(NEW YORK) — A tourist helicopter carrying six people crashed on Wednesday evening in a lava field on Hawaii’s Big Island.
Five passengers and a pilot were on a Paradise Helicopters tour over Kau, the island’s southernmost district, when the helicopter crashed at about 5:29 p.m., the company said in a statement.
Emergency responders flew two helicopters to the site of the crash to carry those aboard, two of whom were in critical condition, to Kona Community Hospital, according to KITV4, the local ABC News affiliate.
The Bell 407 aircraft was operated by K&S Helicopters, Paradise said.
“The care of our passengers, crew members, and their families is our highest priority,” Calvin Dorn of K&S Helicopters said in a statement posted to Paradise Helicopters’ website.
The company said it had completed a manifest verification, which showed six people were onboard at the time of the crash.
(WASHINGTON) — As another slate of states held their primary elections, most Americans remain critical of President Joe Biden’s handling of the inflation-plagued economy. According to a new ABC News / IPSOS poll, more than 8 in 10 Americans say that the economy is either an extremely or very important issue in determining how they will vote, a motivator likely to be reflected in which candidates advance to the general in Tuesday night’s key races.
Here are the key takeaways from the races in New Jersey, Iowa and California, which featured some of the midterm cycle’s most endangered incumbents across the political spectrum:
San Francisco district attorney defeated in recall
San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin lost his job after a nail-biter of a recall race. With 68% of the expected vote in, 60% supported his ousting. Now, the mayor will name a replacement who will serve in the role until November 2023, the end of the term.
Supporters of Boudin’s recall who pushed for this change as the rate of hate crimes against Asian-Americans spiked in 2021 raised over $7 million for their efforts. They painted Boudin as soft-on-crime — an accusation that clearly resonated.
Boudin’s recall is not only bad news for progressives — it’s also a referendum on liberal prosecutors across the country who face constituencies incised at rising levels of crime in their communities.
Iowa Democrats’ unsure future
The Iowa Democratic establishment is on the rocks. In one of the primary night’s stunning upsets, former U.S. Rep. Abby Finkenauer decisively lost to retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Michael Franken.
Finkenauer was painted by Washington as a rising party star, despite her reflection loss in 2020, garnering high-profile endorsements from groups like EMILY’s List. While she out fundraised Franken by a little over $1 million, voters may have been shaken by attempts from Republicans to challenge her candidacy eligibility.
Franken continues on to attempt to unseat 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley.
“I am forever grateful, and I will never stop fighting for the Iowa that I love,” Finkenauer said in her concession statement.
Any attempt from the left to knock Grassley off his perch will be unwieldy at best, as Grassley has both major institutional support from Washington as well as from voters in a state that continues to trend Republican.
Democrats will leap another hurdle with the House race of Rep. Cindy Axne, who faces tough re-election odds thanks to newly redrawn boundaries of her 3rd congressional district. Thanks to redistricting, Axne’s district saw an influx of more than 5,000 Republican voters, mostly rural, that are likely to be disdainful of her voting record and relationship with Biden.
Axne is a top target of the National Republican Congressional Committee and is now forced to combat a million dollars in spending on opposition ads. The Cook Political Report has Axne’s race in the general as one of 23 Democratic toss-ups.
She’ll face off with Republican former Iowa state Sen. Zach Nunn in November.
A showdown in the suburbs
New Jersey Democrat Tom Malinowski wins his primary but will have a harder time in the general election after the latest redistricting left him in the one vulnerable district when state leaders opted to draw 11 safely partisan other seats. Here, Republicans get an attempt to recapture the suburbs that they lost in 2018, which evidently lost them control of the House.
Malinowski, who represents Jersey’s 7th congressional district, told ABC News he thought such redistricting — which has played out to varying degrees in new districts nationwide, with varying levels of scrutiny and controversy — was bad for democracy.
“We’re the only ones who actually, by our votes and by our work, get to decide, get to make a difference in terms of which way the wind is blowing in America one way or another. And that is a burden. It means we have to work much harder. It’s going to cost us a lot of money. But I think it’s also a privilege,” Malinowski said.
The may-be speaker makes it through
The potential next speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, expectedly survived his primary in California’s 23rd district, perhaps with small help from a Sunday endorsement from former President Donald Trump.
In his statement, Trump said McCarthy was instrumental in holding Biden and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi “accountable for their catastrophic failures and dereliction of duty.”
If the Red Wave the GOP is banking on holds, McCarthy is well positioned to campaign for the speakership, a gig he’s not publicly claimed but rumored to be pining for.
So when Kane Brown told Men’s Health about his plans to become “the fittest guy in country music” back in January, he knew he had some stiff competition. But Tim says that he wouldn’t mind handing over the title to the younger superstar, according to an interview with his record label.
“He’s a lot younger than I am, so I’m sure he won’t have any problem with that,” Tim says, adding that Kane has even stoked a friendly rivalry with him in the name of upping his fitness game.
“He’s actually sent me a message a couple of times when he started hammering it pretty hard,” the singer says. “He says, ‘I’m comin’ after you, I’m comin’ after you!’”
Always one to take on a challenge, Tim says he welcomes the competition. “And I was like, ‘Come on, brother, come on,’” he details.
Tim has always maintained a demanding workout schedule, but he took things to the next level during his role as James Dutton on the Yellowstone prequel 1883, where he and the rest of the cast embarked on “cowboy camp” in order to get to know the ins and outs of pioneer life.
Keith Urban headlines Nashville’s Nissan Stadium during the city’s CMA Fest this week, an event that he’s expecting will be extra exciting this year after two years of pandemic cancellations.
“Electric, I think. Electric,” he says of the onstage experience he’s anticipating. “CMA Fest is unlike anything I’ve ever played, and I think the fact that it’s been absent for two years, I think you’re gonna feel that in the audience that night. Whole weekend, too.”
But that’s just the beginning for Keith: After his CMA Fest show, he’s jetting out to Tampa, Florida, where months of tour rehearsals will pay off with a June 17 stop on his Speed of Now Tour.
For this tour, Keith is as involved behind the scenes as he is with his role as a headliner. He’s using his lighting background to help dream up a production plan that will be truly spectacular.
“I love lighting. I love the fact that it’s an emotional support and an energy support for the song,” he says. “And I always prefer when they’re used in that way, to heighten the emotion of the energy or the drama.”
Drama is a major component of Keith’s show, he points out, such as with songs like “Tumbleweed,” his set list-opening song.
“That song is all drama: absurd, heightened, over-the-top drama,” he describes. “And so we were here till, like, 11 o’clock last night shaping all of that. Lighting cues and openings and various things. So yeah, [I’m] fairly involved.”
Head over to Keith’s website to see a full list of his upcoming Speed of Now Tour dates.
Former Guns N’ Roses drummer Matt Sorum‘s memoir, Double Talkin’ Jive: True Rock ‘n’ Roll Stories, was published last month.
In the book, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer opens up about his dramatic and dangerous early years as a drug dealer, and recounts his many adventures with GN’R during his 1990-1997 stint with the band, as well as his work and exploits with many other well-known rock artists, including the supergroups Velvet Revolver and Kings of Chaos, The Cult, and ZZ Top‘s Billy Gibbons.
Double Talkin’ Jive also finds Sorum writing candidly about his struggles with drug and alcohol addiction, and reflecting on the pitfalls of rock stardom.
“[I]t was a wild ride through some emotional stuff,” Matt tells ABC Audio about his experience writing the book. “It was a lot of…growth in [doing] it. It was very cathartic. It gave me a really good opportunity to know that I’ve changed in a good way, thank God.”
As for his time with Guns N’ Roses, Sorum notes, “I traveled the world at the highest level, had so many amazing experiences all over the world….And to this day, I’m still recognized as the guy [from GN’R]…I’ve been out of the band [for about 25 years], but I still have that tagline, and people still respect that…I did that piece of work.”
He adds, “[The book is] a good read. I hope everyone enjoys it, just as a guy that sat up on the drum throne for a lot of cool bands and saw a lot of stuff.”
Double Talkin’ Jive is available now. Signed copies and a limited-edition version that includes a vinyl LP featuring audio of Sorum narrating the book, accompanied by music played by him, can be purchased at RareBirdLit.com.
President Joe Biden appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Wednesday night to discuss the recent string of mass shootings in the U.S., including one in Uvalde, Texas, which left 19 elementary school children and two teachers dead.
Kimmel asked the president why he couldn’t issue an executive order, noting that former president Donald Trump “passed those out like Halloween candy.”
Biden answered that he doesn’t want to “emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution” by issuing many executive orders. “I have issued executive orders, within the power of the presidency, to be able to deal with these — everything having to do with guns, gun ownership — all the things within my power,” he explained. “But what I don’t want to do, and I’m not being facetious, is emulate Trump’s abuse of the constitution and constitutional authority.”
“I often get asked, well the Republicans don’t play it square, why do you play it square,” added Biden. “Well, guess what? If we do the same thing they do, our democracy will literally be in jeopardy.”
When Kimmel jokingly asked the president about his process for flushing documents down the toilet, Biden quipped, “I ask Trump.”
President Biden also touched on a number of other issues during the interview, including, Roe vs. Wade, inflation, the negative impact of the pandemic on families and mental health care.
The appearance was the president’s first in-studio appearance on a late night talk show since being inaugurated in January 2021. Biden last appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2019, in the midst of his campaign during the Democratic Party presidential primary. The president guested on NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in December 2021, though he appeared via video. Biden has also appeared on CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, most recently in September 2019.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Detroit 3, Pittsburgh 1
Atlanta 13, Oakland 2
Tampa Bay 11, St. Louis 3
LA Dodgers 4, Chi White Sox 1
Chi Cubs at Baltimore (Postponed)
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Kansas City 8, Toronto 4
Cleveland 4, Texas 0
Seattle 6, Houston 3
Minnesota 8, NY Yankees 1
Boston 1, LA Angels 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona 7, Cincinnati 0
Miami 2, Washington 1
Philadelphia 10, Milwaukee 0
San Diego 13, NY Mets 2
Colorado 1, San Francisco 1 (Bot 9th)
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Boston 116, Golden State 100 (Boston leads 2-1)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Connecticut 88, Indiana 69
Washington 84, Chicago 82
(GLAMIS, Calif.) — A military aircraft crashed in a remote, desert area of Southern California on Wednesday, authorities said.
Five people were on board an MV-22B Osprey when it went down, according to a Marine official, who did not have any further update on their condition.
The Imperial County Sheriff’s Office and Imperial County Fire Department responded to the scene of the crash, located near Glamis.
The downed aircraft belonged to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in San Diego.
Naval Air Facility El Centro in Imperial County said it received reports of a downed aircraft near Highway 78 and Coachella Canal Road, and that military and civilian first responders were at the scene.
Reports of a downed military aircraft in the region came in midday Wednesday, according to Broadcastify audio obtained by ABC News.
ABC News’ Matt Seyler and Alex Stone contributed to this report.
Abel Uribe/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Since an initial voluntary recall on J.M. Smucker peanut butter in May, multiple other products — from protein power snacks to baked goods — have been added to a growing list of related items consumers should avoid, the Food and Drug Administration announced recently.
In addition to the initial Jif brand peanut butter products that were first recalled in multiple states due to Salmonella infection risk, 18 other companies that further processed the peanut butter by either repackaging it or using it as an ingredient have issued their own recalls as well.
“The FDA, along with CDC and state and local partners, are investigating a multistate outbreak of Salmonella Senftenberg infections linked to certain Jif peanut butter products produced at the J.M. Smucker Company facility in Lexington, Kentucky,” the agency said in its recall announcement. “CDC’s review of epidemiological information indicates that five out of five people reported consuming peanut butter and four of the five people specifically reported consuming different varieties of Jif brand peanut butter prior to becoming ill.”
The FDA conducted Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS) analysis on a sample from the brand’s facility that the agency said matched “the strain causing illnesses in this current outbreak.”
“Consumers, restaurants, and retailers should not eat, sell, or serve any recalled Jif brand peanut butter, including recalled products that contain the recalled Jif peanut butter,” the FDA recommended. “Consumers should also avoid feeding recalled peanut butter to pets or other animals, including wild birds.”
For a full list of the affected products, lot code information and further details about the recall click here. The agency said that list will be updated as it receives any notification of new recalls.
Additionally, the FDA has shared helpful information on how consumers may check for affected Jif products in their own home.
“Locate the lot code on the back of the jar, under the Best If Used By Date (the lot code may be next to the Best If Used By Date for cups or squeeze pouches). In the lot code, if the first four digits are between 1274 and 2140, and if the next three numbers after that are ‘425’, this product has been recalled and you should not consume this product,” the FDA wrote.
The FDA also recommends washing and sanitizing surfaces and utensils if someone used the recalled Jif brand peanut butter.
The initial Jif recall was first announced in May. At that time, the FDA reported several people had fallen ill after eating peanut butter products. All of those who reported brand information said they had eaten some variety of Jif peanut butter.
Among the list of recalled products were Jif Creamy and Crunchy Peanut Butters, in varying sizes, including “To Go” packs; Natural and Natural Honey Peanut Butters; and Jif Squeezable Pouches. Cases were reported across several states.
“Our top priority is ensuring our consumers understand the details of the recall and are supported,” Jif stated at the time. “We recognize your trust, and our reputation are built on our fundamental commitment to high standards for ingredients and manufacturing. We take your concerns seriously and are committed to producing safe, high quality peanut butter.”
(NEW YORK) — A North Carolina bill would examine whether closing gun stores near schools can improve safety after a series of high-profile mass shootings across the country.
The proposal would study the impact of gun stores within 1,400 feet of schools and daycare centers to see if banning them would make a positive impact on the safety of school-aged children. The proposal would not look to close existing gun shops, but make it harder for new ones to open.
North Carolina state Sen. Natalie Murdock told ABC News the idea for the bill came shortly after the back-to-back shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York. That same week, the 4-year-old niece of her friend died from an accidental shooting after finding a gun in her home, she says.
She noted that safe zones currently exist near schools. She says if sex offenders cannot be within certain distance of a school, it shows that there’s a way to prevent having guns in close proximity to schools.
The state senator says new gun shops should have to answer how close they are to schools and daycares, and conversations should be had about whether they are too close.
Murdock, who says she grew up in a gun-owning household, says for years North Carolina lawmakers proposed gun reform legislation from universal background checks, red flag laws, to raising the age to purchase guns to 21.
Those ideas, she says, have not garnered much traction.
She added, “I am tired of quite frankly politicians that are afraid to talk about gun safety and gun reforms. We’re getting this wrong.”
With the North Carolina legislature currently in session, Murdock says she plans to hand deliver her proposed amendment to Republican majority leaders and hopes to pass the bill with bipartisan support.
She says she wants to have a flexible approach to the legislation given that they are in a short legislative session.
Murdock says her team has also been in talks with lawmakers in legislatures in California, New Jersey and New York.
In Durham, North Carolina, Mayor Pro Tempore Mark-Anthony Middleton tells ABC News he plans on introducing the study in the city council.
Middleton, who says he is a gun owner and Second Amendment supporter, tells ABC News the measure isn’t about shutting down gun stores. Instead, he said, it “is about what kind of future we want to craft, maintaining the Second Amendment and keeping our kids alive. I don’t think that’s mutually exclusive.”
Michael Ceraso, a Democratic strategist and the founder of communications consulting firm Winning Margins, said he is supporting Murdock’s efforts to localize and nationalize this study. He told ABC News that he feels that Democrats can win on gun control if they coordinate with local governments.
Republicans have been successful in their efforts to codify lax gun laws in the courts because of their ability to win local elections, Ceraso says.
Murdock says gun reform doesn’t necessarily mean being anti-gun, but it does mean gun safety that includes laws, rules and regulations to protect children. She says she believes this is a tipping point for the country on the issue.
“The nation is listening and watching, and I don’t think we can let this opportunity pass us by I think we have to honor all of those who have been murdered recently, unfortunately, to say, we got to step up and do something from the federal level to the state level,” she said.
