(WASHINGTON) — Lawyers for former President Donald Trump on Wednesday responded to the Justice Department in the dispute over Trump’s request for a “special master” to review materials the FBI seized at his Mar-a-Lago estate.
Trump’s lawyers have argued to a federal judge in Florida that the review is needed to deal with matters they argue could be covered by executive privilege.
Late Tuesday, the Justice Department, ahead of a court hearing Thursday, laid out in extraordinary detail DOJ’s efforts to obtain highly classified records they allege were improperly stored at Mar-a-Lago since Trump’s departure from the White House, and the resistance — which they describe outright as obstructive conduct, that they were met with by Trump’s representatives in their efforts to have them handed over.
Judge Aileen Cannon has indicated she was leaning toward granting a request from Trump’s legal team to appoint a special master to intervene in the ongoing review of documents.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Last year saw record levels of major greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, released into the Earth’s atmosphere, according to an international climate report.
The annual State of the Climate report, published Wednesday in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society and led by scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information, also found that global sea level and ocean heat reached record highs in 2021.
“The data presented in this report are clear — we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing,” NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. “With many communities hit with 1,000-year floods, exceptional drought and historic heat this year, it shows that the climate crisis is not a future threat but something we must address today as we work to build a Climate-Ready Nation — and world — that is resilient to climate-driven extremes.”
Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are the “most significant driver of observed climate change since the mid-20th century,” according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, warming the climate as they build up in the atmosphere.
In 2021, the global annual average atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 414.7 parts per million (ppm) — 2.3 ppm greater than the amounts measured in 2020, according to the latest State of the Climate report. That marks the highest amount measured since 1958 — the start of the instrumental record — and in at least the last million years, based on paleoclimatic records, the report found. It was also the fifth-highest growth rate in the modern record.
Two other major greenhouse gases — methane and nitrous oxide — also saw record concentrations last year, according to the report. The annual increase in methane was the highest in the modern record, and the growth rate of nitrous oxide the third-highest, it found.
Last year was the fifth- or sixth-warmest on record, depending on the dataset referenced, with the last seven years (2015-2021) the seven warmest years on record, according to the report.
Global ocean heat content, measured from the ocean’s surface to a depth of more than 6,000 feet, saw record levels in 2021, “indicative of steadily increasing heat in Earth’s system,” according to the report. Meanwhile, the global sea surface temperature cooled compared to 2019 and 2020, due to the ongoing La Niña conditions in the tropical Pacific, though it was higher than the 1991-2020 average, the report found.
For the 10th year in a row, the global average sea level rose about 4.9 mm to a new record high, according to the report. The level was about 97 mm higher than the average recorded in 1993, when satellite measurements began, the report stated.
Both global ocean heat content and global average sea level saw “year-on-year increases substantially exceeding their trend rates of recent decades,” the report stated.
Among other highlights, the report found that tropical cyclone activity was “well above average” in 2021, with 97 named tropical storms during the Northern and Southern Hemisphere storm seasons compared to the 1991-2020 average of 87. Last year’s storm season saw Hurricane Ida, a category 4 cyclone that was the costliest U.S. disaster last year and the fifth most expensive hurricane on record since 1980, with $75 billion in damage, the report noted.
The climate report, now in its 32nd issuance, is based on contributions from more than 530 scientists in over 60 countries.
“The 2021 AMS State of the Climate provides the latest synthesis of scientific understanding of the climate system and the impact people are having on it,” American Meteorological Society associate executive director Paul Higgins said in a statement. “If we take it seriously and use it wisely, it can help us thrive on a planet that is increasingly small in comparison to the impact of our activities.”
(JACKSON, Miss.) — Six hundred Mississippi National Guard members will deploy to Jackson starting Thursday to help with water distribution, officials said Wednesday, as they grapple with an ongoing water crisis plaguing residents.
No timeline was given when the water pumps at Jackson’s O.B. Curtis Water Treatment Plant will be fixed, but 72 hours of bad weather has caused significant service interruptions at the plant, Gov. Tate Reeves said at a press conference Wednesday.
“There is a tremendous amount of work to be done at the O.B. Curtis plant,” he said. “There will be future interruptions; they are not avoidable at this point.”
Jackson has been using backup pumps since the main pumps were damaged, Reeves said Monday.
Officials said there would be no reliable running water in Jackson, which will impact up to 180,000 people until the pump is fixed.
State officials also warned residents not to drink the water from the pipes if they could avoid it, adding that if they must use the water, then boil it first.
“Don’t open your mouth in the shower and don’t give your pets the water,” Jim Craig, the senior deputy and director of the state’s office of health protection, said at Wednesday’s news conference.
The city has been under a boil water notice since July 29.
Reeves declared a state of emergency on Tuesday, allowing state officials to better help in Jackson.
The White House approved Reeves’ request for federal assistance Tuesday night.
“An emergency exists in the State of Mississippi and ordered Federal assistance to supplement the state’s response efforts due to the emergency conditions resulting from a water crisis,” the White House said in a press release.
(JACKSON, Miss.) — Jackson, Mississippi’s water supply is wholly unsafe to drink, officials said on Monday, with water pressure so low from long-failing treatment systems compounded by river flooding this week that cooking and cleaning — and firefighting, flushing toilets and bathing — would be widely unavailable for the state capital’s 180,000 residents save for critical outside aid.
The emerging disaster has drawn attention to the strained relationship between the city’s Democratic leadership and the Republican governor and legislature.
When Gov. Tate Reeves held an emergency press conference on Monday with the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency, Jackson’s mayor, Chokwe Antar Lumumba, was not in attendance even as Lumumba, separately, had been in discussions with the Department of Health that same day.
And on Tuesday, at a news conference of his own, Lumumba said that the issues had at last spurred aid for the Magnolia State’s largest city after years of petitioning Reeves and the GOP-controlled legislature.
“We feel like we’ve been going at it alone for the better part of two years — lifting up the fact that these are challenges that are, first and foremost, beyond partisan. These are human rights challenges,” Lumumba said Wednesday on ABC News Live.
Reeves did not invite Lumumba to his Monday presser, according to a spokesperson for the mayor, who said that as of Tuesday evening, the two men had not spoken directly about the water problems. They subsequently a useful conversation on Wednesday morning, after the mayor initially reached out to Reeves, who then returned his call.
President Joe Biden also spoke to Lumumba on Wednesday morning.
Both Reeves and Lumumba have made emergency declarations and Reeves deployed the National Guard to assist on Tuesday.
The infrastructure issues with Jackson’s water system, coupled with flooding from a nearby river which damaged one of the area’s major processing facilities, fueled the latest — but not the first — water crisis.
The city’s archaic system has been in the spotlight before for being on the risk of failure, most recently in the winter of 2021. The city had been under a separate boil water notice since late July for a water-quality issue.
“Even when we’re not contending at that present moment with low pressure … we are in a constant state of emergency,” Lumumba said at Tuesday’s news conference. “And so now we are excited to have finally welcomed the state to the table and all of the valuable resources that they bring.”
On ABC News Live, Lumumba said that “we’ve had great disparity in the funding of the resources of Jackson compared to other portions of our state, over generations.”
“I think that it is time that we represent a new model … that we demonstrate from the city level to the state level and beyond that we’re all on board in trying to make certain that residents, that people, human beings, don’t have to deal with the challenge of not having the basic resource of water,” he said.
On Monday, the five state senators who represent the city of Jackson called for a special legislative session.
That day, the state’s two other top Republicans, Lt. Governor Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Phillip Gunn, also released statements laying blame with local leaders.
“It is apparent the cities served by the system do not have the assets to address this issue in a timely manner and effectively for the longer term. I believe it is time for the State to take an active role in finding a solution—both short term and long term,” Hosemann said.
Gunn said: “I’ve been contacted by hospitals, businesses, and schools pleading that something be done to address the water crisis in Jackson. Unfortunately, the city leadership has not presented a permanent solution or a comprehensive plan. These groups have turned to the state for help, and it seems we will have to evaluate what options might be available.”
Reeves, too, has faced scrutiny. Critics have long accused the governor of stoking the flames of cultural warfare during his two-year tenure rather than addressing some of the state’s critical needs — especially in Jackson. In the days before and during the flooding that worsened the water problems, Reeves was active on social media sounding off on a range of other issues including Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan and Second Amendment rights.
Since taking office in 2020, Reeves’ greatest legislative focus has been on income tax breaks in the state.
Jackson residents voted in 2014 to approve a 1 cent local sales tax to pay for improvements to their roads and water and sewer systems. After the winter water emergency in 2021, the city council sought another election, subject to legislative approval, that would double that tax to 2 cents.
Reeves weighed in at the time and invoked the city’s history of utility mismanagement. “I do think it’s really important that the City of Jackson start collecting their water bill payments before they start going and asking everyone else to pony up more money,” he said.
Gunn, the state’s House speaker, told a conservative radio show last week that the required $1 billion to fix the city’s water system — to help with repairs, upgrades and staffing, which is the No. 1 problem, officials have said — may be too large of a price tag for even the state.
“I’m on the verge of saying that the state has got to step in and take over,” he said. “But the size of the problem is so great that I’m not even sure the state can meet the needs. It’s going to require federal help.”
On Wednesday, Reeves announced that the federal disaster declaration for Jackson had been approved by the White House, freeing up further funds to assist residents.
“The White House is watching critically in terms of what is taking place here. And so we look forward to additional support from them,” Lumumba said at Tuesday’s news conference.
“We have open arms to welcome the coordination and welcome the support … This is what we’ve been asking for,” he said.
ABC News’ Justin Gomez contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Serena Williams is set to begin her second-round match of the U.S. Open against the WTA No. 2-ranked player Anett Kontaveit of Estonia Wednesday night.
Williams defeated 80th-ranked Danka Kovinić of Montenegro in two sets, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday night, in an electric match that could have been her last professional singles appearance. Following her win, a celebration for Williams was held at center court, including appearances from tennis legend Billie Jean King and a taped message narrated by Oprah.
All eyes have been on Williams, 40, who had announced earlier this month in a personal essay for Vogue that she would be “evolving away” from tennis. If she loses tonight, it will end a nearly three-decade-long dominant career in professional tennis.
But she won’t be done at the U.S. Open in Flushing: Williams will also reunite with her older sister Venus Williams to play a doubles first-round match on Thursday night.
Williams has won 23 major singles titles — the most in the Open Era for men or women — but is in pursuit to notch one more at Arthur Ashe Stadium, on the same court she won her first major title in 1999.
(DETROIT) — A search is underway for a suspect who shot four randomly selected victims over the span of 2 hours and 25 minutes on Sunday morning in Detroit, police said.
A 19-year-old man faces murder charges for allegedly killing three people and wounding a fourth in a series of random, unprovoked shootings in Detroit on Sunday, officials said.
Dontae Ramon Smith was charged Wednesday with three counts each of first-degree murder, as well as one count of assault with intent to murder, one count of animal cruelty and four counts of felony firearm in connection with the shooting rampage, the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office announced.
“There are four separate cases at this time because the incidents were initially thought to be unrelated,” the office said, noting that the cases will be consolidated for preliminary court hearings.
Smith was arraigned and remanded to jail on the murder charges Wednesday. Upcoming court proceedings include a probable cause conference on Sept. 14 and a preliminary examination on Sept. 21. Attorney information was not immediately available.
The suspect was arrested on Monday, roughly 12 hours after allegedly committing the last shooting, when someone close to him recognized him in a surveillance photo police officials released during a search for him and contacted authorities, officials said.
“Yesterday, I made a plea to family and friends of the shooter to turn him in. It didn’t seem likely that he could be taken into custody without incident,” Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan said during a news conference on Monday announcing the arrest. “But, in fact, somebody close to him did respond. It was that community input that allowed the police officers to take this individual into custody without any further violence.”
Police Chief James White said investigators are probing the suspect’s movements prior to his arrest to determine if he targeted anyone else.
“I will tell you that it’s a 19-year-old and we don’t see any criminal history at this time, and we have some indication that there is mental illness,” White said.
The random shootings all occurred on the west side of Detroit in the span of 2 hours and 25 minutes Sunday morning.
The sole survivor of the rampage, a 76-year-old man, described being shot while out walking his dog. The dog was also shot in the foot, prosecutors said.
An all-hands-on-deck search involving multiple law enforcement agencies — including the FBI, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Department of Homeland Security — took place Sunday afternoon after police determined the same gun was used in all four shootings, authorities said.
White said a 9mm handgun was recovered from a residence where the assailant was arrested. He said ballistic tests done immediately on the firearm confirmed suspicions from shell casings collected at each crime scene that it was used in all of the shootings.
When asked whether detectives have determined a motive for the rampage, White said, “Obviously, there is nothing that should motivate you to do something this tragic.”
Commander Michael McGinnis of the Detroit Police Department laid out a timeline of the shootings, saying the first occurred at 4:45 a.m. when a 28-year-old man was approached by the suspect and shot.
Prosecutors said the victim, identified as Chayne Lewis Lee of Detroit, was discovered lying in the doorway of a church by police officers.
McGinnis said the shooting was unprovoked and that the suspect walked away briefly before returning and shooting the victim several more times, killing him.
McGinnis noted that no one called 911 to report the first shooting, a detail both White and Duggan said they found troubling.
“I know from the time I spent with the officers yesterday, they’re going to be haunted for a long time. They very likely could have prevented two and probably three tragedies had they had an immediate notice,” Duggan said.
Detroit does not have a ShotSpotter gunfire detection system like many large cities, which immediately notifies police of the location of gunshots, Duggan and White said.
White added, “What we don’t want to happen is gunshots to become commonplace in our community. We don’t want to become desensitized to someone shooting in our community. There should never be a condition ever that someone uses a gun in our community that’s unaccounted for.”
McGinnis said the second shooting happened 30 minutes after the first shooting. In that episode, a 911 caller reported that a woman in her 40s was lying on a sidewalk with multiple gunshot wounds. He said the victim was found three blocks from the first shooting.
The victim, who died at the scene, has yet to be identified.
McGinnis said that as officers were investigating the second shooting, they responded to the sound of gunshots nearby and found another woman fatally shot. He said the woman had been waiting for a bus when the suspect walked by her, returned and shot her without provocation.
He said the suspect walked away, but returned and shot the woman again before fleeing.
The victim, identified by the prosecutor’s office as 43-year-old Lari Briscol of Detroit, was pronounced dead at the scene.
At 7:08 a.m., a 76-year-old man out walking his dog was confronted by the suspect, who allegedly shot him and his dog in yet another unprovoked attack. The victim suffered a bullet wound to the leg, and neighbors who heard the gunshots likely saved the man’s life by coming to his aid and putting a tourniquet on his leg and getting him to a hospital immediately, McGinnis said.
The victim, identified by the prosecutor’s office as John Palik of Detroit, was treated at the hospital and both he and his dog survived the attack.
White said the suspect did not rob or attempt to rob any of the victims.
White said technology played a key role in cracking the case, explaining that it allowed investigators to quickly analyze shell casings from each of the crime scenes and determine that the same gun was used in all four shootings.
“If someone uses a weapon in our community, we’re going to use every resource we have to lock you up and we make no apologies about that,” White said. “Enough is enough. This is unacceptable and it needs to stop.”
A 1958 Gibson Les Paul guitar that George Harrison purchased specifically to help secure the return of his prized 1957 Les Paul guitar, known as “Lucy,” after it had been stolen, is going up for bid as part of an auction scheduled for September 24.
Harrison was gifted “Lucy” by his friend Eric Clapton in 1967 and used it frequently during the last years of The Beatles. The guitar was stolen from George’s Beverly Hills home in 1973 and eventually purchased by a Los Angeles guitar shop, which in turn sold it to a Mexican musician named Michael Ochoa.
After Ochoa returned home with “Lucy,” Harrison tracked down the instrument. After some negotiating, George agreed to trade a sought-after 1958 Les Paul with a sunburst finish and a Fender Precision bass for his beloved guitar. Harrison purchased the ’58 Les Paul, now nicknamed the “Ransom” guitar, from Norman Harris, of L.A.’s Norman’s Rare Guitars shop.
Ochoa later sold the ’58 Les Paul to Robert Truman, co-owner of Nadine’s Music guitar shop in Hollywood. Truman has now included the “Ransom” guitar in a collection of instruments being auctioned on September 24 by Heritage Auctions.
Bidding for the ’58 Les Paul is starting at $250,000.
“Vintage guitar collectors and Beatles collectors alike will have to fight over this guitar,” says Heritage executive Aaron Piscopo. “It’s beautiful, with action like butter: a real-deal ’58 ‘Burst with one of the more incredible stories in rock history.”
An energy drink called “Purple Rain” will no longer be hitting the shelves because of Prince‘s estate. Billboard reports a judge said Bang Energy could not trademark their drink’s name because it is “uniquely and unmistakably” connected to the late singer. Bang Energy will not appeal, but hopes to collab with his estate in the future.
Jennifer Lopez is setting a new wedding trend by declaring “milky nails” the new French manicure. Voguereports the “On The Floor” singer wore her almond-shaped nails long and painted them in a transparent white polish when she wed Ben Affleck. This has led the fashion mag to declare it the new manicure for brides.
Andy Grammer and his wife, Aijia, surprised Christina Perri with a house call. The “Jar of Hearts” singer shared a snap from her video doorbell of the two dressed as “Italian ‘heart’ repair men.” She said on her Instagram Story that they “put positive post-it notes all over [her] house.” Christina thanked the couple and said she “hit the life jackpot” by being their friend. Christina didn’t divulge why her heart might need repairs.
Meghan Trainor poked fun at her infamous kiss with Charlie Puth at the 2015 American Music Awards on TikTok. Taking part in the viral “Hal Walker Plays the Banakulas” audio meme, Meghan pretended not to be amused by the kiss, but she did like a comment that said she “would do it again.”
fun.’s 2011 hit “We Are Young” has joined YouTube’s billion views club. This marks the first song for both fun. and collaborator Janelle Monáe to hit over 1 billion views. The song is also RIAA-certified Diamond, meaning it sold over 10 million copies.
Gang of Youths has canceled the band’s upcoming North American tour dates set to kick off in September.
In a lengthy statement posted to the Australian group’s Twitter, frontman David Le’aupepe writes that the cancellation is due to “some ongoing health issues.”
“In the words of Warren Zevon, my s***’s f***ed up,” Le’aupepe shares. “I need to take som time off to address these concerns before we pick back up again.”
“I’m so sorry to everybody who is disappointed by this,” he continues. “A lot of the inner s*** I feel has a lot to do with letting people down and I’m feeling that more than ever at this point.”
Gang of Youths had been touring the U.S. earlier this year in support of their new album, angel in realtime., which was released in February. The next run of dates was scheduled to begin in September.
“Basically, and without bulls***ting you, I’m also absolutely f***en knackered and not feeling great, and need some time to be a normal bloke again,” Le’aupepe writes. “I want to keep doing this job as long as humanely possible. However, for that to be the case, I need to unf*** my s*** and get my body, voice and mind in better working order.”
Gang of Youths is currently scheduled to return to the road for a European tour starting in October.
Stevie Nicks is among the guest artists who have contributed to Cracker Island, the just-announced upcoming eighth studio album by Gorillaz, the virtual alternative rock band led by Blur frontman Damon Albarn.
Cracker Island, which will be the cartoon group’s first new studio effort since 2020’s Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez, will be released on February 24, 2023.
Nicks is featured on a song called “Oil.” Other guests contributors on the record include Beck, Tame Impala and newly crowned MTV VMA Artist of the Year Bad Bunny.
The album’s title track, which features acclaimed bassist Thundercat, debuted in June. Another new song from Cracker Island, “New Gold” featuring Tame Impala and rapper Bootie Brown, has just been released as an advance digital track, while a companion music video has premiered on YouTube.
Various versions of Cracker Island can be preordered now at Gorillaz.com.
Gorillaz will launch a North American headlining tour on September 11 in Vancouver, Canada.
