PITTSBURGH — For the third week in a row, the Steelers are readying for Justin Fields to start at quarterback Sunday as Russell Wilson continues to work through a lingering calf injury.
“We’re kind of in the same posture as we were in last week with Russ,” Tomlin said Tuesday. “As I sit here today, Russ is not scheduled to be a full participant in practice [Wednesday], and so we’re readying a plan that features Justin and his readiness.”
Wilson was a limited participant in each practice last week and was inactive as he served as the emergency third quarterback in the win against the Broncos.
Wilson, who initially injured his calf on the eve of training camp as he pushed a sled in a team conditioning test, hasn’t fully participated in practice or played in the first two regular-season games since aggravating his calf Sept. 5.
“We’ll follow Russ throughout the week, and if his participation gets to a level in participation and quality where we should consider him, we’ll delve into that at that time, and obviously when that happens is a component of the consideration,” Tomlin said.
“But as I sit here today, he is not scheduled to be a full participant tomorrow in practice and so we’re readying ourselves around Justin and we’ll stay in that mindset until something else happens. Hypotheticals is a waste of our time now.”
In Wilson’s place, Fields and the offense helped the Steelers to a 2-0 start on the road, something the team hadn’t accomplished since 1999. Although the offense has scored only one touchdown in two games — a pass from Fields to tight end Darnell Washington — Fields has been largely efficient, completing a career-high 69.8% of passes. He also hasn’t thrown an interception or lost a fumble.
“It’s been really good,” Tomlin said of Fields’ decision-making, “but I expect it to be.”
Fields, though, will face his toughest test to date Sunday against a Los Angeles Chargers team that has allowed just 6.5 points per game, the fewest in the league through two weeks. The Steelers’ defense is second at 8.0 points per game.
In working with Fields in-game, Tomlin said that his relationship with the quarterback has grown and that he has learned about how Fields leads and deals with adversity.
“It just grows in in-game environments,” Tomlin said of his relationship with Fields. “There was some point in the game. I went up to him, I told him to challenge his unit in terms of cleaning up their plays so we could get out of the stadium and end the game. I asked him to do it in his own voice, in his own words, but those are some of the things that you ask a quarterback to do.”
But Tomlin shut down speculation about what Fields’ performances could mean for the starting quarterback position long term, emphasizing that he won’t make a determination about the job until Wilson returns from the calf injury. Wilson was still listed as the starting quarterback in the most recent depth chart released Tuesday, while Fields remained second.
“My position regarding the pecking order and the depth chart has not changed, guys,” Tomlin said. “And it won’t until the other guy gets healthy, and then we’ll give it real consideration. Until then, I won’t speculate. I don’t know how many ways I can tell you guys that.”
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — In what is believed to be the first arrangement of its kind, Tennessee fans for all sports will be charged a 10% “talent fee” on tickets to help pay athletes as part of the new revenue-sharing plan set to begin in 2025.
The university shared the news with football season-ticket holders via email Tuesday, which included an impassioned four-minute video of athletic director Danny White telling fans the talent fee and other strategies were “part of an extensive plan to continue our dominance in college athletics and build something like never seen before.”
In addition to the 10% increase on all ticket invoices — season tickets and single-game purchases — as well as donations for those seats, Tennessee will add an average increase of 4.5% on all football tickets.
“In this era of name, image and likeness (NIL), there has never been as close a connection between resources and competitive success,” said White, noting that Tennessee had captured the last three SEC All-Sports trophies. “We want to be a leader in college sports. That means we want to be a leader in revenue sharing.”
The NCAA revenue-sharing plan, scheduled to begin in the fall of 2025, is part of a settlement between the NCAA and power conferences in the House vs. NCAA case that would allow schools to share up to $22 million of their annual revenue with athletes. In preparing for those added costs, schools are becoming increasingly creative in how to raise money, and many college leaders believe the revenue-sharing model recently proposed is only the beginning with collective bargaining coming at some point.
In the most recent financial data available, the Tennessee football program turned a $75 million profit in 2023 — after $134.9 million in revenue and $59.1 million in expenses.
At most of the larger schools around the country, football is the engine that helps fund many of the other sports. The Vols have a streak of 15 consecutive sellouts at Neyland Stadium and led the SEC in total home attendance in 2023 with 713,405 fans — an average of 101,915 per game. For two straight years, Tennessee has sold all 70,500 of its season tickets, and White said there’s a waiting list of 15,000.
Tennessee is experiencing its best stretch of on-field success in all sports in decades. The baseball team won its first national championship in June, and Tennessee became the first school in SEC history to win a conference championship in men’s basketball, baseball and softball in the same year. The men’s basketball team made just its second Elite Eight appearance in school history in March, and the football team is ranked No. 6 this week in the AP poll.
“Ya’ll wanted a winner, and our teams have responded in big and bold ways,” White told fans in the video. “… We’ve just begun this thing.”
Instead of simply raising ticket prices, school officials said they wanted to be clear and transparent as to why this increase is occurring and where the money is going, prompting White to shoot the video. Ticket renewals will start Thursday and run through the end of February. Tennessee is offering fans a chance to spread out their payments over 10 months to help absorb the cost increase.
More than ever, Tennessee fans will have to ante up. In 2025, the cheapest season ticket for home football games — including taxes, the required contribution and talent fee — will cost $453.75 in the family section, which is in the upper deck. Student ticket prices doubled this season from $10 per game to $20 and will increase to $25 in 2025.
With additional scholarships being added in sports (football is going from 85 to 105), schools opting into the new revenue sharing plan will need approximately $30 million to cover the money going to athletes and cost of the additional scholarships.
The Tennessee Fund raised $139.7 million in 2023-24, the highest total in athletic department fundraising history. The university also announced in August that it entered into a lucrative 20-year partnership with Knoxville-based Pilot that includes the Pilot logo being featured on the Neyland Stadium playing field.
Tennessee has doled out hefty raises recently to administrators and coaches. White is now the highest paid athletic director in the country (among public universities) at $2.75 million per year after his recent extension, and his contract remains a six-year rolling deal that runs through July 2030. He could earn up to $600,000 more in incentives.
Also, baseball coach Tony Vitello went to $3 million annually in August, making him the highest paid baseball coach in the country.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Six years after releasing Kareem Hunt in the middle of the season, the Kansas City Chiefs have signed the veteran running back to their practice squad.
The Chiefs were looking for help at running back after starter Isiah Pacheco broke a fibula in last week’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
The Chiefs selected Hunt in the third round in 2017, the same draft in which they acquired quarterback Patrick Mahomes. Hunt had a big rookie season, rushing for a league-high 1,327 yards, catching 53 passes and scoring 11 touchdowns.
He was well on his way to another 1,000-yard season in 2018 when a video surfaced showing Hunt earlier that year shoving and kicking a woman at a Cleveland hotel where Hunt had an apartment.
The NFL then placed Hunt on the commissioner’s exempt list, and the Chiefs released the running back, saying he had not been truthful with them when they asked him about the incident.
Hunt, 29, played the past five seasons for the Browns in his hometown of Cleveland. The most productive of those seasons came in 2020, when he rushed for 841 yards and caught 38 passes.
Hunt last season rushed for 411 yards and caught 15 passes.
ByMARCEL LOUIS-JACQUES
September 17, 2024, 4:19 PM
MIAMI — The Miami Dolphins placed Tua Tagovailoa on injured reserve Tuesday after the quarterback suffered another concussion in Thursday’s loss to the Buffalo Bills.
Per NFL rules, Tagovailoa must remain on injured reserve for at least four games. There is no timetable for how long Miami plans to keep him on IR as he focuses on his health before his return to the field.
It is the third diagnosed concussion of Tagovailoa’s NFL career.
Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel on Monday said Tagovailoa wouldn’t be placed on IR until more information became available, but the decision was made Tuesday after further evaluation.
Miami signed quarterback Tyler Huntley from the Baltimore Ravens’ practice squad. Per NFL rules, the Dolphins must allocate a spot on their 53-man roster to Huntley for at least their next three games.
“We got to learn firsthand a nice reminder of how it only takes one play and what you think your depth is changes abruptly,” McDaniel said. “So that’s a move for moving forward to secure some depth in case of the unforeseen, which is timelines for us as it relates to Tua.”
Third-year quarterback Skylar Thompson will start Sunday’s game against the Seattle Seahawks now that Tagovailoa has officially been ruled out.
Thompson did not play during the 2023 season, but he started three games as a rookie in 2022, including a playoff loss on the road to the Bills. McDaniel said the move to add Huntley “was not any direct reflection on Skylar” and was made to bolster the team’s depth.
Huntley has started 10 games in his four-year career, mostly for the Ravens. He was named to the Pro Bowl in 2022 after helping guide them to the playoffs in place of Lamar Jackson. He started Baltimore’s playoff loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
“I do think that it helps the dynamics of the [quarterbacks] room to add another guy with starting history to this team,” McDaniel said of Huntley. “He’s a guy that’s a signal-caller that a team can get behind. … I think this is more directly to back up Skylar, and then you always let competition play out when it’s out on the field. But this is a depth move, for sure.”
Tagovailoa suffered the injury while scrambling up the middle for a first down and making forcible contact with his helmet to the forearm of Bills safety Damar Hamlin. Tagovailoa immediately went into a fencing response with his arms in an unnatural position.
Medical trainers attended to Tagovailoa for several minutes as players kneeled around him. He was ultimately able to walk off the field and into the locker room under his own power but was quickly ruled out for the rest of the game.
The next four games will push Tagovailoa’s career total of games missed due to injury to 14 since 2020. He played all 18 of the Dolphins’ regular-season and playoff games in 2023.
Also Tuesday, the Dolphins announced the signing of offensive lineman Jackson Carman to the practice squad and the release of wide receiver Robbie Chosen.
Georgia All-American guard Tate Ratledge underwent TightRope surgery on his sprained left ankle Monday and is expected to miss a handful of games, Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart announced Tuesday.
Ratledge, a senior from Rome, Georgia, was hurt in the second quarter of the team’s 13-12 victory at Kentucky on Saturday. The procedure typically has a recovery period of four to six weeks.
The news concerning star quarterback Carson Beck was better. Beck has a sprained AC joint in his left (nonthrowing) shoulder, but Smart said he isn’t expected to miss any games. Beck was hurt at the end of a run in the fourth quarter at Kentucky.
“We’ve got like seven AC joint sprains, so that’s not like a significant or major injury,” Smart said Tuesday. “Carson’s fine. He’s practiced both days.”
Georgia has an open date this week before traveling to No. 4 Alabama on Sept. 28 (7:30 pm. ET, ABC). The No. 2 Bulldogs play home games against Auburn and Mississippi State before facing No. 1 Texas on the road Oct. 19.
Ratledge, 6-feet-6 and 320 pounds, has started 31 games in his Georgia career, including all three contests this season. He was a second-team All-American and first-team All-SEC selection in 2023.
Ratledge was ranked the No. 4 interior offensive line prospect eligible for the 2025 NFL draft in ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s latest projections.
“He’s had TightRope [surgery] already,” Smart said. “He’s in the rehab process. We checked it the night of the game and had to get it fixed. He’ll be back as soon as he can. We expect a healthy and full recovery.”
Juniors Micah Morris and Dylan Fairchild were Georgia’s guards in Ratledge’s absence.
Last season, Georgia tight end Brock Bowers returned in only 26 days after undergoing TightRope ankle surgery. It took offensive tackle Amarius Mims and tight end Lawson Luckie longer to get back on the field after having the procedure.
ByDAVID HALE AND ANDREA ADELSON
September 17, 2024, 9:49 PM
Talks between Clemson, Florida State and the ACC have ramped up in recent weeks, according to sources, on a proposal that would allot a greater share of revenue to schools based on brand valuation and television ratings, as well as potentially alter the expiration of the league’s grant of rights — which currently runs through 2036 — in exchange for the Tigers and Seminoles dropping their lawsuits against the conference.
According to multiple sources within the league, the conversations are preliminary and the sides are not close to an agreement, but the conversations represent a strong signal that Florida State and Clemson are open to remaining in the conference under more favorable financial terms.
The proposal, which was formulated by Clemson and Florida State and discussed by the league’s presidents during Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, includes additional money going to schools with better ratings success in football and basketball.
While the proposal has not been widely distributed or discussed among conference athletic directors, administrators from more than a half-dozen schools who spoke with ESPN said they would at least be open to some altered revenue split.
In 2022-23, the ACC distributed an average of $44.8 million per school, roughly $7 million less than the SEC; however, that difference is expected to grow to more than $30 million when accounting for the SEC’s new television contract, which began this year.
Florida State athletic director Michael Alford has called the forthcoming revenue gap an existential threat, and he pushed for the ACC to divide revenue unequally during the league’s 2023 spring meetings, asking for more money to go to schools that had success on the field as well as those that drew the highest ratings for television. The league ultimately agreed to institute a new revenue-sharing policy dubbed “success initiatives” that would reward programs that made bowl games, the College Football Playoff or the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament with a higher share of postseason revenue, but at the time, ADs were not interested in any plan that included brand valuation or television ratings, too.
In the months that followed, however, Florida State and Clemson filed lawsuits against the ACC in an effort to extricate themselves from the league’s grant of rights, which binds each member’s media rights to the ACC through June 2036. The ACC countersued both parties in North Carolina. To date, little movement has occurred on the legal front, and should the cases go to trial, a final resolution to the lawsuits could still be years away, according to attorneys for all sides. As part of a judge’s ruling in Leon County, Florida, the sides were required to enter into mediation, which is when discussions about ratings-based revenue splits took on new life.
Within the proposal put forth by Clemson and Florida State, the term of the grant of rights would also be reduced — potentially as early as 2030 — to better fall in line with the expiration of TV deals in the Big 12 and Big Ten.
While the basic talking points of the proposal had some support within member schools, there were significant questions about the details. As one athletic director who supported the general idea noted, properly evaluating something like TV ratings can be difficult with numerous outside factors influencing kickoff times, networks and ratings share that may not directly reflect a program’s value.
Several administrators who did not support the proposal did admit there was a potential incentive to continue discussions if it helped insure the future of the conference for the foreseeable future, with one noting that it would be better than seeing the ACC fall apart completely and another suggesting a brand-based revenue split could be inevitable for every league as TV contracts continue to grow and leagues continue to expand.
The ACC is also in talks with ESPN, which holds an exclusive option to extend the league’s television contract from 2027 through 2036. ESPN must pick up or decline the option by February 2025.
The ACC declined to comment on the status of discussions on changes to the revenue distribution model, but in May, commissioner Jim Phillips said he was open to all options that would secure the league’s standing.
“You have to stay optimistic,” Phillips said, “and you work through these things. We’ll manage what we have to manage, and I’m always optimistic about a really good ending out of this situation. I won’t have a change until somebody else tells me different. But am I going to fight for the ACC? Absolutely. That’s my responsibility.”
MIAMI — The Los Angeles Dodgers’ recent series at the Atlanta Braves marked the first time in more than three months that Shohei Ohtani went four consecutive games without a home run or a stolen base. It was a rut he had not been in since June 6 to 9.
Ohtani finally snapped that streak on Tuesday, hitting a third-inning home run in an 11-9 loss to the lowly Miami Marlins.
Ohtani, who has 48 homers and 48 steals with 11 games remaining, said he is “just one little thing away” from feeling good with the mechanics of his swing again. He also denied feeling any pressure to become the first player in baseball history to reach the 50/50 mark before the regular season wraps.
“No pressure,” Ohtani said through an interpreter. “Just trying to maintain quality at-bats regardless of the situation. It’s something I’ve been trying to do over the course of the entire season.”
Ohtani trails only Aaron Judge (53) for the major league lead in homers and only Elly De La Cruz (64) for the major league lead in steals while hitting .287/.372/.611 — numbers that seemingly have him on pace to become the first full-time designated hitter to win an MVP, especially considering New York Mets star Francisco Lindor’s recent back injury. Ohtani’s power has been on display throughout the year, but his batting average (.236) and on-base percentage (.301) have fallen off since the start of August.
Lately, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said he has noticed that the 50/50 milestone is “front of mind” for Ohtani, even if it isn’t necessarily providing pressure. Roberts has observed Ohtani pulling pitches more frequently rather than spraying them into the gaps, which is triggering more predetermined swings as opposed to seeing pitches deeper into the strike zone.
“And I do feel that’s somewhat natural,” Roberts said. “I just think he wants to get it over with — but with the fact that he’s still trying to compete and help us win baseball games.”
Roberts recently opened the door to Ohtani potentially pitching in the postseason, saying the chances are “very slim” but “not zero.”
Ohtani has been intermittently throwing bullpen sessions and could face hitters soon. He and the Dodgers’ pitching coaches have not talked about him contributing off the mound in the playoffs, a circumstance that might not even be possible until the World Series. But Ohtani said they’ll all meet when the team returns to L.A. this weekend to discuss the rest of his rehab schedule.
Asked if he believes he could physically do it, given the toll of returning from major elbow surgery in a high-pressure environment, Ohtani gave a wry smile.
(NEW YORK) -- The FBI and Postal Service are investigating suspicious mail containing a white powder substance that was sent to election offices in at least 16 states this week, according to an ABC News canvass of the country.
None of the mail has been deemed hazardous so far -- and in one case, the substance was determined to be flour -- but the scare prompted evacuations in some locations.
Election offices in New York, Tennessee, Wyoming, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, Massachusetts, and Colorado received the suspicious packages. Similar suspicious mail was addressed to offices in additional states -- Arizona, Georgia, Connecticut and Maryland among them -- but investigators intercepted them before they reached their destination.
The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service said in a statement Tuesday that they were investigating letters containing white powdery substances. A law enforcement source said at this point none of the packages were believed to be hazardous.
“We are also working with our partners to determine how many letters were sent, the individual or individuals responsible for the letters, and the motive behind the letters,” the statement read.
At least some of the packages were signed by the “United States Traitor Elimination Army,” according to a copy of a letter sent to members of the Elections Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center obtained by ABC News.
Election offices office in Kansas and Wyoming were evacuated on Monday, officials said, and the ventilation system in the Missouri secretary of state’s office in Jefferson City was briefly shut off as a precaution. The North Carolina Board of Elections did not receive any packages with white powder, but an official there told ABC News they are putting in place new safety precautions in light of the incidents in other states.
This latest incident marks the second time in the past year that suspicious mailings containing a white powdery substance were sent to election offices. Last November, similar envelopes were sent to elections offices in five states -- four of which tested positive for fentanyl, the FBI said at the time.
In the intervening months, several offices have taken steps to train staff on how to handle poisonous material sent in the mail. In Milwaukee, for example, election workers recently received training on how to administer Narcan.
The National Association of Secretaries of State released a statement urging an end to the “threatening and intimidating actions towards election officials” during recent election cycles.
“This must stop, period,” the statement read. “Our democracy has no place for political violence, threats or intimidation of any kind.”
(NEW YORK) -- Kentucky State Police announced Wednesday night that the body discovered in the woods earlier in the day not far from where the I-75 shootings took place is believed to be suspect Joseph Couch.
"There were articles associated with the body that at this time we feel is Joseph Couch," an official said at an evening news conference.
The coroner's office will make a final determination, officials said.
Troopers and two citizens found the body together in the vicinity of exit 49 in Laurel County, according to the authorities.
Wednesday was the 12th day of a manhunt for the suspect, who was wanted in connection with an interstate shooting that wounded five people.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch's vehicle along with a bag with Couch's name written on it, officials said.
A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect.
In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and "advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least." The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
"Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, 'I'll kill myself afterwards,'" according to the arrest warrant.
Tuesday's search for Couch focused on the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Both state and federal teams combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said additional state resources were being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.
The manhunt prompted local schools to close for over a week. They reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard.
"We will not live our lives in fear," Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.
The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan "prioritizes the safety of our students and staff."
(NEW YORK) -- An OceanGate whistleblower testified during a United States Coast Guard hearing into the deadly 2023 implosion of the Titan that he had "no confidence" in the way the experimental submersible was being built.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, said he was known as a "troublemaker" in the tourism and expeditions company because he was so outspoken about his safety concerns -- voiced years before five people were killed when the Titan catastrophically imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.
Lochridge said Tuesday during an ongoing Coast Guard hearing into the deadly implosion that he was hired in 2015 to in part work on the operations for the Titan but was ultimately not involved in its development. Lochridge said he was "phased out" after butting heads with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush -- one of the five people who died in the implosion.
When asked by the Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard if he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built in 2017, Lochridge said, "No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am."
Lochridge submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his concerns about the submersible's carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, after he said Rush asked him to inspect it.
"At the end of the day, safety comes first," Lochridge said. "Yes, you're taking a risk going down in a submersible, but don't take risks that are unnecessary with faulty, and I mean faulty, deficient equipment."
Lochridge testified Rush "liked to do things on the cheap." Asked why the company resorted to cost-cutting measures, Lochridge said, "The desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as we could to start making profit."
He said he did not know about the financial side of the company, but that "there was a big push to get this done."
"A lot of steps along the way were missed," he said.
Lochridge testified that Rush wanted to do manned testing of the first Titan prototype, though Lochridge recommended doing unmanned testing due to his concerns.
"I knew that hull would fail," he said. "It's an absolute mess."
Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018, days after submitting his report and attending an hourslong meeting with OceanGate executives, including Rush, ABC News previously reported. Documents reviewed by ABC News stated that it was clear Lochridge and Rush were "at an impasse" regarding the Titan hull, and "the only option was the termination of your employment."
Lochridge testified Tuesday he was terminated because he was "anti-project."
"I didn't want to lose my job," Lochridge said. "I wanted to go to Titanic. It was on my bucket list. I wanted to dive this, but dive it safely."
Following his termination, Lochridge said he reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2018 with his concerns about public safety and was placed under the agency's Whistleblower Protection Program.
"I wouldn't want to see anybody dying for the sake of going in a sub," Lochridge said Tuesday. "It's a magical place. I love it. I'm very passionate about what I do. If there's risk like that, don't do it."
A defect was discovered in the first prototype of the carbon-fiber hull in 2019, and it was not used on Titanic missions, the Coast Guard said.
A second carbon-fiber hull was subsequently made that was used on Titanic missions, including the doomed dive on June 18, 2023.
OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the implosion.
The Coast Guard's hearing into the implosion is scheduled to last two weeks. Lochridge is the only witness scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
During his testimony, Lochridge said he started being phased out of his duties after he inadvertently "embarrassed" Rush during a 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck on OceanGate's Cyclops 1 submersible.
Lochridge, a veteran submersible pilot, said he was meant to take several paying clients down to the wreck to take a 3-D model, but Rush wanted to pilot the dive instead. Lochridge said he objected, noting that the wreck is "dangerous" and that over a dozen people died during dives to the site at the time -- and eventually persuaded Rush to let him go along.
He said Rush ended up getting the vessel stuck in the wreck and refused to relinquish control of the submersible to Lochridge until one of the crew members yelled at Rush to give Lochridge the PlayStation controller that piloted the vessel.
Lochridge said Rush threw the controller at his head and one of the buttons came off, though he testified that he was able to repair it and get them back to the surface.
After that, Lochridge said Rush stopped talking to him.
Lochridge testified he raised objections after OceanGate phased out its relationship with the University of Washington's Applied Physics Laboratory in 2016. He said Rush decided to do all engineering for the Titan in-house.
Asked by the board why that was the case, Lochridge said, "Arrogance."
He also testified the company only cared about making money and it wasn't interested in scientific research.
"The whole idea behind the company was to make money, that's it," Lochridge said. "There was very little in the way of science."
OceanGate sued Lochridge following his termination, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets. Lochridge alleged in a counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Lochridge said he dropped his OSHA case and walked away from the lawsuits in late 2018 because he didn't want to "put my family through any more of this," financially and emotionally.
"It was going nowhere," he said. "It was too much for us as a family."
Lochridge and OceanGate settled the dispute out of court in November 2018. Lochridge said OSHA closed the case in December 2018 following the settlement agreement.
"I never paid a penny to OceanGate, I'm going to state that clearly," Lochridge said Tuesday. "I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing."
In his final remarks, Lochridge said he hopes the investigation will shed light on "why OSHA did not actively address my concerns."
"I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented," he said. "As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well."
OSHA said in a statement to ABC News on Thursday that after Lochridge filed a whistleblower claim of retaliation under the Seaman's Protection Act in February 2018, "OSHA promptly referred his safety allegations regarding the Titan submersible to the Coast Guard, per policy."
"The Coast Guard, not OSHA, had jurisdiction to investigate Mr. Lochridge's allegations regarding the safe design and construction of marine vessels," OSHA said in the statement. "OSHA's jurisdiction under the [Seaman's Protection Act] is limited to investigating a whistleblower's claims of employment retaliation for making those complaints (or similar protected activity)."
OSHA said it opened an investigation into the retaliation allegations, including interviewing Lochridge, which "followed the normal process and timeline for a retaliation case." After Lochridge and OceanGate entered a settlement agreement, OSHA terminated its investigation in December 2019 "pursuant to the terms of the parties' agreement."
DEER PARK, Texas (AP) — A pipeline fire that erupted in a suburban Houston neighborhood burned throughout a second day and into the night Tuesday with still no definitive word on when the blaze would finally go out, when nearby residents may be able to return home or why a car drove through a fence and hit a valve before the destructive explosion.
Although the fire was getting smaller, the disruptions caused by the Monday morning explosion in a grassy corridor between a Walmart and a residential neighborhood left some locals increasingly weary. On Tuesday, people could be seen returning to their homes to get clothes and other items before quickly leaving again.
“We literally walked out with the clothes on our backs, the pets, and just left the neighborhood with no idea where we were going,” Kristina Reff said. “That was frustrating.”
Over 36 hours after the blast — which shot towering flames like a blowtorch above the suburbs of Deer Park and La Porte — authorities have provided few details about the circumstances leading up to the explosion.
Investigators said it happened after the driver of a sport utility vehicle went through a fence near the Walmart and struck an above-ground valve. As of Tuesday evening, authorities had not still not identified the driver or said what happened to them.
Deer Park officials have said police and FBI agents found no preliminary evidence to suggest the explosion of the pipeline, which carried natural gas liquids, was a coordinated or terrorist attack. In a statement Monday night, the city said it “appears to be an isolated incident” but officials have not provided details on how they came to that conclusion.
The car was incinerated by the explosion, which scorched the ground across a wide radius, severed power transmission lines, melted playground equipment and ignited some homes.
The valve, which appears to have been protected by a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire, is located within a long grassy field where high-voltage power lines run. Several pipelines run underground.
Authorities evacuated nearly 1,000 homes at one point and ordered people in nearby schools to shelter in place. By Tuesday afternoon that number was down to just over 400.
“The fire is still burning, but the good news is that the pressure within the pipeline is continuously dropping, which means we are getting closer to the fire going out,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said in a statement.
Operators shut off the flow after the explosion, but Hidalgo has said that 20 miles (32 kilometers) of pipeline stretched between the two closed valves and the chemicals inside had to burn off before the fire would stop.
Robert Hall, a senior advisor at the nonprofit Pipeline Safety Trust, said it’s not surprising that it’s taken more than a day for the material to stop burning.
“You’re talking about 20-inch pipelines and miles between valves, so it takes a long time to burn down,” Hall said.
On Tuesday, the Texas Railroad Commission that regulates the state’s oil and gas industry said its inspectors only will enter the site after it is deemed safe by emergency authorities.
Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants and thousands of miles of pipelines. Explosions and fires are a familiar sight, and some have been deadly, raising recurring questions about industry efforts to protect the public and the environment.
Hall, who previously oversaw pipeline and hazardous materials investigations for the National Transportation Safety Board, said there are few regulations that govern the location of pipelines near homes and businesses.
“That becomes a very local issue, community by community,” Hall said, adding that some jurisdictions require bollards — sturdy pipes filled with concrete — to prevent vehicles from crashing into sensitive infrastructure.
Hidalgo said Tuesday that Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based owner of the pipeline, has said it was working to isolate parts of the pipeline closest to the fire by clamping it on each side.
Energy Transfer did not immediately respond to a question about what safety precautions were in place near the valve.
Hall said regulations from 2022 aimed at reducing deaths and environmental damage from ruptures were geared toward gas lines, not those carrying liquids, and would not have applied to this pipeline. He added that many new safety regulations that have been put in place do not apply retroactively to pre-existing pipelines.
Both Energy Transfer and Harris County Pollution Control were conducting air monitoring in the area and have found no health issues, according to Deer Park officials.
Since leaving home, Reff and her family have been staying in a hotel room paid for by Energy Transfer. But they were eager to return.
“It would be nice to be in our own beds,” she said.
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Murphy reported from Oklahoma City. AP writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Valerie Gonzalez in McAllen, Texas, Ken Miller in Oklahoma City and Jamie Stengle in Dallas contributed.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump attends a town hall meeting moderated by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders at the Dort Financial Center in Flint, Michigan, on Sept. 17, 2024. (JEFF KOWALSKY/AFP via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) -- Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday praised the Secret Service for stopping an apparent assassination attempt Sunday, speaking in a phone interview with ABC News.
"I'm fine. The Secret Service did a good job, actually," he said.
A Secret Service agent fired several shots at Ryan Wesley Routh, who was allegedly concealed in a tree line armed with a rifle at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, about 300 to 500 yards from the Republican presidential nominee, authorities said.
The suspect was able to get into a car and drive off, but was stopped by law enforcement.
He appeared in court on Monday and currently faces two felony gun charges. The investigation is ongoing.
Trump spoke about the heightened threat environment, telling ABC News, "Probably always been dangerous, but it's more so now, I think."
He reiterated satisfaction with how the Secret Service handled Sunday's incident.
"On that on that event, I thought they were excellent," he said.
Trump also discussed his phone call with President Joe Biden following the incident, calling the conversation "very, very nice."
"He called me just to, you know, express his sort of horror that a thing like that could happen. But it was a very good conversation," Trump said.
Trump said Biden told him he wants to be sure the Secret Service has all the resources it needs to do its job, adding, "I hope that is the case."
US President Joe Biden, right, watches as Vice President Kamala Harris greets former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, US, on Thursday, Aug. 1, 2024. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) -- Against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol at dusk, freed American Paul Whelan, who just completed a government resettlement program in Texas following his return from wrongful detainment in Russia, thanked the lawmakers who worked to help secure his release.
Whelan praised a "bipartisan effort that brought me home" after spending the day meeting with lawmakers who took up his case from his home state of Michigan and elsewhere.
"The Michigan delegation brought me home here," he said.
"You know, it was five years, seven months and five days," he added of his time in Russian custody. "I counted each one of them."
The former Marine revealed he spent the final five days in the Russian prison in solitary confinement.
"I couldn’t leave my cell," he said, "but I made it home."
Whelan wouldn't preview what's next for him -- offering only that he needs a new car and that suddenly he's in a place with electric and driverless vehicles -- but said he's involved in discussions over how to support other wrongfully detained Americans around the world.
"We're coming for you," Whelan said to those Americans. "The United States is not going to let people like me, Marc [Fogel], Trevor [Reed], Brittney [Griner, who was released in December 2022] languish in foreign prisons. It might take time, but we're coming for them and everybody else."
Whelan acknowledged the reporters he recognized by name or face, recalling the precise month he spoke with them via a smuggled phone from prison. He thanked them for reporting on his case.
He also thanked "all of the people that work for agencies that I will never meet, people that I will never know, their staff members, everyone that's been involved at every level."
Rep. Haley Stevens, who represents Whelan's district in Congress, told ABC News she expects to lean on him for the complex policymaking to mitigate foreign detentions like his.
"Well, he might not know it, but I plan to be in touch with him for a very long time to come, as long as he'll welcome it, because there's a lot to learn from his experience," she said.
She noted that Whelan's case was "the first one" of a series of high-profile detentions in Russia, including Griner and Evan Gershkovich, and it "certainly changed the relationship that the United States had with Russia, even before the war in Ukraine began."
"Our message to Russia is that when it comes to your shenanigans and your illegal and unjust and unlawful behavior, we, as the United States of America, are united. We will fight for our people," she said. "We will bring them home, and we will win."
Whelan returned to the United States on Aug. 2 after five-and-a-half years in a Russian penal colony.
Russian authorities released Whelan, as well as American journalists Gershkovic and Alsu Kurmasheva, in a multi-country deal that freed eight Russian prisoners abroad. The 26-person swap was the largest between the U.S. and Russia since the Cold War.
Whelan was arrested in Moscow in 2019 on charges of espionage and sentenced to 16 years in prison. Whelan, who frequently visited the city, was deemed as wrongfully detained by the U.S. Department of State.
The former Marine wasn’t the only former Russian captive on Capitol Hill Tuesday. Vladimir Kara-Murza, a dual Russian-British national whose release was secured by the U.S., met with lawmakers. Kara-Murza was imprisoned in Russia for two years for his opposition to Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Ambulances rush wounded people to a hospital in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon on September 17, 2024. (MAHMOUD ZAYYAT/AFP via Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- At least 20 more people were killed and 450 injured in Lebanon on Wednesday after a series of new explosions of wireless devices rocked the South, the Bekaa and the southern suburbs of Beirut, according to the Ministry of Health and the Lebanese Red Cross.
More than 30 ambulances are providing treatment and evacuations to wounded people in Lebanon on Wednesday, the Lebanese Red Cross said.
The Lebanese Army command has asked citizens not to gather in places witnessing security incidents to allow medical teams to arrive.
Members of the Lebanese Civil Defense are working to extinguish fires that broke out inside homes, cars and shops in the Bekaa, the South, Mount Lebanon and the southern suburbs due to the explosions, officials said.
All walkie-talkie devices were taken from security services members at the Rafiq Harir International Airport in Beirut after news of the devices exploding.
Pagers explode across Lebanon on Tuesday
At least 12 civilians were killed and at least 2,800 people injured in the explosions that took place Tuesday, according to Lebanese authorities. Around 460 of the injuries were critical and required surgery, Lebanese Health Minister Firass Abiad said. Most victims are suffering from eye and facial injuries, while others suffered injuries to hands and fingers, he said.
Israel was behind the deadly explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday, sources told ABC News on Wednesday.
The Hezbollah militant group said it is conducting a "security and scientific investigation" into the explosion of pagers across Lebanon on Tuesday.
Hezbollah said 11 of its members were killed on Tuesday, though -- as is typical in its statements -- did not specify how they died.
"We hold the Israeli enemy fully responsible for this criminal aggression, which also targeted civilians and led to the deaths of a number of martyrs and the injury of a large number with various wounds," Hezbollah said of the pager explosions in a Tuesday statement.
In a Wednesday morning statement, Hezbollah said it would continue operations to "support Gaza," and vowed a "reckoning" for Israel for the "massacre on Tuesday."
The dead and injured included people who are not members of Hezbollah. Lebanese officials said that an 8-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy are among the dead.
Israel has not commented on explosions
Israel has not commented on its alleged involvement in the apparent attack, which prompted chaos in the capital Beirut and elsewhere in Hezbollah's south Lebanon heartland.
Around 100 hospitals received wounded people, the Lebanese Ministry of Public Health said, with hospitals in Beirut and its southern suburb quickly filling to capacity. Patients were then directed to other hospitals outside the region.
The Iranian ambassador to Lebanon, Mojtaba Amani, was among those who had one of the pagers and was injured in an explosion Tuesday, according to Iranian state TV. The diplomat said in a phone call that he was "feeling well and fully conscious," according to Iranian state TV.
"I am proud and honored that my blood has become one with the blood of the honorable Lebanese people, as a result of the horrific terrorist crime that targeted our brotherly Lebanon yesterday. This noble country has stood with dignity and pride since the first day of al-Aqsa Storm," Amani said Wednesday.
At least 14 people were also injured in targeted attacks on Hezbollah members in Syria, according to the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Fears grow of Israel-Hezbollah escalation
The alleged Israeli operation has again piqued fears of escalation in the Israel-Hezbollah conflict ongoing since Oct. 8, when members of the Iranian-backed group began cross-border attacks in support of Hamas' war with Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Frontier skirmishes, Israeli strikes and Hezbollah rocket and artillery salvoes have been near-constant through 11 months of war in Gaza. Israeli officials have repeatedly threatened to launch a new military operation against Hezbollah along the Israel-Lebanon border. Tens of thousands of Israelis have left their homes in border regions due to the fighting.
The Israel Defense Forces said warplanes hit Hezbollah targets in six locations in southern Lebanon overnight into Wednesday. Artillery strikes were also conducted, it added.
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah is due to make a public address on Thursday afternoon to address the situation. In February, Nasrallah urged members to stop using their cellphones, describing the technology as "a deadly agent."
Schools across Lebanon will be closed on Wednesday, Lebanese state media reported, citing the country's Minister of Education. Schools and offices closed include public and private schools, high schools, technical institutes, the Lebanese University and private higher education institutions, Lebanese state media reported.
The Lebanese Council of Ministers collectively condemned "this criminal Israeli aggression, which constitutes a serious violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a crime by all standards."
It added that "the government immediately began making all necessary contacts with the countries concerned and the United Nations to place it before its responsibilities regarding this continuing crime."
World reacts to pager attacks
The United Nations special coordinator for Lebanon condemned the attack on Lebanon, calling it an "extremely concerning escalation in what is an already unacceptably volatile context," in a statement released by the U.N. Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary General.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a press conference in Egypt on Wednesday that the U.S. "did not know about and was not involved" in Israel's pager attacks in Lebanon and Syria -- but said that officials were still gathering information and did not directly blame Israel.
"Broadly speaking, we've been very clear, and we remain very clear about the importance of all parties avoiding any steps that could further escalate the conflict that we're trying to resolve in Gaza," Blinken said. Its spread to other fronts, he added, is "clearly not in the interest of anyone involved."
A cease-fire deal in Gaza, Blinken added, would "materially improve the prospects of defusing the situation" on the Israeli-Lebanese border and allow thousands of people living near the area on both sides of the divide to return home.
The U.S. and the European Union have both designated the Hezbollah militant group a foreign terrorist organization.
ABC News' Luis Martinez, Shannon K. Kingston, Ghazi Balkiz, Morgan Winsor, Anne Flaherty, Nasser Atta, Joe Simonetti, Jordana Miller and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) -- The Federal Reserve cut its benchmark interest rate a half of a percentage point on Wednesday in a landmark decision that dials back its years-long fight against inflation and could deliver relief for borrowers saddled with high costs.
The central bank’s first rate cut since 2020 came after a recent stretch of data had established the key conditions for a rate cut: falling inflation and slowing job gains.
In theory, lower interest rates help stimulate economic activity and boost employment. The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 200 points in the immediate aftermath of the announcement on Wednesday afternoon.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq also climbed following the news.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell described the rate decision as a shift in policy at the central bank.
"This recalibration of our policy stance will help maintain the strength of the economy and the labor market, and enable further progress on inflation," Powell said.
"The U.S. economy is in good shape," Powell added. "We want to keep it there."
The Federal Open Market Committee, a policymaking body at the Fed, on Wednesday forecast further interest rate cuts.
By the end of 2024, interest rates will fall nearly another half of a percentage point from their current level of between 4.75% and 5%, according to FOMC projections. Interest rates will drop another percentage point over the course of 2025, the projections indicated.
Over time, rate cuts ease the burden on borrowers for everything from home mortgages to credit cards to cars, making it cheaper to get a loan or refinance one. The cuts also boost company valuations, potentially helping fuel returns for stockholders.
Earlier this year, mortgage rates reached their highest level in more than two decades; while the average rate for credit card holders topped anything on record at the Fed. Interest rates for car loans have soared to levels last seen at the onset of the 2008 financial crisis, Edmunds found.
Interest rate cuts will bring many of those payments down, delivering gains for borrowers.
However, borrowers should not expect immediate relief from the Fed's initial rate cut, Elizabeth Renter, senior economist at NerdWallet, told ABC News in a statement prior to the decision.
"This initial rate cut will have little immediate impact," Renter said. "I anticipate many consumers and business owners will take the beginning of this change in monetary policy as a sign of hope."
Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of about 9% in 2022, though it remains slightly higher than the Fed's target of 2%.
Meanwhile, the job market has cooled. A weaker-than-expected jobs report in each of the last two months has stoked concern among some economists.
"We will do everything we can to support a strong labor market as we make further progress toward price stability," Powell said last month.
Prior to the decision, the chances of a rate cut were are all but certain, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment.
Market observers, however, had been divided over whether the Fed will impose its typical cut of a quarter of a percentage point, or opt for a larger half-point cut. The tool estimated the probability of a half-point cut at 65% and the odds of a quarter-point cut at 35%.
A half-point cut risked overstimulating the economy and rekindling elevated inflation, while a quarter-point cut threatened to delay the type of economic jumpstart that may be required to avert a recession, Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, told ABC News in a statement.
"Rarely have market expectations been so torn" on the eve of a rate decision, Shah added.
The rate cut on Wednesday went into effect less than 50 days before the November election.
The decision deviated from the policy approach taken by the Fed prior to many recent presidential elections, a Reuters analysis found. Policy rates were left unchanged for six to 12 months before the 2020, 2016, 2012 and 2000 U.S. presidential elections, according to Reuters.
To be sure, the Fed says it bases its decisions on economic conditions and operates as an independent government body.
When asked about the 2024 election at a press conference in Washington, D.C., in December, Powell said, "We don't think about politics."
