(HOUSTON) — Three people have been charged with capital murder in the fatal shooting of an off-duty Texas deputy, authorities said.
The incident occurred Thursday night around 8:30 p.m. outside a grocery store in North Harris County.
Harris County Deputy Darren Almendarez, 51, and his wife were walking to their car from the store when he saw two men under his truck allegedly attempting to steal the vehicle’s catalytic converter, authorities said.
Almendarez told his wife to run. As he approached his truck the suspects began firing at him, according to Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez. Almendarez returned gunfire, striking two of the suspects, before they fled the parking lot in a car, the sheriff said.
The deputy was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, where he was pronounced dead from his gunshot wounds, authorities said. Almendarez’s wife was not injured.
The two suspects wounded in the exchange showed up at the same hospital in the suspect’s vehicle later that night in stable condition, authorities said.
The suspects — Joshua Stewart, 23, and Fredarius Clark, 19 — have been charged with capital murder in the shooting death of Almendarez, authorities said Friday.
A third suspect sought in the incident, 17-year-old Fredrick Tardy, was arrested and charged with capital murder, authorities said Friday night.
Stewart was denied bail on Saturday, court records show. During a hearing on Saturday, probable cause was found in Clark’s case, court records show.
Stewart and Clark are scheduled to appear in court on Monday. Attorney information was not immediately available for the three suspects.
Almendarez was a 23-year veteran of the agency and had served in the automobile theft unit for the past year, Gonzalez said.
“Heartbreaking,” the sheriff said after the deputy was identified.
Almendarez “loved being a deputy” and was an “outstanding member” of the agency, Gonzalez said.
“A remarkable man and public servant. Humble beginnings, grew up in Second Ward and played sports at Settegast Park,” Gonzalez said on social media. “From his first job as a teen at Whataburger on Harrisburg to fulfilling his goal of being a cop.”
The sheriff’s office shared a video spotlighting Almendarez released earlier this year.
“I work a lot on my days off and my time off, but I don’t mind,” Almendarez said in the video. “I’m going to help out as much as I can because it just, it feels right to do something like that.”
“You go home with a sense of not only relief but also a feeling of satisfaction, like, I did my job, I did what I could and I helped somebody out.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott called for the death penalty in the killing of the deputy.
“Deputy Darren Almendarez lost his life while answering the call to serve and protect his fellow Texans, and this tragedy is a heartbreaking reminder of the sacrifices our law enforcement officers make both on and off duty,” Abbott said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — With the national average for a gallon of gasoline stuck above $4, some Americans may be ready to go electric.
Searches for “green vehicles” on Edmunds.com jumped 39% over the last month as fuel prices skyrocketed. Battery electric vehicles totaled 2.6% of new vehicle purchases in 2021, according to Edmunds, and that number could rise to 4% this year.
“People are very frustrated with gas prices right now and are searching for alternatives,” Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ executive director of insights, told ABC News. “In 2008 — the last time we saw significant consumer reaction to gas prices — people moved into smaller vehicles. The dialogue now is about EVs, not downsizing.”
EVs, however, come with a hefty price tag. The average transaction price for a new EV was $60,054 in February versus $45,596 for the industry average, according to Edmunds.
“It’s a big commitment to get into an EV. These are luxury-priced products,” Cox Automotive senior economist Charlie Chesbrough told ABC News.
Even so, “a lot of vehicle shoppers will consider electric vehicles and whether they meet their family needs. Nothing makes Americans more unhappy than seeing high gas prices,” he said.
So if you’re new to EV ownership and intrigued by these silent, battery-powered machines, here’s what you need to know before pulling the plug on internal combustion engines.
Maintenance
Mark Wakefield, a managing director at AlixPartners, said owning an EV is a “bigger shift” for a consumer than downsizing an engine or vehicle. But ICE vehicles have more parts and require more assembly, which translates to higher maintenance costs.
Chad Kirchner, editor-in-chief of website EV Pulse, noted that EV drivers who are skilled at one-pedal driving (releasing on and off the accelerator) rarely use the brake pedal.
Replacing the brakes “is a maintenance cost you don’t have to worry about as an EV owner,” Kirchner told ABC News. Plus, “when you let off the accelerator and let the car coast, you’re recharging the battery,” he said.
And EV batteries can last at least a decade, John Voelcker, a contributing editor at Car and Driver, pointed out.
“Batteries are designed to last the lifetime of a car — with some range loss,” he told ABC News. “Leaving the car plugged in for a week won’t impact the battery. Don’t expect to replace the battery in the first 10 years.”
Voelcker said a vehicle’s range — the number of miles an EV can travel on a full charge — drops as the battery ages. But carmakers are getting better at reducing range degradation.
“In the worst circumstance, maybe 30% of a vehicle’s range will take a hit” over 10 to 15 years, he said.
EV motorists who live in colder climates can also expect less range as the mercury drops.
“Heat in cold weather is a range killer. You can lose up to a third of your rated range if you have the heat blasting,” Voelcker said. “Heat and to a lesser degree air conditioning affects your range more than it does a gasoline-powered vehicle.”
Repairs for an EV (no more oil changes and air-filter replacements!) can cost $330 less than a gas-powered car, a savings of $949 annually, according to a 2020 AAA study.
Tax credit
Tesla and General Motors have sold more than 200,000 EVs in the U.S. since 2010, meaning new buyers of Teslas or GM’s Bolt or Hummer EV pickup no longer qualify for tax credit savings, which phase out after an automaker reaches the 200,000 federal sales cap limit.
Consumers still have an array of EVs (including plug-in hybrids) to choose from to receive a tax credit up to $7,500; nearly every automaker now produces a qualifying electric vehicle. It’s important to note, however, that any tax credit only applies to new purchases of an EV; leases are not eligible.
EV owners who claim the $7,500 reduction may not get the full credit; the owner’s tax liability has to total at least $7,500 for the year the vehicle was purchased.
The driving experience
Love hearing the crackles, pops and growls of a powerful engine? Then an EV may not be the right choice. EVs are completely silent unless they’re traveling below speeds of 18.6 mph to warn pedestrians and cyclists. Automakers have also largely refused to pump in “artificial” ICE sounds into the cabin.
But not hearing the constant engine noise allows for a calmer and more peaceful ride, Voelcker said.
Another benefit of EVs is the instant acceleration. “There is no transmission shifting, just a single, smooth surge of power. You get maximum torque from zero rpm,” he said.
One-pedal driving may require a little bit of practice and patience, though. Some EVs come with a vehicle creep feature that allows the vehicle to automatically move from a standstill when the brake pedal is released, replicating the feeling of an ICE.
“It’s OK to climb in the car and not like one-pedal driving … it can be weird getting used to,” Kirchner said.
Added Voelcker: “You learn to modulate the accelerator and literally drive with one foot. Electric cars can drive exactly like regular cars with automatic transmissions.”
Matt Stover, Ford’s director of charging, energy services and business development, agreed that one-pedal drive can be startling at first. Now, when he drives the Mustang Mach-E SUV, Ford’s first EV, he only touches on the brake pedal in an emergency situation. He also noted that 70% of Mustang Mach-E customers are new to Ford, with the majority new to EVs overall. Ford sold 63,683 Mach-Es globally in 2021.
“The SUV is bringing new customers to the brand,” he told ABC News.
Charging
More than 80% of EV battery charging occurs at home, according to government data. Owners can plug in their vehicles at night and expect a full charge in the morning. Apartment dwellers will have to seek out public charging stations scattered along highways and shopping centers. Rural communities are also at a disadvantage; automakers and operators of EV networks are actively building stations to meet demand in these areas.
Owners can opt for a 110-volt cord or have an electrician install a hard-wired 240-volt outlet into a garage for even faster charging (as little as 20 minutes depending on the model and type of battery).
“People have misapprehensions about charging. Because we don’t have gas pumps at home, we don’t think about refueling a car at home overnight,” said Voelcker. “Installing a charging station is the same circuit as a clothes dryer but a little more powerful. You’re not installing a nuclear reactor.”
For customers who purchase or lease a 2022 Bolt EUV or Bolt EV, Chevrolet will cover standard home installation of a powerful Level 2 charging outlet.
Stover, of Ford, said EV owners first have to take into account the size of the vehicle’s battery — a larger battery offers greater range but takes longer to charge — and what type of experience they want. Every Mach-E comes with a mobile charging cord that can deliver power at 120 volts.
“It’s not a great day-to-day experience,” Stover acknowledged. Many Mach-E owners though are taking that mobile cord as they travel, he said, and finding EV charging stations via the Ford Pass app.
Ford also provides all Mach-E customers with 250 kW worth of free public fast charging via Electrify America (about five full charges) and customers also have access to the company’s BlueOval Charge Network — a public charging network with more than 70,000 chargers.
Kirchner said the FordPass app, along with the My Porsche app and Volvo On Call app, are incredibly helpful for EV owners who need to charge away from home and keep tabs on a vehicle’s charging status. But it’s Tesla that has the best in-trip planning functionality, he argued.
“You put in a destination and the car will tell you where you need to stop for charging and and how long it will take,” he said. “It’s really powerful at reducing range anxiety.”
Bottom line
For those who are strongly debating whether to buy an EV, “the silver lining is that vehicle prices have gone up so much, making the cost of EVs seem relatively less expensive,” said Chesbrough.
The ongoing chip shortage and supply constraints have disrupted production of all vehicles, so finding an EV for sale may be challenging. New models are coming, with at least 20 new vehicles expected to arrive at dealerships this year, Chesbrough noted.
And for consumers still ambivalent about range, Kirchner said a vehicle will at least 250 miles is plenty for running errands or commuting to the office.
“The reality is most people charge at home and you don’t need 300 to 400 miles of range,” he said. “It’s a good time to be excited about EVs.”
(WASHINGTON) — While many mainstream Republicans look toward making waves in the midterm elections, some are still clinging to the past.
After GOP Rep. Mo Brooks’ recently confessed that former President Donald Trump repeatedly urged Brooks to “rescind” the results of the 2020 presidential campaign, some Republicans are exploring — even publicly vowing – to “decertify” President Joe Biden’s victory, a move with no legal or constitutional basis.
In late March, Brooks told ABC News that Trump requested several times he “remove” Biden from office, under the fraudulent assertion that the 2020 election was somehow tampered with and illegally skewed in Biden’s favor. Brooks, in his own telling of the interaction, said he refused Trump’s requests, writing the move off as impossible.
“We didn’t get into the details [of how it would happen] because it’s legally impossible. And I explained that fairly promptly,” Brooks told ABC News in a phone interview.
Brooks, who is now running for Senate from Alabama, disclosed this conversation to ABC News after Trump yanked his endorsement, in part for not aligning with Trump’s baseless assertions regarding election interference.
Yet, in Georgia, Trump-endorsed Republican Secretary of State candidate Rep. Jody Hice is leaning into his ties with the former president, and was caught on camera earlier this week committing to decertifying Biden’s win if elected after pursuing relevant legal investigations.
“That’s why I’m in the race,” Hice told Lauren Windsor, an activist journalist, who questioned the representative posing undercover as a supporter at the Columbia County GOP meeting. “If we lose fair elections, we’re in trouble. We have to get to the bottom of this, and we’ve got to fix it going forward.”
Hice’s challenge to incumbent Brad Raffensperger, one of many of the former president’s public enemies, showcases a clash of interests seen in Georgia’s tumultuous Senate primary and in GOP races around the country. Trump-backed candidates who pursue his baseless claims of election fraud and push stringent revisions to election laws regardless of feasibility are facing off with Republicans who push back against Trump’s bidding and risk losing favor from their constituency, and, in turn, public office.
Such tension exists within statehouses already. Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos, a Republican, has shot down conversations by members of his own caucus regarding the possibility of decertifying Biden’s victory in Wisconsin.
“I still believe that the Constitution and my oath that I took as an elected official does not allow me to decertify any election whether I want to or not,” Vos said in March. “That’s not going to happen.”
Similar calls for action are cropping up in the Illinois secretary of state race, too, where conservative candidate and former police sergeant Michelle Turney, told the Chicago Sun Times that her first priority, if elected, would be to “decertify the 2020 Election on day one of my term.”
While the promise of rewriting electoral history may be appealing to some voters, it’s near impossible to execute legally, as Raffensperger contended on ABC News Live in January.
“The state election board cannot overturn the will of the people and it cannot overturn the election and it just wants to make sure that every county runs their elections well and I support accountability,” said Raffensperger.
And legal experts agree. After the fact “decertification” is in no way feasible.
“Certification happens ahead of an inauguration. After inauguration, the only legal or constitutional way to remove a president is through impeachment. Period. The end,” said ABC News legal analyst Sarah Isgur.
Kate Shaw, ABC News Supreme Court analyst and Cardozo Law professor, said there’s “no mechanism” in the Constitution that would allow Republicans to deliver on this promise.
“The Constitution contains no mechanism for decertifying an election. Article II and the 12th Amendment, together with the Electoral Count Act, set forth the steps for counting state electoral votes and naming the president,” said Shaw. “That happened in January 2021, and that bell cannot be unrung, whatever transpires in the states afterwards.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Friday’s sports events:
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Final Toronto 102 Orlando 89
Final Washington 135 Dallas 103
Final Boston 128 Indiana 123
Final Detroit 110 Oklahoma City 101
Final L.A. Clippers 153 Milwaukee 119
Final Memphis 122 Phoenix 114
Final Sacramento 122 Houston 117
Final San Antonio 130 Portland 111
Final Minnesota 136 Denver 130
Final New Orleans 114 L.A. Lakers 111
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Final N-Y Islanders 3 N-Y Rangers 0
Final Buffalo 4 Nashville 3
Final Tampa Bay 5 Chicago 2
Final Ottawa 5 Detroit 2
Final OT Edmonton 6 St. Louis 5
Final Vegas 5 Seattle 2
Final Anaheim 5 Arizona 0
(NEW YORK) — Former GOP vice president candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will run for Alaska’s at-large Congress seat vacated by the late Rep. Don Young, she announced on her Facebook page Friday.
“Today I’m announcing my candidacy for the U.S. House seat representing Alaska,” Palin wrote. “Public service is a calling, and I would be honored to represent the men and women of Alaska in Congress, just as Rep. Young did for 49 years.”
Young died on March 18 at 88 years old after losing consciousness on a flight to Seattle returning home to Alaska. He was the “dean of the House” as the longest-serving representative.
Tiffany Montemayor, public relations manager at the Alaska Division of Elections, confirmed to ABC News that Palin had filed to run on Friday afternoon. The deadline to file was 5 p.m. Friday. The primary will be held June 11 with the special election Aug. 16.
Palin, 58, resigned as governor in 2009, but helped mainstream the populist strain of GOP politics later embraced by former President Donald Trump.
“America is at a tipping point. As I’ve watched the far left destroy the country, I knew I had to step up and join the fight,” Palin wrote. “The people of the great State of Alaska, like others all over the country, are struggling with out-of-control inflation, empty shelves, and gas prices that are among the highest in the world.”
She continued, “We need energy security for this country, and Alaska can help provide that — but only if the federal government gets out of the way and lets the free market do what it does best.”
She was a surprise choice as running mate for the late Sen. John McCain when he ran unsuccessfully for president in 2008.
Palin has stayed in the public eye in the 13 years since she stepped down as governor though she hasn’t run for office since then. She released two books, “Going Rogue” and “America by Heart,” appeared for years as a political commentator on Fox News and starred on the TLC reality series “Sarah Palin’s Alaska.” She was also a contestant on Fox’s “The Masked Singer” in 2020.
She was in the news last month when a judge in New York tossed a libel lawsuit she had filed against The New York Times in 2017 saying the newspaper deliberately ruined her burgeoning career as a political commentator and consultant by publishing an erroneous editorial. The judge said she had not proven “actual malice” on behalf of the paper. He allowed the jury to still reach a verdict, but they also ruled in favor of the newspaper.
ABC News’ Ben Siegel and Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
Miley Cyrus has canceled a Grammy night performance because she’s tested positive for COVID-19.
“Traveling around the world, playin for a 100,000 people a night & meeting hundreds of fans a day, the chances of getting Covid are pretty high,” Miley tweeted. “I have Covid now but it was definitely worth it.”
She then announced that she’s canceled her scheduled performance at Steven Tyler‘s Grammy Awards Viewing Party in LA, which will benefit Janie’s Fund, a charity that provides protection and counseling for young female victims of abuse. It’s named after Tyler’s 1989 hit with Aerosmith, “Janie’s Got a Gun.”
“Unfortunately because of this I’m missing out on Janie’s Fund which sucks because it’s a charity that’s super important to me & my friend Steven Tyler,” Miley tweeted. “I am feeling fine so don’t worry about me! Sorry Steven! We’ll have to ‘Walk This Way’ another time!”
On Friday, Miley released her live album, ATTENTION.
If you want your relationship to last, get a hobby, and explore it together!
That advice comes from psychologist Dr. Diana Kirschner. She says a lot of research shows that shared activities tend to make couples happier.
First, because they bring newness to a relationship, and keep boredom from setting in. Plus, new experiences activate the brain’s reward system, so we’re flooded with chemicals that promote bonding.
And Dr. Kirschner says your relationship can get a boost from just about any activity. For example: One of her counseling patients agreed to take up beekeeping with his wife. He says he was nervous about owning 24-thousand bees. But after he and his wife set up the hives in their yard, and extracted honey for the first time, he says he felt amazed at what they’d accomplished. Plus, it gave the couple something to talk and laugh about, while creating new memories together.
Just one thing: Dr. Kirschner says to get the biggest boost from a shared hobby, it needs to be one you both enjoy. Because if you enjoy bowling, for example – but your partner can only roll gutter balls – then resentment is going to build up, which can trigger distance in the relationship.
That’s why Dr. Kirschner recommends trying something that’s new to both of you.
But if you do try to introduce your partner to your favorite hobby, she says introduce it to them slowly, and praise your partner for making the effort. Just remember: The point isn’t to convert your partner into a master fisherman, or a sewing champion. It’s more about spending time together, and bringing your relationship closer.
If you feel groggy and brain-foggy every morning, your biological clock might be out of whack.
The solution: Go camping! It can reset your internal clock in just 2 days.
Dr. Kenneth Wright is director of the Sleep Laboratory at the University of Colorado, Boulder. And he says we’re biologically wired to go to bed about 2 hours earlier than we typically do… because we’re artificially extending daylight hours with indoor lights, and glowing smartphones, computers and TVs. Which throws off our body clock, disrupts our sleep, and leaves us drowsy in the morning.
But a recent study found that a camping trip reset the biological clocks of study volunteers. Within a couple of days, they were falling asleep and waking up two-and-a-half hours earlier than normal. Plus, levels of the sleep hormone melatonin began to spike right after sundown – bringing their sleep-wake schedule more in line with natural daylight and darkness.
In fact, even camping for a weekend raised people’s melatonin levels by 69%.
It’s all about doing what farmers normally do: Up with the sunrise, and head for bed at sunset.
Some of the things we do daily are NOT helping us stay mentally sharp. In fact, although it may sound harsh, scientists say, these things are actually making us dumber! That’s according to Nicholas Carr, who wrote the book The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains, which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. So, here’s what’s dumbing us down:
Email! University of California researchers found that constantly checking email stresses us out, and reduces our ability to concentrate. The good news is: All we have to do to get smarter is to cut back. Because test subjects who limited their emailing to, say, a couple of specific times a day had lower blood pressure and better memory recall.
Eating sugar. We ingest about 35 pounds of high-fructose corn syrup a year. And researchers at UCLA say that steady sugar consumption slows the brain, and reduces memory and our ability to learn in as little as six weeks.
Our smartphones, which allow chronic, relentless multitasking. Brain expert Dr. Sandy Chapman says our phones keep us permanently distracted and that means we’re less able to absorb what we see, hear, and read.
We’re only as smart as the TV we watch. A study found that people did worse on tests after reading a story about a stupid person. Researchers concluded that, what we consume mentally, directly affects our behavior. Which means, watching mindless shows may be wasting away our brainpower.
City living. A huge experiment at the University of Michigan found that people who walked through the city had learning problems, poor focus, and worse memory, compared to those who walked through a park. It’s partly because of increasing distractions, like traffic, lights and sirens. And partly due to air pollution from car exhaust, secondhand smoke, and factory emissions. Researchers at Columbia University found that the more air pollution children are exposed to, the lower their IQs.
