(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Milwaukee 130, Toronto 122
San Antonio 106, Brooklyn 98
Denver 122, Portland 113
Philadelphia 120, LA Clippers 110
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Minnesota 4, Washington 2
Montreal 4, Winnipeg 1
Philadelphia 5, Anaheim 2
Toronto 5, Florida 4 (OT)
Nashville 2, Columbus 1
Chicago 4, Buffalo 3 (OT)
Arizona 4, Detroit 3 (SO)
Edmonton 5, Seattle 2
TOP-25 COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Houston 80, Tulane 60
Kansas St. 83, Kansas 82
Alabama 78, Vanderbilt 66
Iowa St. 78, Texas 67
Tennessee 70, Mississippi St. 59
Wake Forest 87, Clemson 77
Baylor 81, Texas Tech 74
(NEW YORK) — As the Department of Transportation increases its call on airlines to promptly refund passengers, Delta Air Lines is telling some people on social media that it could be months before they see their money returned.
Still, the company insisted to ABC News that it was working “in a timely fashion.”
DOT requires airlines to refund passengers within seven business days if the customer paid by credit card — or within 20 days if they paid with cash or check. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg recently warned Southwest Airlines, after its holiday season meltdown, that his agency “will use the full extent of its investigation and enforcement authority to ensure Southwest complies with its refund obligations.”
On Sunday, Delta tweeted that it was “months behind” on processing some refunds for canceled flights.
In one response to a user who asked for an update on the status of what they said was a refund request of more than $13,000, a Delta representative tweeted back: “Due to the backlog/ high volume of refunds, the Refund Department is a couple months behind on processing.”
The carrier also tweeted in July and in November that refunds were backlogged, asking customers to allow more than a month for a response.
But Delta this week denied the existence of a backlog in refund requests. In a statement to ABC, the airline said, “As always, we will provide refunds to eligible requesting customers who elect not to travel as the result of a significant delay or cancellation and seek to do so in a timely fashion.”
Although the tweets were sent from the Delta Twitter account and remain posted, it’s unclear if there are delays in customers receiving refunds.
Last year, DOT levied more than $7.25 million in fines against six airlines, including U.S. carrier Frontier, for not providing prompt refunds.
The department has said it would hold all airlines accountable “if there is evidence that they are failing to meet their refund or reimbursement obligations.”
(WASHINGTON) — Reported threats to members of Congress in 2022 declined by more than 2,000 since the record-breaking 9,625 that were reported in 2021, according to statistics released on Tuesday by the U.S. Capitol Police.
In total, there were 7,501 threat cases investigated by Capitol Police last year, the agency said.
“The threats against Members of Congress are still too high,” Chief Tom Manger said in a statement. “This has resulted in a necessary expansion of, not only our investigative capabilities, but our protection responsibilities as well.”
“While that work is ongoing, everyone continuing to decrease violent political rhetoric across the country is the best way to keep everyone safe,” Manger said.
The record-high threats two years ago came in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, which temporarily sent members of Congress into lockdown. Despite the decrease in 2022, there were notable incidents of violence related to lawmakers.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, was assaulted at their California home in October. The suspect was allegedly looking for Nancy Pelosi, according to police.
Threats to members of Congress have been on the rise since 2017, when there were 3,939, according to Capitol Police data.
As part of its response, the agency has hired attorneys who are detailed to the Department of Justice to work as prosecutors specializing in the threat cases. These prosecutors, known as special assistant U.S. attorneys, do not work on cases related to Jan. 6.
(AUBURN, Wash.) — Police in Washington state said they have arrested a suspect who allegedly tried to abduct a barista through a drive-thru window.
The Auburn Police Department had released surveillance footage of the incident — which occurred shortly after 5 a.m. local time on Monday — while seeking to identify the suspect.
“The suspect seen here attempted to drag the victim through the window using a looped zip tie device,” the department said on social media Monday. “The victim was able to fight off the attacker.”
In the nine-second video, the barista can be seen handing the driver cash through the drive-thru window, at which point he grabs her wrist in one hand while holding an apparent zip tie in the other. The barista is able to break free and the suspect then drives off, the video shows.
Police added that the suspect has a “unique tattoo” on his left forearm that appeared to be the word “Chevrolet.”
On Tuesday, the department announced that it had arrested a suspect in the case “after overwhelming support from the community.”
Auburn Police Department spokesperson Colby Crossley told ABC News that police received “numerous” tips leading them to the suspect, who was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in Auburn on a kidnapping charge.
“Multiple people called in saying they knew the person and were able to give a name,” Crossley said.
“Obviously we had such great evidence,” he added, noting that the tattoo and side profile of the suspect was captured in the surveillance footage.
Police also found evidence in the suspect’s vehicle “linking him to the crime,” Crossley said.
It’s unclear if the suspect and victim knew each other. “That’s part of the investigation,” Crossley said.
The suspect has not been publicly identified. He is scheduled to have his first court appearance Wednesday morning, at which time police plan to release his name, Crossley said.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department said in a brief court filing Tuesday that it will not seek the death penalty in the case against the alleged shooter who killed 19 at an El Paso, Texas, Walmart in 2019.
The Justice Department did not say why it isn’t seeking the death penalty.
Patrick Crusius allegedly killed 23 in August 2019 at an El Paso Walmart and is facing state murder charges and federal hate crime charges.
Crusius was indicted by federal prosecutors in 2019 on 90 federal charges, including 22 counts of committing a hate crime resulting in death, 22 counts of use of a firearm to commit murder, 23 counts of a hate crime involving an attempt to kill and 23 counts of use of a firearm during a crime.
He is accused of being the sole gunman to carry out the Aug. 3, 2019, killing rampage that federal authorities investigated as an act of “domestic terrorism,” meaning the suspect was allegedly intent on “coercing and intimidating a civilian population,” officials said at the time of the announcement.
Crusius allegedly told investigators following his arrest that he set out to kill as many Mexicans as he could after driving from his home in Allen, Texas, about 650 miles east of El Paso, officials said.
The Justice Department has paused carrying out the death penalty during the Biden administration after former Attorney General William Barr resumed carrying out the death penalty at the end of the Trump administration.
A lawyer for Crusius hadn’t yet responded to a request for comment.
Portugal. The Man has released a new video focusing on the need for health care and services for the Indigenous communities in the band’s home state of Alaska.
Portugal. The Man’s PTM Foundation charity is also offering exclusive merch items in support of those organizations.
“I am so honored to be able to go home to Alaska and visit these beautiful communities,” says frontman John Gourley. “Their strength and resilience is incredible and something we can all learn from.”
You can watch “Pass the Mic” via the PTM Foundation’s YouTube channel.
Wage War has announced a U.S. tour in support of the band’s latest album, Manic.
The headlining outing, which will also feature nothing,nowhere. and Spite on the bill, will run from April 11 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, to May 20 in Atlanta.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit WageWarBand.com.
Manic was released in 2021, and includes the singles “Circle the Drain” and “Godspeed.”
Last year, Wage War toured with Slipknot, Three Days Grace and A Day to Remember.
(NEW YORK) — An Indiana man was arrested after his 4-year-old son was captured on security camera footage playing with a loaded gun in their apartment complex’s hallway alone, police said.
Shane Osborne, 45, was initially charged with neglect of a dependent following the incident on Saturday, according to the Beech Grove Police Department. Police determined that the child was holding a Smith & Wesson handgun that was loaded with 15 rounds in the magazine, but did not have a round chambered, according to the police report.
Police responded to the apartment complex in Beech Grove Saturday evening after a neighbor called 911 reporting that a young boy “wearing only a diaper had a chrome handgun and was pointing it at people,” according to the police report.
When officers knocked on the family’s apartment door, the child answered, police said. Osborne reportedly told police he was ill and had not realized his son had left the apartment, according to the police report. He “advised there was not a firearm in the home, nor did [his son] have any toy guns,” and later added that he had no guns due to a past felony conviction, according to the report.
Osborne assisted police in a “cursory search” of the apartment, which yielded no gun in plain view, and the officers left, according to the police report.
A neighbor then flagged the officers down as they were leaving the building and showed them security camera footage of the incident in which the child could be seen “walking around the upstairs landing of the apartment with a silver and black handgun,” according to the report.
The Beech Grove Police Department released the footage, which shows the child playing unsupervised in the common hallway with a handgun, pointing it at neighbors’ doors and himself, before going back into his apartment.
The officers returned to the apartment to conduct another search, during which Osborne reportedly told police that he does not have a firearm, but that a relative may have left one in the apartment, according to the police report. When an officer asked the child where he put his “pew pew,” the boy led them to a roll-top desk that contained the handgun, according to the report.
Osborne “did not know the weapon was in the apartment at this time, nor that [his son] knew where it was,” according to the report.
Osborne was arrested for neglect of a dependent and his son was transported to his mother’s home, police said. Final charges will be determined by the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. The Marion County Department of Child Services was notified about the incident and will also investigate, police said.
Osborne is scheduled to appear in court Thursday afternoon. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
The arrest “gained national attention” after it was captured on the television show “On Patrol: Live,” which the Beech Grove Police Department appears in, according to Beech Grove deputy chief of administration Robert Mercuri.
‘There’s a baby with a gun’
Nicole Summers told ABC News she called 911 after her 16-year-old son saw the child with the gun.
“When my son went to go back out, when he opened the door, he just slowly closed it and said, ‘Everybody get out of the living room, there’s a baby with a gun,'” she said.
Summers said she looked out her door and saw the boy pointing the gun toward her from the top of the stairs.
“He kind of leaned down, and that’s when he pointed the gun at me and said, ‘Look what I got’ and kind of laugh,” said Summers, who said she deals frequently with firearms in her job at a local pawn shop and knew the child was holding a real gun.
Summers said she was aware of the child holding the gun for at least five minutes and believes that he thought it was a toy.
“He is a kid, he didn’t have any clue, the severity of what he was doing,” she said. “No clue that he could have very easily taken his life or somebody else’s.”
Days later, Summers said she is haunted by what happened and questions whether she should have intervened more.
“In hindsight you think, you know, should I have just gone in the hallway? I mean, [he] was 4, I could have easily taken it,” she said. “But what if there was one in the chamber?”
Beech Grove Mayor Dennis Buckley said he was “mortified” by the incident and is “so thankful that no one was hurt, especially the young child.”
“I appreciate the quick action taken by the Beech Grove Police Department to secure the small child and the gun in question,” Buckley said in a statement to ABC Indianapolis affiliate WRTV. “I ask that the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office work tirelessly to secure charges and a conviction against the responsible parties, with maximum penalties. Society shouldn’t accept anything less.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department considered but decided against sending FBI agents to President Joe Biden’s Delaware home to monitor his attorneys’ search for classified documents, two sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The detail was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Both the president’s attorneys and the Justice Department agreed to instead have Biden’s lawyers conduct the searches for classified documents, according to the sources.
It was something both sides agreed to, sources said, in part because Biden and his attorneys were cooperating with the Justice Department.
In three separate searches, Biden’s lawyers found classified documents at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, and post-vice presidential office in Washington, D.C., according to the White House.
The revelation of classified documents found at Biden’s home led Attorney General Merrick Garland to last week appoint a special counsel to review Biden’s handling of classified materials while out of office.
The Justice Department and the FBI are declining to comment on the discussions.
The mixture of incomplete and shifting statements out of the White House in the weeklong span since the story broke has drawn parallels to the torrent of increasingly damning details that emerged immediately following the search of former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in August.
Due to the ongoing nature of a criminal investigation, the Justice Department and special counsel’s office won’t comment on the distinctions between the two matters, citing longstanding department policy.
No evidence, so far, to support Biden search, experts say
But legal experts, including former federal prosecutors reached by ABC News, say at least so far, that for Biden there doesn’t appear to be evidence that would justify the dramatic and unprecedented step of the FBI seeking a search warrant on the current president’s private residence.
To do so, as they did for Trump, prosecutors would have to persuade a federal judge that there’s probable cause that by conducting a search they would find evidence of a crime or multiple crimes.
Cooperation is a critical difference
At their core, experts say, the primary difference still between the two cases as they currently stand is the “full cooperation” currently being promised by Biden’s attorneys and widespread allegations of obstruction against Trump and his legal team dating back to as early as last spring.
“[In Biden’s case] it has to do with somebody coming forward and self-reporting, ‘we found these few documents,’ they turn them over,” former Watergate prosecutor Nick Akerman said in an interview with ABC News. “If Trump had done the same, there would have been no grand jury there probably would have been no search warrant and probably would have avoided a potential criminal problem.”
In the case of the search of Mar-a-Lago, ABC News reporting, in addition to a redacted affidavit made public by the Justice Department, shows, in still-limited detail, what investigators presented in order to secure signoff on the historic search. It included an extensive track record of months of back-and-forth between Trump’s attorneys, their repeated resistance to handing back the documents, a Trump attorney signing a sworn statement in response to a grand jury subpoena that all docs had been returned after which DOJ built evidence through witnesses and other means that that was false.
“Prosecutors had reason to believe that, despite prior declarations made by Trump attorneys that all classified materials had been turned over, the former president was still maintaining custody of classified materials that could not be accounted for,” former federal prosecutor Joseph Moreno told ABC News. “It seems those concerns were borne out when the raid by the FBI on Mar-a-Lago in August in fact did turn up additional classified documents.”
At one point, DOJ even made a visit to Mar-a-Lago where prosecutors said they were “explicitly prohibited” from opening or looking inside of any boxes in a storage room where later, during the FBI’s search, dozens of classified records were found.
While there is no way to completely rule out the possibility of a court-authorized search of Biden’s properties sometime in the future, such a decision typically only comes once prosecutors believe they have exhausted all other options to get the evidence they need.
“The only reason why Trump’s place got searched was because of the obstruction and the lying,” said attorney Mark Zaid, who specializes in national security and security clearance law. “There could be people who end up getting into trouble [in the case of potential mishandling of Biden’s records]. It’s very easy to be potentially criminally liable for mishandling of classified information … but mishandling of classified information is not grounds for the FBI to raid someone’s house, certainly not a president, former or current.”
A voluntary search?
Some experts have raised the possibility that Biden’s team could offer to have the FBI conduct a voluntary search of his properties to ensure there’s no remaining classified records, giving them the full kind of access that Trump prohibited.
“It is possible sure they could and it might make sense for the [FBI] to have some folks go in or [the Archives] to do some searching,” Zaid said. “The problem is where would they find anything? That’s where we just don’t have the ability to ask questions.”
Akerman said such a proposal would typically be a nonstarter for defense attorneys.
“I never heard of a situation where the FBI goes in and just does a search because somebody self-reports,” Akerman said. “Normally, even in a criminal case, what you normally do in the first instance unless you have some reason to believe that somebody is lying to you or is going to destroy records or in doing something untoward as you had with the Trump situation, you just give a grand jury subpoena.”
And the idea of a voluntary search would also not likely have great value to prosecutors, Akerman said.
“If somebody knows ahead of time, what’s the point if they’re really going to hide something?” he said. “They would have moved it off premises or gone somewhere else with it. The whole idea of the search warrant is to catch somebody by surprise because you’ve got probable cause that a crime was committed and evidence of the crime exists in that location.”
In the case of Mar-a-Lago, prosecutors identified three such crimes they believed they’d find evidence of at Mar-a-Lago, obstruction of justice, the Espionage Act and unauthorized possession or concealment of government docs. They laid out — after months of investigation and witness interviews — the evidence that a judge agreed with them said would likely be present in Mar-a-Lago and even in specific areas of the club.
This is not to say that similar facts won’t develop in the coming weeks or months to justify a search of one or more of Biden’s residences.
But in the Justice Department the decision to search Trump’s residence was seen as a true last resort move after months and months of a complete breakdown in trust that continues to this day. Indeed, sources have told ABC Newss the government has been fighting in closed court proceedings in recent weeks to have Trump verify he still doesn’t possess classified records.
“There could come a time [in the Biden investigation] when somebody thinks someone is lying and that would cause a huge, huge problem for sure, obviously,” Zaid said. “But I anticipate we’re not going to get there, at least at this stage.”
For now, experts say the next likely steps for special counsel Robert Hur in his newly launched investigation will probably be in line with basic investigative steps taken early on after the Justice Department was alerted to classified documents that were present at Mar-a-Lago early last year.
“What they’re gonna do is, they’re gonna go in, they’re gonna question people and interview people who were present in that office in Washington,” Akerman said. “They’re going to interview people who were responsible for putting the documents in the storage area in Biden’s home. They’re going to interview all those people and they’re going to find out how that happened and how it got there.”
(NEW YORK) — Moderna’s respiratory syncytial virus, or RSV, vaccine for older adults was about 84% effective at preventing serious illness, according to data from a late-stage trial published Tuesday.
Adult patients in the clinical trial appeared to tolerate the vaccine well and there were no safety concerns identified, the data showed.
The company said it will ask the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval in the first half of 2023.
Pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and GSK have also announced promising results for their respective RSV vaccines in older adults. The FDA is expected to decide whether or not to approve both vaccines in May 2023.
There is currently no approved RSV vaccine for any age group, but pharmaceutical companies — including Moderna, Pfizer and GSK — have seen promising results in late-stage trials.
Cases of RSV began appearing earlier than usual this year across the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, peaking in early November before turning down.
Symptoms can include fever, coughing, runny nose, sneezing, wheezing and a decrease in appetite, per the CDC.
RSV leads to mild illness in most people but can cause severe illness in some young children and older adults.
The CDC says older adults aged 65 and above are at high risk for severe infection from RSV, particularly those with chronic lung or heart conditions and weakened immune systems.
Each year, between 60,000 and 120,000 older adults are hospitalized and between 6,000 to 10,000 die due to RSV infection, according to data from the CDC.
“Today’s results represent an important step forward in preventing lower respiratory disease due to RSV in adults 60 years of age and older,” Stéphane Bancel, Moderna’s CEO, said in a statement. “These data are encouraging and represent the second demonstration of positive phase 3 trial results from our mRNA infectious disease vaccine platform after Spikevax, our COVID-19 vaccine.”
Bancel said full results will be published at an upcoming infectious disease medical conference but did not specify which one.
This is not the first time researchers have attempted to develop an RSV vaccine.
In the late 1960s, a vaccine was produced in which the virus was inactivated with formalin, a chemical that kills viruses. The shot was given to children in Washington, D.C., but 80% of those immunized became sick and two children died, according to a journal article published in Nature.
Studies found that the vaccine did not generate enough antibodies to fight off the virus and instead triggered an overactive immune system response.
