(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Three police officers have been shot in Kansas City, Missouri, according to the city’s mayor, Quinton Lucas.
The incident occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. when Kansas City Police department tactical officers were executing a warrant in the 2300 block of Blueridge Boulevard in the eastern part of the city.
The three officers who were shot were immediately taken to a local area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. They are currently listed in stable condition.
Authorities say that this is an active and ongoing investigation and any further inquiries will have to be directed to the Missouri Highway Patrol due to this being their investigation.
Mayor Quinton Lucas tweeted: “We’ve been reminded too much lately in Kansas City how dangerous police work can be. I am praying for a full recovery for our three officers injured this evening and that everyone on duty gets home to their families safely.”
(WASHINGTON) — A Pentagon advisory committee is recommending waiting periods and other gun restrictions for service members to help reduce suicides in the armed forces.
Among the nearly 130 recommendations in a report last week from the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee are: a seven-day waiting period for gun purchases on bases and other Department of Defense property as well as a four-day waiting period for ammunition purchases there, a raise in the minimum age for buying firearms there, from 18 to 25, and the repeal of a 2013 law that bars the military from tracking gun purchases.
Though there was a drop in 2021, suicides in the military have been gradually increasing since 2011, according to the Department of Defense, mirroring a nationwide trend.
In 2021, 519 service members died from suicide, a decrease from 582 in 2020, the Pentagon has said.
The Defense Department noted last year that the suicide risk is greatest for young enlisted men.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced the creation of the Suicide Prevention and Response Independent Review Committee in March 2022.
According to the new advisory report, 66% of active-duty suicides, 72% of reserve suicides and 78% of National Guard suicides involve firearms.
Experts like Margaret Kelley, a professor at the University of Kansas who has researched gun ownership trends and more, said that some in the military community, specifically veterans, support more restrictive gun measures across the board.
“In our research, we found that veterans supported a ban on the military-style weapons and high-capacity clips and also waiting periods,” said Kelley, who co-authored How do veterans view gun policies? Evidence from the Guns in American Life Survey.
“Our research shows that it’s combat veterans in particular who are more likely to be in favor of some of these restrictions,” Kelley said. “There’s something about the particular military experience that changes these attitudes.”
Of all gun violence deaths in the U.S. in 2023, suicide is the prevailing cause at more than 3,800 as of Tuesday, according to the Gun Violence Archives, which compiles and validates data from thousands of sources, according to its website.
For additional resources relating to veteran suicide prevention, visit the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs website, or call 988 and select 1 to talk to speak with a crisis responder.
(NEW YORK) — At least 36 people were killed and more than 80 others injured in a head-on collision between a freight train and a passenger train in northern Greece late Tuesday, officials said.
The crash occurred shortly before midnight on the Athens-Thessaloniki route, at the entrance to the Tempe Valley gorge in Thessaly, according to Fire Brigade officials.
About 350 people were on board the passenger train at the time of the collision, according to the Hellenic Train Company.
“At Evangelismos, there was a head-on collision between two trains: a freight train and train IC 62, which had departed from Athens to Thessaloniki,” the company told ABC News in a statement. “Firefighters and Hellenic Train personnel rushed to the scene, participating in rescue operations and providing assistance to travelers.”
Emergency services were sent to the scene from several nearby towns to help transport injured passengers and free others trapped in the wreckage, officials said.
“Due to the severity of the collision between the two trains, crane-carrying vehicles are assisting in the extrication work,” the Fire Brigade said in a statement.
Forty ambulances with the National Emergency Center and 150 Fire Brigade firefighters responded to the scene, officials said, along with 32 police officers with 15 patrol cars.
“The remaining passengers who are in good health have already been transported by buses to Thessaloniki,” the Fire Bridage said. “The bodies are being transferred to the hospitals of Larissa in order to begin the process of recognition and identification.”
The military hospitals of Athens and Thessaloniki are on alert, in case they need to receive the wounded, according to fire officials.
(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to overturn her conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse underage girls for more than a decade, staking her argument on claims of juror misconduct, a violation of the statute of limitations, her treatment behind bars and a “Kabuki theater” atmosphere in the courtroom.
Maxwell, 60, was found guilty in December 2021 of conspiring with Epstein to recruit, groom and abuse minors. She is serving her sentence at FCI Tallahassee in Florida.
Her lawyers argued that Maxwell was denied a fair trial, in part, because one of the jurors failed to disclose his own history of sexual abuse during jury selection.
“Irrespective of whether the juror’s false statements were intentional, which they clearly were, the similarities between the traumatic experiences described by the juror and the victims in the case, together with the juror’s public statements, established the juror’s bias,” Maxwell’s appellate brief said.
The defense also argued that federal prosecutors waited too long to indict Maxwell, instead charging her with “time-barred offenses” and resurrecting “decades-old allegations” previously blamed on Epstein, who died by suicide in prison.
“In its zeal to pin the blame for its own incompetence and for Epstein’s crimes on Maxwell, the government breached its promise not to prosecute Maxwell, charged her with time-barred offenses, resurrected and recast decades-old allegations for conduct previously ascribed to Epstein and other named assistants, and joined forces with complainants’ civil attorneys, whose interests were financial, to develop new allegations that would support charges against Maxwell,” the brief said.
“This is not a technical error. Statutes of Limitations are rooted in universally accepted notions that prompt investigation and prosecution ensure that conviction or acquittal is a reliable result, and not the product of faded memory or unavailable evidence, as was the case here,” defense attorney Arthur Aidala said in a statement.
Maxwell’s conviction was based on the testimony of four women, three of whom were permitted to testify under pseudonyms, a decision Maxwell’s attorneys derided.
“The result transformed the trial into a form of Kabuki theater designed to remind the jury at every turn that these adult women were being protected because their privacy interests, and not Maxwell’s constitutional right to a public trial, were paramount,” the defense said.
Prior to and during the trial, Maxwell’s attorneys had frequently complained about the conditions of her confinement at MDC (Metropolitan Detention Center) Brooklyn, and those arguments reappeared in her appellate argument.
“By the time of trial, Maxwell was so disoriented and diminished that she was unable meaningfully to assist in her own defense, much less to testify,” Maxwell’s attorneys said.
Her appeal also argued Maxwell’s prosecution was improper because of a 2007 non-prosecution agreement between federal prosecutors in Miami and Epstein. The trial judge said that agreement did not apply in New York, but the defense said it should have immunized Maxwell as a defendant.
“The government prosecuted Ms. Maxwell as a proxy for Jeffrey Epstein. It did so to satisfy public outrage over an unpopular non-prosecution agreement and the death of the person responsible for the crimes,” Aidala said.
(MAIDUGURI, Nigeria) — Ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu was declared the winner of Nigeria’s presidential election early Wednesday, amid calls from the opposition for a rerun in Africa’s largest democracy.
Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) Chairman Mahmood Yakubu announced the results on live television just after 4 a.m. local time. Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) party garnered a total of 8,794,726 votes, or about 35%, defeating his three main rivals: Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who secured 6,984,520 votes, or about 29%; and Peter Obi of the lesser known Labour Party, who received 6,101,533 votes, or about 25%. A total of 24,966,218 votes were cast, of which 24,025,940 were valid and 939,278 were rejected, according to Yakubu.
“I take this opportunity to appeal to my fellow contestants to let us team up together,” Tinubu, 70, told a crowd of supporters at the APC’s campaign headquarters in the capital, Abuja. “It is the only nation we have. It is one country and we must build together.”
On Tuesday, as votes were still being counted and provisional results showed Tinubu in the lead, Abubakar’s PDP and Obi’s Labour Party demanded a do-over and called on the INEC chairman to resign. Both opposition parties alleged that the results had been manipulated, citing disparities between votes that were tallied at local polling stations and the data that was uploaded to the INEC’s website. Dozens of protesters took to the streets in Abuja and southern Delta state. As the demonstrations grew, the United Nations issued a statement calling “on all stakeholders to remain calm through the conclusion of the electoral process” in Nigeria.
The parties have three weeks to appeal the results. While challenges are common, the Supreme Court of Nigeria has never overturned a presidential election.
Nigeria’s 2023 presidential election — described as the West African nation’s most hotly contested since the end of military rule in 1999 — took place on Saturday against a backdrop of widespread insecurity and economic troubles. The vote was closely watched around the world as it was considered a potential turning point for Africa’s most populous country and biggest economy. The United States, a close ally, had called Saturday’s poll “consequential” not just for Nigerians but also for the wider continent and the entire globe.
While observers said the election was largely peaceful, logistical and security challenges forced some of the country’s 93 million registered voters to wait until the next day to cast their ballots. Moreover, a cash shortage sparked by a currency redesign made it difficult for people to get to polling stations, likely resulting in low voter turnout, according to observers.
Popularly known as “Jagaban” by his supporters, Tinubu ran on campaign promises to enhance security, tackle mounting debt and improve state infrastructure. He previously served as governor of southwestern Nigeria’s affluent Lagos state, where he was born. However, he lost the state in Saturday’s presidential election to Obi, a relative political newcomer who amassed immense support among the youth.
As the president-elect, Tinubu will replace outgoing Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, whose electoral victory in 2015 made history. Buhari is stepping down after serving the maximum two terms allowed by the constitution.
(NEW YORK) — Six train cars, including two carrying propane, derailed in Manatee County, Florida, on Tuesday, according to the train’s operator, Seminole Gulf Railroad.
There is no immediate danger or leaks and no one was injured, according to the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.
Robert Fay, vice president with Seminole Gulf Railroad, told ABC News that six rail cars derailed. Five cars went completely on their sides; four were carrying sheetrock and one was a propane tanker. A sixth car, also a propane tanker, derailed but that car stayed upright, Fay said.
None of the LPG, or liquified petroleum gas, on either car leaked out, Fay said.
The Southern Manatee Fire Rescue said that hazmat and fire crews are working to turn the cars upright.
According to Seminole Gulf Railroad, four train cars were hauling sheetrock and one tank car flipped over. One car was described as “half-derailed” and upright.
The derailment comes as East Palestine, Ohio, continues to grapple with cleanup after a Northfolk Southern train carrying hazardous materials derailed earlier this month, causing ongoing concerns and anxiety for residents, as well as increased scrutiny of railway protocols and demands for reform.
The salvage operation in Florida will take multiple days, with a spokesperson for Seminole Gulf Railroad saying that restoration efforts will be completed by March 6, according to Southern Manatee Fire Rescue Chief Robert Bounds.
One of the tipped-over train cars was carrying 30,000 gallons of liquid propane, Bounds told ABC News.
Since the tanker is undamaged, crews will not try to offload the propane, instead lifting the car with the contents within the tanker.
According to Bounds, a 100-foot section of the railroad is “snapped in half” and uprooted.
“It’s kind of a domino effect,” he said. “The one car jumped the track and flipped, and that’ll pull the next car, and so on and so on until the inertia stops enough that the last car just unbuckled.”
Bounds said that an effort to upright the propane tanker would occur in the coming days.
According to Bounds, crews monitoring the site are equipped with gas-monitoring equipment and local businesses have been notified about the derailment.
The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is providing security near the site.
“The scene is as safe as it can be right now. Short of that tank being on its side, there is no problem,” Bounds said.
The Florida Department of Transportation will investigate the incident.
(WASHINGTON) — A top Pentagon official said Tuesday that Iran could make the nuclear material for a device in about 12 days if it wanted to do so.
Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said its monitors had detected that Iran now had the capability of enriching uranium to close to 84%.
On Tuesday, the IAEA said the capability had actually reached 83.7 percent, which is on the verge of making weapons-grade uranium.
In response to a question from Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., at a House Armed Services Committee hearing on Ukraine, Colin Kahl, the Pentagon’s top policy official, was asked to describe Iran’s nuclear progress since then-President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.
“Iran’s nuclear progress since we left the JCPOA has been remarkable,” Kahl said.
“Back in 2018, when the previous administration decided to leave the JCPOA, it would have taken Iran about 12 months to produce one bomb’s worth of fissile material,” said Kahl about Iran’s so called “breakout time. “Now it would take about 12 days.”
Kahl said he still thinks going back to the deal is better than not having any deal because he said it could “put constraints” on Iran. At the same, he acknowledged that isn’t likely, given that efforts to go back to the deal are “on ice” since Iran turned down a U.S. offer last summer.
“Of course, Iran’s behavior has changed since then, not the least of which there’s support for Russia and Ukraine, which is the subject of the conversation here today,” he told lawmakers. “So, I don’t think we’re on the precipice of reentering the JCPOA.”
(NEW YORK) — The jury in the double murder trial of disgraced South Carolina attorney Alex Murdaugh — who is accused of killing his wife and younger son at the family’s property in 2021 — will travel to the site of the brutal killings on Wednesday ahead of closing arguments.
The bodies of Margaret Murdaugh, 52, and Paul Murdaugh, 22, were found dead from multiple gunshot wounds near the dog kennels at the family’s estate Moselle in June 2021, authorities said.
Alex Murdaugh, 54, who called 911 to report the discovery, was charged with their murders 13 months later.
The defense argued that it would be useful for the jury to visit the 1,772-acre hunting estate in Islandton to get a sense of the space in which the killings took place.
“You just can’t really appreciate the spatial issues without actually seeing them,” defense attorney Richard Harpootlian told the court on Monday.
Prosecutors had argued against the visit to Moselle, given that the property has changed in the 20 months since the killings, but Judge Clifton Newman ruled in favor of the defense on Monday.
The jurors are slated to travel to the property, which is under contract for $3.9 million, Wednesday morning amid tight security. No questions can be asked and no talking will be allowed on the trip. The judge has warned them that some things have changed on the property since the crime occurred.
Following the trip, court is expected to resume around 11 a.m., at which point the attorneys will argue charges for how the jury will be instructed to deliberate.
Once those rules are established, closing arguments will take place, then the judge will charge the jury before deliberations into the high-profile case begin.
Over the past nearly six weeks, the jury has heard from over 60 witnesses called by state prosecutors, who have argued that Alex Murdaugh killed his wife and son to gain sympathy and distract from his financial problems.
Prosecutors have focused on footage taken from Paul Murdaugh’s cellphone the night of the murders, including a video taken at the kennels several minutes before the victims were believed to be killed that investigators said has Alex Murdaugh talking in the background. Alex Murdaugh told investigators early in the case that he was not down by the kennels that night and had last seen his wife and son at dinner before finding bodies upon returning home from visiting his mother.
The defense has called 14 witnesses, including Alex Murdaugh himself, who during hours of at-times emotional testimony admitted to stealing from his clients and lying to investigators about his whereabouts the night of the murders but repeatedly denied fatally shooting his wife and son.
The defense has argued that police ignored the possibility that anyone else could have killed them and called experts who said investigators did not adequately examine the crime scene. On Monday, in one of their last witnesses before resting, the defense brought a crime scene expert to the stand who said he believed the killings were likely committed by two people.
Before resting on Tuesday, prosecutors brought forward experts to dispute some of the defense witnesses’ theories on how the shootings occurred and called former Murdaugh law partner Ronnie Crosby to the stand to discuss Alex Murdaugh’s tactics as a trial attorney.
“You asked me what kind of lawyer Alex was, and I told you he was a good lawyer,” Crosby said. “One of the things that I think I explained to you was that he was of a theatrical type presence in the courtroom and he could get very emotional doing closing arguments in front of a jury.”
Alex Murdaugh faces 30 years to life in prison without parole if convicted of the killings, for which he has pleaded not guilty.
(NEW YORK) — When Alyn Carroll received information that her Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will soon be substantially decreased, her emotions almost overtook her.
“I wanted to cry,” Carroll, 56, told ABC News. “I wanted to cry because I just started feeling comfortable where I could budget every week a certain amount of money to spend and I did OK with that. But now, they taking that back? It’s like, what is a person to do?”
Carroll, who lives in Baltimore, has been using SNAP to buy food for around seven years and said it is a crucial part of her grocery budget as a person with diabetes. The remaining SNAP emergency allotments that were expanded during the COVID-19 pandemic are set to expire, however — and Carroll’s monthly SNAP check will go from $283 to just $56, she said.
“You can’t survive off of $56 a week, let alone four weeks,” she said. “That extra money helped. I mean, it didn’t fix the problem, but it helped greatly. With them taking those funds back, it’s going to be terrible because we already didn’t have enough money to feed our families.”
While nearly 30 million Americans could see reduced payments when the expanded SNAP benefits expire, Black and Latino communities may be pushed back below the poverty line without the support of the emergency allotments, which were temporarily extended during a time of financial and economic hardship from the pandemic.
According to a study from the Urban Institute, SNAP’s benefits kept 4.2 million people out of poverty since the fourth quarter of 2021, with the largest poverty reduction from the program for Black and Hispanic people.
The emergency allotments reduced poverty by 10% and child poverty by 14% in their states, according to the study.
Eighteen states have already ended the extra SNAP benefits, impacting some 12 million Americans. The remaining 32 states and the jurisdictions of Washington, D.C., Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands follow suit on Wednesday.
“It’s important to know that communities of color have a higher rate of poverty at a national and statewide level than their white counterparts. Because of that, they’re already at a disadvantage in terms of access to benefits,” said Gina Plata-Nino, Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) deputy director for SNAP.
The FRAC prioritizes improving the nutrition, health and well-being of people struggling against poverty-related hunger in the U.S. through advocacy, partnerships, and by advancing bold and equitable policy solutions, according to its website.
According to the U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey data, food insufficiency — or “sometimes” or “often” not having enough to eat — continues to be over twice as high for Black and Latino adults compared to white adults.
“SNAP is able to protect people. It pushes them out of the poverty hole. It allows them to have enough resources to be able to feed their kiddos and I think it’s important to know that while this is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for many of these families, it is also their one sole income to feed their families,” Plata-Nino said.
While Carroll is solely responsible for finding food for herself, she expressed empathy for those in her community with families who will struggle because of the end of SNAP’s emergency benefits.
She said she also worries how food banks will be able to pivot during a time of record inflation, with food prices up 10.1% in January, compared with a year ago, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
President and CEO of the Atlanta Community Food Bank Kevin Waide told ABC News that his organization currently spends around $2 million just for food purchases, a record-breaking number for the facility.
“Food banks are sourcing food from donations from federal commodity support and food that we buy, and for every dollar of food resources that are taken out of the SNAP program, we have to find a way to make up for that,” Waide said.
“And so that means we’ve got to go raise more money, buy more food donations, buy more food. And at the scale that we’re talking about, that’s just a very challenging proposition right now in our food bank. … And even now, we are not meeting the food needs in our community. I don’t think, given the level of demand that’s out there,” he said.
The bank serves 600,000 people in 29 counties across Georgia, one of the states that discontinued SNAP’s emergency allotments after May 2022. Since then, Waide said, his food bank saw a 30% increase in visits.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s office has pointed to low unemployment and other positive economic news in the state, in light of the reduced benefits, but said last year: “If any Georgian or Georgia families are experiencing food insecurity, we have many other statewide programs to help support them.”
“The state made its decision for a variety of reasons, not just because they didn’t want to extend benefits, but there are other factors that went into that decision,” Waide said.
That had real consequences, he told ABC News.
“So many families across our community are facing significant financial pressure right now, and losing $100 a month really puts them in harm’s way,” he said. “We hear that every day from our neighbors that we’re serving, that that additional money has helped them keep food on the table as food prices have continued to increase and as they’re trying to recover from the long-term effects of the pandemic.”
Although some households may see around $95 or less gone in their budget for groceries, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a left-leaning think tank, factors such as family size and income can result in some families losing hundreds of dollars each month.
From butter’s price recently rising an average of 31% to bread being up 15%, year over year, according to inflation data, SNAP users like Carroll look to the legislators to help those in the community who need it most.
“I’m just hoping that the government can find a way to give people some funds back that they’ve taken away to help our community survive,” she said. “Because we’re not surviving right now. We’re just barely existing. We want to do better, but we need help.”
(WASHINGTON) — FBI director Christopher Wray on Tuesday spoke publicly for the first time on the bureau’s assessment that the COVID-19 virus “most likely” originated from a potential lab incident in Wuhan, China.
He also faulted the Chinese government in an interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier for, he said, trying to thwart the work of U.S. agencies investigating the beginnings of the global pandemic.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” he said.
Wray’s comments came after a report in the Wall Street Journal, not independently confirmed by ABC News, that a new Department of Energy assessment has found the virus was most likely the result of a lab leak in Wuhan, but it did so with “low confidence,” compared with the FBI’s “most likely” finding with “moderate confidence.”
While the DOE assessment, which the New York Times reported was based on new intelligence, is in line with the FBI’s, four other U.S. agencies believe the virus was a result of natural transmission and that the virus, known as SARS-CoV-2, jumped from animals to humans at a wet market. Two other agencies are undecided.
“The FBI has for quite some time now assessed that the origins of the pandemic are most likely a potential lab incident in Wuhan,” Wray said.
“Let’s step back for a second. You know, the FBI has folks agents, professionals, analysts, virologists, microbiologist, etc, who focus specifically on the dangers of biological threats, which include things like novel viruses like COVID and the concerns that they’re in the wrong hands,” he said, “some bad guys, a hostile nation state, a terrorist a criminal, the threats that those those could pose.”
“So, here you’re talking about a potential leak from a Chinese government-controlled lab that killed millions of Americans, and that’s precisely what that capability was designed for,” he continued.
“I should add that, that our work related to this continues. And there are not a whole lot of details I can share that aren’t — aren’t classified,” he told Baier.
“I will just make the observation that the Chinese government seems to me has been doing its best to try to thwart and obfuscate the work here the work that we’re doing the work that our U.S. government and close foreign partners are doing. And that’s unfortunate for everybody,” Wray said.
