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(NEW YORK) — A third house has collapsed in four days on the North Carolina coast as officials closed off the beach due to dangerous debris on the shore and in the water, officials said.

Cape Hatteras National Seashore law enforcement rangers responded to a Dare County dispatch call at approximately 1:08 p.m. on Tuesday to reports of a house collapsing on G A Kohler Court in Rodanthe, North Carolina, according to a statement from the National Park Service.

“Once on scene, rangers confirmed the collapse of the unoccupied house,” officials said. “The owner of the house has hired a debris cleanup contractor and Seashore employees plan on supplementing cleanup efforts.”

Due to dangerous debris on the beach and in the water, Cape Hatteras National Seashore has temporarily closed the beach from G A Kohler Court in Rodanthe to Wimble Shores North Court in Waves, a coastal length of just over two miles.

“Swimmers and surfers are urged to stay out the water in front of the villages of Rodanthe, Waves and Salvo, as there is a large amount of hazardous floating debris being transported by the waves that will cause injuries to those entering the water along the tri-villages area,” the National Park Service said. “Additionally, at the north end of Rodanthe and for miles to the south, the Seashore continues to urge visitors to wear hard-soled shoes when walking on the beach to avoid injuries from nail-ridden wooden debris.”

“The biggest concern is just cleaning everything up, you know?” Paul Troy, the homeowner of the first collapsed house, told ABC News’ Raleigh station WTVD-TV. “We get a lot of slack, all of these homeowners do that they don’t care. These are money machines and that’s not the case. We lose sleep over littering the beach.”

Troy and his family have owned the home since 2008 and hoped to move it before the collapse.

“At the beginning of the summer, we lost 13 vertical feet. We lost the staircase. We lost part of the septic system,” he said. “We chose not to rent it out the rest of the summer because we were going to wait and see what the beach did, see if it came back.”

Homeowners there say the ocean’s threat to their property is a major concern.

“We’ve stayed in many of these houses that are completely underwater now. It’s a shame and I think the town of Rodanthe is going to be suffering,” Nancy Engel, who lives in Rodanthe, told WTVD in August.

Collapsing homes along the ocean can cause a myriad of problems for people as well as the local ecosystem which led to the superintendent of the National Park Service covering Cape Hatteras launching a pilot program to buy up some of the homes to tear them down, according to WTVD.

“We had to have willing sellers’ houses that were essentially in the ocean at high tide every day. We found the money to purchase those properties. We removed the houses completely, demolished them completely and restored the beach. And if we went out to that location today, you wouldn’t have much to see because it would just be a beautiful beach,” David Hullac with the U.S. National Park Service told WTVD.

Tuesday’s house collapse is the third home to collapse in Rodanthe since Friday and the 10th house collapse in the past four years.

No injuries were reported in connection with any of the collapses and the clean up efforts by authorities is ongoing.

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(NEW YORK) — A chemical leak from a railcar prompted officials to issue an evacuation order for residents in the Cleves and Whitewater Township areas in Hamilton County, Ohio, authorities said Tuesday.

Hamilton County’s Emergency Management and Homeland Security Agency told anyone within half a mile of the rail yard to leave the area immediately.

Authorities confirmed the leak was styrene, a flammable liquid used to make plastics and rubber, according to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

“The risk of an explosion is our primary concern,” an official said at a Tuesday night news conference. “We are asking residents within a three-quarter-mile radius to shelter in place as a precaution. Experts have assured us that this is well within the safety norms.”

Officials said 210 homes were located in the designated evacuation zone, though how many people have been impacted was not immediately known. Those needing shelter were advised to go to the Whitewater Township Center, officials said.

Although authorities said at an 11 p.m. ET news conference that the leak had been contained, people were still urged to avoid the area.

“We feel we’ve made significant progress by separating the affected rail car from the rest of the train,” an official said. “Monitoring and mitigation teams are working diligently to ensure everyone’s safety. In the meantime, we urge residents to stay out of the area.”

Authorities are closely monitoring air quality for styrene but said at the earlier news conference that they haven’t yet determined the exact levels.

The train in question consisted of 29 cars, some of which were also carrying styrene, officials said.

“Our first priority upon arriving at the scene was removing anything in close proximity to the leak,” an official confirmed.

Only one car was found to have leaked styrene, they said.

In response to questions on Tuesday night about when residents can return home, officials urged patience.

“We’re not going to rush this. Once it’s absolutely safe, we’ll let everyone know. For now, we encourage residents to monitor social media and news outlets for updates,” an official said.

In a post on Tuesday night X, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged those in the area to follow the directions of officials.

Cleves Township is almost 17 miles from Cincinnati, Ohio, while Whitewater Township is about 22 miles away.

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(WASHINGTON) — Federal prosecutors have officially charged Ryan Routh with attempting to assassinate former President Donald Trump, a source familiar with the matter confirms to ABC News.

The move was expected and previewed both by prosecutors in a court hearing yesterday and by Attorney General Merrick Garland in a news conference this afternoon.

The charging documents have not yet been officially updated on Routh’s court docket. He is expected to be arraigned on the charges in a court hearing Monday.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A former officer who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the death of Tyre Nichols became emotional during his testimony Tuesday in the federal trial of three ex-Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Nichols.

“I wish I would’ve stopped the punches. It hurts to watch. It hurts inside so much,” said Desmond Mills Jr., who cried during his testimony, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom. “It felt bad every time the picture is on the screen to know I’m a part of that. I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know ‘sorry’ won’t bring him back, but I pray his child has everything he needs growing up.”

Mills struggled to speak after watching body camera video in court of Nichols being struck, according to WATN. Mills admitted to using his baton to hit Nichols three times.

“I was angry because I just [pepper] sprayed myself in the face,” Mills said, according to WATN. “I didn’t give him a chance to give me his hands.”

Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mills and Emmitt Martin III, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.

Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.

Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.

When Mills was asked by the prosecution what threat Nichols posed during the officers’ encounter with Nichols as shown in the court through body camera footage, the ex-officer answered, “None,” according to WATN.

Mills claimed that he wanted to leave the Memphis Police Department (MPD) by the time Bean joined the SCORPION unit, the MPD’s former crime suppression unit, which has since been disbanded, because he didn’t like the structure of the team, his former colleagues were inexperienced and the culture of the team was “go, go, go,” according to WATN.

“I just pulled the spray out and I sprayed Mr. Nichols,” Mills, who claimed Smith and Bean were already punching Nichols when he arrived on scene, said, according to WATN. “I failed to assess and analyze … just started spraying.”

Mills could be heard on body camera footage played in the court threatening to pepper-spray Nichols as the Memphis resident called out for his mother, according to WATN.

“I thought it would help and get handcuffs on him,” Mills said, according to WATN.

Mills said Martin and Haley were hostile toward citizens and he didn’t like what he saw, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed their aggressive approaches resulted in them filing several response to resistance forms, which officers are required to fill out to explain their use of force while on the job.

Mills claimed Haley would come to work “amped up” from his pre-workouts, according to WATN. He said he talked to Haley about his inconsistent use of his body camera video, to which Haley allegedly told him, “F— that sh–.”

Mills said that Haley kicked a handcuffed suspect in the face the day before the Nichols’ encounter and didn’t report it, according to WATN.

“I was going to go along and hide it with the rest of the team,” said Mills, who also didn’t report Haley’s use of force, according to WATN.

The response to resistance form lists Mills as using chemical spray, but not Haley kicking the suspect, according to WATN.

Mills claimed Smith, who’s also on trial, told the unit that they needed to check on Martin’s mental state after he returned to work after being hit by a car on the job, according to WATN.

In court testimony last week, Martin, who was the first to spot Nichols, claimed that he was hit by a car in November 2022 and returned to work Jan. 3, 2023, according to WATN. Martin said he was scared, angry, eager to show he could still do the job and wanted revenge for being struck by a vehicle.

“I wanted some kind of revenge. I was seeing red,” Martin said, according to WATN

Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.

Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition.

Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.

The prosecution told ABC News earlier this month that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.

The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.

“It was ugly,” Mills said when asked by the prosecution why he didn’t tell his supervisor the truth about the Nichols encounter, according to WATN. “So, we didn’t tell lieutenant.”

ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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(PHILADELPHIA) — The University of Pennsylvania will impose major sanctions against Carey Law School professor Amy Wax, after an investigation concluded that she “engaged in ‘flagrant unprofessional conduct,'” which included “a history of making sweeping and derogatory generalizations about groups by race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and immigration status.”

The university also found that Wax “on numerous occasions in and out of the classroom and in public, [made] discriminatory and disparaging statements targeting specific racial, ethnic, and other groups with which many students identify.”

The Faculty Senate Committee on Academic Freedom and Responsibility released a report Tuesday confirming sanctions against the tenured professor, which includes a one-year suspension with half-pay, the loss of her named chair and an inability to represent Penn in public appearances, among other measures.

“Last year, a five-member faculty Hearing Board determined that Professor Amy Wax violated the University’s behavioral standards by engaging in years of flagrantly unprofessional conduct within and outside of the classroom that breached her responsibilities as a teacher to offer an equal learning opportunity to all students,” a university spokesperson told ABC News.

Wax has been under fire for years for her controversial language about minority groups, particularly Black and Asian populations.

Dean of Penn Carey Law School Ted Ruger had initiated governing sanctions against Wax in January 2022. A hearing board conducted an evaluation in May 2023 and confirmed misconduct from Wax, which she appealed.

The Senate Committee’s decision Tuesday strikes down Wax’s appeal, and Interim President J. Larry Jameson confirmed that he will be upholding this “final decision” and implementing the sanctions recommended.

Provost John L. Jackson, Jr. also issued a public reprimand Tuesday, telling Wax that it is “imperative” that she “conduct [herself] in a professional manner in [her] interactions with faculty colleagues, students, and staff,” which includes “refraining from flagrantly unprofessional and targeted disparagement of any individual or group in the University community.”

Wax and her lawyer, David Shapiro, did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

In a 2023 op-ed in the Daily Pennsylvanian, Shapiro defended her remarks by saying, “Professor Wax teaches a conservative thought seminar, and she is vocal on social media in expressing conservative ideas.”

“My client must defend herself against scurrilous charges of ‘racism’ and ‘white supremacy’ because, as a white Jewish conservative, she dared to question the liberal orthodoxy about the lives of many African Americans,” Shapiro added. He also went on to attack the university for what he considered to be hypocritical policies.

While Penn’s sanctions constitute major action against a tenured faculty member, students had previously expressed desire for Wax to be fired.

Law student Soojin Jeong told ABC News in 2022 that Wax’s comments were “egregious,” and added, “we really need to fire Amy Wax.”

Also speaking to ABC News in 2022, law student Apratim Vidyarthi pointed to the double standard. “If I had said something like that, or you said something like that, or an NFL coach said something like that, they’d be fired off the bat,” he said.

Students had advocated for Wax to be suspended while the investigation was ongoing. Vidyarthi told ABC News in 2022 that Wax “shouldn’t be allowed to come on campus, she shouldn’t be allowed to interact with students while this investigation is ongoing.”

Jeong and Vidyarthi helped write a petition calling for university action against Wax, in which they stated that “Wax’s racist comments have become a semi-annual ritual that receives temporary furor and temporary consequences.”

In one example cited by the students, Wax in an April 2022 Fox News interview disparaged Indian Americans and said “on some level, their country is a s–thole.”

In December 2021, Wax told Brown University professor Glenn Loury on his podcast “The Glenn Show” that “as long as most Asians support Democrats and help to advance their positions, I think the United States is better off with fewer Asians and less Asian immigration.”

Wax also told Loury in 2017, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Black student graduate in the top quarter of the class, and rarely, rarely in the top half,” calling this a “very inconvenient fact.”

In the letter from June 2022 initiating the disciplinary action against Wax, she was also accused of making homophobic and sexist remarks, including “commenting in class that gay couples are not fit to raise children” and telling students that “women, on average, are less knowledgeable than men.”

Wax has repeatedly defended her rhetoric as free speech.

“Make no mistake, the goal and effect of these charges is to demolish – to totally gut – the protections for extramural speech and free faculty expression, and to drive dissenters like me out of the academy,” she told free speech advocacy group FIRE Faculty Network last year.

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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