(NEW MEXICO) — Twenty-one people have been rescued after becoming trapped overnight in tram cars on the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, authorities said.
The tramway cars had been stuck since 2 a.m. due to icy conditions in the area, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Twenty people stranded in one of the tramway’s two cars were evacuated via helicopter two to four at a time, authorities said. The sheriff’s office livestreamed the rescue operation for over an hour.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time, Bernalillo County fire officials updated that all 20 passengers in the car had been rescued.
An employee still remains in the second tram car, as responders are “actively working” on a rescue plan, the fire department said.
Metro Air Support, the Bernalillo County sheriff’s office and fire department, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Search and Rescue Teams are involved in the rescue efforts.
Sandia Peak Tramway general manager Michael Donavan told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT earlier Saturday that all passengers were in good condition and had water and blankets on board the tram car.
The Sandia Peak Tramway is closed Saturday due to high winds, the company said.
The tram ride typically takes 15 minutes to the peak of the Sandia Mountains, and another 15 minutes back to the lower terminal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
(NEW MEXICO) — More than 20 people became trapped overnight in a tram car on the Sandia Peak Tramway in Albuquerque, New Mexico, as rescue efforts are underway for one remaining employee, authorities said.
The tramway cars had been stuck since 2 a.m. due to icy conditions in the area, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.
Twenty people stranded in one of the tramway’s two cars were evacuated via helicopter two to four at a time, authorities said. The sheriff’s office livestreamed the rescue operation for over an hour.
Shortly after 1 p.m. local time, Bernalillo County fire officials updated that all 20 passengers in the car had been rescued.
An employee still remains in the second tram car, as responders are “actively working” on a rescue plan, the fire department said.
Metro Air Support, the Bernalillo County sheriff’s office and fire department, New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Search and Rescue Teams are involved in the rescue efforts.
Sandia Peak Tramway general manager Michael Donavan told ABC Albuquerque affiliate KOAT earlier Saturday that all passengers were in good condition and had water and blankets on board the tram car.
The Sandia Peak Tramway is closed Saturday due to high winds, the company said.
The tram ride typically takes 15 minutes to the peak of the Sandia Mountains, and another 15 minutes back to the lower terminal.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Joshua Hoyos contributed to this report.
Hollywood stars, celebrities, co-stars, admirers and even the president of the United States took to social media to bid goodbye to beloved TV icon Betty White, who passed away just weeks before her 100th birthday. Here’s a roundup of some of those tributes:
President Biden: “Betty White brought a smile to the lips of generations of Americans. She’s a cultural icon who will be sorely missed. Jill and I are thinking of her family and all those who loved her this New Year’s Eve.”
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: “Today, we lost a beloved TV icon. Betty White was a pioneering actress, who blessed generations of Americans with her talent and humor for 8 decades. May it be a comfort to her loved ones and many admirers that so many mourn with them during this sad time.”
Ryan Reynolds: “The world looks different now. She was great at defying expectation. She managed to grow very old and somehow, not old enough. We’ll miss you, Betty. Now you know the secret.”
Debra Messing: “Betty White. Oh noooooooo. I grew up watching and being delighted by her. She was playful and daring and smart. We all knew this day would come but it doesn’t take away the feeling of loss. A national treasure, indeed. Fly with the Angels.”
Jamie Lee Curtis: “What women WANT is to live a life like Betty White. Full of love and creativity and integrity and humor and dedication and a life of service to animals. To honor her today please make a donation to the @morrisanimalfoundation Morris Animal Foundation or any animal advocacy group! She would LOVE that. Rest easy you beautiful woman. We will carry on for you!“
Octavia Spencer: “It’s as if we’ve lost a member of our family, but even now she makes me smile.”
Henry Winkler: “Betty White : I[t] is very hard to absorb you are not here anymore.. But the memories of your deLIGHT are ..Thank you for yur humor , your warmth and your activism .. Rest now and say Hi to Bill.”
Kerry Washington: “BETTY WHITE. Oh Dear Lord. Heaven just got a new superstar to celebrate with tonight! An icon, a legend, a trailblazer, a bada**, and a ray of sunshine who gifted us creative genius, joy and laughter for 99 years. It was an absolute privilege of a lifetime to get to work with you and witness your comedy brilliance IN PERSON at the SNL 40th Anniversary. A moment I will forever treasure. Thank you for your bold and generous spirit. Rest In Peace.”
Seth Meyers: “RIP Betty White, the only SNL host I ever saw get a standing ovation at the after party. A party at which she ordered a vodka and a hotdog and stayed til the bitter end.”
LeVar Burton: “Y’all, with the passing of #BettyWhite we have lost one of the best humans ever!”
Kristen Chenoweth: “Thank you for being a friend (and so so so much more) Rest easy, Betty.“
George Takei: “Our national treasure, Betty White, has passed just before her 100th birthday. Our Sue Ann Nivens, our beloved Rose Nylund, has joined the heavens to delight the stars with her inimitable style, humor, and charm. A great loss to us all. We shall miss her dearly.”
Ava DuVernay: “99 years here and millions of laughs left behind. Pretty fantastic.”
Cher: Watched Her on her first TV Show Life With Elizabeth When I Was 7 Yrs Old. When She Did [Sonny & Cher], I Got a Chance To Tell Her. I Was Embarrassed cause tears came to my eyes. She put her arms around me, & I Felt 7 again. Some Ppl Are Called ICONS, BETTY IS A TRUE ICON.”
Steve Martin: “In 1974, I was an obscure opening act for Linda Ronstadt at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Passing through the lobby before the show, I saw Betty White and her husband Allen Ludden waiting in line. I loved Betty White, so I went up to them: ‘I’m so honored to meet you both.’ And then I said, ‘Isn’t Linda great?’ She said, ‘We came to see you.’ I said, ‘Why?’ ‘Because we heard you were funny.’ I was elated.”
(NEW YORK) — The NBA and National Basketball Players Association have agreed on new health and safety protocols that would further shorten the timetable for asymptomatic and vaccinated players to return to play after a positive COVID-19 test, league sources told ESPN on Friday.
Previously, such players could be cleared from protocols after seven days if testing data showed that their cycle threshold (CT) levels were above 35, but the new protocols would allow players to return after five days if their CT levels are above 30, league sources said.
CT levels can help indicate how infectious an individual might be, and a CT level of 30 is considered fainter than, say, 20.
The move should help replenish rosters that have been decimated by COVID-19 as the omicron variant rages through the league. As of Friday morning, 260 players total have entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols this season, including 247 in December alone. Nine head coaches have also entered protocols in December, and 11 games have been postponed.
GETTY/Helen H. Richardson/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post
(DENVER) — Prosecutors who charged Rogel Aguilera-Mederos following a deadly crash vowed to release previously undisclosed information from the case to the public after Colorado Gov. Jared Polis granted the truck driver clemency on Thursday, commuting his 110-year sentence to 10 years.
“We look forward to sharing more information with our community that we were ethically prohibited from releasing while the case was pending,” Jefferson County District Attorney Alexis King, the prosecutor in the case, said in a statement on Thursday.
It is unclear when the DA will release the new information or what it would include. ABC News has reached out to King’s office, but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Mederos was sentenced on Dec. 13 to 110 years in prison for a 2019 fatal crash on Interstate 70, outside Denver, that killed four people and injured several others — a sentence the judge said he wouldn’t have chosen if he had the discretion.
Aguilera-Mederos’ attorneys, Leonard Martinez and James Colgan said they were “surprised” by how fast Polis acted, adding that it is “unusual” for a governor to act on clemency before the appellate process takes place.
But now that Polis has acted, Colgan said they believe that the case is no longer in the jurisdiction of the courts or the DA’s office and King’s promise to release new information is a case of “sour grapes” and based on “political motivations.”
“It wouldn’t matter what she disclosed now,” Colgan told ABC News.
“I’m not aware of any law that allows [the DA’s office] to have jurisdiction over the case,” he added.
Asked what the new information may be, “I have no idea,” the attorneys both said.
Polis commuted Mederos’ sentence two weeks after his legal team applied for clemency and ahead of a scheduled hearing next month requested by King for the court to reconsider the sentence.
“After learning about the highly atypical and unjust sentence in your case, I am commuting your sentence to 10 years and granting you parole eligibility on December 30, 2026,” Polis wrote in a statement on Thursday.
Martinez said he was on the phone when Polis’ office called Mederos to inform him that his sentence was commuted.
“He was shocked … and he said he was very grateful,” Martinez said.
“Rogel is very grateful for all the support he’s gotten not only locally, but nationally. He’s humbled by it,” Martinez said.
His mother, Oslaida Mederos, who spoke exclusively with “Nightline” earlier this week, is also “grateful” and “celebrating” the decision but would like her son home “even sooner,” Martinez added.
Amid mounting public backlash over the sentence, King filed a motion earlier this month asking the court to reconsider the 110 years and suggested a sentencing range of 20-30 years instead.
King said that the range was determined after conversations with the victims and their families.
“We are disappointed in the Governor’s decision to act prematurely,” King said on Thursday.
“We are meeting with the victims and their loved ones this evening to support them in navigating this unprecedented action and to ensure they are treated with fairness, dignity, and respect during this difficult time,” she added.
Martinez said he believes that the clemency from the governor takes any other legal avenues, including an appeal, off the table.
But because it is so “unusual” that Polis acted before the appellate process took place, the legal team needs to “review” all options, he added.
The court has not officially vacated the hearing to reconsider the original sentence, which is set for Jan. 13, but Mederos’ attorney said they expect the judge to do so next week.
Mederos was charged with 42 counts and found guilty by a Jefferson County jury of 27 counts — the most serious was first-degree assault, a class-three felony.
The number of the charges, mandatory minimum laws and a classification that mandates some sentences be served consecutively resulted in the lengthy sentence.
Mederos testified that his brakes failed – a point not contested by prosecutors, but some points of contention in the case appear to be decisions Mederos allegedly made before the crash took place and once he found out that he was having brake problems.
ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook and Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(ILLINOIS) — Police have arrested a suspect wanted in connection with the shooting of two Illinois police officers that left one of them dead, while a second suspect remains at large, authorities said.
Darius Sullivan, 25, was taken into custody Friday morning without incident after authorities conducted a search warrant on a home in North Manchester, Indiana, police said. Narcotics and multiple weapons were found inside the home, according to Indiana State Police Sgt. Glen Fifield.
Sullivan had warrants out of Illinois for his arrest on first-degree murder, attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm charges, Fifield said, in connection with Wednesday’s fatal shooting at a hotel in Kankakee County, Illinois.
Bradley Police Department Sgt. Marlene Rittmanic, 49, was killed after responding to a noise complaint at a Comfort Inn, authorities said. Her partner, Officer Tyler Bailey, 27, was wounded in the shooting and remains hospitalized in critical condition, Illinois State Police said in an update Thursday night.
Sullivan, of Bourbonnais, Illinois, will be transferred to the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department, Fifield said. Police are still determining his connection to the North Manchester residence. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
An arrest warrant has also been issued for a second suspect in connection with the shooting, Xandria Harris, 26, of Bradley, Illinois, state police said. She was not present at the North Manchester home when Sullivan was taken into custody, according to Fifield.
“We are actively looking for her,” Fifield said.
The Kankakee County Sheriff’s Office was offering a $25,000 reward for information that led to the arrest of Sullivan. Fifield said the reward still stands for information leading to the arrest of Harris.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Dec 31, 5:13 pm
People infected with omicron variant have reduced risk of hospitalization: Study
A report published on Friday by the U.K. Health Security Agency found that people who were infected with the omicron variant had a reduced risk of requiring hospitalization, as compared to people who were infected with the delta variant.
The risk of hospital admissions among those with omicron was about half of that for delta, researchers found.
Individuals who had a booster dose were also found to have a “substantial reduction” in the risk of hospitalization, compared to those who are unvaccinated.
Researchers noted that these lower risks do not necessarily correlate to a reduced hospital burden during a COVID-19 surge, particularly given the higher growth rate and immune evasion seen with omicron.
Preliminary analyses also estimated a lower risk of hospitalization among omicron cases in school-aged children 5 to 17 years old, compared to delta cases in the same age group.
-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos
Dec 31, 4:24 pm
Rep. Ayanna Pressley latest lawmaker to test positive
Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., is the latest lawmaker to test positive for COVID-19. Pressley announced the news Friday afternoon, saying she was experiencing “relatively mild ” symptoms and isolating.
She also took the opportunity to say she was vaccinated and boosted and advocate for others to do the same.
“Vaccines save lives,” she said in a statement. “With this unprecedented pandemic continuing to rage, I am deeply grateful for the scientists, researchers, and frontline healthcare workers who have worked tirelessly to develop vaccines that are safe and effective, and ensure that our communities are protected.”
Pressley, who has garnered national attention as a member of “The Squad” alongside Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, is one of more than a dozen members of Congress to test positive in the past two weeks. Illinois Rep. Chuy Garcia announced Thursday that he had also tested positive for a breakthrough case and was experiencing mild symptoms.
Dec 31, 2:24 pm
COVID surge continues in New York, single-day case record broken
The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases continues to surge in New York. The state is reporting more than 76,000 positive cases over the last 24 hours, marking another single-day record for the state.
“We’re breaking records every day,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday at a COVID-19 briefing.
Meanwhile, nearly 8,000 New Yorkers were in the hospital with the virus on Thursday, an increase of more than 500 from the previous day.
Hochul announced that students in the State University of New York and City University of New York systems will need to receive their booster shot by Jan. 15, or whenever they are eligible for the extra shot. The requirement affects roughly 2.3 million students across the state.
The governor also said she is extending the mandate that businesses require either masks or vaccines, by two weeks, to Feb. 1.
Hochul pushed the importance of vaccines, especially for 5 to 11-year-olds, only 28% of whom have received their first dose, according to Hochul.
“We are not going to leave any stone unturned in terms of finding out how we can get parents to do the right thing for their children,” she said.
In a piece of encouraging news, the number of hospitals in the state with less than 10% capacity has dropped from 35 to 21, according to Hochul, who signed an executive order in November that required hospitals with such limited capacity to pause non-essential surgeries.
-ABC News’ Will McDuffie
Dec 31, 12:40 pm
Texas governor requests federal COVID-19 aid
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has requested resources for federally-supported COVID-19 testing locations, medical personnel, as well as additional federal allocations of monoclonal antibodies.
“Detecting COVID-19 and preventing COVID-related hospitalizations are critical to our fight against this virus,” Abbott said in a press release Friday.
Texas has seen more than 104,000 confirmed COVID cases in the past week, with a 22.30% testing positivity rate, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronaivrus Research Center. The center also reports that the state has a 58.45% vaccination rate.
Dec 31, 10:47 am
US breaks weekly COVID-19 case record
The United States has recorded 2.2 million confirmed COVID-19 cases over the last week, setting a grim record as the highest number of cases confirmed in one week.
The previous record was set just a few days earlier from Dec. 22 to Dec. 29, when the U.S. confirmed 1.9 million COVID-19 cases. Before that, the previous record totaled 1.75 million cases from Jan. 5 to Jan. 11 at the start of 2021.
Betty White, the award-winning actress and comedian famed for her roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at age 99, ABC News has confirmed.
Her longtime agent and friend, Jeff Witjas, told ABC News in a statement, “Betty has had a fantastic life and career and she was one of the positive people I know. I know that she is thrilled to be reunited with her [late husband] Allen Ludden.”
Best known for her television roles as Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, White endeared herself to audiences for decades. She told People magazine in an interview published earlier this month that one of her secrets to aging gracefully has been maintaining her sense of optimism.
“I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” she told the magazine. “It’s amazing.”
In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized White with having the longest television career for a female entertainer.
During a career that spanned more than 75 years, White received 23 Emmy nominations and won six. She also held the record as the oldest Emmy nominee overall, receiving her most recent nomination in 2012 at age 90.
Born an only child in Oak Park, Ill., Betty Marion White moved with her parents to Los Angeles at age 2. She began her career in radio, as a singer and voice actress.
Her big television break came in 1949, co-hosting a daily live variety show, Hollywood on Television. Based on one of the sketches from the show, White and two others came up with the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, in which she played the title character. The show was a huge boost for her career, and White became one of the first female producers in Hollywood.
White went on to appear in other sitcoms, late-night talk shows and daytime game shows. It was during a 1961 appearance on the game show Password that White met her third husband, the host Allen Ludden. The couple remained married for 18 years until Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981. White never remarried. A stepmother to Ludden’s three children, White never had children of her own.
In the 1970s, White’s career got a huge boost when she was cast in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As Sue Ann Nivens, White showed audiences a sly wit that lay behind her sweet smile. In contrast, her character on the 80s hit sitcom The Golden Girls, opposite Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, was, as White put it, “terminally naive.”
After The Golden Girls ended in 1992, after seven seasons, White guest-starred in a number of shows, including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, That ’70s Show, and Malcolm in the Middle. Her most recent roles were playing Elka Ostrovsky in the sitcom Hot in Cleveland for six seasons, and hosting the practical jokes show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.
Her career went through another resurgence in the mid-2000s, with White appearing in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and co-starring opposite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the film comedy The Proposal. As her popularity continued to grow for new generations of fans, White became the oldest host of Saturday Night Live in 2010, at age 88, following a widespread Facebook campaign dubbed “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).”
Off-screen, White was an ardent advocate for animals and pets.
Betty White, the award-winning actress and comedian famed for her roles on The Golden Girls and The Mary Tyler Moore Show, has died at age 99, according to numerous reports.
White died fewer than three weeks before her 100th birthday, on January 17.
Best known for her television roles as the ditzy Sue Ann Nivens on The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, White endeared herself to audiences for decades. She told People magazine in an interview published earlier this month that one of her secrets to aging gracefully has been maintaining her sense of optimism.
“I’m so lucky to be in such good health and feel so good at this age,” she told the magazine. “It’s amazing.”
In 2013, the Guinness Book of World Records recognized White with having the longest television career for a female entertainer.
During a career that spanned more than 75 years, White received 23 Emmy nominations and won six. She also held the record as the oldest Emmy nominee overall, receiving her most recent nomination in 2012 at age 90.
Born an only child in Oak Park, Ill., Betty Marion White moved with her parents to Los Angeles at age 2. She began her career in radio, as a singer and voice actress.
Her big television break came in 1949, co-hosting a daily live variety show, Hollywood on Television. Based on one of the sketches from the show, White and two others came up with the sitcom Life with Elizabeth, in which she played the title character. The show was a huge boost for her career, and White became one of the first female producers in Hollywood.
White went on to appear in other sitcoms, late-night talk shows and daytime game shows. It was during a 1961 appearance on the game show Password that White met her third husband, the host Allen Ludden. The couple remained married for 18 years until Ludden died of stomach cancer in 1981. White never remarried. A stepmother to Ludden’s three children, White never had children of her own.
In the 1970s, White’s career got a huge boost when she was cast in The Mary Tyler Moore Show. As Sue Ann Nivens, White showed audiences a sly wit that lay behind her sweet smile. In contrast, her character on the 80s hit sitcom The Golden Girls, opposite Rue McClanahan, Bea Arthur and Estelle Getty, was, as White put it, “terminally naive.”
After The Golden Girls ended in 1992, after seven seasons, White guest-starred in a number of shows, including Ally McBeal, The Ellen Show, That ’70s Show, and Malcolm in the Middle. Her most recent roles were playing Elka Ostrovsky in the sitcom Hot in Cleveland for six seasons, and hosting the practical jokes show Betty White’s Off Their Rockers.
Her career went through another resurgence in the mid-2000s, with White appearing in the soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful and co-starring opposite Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds in the film comedy The Proposal. As her popularity continued to grow for new generations of fans, White became the oldest host of Saturday Night Live in 2010, at age 88, following a widespread Facebook campaign dubbed “Betty White to Host SNL (Please).”
Off-screen, White was an ardent advocate for animals and pets.
(FLORIDA) — An official at the Naples Zoo, where a tiger attacked a man who allegedly stuck his hand in the cage, said on Friday that it supports that deputy’s decision to shoot the animal.
The man had called 911 after the tiger attacked him at the Florida zoo. Initial reports suggest that the tiger grabbed the man’s arm and pulled it into the enclosure after the man jumped over the initial fence barrier and put his arm through the fencing, authorities said on Thursday.
The tiger, named Eko, died after being shot in the neck by a responding deputy. Eko was a Malayan tiger, a species that is critically endangered due to poaching and habitat loss, according to the Naples Zoo.
President and CEO of Naples Zoo, Jack Mulvena, said the zoo hasn’t considered pressing charges against the man, identified as a 26-year-old River Rosenquist.
“It was a bad mistake, a bad decision, but we only wish him well in the recovery,” he said during a press conference Friday.
Mulvena said he spoke with the zoo’s weapon’s team and they said if they were in the officer’s position, under the same circumstances, they would have made the same decision.
“The deputy faced a very difficult decision and we support that decision,” Mulvena said.
Rosenquist, who worked for a third-party cleaning company, had entered an unauthorized area of the Florida zoo. Authorities said on Thursday that he could face criminal charges.
Mulvena said that third parties hired to work for the zoo, including HMI Commercial Cleaners, where Rosenquist worked, were aware they should not be in certain areas.
“Their responsibilities were very specific; cleaning of our new hospital and commissary, our gift shop, admissions and our two public bathrooms,” Mulvena said.
The zoo’s security team never saw Rosenquist or any cleaning crew members depart from what they were supposed to be doing, Mulvena said Friday.
“In this instance, unfortunately, River made the decision to breach a visitor barrier and get close to the exhibit itself. We don’t know what happened and why he did that. We suspect it was to pet or to feed, but we don’t know that for certain. Only River knows that,” Mulvena said.
The zoo is in the process of conducting an internal investigation and review of all its policies and protocols, he said.
“[We] don’t believe our policies and protocols were in any way responsible for this,” Mulvena said.
The zoo will also consider whether it should install security cameras.
“I think the lesson learned here is you can’t 100% prevent people from making really, really horrible decisions,” Mulvena said.
The zoo established the Eko Tiger Conservation Fund in memory of the tiger. All the proceeds from the fund will be going to the Wildlife Conservation Society, which Mulvena said has been doing some of the best work in the world on Malayan tiger conservation.
“We want his memory to live on and we want it to live on in terms of saving Malayan tigers in the wild,” Mulvena said.
Eko’s body is currently in the zoo’s hospital and a necropsy is scheduled for Monday.
