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Carolina wildfires: High winds, low humidity significantly increase threat

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(ASHEVILLE, N.C.) — Strong winds and low humidity could create significant problems for firefighters in the Carolinas on Friday, as wildfires continue to rage throughout both states, officials said.

Red flag warnings are in place for the western Carolinas on Friday with wind gusts reaching 30 mph and a relative humidity as low as 20%, officials said.

“We’ve never had a fire quite like this,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said during a press conference from the site of the Table Rock Complex Fire on Friday. “You’ve seen the movie ‘The Perfect Storm,’ well this might be the perfect fire.”

The high winds come as fires are already raging across both states.

In North Carolina, the Black Cove Complex Fire, located about 30 miles southeast of Asheville, is the highest priority fire in the United States, burning nearly 7,000 acres, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

As of Thursday, the Deep Woods Fire, located 5 miles northwest of Columbus, North Carolina, has burned 3,373 acres and is 30% contained, officials said.

Several other fires continue to blaze in North Carolina, including the Alarka Fire in Swain County, which has burned 911 acres and is only 5% contained, and the Rattlesnake Branch Fire, which has torched 629 acres and is 5% contained, officials said. Additionally, the Freedom Farm Fire has burned 130 acres and is 60% contained, according to the Leicester Fire Department.

“The concern is, until they are contained, we have to be on alert,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Thursday.

In South Carolina, the Table Rock Complex Fire — located on the South-Carolina-North Carolina border — spread significantly on Thursday, burning 8,769 acres with a perimeter of 34.8 miles, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Officials said weather conditions on Friday are a “concern for increased fire activity.” As of Friday, the Table Rock Complex Fire is zero percent contained, with more than 1,400 homes and businesses evacuated, the forestry commission said.

The Table Rock Complex Fire also includes the Permission Ridge Fire, located in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, which itself has grown to 1,992 acres and is zero percent contained as of Friday, officials said.

“Containment will be very difficult to achieve,” Scott Phillips, head of the South Carolina Forestry Commission, said during a press conference Friday.

The South Carolina National Guard has dropped 612,000 gallons of water to help put out these flames, officials said.

A statewide ban on outdoor burning remains in effect in North Carolina and South Carolina, officials said.

These fires are located in steep terrain that has been covered with downed trees and dried vegetation left over from Hurricane Helene, which devastated communities and killed over 230 people back in September.

On Friday, firefighters “hope to complete burnouts of existing unburned areas and focus on improving and holding existing firebreaks,” the forestry commission said.

An elevated fire risk is also in place for most of Georgia, Virginia and eastern Tennessee, officials said.

There have not been any reported injuries from any of the wildfires.

Rain will move in on Sunday and Monday, which could alleviate firefighters and help diminish the flames, officials said.

Trump weighs in on House special election races in Florida as GOP fights to keep majority

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In a pair of back-to-back rallies held over the phone on Thursday night, President Donald Trump praised the two Republican candidates in the upcoming special elections for Florida’s 6th and 1st Congressional districts, amid recent concerns among Republicans over whether their candidate in the 6th Congressional District, State Sen. Randy Fine, can keep the seat in Republican hands.

Fine has lagged behind his Democratic opponent, Josh Weil, in fundraising, and Republicans have expressed concerns about his campaign, although many still believe he will be able to hold the seat in the ruby-red district.

The special election in Florida’s 6th Congressional District, which is on the state’s eastern coast and includes the city of Daytona Beach, is being held on Tuesday, April 1, to fill the vacancy created by former Rep. Mike Waltz when he resigned to become Trump’s national security adviser.

The tele-rallies also came amid broader concerns among Republicans about maintaining their razor-thin majority in the U.S. House, and on the same day that Trump asked Rep. Elise Stefanik to withdraw her nomination to be United Nations ambassador, citing “a very tight Majority” in the U.S. House.

House Republicans currently hold a narrow majority with 218 Republicans to 213 Democrats. Speaker Mike Johnson has a two-vote cushion for his majority.

Fine, at the start of the telephone rally for him, emphatically praised Trump and said he would serve in Congress as one of the president’s strongest allies.

“Mr. President, I’m immensely grateful for your unwavering support, trust and confidence in me. I believe that God saved your life in Butler, Pennsylvania, so that you could save the world,” Fine said, referencing the July assassination attempt Trump survived. “And it will be one of the most profound honors of my life to be one of your foot soldiers as you make America great again.”

Trump praised Fine’s early endorsement of him during the 2024 election cycle, adding, “that’s why Randy will always have a very open door to the Oval Office. He will be there whenever I need him, and he wants to be there whenever we need him. He wants to be there for you.”

“I’ve gotten to know him under pressure situations, and he can react well under pressure. So go vote for Randy,” Trump said later.

Fine reiterated he would work to carry out Trump’s agenda in Congress.

“It’s not overstating things to say that your agenda is at stake in this election, and this district can’t let you down. Your agenda is on the ballot on April 1,” he said.

During the earlier telephone rally supporting the Republican candidate in the 1st Congressional District, Florida Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, Trump praised Patronis’ work in Florida and framed the special election as important for his own agenda.

That special election, which will determine who takes the seat vacated by now-former Rep. Matt Gaetz, has gotten less concern from Republicans.

“The 1st Congressional District is special, and I won it by a lot, and Jimmy is going to win it by a lot. And remember, you’re five days away from this all important special election taking place in your district on Tuesday, April 1, so April Fool’s Day. So it’s going to be the fool for the Democrat candidate, who happens to be terrible,” Trump said of Patronis’ Democratic opponent Gay Valimont, a gun violence prevention activist.

Praising Patronis, Trump said, “Jimmy’s done an outstanding job as the chief financial officer of the state of Florida, helping to guide your state to tremendous economic success. And now he wants to keep on fighting for Florida in Congress.”

Patronis, speaking after Trump, told listeners, “Look, if you’re not fired up to hearing the president right now, then you need to get your pulse checked with President Trump and the White House. A Republican majority in Congress — we have a once in a lifetime opportunity to transform this country.”

Utah becomes 1st state to ban fluoride in drinking water

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(SALT LAKE CITY) — Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill making the state the first in the nation to ban fluoride in drinking water.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Administration asks Supreme Court to lift judge’s block on deportations under Alien Enemies Act

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court a second time to urgently lift U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s temporary restraining order blocking the deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.

“Only this Court can stop rule-by-TRO from further upending the separation of powers — the sooner, the better,” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in an emergency application to the court.

The appeal follows Wednesday’s 2-1 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Boasberg’s order and defending his jurisdiction in the matter.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Army bringing in more assets to reach missing US soldiers’ vehicle in muddy bog in Lithuania

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The search for four U.S. Army soldiers who went missing in their vehicle during a scheduled training exercise near Pabradė, Lithuania, is ongoing Friday, with officials bringing in more assets to help with the recovery mission, the Army said.

The soldiers, who are all based in Fort Stewart, Georgia, went missing on Tuesday while operating a M88 Hercules armored recovery vehicle, the Army said. On Wednesday, the 70-ton vehicle was found submerged in about 15 feet of water and mud in a training area, the Army said.

“Most likely, the M88 drove into the swamp,” and the vehicle “may have just gone diagonally to the bottom,” Lithuanian Defense Minister Dovile Sakaliene told ABC News via phone.

Sakaliene said Thursday that the search has shifted from rescue to a “complicated” recovery mission.
The Army said crews are “working around the clock to drain water, dig, and dredge the mud that surrounds the vehicle.”

“The area around the site is incredibly wet and marshy and doesn’t support the weight of the equipment needed for the recovery of the 70-ton vehicle without significant engineering improvements,” the Army said in a statement Friday. “Draining the area has been slow and difficult due to ground water seepage.”

“A large capacity slurry pump, cranes, more than 30 tons of gravel, and subject matter experts from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are just some of the assets that arrived on site,” the Army said. “The Polish Armed Forces have also volunteered a unit of military engineers, which is bringing in an additional water pump, tracked recovery vehicles, other additional equipment and supplies needed along with 150 personnel.”

A specialized U.S. Navy dive crew is also expected to arrive on site by Saturday, the Army said.

“This will be a long and difficult recovery operation, but we are absolutely committed to bringing our soldiers home,” Maj. Gen. Curtis Taylor said in a statement.

Sakaliene said Thursday the Lithuanians will also remain dedicated to the recovery.

“Working with American soldiers has always been close to our hearts,” she said. “They are not just allies — they are family to us.”

Another law firm targeted by Trump, Jenner and Block, suing to block executive order

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The law firm Jenner and Block filed suit against the Trump Administration Friday seeking to block an executive order signed by President Donald Trump last week that targeted its attorneys’ security clearances and essentially shuttered any interactions with the federal government.

“The Order threatens not only Jenner, but also its clients and the legal system itself,” the firm said Friday in its lawsuit. “Our Constitution, top to bottom, forbids attempts by the government to punish citizens and lawyers based on the clients they represent, the positions they advocate, the opinions they voice, and the people with whom they associate.”

Jenner and Block is now the second of five firms targeted by Trump to bring a legal challenge against what it describes as a blatantly “unconstitutional” executive order, following a successful effort by the law firm Perkins Coie to have a federal judge temporarily block a similar order that targeted it over its representation of then-candidate Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in D.C. Friday, accuses the Trump Administration of engaging in a sweeping campaign to intimidate major law firms that either represented or once counted among its ranks individuals who he has labeled his political enemies.

“These orders send a clear message to the legal profession: Cease certain representations adverse to the government and renounce the Administration’s critics — or suffer the consequences,” the suit said. “The orders also attempt to pressure businesses and individuals to question or even abandon their associations with their chosen counsel, and to chill bringing legal challenges at all.”

The filing comes amid a crisis that has gripped other “Big Law” firms in Washington, as top attorneys debate whether to fight back, cut a deal or stay quiet wondering whether they will be singled out next.

On Thursday, Trump signed another executive order targeting WilmerHale — citing its hiring of former Special Counsel Robert Mueller and two of his top deputies, after they had investigated the 2016 Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.

In a statement reacting to the order, a spokesperson for WilmerHale said they planned to pursue “all appropriate remedies to this unlawful order.”

Gilgo Beach serial killer suspect Rex Heuermann and estranged wife reach divorce settlement

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Accused Gilgo Beach serial killer Rex Heuermann and his estranged wife, Asa Ellerup, have reached a divorce settlement, according to court records.

Ellerup filed for divorce shortly after Heuermann was arrested in July 2023.

The terms of the divorce settlement, filed in Suffolk County Supreme Court Thursday night, are not public. A judge will review the settlement and must sign off on the divorce to make it final.

Heuermann has pleaded not guilty to the murders of seven women whose remains were found discarded on Long Island between 1993 and 2011.

Prosecutors with the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office have said Ellerup and the couple’s children were out of town when the victims were killed.

Heuermann is expected back in court Friday as his lawyers ask a judge to disqualify some of the DNA evidence pertaining to nuclear DNA results obtained from hairs recovered from six victims: Maureen Brainard Barnes, Megan Waterman, Amber Costello, Sandra Costilla, Jessica Taylor and Valerie Mack.

The new DNA technique is whole genome sequencing of the DNA within a hair; scientists take all the fragments of DNA and assemble them on the human genome.

Traditional DNA sequencing looks at 15 to 24 points of comparison, while whole genome sequencing looks at 100,000 or more points and the methodology yields only one possible donor.

Heuermann’s defense argued the new DNA methodology has never been tested in New York courts, but prosecutors have said the technique is already used in the medical community and is consistent with what the court system has allowed.

Inflation held steady in February, according to Fed’s preferred gauge

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Inflation held steady in February compared to a year ago, according to a release from the Federal Reserve’s preferred gauge of price increases.

The reading matched economists’ expectations.

Consumer prices climbed 2.5% in February compared to a year ago, registering at a level slightly higher than the Fed’s target rate of 2%, Commerce Department data on Friday showed.

Core inflation — a closely watched measure that strips out volatile food and energy prices — increased 2.8% over the year ending in February, ticking lower from the previous month, data showed.

The fresh data arrives little more than a week after the Fed opted to leave interest rates unchanged.

Speaking at a press conference after the rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell faulted President Donald Trump’s tariffs for a “good part” of recent inflation. The central bank predicted weaker year-end economic growth and higher inflation than it had in a December forecast.

Consumer surveys show rising fears about inflation as Trump imposes tariffs on top trading partners and key industries.

Economists widely expect tariffs to raise prices because importers typically pass along a share of the tax burden to consumers in the form of higher costs.

Trump announced this week plans to slap 25% tariffs on all imported cars, escalating a global trade war and eliciting criticism from leaders in Canada and Europe. The duties came on the heels of tariffs on steel and aluminum, as well as levies on goods from China, Canada and Mexico.

The Commerce Department data for February covers a period that largely precedes Trump’s tariffs, though the reading arrives amid a bout of accelerating inflation that stretches back to the final months of the Biden administration.

Prince increases fell dramatically from a peak of more than 9% in 2022, but sped up slightly at the end of last year.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Dozens missing as massive 7.7 quake rocks Myanmar and Thailand

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — An earthquake with a 7.7 magnitude has rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

USGS is reporting the epicenter of the quake was in Mandalay, Myanmar, but at least three people were killed and 68 others were injured when a building that was under construction collapsed in Bangkok as the earthquake struck the region on Friday, according to Thailand’s National Institute of Emergency Medicine (NIEM), which said there was an unknown number of people still trapped in the rubble.

The extent of the damage in Mandalay — the second largest city in Myanmar — is largely unknown this morning due to it being under very tight state control. However, it is thought that the damage could be extensive since this earthquake is stronger than many other historic quakes — including the Northridge earthquake that affected the Los Angeles area of California on Jan. 17, 1994, which is remembered as one of the most destructive and deadly in California history. Bangkok is approximately 600 miles away from Mandalay and suffered notable damage as well as collapsed buildings.

NIEM said there were approximately 320 construction workers on site when the building in Bangkok collapsed at 70 people are currently missing, according to a statement published on social media. Approximately 20 workers are still trapped in the elevator shaft with the number of deaths expected to climb, NIEM continued.

Alarms reportedly went off in buildings across the Thai capital city when the earthquake hit around 1:30 p.m., according to the Associated Press.

“We were under the main Sukhumvit railway station and we thought a train had crashed on the initial tremor,” a British citizen who is in the Thai capital on a business trip and wished to remain anonymous told ABC News. “But then as it continued, people started to run outside and the hotels were evacuated to the streets.”

The Royal Thai Police said they are helping to evacuate people from buildings across the city into safe areas, according to a statement published on social media.

A video obtained by ABC News from a WeWork office in Bangkok shows water pouring from a rooftop swimming pool as people ran across the office towards the exits.

Two of Bangkok’s main public transportation systems, the BTS — an elevated train line — and the MRT, which is mostly underground, have stopped service as authorities respond to the earthquake aftermath, Thai police said.

Meanwhile, Myanmar’s ruling junta has declared a state of emergency in six regions — Sagaing, Mandalay, Magway, northeastern Shan State, Nay Pyi Taw and Bago – after the earthquake struck the country, followed by a series of aftershocks.

Myanmar is mired in years long civil war, and Mandalay is one of the major cities than the junta still controls.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Morgan Winsor, Joe Simonetti, Karson Yiu and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

Measles outbreak in Texas is spreading beyond the Mennonite community: Officials

March 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LUBBOCK, Texas) — When the first measles cases were confirmed in western Texas, health officials said the infections primarily affected the Mennonite community.

Mennonites, who are part of the Anabaptist Christian church, have a small presence in the United States — and Texas in general — but they have a large presence in the South Plains region the state, and in Gaines County, which is the epicenter of the outbreak.

Many Mennonite communities are close-knit and under-vaccinated, which may have contributed to the spread of measles among members of the community.

But health officials are starting to see cases spread beyond the Mennonite population.

It is spreading beyond this community, “unfortunately,” Katherine Wells, director of public health for the city of Lubbock — which is located in western Texas — told ABC News. “West Texas is where the spread of these cases are right now, and we need to make sure that everybody in West Texas is getting vaccinated and is aware of measles and understands the precautions that we need to take.”

The outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with a total of 327 cases in at least 15 counties, according to new data published Tuesday.

Nearly all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services. At least 40 people have been hospitalized so far.

Just two cases have occurred in people fully vaccinated with the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine, according to the data.

Wells acknowledged that it may be easy for people to assume measles is only affecting a small and insular group like Mennonites and that nobody else is at risk.

“West Texas, you might say we’re small and insular compared to Dallas and some other areas,” she said. “But no, this has, unfortunately, moved into many, many different populations.”

“So unfortunately, it is growing and continues to grow,” she continued.

Marlen Ramirez, a community health worker and program coordinator at Vaccinate Your Family, which is an advocacy group based in Eagle Pass, Texas, shared a statement with ABC News, saying, “As a Community Health Worker living and working in a rural border town, I see firsthand how quickly diseases like measles can spread when vaccination rates are low and access to care is limited.”

“While the initial measles outbreak in western Texas affected members of the Mennonite community, the virus easily spreads wherever communities are under-vaccinated—and right now, we’re seeing cases reach into rural parts of Texas, New Mexico, and Kansas,” Ramirez added.

“In many of these areas, vaccination rates are below 90%, well below the 92-94% needed for community or “herd” immunity. That’s what has allowed this outbreak to grow to over 300 cases so quickly. We fear the number of actual cases may be much higher than reported due to confusion and delays in the outbreak response,” she said.

A spokesperson for DSHS confirmed to ABC News that the first cases in the outbreak were among Mennonite community members, but this is no longer the case.

“Since 90% of unvaccinated people exposed to the measles virus will become ill, there are many cases in people who are not part of the Mennonite community,” the spokesperson said. “We do not ask a person’s religious affiliation as part of our case investigation process, so we have no way of counting how many cases are part of the Mennonite community and how many are not.”

Why the Mennonite population was hit hard by measles cases
Steven Nolt, professor of history and Anabaptist studies at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, told ABC News that culturally conservative and Old Order Mennonites have traditionally been under-immunized or partially immunized.

He said there are no religious teachings or bodies of religious writings that prevent Mennonites from being vaccinated. The DSHS spokesperson also added that that Mennonite religion is not “widely against vaccination.”

“Reasons are not religious but reflect everything from less frequent engagement with health care systems (for those who are more rural) to a traditional outlook that replicates practices of parents and grandparents more than the most current practices,” Nolt said via email.

For example, culturally traditional Mennonites may have participated in mid-20th century vaccination campaigns against diseases like smallpox, leading to their children and grandchildren trusting those vaccines compared to more recent additions to the immunization schedule, Nott said.

He added that Mennonites may also be influenced by the opinions of their neighbors, which may play a role in lack of vaccination.

Nolt also explained that the Mennonites who live in Seminole, Texas, a city at the center of Gaines County — a community known as Low German Mennonites, due to the language they speak — “lived in relative isolation in Mexico from the 1920s to the 1980s.”

“They missed out on the mid-century public health immunization campaigns in the U.S., be they polio or smallpox or whatever (the Mexican government had a reputation for not engaging with the Low German Mennonites at all),” he wrote. “Thus, they are starting from a different place than other culturally conservative Mennonites whose ancestors have been here since the 1700s.”

Nott went on, “My point is, the so-called Low German Mennonites from Mexico, now in west Texas, don’t have that minimum baseline of mid-20th century vaccine acceptance that we see among Old Order Mennonites and Amish in the U.S. because the folks in Seminole missed the whole mid-century immunization push, as they weren’t in the U.S. at that time.”

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