(UVALDE, Texas) — After failing to file papers supporting the less-than-honorable discharge of the former schools police chief blamed for inaction during a Texas school massacre last year, the Uvalde school district has moved to restore the official blemish they had placed on the record of Pete Arredondo.

The district filed for a rehearing following reports this week showing that Arredondo had won an appeal by default when the district did not respond to his official objection last year. Arredondo was fired by the school district in the wake of the botched police response to the May 24 shooting at Robb Elementary School that claimed the lives of 19 students and two of their teachers.

“They filed the right motion to pick back up and try to defend the original discharge designation,” said Luis Soberon, a policy researcher for Texas 2036, the group that first found Arredondo had won an appeal to remove the official blemish from his police record that was made after he was fired by the Uvalde district.

The Uvalde School District Interim Superintendent Gary Patterson released a statement to the Uvalde Leader News Friday saying that emails from the state about the hearing were missed due to staffing changes in September and October. During those months, the former superintendent retired and the entire school police department was put on suspension, according to Patterson.

Emails were missed, so the district did not appear on January 31 to contest Arredondo’s appeal, he said.

The original discharge status, which the district is now fighting to keep, was general, according to Patterson. The default decision, reached on Jan. 31 when the district didn’t reply to Arredondo’s appeal, upgraded his discharge status to honorable.

According to Soberon, the district had 30 days to file the request for a rehearing. That deadline would have been next week.

“It is fairly safe to say that there will be a hearing now with evidence presented by both sides as to why the discharge status should be upgraded on the part of Pete Arredondo or stay the same on the part of Uvalde CISD,” said Soberon.

Arredondo nor his lawyers responded to multiple requests for comment on his termination report appeal.

Another police official on the scene of the May 24 rampage is challenging his discharge status as well. Retired Lt. Mariano Pargas, the acting Uvalde City police chief that day, filed an appeal to upgrade his discharge status from general to honorable at the beginning of December, over two weeks after he left the Uvalde Police Department on the same week officials said they would move to terminate him.

An ABC News investigation based on call recordings and body camera footage found that Pargas knew children were alive in the room with the shooter for at least 30 minutes before police made entry to save them.

Pargas said he could not comment on the appeal and has declined multiple requests for an interview with ABC News, citing an ongoing investigation.

A spokesperson for the City of Uvalde, Gina Eisenberg, said that the city plans to oppose Pargas’ appeal and a hearing is scheduled for July. Eisenberg would not provide details about what that opposition would include.

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(OKLAHOMA CITY) — At least eight people were stabbed, including two who were critically wounded, after a “large fight” broke out at an Oklahoma nightclub early Saturday, police said.

The incident occurred around 1:30 a.m. local time in Oklahoma City’s Bricktown district, at the Pink Parrot Cantina, police said.

“Several police officers were posted outside the club as part of security protocols and saw the fight occurring with several injured people exiting the club, onto the sidewalk,” the Oklahoma City Police Department said in a statement.

Officers saw two people with what appeared to be serious stab wounds “bleeding profusely,” police said. They applied tourniquets and directed pressure to stop the loss of blood.

So far, eight people appear to have been stabbed in the fight, two of whom are in critical condition, police said Saturday. Six victims suffered minor injuries.

“There have been no arrests made and it is unclear what caused the fight to break out,” police said.

A weapon has not been recovered, an Oklahoma City police spokesperson told ABC News.

A phone number listed for the Pink Parrot Cantina was not in service.

A man working as a valet nearby saw the chaos unfold outside the club.

“I was about to pull into the garage. Right when I was about to turn in, I just see everybody started running across the street over here,” Ben Dominguez told ABC Oklahoma City affiliate KOCO.

Dominguez said he saw a woman getting carried by two people and believes she may have been one of the stabbing victims.

“You just see people start scattering and running down that way, that way, across the street,” he told the station.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Nearly 122,000 customers are without power in California as a major storm brings record rainfall, heavy snow and damaging winds. The storm will be moving from southern California across the entire country over the next few days, eventually moving northeast by Tuesday.

As of Saturday morning, more than 30 million Americans are under weather alerts in the West, ranging from blizzard warnings in the mountains near Los Angeles to wind chill alerts in the Northern Plains.

The Los Angeles area saw record rainfall on Friday, and it came along with 50- to 70-mile-per-hour winds. Burbank, California, saw 4.6 inches of rain Friday — stranding cars in floods and causing dozens of flight delays and cancellations.

Records for daily rainfall were also set at the Los Angeles International Airport and the cities of Fresno, Bakersfield, Modesto and Oxnard.

Heavy rain continues in southern California, with heavy snow in the mountains, mainly above 2,000 feet elevation. A few light snow showers may be found across the northeast this morning, with scattered minor accumulations.

Rain and snow will not be letting up on Saturday. More flooding rain is possible in the Los Angeles area, although the heaviest rain looks to move to the east of the city by end of day.

In the mountains, incredibly heavy snow is leading to treacherous travel. The central and southern Sierra Nevada Mountains are looking at an additional 2 to 4 feet of snow Saturday.

On Sunday, the majority of the rain from this major storm will be moving through Arizona, bringing rain in the “lower elevations” and snow in the mountainous terrain. Meanwhile, another wave of rain and snow will arrive in northern California during the morning hours, with precipitation from Sacramento all the way north to Seattle.

That storm moves eastward by Sunday, but will deliver a severe weather threat to Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas on Sunday afternoon. Tornadoes and damaging winds are possible.

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(ST.LOUIS) — Ben, the Saint Louis Zoo’s resident Andean Bear, has had a busy February.

On Thursday, the 4-year-old bear escaped his habitat around 1 p.m. to wander the zoo for about 50 minutes.

While he explored the part of the zoo typically occupied by guests, staff members engaged the zoo’s emergency response protocol, and guests sheltered at various indoor facilities. The zoo reported no injuries during the incident, and Ben is now safely back in his enclosure.

The Saint Louis Zoo notes that Andean bears use their strong calls to be skilled climbers, able to reach the top of trees in rain forests or reach elevations or 14,000 feet in rocky terrain. They often eat, sleep, and raise young in tree nests.

“At four years old, we know Ben is young and adventurous,” the Saint Louis Zoo wrote in a social media post.

According to the zoo’s officials, the Thursday incident marked the second time Ben escaped his enclosure.

On Feb. 7, Ben “meddled” with the steel mesh in his habitat “in just the right spot,” according to the zoo. His fiddling with the mesh caused a cable to fail, allowing him to escape again.

Ben’s exhibit is housed in the southeast section of the zoo neighboring capybaras and giant anteaters.

To prevent a similar incident, Zoo officials reinforced the outdoor habitat with steel clips rated at 450 pounds; however, Ben could still outdo the reinforced hardware in his Thursday escape.

According to the Smithsonian, Andean bears can grow to 6 feet, with males weighing up to 340 pounds. The only native bear to South America, Andean bears are voracious foragers of berries and flowers, though they also eat small animals like rabbits and birds. Near humans, they have tended to raid cornfields (the Saint Louis Zoo does not have a cornfield).

Ben’s escape happened in the afternoon, though his species prefers to rest during the daytime, often sleeping in secluded tree cavities or dens, according to the Smithsonian.

The Saint Louis Zoo is now working with the Bear Taxon Advisory Group and the Association of Zoos and Aquariums to determine how to prevent Ben from escaping a third time.

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(NEW YORK) — States across the country are considering bans on gender-affirming care for transgender minors.

At least six states — Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Florida, South Dakota, and Utah — have passed laws or policies that restrict gender-affirming care for people under the age of legal majority, which is the threshold for legal adulthood.

The laws in Alabama and Arkansas are temporarily blocked, as they’re being battled out in courts.

In at least 25 other states, local legislatures are considering or have introduced bills that would similarly restrict this kind of medical care for trans youth.

The vast majority of bans also target people under the age of legal majority, which for most of the United States is the age of 18. At least three of these states are targeting people up to the ages of 21 and 26.

Several of the legislative efforts criminalize gender-affirming procedures.

These bills are just some of the 321 anti-LGBTQ bills introduced or debated in 2023 reported by the ACLU, which surpasses the record 315 anti-LGBTQ bills in 2022, according to the Human Rights Campaign.

91% of last year’s anti-LGBTQ efforts failed, the HRC reports.

In other states, like Alaska, Illinois, Minnesota and California, legislators have made strides in protecting access to care for transgender people. For example, in Alaska, gender-affirming care is covered under Medicaid.

What is gender-affirming care?

Gender-affirming care, refers to social affirmation, puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgical procedures, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Social affirmation refers to the adoption of a name, hairstyles, clothing, pronouns and restroom use that aligns with someone’s gender identity, according to the HHS.

Puberty blockers, taken during puberty, use hormones to pause pubertal development. Puberty blockers are reversible, the HHS says.

Hormone therapy refers to testosterone hormones for trans boys and estrogen for trans girls taken in early adolescence onward. These injections are partially reversible, according to the HHS.

Surgeries, according to the HHS, are typically reserved for adults and rarely for adolescents, who may be eligible on a case-by-case basis.

Studies, including research in JAMA Surgery, have shown that gender-affirming care can be life-saving for transgender and nonbinary children and adolescents, promoting positive mental and physical health and well-being.

Several major national medical associations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Public Health Association, say that gender-affirming care is safe and effective. Some, like the American Medical Association, deem it “medically necessary.”

Supporters of the bans argue that transgender people should wait until they are older before making decisions about these treatments and their bodies.

When signing the bill, Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said: “We should especially protect our children from these radical, life-altering drugs and surgeries when they are at such a vulnerable stage in life.

She continued, “Instead, let us all focus on helping them to properly develop into the adults God intended them to be.”

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(EAST PALESTINE, Ohio) — It’s been more than three weeks since the Norfolk Southern Railway train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, leaking dangerous chemicals into the air, soil and water.

Crews are continuing cleanup of the area where hazardous materials including vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate and isobutylene may have escaped into the environment — chemicals that are considered to be very toxic, possibly even carcinogenic with high exposures.

The most recent statement from the Environmental Protection Agency on the Ohio train derailment says they have not detected any levels of health concern in the air and they continue to investigate what impact the spill had on surface and ground water, including drinking water. Nearby community members were evacuated during a controlled burn of the chemicals and allowed to return when deemed safe.

While it’s unknown what residents were exposed to, and in what quantities, doctors told ABC News vulnerable groups — including pregnant women and children — could especially be harmed.

Chemical exposure may affect health of pregnant women

“When we think about pregnant individuals who are exposed to anything, we want to think about the pregnant person themselves first,” Dr. Kathryn Gray, an attending physician in maternal-fetal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, told ABC News. “So, you would want to proceed with an evaluation just like you would have any other adult who has the exposure.”

She continued, “I think in this case, there were a lot of reports of respiratory issues, eye and skin irritation and so addressing those symptoms and any other symptoms that patients are having.”

There is currently no evidence that exposure to any of these chemicals are linked to problems with growth, development or survival of the fetus in utero.

These chemicals, however, have been known to cause symptoms including drowsiness, lethargy, headaches and nausea.

In one case, vinyl chloride, a colorless gas that burns easily, is associated with an increased risk of several cancers including brain, liver and lung cancers as well as lymphoma and leukemia, according to the National Cancer Institute.

As a report from the U.K. stated, “If the exposure to vinyl chloride causes the mother to become unwell this may affect the health of the unborn child.”

Children’s anatomy may worsen exposure symptoms

Dr. Fred Henretig, a senior toxicologist at the poison control center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News the amount of chemicals children are breathing in or ingesting may determine how hazardous something is.

“The dose makes the poison and so, if there’s just a little bit in the air that children are breathing, then the exposure is very short-lived,” he said. “I would think that their risk of developing that kind of chronic disease as a result of that would be very, very slight.”

He continued, “But I certainly understand the concern of families who have a bad smell in their neighborhood and who are concerned about water and air contamination, whether it gets into their food sources, and so on.”

One of those concerned mothers is 26-year-old Kasie Beal. She, her husband Nate and their now 2-month-old son Luke fled their home in East Palestine the night of the train derailment to her mother’s house about 14 to 15 miles away.

Beal said she refuses to bring her son back to East Palestine. She and her husband have returned to get clothes and other things.

“Any time we’re in our house for longer than, say, 10 minutes, our chests are heavy, we get a headache. Nate has said that his nostrils burn,” Beal told ABC News.

Henretig said the effects of most hazardous chemicals are parallel in young children and adults.

Children, however, might be more affected by certain chemicals because of their smaller size and behaviors,

For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, children have thinner skin and more skin per pound of body weight than adults so if a chemical is splashed on them, their skin might absorb more or it could chemically burn a higher percent surface area of skin.

Children also breathe in more air per pound of body weight than adults so they could breathe in a higher proportion of noxious air and their smaller airways might exacerbate the issue.

“Young kids also live closer to the ground and if the gas is heavier than air, the concentration will be greater at two feet above ground than six feet above ground,” Henretig said. “And vinyl chloride is a perfect example of a gas that’s heavier than air, so that could increase their proportionate exposure.”

Children are also more likely to play outside or on the ground and put things in their mouth that could increase their risk of exposure to soil toxins if present, according to the CDC.

Beal said she’s worried to use the water in her home to bathe her son. She has friends who live 25 minutes away who said they had rashes after taking a shower.

Her son’s pediatrician told her to document anything health-wise in case it’s related to the train derailment.

“Even if you think it’s not related to the train derailment, it very well could be,” she said.

Norfolk Southern has been offering $1,000 “inconvenience” checks to residents but Beal said she’s still not ready to return home.

“They’re handing out these $1,000 inconvenience checks but what happened was not an inconvenience,” Beal said. “Spilling water on the counter or the line being too long at Starbucks, that’s an inconvenience. Your whole life being flipped upside down is not an inconvenience.”

She continued, “There’s no amount of money that’s going to fix that. None. I go home and I can’t feel safe. I don’t want to get sick when I go to my house. That’s my home. That’s where I live. That’s where my kid was gonna grow up.”

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(STAGECOACH, Nev.) — Five people are dead, including a patient and medical personnel, after a Care Flight plane crashed late Friday in Nevada.

The incident occurred at approximately 9:15 p.m. when the Lyon County Dispatch Center began receiving multiple calls regarding a possible plane crash near Stagecoach, Nevada — about 45 miles east of Reno, according to a statement from the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

Care Flight, a service of REMSA Health, headquartered in Reno, Nevada, and Guardian Flight, headquartered in Utah, confirmed in a statement following the crash that a PC 12 fixed wing aircraft, tail number N273SM, went off radar near Stagecoach, Nevada.

“We are heartbroken to report that we have now received confirmation from Central Lyon County Fire Department that none of the five people on board survived,” read the statement from Care Flight. “The five people on board were a pilot, a flight nurse, a flight paramedic, a patient and a patient’s family member. We are in the process of notifying their family members.”

Lyon County deputies, Central Lyon County fire officials, Lyon County Search and Rescue and Douglas County Search and Rescue all responded to the scene of the accident to search the area following the crash.

“The Central Lyon Fire Department and Lyon County Sheriff’s Department are coordinating with the National Transportation Safety Board to determine the cause of the crash which is under investigation,” Care Flight said in a statement.

The aircraft was located at approximately 11:15 p.m. but no survivors were found, Lyon County Sheriff’s Office said.

“As is Guardian and Care Flight’s safety process in these situations, we are in a passive stand down for all Guardian and Care Flight flights across the company,” said Care Flight. “We will work with each of our operations to ascertain when they are able to return to service … Our immediate focus is helping our team members and families, as well as the responding agencies.”

This is still an ongoing incident and investigation and authorities said that more information about the crash will be released as it becomes available.

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(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — An elderly man was killed and a woman critically injured in a “horrific” dog attack in Texas on Friday, authorities said.

The incident occurred around 1:45 p.m. local time in a residential area of San Antonio.

Responding firefighters had to fend off the dogs with pickaxes and pipe poles, according to San Antonio Fire Department Chief Charles Hood, who called their actions “heroic.”

“Horrific scene — horrific for the people that experienced this and, again, horrific for our firefighters that were a part of this, basically, a rescue to save themselves and to save these people,” Hood said.

An approximately 80-year-old man and a woman both believed to be visiting the area were mauled in the attack, which occurred on the sidewalk, Hood said. They were both transported to a local hospital. The man died due to his injuries, while the woman remains in critical condition, Hood said.

Another individual was transported to a hospital with a bite to the hand, Hood said. A fire captain was also bit in the leg while responding to the attack, he said.

Two dogs determined to be involved in the attack and a third from the same household that was unrestrained and outside the property were taken into custody, according to Shannon Sims, director of San Antonio Animal Care Services.

The dogs — American Staffordshire terriers — will be placed in quarantine kennels “for the foreseeable future” and remain with Animal Care Services throughout the investigation into the deadly attack, Sims said.

The investigation is in the preliminary stage and it is too early to determine what, if any, charges may be filed, authorities said.

The animals were previously involved in an incident in 2021 that resulted in mild bites, Sims said. The dogs were returned after they finished quarantine and the owner paid reclaim fees, he said. An affidavit was not filed by a victim and witness and “therefore we could not move forward and a dangerous dog designation,” he said.

Neighbors have also called the animal shelter to report dogs at the property that were estray and neglected, Sims said.

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