Embiid struggles in season debut as Sixers fall to Knicks

PHILADELPHIA — It took an extra three weeks, but Joel Embiid’s regular season finally is underway.

The superstar center made his season debut Tuesday night at Wells Fargo Center against the New York Knicks after sitting out the first nine games to manage his left knee injury and then a three-game suspension for shoving a reporter.

And after a predictably up-and-down performance across 26 minutes — 13 points on 2-for-11 shooting from the field (but 8-for-8 from the free throw line), plus 3 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 block — in a 111-99 loss, Embiid said regaining confidence in pushing off hard on his troublesome left knee will take time.

“It’s all about confidence and trusting myself,” he said. “Pushing off … I talked about it a couple weeks ago when I talked to you guys, that’s the mental hurdle that I got to get to. But I think I can still be pretty good even without that, which I’m going to get to at some point.

“I don’t know when. Might be next game, might be in two games … [but] usually get it back pretty fast, so I’m fine.”

Not much is fine these days with the 76ers (2-8), who are 14th in the Eastern Conference standings with a matchup against the undefeated Cleveland Cavaliers on tap Wednesday. It remains to be seen whether Embiid or fellow star Paul George will play.

Previously, the 76ers made it clear they would plan to prioritize the health of their veteran stars over the course of the season. But that was also before their injury-riddled start, as Embiid, George (bone bruise in his left knee) and Tyrese Maxey (hamstring strain) all have been injured.

“I think it’s all about us just getting on the floor together, learning how to play with each other,” Embiid said. “But health is a big thing. I’m back, PG is feeling pretty good, now we need to get Tyrese back, and once we’re all on the floor, I think we’re going to have a pretty good chance to win some games.”

The Knicks (5-5) don’t have those issues. They’ve had the same starting lineup — Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby and Karl-Anthony Towns — plus sixth man Deuce McBride available for their 10 games.

And while Tuesday began with so much attention on Embiid’s season debut, it quickly shifted to Towns — the central New Jersey native playing his first game in the rivalry — who had one of his best all-around performances as a Knick.

Towns scored eight points in the opening few minutes, finished with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 6 assists, and set the tone with his energy at both ends.

“Yeah, obviously Joel is a great defensive player,” Hart said. “But first game back, it takes you a little while to get into the rhythm. [Towns] did what we needed him to do, came out of the gate, got a couple of 3s, attacked the rim, played how we needed him to do. Set the tone early, got big rebounds and we kind of fed off of that.”

Embiid hadn’t played in a competitive game since the U.S. won gold at the Paris Olympics in August. He hadn’t played for the 76ers since the Knicks ousted them in Game 6 of the first round of the playoffs in April.

And against the Knicks on Tuesday night, he looked like a player who had spent significant time away from the court.

His typical touch on his jumper eluded him, and he finished 1-for-5 on 3-pointers. His face-up game, too, was a beat slow, with Towns repeatedly having success getting his hands on the ball when Embiid was trying to load up for a drive and causing him to have to reset.

And playing against Towns and a Knicks offense that often had five players beyond the 3-point line, Embiid spent much of the night moving around the court trying to keep up with New York’s offensive firepower.

“He was certainly rusty,” 76ers coach Nick Nurse said. “Conditioning I think showed up fairly early. Seen him play through that before, kind of respond in the second half, after being on a layoff. Seemed to do it a little bit, then I thought he got kind of tired again in the fourth. But again, probably to be expected. I thought he played with some pretty good competitive spirit for what he could do out there.”

Ultimately, though, the result was yet another loss for the 76ers. And while the forgiving Eastern Conference standings — where only the Boston Celtics and Cavaliers are better than .500 — gives a team like Philadelphia time to get things together, the 76ers are hoping that process can start now with Embiid’s return.

“The season’s long,” George said. “I do think once we get all of our pieces together we will start making strides in the right direction. We’ll start to get some consistency and the chemistry will continue to take off. Right now, it’s Joel’s [Embiid] first game back, Tyrese [Maxey] is still out, so we’ve yet to see this team complete. Those are big pieces for us.

“We’re all trying to do a little more than we’re supposed to be doing, which is OK because we’re trying to fill in big voids and big gaps, but once we’re full strength I think that’s when we can judge how we are.”

Jon Scheyer to ‘take a hard look’ at Duke’s cramping issues

ATLANTA — After another one of his star freshmen dealt with cramping issues, Duke basketball coach Jon Scheyer said the recurring problem was “concerning.”

Blue Devils freshman center Khaman Maluach was limited to 10 second-half minutes in Tuesday’s 77-72 loss to Kentucky, subbing in and out of the game on multiple occasions due to cramping.

Reserve guard Sion James also left the game in the second half after taking a hard hit on a screen with about 13 minutes remaining. James went down holding his shoulder and headed straight to the locker room. Shortly after returning to the bench, he was ruled out for the game.

Scheyer didn’t have an update on James’ status after the contest, saying the senior would be evaluated when the team returned to Durham, North Carolina.

“Those two guys are really important to us,” Scheyer said.

Maluach got his leg caught under Kentucky’s Andrew Carr while chasing a loose ball on the first possession of the second half. Afterward, Maluach stood up very slowly. He remained in the game but had to go to the bench with a cramping issue a few minutes later. Two minutes after returning to the court, he was forced to exit again, this time going to the locker room after being worked on next to the bench for several minutes.

“It’s concerning,” Scheyer said. “Part of it is we have young bodies. I think that’s part of it. We got to help these guys. We’re not just trying to dip our toes in the water … We got to take a hard look at it.”

Maluach, a 7-foot-2 projected NBA lottery pick, finished with 10 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks.

His issues weren’t the first time Duke has dealt with cramping problems this season. In Duke’s home win over Army on Friday, star freshman Cooper Flagg missed much of the second half due to cramping. As Scheyer said after that contest, “We can’t have that happen.”

“We’ve got to help him,” Scheyer said of Flagg. “We’ve got to help him. I’m not happy about it, for him. We’ve got to help him. And we will. Right after [Friday’s game], I can promise you I’m going to be meeting [with the team’s training staff]. I don’t care if it’s all night. We can’t have that happen. Bottom line.”

Flagg didn’t show any ill effects of the cramping on Tuesday, playing 32 minutes against the Wildcats and finishing with 26 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.

Mavs’ Klay Thompson celebrated by Warriors in Bay Area return

SAN FRANCISCO — Klay Thompson’s bottom lip quivered a bit as he stood on the Chase Center court and watched the tribute video the Golden State Warriors made to honor him as he returned to face his former franchise for the first time.

Stephen Curry, Thompson’s teammate for all 13 of his years in the Bay Area, stationed himself in the tunnel by the home bench while the video played, wanting space to protect himself from getting too emotional. Draymond Green, the other member of all four of Golden State’s championship teams during this era, had watched the video earlier to prevent the emotions from hitting him in the moment.

As the crowd showered Thompson with an extended standing ovation after the video, he managed to keep his composure. He knew that wouldn’t have been possible if Curry gave a speech at midcourt, as was originally planned as part of the festivities to honor Thompson. That’s why Thompson texted his “Splash Brother” the previous night, when they agreed to cancel the speech and just let the fans express their appreciation.

“I was prepared for it,” Thompson told ESPN after the Dallas Mavericks’ 120-117 loss to his former team in a thrilling NBA Cup opener Tuesday night. “I didn’t want to cry.”

Thompson had already been caught off guard when approximately 400 Warriors employees, wearing the captain’s hats given away to fans as a nod to the guard who famously boated across the Bay to home games, lined the hallway to warmly welcome him as he entered the arena almost three hours before tipoff. He couldn’t help but break out in a big smile as he made the unfamiliar stroll to the visitors locker room.

He was showered with appreciation during his pregame shooting session more than an hour before tip, when thousands of fans watched from the stands, many wearing Thompson’s old No. 11 jersey and some holding signs that welcomed him back to the Bay Area. Curry went through his routine on the other side of the court at the same time, and the longtime backcourt mates kept looking at each other, a scene Curry compared to awkwardness kids felt on a playground blacktop in recess.

Then the sellout crowd roared for Thompson as the teams went through the layup lines, recognizing all his accomplishments during his Golden State tenure and “the aura about him that connected our fans to him right away,” as Warriors coach Steve Kerr said pregame.

“It was a really cool experience,” Thompson said. “I appreciate the fans very much. The captain’s hat ended up being a great touch because I’m such a passionate boater. Saw a lot of familiar faces in the crowd, and that was a warm-hearted feeling. It was really cool to see the fans, their gratitude towards myself — and something I’ll never take for granted. So it was very, very awesome.”

This was far from just “another regular-season game in November,” as Thompson claimed it would be when he discussed his return to the Bay Area after the Mavs’ Sunday loss in Denver.

“I hope y’all didn’t believe him,” Curry said, cracking a smile after his 37-point performance helped prevent Thompson from winning in his return.

The pregame ceremony was special. Thompson described playing against Golden State for the first time as “surreal.”

His competitive interactions with Curry were especially entertaining. That started immediately, as the Mavs called a play for Thompson on the game’s opening possession, when he caught a pass on the left wing and posted up Curry.

“I blacked out on that one,” Curry said. “I wasn’t going to let him score, and I fouled him.”

Thompson made those free throws, the first two of his 22 points, which matched his season high for the Mavs. He was 6-of-12 from 3-point range, highlighted by a sequence midway through the second quarter when he swished 3s on consecutive possessions. He reacted to the first of those back-to-back 3s with a shoulder shimmy, swiping the celebration that Curry has made famous over the years.

“It was an impromptu thing, but when you’re feeling it, you do stuff instinctually,” Thompson said. “I’ve done it before. I know Steph’s done it many times, so it was a fun, little playful thing to do. He was kind of surprised I did it, but it was a great shot and I’ll probably still do it in the future. I played my best brand of ball when I’m playing loose.”

With a smile, Curry chastised Thompson for the shimmy coming out of the next timeout. He also targeted Thompson with some trash talk after hitting an and-1 floater over him with seconds remaining in the first half.

“That’s the competitive nature,” Green said. “You don’t win four championships together without that competitive fire. He has that, we’ve had that forever. That’s always going to a happen. When you play against your brother, people always talk about, oh man, why are they so close? When you play against someone you are close with, you want to beat them even more.”

Thompson heated up again in the fourth quarter as the Mavs built a seven-point lead. He had an eight-point flurry in a span of 2 minutes, 16 seconds, hitting a 3 to give the Mavs the lead, driving for a go-ahead layup to answer a Golden State bucket on the ensuing possession and hitting a transition 3 that prompted a Golden State timeout with 5:16 remaining.

But Curry got the last word, scoring 12 points in the final 3:10, including a step-back 3 over Dallas center Dereck Lively II with 28.5 seconds remaining that he punctuated with his “Night, night” celebration.

“It was a memorable night for sure,” Curry said. “I know even from July when Klay decided to go to Dallas to us showing up for training camp and him not being here, it was kind of like a slow build to this night for everybody. … And granted we won going so I can say this, but I couldn’t imagine it going any other way where he played well, the crowd got an amazing show, it went down to the wire. Can’t really draw it up any better — and definitely special memories to reflect on the 13 years he was here and the four championships and everything that we accomplished, and then turned the page to where we are right now.”

Thompson embraced Kerr moments after the final buzzer. He then exchanged hugs with Curry, Green and a long line of Warriors players, coaches and staff members.

After Thompson wrapped up his postgame news conference, he donned one of the captain’s hats made for the evening and strolled into the Warriors weight room to greet more Golden State staff members.

“Change happens,” Thompson said. “It’s happened to plenty of great players who’ve won championships together. But yeah, it was surreal and a night I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, it was a tough loss. Could have easily gone our way, but that’s life and I think we’ll see the Dubs three more times. So there’s plenty of more battles ahead, which is the fun part.”

Brett Goldstein on joining ‘Shrinking’: ‘If Jason Segel tells you to do something, I suggest you do it’

courtesy of Apple TV+

(SPOILER ALERT) After being a writer on season 1 of the Apple TV+ series Shrinking, former Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein joined the cast for season 2, and he tells ABC Audio it wasn’t something he ever expected to do.

“I was very happy just writing,” he says. He had, however, considered doing a cameo, “just so I can walk past Harrison Ford or something.”

In the end, it was star Jason Segel’s idea to get him in front of the camera, with Goldstein joking, “If Jason Segel tells you to do something, I suggest you do it.”

Goldstein plays Louis in the series, the drunk driver who killed the wife of Segel’s character, Jimmy. The role is certainly a departure from his Ted Lasso character of grumpy Roy Kent, which he says was part of the appeal. His look is a lot different, as well — Goldstein shaved off his beard and mustache for the role â€” something he thinks made sense for the character. 

“He's hanging on. He's an open wound of a man, barely existing and not really knowing what to do,” Goldstein says. “The shaving was kind of like almost like a penitence … like, 'Well, I will at least make the effort to clean up every day.'"

Wednesday’s episode features an important scene in which Louis has a very emotional conversation with Lukita Maxwell, who plays Jimmy’s daughter, Alice, and Michael Urie, who plays family friend Brian. Goldstein says filming the scene “felt very special.”

“We all knew this is the big, like, this is the kind of mid-peak of the season,” he says. “Sometimes it feels very special and like magic to make something, and that was one of those examples where it felt like everyone (was) leaning in and, like, let's get this.” 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Texas mother sentenced to 50 years for leaving kids in dire conditions

HOUSTON (AP) — A judge on Tuesday sentenced a woman to 50 years in prison for forcing three of her children to live with the decomposing body of their dead 8-year-old brother for more than a year in a soiled, roach-infested Houston-area apartment.

Gloria Williams, 38, expressed deep regret before being sentenced, the Houston Chronicle reported.

Williams’ sentence came after she had pleaded guilty in October to two counts of injury to a child for abuse that involved 8-year-old Kendrick Lee, who was beaten to death by her boyfriend, and another child, the newspaper reported.

When authorities discovered the boy’s body in October 2021, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said many officers indicated it was the most disturbing scene they had worked in their careers and that it “seemed too horrific to be real.”

Lee’s three abandoned brothers had been living alone for months and were thin, malnourished and hungry when authorities found them in an unfurnished Harris County apartment that was infested with flies and roaches and had soiled carpet.

Authorities said the children had waited for Williams to call authorities to report that their brother had been beaten to death by her boyfriend, Brian Coulter. Investigators say the mother never made that call and the oldest surviving sibling, then a 15-year-old, finally overcame his fear and called authorities. The two other siblings were 7 and 10 years old when they were found by authorities.

Williams was sentenced following a nearly two-day court hearing that focused on the extent of her role in Lee’s death. Her defense attorneys blamed Coulter for most of the abuse. Coulter was sentenced in April to life in prison without parole for Lee’s death. The sheriff’s office had previously said Coulter had consistently hit the younger children and had fatally beaten Lee sometime around Thanksgiving in 2020.

A few months after the fatal beating, Williams and Coulter moved out and went to live at another apartment about 25 minutes away, leaving the three surviving siblings to fend for themselves as their brother’s body slowly decomposed, authorities said.

Williams relinquished parental rights over her children after her arrest. The two younger siblings have since been adopted, while the eldest is with a foster family, the newspaper reported.

Guns smuggled from the US are blamed for a surge in killings on more Caribbean islands

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Dozens of soldiers and police fanned out across a neighborhood on a recent night in the Turks & Caicos Islands just days after the archipelago reported a record 40 killings this year.

They were on the hunt for criminals and illegal weapons fueling a surge of violence across the Caribbean as authorities struggle to control a stream of firearms smuggled in from the U.S.

Half an hour into the Oct. 30 operation, one driver tried to run authorities off the road as he tossed a handgun into the bushes.

“Rest assured, we remain committed to disrupting the flow of illicit guns,” Police Superintendent Jason James said hours later.

But the flow is too strong, with illegal firearms blamed for an increase or a record number of killings in a growing number of Caribbean islands this year, including Trinidad and Tobago and the Bahamas.

No Caribbean nation manufactures firearms or ammunition or imports them on a large scale, but they account for half of the world’s top 10 highest national murder rates, according to a statement from U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut.

In a letter sent to U.S. legislators in late September, New York’s attorney general and 13 other colleagues across the U.S. demanded new measures to stop the flow of guns, noting that 90% of weapons used in the Caribbean were bought in the U.S. and smuggled into the region.

“American-made guns are flowing into Caribbean nations and communities and fueling violence, chaos, and senseless tragedies throughout the region,” wrote New York Attorney General Letitia James.

In mid-2023, the U.S. government appointed its first coordinator for Caribbean firearms prosecutions to help curb weapon smuggling from the U.S. to the region, with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives already tracing firearms seized in the Caribbean.

Last year, 266 firearms seized in the Bahamas were submitted to ATF, along with 234 firearms from Jamaica, 162 from the Dominican Republic and 143 from Trinidad and Tobago, according to the agency’s most recent data.

The majority are handguns, followed by semiautomatic pistols.

The information gleaned from recovered weapons can help authorities in the U.S. determine where and when they were bought, triggering a domestic firearms trafficking investigation.

But it’s a struggle to stop the flow of weapons, with smugglers disassembling them and hiding their parts in sea-bound containers.

“As much as you try to harden the infrastructure at the official ports, it is essentially like trying to plug a sift,” said Michael Jones, executive director of the Implementation Agency for Crime and Security at Caricom, a Caribbean trade bloc.

Infowars auction could determine whether Alex Jones is kicked off its platforms

AUSTIN (AP) – Conspiracy theory purveyor Infowars and most of its assets are set to go on the auction block Wednesday, with Alex Jones waiting to see if he will be allowed to stay or if he will get kicked off its online platforms.

The private auction is being held as part of Jones’ personal bankruptcy, which resulted from the nearly $1.5 billion in defamation lawsuit judgments a judge and jurors ordered the bombastic internet show and radio host to pay to families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for repeatedly telling his audience that the Connecticut massacre of 20 children and six adults was a hoax staged by crisis actors.

Jones has said that he believes he could remain at the Infowars studios in Austin, Texas, and continue to use its online platforms if supporters win the bidding. But if opponents buy the assets, he said it could be shut down immediately. He said he has set up a new studio, new websites and new social media accounts in case the latter happens.

On his show Tuesday, Jones alleged that the auction was “rigged” and that he believed “bad guys” will buy Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, and its assets. He did not elaborate but said he would “just drive down the road” and broadcast at another studio.

Up for sale are everything from Jones’ studio desk to Infowars’ name, video archive, social media accounts and product trademarks. Buyers can even purchase an armored truck and video cameras. Any items not sold will be auctioned off next month.

It’s not clear if the winning bidder or bidders will be announced Wednesday. The trustee in Jones’ bankruptcy case has three business days to disclose that information to a federal court in Texas.

Jones, who has since acknowledged that the Sandy Hook shooting did happen, is appealing the defamation verdicts.

A look at the candidates vying to be the next Senate majority leader

WASHINGTON (AP) — In the first seriously contested Senate Republican leadership election in decades, three senators are vying to replace longtime GOP leader Mitch McConnell when he steps down from the post at the beginning of next year and Republicans take back the Senate majority.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune, Texas Sen. John Cornyn and Florida Sen. Rick Scott have been furiously campaigning to win their colleagues’ support in the secret-ballot election Wednesday. All three are trying to convince their colleagues that they have the ear of President-elect Donald Trump and will be the best person to implement his agenda.

They are also trying to differentiate themselves from McConnell, saying they will give rank-and-file senators more power and be more communicative.

It’s not clear who will win, or if there will be multiple rounds of votes before a winner is chosen.

A look at the three candidates:

SEN. JOHN THUNE

Thune, 63, defeated then-Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle in 2004 after arguing during the campaign that Daschle had lost his South Dakota roots during his years in Democratic leadership. Now Thune is running to become majority leader himself.

Well liked and a respected communicator, Thune has been perceived as a front-runner for much of the year. He is currently the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, and took over for McConnell for a few weeks last year when he was on a medical leave. He is also a former chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.

As he geared up to run for leader, Thune spent much of the year campaigning for his colleagues. According to his aides, he raised more than $31 million to elect Senate Republicans this cycle, including a $4 million transfer from his own campaign accounts to the Senate’s main campaign arm.

One potential liability for Thune has been his previously rocky relationship with Trump. Thune was highly critical of the then-president as he tried to overturn his election defeat in 2020 and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol by Trump’s supporters. Thune said then that Trump’s efforts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power were “inexcusable.”

This year, though, Thune and Trump have talked frequently on the phone and Thune visited the then-GOP candidate at his home in Florida. Thune told The Associated Press over the summer that he views their potential relationship as a professional one. If they both win their elections, Thune said, “we’ve got a job to do.”

SEN. JOHN CORNYN

Like Thune, Cornyn is a popular and respected member of the Senate GOP conference. A former Texas attorney general and member of the state Supreme Court, much of his work has been on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He was also McConnell’s No. 2, the job Thune now holds, for six years before he was term-limited out of the job.

Cornyn, 72, has also spent much of the year courting his colleagues one by one and fundraising for them around the country. He has long been one of the best fundraisers in the Senate, and his aides say he has raised more than $400 million for party candidates during his 22 years in office.

In 2022, after a gunman stormed a Texas elementary school and killed 19 children and two teachers, Cornyn was tapped by McConnell to lead the GOP in negotiating gun legislation with Democrats. The bill, passed that summer, stepped up background checks for buyers under 21, increased prosecutions for unlicensed gun sellers and put millions of dollars into youth mental health services. While Cornyn has touted his work on the gun bill, it could cost him some votes with the conference’s most conservative members.

Cornyn also had some past tensions with Trump, including his early suggestions that Trump might not be the best GOP candidate to run in 2024. But he, too, has smoothed relations with the incoming president, meeting him when he was in Texas to campaign and visiting him in Florida.

SEN. RICK SCOTT

While Thune and Cornyn both have leadership experience and have spent the better part of the year methodically trying to woo individual senators, Scott is running a different kind of campaign. And he believes he has a distinct advantage: his relationship with Trump.

Scott, a former two-term governor of Florida and a successful businessman, was reelected to a second term in the Senate last week, beating Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell by more than 10 points. He is a longtime booster of the incoming president, and has positioned himself as a strong ally. Scott traveled to New York to support Trump during Trump’s hush money trial earlier this year, and has openly said he wants Trump to endorse him.

He won a rush of support on social media over the weekend when he was endorsed by people close to Trump, including Elon Musk. But Trump has not weighed in on the Senate contest.

It’s unclear if Scott’s outside approach could win him more support in the clubby Senate. He won 10 votes when he challenged McConnell for the post in 2022, and he will be aiming to improve that count in the first round of balloting Wednesday.

Scott, 71, is part of a growing group of far-right senators who have criticized McConnell’s tenure and advocated for more power for individual members. Several senators in that group, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee and Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson, have endorsed him, arguing that his business experience and relationship with Trump should put him over the top.

Police continue search for missing Tyler teen

Police continue search for missing Tyler teenUPDATE: According to our news partner KETK, police continue to search for a Tyler 17-year-old who was last seen Nov. 1. The Tyler Police Department shared on Tuesday photos of what Lily Peppler was wearing on the day she went missing. Anyone with information on Peppler’s whereabouts is urged to contact the department at 903-531-1000.

TYLER — The Tyler Police Department is seeking the public’s help in finding a missing teen.

The police department said Lily Peppler, 17 from Tyler, was last seen on Nov. 1 at 8 a.m. leaving Legacy High School and walking in front of Mardel at Independence and S. Broadway. However, police said family have not heard from her since then, yet no evidence of foul play is suspected at this time.

School bus attendant seen hitting autistic student in surveillance footage

Albuquerque Public Schools

(ALBUQUERGUE, N.M.) -- A school bus attendant for Albuquerque, New Mexico, Public Schools has been arrested after she was seen in surveillance video repeatedly hitting an autistic student.

Debbie Chavira, 64, is accused of striking the child dozens of times over the course of 10 days, according to an incident report.

Police said Chavira struck the student in his face, torso and arms a total of 59 times between Aug. 26 and Sept. 4. On Sept. 4, school officials reported her after the child showed up "with fresh scratch marks on the back of his neck," the incident report states.

While investigating the alleged abuse, officials viewed additional surveillance footage, where they say Chavira was seen repeatedly hitting the child over the span of 10 days.

Chavira struck the child "open-handed, closed fisted, and with a plastic (yellow) 'child check' sign," and did so "intentionally and without justifiable cause," according to the incident report.

Investigators were unable to interview the child due to him "being autistic and non-verbal" and unable to "communicate through writing either," the report states.

Chavira resigned from her job Sept. 5, according to Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT, and was arrested on Oct. 4. She has been released from jail and is now under pretrial supervision.

She has been charged with five counts of abandonment or abuse of a child. A representative could not immediately be found for Chavira.

In a statement to ABC News, Martin Salazar, a spokesperson for Albuquerque Public Schools, said the school district does "not tolerate this kind of behavior."

"Upon discovering what was happening, we immediately placed bus attendant Debbie Chavira on leave and notified the APS Police Department. APS Police launched an investigation and filed criminal charges. Ms. Chavira resigned shortly after being placed on leave," Salazar said.

 

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Downtown Tyler parking garage now open

Downtown Tyler parking garage now openTYLER — The Smith County Parking Garage is open after a year of construction. Smith County officials held a brief ribbon cutting on Tuesday, November 12, before opening the garage for parking.

“We are so excited to have this new five-story parking garage available for our employees and the community,” Smith County Judge Neal Franklin said. “We thank everyone who came to downtown Tyler for work, business or fun over the past year for their patience and understanding during its construction.”

The 543-space parking garage is free and first come, first serve for county employees, jurors and the public. The parking garage is located at 210 East Ferguson, next to the Smith County Annex Building. Drivers can enter the parking garage from East Ferguson Street, which is a one-way westbound street, or Locust Street, which is a one-way eastbound street. Continue reading Downtown Tyler parking garage now open

2 dead in explosion at manufacturing plant in Louisville, Kentucky: Police

ABC News

(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) -- Two people were killed and four remain in the hospital from an explosion at a manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky, officials said.

The "hazardous materials incident" was reported Tuesday afternoon at a Givaudan Sense Colour facility, a natural food coloring plant, according to the Louisville Metro Emergency Services.

First responders were initially told by the business that all employees were accounted for, officials said Wednesday. But then a second victim was found buried in rubble late Tuesday evening after crews went back to the scene upon guidance from the business that someone was likely still there. It took three-and-a-half hours to remove that victim from the rubble, officials said.

"We are deeply saddened to share the news that two of our team members lost their lives in this accident," Givaudan Sense Colour said in a statement.

The University of Louisville Hospital said it received seven patients with injuries including burn and blast wounds. All those injured are employees of the plant, officials said.

Four people remain hospitalized on Wednesday, all in stable condition, officials said.

The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, officials said.

Drone footage taken by Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS showed extensive damage to the facility.

Residents within two blocks of the facility were evacuated, officials said. A shelter-in-place order was also issued for those within a 1-mile radius of the facility but it has since been lifted, officials said.

Air monitoring is clear at this time, officials said.

ABC News' Ahmad Hemingway and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Pentagon leaker Jack Teixeira sentenced to 15 years on federal charges

Charles O'Rear

(BOSTON) -- Jack Teixeira, the former Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who prosecutors said "perpetrated one of the most significant and consequential violations of the Espionage Act in American history," was sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The prison sentence will be followed by three years of supervised release.

Judge Indira Talwani issued the sentence on Tuesday in Boston federal court.

Teixeira pleaded guilty in March to six counts of willfully retaining and transmitting national defense information.

Joshua S. Levy, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of Massachusetts, whose office prosecuted the case, said the "significant sentence sends a powerful message to every individual who holds a top-secret clearance."

"I expect that starting tomorrow, Jack Teixeira's name will be mentioned when people are trained about the gravity of a top-secret clearance and the consequences if you leak information," Levy said at a press briefing following the sentencing.

Levy said Teixeira "abused his position of trust" and put himself above his country when he exploited his top-secret clearance and "made the deliberate choice" for over a year to access hundreds of classified documents and share them on Discord.

"Today, Mr. Teixeira has paid a very heavy price for the laws he broke and for the incredible damage that he caused," Levy said, noting that it could take several years to know the full extent of the damage.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement that the sentence is a "stark warning to all those entrusted with protecting national defense information: betray that trust, and you will be held accountable."

Prosecutors had asked the judge to impose the maximum prison sentence of 200 months -- more than 16 years -- in prison.

"The harm the defendant caused to the national security from his disclosures of national defense information is extraordinary," prosecutors said in a memorandum filed ahead of the sentencing hearing. "By posting intelligence products on the social media platform Discord to feed his own ego and impress his anonymous friends, Teixeira caused exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States. The scope of his betrayal is breathtaking."

The defense sought the minimum sentence, citing Teixeira's autism and ADHD. They also argued he did not intend to harm the country, only to educate his online friends about world events.

"Jack is still essentially a child -- at the very least, a 'youthful offender' -- who has his whole life in front of him," defense attorneys Michael Bachrach and Brandan Kelley stated in a memorandum presented to the judge ahead of sentencing. "At 22 years old, a sentence of 132 months' imprisonment would provide more than enough time for him to grow and mature; informed by his behavior as well as from his punishment."

"With the support of his family and mental health treatment providers, Jack should have little trouble living a productive life inside prison and upon his eventual release," the memorandum continued.

Teixeira is also currently negotiating a disposition to his parallel, but related, military prosecution, the memo said.

According to the signed plea agreement filed with the court, Teixeira agreed to plead guilty to all six counts charging him with willful retention and transmission of national defense information. In exchange, prosecutors agreed not to charge him with additional counts under the Espionage Act.

Teixeira "accessed and printed hundreds of classified documents" and posted images of them on Discord prior to his arrest in April 2023, a prosecutor said during the plea hearing.

As part of his plea agreement, Teixeira must sit for a debrief with the Defense Department and the Justice Department and give back any sensitive materials that might remain in his possession.

Federal prosecutors have made clear Teixeira had no business peering at classified information because his low-level job did not require it.

"The defendant’s job was to troubleshoot computer workstations," Assistant United States Attorney Jason Casey said during a March hearing.

Still, Casey said, Teixeira accessed "hundreds" of classified documents inside the secure facility where he worked and "purposefully removed classified documents and information despite admonishments from his superiors to stop."

Teixeira has admitted in court to knowing the documents were marked classified.

Without mentioning specifics, federal prosecutors said Teixeira exposed information about the compromise by a foreign adversary of certain accounts belonging to a U.S. company and information about equipment the U.S. was sending to Ukraine, how it would be transferred and how it would be used upon receipt. Prosecutors said he also posted material about troop movements in Ukraine, a plot by a foreign adversary to attack U.S. forces abroad, and Western deliveries of supplies to the Ukrainian battlefield.

Teixeira enlisted in the Air National Guard in 2019, according to his service record, and had top secret security clearance beginning in 2021, according to the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department said he began posting classified documents online in January 2022.

Teixeira will also face a military court-martial on charges alleging he violated the Uniform Code of Military Justice, according to the U.S. Air Force.

The U.S. military reserves the right to separately prosecute a service member who has already been convicted in a federal court.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘I’m sorry’: David Duchovny apologizes to his ‘X-Files’ co-star Gillian Anderson on his podcast

Lemonade Media

On his Fail Better podcast, David Duchovny buried the hatchet with Gillian Anderson over his relationship with her during their days on The X-Files. 

The pair, who remain friends, weren't so during the shooting of the Fox phenomenon, and for that, Duchovny apologized.

"The part of this conversation that is the trickiest part for me is where I guess I would talk about, like, my failure of friendship or my failure of companionship or just co-starring," Duchovny said. 

"There was a long time, working on the show, where we were just not even dealing with one another off camera," David said, adding for the most part the audience had no idea. 

"There was a lot of tension, which didn't matter, apparently, for the work because we're both f****** crazy, I guess, that we could just go out there and do what we needed to do.”

Anderson agreed, "It's crazy that we were able to present on camera the various feelings and emotions and attraction and all that kind of stuff, but then not speak to each other for weeks at a time."

Duchovny added they "missed a chance" at a friendship earlier on. "We missed a chance ... because you're the only person that knows what I was going through and I'm the only person that knows what you're going through, and we didn't make use of that."

He concludes, "It's nice for me to be able to say 'I'm sorry' or 'I regret' or 'I could have done better.' Because once that's out, all that's left is gratitude and that's the best place to be."

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

After election, Texas House speaker race remains up for grabs

AUSTIN – The Texas Tribune reports themembership of the Texas House is finally set after Tuesday’s general election — but the future of the chamber’s leadership remains a mystery.

On Thursday, the jostling to hold the speaker’s gavel resumed with insurgent candidate Rep. David Cook, R-Mansfield, saying incumbent Speaker Dade Phelan does not have enough support from House Republicans to win.

“We cannot continue to govern effectively without the Republican majority selecting our Speaker,” Cook wrote in the letter. “It is clear with my list of supporters that the current speaker cannot win an endorsement of the Republican Caucus.”

The House GOP Caucus will meet in a month to endorse its nominee for speaker. The speaker presides over the processes in the House and appoints members to leadership positions. Bills often live or die on whether the speaker supports them, or the lawmaker who has authored them.

In September, Cook became the consensus candidate of House Republicans who want to oust Phelan because they believe he is too liberal. Cook published a list of 48 supporters who had pledged to vote for him in January.

It takes only 76 votes – a simple majority of the 150-member chamber – to become speaker. But the House Republican Caucus rules require that all members vote for the caucus’ endorsed candidate. To garner that endorsement, a candidate must receive three-fifths of the group’s support. Neither Cook nor Phelan have shown they have that level of public support yet.

Since initially publishing his pledge list, Cook has dropped one supporter, Steve Kinard, who lost his bid for a Collin County seat to Democratic incumbent Mihaela Plesa. That puts his pledge list at 47. But the caucus has grown to 88 members after Republican victories on election day, putting the new threshold for a group endorsement at 53.

Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, has said that he continues to have the necessary votes to win the speaker’s gavel at the beginning of the legislative session.

“Rep. Cook does not have the necessary support to become the caucus nominee, let alone the Speaker of the House,” Phelan said in a statement. “I have the votes to become Speaker of the House and look forward to leading another banner session that reflects the will of our state and its lawmakers.”

Given Cook’s pledges, however, Phelan’s presumed path to the speakership runs through a coalition of loyal Republicans and Democrats, a move that would likely bypass the GOP caucus rules. Phelan has not published a list of his supporters.

That was the situation that brought about the speakership of Joe Straus, a Republican who took the gavel in 2009 and held the position for a record five terms. Straus was considered a moderate by the GOP’s increasingly conservative base and hardline lawmakers frequently bashed him for working with Democrats, saying he was killing conservative legislation.

Cook alluded to Straus’ tenure over the House in his letter on Thursday and described his rise to power like a usurpation which “fractured the unity of the Republican Caucus and set the stage for the division that persists to this day.”

Cook said caucus members had three choices: unify behind him, speculate about a new speaker candidate and reconvene the group to hash out an endorsement or re-elect Phelan – which he said was “the worst option.”

Cook has pledged to do away with the appointment of Democrats as committee chairs – a long-standing bipartisan tradition that Phelan supports. Many of Cook’s supporters also want to replace Phelan because they believe he held up school voucher legislation last session and because he oversaw the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, a right-wing darling who is a polarizing figure in the party.

Paxton was acquitted by the Senate and school voucher legislation is a priority for Gov. Greg Abbott, who believes he now has enough votes to pass a bill.