Pedestrian crash at SFA leaves woman dead
NACOGDOCHES – Crews were called to the scene of a major pedestrian crash near Stephen F. Austin State University on Thursday morning. Our news partners at KETK report that authorities arrived on the scene at around 9:49 a.m. The Nacogdoches Police Department said the pedestrian was killed in the crash. The woman was allegedly attempting to cross a four-lane roadway when she was struck by the driver of a Ford pickup. The victim’s identity has not been released and the driver of the pickup did not suffer any injuries.
Trump asks judge in Jan. 6 case to delay release of additional immunity filing
(WASHINGTON) -- Former President Donald Trump's attorneys have asked the judge overseeing his federal election interference case to further delay the release of a redacted appendix containing evidence amassed by special counsel Jack Smith in his probe of Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a Thursday morning court filing.
The release of the redacted appendix, which was an attachment to the immunity motion unsealed two weeks ago by U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan that included new details about Trump and his allies' actions leading up to the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, is currently scheduled for Thursday.
In their motion Thursday, Trump's attorneys requested that Chutkan delay the release of the appendix until Nov. 14 -- after the presidential election -- when Trump's own reply brief appendix is due. The former president is expected to argue that his actions leading up to and on Jan. 6 should be immune from prosecution.
"Here, President Trump requests only that the Court briefly continue its existing stay of the Order, such that the redacted versions of the SC Appendix and President Trump's forthcoming appendix may be released concurrently," the filing said. "Although this stay will not eliminate the harms President Trump identified in his prior opposition filings, certain harms will be mitigated. For example, if the Court immediately releases the Special Counsel's cherry-picked documents, potential jurors will be left with a skewed, one-sided, and inaccurate picture of this case."
"If the appendices are released simultaneously, at least some press outlets will attempt to report both sides of this case, reducing (although, again, not eliminating) the potential for irreversible prejudice," the filing said.
The filing includes arguments that could draw direct a rebuke from Judge Chutkan, after she previously warned Trump's attorneys to not level any further allegations of partisanship at Smith's team without providing evidence.
Trump's attorneys also argue that while Chutkan has previously said the election will play no role in her decisions in the case, she should address "the public's interest in ensuring that this case does not unduly interfere, or appear to interfere, with the ongoing election."
Smith did not respond to Trump's request for a delay, the filing says.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a "criminal scheme" to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.
Smith subsequently charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court's July ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.
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‘Without reform’ to the Secret Service ‘another Butler can and will happen again,’ DHS independent review finds
(WASHINGTON) -- There were many mistakes made on the day of the July assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump by the Secret Service, but an independent review by the Department of Homeland Security revealed systemic issues within the organization and found that without reforms to the agency, "another Butler can and will happen again."
In the aftermath of the Butler, Pennsylvania, assassination attempt, DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas assigned a panel of four former law enforcement and national security officials to examine what went wrong, and how they recommend the Secret Service moves forward after the attempt on former president's life.
"The Secret Service does not perform at the elite levels needed to discharge its critical mission," the letter addressed to Secretary Mayorkas said, which was included in the report. "The Secret Service has become bureaucratic, complacent, and static even though risks have multiplied and technology has evolved."
On the independent panel are former DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano, former Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip, former Maryland State Police Superintendent David Mitchell and former Deputy National Security Adviser Fran Townsend.
The scathing 35-page report from the independent panel said the findings illustrated "deeper concerns" within the U.S. Secret Service.
"The Panel has observed that many of the Secret Service personnel involved in the events of July 13 appear to have done little in the way of self-reflection in terms of identifying areas of missteps, omissions, or opportunities for improvement," the report said. "July 13 represents a historic security failure by the Secret Service which almost led to the death of a former president and current nominee and did lead to the death of a rally attendee."
The panel said that even a "superficial" level of reflection would have been meaningful.
Plaguing the Secret Service are "corrosive cultural attitudes" regarding resourcing events - a "do more with less" attitude, according to the report.
The report also found there was a troubling "lack of critical thinking" by Secret Service personnel "before, during and after" the assassination attempt.
"A prominent instance of this is the fact that personnel had been read into significant intelligence regarding a long range threat by a foreign state actor against former President Trump, but failed to ensure that the AGR building was secured despite its proximity to the rally stage and the obvious high angle line of sight issues it presented," the report found.
Other instances "revealed a surprising lack of rigor in considering the specific risks posed to particular individual protectees."
The report said, for example, Trump, though not formally the Republican nominee at the time, had essentially clinched it months before and thus the Secret Service's approach was formulaic "rather than an individualized assessment of risk."
The failure to take ownership of planning the Butler rally and the lack of cohesion with state and local law enforcement during the planning of events, a lack of experienced agents to perform "certain critical security tasks," a lack of auditing mechanisms to learn from mistakes in the field, a lack of training facilities, and a lack of agents feeling comfortable to speak up.
In particular, the operational tempo for younger agents who came up during the COVID-19 pandemic was slower than most election years, and thus those agents did not get as much experience in the field as agents would normally get.
The panel is calling for new leadership at the Secret Service – saying the agency needs a change with people from outside the agency.
"Many of the issues that the Panel has identified throughout this report, particularly regarding the Panel's "deeper concerns," are ultimately attributable, directly or indirectly, to the Service's culture," the report said. "A refreshment of leadership, with new perspectives, will contribute to the Service's resolution of those issues."
Among the other recommendations the panel made are a restructuring of the agency's protective office, new training initiatives, new communication technologies that are more reliable and an evaluation "of the Secret Service's method for how it resources protectees to ensure that it is risk-based, and not overly formulaic or reliant on a protectee's title for making resource determinations."
"The Panel also recognizes the bravery and selflessness exhibited by Secret Service agents and officers who put themselves in harm's way to protect their protectees, including in Butler after Crooks fired at former President Trump and others. However, bravery and selflessness alone, no matter how honorable, are insufficient to discharge the Secret Service's no-fail protective mission."
Specific to July 13, the panel's findings are in line with the Secret Service's mission assurance review that came out last month.
Some of the findings are an absence of law enforcement to secure the AGR building where Thomas Matthew Crooks eventually fired from, the failure to mitigate the line of site from that building, having two communications rooms, the failure of anyone to encounter Crooks despite spotting him 90 minutes before Trump took the stage, the failure to inform the former president's detail and the drone detection system not working.
The panel recommends the Service has integrated communications, a mandatory situation report when a protectee arrives, better counter-drone technologies and an advanced line of site mitigations.
A footnote in the report says the second assassination attempt against Trump didn't impact the panel's work but might've reinforced the report.
The panel recommends the Service implement the Butler reforms no later than March 31, 2025, and the broader reforms by the end of 2025.
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Weight loss drugs like Ozempic may help reduce overdose risks: Study
(NEW YORK) -- A new study suggests that GLP-1 agonist medications like Ozempic, which are used for diabetes management and weight loss, may help reduce the risk of overdose and alcohol intoxication in people with substance use disorders.
"It helps to underline another significant benefit of this class of medication," Dr. Angela Fitch, the co-founder, and chief medical officer of knownwell, a company that provides weight-inclusive health care, told ABC News.
The large study, published in the journal, Addiction, analyzed the health records of 1.3 million people from 136 U.S. hospitals for nearly nine years. That included the records of 500,000 people with opioid use and more than 800,000 with alcohol use disorder.
Those who took Ozempic or a similar drug had a 40% lower chance of overdosing on opioids and a 50% lower chance of getting drunk compared to those who didn't take the medication, the study found.
"The existing medications for treating substance use disorder are underutilized and stigmatized," said Fares Qeadan, associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University in Chicago. "These medications intended for diabetes and weight loss can help addiction without the associated stigma, which will be a new window for how to deal with addiction."
The protective effects were consistent and even applied to people with Type 2 diabetes, obesity, or both conditions.
Fitch expressed optimism about the study's results.
"As clinicians, recognizing that people can get double benefits from something is always helpful and as more obesity medications enter the market, this can help personalize treatments," she said.
GLP-1 drugs, such as Ozempic and the combination drug tirzepatide also included in the study, mimic a natural hormone known as glucagon-like peptide-1 to help regulate blood sugar and insulin levels. For managing obesity and diabetes, these medications work by slowing digestion, reducing appetite, and enhancing insulin release in response to meals.
Scientists don't fully understand how these drugs work yet. Some studies indicate that they activate specific "reward" receptors in the brain that make high-calorie foods less gratifying, so users eat less.
This could also be the reason these drugs may reduce cravings for alcohol and opioids. For example, a previous study found that adding the GLP-1, exenatide, was effective at helping some people with obesity and alcohol use disorder drink less.
The Addiction study does not prove that GLP-1 medications directly lower the risks of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication, only that people taking them seemed to be helped. And it only included hospitalizations so it's not clear if they will work as well in less serious cases.
Prescribing the drugs to treat substance use, at least for now, isn't possible because they aren't approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for that purpose, Fitch pointed out.
"One of the challenges that we have as clinicians is we know that some of these benefits help patients. And not being able to get them access is very challenging," she said.
People with substance use disorder keep using drugs or alcohol even though it causes problems in their life. According to the CDC, there are 178,000 annual deaths linked to excessive drinking. Over 75% of drug overdose deaths in 2022 involved opioids.
If you or someone you know is living with substance use disorder, free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by calling or texting the national lifeline at 988.
Dr. Faizah Shareef is an Internal Medicine Resident Physician and a member of the ABC News Medical Unit.
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US military strikes Houthi targets in Yemen
(WASHINGTON) -- The U.S. military has struck Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, U.S. officials told ABC News.
"U.S. Central Command forces conducted multiple airstrikes on numerous Iran-backed Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen," a U.S. defense official said.
The defense official said the weapons were used to "target military and civilian vessels navigating international waters throughout the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden."
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed that B-2 strategic stealth bombers were used in the strikes against "five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen."
His statement also hinted that using such significant aircraft for the job was meant to send a signal to other bad actors in the region.
"The employment of U.S. Air Force B-2 Spirit long-range stealth bombers demonstrate U.S. global strike capabilities to take action against these targets when necessary, anytime, anywhere," it said.
Austin's statement also boasted of the military's "ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified."
U.S. Central Command said in a statement: "These actions were taken to degrade the Houthi's capability to continue their reckless and unlawful attacks on international commercial shipping."
Early assessments indicate no civilian casualties, according to CENTCOM.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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Amid ongoing Helene recovery, early voting set to begin in North Carolina
(RALEIGH, N.C.) -- As North Carolinians continue to recover from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene, early voting begins Thursday in the critical swing state.
State election officials expect a majority of North Carolina voters to cast their ballot in-person over the next two weeks, with early voting concluding on Nov. 2.
More than 400 early voting sites are in operation across the state's 100 counties.
"To have almost all early voting sites open after such a devastating storm is an effort all North Carolinians should be proud of," North Carolina State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell said Tuesday.
Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris remain neck-and-neck in the critical swing state, with Trump holding a 0.4% lead over Harris in 538's polling average for the state.
Both candidates have visited North Carolina since the remnants of Hurricane Helene brought deadly floods to the state, where 95 people died and 92 remain missing. Trump has repeatedly made false claims about the federal response to the disaster, claiming that the state would be deprived of emergency aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency because of undocumented immigrants.
"They got hit with a very bad hurricane, especially North Carolina and parts of Georgia. But North Carolina really got hit. I'll tell you what, those people should never vote for a Democrat, because they held back aid," Trump said during an interview last week.
While visiting a church in Greenville, North Carolina, on Sunday, Harris stopped short of naming Trump while criticizing the spread of disinformation about the relief efforts in the state.
"Right now, fellow Americans are experiencing some of the most difficult moments in their lives," Harris said. "Yet instead of offering hope, there are those who are channeling people's tragedies and sorrows into grievance and hatred, and one may ask why, and I think, sadly, frankly, the motives are quite transparent: to gain some advantage for themselves, to play politics with other people's heartbreak."
With recovery efforts ongoing, election officials have expressed optimism about the state's early voting plans. In the 25 western counties included in the federal disaster declaration, 76 early voting sites have been confirmed -- four fewer than originally planned.
"We lost just a few despite the extensive damage, loss of power, water, internet and phone service, and the washing out of roads throughout the region," said Brinson Bell.
In past presidential elections, the majority of the state's voters have cast their ballot during early in-person voting, with 65% using that method in 2020 and 62% in 2016. Election officials expect a similar portion of voters to vote early in person, and have enacted a series of measures to improve voting access in the counties hardest hit by Helene.
Voters in the impacted counties can drop off their absentee ballot at any early voting site throughout the state, and the state plans to deploy "multipartisan assistance teams" that can assist with absentee voting at disaster shelters.
This will also be the first presidential election where voters will need to provide photo identification to vote, after lawsuits delayed implementation of the state's controversial voter ID law following its passage in 2018. Voters can provide a drivers' license, student ID, or passport to vote, though exceptions are permitted in the case of natural disasters.
The only county to offer fewer early voting sites is hard-hit Buncombe County, whose officials opted to reduce their number of sites from 14 to 10 because of the ongoing emergency response.
"Our office has been preparing for the 2024 election for years, but we certainly didn't expect this," said Buncombe County director of election services Corinne Duncan.
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Ted Cruz and Colin Allred meet in the only debate in the Texas Senate race
DALLAS (AP) — Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and Democratic Rep. Colin Allred met for their only debate Tuesday night, trading attacks over abortion and immigration in a closely watched race that could help determine which party wins control of the U.S. Senate.
Nationally, Democrats view Texas as one of their few potential pickup chances in the Senate this year, while Cruz has urged Republicans to take Texas seriously amid signs that the former 2016 presidential contender is in another competitive race to keep his seat.
From start to finish in the hourlong debate, Cruz sought to link Allred to Vice President Kamala Harris at nearly every opportunity and painted the three-term Dallas congressman as out of step in a state where voters have not elected a Democrat to a statewide office in 30 years.
Allred, who would become Texas’ first Black senator if elected, hammered Cruz over the state’s abortion ban that is one of the most restrictive in the nation and does not allow exceptions in cases of rape or incest. The issue is central to Allred’s underdog campaign and his supporters include Texas women who had serious pregnancy complications after the state’s ban took effect.
Pressed on whether he supports Texas’ law, Cruz said the specifics of abortion law have been and should be decided by the Texas Legislature.
“I don’t serve in the state Legislature. I’m not the governor,” he said.
Cruz later blasted Allred over his support of transgender rights and immigration polices of President Joe Biden and Harris, accusing him of shifting his views on border security from the positions he took when he was first elected to Congress in 2018.
“What I always said is that we have to make sure that as we’re talking about border security, that we don’t fall into demonizing,” Allred said.
Allred accused the two-term U.S. senator of mischaracterizing his record and repeatedly jabbed Cruz for his family vacation to Mexico during a deadly winter storm in 2021 that crippled the state’s power grid.
The two candidates closed the debate by attacking each other, with Cruz painting an Allred victory as a threat to Republicans’ grip on Texas.
“Congressman Allred and Kamala Harris are both running on the same radical agenda,” Cruz said.
Allred, meanwhile, cast himself as a moderate and accused Cruz of engaging in what he described as “anger-tainment, where you just leave people upset and you podcast about it and you write a book about it and you make some money on it, but you’re not actually there when people need you.”
The last time Cruz was on the ballot in 2018, he only narrowly won reelection over challenger Beto O’Rourke.
The debate offered Allred, a former NFL linebacker, a chance to boost his name identification to a broad Texas audience. Allred has made protecting abortion rights a centerpiece of his campaign and has been sharply critical of the state’s abortion ban. The issue has been a winning one for Democrats, even in red states like Kentucky and Kansas, ever since the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in 2022 to strip away constitutional protections for abortion.
Cruz, who fast made a name for himself in the Senate as an uncompromising conservative, has refashioned his campaign to focus on his legislative record.
Allred has meanwhile sought to flash moderate credentials and has the endorsement of former Republican U.S. Reps. Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney.
The two candidates alone have raised close to $100 million, according to the most recent reports from the Federal Election Commission. Tens of millions more dollars have been spent by outside groups, making it one of the most expensive races in the country.
Despite Texas’ reputation as a deep-red state and the Democrats’ 30-year statewide drought, the party has grown increasingly optimistic in recent years that they can win here.
Since former President Barack Obama lost Texas by more than 15 percentage points in 2012, the margins have steadily declined. Former President Donald Trump won by 9 percentage points in 2016, and four years later, won by less than 6. That was the narrowest victory for a Republican presidential candidate in Texas since 1996.
“Texas is a red state,” said Mark Jones, a political science professor at Rice University in Houston. “But it’s not a ruby-red state.”
Texas man set to be first in US executed over shaken baby syndrome makes last appeals
HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man who could be the first person in the U.S. executed for a murder conviction tied to a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is facing a lethal injection Thursday evening amid assertions by his attorneys and a diverse coalition of supporters who say he’s innocent and was convicted on faulty scientific evidence.
Robert Roberson waited to hear whether his execution might be stopped by either Gov. Greg Abbott or the U.S. Supreme Court — his last two avenues for a stay. He is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville.
Roberson, 57, was condemned for the 2002 killing of his 2-year-old daughter, Nikki Curtis, in the East Texas city of Palestine. Roberson has long proclaimed his innocence, backed by some notable Republican lawmakers and the lead detective on the case.
“He’s an innocent man and we’re very close to killing him for something he did not do,” said Brian Wharton, the lead detective with Palestine police who investigated Curtis’ death.
Roberson’s lawyers waited to see if Abbott would grant Roberson a one-time 30-day reprieve. It’s the only action Abbott can take in the case as the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Wednesday denied Roberson’s clemency petition.
The board voted unanimously, 6-0, to not recommend that Roberson’s death sentence be commuted to life in prison or that his execution be delayed. All members of the board are appointed by the governor. The parole board has recommended clemency in a death row case only six times since the state resumed executions in 1982.
In his nearly 10 years as governor, Abbott has halted only one imminent execution, in 2018 when he spared the life of Thomas Whitaker, whose father had asked that his son not be put to death. The father had survived a shooting that Whitaker had masterminded.
“We pray that Governor Abbott does everything in his power to prevent the tragic, irreversible mistake of executing an innocent man,” Gretchen Sween, one of Roberson’s attorneys, said in a statement.
A spokesperson for Abbott did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.
Roberson’s lawyers also have a stay request pending before the Supreme Court. The nation’s highest court has rarely granted 11th-hour reprieves to people on death row.
Late Wednesday, a Texas House committee that held an all-day meeting on Roberson’s case, issued a subpoena for him to testify at a hearing next week. It was not immediately known if the committee’s request could delay Thursday’s execution. A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice didn’t immediately reply to an email.
One of those who has been pushing to stop Roberson’s execution is Texas GOP megadonor and conservative activist Doug Deason, who has been speaking with Abbott’s staff.
“I believe he is innocent,” Deason wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.
During its meeting in Austin, the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee heard testimony about Roberson’s case and whether a 2013 law created to allow people in prison to challenge their convictions based on new scientific evidence was ignored in Roberson’s case.
Anderson County District Attorney Allyson Mitchell, whose office prosecuted Roberson, told the committee a court hearing was held in 2022 in which Roberson’s attorneys presented their new evidence to a judge, who rejected their claims. Mitchell said the prosecution’s case showed Curtis had been abused by her father.
“Based on the totality of the evidence, a murder took place here. Mr. Roberson took the life of his almost 3-year-old daughter,” Mitchell said.
Most of the members of the committee are part of a bipartisan group of more than 80 state lawmakers, including at least 30 Republicans, who had asked the parole board and Abbott to stop the execution.
Roberson’s scheduled execution has renewed debate over shaken baby syndrome, known in the medical community as abusive head trauma.
His lawyers as well as the Texas lawmakers, medical experts and others, including bestselling author John Grisham, say his conviction was based on faulty and now outdated scientific evidence. The diagnosis refers to a serious brain injury caused when a child’s head is hurt through shaking or some other violent impact, like being slammed against a wall or thrown on the floor.
Roberson’s supporters don’t deny head and other injuries from child abuse are real. But they say doctors misdiagnosed Curtis’ injuries as being related to shaken baby syndrome and that new evidence has shown the girl died from complications related to severe pneumonia.
Roberson’s attorneys say he was wrongly arrested and later convicted after taking his daughter to a hospital. They say she had fallen out of bed in Roberson’s home after being seriously ill for a week.
Roberson’s lawyers have also suggested his autism, which was undiagnosed at the time of his daughter’s death, was used against him as authorities became suspicious of him because of his lack of emotion over what had happened to her. Autism impacts how people communicate and interact with others.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, other medical organizations and prosecutors say the diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome is valid and that doctors look at all possible things, including any illnesses, when determining if injuries were attributable to it.
Roberson’s scheduled execution would come less than a month after Missouri put to death Marcellus Williams amid lingering questions about his guilt and whether his death sentence should have instead been commuted to life in prison. Williams was convicted in the 1998 killing of Lisha Gayle, a social worker and former St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter.
Roberson’s execution is scheduled to take place on the same day Alabama is set to execute Derrick Dearman, condemned for killing five people with an ax and gun during a 2016 drug-fueled rampage.
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The judge handling Boeing’s plea deal asks Justice Department to explain its diversity policy
DALLAS (AP) — The federal judge considering Boeing’s plea deal with prosecutors wants to know how the Justice Department’s diversity, equity and inclusion policies would affect the selection of an independent monitor to oversee the aerospace company during a three-year probation period.
U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor, a conservative nominated to the federal bench in Fort Worth, Texas, by President George W. Bush in 2007, ordered the Justice Department to explain how it will pick the monitor and whether DEI considerations would — or should — influence the choice.
The judge asked Boeing whether it would follow its own DEI policy to block a proposed monitor.
The appointment of an independent monitor to make sure Boeing follows compliance and safety rules is a key component of the deal in which Boeing agreed to plead guilty to a felony charge of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government.
O’Connor has long been a favorite of conservative lawyers looking for a court to hear their lawsuits against policies issued by Democratic presidents. In 2018, the judge issued a ruling striking down President Barack Obama’s hallmark Affordable Care Act, although the U.S. Supreme Court overturned that decision. He also has sought to toss out expanded rights for transgender people.
Attacks against diversity, equity and inclusion have become a staple among conservative Republican politicians. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis built a campaign for the GOP nomination for president against “woke” liberal policies, although his candidacy failed. A dozen states, including Texas, have new laws limiting or banning DEI policies at their public universities.
Conservatives argue that DEI lets less qualified people win admission to college or land important jobs that have a bearing on public safety. Some conservatives on social media blamed Boeing’s DEI policy after a door plug blew off one of its airliners during an Alaska Airlines flight in January.
Boeing struck a deal with the Justice Department in July in which the company agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud for misleading federal regulators who approved pilot-training requirements for the 737 Max, the newest version of Boeing’s venerable 737 airliner.
As a result, airlines and pilots did not know about a new flight-control system called MCAS until it played a role in a deadly crash in Indonesia in October 2018. MCAS was implicated again in a second fatal Max crash that occurred in March 2019 in Ethiopia. In all, 346 people died.
The plea agreement would require Boeing to pay a $243.6 million fine, spend at least $455 million on compliance and safety programs and accept the independent monitor’s oversight.
Boeing and the Justice Department want O’Connor to approve the deal, which would essentially replace a 2021 settlement that allowed Boeing to avoid prosecution but did little to stem concerns about the company’s commitment to safety and quality.
The Federal Aviation Administration increased its oversight of Boeing after the door-plug incident in January, and whistleblowers have alleged that the company cut corners on safety.
Relatives of passengers who died in the crashes want O’Connor to reject the plea agreement, which they call a sweetheart deal. They want Boeing to go on trial and face tougher punishment. They specifically oppose the section on the monitor because they want the judge — and not the government and Boeing — to pick the monitor.
Nadia Milleron, a Massachusetts woman whose daughter, Samya Stumo, died in the Ethiopia crash, said Wednesday that she did not know what to make of the judge’s line of questions about choosing the monitor.
“It seems irrelevant to me,” Milleron said. “The bottom line is safety, and if the judge is going after safety, great. I don’t understand his agenda with DEI.”
Experts on corporate behavior say the monitor could do more to improve safety than the 2021 settlement did so long as the person is truly independent and can report any concerns directly to the court without going through the Justice Department. The monitor would oversee Boeing’s compliance with safety protocols and its actions to prevent future acts of fraud.
During a hearing last week, O’Connor asked lawyers for the government and Boeing about the monitor and how DEI policies could affect the choice. The plea deal states that the Justice Department would select the person with “input” from Boeing.
A Justice Department lawyer said the provision doesn’t mean that a less-qualified person would be picked, only that the government will consider all candidates. Boeing lawyers did not object to the monitor-selection process outlined in the plea agreement.
In an order Tuesday, the judge wrote that it is important to know if DEI considerations would promote Boeing’s safety and compliance efforts. He asked the Justice Department and Boeing to respond in writing by Oct. 25.
“Both the DOJ and Boeing have publicly acknowledged their commitment to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (‘DEI’),” including a government plan to use diversity and equity in hiring federal workers, O’Connor wrote.
Boeing’s website, he added, “touts its commitment ‘to creating a culture of inclusion’ and ‘set of aspirations’ it will strive to achieve by 2025 to advance equity and diversity and build a culture of inclusion,” including racial quotas and hiring more Black workers.
In considering whether to accept the plea deal, O’Connor wrote, “it is important to know: how the provision promotes safety and compliance efforts” at Boeing and whether the company would strike an applicant based on its own DEI commitment.
It is not clear whether the judge is making a statement about DEI policies or whether he would seize on the issue to throw out the plea agreement.
“I do not see this as a strategic move, but as a detour motivated by the court’s skepticism of DEI,” said John Coffee, a law professor at Columbia University who studies corporate governance and white-collar crime and has followed the Boeing case. “He is a conservative. Possibly he wants to delay the decision, but that is an unsupported hunch.”
The Justice Department and Boeing said they would comply with the judge’s order and declined to comment further.
Five big airlines will share new long-haul flights to Reagan National Airport
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Transportation Department has tentatively awarded room for five new daily long-haul flights at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to five of the nation’s biggest airlines while rejecting proposals from some low-fare carriers.
The routes announced Wednesday would offer more options to travelers flying between Washington and major Western cities including San Francisco and Seattle.
The Transportation Department said it will take comments on its decision until Oct. 30, then allow answers to the comments until Nov. 8.
Many travelers prefer the convenience of Reagan National, which is a short Metro subway ride away from downtown Washington, to Dulles International Airport, located more than 20 miles (32 kilometers) west of the nation’s capital.
Flights longer than 1,250 miles (2,000 kilometers) to Reagan National are strictly limited by federal law, but under pressure from Delta Air Lines and others, Congress this year approved enough new takeoff and landing rights to support five new daily round trips.
Here are the winning airlines and their planned routes:
— Alaska Airlines, service to and from San Diego International Airport.
— American Airlines, to and from San Antonio International Airport in Texas.
— Delta, to and from Seattle Tacoma International Airport.
— Southwest Airlines, to and from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.
— United Airlines, to and from San Francisco International Airport.
The Transportation Department rejected a bid by JetBlue Airways to add another flight from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The department ruled that Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines weren’t eligible because Congress limited the contest to carriers that already operate flights at Reagan National.
The new flights will add to the limited number of current long flights to the close-in airport from cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and Denver.
Windy conditions increase wildfire threat
Tyler – According to our news partner KETK, windy and dry conditions are creating the perfect conditions for wildfires across East Texas. Although a cold front came in Tuesday night, may be a relief to some, unfortunately it’s only drying out East Texas even more. And the wind has become a big factor when battling wildfires, making containment of fires difficult.
“It moves the fire, and fuels the fire,” said Patrick Dooley, Rusk County Fire Marshal.
Van Zandt County fire crews responded to a fast moving grass fire in Ben Wheeler on Wednesday. The fire scorched 8 acres at a solar panel farm.
“I honestly can’t urge people enough right now to use extreme caution when burning and even to the extent of not burning at all,” said Ryan Cooley, assistant chief at Ben Wheeler Volunteer Fire Department. Continue reading Windy conditions increase wildfire threat
Vance says ‘no’ Trump didn’t lose the 2020 election
(Williamsport, Pennsylvania) -- In his most direct answer yet of this election cycle, GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance said he does not believe former President Donald Trump lost the 2020 election.
Vance's response occurred when a reporter asked, "What message do you think it sends to Independent voters when you do not directly answer the question, 'Did Donald Trump lose in 2020?'"
"On the election of 2020, I've answered this question directly a million times. No, I think there are serious problems in 2020 so did Donald Trump lose the election? Not by the words that I would use," Vance said.
"But look, I really couldn't care less if you agree or disagree with me on this issue."
In a recently resurfaced clip from Spectrum News 1 in 2022, Vance said, "Yeah, I do," when asked if he believed the 2020 election was stolen.
President Joe Biden defeated former President Donald Trump in the 2020 election by more than 7 million votes.
Vance's response comes after weeks of being asked by reporters if the former president lost the 2020 election.
This past Sunday in his interview with ABC's Martha Raddatz, Vance continued to dodge directly answering if Trump lost the 2020 election.
"Martha, you've you asked this question. I've been asked this question 10 times in the past couple of weeks. Of course, Donald Trump and I believe there were problems in 2020," Vance said.
Pressed again by Raddatz, Vance replied, "I've said repeatedly I think the 2020 election had problems. You want to say rigged? You want to say he won? Use whatever vocabulary term you want."
Taking questions from reporters at a campaign event in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, ABC News asked the Ohio Senator if he was concerned about election misinformation could impact this election cycle, Vance said he was concerned.
"I talk to people every now and then who will come up to me and say, 'Well, you know, there are too many problems out there. We don't trust the people who are going to count our ballots, and you know, so I'm not going to get out there and vote.' That's the exact opposite attitude you should be taking," Vance said.
Trying to ease those who might have doubts about the election, Vance said that those who will be working the polls on election day are the same people in their community.
"Here's something else that I think people don't realize is, if you're a local voter in a place like Williamsport, the people who are counting your ballots are often your neighbors. And again, it's the local elections, and especially in our small and rural areas, it's your neighbors who are counting these votes, it's your neighbors who are counting these ballots."
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Georgia sees 2nd day of record early voting turnout
(GEORGIA) -- Gabriel Sterling, the Chief Operations Officer of Georgia's office of Secretary of State, noted in a statement on X that early votes cast Wednesday set a record for a second day.
"So, with the rest of today and absentees we could get close to 600,000 votes cast in Georgia. We continue on the record-setting pace and we are thankful for our election workers at the counties and our voters," he said.
On the previous day, 312,206 people cast an early vote, shattering the 136,000 votes cast in the first day of early voting in 2002, according to state election data.
Sterling said earlier in the day that the 500,000 votes cast mark represented 10% of the turnout in the 2020 election.
As of Wednesday night, 33,359 absentee ballots have been returned and 33,150 of those ballots were accepted, according to the secretary of state's office.
Georgia is seen as a crucial swing state for the presidential race, with both former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have been actively campaigning throughout neighborhoods in the state.
Voting rights advocates have been pushing voters to choose the early voting option due to concerns about new rules including one that makes it harder to cast a provisional ballot on Election Day if a voter is sent to the wrong polling place. Georgia voters can choose any early voting election site in their county, according to state law.
Early voting in Georgia will continue until Nov. 1.
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Harris paints Trump as threat, draws contrast with Biden in combative Fox News interview
(NEW YORK) -- Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday hammered former President Donald Trump as thin-skinned and a threat to U.S. democracy in a combative interview with Fox News.
The interview marked an opportunity for Harris to appear on a network that frequently criticizes her and praises her opponent, a notable moment after Republicans had panned her for only granting interviews with friendly reporters or podcasters. True to form, the interview was testy throughout, including multiple exchanges in which Harris and Fox News anchor Bret Baier repeatedly spoke over each other.
Harris raised Trump's recent rhetoric about the "enemy within" and threats to use the military to go after political opponents on and supposed chaos on Election Day to suggest that he's unfit for a second term in office, adding that it is "clear to me" that Trump is "unfit to serve, that he is unstable, that he is dangerous."
"You and I both know that he has talked about turning the American military on the American people. He has talked about going after people who are engaged in peaceful protest. He has talked about locking people up because they disagree with him," Harris told Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
"This is a democracy, and in a democracy the president of the United States in the United States of America, should be willing to be able to handle criticism without saying he'd lock people up for doing it," she said.
The remarks mark an escalation of her rhetoric describing Trump as dangerous for the country as he escalates his rhetoric about internal threats from Americans, including "radical left lunatics," raising concerns about how he'd use the military in a future administration.
'Not a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency': Harris
Harris also attempted to flesh out the differences Americans would see between President Joe Biden's administration and her theoretical term in the White House, offering several examples after Republicans seized on her answer on ABC's "The View" last week that "not a thing that comes to mind" when asked what she would have done something differently from Biden over the past four years.
"You're not Joe Biden, you're not Donald Trump, but, but nothing comes to mind that you would do differently?" Baier asked.
"My presidency will not be a continuation of Joe Biden's presidency, and like every new president that comes into office, I will bring my life experiences, my professional experiences, and fresh and new ideas," she told Baier.
Harris specifically raised her plans to offer increased housing assistance to first-time home buyers and provide funds to start small businesses.
Still, she added that her administration would mark a turning of the page from what she called the divisiveness of the Trump era in U.S. politics.
Redirecting Her election would mark a change "from the last decade in which we have been burdened with the kind of rhetoric coming from Donald Trump that has been designed and implemented to divide our country and have Americans literally point fingers at each other," she said.
Pressed on immigration
Baier also pressed Harris on immigration and high levels of border crossings for much of the Biden administration.
Harris did not directly respond to a question about how many undocumented immigrants were released into the country, instead panning Trump for opposing a bipartisan plan that would have beefed up border security. She did, however, express sympathy for families who had loved ones killed by those who crossed the border illegally.
"Those are tragic cases. There's no question about that. There is no question about that, and I can't imagine the pain that the families of those victims have experienced for a loss that should not have occurred," Harris said.
"So that is true. It is also true that if border security had actually been passed nine months ago, it would be nine months that we would have had more border agents at the border, more support for the folks who are working around the clock trying to hold it all together to ensure that no future harm would occur."
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