500, according to the Forest Fire Service.

Trevor Raynor of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said the fire was first spotted from the Cedar Bridge Fire Tower near Barnegat Township, New Jersey.

“We dispatched resources right off the bat. When they arrived at the location, the fire was about 10 to 20 acres,” Raynor said. “We had resources there quickly, we dispatched aircraft, and even with a big show of force, it grew to be a large wildfire.”

New Jersey Lt. Gov. Tahesha Way, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy is out of the country, declared a state of emergency in Ocean County on Wednesday morning, freeing up resources to battle the blaze.

The fire is located south of Toms River along the Garden State Parkway. At one point on Tuesday evening, flames jumped the parkway, prompting officials to close it and bringing one of New Jersey’s busiest roads to a halt.

“Smoke and everything was right in my backyard. Everything was covered in black ashes,” said Kelly Mendoza, one of the evacuees.

Officials said the blaze threatened structures in Ocean and Lacey Townships.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Chief Bill Donnelly of the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.

Officials said they expect to have the fire fully contained by this weekend. About 100 firefighters were battling the blaze from the ground and air on Wednesday, officials said.

“As the day progressed, it was kind of scary,” evacuated resident Michael Ferrara told ABC News about weighing his decision Tuesday night to leave or stay.

Ferrara said he watched in horror as flames and smoke closed in on his neighborhood, prompting him to heed the mandatory evacuation orders.

He said the first thing that went through his mind was keeping himself and his family safe.

“But what are you going to take with you — birth certificates, passports?” Ferrara said. “It’s just a very eerie feeling.”

LaTourette said that more than a thousand structures were under threat at one point and more than 5,000 residents heeded mandatory evacuation orders or voluntarily evacuated.

A forced power outage due to the fires has also left at least 25,000 customers in the dark. Wednesday’s forecast is expected to be breezy through the morning with winds gusting up to 20 mph from the north, but winds should calm this afternoon as high pressure starts moving into the region with the next chance for rain beginning Friday night.

Firefighters lifted the evacuation order and cautioned residents to stay on alert.

“I hope that I have a home to return back to,” one distraught evacuee told ABC News.

Due mostly to drought conditions across New Jersey, particularly the southern part of the state, firefighters have had a busy first four months of the year, Chief Donnelly said.

He noted that at this time last year, there had been 310 wildfires across the state that scorched 315 acres. So far this year, Donnelly said there have been 662 wildfires statewide that have burned 16,572 acres.

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(NEW YORK) — Authorities in New York are offering a $25,000 reward for information in the cold case murders of an Army veteran and her 2-year-old child, who were recently identified years after their remains were discovered on Long Island, in a case that has been long been associated with the Gilgo Beach killings.

Nassau County authorities identified the victims on Wednesday as Tanya Jackson, 26, and her daughter, Tatiana Dykes.

The torso of the mother was found in June 1997 in Hempstead Lake State Park. The victim, known as Jane Doe No. 3, had until now been known as Peaches due to a tattoo on her body.

Her daughter was found in April 2011 near Gilgo Beach and had been known as Baby Doe. Her remains were located during the search for Shannan Gilbert, whose desperate 911 call to police in May 2010 kicked off a search that would eventually result in the discovery of several sets of remains along the southern shore of Long Island.

More of the mother’s remains were also discovered off of Ocean Parkway in Nassau County, 7 miles west of Gilgo Beach, in April 2011.

In 2015, investigators determined the two were mother and daughter through DNA analysis, though they still did not know their identities.

The FBI assisted in ultimately identifying the victims through investigative genetic genealogy studies. Agents and detectives interviewed family members and obtained DNA samples to confirm the identities, according to Nassau County Police Detective Captain Stephen Fitzpatrick.

On Wednesday, authorities called on anyone who may have known the victims to come forward, including those who may have served with Jackson in the military.

“We have 27 years of catching up to do,” Fitzpatrick said during a press briefing.

Fitzpatrick did not discuss evidence in the case, which he said may not be connected to the Gilgo Beach serial murders.

“Although Tanya and Tatiana have commonly been linked to the Gilgo Beach serial killings because of the timing and locations of their recovered remains, we are not discounting the possibility that their cases are unrelated from that investigation,” he said.

Rex Heuermann has been charged with seven other Gilgo Beach killings, but he has not been charged with killing Jackson.

Jackson was estranged from her family and was never reported missing, Fitzpatrick said.

She served in the Army from July 1993 to February 1995 at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio; Fort Gordon in Augusta, Georgia; and Fort Leonard Wood in the Missouri Ozarks, police said.

The Alabama native was living in Brooklyn in 1997 as a single mother. The father of Tatiana has been cooperative with police, Fitzpatrick said.

Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly called the work in the case “tremendous.”

“Solving aging cases like these are extraordinarily challenging, especially as evidence and people’s memories fade in time,” she said during the briefing. “We will never give up, not on an unsolved homicide, not on Tanya and Tatiana.”

ABC News’ Mark Crudele and Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — The sawmills of Maine generate a lot of wood waste each year: 1 million tons to be exact. For years, it was just discarded as a byproduct of the lumber industry. Now researchers at the University of Maine’s Advanced Structures & Composite Center (ASCC) have figured out a way of using those wood residuals to create homes.

However, they’re not building them in the conventional way. They’re printing them using the world’s largest 3D printer of its kind.

“We thought, ‘How do we turn that wood waste into something very valuable?'” Habib Dagher, the ASCC’s executive director, told ABC News.

The result is a prototype, 600-square foot home that they’re calling BioHome3D.

The homes are constructed using just two ingredients: wood waste and corn resin. By combing the two ingredients, the ASCC creates pellets for the 3D printer.

“These pellets are fed right into the printer. They’re heated and they’re extruded through a printer head, and that’s how we produce this house, layer by layer,” Dagher explained. “Now this material is what’s 100% renewable, because it is really bio based.”

A BioHome takes about a week to create, is made of material that’s stronger than concrete and is completely recyclable, according to Dagher. He said the house can be broken down into the original pellets and then be used to print something else like another house or a boat, which the ASCC is also 3D printing.

“We’ve done it five times over, so we’ve recycled it five times and looked at what happens to the properties,” Dagher said. “The good news is the properties hold up good enough. So, there’s so many applications for those materials.”

The places where we spend most of our time — buildings — are among the largest producers of greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Building construction and operations are responsible for about 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions and produce about a third of the world’s waste, according to the World Green Building Council. The United Nations Environment Program says the building and construction sector is “by far” the largest emitter of greenhouse gases of any industry in the world.

Dagher said its 3D printing technology reduces the amount of labor needed, the level of waste and allows for all the building materials to be prefabricated in a controlled environment. Sensors placed in and around the home to test how it’s handling the elements show that, over the past three years, it’s performing just like a home manufactured in the traditional way.

Dagher said its 3D printing technology reduces the amount of labor needed, the level of waste and allows for all the building materials to be prefabricated in a controlled environment. Sensors placed in and around the home to test how it’s handling the elements show that, over the past three years, it’s performing just like a home manufactured in the traditional way.

The university is currently building a “factory of the future” to expand its sustainable manufacturing research and production. The new facility will also train a new generation of workers and collaborate with companies on 3D printing projects.

Another company, Miami-based Renco USA, is also building sustainable housing but it’s using interlocking bricks made from recycled materials instead of 3D printers.

“It’s all interlocking, like a Lego, so all the pieces have this same top and bottom component here, and they fit together,” Patrick E. Murphy, managing director of Renco, told ABC News. “They’re as easy as that.”

The bricks are put together using a simple rubber mallet and held in place with adhesive.

The material, molded from repurposed materials like glass fibers and resin — along with stone — is stronger than concrete, fire resistant and designed to withstand a Category 5 hurricane, according to Renco.

Renco just built its first U.S.-based factory, which has the capacity to build 7,000 houses or apartments per year. Its most recent project, a 96-unit complex in Palm Springs, Florida, was built in just eight weeks, the company said.

The process is so simple, it can be adopted by anyone, according to Murphy.

“Anyone who can build a Lego set can build a home using Renco’s blocks,” Murphy said

ABC News’ Climate Unit contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Karen Read arrived in court Tuesday for the first day of her second murder trial as her defense team maintains her innocence, saying she is the victim of a botched investigation and law enforcement cover-up.

However, prosecutors allege that a drunk and angry Read knowingly slammed her SUV into her boyfriend — Boston police officer John O’Keefe — outside of a get-together at another officer’s home and left him to die in a blizzard in January 2022.

Read pleaded not guilty to charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death.

One of the trial’s key witnesses, Kerry Roberts, who was O’Keefe’s lifelong friend, spoke exclusively to “Good Morning America” on Wednesday morning, saying she is speaking out because she believes people have forgotten O’Keefe was the victim in this case.

“I think people have forgotten John in general,” Roberts told ABC News’ Matt Gutman in the “GMA” interview. “He is the victim. He’s lost his life. He’s not coming back.”

The judge in Read’s first trial declared a mistrial on July 1, 2024, after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. Roberts also testified in the first trial, though she wasn’t cross-examined.

Roberts, who took the stand on Tuesday and will continue testifying Wednesday, is a critical witness for the prosecution because she was among the the first people Read called at 5 a.m. on the morning of the blizzard trying to find O’Keefe.

Roberts told ABC News she then relayed to Brendan Kane, another longtime friend of O’Keefe, the contents of her call that morning with Read.

“The first phone call was, ‘John’s dead.’ Then she hung up,” Roberts told “GMA.”

It was early morning and dark outside when Roberts then picked up Read and Jennifer McCabe, another O’Keefe friend who Karen had called, but whom Kerry said she didn’t really know. Kerry drove the women to the house where Read had dropped O’Keefe off.

“It was so snowy you couldn’t see,” Roberts said. “And as we were driving, Karen would lean in between us, and she was frantic. I mean, she knew John was missing, so she was frantic about it, as I would be. And then we turned to pull down Fairview, and she saw him on the lawn, and I didn’t.”

Roberts and Read jumped out of the vehicle where the two women performed CPR on O’Keefe until police arrived, according to Roberts.

“We went to go find him, and make sure he got home OK,” Roberts said. “And when you find him and he’s not OK, it was, it was pretty hard.”

O’Keefe became a police officer, just like his grandfather, and stayed close with his family, including his sister, Kristen. When she and her husband died within months of each other, O’Keefe took his niece and nephew in as his own. Roberts said she acted essentially as his right hand during this period.

“It was like all hands on deck,” Roberts said. “When they would go to dance recitals and stuff, father-daughter dances, I would do their hair and get the boutonniere and get the corsage. He did a great job. This was one of my best friends”

In the three years since Read was arrested, the town of Canton has been transformed as neighbors have taken sides and witnesses have been harassed.

“It’s all about which side are you on,” Roberts told “GMA.”

“We’re John’s closest friends and family, and we still haven’t been able to grieve because of all of this. It’s all lost on this circus,” Roberts said.

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(COLCHESTER, Vt.) — A federal judge in Vermont set a hearing for next Wednesday to decide whether to release Mohsen Mahdawi, the Columbia student who was arrested last week, while his case proceeds.

Mahdawi, who was arrested last Monday during his citizenship interview, was present during the hearing.

U.S. District Judge Geoffrey W. Crawford kicked off Wednesday’s hearing by asking Mahdawi if he was being treated well in the deletion facility in Vermont.

“I’m grateful for the kindness of the state, your honor,” Mahdawi said.

Before briefly discussing the motion from Mahdawi’s attorneys to release him, Judge Crawford extended the temporary restraining order that was issued by a separate judge last week to keep Mahdawi in Vermont.

“I don’t want Mr. Mahdawi to be whisked away to another state,” Judge Crawford said.

Mahdawi, who co-founded a university organization called Palestinian Student Union with detained Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil, is a permanent resident of the U.S. and was taking his last step in the process for him to become a U.S. citizen before his arrest, his attorneys said.

In a court filing on Monday, Mahdawi’s attorneys said that he is not a flight risk or a danger to the community.

Mahdawi’s attorneys said his release is necessary to avoid “what is a devastating punitive consequence of Mahdawi’s continued detention, namely, the disruption of his education.”

During the hearing Wednesday, attorneys for Mahdawi argued that the federal judge in Vermont should preserve the court’s jurisdiction in the case and said that an immigration court “does not have the authority to address the egregious violation of his First Amendment.”

The judge seemed to agree with Mahdawi’s attorneys and pointed out that Mahdawi is a Vermont resident and that he was arrested in the state.

“If he’s moved to another state, it creates a second tier of issues,” Judge Crawford said. “He’s a Vermont resident, he was arrested in Vermont.”

The judge said that he will give the government until Monday to reply to Mahdawi’s attorneys’ motion for release.

During the hearing, Michael Drescher, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Vermont, said he was not authorized to “justify” the extension of the TRO to keep Mahdawi in Vermont. Drescher also requested an opportunity to respond to Mahdawi’s attorney’s motion from Tuesday requesting his release.

The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.

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