GREGG COUNTY — A former Longview ISD employee was sentenced for the abuse against special education students at J.L Everhart Elementary. According to our news partner KETK, Cynthia Denise Talley was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for seven counts of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of unlawful restraint of a minor. Talley is one of six women arrested in 2022 after Longview ISD officials reportedly saw video footage of employees and campus administration mistreating special education students.
The other former J.L. Everhart employees also charged for mistreatment of students are Paula Hawkins Dixon, Cassandra Renee James, Linda Kaye Brown Lister, Priscilla Johnson and Cecilia Gregg.
Gregg, Dixon and Talley were âreleased from employmentâ from the district in October 2021â immediately upon the districtâs discovery of their alleged actions,â according to a statement from the district. Continue reading Former Longview ISD employee sentenced to prison
(WASHINGTON) -- World Wresting Entertainment co-founder Linda McMahon has been getting high marks from her meetings with the Republican senators who could decide whether she'll be the next secretary of education.
McMahon has run a large government organization before -- she led the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019 in President-elect Donald Trump's first term -- but critics say she has little professional education experience beyond earning a teaching certificate from East Carolina University.
Since then, McMahon has primarily focused her time as a WWE executive, serving on the boards of colleges and state education agencies, and as chair of the board for think tank America First Policy Institute.
McMahon allies suggest her business experience will not only disrupt but also help reshape a federal agency that's long been criticized by Republicans. As a confidant to the president-elect who co-chaired his transition, McMahon is uniquely positioned to carry out his promises to close the education department, restore power to parents, and inject choice in schools, they say.
"Linda McMahon is a win for parents and will root out radical ideology and get DEI out of America's education system," Sen. Marsha Blackburn wrote in a post on X after their meeting on Tuesday.
McMahon said she will carry out Trumpâs platform if confirmed by the Senate. When asked if she would dismantle the Department of Education like Trump campaigned on in her new role, she told ABC News, âIf I am secretary of education, I will certainly fall in with what the president's policy is.â However, it would take 60 votes in the Senate to dissolve the department, which is highly unlikely with just a 53-47 Republican majority.
The slim majority may not be enough to create immediate changes at the department, but senators who talked to ABC News expect her to be the departmentâs next leader.
What are senators saying?
Ultimately, McMahonâs nomination rests with the 100 senators who will vote on whether to confirm Trump's Cabinet picks. The Senate hasnât yet formally set a date for a confirmation hearing for McMahon, but she told ABC News she is looking forward to it.
Like Trumpâs most vulnerable Cabinet nominees, McMahon has been making the rounds on Capitol Hill in advise and consent meetings with everyone from newly elected Senate Majority Leader John Thune to freshman Republican Sen. Jim Banks. The GOP senators McMahon has met with have signaled a smooth process ahead.
âShe's awesome,â Oklahoma GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin told ABC News. âI'm looking forward to getting her over to be the secretary of education. She's going to do the reform that needs to be done there.â
Mullin added, âI think she's going to get through pretty easy. She's really good.â
McMahon first met with Mullin and most of his colleagues on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee (HELP). This committee is expected to hold hearings for the nominees to lead the departments of Education, Labor and Health. Mullin explained that he and McMahon discussed reforming Washington, not outright dismantling agencies such as the DOE.
âI think all these federal agencies need to have a hard look at,â Mullin said. âThe American people were very clear about that in the election, they gave President Trump and they gave the Republicans a mandate that they want the government to start working for them and not working for a party.â
McMahon and her team have been marching through the Senate halls for weeks. The meetings typically last between 30 to 45 minutes. After his meeting, HELP Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he and McMahon âspeak the same languageâ on education issues.
Tuberville, R-Ala., also stressed that McMahon is the right leader to execute Trumpâs goal of closing the education department, arguing states already have their own departments of education so Washington doesnât need one.
âI've seen the downgrade of our curriculum, of the discipline, you know, between the students and the parents and the teachers,â Tuberville said. âWe need to be more of a family when it comes to education, instead of an individual agency. We need to make it more personal, and I think that she'll have a great opportunity to do that. She knows a lot about it.â
Tuberville is one of five current or former GOP members on the HELP committee who told ABC News the closed-door meetings with McMahon have been going âgreat.â McMahon has not told ABC News if her meetings will include Democrats.
HELP Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., told ABC News she wants to see full vetting of Trumpâs nominees including FBI background checks. Baldwin said she hopes McMahon is going to be a âgood stewardâ of the education department and looks forward to reviewing her case to be its next secretary.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., struck a different tone condemning Trumpâs nominees.
â[McMahon] definitely wouldn't be my first choice or my second choice, or third choice, or fourth choice, or fifth choice, or sixth or seventh,â Fetterman said, then added, âBut I forgot they won, so, they can pick these kinds of things.â
(SEOUL, South Korea) -- Seoul Western District Court on Tuesday night reissued a warrant to detain impeached President Yoon Suk Yeol.
The Corruption Investigation Office chief, Oh Dong-woon, said during a parliament hearing that they would âthoroughly prepare for the execution of arrest, as if it was the last chance.â
The effort to detain Yoon came after a South Korean court issued an arrest and search warrant on Dec. 31 over his short-lived imposition of martial law, ABC News confirmed. Yoon has been suspended from his position since Dec. 14.
Yoon's attorney told reporters Wednesday that he is still at his residence and is greatly disappointed to hear rumors saying he had fled. Opposition lawmakers had spread those rumors, the attorney said.
To prepare for another arrest attempt, the President's Secret Service heightened surveillance near the Presidential residence, adding more chains to the barbed wire fence and blocking vehicles.
Yoon's lawyer said he still strongly believes that the CIOâs execution of the arrest warrant is illegitimate, as the CIO lacks the authority to investigate insurrection. He also pointed out that the Seoul Western District Court, which reissued the arrest warrant, has no jurisdiction. Nevertheless, he told reporters, the impeached president would stand trial if he were to be indicted.
Thousands had gathering on Sunday, a day before another arrest warrant for Yoon expired, near impeached the presidential residence
Protesters from both sides -- one calling the warrant invalid or illegal and the other shouting for arrest -- have occupied the wide four-lane road in a normally quiet neighborhood, blocking all traffic, in freezing temperatures and snow.
Yoon declared martial law in a televised speech on Dec. 3. The president said the measure was necessary due to the actions of the country's liberal opposition, the Democratic Party, which he accused of controlling parliament, sympathizing with North Korea and paralyzing the government.
Animosity has been sky-high between the two sides, after over 100 investigators from the CIO anti-corruption agency and the police retreated from the residence after a tense standoff with the presidential security service.
Yoon's die-hard supporters have been camping on the street vowing to protect him from "pro-North Korean forces about to steal away the presidency." Anti-Yoon protesters who are backing of the opposition party claim that Yoon must be jailed for insurrection.
ABC News' Joohee Cho and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
Human Bird Flu Cases in the U.S. as of January 6, 2025. Image by ABC News. Data via CDC.
(NEW YORK) -- In the nearly nine months since the first human case of bird flu was detected in the United States, the virus has continued to spread.
The outbreak infected hundreds of herds and millions of birds before it spread to humans. As of Jan. 6, there have been 66 human cases of bird flu reported in 10 states, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Almost all confirmed cases involve direct contact with infected cattle or infected livestock.
On Tuesday, the first death of a human bird flu patient was reported in Louisiana. The patient was over the age of 65 and had underlying medical conditions, according to health officials.
The CDC says there is currently no evidence of human-to-human transmission and the risk to the general public is low.
However, public health experts say they are worried the virus could mutate and become more transmissible, amplifying the need to ramp up testing and to stockpile vaccines.
Dr. Tony Moody, a professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases specialist at Duke University, said the fact that cases have yet to pass from human to human is "both reassuring, but not completely reassuring."
He told ABC News, "What we're concerned about is that, eventually, we might get a variation of this strain that could pass from person to person. That's really what we're going to need to see, I think, to get substantial human cases and the potential for a new pandemic strain."
He added, "So, in terms of peering into the crystal ball for 2025âŠI think the concern is whether or not we're going to see something change that will turn it into a pandemic strain that could then really be a problem," he added.
Fears of mutation or a combination virus
One fear experts have is that the virus will continue to mutate in a way that will cause more human-to-human transmissibility. The experts say that every new human case of bird flu allows the virus an opportunity to mutate.
Recent CDC data found mutations in samples of bird flu collected from the Louisiana patient. What's more, the mutations were not found in poultry samples collected on the patient's property, suggesting the changes appeared after the patient became infected.
Moody said that because the virus has not yet mutated in a way to spread more easily between humans, he's not sure if or when it will happen.
"Given the number of cows that have been infected, the number of birds that have been infected and the fact that the virus essentially mutates every time it replicates, I'm kind of surprised that the mutations that they're talking about haven't happened yet," he said. "So, I actually think there's a bigger barrier to it becoming a real problem."
Dr. Peter Hotez, co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, said he believes there is a more likely scenario of the virus becoming more transmissible: an individual getting infected with bird flu and seasonal influenza at the same time.
He said this could lead to the virus "reassorting" to produce a hybrid, or recombinant, virus that could then transmit more easily from person to person.
"Everyone's focusing on the potential for mutation; that is a serious concern for some," he told ABC News. "The greater probability is that there could be a reassortment, what could ignite the pandemic or an epidemic."
The experts say there is no evidence the virus is currently heading towards an epidemic or pandemic, but there has already been one case of severe disease.
Different genotypes, or genetic makeup of the virus, means there could more severe cases.
"What we've seen with [bird flu] in the United States is that the particular genotype that's associated with dairy cows has primarily caused more mild disease in people," Dr. Meghan Davis, an associate professor of environmental health and engineering at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, told ABC News.
"What we've seen with the case in Louisiana ⊠is caused by a different genotype, one that has been circulating in the wild birds, and these are much more severe cases," she continued. "This highlights the ability of avian influenzas to cause a wide variety of disease ⊠and I think it is possible that we're going to see that moving forward."
Making testing more available
The U.S. has begun ramping up testing with the U.S. Department of Agriculture issuing a federal order for raw milk samples nationwide to be collected and tested and the Food and Drug Administration announcing it is collecting samples of aged raw cow's milk cheese to be tested.
However, for 2025, Hotez said he believes testing needs to be made more readily available to physicians, especially during flu season.
He said there are likely cases of bird flu going undiagnosed, and testing made more available in health care settings would catch those flying under the radar.
"I think one of the problems that we have, especially as we move into influenza season, there's the risk that, if you're a physician, if they want to do influenza testing, they're only really testing for the usual seasonal influenza, they're not testing for [bird flu]," he said. "Otherwise, we're never going to fully know the actual extent of the problem."
Stockpiling bird flu vaccines
In early July, the U.S. government awarded Moderna $176 million to develop and test a bird flu vaccine using mRNA technology, which is the same technology used for the COVID vaccine.
In October, federal health officials announced they were providing $72 million to vaccine manufacturers to help ensure currently available bird flu vaccines are ready to use, if needed.
There are currently no recommendations for anyone in the U.S. to be vaccinated against bird flu, but experts say that could change if the virus becomes more transmissible.
Moody said clinical trials for new vaccines are being conducted and there are already bird flu vaccines in a stockpile maintained by the U.S. government that have previously been licensed by the FDA.
However, these three vaccines were formulated to protect against older strains of bird flu so there are questions about their protectiveness.
"One of the difficulties in making a stockpile is you're trying to predict the future. Picking which influenza is going to be a problem is always the difficult bit," Moody said. "So, I think that those vaccines that are in the stockpile, based on the data that I've seen, have a pretty good chance of being helpful. Whether or not they'll be the answer that's a that's a tougher question to address."
He said the U.S. is in a better position currently to address bird flu if it becomes an epidemic or pandemic than the country was to address COVID in 2020.
"We know how to do this. We know how to make these vaccines. We know how to get everything rolled out, and so I think we are in a better position today," Moody said.
A gender-swapped reimagining of the beloved Louis Sachar book Holes is headed to Disney+.
The streamer has ordered a Holes TV series to pilot, over 20 years after it was adapted to a film. Shia LaBeouf starred in the 2003 Holes movie as Stanley Yelnats, the unlucky boy who is sent to Camp Green Lake, a juvenile detention camp, for a crime he didn't commit.
The official logline for the new TV show reads, âIn this reimagining of the beloved 1998 book from Louis Sachar, a teenage girl is sent to a detention camp where the ruthless Warden forces the campers to dig holes for a mysterious purpose.â
Alina Mankin will write and executive produce the show, while Liz Phang will be its showrunner and also executive produce. DrewGoddard will also executive produce through Goddard Textiles along with Sarah Esberg.
âMy momâs been a schoolteacher for her whole life and, as such, sheâs served as a de facto book scout for Goddard Textiles,â Goddard told Variety, who broke the story. âShe always knows what âthe kidsâ are into long before everyone else does. âHolesâ was the first book she suggested to me â this was back in the late â90s â and she was positive it was going to be a phenomenon. It feels good to bring it full circle for Mrs. Goddard and her sixth grade class.â
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) â Exxon Mobil Corp. filed a federal defamation lawsuit against California Attorney General Rob Bonta and several environmental groups, months after Bonta sued the oil and gas giant alleging that it deceived the public for half a century by promising the plastics it produced would be recycled.
The Texas-based company said in its lawsuit, filed Monday in that state’s Eastern District, that Bonta, the Sierra Club, San Francisco Baykeeper, Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation conspired to defame it with statements regarding the efficacy of its plastic recycling technology.
âTogether, Bonta and the US Proxies â the former for political gain and the latter pawns for the Foreign Interests â have engaged in a deliberate smear campaign against ExxonMobil, falsely claiming that ExxonMobilâs effective and innovative advanced recycling technology is a âfalse promiseâ and ânot based on truth,ââ the company said in its lawsuit.
It seeks unspecified damages and retractions of âdefamatory statementsâ from Bonta and the groups.
A spokesperson for the California Department of Justice called the lawsuit âanother attempt from ExxonMobil to deflect attention from its own unlawful deceptionâ and said Bonta looks forward to âvigorously litigatingâ the case.
In its lawsuit filed in September, Bonta’s office said that less than 5% of plastic is recycled into another plastic product in the U.S. even though the items are labeled as ârecyclable.â
As a result landfills and oceans are filled with plastic waste, creating a global pollution crisis, while consumers diligently place plastic water bottles and other containers into recycling bins, the lawsuit alleges.
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) â A developing winter storm threatens to drop snow, sleet and freezing rain on parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas as frigid air that escaped the Arctic plunges temperatures to subfreezing levels in some of the southernmost points of the U.S.
National Weather Service meteorologists predicted wintry precipitation across the southern Plains region starting Wednesday night, with snow likely in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. Farther south, snow could transition to sleet and freezing rain, which meteorologists warn could result in hazardous driving conditions.
An arctic blast descended on much of the U.S. east of the Rockies over the weekend, causing hundreds of car accidents and thousands of flight cancellations and delays. Several communities set up warming shelters this week, including one at a roller rink in Cincinnati and another in the Providence, Rhode Island, City Council chambers.
As the cold front moved south, a cold weather advisory was issued for the Gulf Coast and pushed the low temperature in El Paso, along the Texas border with Mexico, to 31 degrees (minus 0.5 Celsius). The National Weather Service predicted a wind chill factor ranging from 0 to 15 degrees (minus 18 to minus 9 Celsius) early Wednesday.
The polar vortex of ultra-cold air usually spins around the North Pole, but it sometimes ventures south into the U.S., Europe and Asia. Some experts say such cold air outbreaks are happening more frequently, paradoxically, because of a warming world.
As points north and east dug out of snow and ice Tuesday, communities in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas were preparing. In Texas, crews treated the roads in the Dallas area amid forecasts of 1 to 3 inches (about 3 to 8 centimeters) of snow on Thursday, along with sleet and rain. National Weather Service meteorologist Sam Shamburger said up to 5 inches (13 centimeters) of snow was expected farther north near the Oklahoma line.
Kevin Oden, Dallasâ director of emergency management and crisis response, said Tuesday, âOur city is in a preparedness phase.â
The storm could make roads slick Friday as 75,000 fans head to AT&T Stadium in Arlington to see Texas play Ohio State in the Cotton Bowl. Arlington spokesperson Susan Shrock said crews are ready to address any hazardous road conditions around the stadium.
âTheyâre going to have the salt brine, theyâll have sand and theyâll have equipment on standby,â she said.
A Tuesday night statement from AT&T Stadium and the Cotton Bowl said officials have been meeting with city and transportation officials and that âplans are in place to assure a safe environment for everyone in and around AT&T Stadium on game day.â
Parts of southeastern Georgia and northern Florida endured unusually frigid temperatures overnight into Tuesday and were under freeze warnings into Wednesday.
In northern Florida, with Valentine’s Day just a month away, the main concern for growers fearful of cold weather is the fern crop used for floral arrangements.
Major damage to citrus trees, which typically occurs when temperatures drop to 28 degrees (minus 2 degrees Celsius) or below for several hours, was less likely. Floridaâs commercial citrus groves are primarily south of the central part of the peninsula.
An area stretching from the central Plains through the Ohio Valley into the mid-Atlantic region is likely to receive more snow and ice for a few days, which could cause the ground covering to melt and refreeze to form treacherous black ice on roadways, forecasters said.
Hundreds of car accidents were reported in Virginia, Indiana, Kansas and Kentucky earlier this week, and a state trooper was treated for injuries after his patrol car was hit.
Three people died in vehicle crashes in Virginia, according to state police. Other weather-related fatal accidents occurred Sunday near Charleston, West Virginia, and Monday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Kansas, where over a foot (30 centimeters) of snow fell in places, had two deadly weekend crashes.
Nearly 100,000 customers remained without power Tuesday night in states to the east of Kansas including Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, and Virginia, according to the tracking website PowerOutage.us. That was down from more than 200,000 earlier in the day.
More than 5,000 flights into or out of the U.S. were delayed Tuesday, according to tracking platform FlightAware. On Monday, more than 2,300 flights were canceled and at least 9,100 more were delayed.
Virginiaâs state Capitol and General Assembly buildings will stay closed Wednesday after a weather-related power outage caused a malfunction in the water system, officials said Monday. The closure postponed lawmakersâ first working day of the legislative session. A boil-water notice that was issued for Richmond’s 200,000 residents could be lifted Wednesday, Mayor Danny Avula said.
Blake Lively's lawyers have issued a statement amid the ongoing legal feud between her and Justin Baldoni.
In the new statement, released Jan. 7, Lively's lawyers said, "Ms. Lively's federal litigation before the Southern District of New York involves serious claims of sexual harassment and retaliation, backed by concrete facts. This is not a 'feud' arising from 'creative differences' or a 'he said/she said' situation. As alleged in Ms. Lively's complaint, and as we will prove in litigation, Wayfarer and its associates engaged in unlawful, retaliatory astroturfing against Ms. Lively for simply trying to protect herself and others on a film set."
The statement, issued on Lively's behalf, also claimed that Baldoni's response â his lawsuit filed Dec. 31 against The New York Times â was allegedly meant to "launch more attacks against Ms. Lively since her filing."
The statement continued, "While we go through the legal process, we urge everyone to remember that sexual harassment and retaliation are illegal in every workplace and in every industry. A classic tactic to distract from allegations of this type of misconduct is to 'blame the victim' by suggesting that they invited the conduct, brought it on themselves, misunderstood the intentions, or even lied. Another classic tactic is to reverse the victim and offender, and suggest that the offender is actually the victim."
"These concepts normalize and trivialize allegations of serious misconduct," the statement concluded. "Most importantly, media statements are not a defense to Ms. Lively's legal claims. We will continue to prosecute her claims in federal court, where the rule of law determines who prevails, not hyperbole and threats."
The statement from Lively's camp comes after Baldoni sued the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy for publishing a story detailing Lively's initial claims against him, including sexual harassment and orchestrating a smear campaign against Lively during the production of the film It Ends with Us, which Baldoni also directed and starred in with Lively. The lawsuit came after Lively's initial complaint, filed Dec. 20, and subsequent lawsuit, filed Dec. 31, against Baldoni.
In a statement to Good Morning America addressing Lively's latest comments, Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, said, "It is painfully ironic that Blake Lively is accusing Justin Baldoni of weaponizing the media when her own team orchestrated this vicious attack by sending the New York Times grossly edited documents prior to even filing the complaint. We are releasing all of the evidence which will show a pattern of bullying and threats to take over the movie. None of this will come as a surprise because consistent with her past behavior Blake Lively used other people to communicate those threats and bully her way to get whatever she wanted. We have all the receipts and more."
Read more about the legal battle between Lively and Baldoni below.
Lively's initial complaint
Lively first filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department in late December, alleging "severe emotional distress" after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni's production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
The complaint was detailed in a New York Times article titled "'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine." Included in the report were details surrounding a January 2024 "all hands" meeting â held "prior to resuming filming of It Ends With Us," according to the complaint â that was held to address Lively's workplace concerns, adding that it was attended by key stakeholders in the film and Lively's husband, Ryan Reynolds.
According to the complaint, Lively said she laid out specific demands at that meeting to ensure a safe and professional working environment.
Lively claimed Baldoni and his production company Wayfarer Studios, which produced It Ends With Us, then engaged in a "social manipulation" campaign to "destroy" Lively's reputation, according to the complaint. The complaint included alleged texts from Baldoni's publicist to a Wayfarer publicist, who allegedly wrote that Baldoni "wants to feel like [Ms. Lively] can be buried," and "We can't write we will destroy her."
Freedman, the attorney for Baldoni and Wayfarer Studios, denied the allegations.
"These claims are completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious with an intent to publicly hurt and rehash a narrative in the media," Freedman said in a statement to ABC News at the time, in response to Lively's initial complaint. He claimed Lively's complaint was "yet another desperate attempt to 'fix her negative reputation which was garnered from her own remarks and actions during the campaign for the film [...]."
Lively was criticized during the It Ends with Us tour for her conduct during press interviews and from some who felt she did not highlight the film's focus of domestic violence enough.
Baldoni's lawsuit against The New York Times
On Dec. 31, Baldoni filed a lawsuit against the Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy, after it published the article about Lively's complaint.
The lawsuit claimed the Times, which included the alleged text messages and email exchanges between Baldoni's publicists Jennifer Abel and Melissa Nathan, had relied on "cherry-picked" and altered communications, with details "stripped of necessary context and deliberately spliced" to "mislead."
Baldoni is seeking $250 million in damages in his suit against the Times and also listed nine other co-plaintiffs, including Wayfarer Studios LLC and his publicists, Abel and Nathan.
Freedman claimed in a statement to GMA that the Times "cowered to the wants and whims of two powerful 'untouchable' Hollywood elites, disregarding journalistic practices and ethics once befitting of the revered publication by using doctored and manipulated texts and intentionally omitting texts which dispute their chosen PR narrative."
A Times spokesperson told GMA that they "plan to vigorously defend against the lawsuit."
"The role of an independent news organization is to follow the facts where they lead. Our story was meticulously and responsibly reported," the spokesperson continued. "It was based on a review of thousands of pages of original documents, including the text messages and emails that we quote accurately and at length in the article."
"To date, Wayfarer Studios, Mr. Baldoni, the other subjects of the article and their representatives have not pointed to a single error," the spokesperson claimed. "We published their full statement in response to the allegations in the article as well."
Lively files lawsuit against Baldoni and other defendants for sexual harassment
Also on Dec. 31, Lively formalized her initial California Civil Rights Department complaint into a lawsuit, which reiterated details she previously presented in her complaint.
Attorneys for Lively said in a statement that the actress's "decision to speak out has resulted in further retaliation and attacks."
"As alleged in Ms. Lively's federal Complaint, Wayfarer and its associates have violated federal and California state law by retaliating against her for reporting sexual harassment and workplace safety concerns," Lively's attorneys claimed. "Now, the defendants will answer for their conduct in federal court. Ms. Lively has brought this litigation in New York, where much of the relevant activities described in the Complaint took place, but we reserve the right to pursue further action in other venues and jurisdictions as appropriate under the law."
Both Baldoni and Lively are seeking a jury trial.
GMA has reached out to Baldoni's rep for comment about Lively's lawsuit.
University of Texas at Austin President Jay Hartzell said Tuesday he is leaving the UT Systemâs flagship school to become the next president of Southern Methodist University, marking a major change in Texas higher education leadership and leaving open a job at the center of the stateâs culture wars days before the start of a new legislative session.
SMUâs Board of Trustees unanimously voted to name Hartzell as the next president of the private university in Dallas on Tuesday. In a press release, Hartzell said that this was an opportunity âI could not pass up.â
âI look forward to building upon the universityâs remarkable momentum and leading SMU into its next era,â he said.
Hartzell will become president June 1. SMUâs current president, R. Gerald Turner, will transition this summer to the role of president emeritus. He has led the university for three decades.
âDr. Hartzell is a well-respected academician and higher education leader with a strong track record of accomplishments that make him the ideal candidate to build upon the tremendous energy and momentum we are experiencing here on the Hilltop,â said David B. Miller, chair of SMUâs Board of Trustees and co-chair of the presidential search committee.
Hartzell has been president of UT-Austin since 2020. He previously served as dean of the McCombs School of Business and has been a UT-Austin faculty member since 2001.
It was immediately unclear who will lead UT-Austin in the interim or when the Board of Regents will name a new president. UT-Austin did not respond to requests for comment. Many faculty and administrators told The Texas Tribune that they just learned of the news Tuesday morning.
In a statement, University of Texas System Board Chair Kevin Eltife and Chancellor James Milliken congratulated Hartzell on the new appointment.
âWe wish President Hartzell our very best on his new leadership role in Dallas, and we thank him for his many contributions to UT over the past 24 years,â Eltife said in a statement, adding that the Board will work closely with the flagship campus to ensure a smooth transition.
Eltife told the Tribune the board will discuss next steps at its February meeting.
Hartzellâs tenure has been marred with tense political battles on campus that pitted faculty and students against the administration. It has also been shaped by legislative efforts to implement a more conservative vision of public higher education, such as a ban on diversity, equity and inclusion offices, and attempts to end faculty tenure and limit what can be taught in college classrooms. During Hartzellâs time as president, conservative lawmakers have increasingly railed against universities that they believe have been taken over by âwokeâ faculty who are trying to indoctrinate students.
On Tuesday, the reaction to Hartzellâs announcement drew shock from UT-Austin faculty members.
âI think everyone is terrified of the uncertainty of doing this right now right before the legislative session,â said Karma Chavez, a Mexican American and Latino studies professor. âEveryone is on edge.â
For higher education watchers, Hartzellâs departure speaks to the difficult nature of running a public university in todayâs political climate.
Michael Harris, who studies higher education leadership at SMU, said the Texas Legislatureâs recent higher ed proposals likely made it difficult for Hartzell to lead UT-Austin and made him look for a job elsewhere.
âI think being president of a public university in a red state right now is one of the hardest jobs in higher education,â Harris said.
The University of Texas Board of Regents tapped Hartzell to be interim president in 2020 to replace former President Gregory Fenves, who also left the university to lead a private school â Emory University in Atlanta.
Hartzell took over at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when schools were forced to shift thousands of classes online and cancel in-person events like graduation.
Then, the murder of George Floyd in late spring of that year sparked protests in cities across the country, prompting students at universities to demand their leaders better support Black students and build more racial equity on campus.
At UT-Austin, Texas football players released a list of demands, including that the school donate to the Black Lives Matter movement, rename parts of the football stadium and stop singing the school alma mater, The Eyes of Texas, which was originally written and performed at a campus minstrel show in 1903. While students and faculty called for the songâs removal, many alumni pushed the school to keep the song, threatening to pull donations.
In July 2020, Hartzell announced that the song would remain, but also announced a list of proposals to create a more welcoming campus. He organized a committee to study the origins of the song and find new ways for the school to talk about its history.
That summer, Hartzell was named the permanent president without a national search.
Throughout his tenure, Hartzell was consumed by decisions made at the Texas Capitol surrounding higher education. In 2023, lawmakers eliminated DEI offices on campus, prompting the school to lay off dozens of employees. The universityâs steps to comply with the law angered students who said the administration overinterpreted the law.
âAs with all new laws, I fully expect that there will be divided opinions on our campus about both the law itself and its eventual impacts on our University,â Hartzell wrote in a letter to the campus community at the end of 2023. âBut it is the law, and with compassion and respect for all of our community members, we will comply.â
Last spring, Hartzell angered students and faculty with his handling of peaceful pro-Palestinian protests after hundreds of people were arrested on campus.
Hartzell requested armed state troopers to respond, prompting some faculty to call for a vote of no confidence on Hartzell and GOP leaders to praise him.
Hartzellâs announcement comes on the heels of other notable leadership changes at the flagship. Last semester, the university’s provost, who is in charge of academics, stepped down from the administrative role. The university police chief also resigned. Last semester, the dean of the College of Liberal Arts was told she would not be allowed to pursue a second term in the job, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Under Hartzell, UT-Austin has gotten more academically selective. Last year, the school limited automatic admission to only those Texas high school students who graduate in the top 5% of their class. All other public universities in the state automatically accept Texas high school students in the top 10% of their class.
The four-year graduation rate increased to nearly 75% last year. This fall, the university had the second-largest freshman class ever. The university has tried to increase affordable housing for students, including graduate students who often have fewer campus-run housing options. The school also raised $1 billion to support students, part of a massive $6 billion campaign.
Hartzell also oversaw the university athletic department move to the Southeastern Conference. The Texas football team is two wins away from its first national championship in 20 years.
âPeople ask these questions of a president, âHow do you want to be remembered?â Hartzell said at the State of the University address last semester. âDepending how this goes, it may just be the president who hired [coach Steve Sarkisian].â
SMU, meanwhile, has had a successful football season in its own right. The Mustangs are 11-3 overall this season and are standing at number one after joining the Atlantic Coast Conference last summer.
SMU has also raised a majority of its current major gifts campaign goal of $1.5 billion ahead of schedule.
The Dallas private school, which enrolls more than 12,000 students, is in a âthriving city,â University of North Texas professor Barrett Taylor said.
âSo while it may not be as large or well known as UT-Austin, itâs in a much stronger position than most private universities are,â said Taylor, who coauthored a book in 2019 that included data showing more than three quarters of private colleges in the U.S. are financially vulnerable.
Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the original article, click here.
(LOS ANGELES) -- At least 10 people are believed to be dead -- with the LA County sheriff saying he expects that number to rise -- as a series of devastating fires grow uncontained across Southern California amid dry and windy conditions, leaving officials scrambling to contain the historic destruction.
Thousands of firefighters are battling at least five sprawling wildfires spread around the Los Angeles area. The largest, the Palisades Fire, in Pacific Palisades, has scorched over 19,000 acres, destroyed thousands of structures and remains zero percent contained. The Eaton Fire, in Altadena, now stands at more than 13,000 acres and zero percent contained. More than 180,000 people have been ordered to evacuate as the infernos spread.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday approved a federal major disaster declaration for Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles County Sheriff says parts of the city looks like âan atomic bomb dropped'
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said that the devastation caused by the wildfires in Los Angeles has been catastrophic and that he is anxious the death toll may increase.
âPlease be patient with us,â Luna said in a press conference on Thursday evening. âThis is an active chaotic situation in all the places that we're at ⊠we want to give the more the most specific, accurate information. So we're going to wait until it is safe, and just to paint a picture for you, our firefighters, our deputy sheriffs, our police officers are going into these areas. There are still active fires, there are gas leaks. It is dangerous.â
When asked about the potential of the current death toll rising, Luna said he was ânervousâ that it could.
âThe last number that we gave was five,â said Luna. âI believe that splits two from Palisades and three from the Altadena incident. But even as I'm telling you that it's leaving my lips, I'm nervous about that number. And the obvious question is, do you think it's going to grow? I am praying it doesn't. But based on the devastation that is clear, looks like a bomb, an atomic bomb dropped in these areas. I don't expect good news, and we're not looking forward to those numbers.â
Santa Ana winds rage as death toll rises
There are currently five wildfires still burning around Los Angeles county -- Palisades, Eaton, Lidia, Hurst and a new one called Kenneth.
The Santa Ana winds are gusting over 80 mph overnight in the mountains outside of Los Angeles with the Malibu Coast gusting to 46 mph overnight.
The strongest winds have happened overnight and are expected to begin to relax this afternoon and evening.
The dry weather, however, is not expected to improve as relative humidity will continue to be 7% to 15% for most of southern California.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has issued a âcriticalâ fire risk for parts of southern California and an âelevatedâ fire risk for parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
A red flag Warning will continue Friday through 6 p.m. PST for Los Angeles and a high wind warning for all of southern California from Los Angeles to San Diego is in effect until 2 p.m. this afternoon.
Much calmer winds are predicted for this evening -- only in the single digits for most areas -- but it looks like another strong Santa Ana wind even is forecast next week, especially Tuesday and Wednesday.
10 dead in LA fires: Medical examiner
There have been at least 10 fire-related deaths in Los Angeles, according to the county's Department of Medical Examiner.
The identification is expected to take several weeks "as the Department of Medical Examiner is not able to respond to all death locations due to the fire conditions and safety concerns," a statement read late Thursday evening.
"The Department of Medical Examiner understands how important it is to identify those lost in the wildfires and is working diligently, while following safety protocols, to provide the information to the next of kin as soon as reasonably possible," the statement continued.
Firefighters stop forward progress of Kenneth Fire
Firefighters in Ventura County have stopped the forward progress of a rapidly burning wildfire that originally broke out Thursday afternoon in the West Hills area of Los Angeles.
The blaze is holding at 960 acres, according to the Ventura County Fire Department. All evacuation orders for LA County have been reduced to warnings and evacuation warnings in Ventura County have been lifted, the fire department said.
About 400 firefighters will remain at the scene of the fire overnight to work on knocking down hot spots.
There have been no reports of any structures damaged or destroyed from the Kenneth Fire. The fire is still described as 0% contained.
Death toll remains at 5
At least five people have died in the Los Angeles fires, the LA County Sheriff's Office clarified Thursday night.
There have been at least three victims in the Eaton Fire and two in the Palisades Fire, according to police.
During a press briefing Thursday afternoon officials had incorrectly said there were five victims in the Eaton Fire and announced two victims from the Palisades Fire.
New satellite images show extent of LA wildfire devastation
New satellite images are showing the extent of the devastation from the wildfires in Los Angeles.
The images were released by Maxar Technologies, a Colorado-based satellite company.
The photos show the damage to hard-hit neighborhoods, such as Pacific Palisades and Malibu.
The photos also show heavy clouds of smoke from the Palisades and Eaton Fires billowing over the landscape as seen from abov
Palisades Fire is now 6% contained
Firefighters are reporting progress on the massive Pacific Palisades fire that has spread nearly 20,000 acres on Thursday.
The Palisades Fire is 6% contained as of 6:30 p.m. local time, according to Cal Fire.
Kenneth Fire grows to nearly 1,000 acres with 0% containment
The Kenneth Fire in West Hills has quickly grown to nearly 1,000 acres since igniting Thursday afternoon, officials said.
An evacuation order has been issued for the area due to the "rapidly moving wildfire," the Los Angeles City Fire Department said.
"We are expecting this fire to rapidly spread due to high winds," LA Mayor Karen Bass said at an evening news conference. "This is a reminder that this is a very dynamic situation that can change quickly."
"Please act swiftly, move quickly, evacuate now," LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said.
A number of fires are still burning throughout the LA area, including the massive Pacific Palisades and Eaton Fires, which have torn through thousands of acres, destroying buildings and leading to at least five deaths.
'If you're told to evacuate, get the hell out,' Sen. Adam Schiff says
Sen. Adam Schiff shared a sobering message with residents of Los Angeles County during a Thursday press briefing: "If you're told to evacuate, then get the hell out."
"You might think you can outrun a fire. You are not going to outrun these fires. You're just not the way they are moving, the unpredictability of how they're moving, the swiftness with how they're moving, you are not going to outrun these fires," the Democratic senator said.
Adding to the stern warning, Schiff said, "If you stay, you're going to die in them, and it's not worth it. So if you're told to evacuate, get the hell out. Save yourselves. You can rebuild, because we are going to rebuild."
2 dead from Palisades Fire, officials say
During a press briefing Thursday evening, Los Angeles City Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said that two people have died in the Palisades Fire that continues to spread across nearly 20,000 acres.
During a press briefing Thursday afternoon officials had incorrectly said there were five victims in the Eaton Fire and announced two victims from the Palisades Fire.
Palisades firefighting aircraft hits drone: FAA
The Federal Aviation Administration said it is investigating after fire officials reported that a firefighting aircraft struck a drone while operating over the Palisades Fire on Thursday.
The aircraft landed safely, the FAA said.
"Itâs a federal crime, punishable by up to 12 months in prison, to interfere with firefighting efforts on public lands," the FAA said in a statement.
Vikings-Rams wild card game moved to Arizona
Monday's Vikings-Rams wild card game, which had been set to be played in Los Angeles County's SoFi Stadium, has been moved to Arizona "in the interest of public safety," the NFL announced Thursday.
"The decision was made in consultation with public officials, the participating clubs and the NFLPA," the NFL said.
The game will be played at State Farm Stadium, the home of the Arizona Cardinals.
Harris cancels trip abroad to focus on LA fires
Vice President Kamala Harris is canceling her foreign trip to Singapore, Bahrain and Germany, according to a statement from Press Secretary Ernesto Apreza.
Harris was set to visit military installations in those countries.
Instead, she will remain in the U.S. to "support the federal response in California" as brush fires continue to spread across Los Angeles County.
Harris was scheduled to leave on Jan. 13 and return on Jan. 17.
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
Recent LA County evacuation warning alert sent in error
An emergency message telling Los Angeles County residents Thursday afternoon that an evacuation warning had been issued for their area was sent in error, officials said.
The alert was intended for residents near the Kenneth Fire but was mistakenly issued countywide, officials said.
"Recent @ReadyLACounty alert to evacuate was sent in ERROR. Evacuation orders have not changed. See map for actual @LACity evacuation orders for some selected areas, ONLY!" LA City Emergency Management Department tweeted.
The message, sent just before 4 p.m. local time, told residents to "remain vigilant of any threats and be ready to evacuate."
Man died with garden hose in his hand as Eaton Fire raged, family says
Victor Shaw is among those who lost their lives, with his sister Shari Shaw telling ABC News he died in a heroic attempt to defend his home in Altadena. The 66-year-old's body was found in front of the home, a garden hose still in his hand.
"I can't imagine what he might have been thinking, how he might have been so frightened," Shari Shaw said. "And I couldn't be here, I couldn't be here to save him. I couldn't be here, that's what hurts the most."
Shaw lived in the family home since 1965, and had health issues that impacted his mobility.
In Altadena, an area north of Pasadena, the Eaton Fire broke out Tuesday, growing to more than 13,000 acres. Up to 5,000 structures -- including businesses and homes -- have been damaged or destroyed, authorities said.
Nearly 800 prisoners now helping to battle Los Angeles fires
As firefighters work to contain the slew of brush fires spreading across Los Angeles County, among the emergency responders on Thursday were nearly 800 incarcerated individuals, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) confirmed to ABC News.
The prisoners, who voluntarily sign up to be a part of the Conservation (Fire) Camps program, are embedded with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection crew members (CalFire).
The participating individuals are paid between $5.80 and $10.24 per day plus $1 an hour when responding to active emergencies, according to CDCR.
"CDCR Fire Camp Program firefighters are proud to be embedded with CAL FIRE personnel to protect lives, property, and natural resources in Southern California," the law enforcement agency said in a statement.
Incarcerated firefighters have been working "around the clock" cutting fire lines and removing fuel from behind structures to slow fire spread, according to the agency, which called the program a source of "crucial support" during emergencies.
The exact number of hours the incarcerated crew members have worked since brush fires erupted in Los Angeles on Tuesday was not immediately clear.
Dozens treated for fire-related injuries
UCLA Health told ABC News on Thursday they have treated 30 patients with fire-related injuries, up from 21 on Wednesday. The injuries were primarily smoke inhalation and burns, and most patients were treated and released, the hospital said.
The LA County Department of Health Services also told ABC News on Thursday that their medical facilities have treated four patients for illness and injuries related to ongoing fires, including one patient in critical condition.
Cal Fire to assist with recovery operations
Cal Fire has been assigned to assist with recovery operations in the search for potential victims of the Eaton Fire, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during the afternoon briefing.
"Recovery operations consist of trying to coordinate all of our human remain detection teams that will be going house to house to make sure that we can account for anybody who's been killed in the fire," he said.
The confirmed death toll in the Los Angeles County fires remains at five, Sheriff Robert Luna said during the briefing, noting that the number of reported fatalities "continuously fluctuates."
"We're in a very chaotic scenario," Luna said. "We're still working in a very fluid and active environment."
Firefighter suffers 'significant' injury in fall
A firefighter suffered a "significant" injury in a fall Thursday morning, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during the afternoon briefing.
The firefighter is in stable condition and he is expected to make a full recovery, Marrone said.
National Guard called in to assist
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office has requested the support of the California National Guard for securing evacuation zones, traffic control and to prevent looting, Sheriff Robert Luna said during Thursday's press briefing.
"For the last 24 hours or so, we have had approximately 400 National Guard members throughout the state ready to support us, and as I just stated, they will be coming in," he said. "We expect that they may be on site as soon as tonight."
Evacuation order issued for new LA County fire
The Los Angeles Fire Department has issued a mandatory evacuation order due to the new Kenneth Fire, which has burned 50 acres in West Hills.
The immediate evacuation has been issued for Vanowen south to Burbank Boulevard County Lane Road and east to East Valley Circle Boulevard.
Eaton Fire grows to 13,690 acres
The Eaton Fire has grown to 13,690 acres and is 0% contained, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said during the briefing.
"We now have a confirmation that we have a potential for over 4,000 to 5,000 structures damaged or destroyed in the fire," he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation, he said.
Curfew eyed for impacted areas
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said he wants to implement a curfew for areas impacted by the Palisades and Eaton fires, though it is not yet official.
Luna said the goal is to implement a curfew between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m. by Thursday or Friday.
The curfew would be to "send a stronger message" against looting and to keep people out of impacted areas, he said during a press briefing.
There have been reports of between 12 to 16 arrests for looting, he said.
Palisades Fire grows to 19,978 acres
The Palisades Fire has grown to 19,978 acres and remains 0% contained, Cal Fire said in an update Thursday.
Approximately 5,316 structures have been destroyed in the fire, based on an aerial survey conducted on Wednesday, Cal Fire said. That makes it the third-most destructive wildfire in California history.
The structures include homes and businesses, as well as smaller structures like RVs and sheds, Cal Fire said.
Harris calls fires 'apocalyptic,' warns of looming insurance burdens
During a briefing with President Joe Biden on Thursday, Vice President Kamala Harris shared a message to those affected by the devastating Los Angeles fires, saying the scene is "apocalyptic."
Harris praised firefighters working to contain the slew of fires across the city and noted how the fallout will continue for "months and years to come."
The vice president also called attention to the financial burden of those affected by the fires, saying, "Sadly, many insurance companies have canceled insurance for a lot of the families who have been affected, which is only going to delay or place an added burden on their ability to recover."
Where to go for federal assistance
During his remarks Thursday, President Joe Biden pointed those who have lost anything in the fires to visit Disasterassistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency on Thursday also released an assistance guide for those affected by the wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
Federal government to cover 100% of disaster response for 180 days
The federal government will cover 100% of the disaster response to the Los Angeles wildfires for 180 days, up from the 75% to 90% that is typically covered, President Joe Biden said Thursday.
Biden said the increase comes following a request by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"It's going to pay for things like debris and hazard material removal, temporary shelters, first responders, salaries and all necessary measures to protect life and property and folks," Biden said during a briefing.
The president vowed to help those impacted by the devastating wildfires.
"You're living through a nightmare, I know," he said. "I promise you, we're going to help you get through this, and eventually recover and rebuild."
'Mars would be more habitable than this place,' says homeowner who lost everything.
Just 100 yards from the Pacific Ocean, rows and rows of former waterfront mobile homes have been reduced to rubble in the Pacific Palisades. Much of the surrounding hillsides dotted with multimillion-dollar mansions look like scorched earth after the Palisades Fire consumed everything in its path.
âMars would be more habitable than this place right now so itâs crazy. Thereâs absolutely nothing,â Shaun, a resident of the Palisades Bowl community, told ABC News.
Shaun, who asked that ABC News only use his first name for privacy, came to assess the damage at his home and make sure no looters were prowling around his property. His home was burned to the ground and he wanted to check if his treasured memorabilia survived the flames.
âFirst thing we had some paperwork, we really didnât have much other than that. I mean, the memorabilia is what Iâm going for. My mom has a Cal Berkeley stein thatâs ceramic and maybe it survived the fire,â he said, bursting into tears. âThis is really hard. I mean people lost everything.â
When discussing the conerns about looting, Shaun said, âWe are the easiest to access.â
âWe may not be the $10 million homes up there but the bike path ends here. Weâve heard thereâs people on e-bikes coming up here. Nobody stopped us from getting up here and theyâre going through peopleâs property,â he said.
-ABC News Jaclyn Lee and Samira Said
Forest Service suppresses 50 fire starts, White House says
U.S. Forest Service crews sent in to assist the Los Angeles-area wildfire response have suppressed 50 fire starts in the state in the past 24 hours, the White House said Thursday.
"Additionally, the Hollywood Fire has been suppressed, and the evacuation order has been lifted," the White House said in a fact sheet on the California wildfire response. "Additional containment progress is being made on other active fires."
The White House said it is continuing to provide federal support to respond to the fires and has raised the national preparedness level to "prioritize additional suppression resources, including wildland fire crews and other personnel, engines, helicopters, airtankers and other aircraft, and other specialized heavy equipment, such as bull dozers to build fire lines."
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
Eaton Fire burns near Mount Wilson Observatory
The Eaton Fire is burning near the Mount Wilson Observatory, located in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, and is threatening communications towers in the Angeles National Forest, ABC Los Angeles station KABC's chopper shows.
"As you may have seen on the news, the Eaton fire is approaching Mount Wilson," the Mount Wilson Observatory said in a social media post. "There are firefighters on the grounds but the power is out at the Observatory so communication is limited."
A skeleton crew of four is sheltering in place at the observatory and fire personnel is on the scene, Chief Operating Officer Dan Kohne told KABC. The facility is double-walled so they feel safe, he added.
Owner of destroyed Malibu restaurant says they are in 'shock'
Iconic Malibu seafood shack Reel Inn was among the businesses destroyed in the Palisades Fire.
Owner Teddy Leonard told ABC News Live on Thursday that they are still "in a bit of shock" about the loss of the decades-old Malibu fixture.
"We are devastated for our crew," she said, noting that they have launched a fundraiser to help support the staff. "We also didn't have time to really process the restaurant because we are evacuated. So at the moment, we don't know the condition of our home or if we are going to have one to go back to."
Leonard said her son and sister have lost their homes, though her family is otherwise safe.
"At the end of the day, that's really all that matters," she said. "And I'm glad we created a place for family memories."
Leonard said they would love to rebuild though it would depend on if they are allowed to, noting they are on a lease from the state parks agency.
"My husband and I would love to and the community has responded in such a fashion that I believe that they would love to have us come back," she said. "Will it be the same? It won't ever be quite the same."
Tonight's Lakers game postponed
Thursday night's home Lakers game against the Charlotte Hornets has been postponed "to focus on what matters most today," the Los Angeles team announced.
"We're heartbroken for Los Angeles," the team said in a statement on X. "Our thoughts are with all those impacted by this unimaginable situation."
Director Jon Turteltaub on Palisades devastation: 'It's done'
Director and producer Jon Turteltaub spoke to ABC Los Angeles station KABC about the devastation in the Pacific Palisades.
"We spend our lives in the Palisades. There are no Palisades. It's done," the "Cool Runnings" director and Malibu resident told the station on Thursday. "I don't know what you do."
Turteltaub remarked how what's known as the "Alphabet Streets" in the neighborhood were largely leveled.
"Pacific Palisades, right now, could just be taken off the map," he said. "There is no Pacific Palisades."
Military stands ready to provide more assistance, Austin says
The Pentagon "will continue to stand ready to surge support as needed" to the wildfire response, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a press briefing in Germany on Thursday.
That includes offering "federal air assets that California can request to help fight the fire from the sky" and any assistance in personnel and equipment that can be surged from U.S. military bases in California, he said.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden directed the Department of Defense to provide additional firefighting personnel and capabilities, including ordering 10 Navy helicopters with water buckets from San Diego to head to Los Angeles to help put out the fires. Two Modular Air Fire Fighting System (MAFFS) units are also being deployed from each of the California and Nevada National Guards to spread fire retardant.
Asked why more troops and aircraft haven't been sent to assist California and whether it was because California hasn't asked, Austin reiterated that the "U.S. military stands ready to assist in any way that we possibly can to help the people of California" and pointed out that the state "has a lot of capability on its own."
He agreed that the fires are "pretty significant" and that while "few requests have been made thus far, we stand ready to surge capability in as quickly as possible."
Austin pointed out that the MAFFS systems have been sent and will be used when the winds allow.
"We're going to make sure that we remain closely linked to the director of FEMA and the leadership in California to ensure that if they have a need, then we're ready to respond," he said.
-ABC News' Luis Martinez
LA mayor dodges question on criticism over trip to Ghana, budget cuts
Mayor Karen Bass deflected when asked about the city's preparation for the fires and her decision to travel to Ghana for its president's inauguration while serious warnings were in place for wildfires.
Bass said that should not be the focus at the moment.
"We have to protect lives, we have to save lives and we have to save homes. Rest assured, when that is done, we will absolutely do an evaluation to look at what worked, what didn't work," Bass told reporters Thursday.
"My focus right now is on the lives and on the homes," Bass said.
Bass was also asked about a reduction in budget for fire, to which she highlighted the serious budget deficit and said the numbers cited could be misleading because some funding could initially be held back. She said she did not believe reduced funding had any detrimental effect on fighting these wildfires.
"I'm not here to talk about our budget," Bass added.
Death toll expected to rise
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said he is not able to confidently give an update on additional fatalities at this time, after reporting five deaths in the Eaton Fire on Wednesday.
"At one point, we'll be able to do a more thorough search of these impacted areas, some of them look like a bomb was dropped in them, where we will be able to bring in canines and other things to help us," he said.
Though Luna conceded he does expect the death toll to increase.
"Unfortunately, based on the preliminary information I've seen, at least in the two large fires that we're dealing with on each side of the county, unfortunately, I think the death toll will rise," he said.
Utilities 'significantly damaged'
The power, transportation and sewer systems have been "significantly damaged" in the fires, Los Angeles County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella said during the briefing, as they focus on utility restoration.
There is also a "tremendous amount of debris" that needs to be cleared, he said, warning that some debris may be hazardous and toxic.
He said the reservoirs are full and "continue to be ready and at the disposal of our firefighting friends," though the municipal water system "continues to suffer poor water quality" due to the ash and debris.
"I would just say, with all caution, anyone who's remained behind, if there is any residence in your area that is burned to the ground and you are still there, you should just go ahead and boil water," he said.
Nearly 180,000 under evacuation orders in LA
Nearly 180,000 residents in Los Angeles are under evacuation orders, with nearly 200,000 others under evacuation warnings, authorities said Thursday.
"I cannot emphasize enough that I urge residents that are asked to evacuate to follow our warnings," Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said during the press briefing.
Luna warned that not following an evacuation warning is a misdemeanor.
'Much better posture' on fire response today, chief says
Los Angeles is in "much better posture" to battle the wildfires on Thursday, Los Angeles Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said during the briefing.
"The number of resources assigned to this fire siege event has increased significantly," she said. "Out-of-state resources continue to arrive in Los Angeles county and city, and we are appreciative to our fire partners from throughout the western United States for providing assistance to Los Angeles County in our time of need."
Crowley said growth of the Eaton Fire has been "significantly stopped," with the fire remaining at 10,600 acres burned.
The Lidia Fire in Acton has been 40% contained and "forward progress has been stopped," she said.
Mayor Bass gives 1st public remarks on wildfires
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass made her first public remarks on the devastating wildfires during a press briefing on Thursday.
"Los Angeles will stand united and stand strong," said Bass, who returned to the city after traveling to Ghana earlier this week to attend the presidential inauguration of John Dramani.
"My thoughts are with the thousands of Angelenos who are impacted by this emergency, as more Angelenos were forced to make the terrifying decision to evacuate," she said. "Our priorities, of course, are to keep Angelenos safe and to protect homes."
Bass commended residents for following evacuation orders while noting Angelenos should "continue to proceed with caution," as the weather conditions have "created a perfect storm that has driven people from their homes and have taken people's homes, and that has taken people's lives."
"We have pre-deployed. We are executing a strategy, and we are adapting to conditions on the ground in real-time. This is absolutely an unprecedented, historic firestorm, but we are all hands on deck," she said.
20 arrests made, officials warn looters will be held accountable
California officials have arrested 20 people, warning that looters will be held accountable and should not take advantage of the disaster.
"Shame on those preying on residents in time of crisis," LA County Board of Supervisors Chair Kathryn Barger said at a press conference Thursday.
Over 420,000 customers still without power in Southern California
At least 420,000 customers are without power in California, as of 6:40 a.m. PT.
Los Angeles was the most impacted county with 210,981 customers without power, followed by San Bernardino where at least 87,282 are without power.
Los Angeles, San Diego now in severe drought
Los Angeles and San Diego are now in a severe drought, according to the National Drought Monitor. Dry weather is expected to continue for Southern California through next week.
The rain deficit in Los Angeles since Oct. 1 is over 4.5 inches and nearly 3.5 inches in San Diego.
The second driest period on record was May 5 to Dec. 31, 2024.
-ABC News' Max Golembo
New Santa Ana winds threaten to spread wildfires
Another round of Santa Ana winds is forecast to sweep into Los Angeles on Thursday night into Friday morning, putting most of the region under a critical fire risk, as emergency responders battle to contain five quickly spreading wildfires.
The wind in the region relaxed overnight as the low pressure, which was helping enhance the wind, is moving away into Texas.
But high pressure is building from the north and that will help to tighten the pressure gradient over Southern California, producing more gusty winds.
Red flag and high wind warnings have been issued through Friday afternoon for wind gusts 40 to 60 mph, with 70 mph possible in the mountains.
Relative humidity could drop to as low as 5% for Southern California.
Because of the dry and windy conditions anticipated, a critical fire risk has been issued for much of the area for the next 24 hours.
-ABC News' Max Golembo
Pasadena warns against using tap water in evacuated areas
Authorities in Pasadena warned residents not to use tap water in evacuated areas for drinking or cooking "until further notice."
Northern parts of the city have been evacuated due to the nearby Eaton Fire, which as of early Thursday had grown to 10,600 acres with no containment.
"This adds Pasadena to the list of water warnings that already includes anyone in Pacific Palisades and parts of Malibu," city authorities said in a post to X.
-ABC News' Jeffrey Cook
Wildfires create 'unhealthy air quality,' California says
The wildfires ravaging Southern California are "causing unhealthy air quality conditions," according to a warning issued by the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
"If you are impacted, stay indoors and wear a mask if you must go outside," the office said in a post to X. "Close all windows, doors and vents."
The government-run AirNow website showed a concentration of unhealthy air over the Los Angeles area as of early Thursday morning, where five major wildfires are currently burning.
7,500 firefighters now deployed to battle fires, Newsom says
More than 7,500 firefighters had been deployed to battle the series of wildfires in California as of Wednesday night, Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a post to X.
Firefighting personnel are "working with local and federal partners to respond to California's ongoing historic wildfires," he said.
"Southern California residents -- please remain vigilant tonight," Newsom added. "Listen to local officials and be ready to evacuate if you're near impacted areas."
373,000 without power in California
At least 373,472 customers were without power across California on Wednesday night as emergency services battled major wildfires in the Los Angeles area.
Los Angeles County is the worst affected, with 207,857 customers disconnected as of 11:15 p.m. PT, according to poweroutage.us.
Another 65,186 customers were without power in Ventura County, 45,664 in Riverside County and 32,826 in San Bernardino County.
Orange County had 7,358 customers without power as of Wednesday night, while 10,805 were disconnected in San Diego County.
-ABC News' Juwon Funes
Tracking active Southern California wildfires
Five major wildfires are currently burning in the Los Angeles area, according to Cal Fire.
The Palisades Fire began in the Pacific Palisades area of the city on Tuesday. It has so far burned 17,234 acres and is at 0% containment. More than 1,000 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
The Eaton Fire, north of Pasedena, began on Tuesday. It expanded to 10,600 acres and is at 0% containment. Five people have died in the fire and up to 500 structures have been damaged or destroyed.
The Hurst Fire in Sylmar, northwest of San Fernando, began on Tuesday and has burned 855 acres. It is at 10% containment.
The Lidia Fire erupted on Wednesday on the northwest edge of the Angeles National Forest. It has grown to 348 acres and is at 40% containment.
The Sunset Fire broke out above West Hollywood on Wednesday. It is at 43 acres and 0% containment.
Sunset Fire in Hollywood Hills grows to 50 acres
The newest wildfire to break out in Los Angeles -- the Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills -- has grown to some 50 acres, but officials said firefighters are making progress getting a handle on the flames.
LAFD spokeswoman Margaret Stewart told KABC that firefighters are in a "much better place" than earlier in the evening because firefighters have been able to do multiple water drops from the air over the flames.
An update from the LA County Sheriff's Department shortly before 8:30 p.m. local time said the most intense fire activity was occurring on the southwestern side of the fire.
"On the eastern side, there are active flames within the interior of the fire, but the perimeter is holding well thanks to a fire road and ground crews in place," the department said.
The blaze in famed Runyon Canyon sparked a mandatory evacuation that affected some iconic Hollywood locations, including the Dolby Theatre, where the Oscars are held, and the Hollywood Bowl.
Biden cancels Italy trip to focus on LA fires
President Joe Biden has canceled his trip to Italy amid the Los Angeles fires, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Wednesday. Jean-Pierre added that Biden will instead "remain focused on directing the full federal response in the days ahead."
The decision comes after Biden returned from the Los Angeles area Wednesday, where he was briefed by local law enforcement. Biden was scheduled to leave for Rome on Thursday and was planning to meet with the Pope and Italian leaders including Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
--ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
LA official compares fire situation to 'a third-world country'
"It's like a third-world country out there," said Kathryn Barger, chair of the LA County Board of Supervisors, characterizing the fires at a press conference alongside LA Mayor Karen Bass just after 5 p.m. PT.
Barger described the Eaton Fire â which was then 10,600 acres with 0% containment â as unlike anything she had ever seen before.
"We are prone to wildfires, but nothing like what I witnessed today,â she said.
The local sheriff's station was evacuated, she added, before telling those impacted: "You are not alone" and instructing the public to lean on one another, to reach out and "love thy neighbor."
At the same press conference, Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Kristin Crowley said that the Eaton Fire was being closely monitored.
"If it does come into the city, we are ready," she said.
Firefighters and first responders remain focused on protecting life and property, she assured, explaining that the wind-driven fires were expected to continue growing into the night.
Her statement came minutes before the Sunset Fire erupted in the Hollywood Hills, adding 10 acres to the total of nearly 27,000 burning in Southern California.
Eaton Fire's origins under investigation
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone appeared at a press conference alongside Mayor Karen Bass and described the origins of the Eaton Fire as "unknown."
He said that it remained under investigation, expressing confidence that those responsible would be caught in the event that foul play was involved.
Over 750 personnel were fighting on the front lines of the Eaton Fire, he said, citing the five deaths, many injuries and over 1,000 structures damaged or destroyed.
As the fires raged on, he said that LA was requesting additional support from both Northern California and the surrounding states, with over 100 units on their way to assist.
Sheriff Robert Luna also spoke at the briefing and emphasized the cooperation taking place throughout and beyond the state to ensure the public's safety. Naming Pasadena and Santa Monica in particular, he said that law enforcement throughout the region was working together and supporting each other's work.
Woodley Fire is under control but massive firefight is ongoing: LA Mayor Bass
Woodley Fire, one of five that had been active throughout the afternoon and spread to over 30 acres, was under control, LA Mayor Karen Bass said at an early evening update on the multiple fires raging throughout the County of Los Angeles.
However, she cautioned, "We are very much still in an active firefight."
The announcement came minutes ahead of a new fire's eruption in the Hollywood Hills: the Sunset Fire.
Fortunately, winds had subsided enough that air support was able to resume, the mayor said, explaining that this effort would make a significant difference in the ongoing fight.
"We are fighting for you," Bass said. She thanked everyone who heeded the call to evacuate and suggested that further orders were likely to come throughout the evening.
Regardless of the hardships and unknowns, she assured the public that she had been in touch with both President Joe Biden and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and said, "They assured me of full federal and state support."
"Make no mistake," she said, "Los Angeles will rebuild."
'Explosive' fire sparks evacuation order for part of Hollywood Hills
The rapidly spreading Sunset Fire in the Hollywood Hills has sparked an evacuation for a heavily populated area of the city.
The immediate evacuation order includes an area bounded by Laurel Canyon Boulevard to the west, Mulholland Drive to the north, the 101 Freeway to the east and down to Hollywood Boulevard to the south, according to the LA Fire Department.
Margaret Stewart, LAFD public information officer, told KABC some 20 additional fire engines were en route, calling it a "very dynamic situation" and an "explosive fire" that has "blown up in Runyon Canyon."
New fire breaks out in Hollywood Hills
A new fire has broken out in the famed Runyon Canyon of Hollywood Hills. It is being referred to as the Sunset Fire.
The Los Angeles Fire Department was surveying the scene for the first time at approximately 5:45 p.m. local time. It then characterized the breakout as approximately 10 acres in size.
Observing the fire in real time, KABCâs Chris Cristi said, "This is the most ominous situation."
Los Angeles cut $17.5M from fire department budget this fiscal year
Seven months before the uncontrolled Palisades Fire in Los Angeles, the cityâs fire department budget for this fiscal year was cut by more than $17.5 million, records show.
Mayor Karen Bass signed the City of Los Angelesâ budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The total budget for the cityâs fire department was $819.64 million.
Records show that for the previous fiscal year, the LAFDâs total budget was $837.2 million. The total budget includes salaries, expenses and equipment.
The city's controller, Kenneth Mejia, posted a graphic on X in October confirming the fire department's budget was cut by $17.6 million. The graphic also showed that the city's police department budget increased by $126 million.
"This budget serves as a reset, in part by continuing to hire for critical positions including police officers and firefighters while eliminating some of the departmentâs vacant positions, thereby prioritizing our City family over empty desks," Bass said in a statement in June.
-Laura Romero
5 schools 'substantially damaged' by Eaton Fire
Five school campuses in Altadena have been "substantially damaged" by the Eaton Fire, according to Pasadena Unified School District Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco.
"We are continuing to assess damage," she said during a press briefing while warning that some schools still remain in the path of the fire.
"We're working together with our city partners to do everything we can to preserve our schools," Blanco said.
All schools in the district will remain closed for the rest of the week, she said.
'We have experienced a tremendous tragedy,' Pasadena mayor says
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo confirmed five people have died and "hundreds of homes have been lost" in the Eaton Fire during a press briefing Wednesday afternoon.
"We have experienced a tremendous tragedy here in our community," Gordo said.
Between 200 and 500 structures have been damaged or lost, according to Pasadena Fire Chief Chad Augustin based on a preliminary assessment.
Miguel MĂĄrquez, the city manager for Pasadena, called firefighters' efforts "heroic" to battle the blaze in 80 mph winds and evacuate the area amid the "brutal conditions."
"They saved many, many lives in the last 22 hours," MĂĄrquez said during the press briefing.
With the fire still burning, officials urged people to follow evacuation orders.
Malibu 'extremely hard it' by Palisades Fire: LAFD
Malibu took an "extremely hard hit" Wednesday afternoon in the Palisades Fire, Los Angeles Fire Department spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz told ABC News Live as the fire continued to burn uncontrolled.
The Palisades Fire is moving both east and west amid high winds, which are hindering firefighting efforts, Lantz said.
"We don't have a handle on it yet," Lantz said.
The fire department has been "overrun" by calls for service, with call volume increasing almost threefold in addition to the fires, Lantz said.
"We have a lot of agencies helping us, coming in from all over California and the western U.S.," she said. "We are extremely grateful for all of that help. But we are fighting against these winds right now ... and still trying to prioritize life safety before we really have any hope of getting a handle on these flames right now."
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Death toll increases to 5 in Eaton Fire: Sheriff
Five people have now died in the Eaton Fire in Altadena, Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna confirmed to ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
Previously, two deaths were reported.
5th fire now burning in Los Angeles County
A fifth fire is now active in Los Angeles County.
The Lidia Fire, which started Wednesday afternoon, has grown to 50 acres in Acton and has spread to the Angeles National Forest with 0% containment, officials said.
LA district attorney addresses looting, scams: 'You will absolutely be punished'
Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan Hochman had a message for those considering taking "criminal advantage" of the devastating wildfire event through looting or scams.
"If you think for a moment that you can take advantage of this right now or over the next weeks, months or years, you are wrong," Hochman told ABC Los Angeles station KABC on Wednesday. "If you go ahead and you want to loot, if you want to steal, if you want to engage in scams on vulnerable people who have just lost their house and their businesses, we're going to arrest you, we're going to prosecute you and you will absolutely be punished."
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department already arrested two individuals for looting Wednesday morning, the district attorney said.
"Again, the thought that they would want to take advantage of people in their most vulnerable situation when they've just lost a house or business, when they're literally evacuating for their lives, is despicable," Hochman told the station.
More than 1.5 million customers without power in California
More than 1.5 million customers are without power in California, including over 956,000 in Los Angeles County.
1 person in critical condition
UCLA Hospitals said it treated and released 21 people suffering from fire-related injuries and has admitted one victim who is in critical condition.
The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services said itâs treating patients suffering from smoke inhalation, but did not confirm how many.
Critics Choice Awards postponed
The Critics Choice Awards, which was set to be held on Sunday, has been postponed.
The ceremony will be held on Jan. 26 in Santa Monica.
"This unfolding tragedy has already had a profound impact on our community. All our thoughts and prayers are with those battling the devastating fires and with all who have been affected," Critics Choice Awards CEO Joey Berlin said in a statement.
Palisades Fire spreads to nearly 16,000 acres
The Palisades Fire has spread to 15,832 acres with 0% containment, according to Cal Fire.
The fire has destroyed at least 300 structures, with 13,306 other structures at risk.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
'I've never seen the winds in my 25-year career': LA fire chief
During the briefing with President Joe Biden, Los Angeles City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley spoke of how unprecedented this fire event is.
"We knew there was a potential for significant threat to our constituents due to the weather event. High-high-high winds. I've never seen the winds in my 25-year career," Crowley said.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell echoed that sentiment.
"What we saw here in the last 24 hours is unprecedented. I've never seen anything like this," he said.
Los Angeles County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone told Biden they are now getting out-of-state resources, specifically from Arizona, Nevada, Oregon and Washington. They also have requested 250 more fire engines and 1,000 personnel to help respond, he said.
-ABC News' Michelle Stoddart
Water tankers positioned to protect Griffith Park
Water tankers and rangers are "positioned and ready" to protect Los Angeles' iconic Griffith Park if needed, a park attendant told ABC News.
The park, home to Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign, is closed until further notice due to the weather conditions.
The Hollywood sign is not in fire danger at the moment, according to Elizabeth Johnson, a member of the Hollywood Sign Trust.
-ABC News' Samira Said
NHL postpones tonight's Los Angeles Kings game
The NHL has postponed Wednesday night's game between the Los Angeles Kings and Calgary Flames, which was scheduled to be held at LA's Crypto.com arena, due to the wildfires.
"The thoughts of the entire NHL family are with the Kings, hockey fans and the people of the Los Angeles area during this difficult time," the NHL said in a statement.
A makeup game will be scheduled.
The NFL is also monitoring wildfires ahead of Monday night's NFC wild card game in Los Angeles, ESPN reported.
-ABC News' Karyn Rodus
Residents urged to conserve water amid 'tremendous demand'
Residents in Los Angeles were urged to conserve water, as firefighters battle multiple wildfires.
"We had a tremendous demand on our system and the Palisades," Janisse Quiñones, the head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, said during a press briefing Wednesday. "We pushed the system to the extreme."
She said they saw four times the normal demand for 15 hours straight, which lowered the water pressure. Two tanks ran out of water on Tuesday, and a third early Wednesday morning, as firefighters battled the Palisades Fire.
"We were not able to fill the tanks fast enough," Quiñones said.
She said they were sending approximately 20 water tanks to support the fire department.
"If there's a message to take away from me today it's I need our customers to really conserve water -- not just in the Palisades area, but the whole system. Because the fire department needs the water to fight the fires, and we're fighting a wildfire with urban water systems, and that is really challenging," Quiñones said.
Biden signed emergency declaration over fires
After being briefed on the four wildfires ablaze in Southern California, President Joe Biden said he signed a major disaster declaration over the California fires on Wednesday.
Biden said he has directed the Department of Defense to provide more firefighting needs and discussed the other resources that are being brought in to help.
He pledged that the federal government will continue to provide support for "as long as it takes."
"Weâre prepared to do anything and everything, as long as it takes, to tame these fires and help ⊠make sure they get back to normal," Biden said, adding, "Itâs going to be a hell of a long way."
Palisades Fire spreads to 11,802 acres
The Palisades Fire has spread to 11,802 acres with 0% containment, according to Cal Fire.
Over 400,000 without power in California
Over 400,000 customers are without power in California, including 260,000 in Los Angeles County.
Jimmy Kimmel Live, Grey's Anatomy among shows suspending production
Jimmy Kimmel Live as well as the dramas Grey's Anatomy and Doctor Odyssey have suspended production amid the fires, according to ABC.
2 Canadian air tankers helping fight fires
Two Canadian air tankers are helping fight wildfires in California, according to Quebec Minister of Public Security Francois Bonnardel.
Bonnardel said in a post on X that California Gov. Gavin Newsom can "count on the government of Quebec" and Quebec's forest fire protection agency for more support if needed.
-ABC News' Victoria Beaule
2 California National Guard teams activated
Two highly trained, 22-person teams from the California National Guard have been called up to assist with the Los Angeles area fires.
"These hand crews have enduring relationships with CAL FIRE throughout the year," Maj. Robert Woodson of the National Guard said in a statement. "As always the California National Guard stands by to support."
Eaton Fire spreads to 10,600 acres
The Eaton Fire has spread to 10,600 acres with 0% containment, according to the U.S. Forest Service.
At least two residents have been reported dead due to the fire. Officials are urging residents to follow evacuation orders.
Nearly 2 dozen school districts close due to fires
Twenty-two of Los Angeles County's 80 school districts are closed Wednesday due to fires and weather conditions in the region, according to the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
These school districts are reporting closures, according to the office:
Alhambra Unified School District Arcadia Unified School District Azusa Unified School District Baldwin Park Unified School District Bonita Unified School District Burbank Unified School District Duarte Unified School District El Monte City School District Glendale Unified School District Glendora Unified School District La Canada Unified School District Las VĂrgenes School District Monrovia Unified School District Mountain View School District Pasadena Unified School District Rosemead School District San Gabriel Unified School District San Marino Unified School District Santa Monica Malibu Unified School District South Pasadena Unified School District Temple City Unified School District Valle Lindo School District
Additionally, several schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District are closed, officials said.
Newsom cancels trip to Carter's funeral
California Gov. Gavin Newsom canceled his trip to Washington D.C., for former President Jimmy Carter's memorial service amid the continued spread of multiple fires in Southern California.
President Joe Biden spoke to Newsom by phone on Wednesday to "receive the latest update on the wildfires across Los Angeles." Biden is still expected to get a briefing later from Cal Fire officials.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell also spoke with Newsom to get an update on the wildfires, according to a FEMA spokesperson. FEMA's regional office in California is in constant communication with California Office of Emergency Services and the agency has deployed a FEMA liaison to their offices as the agency continues to monitor the situation closely.
The regional administrator for FEMA Region IX approved Fire Management Assistance Grants for the Palisades Fire to support the state with the control of the fires.
Vice President Harris' LA neighborhood under evacuation order
Vice President Kamala Harris' Los Angeles neighborhood is under an evacuation order, according to her office.
No one was in the home at the time, Ernie Apreza, a spokesperson for her office, said.
"She and the Second Gentleman are praying for the safety of their fellow Californians, the heroic first responders, and Secret Service personnel," Apreza said on X.
Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, own a home in Brentwood, which Emhoff purchased in 2012 for $2.7 million.
-ABC News' Molly Nagle
Actor Steve Guttenberg says he's moving cars to allow fire trucks in
Actor Steve Guttenberg told "GMA3" he's been moving abandoned vehicles to allow fire trucks in as the fire ravages the Pacific Palisades.
"It's like a parking lot," Guttenberg said. "When people abandon their cars, you've got to leave your keys in there, so guys like me can move them."
Guttenberg said he's been staying at a friend's house, where they have no electricity but is otherwise "doing OK."
"It's just the biggest fire I've ever seen in my life," Guttenberg said. "I got a lot of smoke in my lungs."
While in the Palisades on Tuesday, he said it looked like there was a "volcano" on the sides of the hills.
"Now I never think I'm going to die, but this is one of those moments where I said, 'Oh man, these could be the place I'm going to go,'" he said.
Air quality alert issued for Los Angeles due to wildfire smoke
An air quality alert has been issued for the Santa Monica Mountains, San Gabriel Valley and the Los Angeles County coastal areas due to increased fine particle pollution from wildfire smoke.
The alert will remain in effect until 5 p.m. PST.
"Particles in wildfire smoke can get deep into the lungs and cause serious health problems such as heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks, and difficulty breathing. Everyone can be affected, but people with lung or heart disease, older adults, people who are pregnant, children, and those who spend a lot of time outdoors are at greater risk," according to the South Coast Air Quality Management District.
Los Angeles 'not prepared for this type of widespread disaster'
Los Angeles County and all 29 fire departments in the county "are not prepared for this type of widespread disaster," despite officials prepositioning resources from northern California, according to LAPD Chief James McDonnell.
"There are not enough firefighters in LA County to address four separate fires of this magnitude," McDonnell said.
"The LA County Fire Department was prepared for one or two major brush fires, but not four -- especially given the sustained winds and low humidities. Like our director of emergency management said, this is not a normal red flag alert," McDonnell said.
Over 245,000 customers without power in LA County
At least 245,000 customers were without power as of 8:40 a.m. local time in Los Angeles County, according to poweroutage.us.
Officials urge residents to follow evacuation orders
California officials urged residents to follow evacuation orders to keep themselves and first responders out of danger as the fires continue to grow.
"There is nothing worth your life," LA County Sheriff Robert Luna said at a press conference Wednesday.
Officials said there has been a high number of injuries among those who did not follow evacuation orders.
Palisades Fire spreads to 5,000 acres
The Palisades Fire has spread to 5,000 acres with 0% of the fire contained.
At least 1,000 structures are estimated to have been destroyed in the fire.
2 dead, over 1,000 structures destroyed across LA County
Two civilians are dead and there have been a high number of injuries due to the Eaton Fire, LA County Fire Chief Anthony Marrone said at a press conference Wednesday.
The cause of death for the two people has not yet been determined.
There have also been about 100 structures destroyed in the Eaton Fire.
The cause of the fire is currently unknown and it is under investigation.
Meanwhile, an estimated 1,000 structures have been destroyed in the Palisades Fire, which has grown to 5,000 acres, officials said.
While there are no known deaths, officials said there were injuries due to the fire.
"When they ask you to evacuate, evacuate. This is not a drill," Kathryn Barger, the LA County chair supervisor, said at the press conference.
Eaton Fire grows to 2,227 acres
The Eaton Fire in Los Angeles has grown to 2,227 acres with 0% containment, according to Cal Fire.
Wind gust of 100 mph recorded near Eaton Fire
A wind gust of 100 mph was recorded at 5 a.m. PST at Mountain Lukens in the San Gabriel Mountains, northeast of La Canada Flintridge -- very close to the Eaton Fire -- on Wednesday morning.
It is not only the winds creating dangerous conditions on Wednesday morning, it is also very dry.
In the last eight months, Los Angeles downtown has seen only 0.16 inches of rain. This makes May 6 to Dec. 31 the second-driest period on record.
-ABC Newsâ Max Golembo, Ginger Zee and Kenton Gewecke
Universal Studios Hollywood closed on Wednesday due to fires
Universal Studios Hollywood and Universal CityWalk will be closed on Wednesday due to extreme winds and fire conditions.
"We will continue to assess the situation and expect to open for business tomorrow. The safety of our team members and our guests is our top priority," Universal Studios said in a statement on X.
Over 150,000 customers without power in LA County
At least 150,000 customers were without power as of 6:45 a.m. local time n Los Angeles County, according to poweroutage.us.
Extreme winds making wildfire fight 'extremely difficult,' fire chief says
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Battalion Chief Brent Pascua told "Good Morning America" Wednesday that the "extreme fire activity" and winds of the Palisades blaze is unlike anything he had ever seen.
"For the local residents that may be in the area that are thinking about evacuating, if it's a thought, I would say do it," Pascua said. "The earlier the better. Have that go bag ready, have that emergency plan ready with your family and execute it so you're all safe."
Extreme and "erratic" Santa Ana winds of up to 40 mph are exacerbating the situation, Pascua said. "That makes this fire fight extremely difficult," he added.
The winds, Pascua added, are "spreading fire faster than our crews can get in front of it. Our most important priority is life safety. We're trying to get everyone out of the way. That way we do not have anyone hurt or killed."
Asked if he had ever seen such conditions, Pascua replied, "I have not."
"I have seen a lot of Santa Ana fires get up to 40, 50 miles an hour," he continued. "Last night I saw light poles being blown over, utility poles being blown over just from the wind, not even from the fire."
Santa Ana winds expected to coincide with growing fires
A damaging Santa Ana wind event is set to continue through to Wednesday afternoon coinciding with several growing wildfires in the Los Angeles County area.
Wind gusts of up to 99 mph were recorded in the eastern San Gabriel Mountains, 98 mph in the Santa Monica Mountains and 84 mph at Hollywood Burbank Airport.
An "extreme" fire warning is currently encompassing Malibu, Burnbank, Simi Valley and San Fernando. A "critical" fire danger extends to the east of San Diego.
Los Angeles and Orange Country are subject to "Particularly Dangerous Situation" red flag warnings until 4 p.m. PST Wednesday.
Relative humidity levels also remain below 10% in the area. Los Angeles recorded its sixth driest October to December period on record to close out 2024.
Winds are expected to weaken and relative humidity to climb from Thursday into Friday.
-ABC News' Max Golembo
Hurst Fire expands to 500 acres
The Hurst Fire in Sylmar had expanded to 500 acres as of 1:50 a.m. PT, per an update from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The fire northeast of San Fernando was at zero percent containment, Cal Fire said, with the cause of the blaze still under investigation.
-ABC News' Marilyn Heck
Harris promises more support for California to fight 'devastating' fires
Vice President Kamala Harris said her "heart goes out to all those being impacted by the devastating wildfires in Southern California."
In a Wednesday morning statement, Harris said she and her husband "are praying for our fellow Californians who have evacuated and we are thinking of the families whose homes, businesses and schools remain in harm's way."
"We are deeply grateful for the heroic first responders who are risking their own safety to fight the flames and help keep communities safe," Harris added.
The vice president said she had been briefed on the situation and was receiving "regular updates" on the fires. "I am also urging residents in the affected areas to listen to local officials, remain vigilant and evacuate immediately if told to do so," she added.
The White House is "committed to ensuring that no community has to respond to this disaster alone," Harris said, noting the mobilization of federal resources to suppress the fires and assist those affected.
"As a proud daughter of California, I know the damage that wildfires have on our neighbors and communities," Harris said.
"I also know that the impact is often felt long after the fire is contained. As we respond and as Californians recover, I will ensure that our administration is in constant contact with state and local officials."
-ABC News' Justin Gomez
James Woods recounts 'losing everything at once' in Palisades Fire
Actor James Woods documented the spread of the Palisades Fire into homes in the hills around Los Angeles on Tuesday, writing in posts to X that "all the smoke detectors are going off in our house" as the blaze approached.
"I couldn't believe our lovely little home in the hills held on this long," Woods wrote. "It feels like losing a loved one."
"It tests your soul, losing everything at once," he added.
-ABC News' Marilyn Heck
1,400 firefighters deployed to 'unprecedented' fires, Newsom says
California Gov. Gavin Newsom said more than 1,400 firefighting personnel and hundreds of "prepositioned assets" have been deployed to battle the "unprecedented fires" ravaging parts of Los Angeles.
"Emergency officials, firefighters, and first responders are all hands on deck through the night to do everything possible to protect lives," Newsom said in a post to X.
Hurst Fire burns 100 acres in Sylmar
The Hurst Fire -- burning in Sylmar, north of San Fernando -- expanded to 100 acres as of early Wednesday morning, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said.
Santa Clarita City issued mandatory evacuation orders for four areas of the city -- Newhall Pass, Wildwood, Eternal and Calgrove.
-ABC News' Lissette Rodriguez
Los Angeles schools to close amid fire threat
The Los Angeles County Office of Education reported Wednesday school closures in 19 districts due to spreading wildfires and related weather conditions.
Among them was the Los Angeles Unified School District, which announced that six schools will close on Wednesday "due to the fire activity across the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area."
In a statement, the district said Kenter Canyon Charter Elementary, Canyon Charter Elementary School, Marquez Charter Elementary School, Palisades Charter Elementary School, Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Topanga Elementary Charter School would all be closed.
Los Angeles' Griffith Park will also be closed, while classes at the North Hollywood High School's Zoo Magnet are cancelled, the district announcement said.
"Students at the six closed schools will pivot to continuity of learning where they will have access to academically enriching digital resources," the district said.
Los Angeles Unified said it would "continue monitoring the situation" and, if necessary, extend online learning into Thursday.
"The high winds and red flag warnings will remain through Wednesday and Thursday," it added.
"We urge everyone to be careful and cautious when commuting to school or work, especially in areas with extreme wind and heavy smoke. Please make the right decision for you and do not compromise your safety or security."
Eaton Fire spreads to 1,000 acres
The fire that broke out at about 6:12 p.m. near Eaton Canyon in Pasadena had spread by midnight to about 1,000 acres, the Angeles National Forest said in an update.
-ABC Newsâ Marilyn Heck
Pasadena issues mandatory evacuation orders
The City of Pasadena issued mandatory evacuation orders for the area north of Orange Grove and Rosemead Boulevard, east of Lake Avenue and west of Michillinda Avenue as the nearby Eaton Fire continued to grow.
The city earlier said on its X account that those subject to emergency evacuation orders should go to the Pasadena Convention Center.
The Eaton Fire is burning in the hills northeast of the city, posing a direct threat to the northern suburb of Altadena.
Firefighter injured, 'multiple' people burned in Palisades Fire Erik Scott, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department, said that a 25-year-old female firefighter "sustained a serious head injury" during the response to the devastating Palisades Fire in Los Angeles County on Tuesday evening.
"She received immediate treatment at the scene and was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation," Scott said in a statement posted to X.
Scott also said that "multiple burn victims" were identified "walking toward a nearby restaurant," which he later identified as Dukes.
"Incident operations redirected medical resources to the location to provide evaluation and treatment," he added.
-ABC News' Marilyn Heck
Palisades Fire burning at 5 football fields per minute
With the winds picking up Tuesday evening, the Palisades Fire is burning at the rate of five football fields per minute, according to CalFire.
The winds around the fire are expected to increase to up to 80 miles per hour through the night.
Eaton Fire grows to 400 acres
The Eaton Fire is now at an estimated 400 acres, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
"Firefighters are working aggressively to slow the spread and protect critical infrastructure under extreme conditions," CalFire said in a statement.
Fifteen streets in Altadena are under mandatory evacuation.
LAFD summons off-duty firefighters to help combat multiple fires
The Los Angeles Fire Department called on all of its firefighters to report for duty on Tuesday night as multiple brush fires relentlessly raged on in Southern California.
In a post on X, the LAFD wrote, "All #LAFD members currently off-duty are to call [in] with their availability for recall."
The summons came at approximately 6:30 p.m. local time.
New fire breaks out in eastern Los Angeles
A second fire broke out Tuesday evening, in Altadena, California, located in eastern Los Angeles County.
Fueled by rapid winds, the Altadena-based brush fire quickly grew from 10 acres to 200 acres in just 30 minutes.
The Eaton Fire prompted evacuations as high winds are set to continue overnight, the Angeles National Forest said in a post on X.
Biden urges residents to heed evacuation warnings
President Joe Biden is urging Los Angeles residents to heed evacuation warnings as two wildfires burn out of control.
Biden, who is in Los Angeles, was briefed twice throughout the day Tuesday as the flames spread and "encourages residents in the affected areas to remain vigilant and heed the warnings of local officialsâespecially if ordered to evacuate," the White House said in a statement.
Biden traveled to California for a ceremony to designate two new national monuments.
Evacuation order issued in Santa Monica
The City of Santa Monica issued an evacuation order for all areas of the city north of San Vicente Boulevard.
There is an "Immediate threat to life" in the area due to the Palisades fire, the order warned.
TYLER â Tyler Police are searching for a Plano man for his suspected involvement in a fatal shooting Monday. Officers were dispatched to an apartment complex on Bellwood Lake Road at around 3:05 p.m. in reference to a homicide. When authorities arrived, they reportedly found a woman, later identified as Cheyenne Russell, 26 from Nacogdoches, with multiple gunshot wounds. According to our news partner, KETK, Police have identified the suspect as 29-year-old Jorian Jackson. A warrant for murder with a $1 million bond has been issued for Jackson, and the police department said this was not a random act and Jackson should be considered armed and dangerous.
Authorities say the block Ford F-150 with Texas handicap plate 9PFMW he was believed to be driving was found, but he was not in the vehicle. Anyone who knows his location is asked to contact the Tyler Police Department at 903-531-1000 or for emergency call 911.
(WASHINGTON) -- House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday that cuts to Social Security and Medicare won't be part of the legislative package being worked out to fund President-elect Donald Trump's agenda.
"No, the president has made clear that Social Security and Medicare have to be preserved," Johnson replied when asked if he was open to cutting the programs as part of the spending plans being worked out between House and Senate Republican leaders. "We have to look at all spending while maintaining⊠The Republican Party will not cut benefits."
Johnson said he was to meet with Senate Majority Leader John Thune on Tuesday to discuss ideas for a funding package that Republicans plan to pursue through "reconciliation" -- a fast-track process limited to spending and revenue legislation that needs only a majority rather than the 60-vote threshold in the Senate needed to pass legislation. Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House and a 3-seat majority in the Senate.
Congressional Republicans have yet to decide on a reconciliation plan. Johnson is pushing Trump's desire for "one big, beautiful bill" to fund his agenda but Senate leaders and some conservatives in the House prefer that it be divided into two pieces of legislation.
The negotiated package is expected to include several of Trump's top priorities, which include extending the tax cuts passed during his first term and addressing his immigration reforms, including more funding for Border Patrol and ICE. Trump has also pushed Congress to increase or eliminate the debt limit, though details of any plan remain unclear.
Trump reiterated his preference for one bill when he spoke to reporters on Tuesday, but said he could live with two.
"Well, I like one big, beautiful bill, and I always have, I always will, he said. But if two is more certain, it does go a little bit quicker because you can do the immigration stuff early."
Before Trump spoke, Johnson said he remains convinced that the one-bill strategy is the "best way to go."
"I'm meeting today with Leader Thune about the two ideas," Johnson told reporters outside a closed GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning. "We still remain convinced over here that the one-bill strategy is the best way to go, but there's some senators who have different ideas."
"They're all dear friends and colleagues, and we're going to work on this together. We will get the two chambers united on the same strategy. And I think the president still prefers 'one big, beautiful bill,' as he likes to say, and there's a lot of merit to that -- we could talk about the ins and outs of that maybe at our leadership press conference here."
Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso said one of the key objectives in the meeting with Trump will be attempting to forge a clearer path on reconciliation.
"He's going to be with Senate leadership as well as the entire Senate conference to talk about that exact thing tomorrow and how we get on the same page with the House," Barrasso said.
Barrasso said a two-part plan that would deliver wins for Trump early in his presidency and allow for more time to address tax policy that doesn't expire until the end of the year, but the "goal is the same."
"It was a suggestion by John Thune -- this was before Christmas -- he said 'Let's get an early win on the border.' It was an issue in the election and it is a big issue for the American people and it is a big issue for national security, and we just thought we could get that done in a quicker fashion with a focus on that, on taking the handcuffs off of American energy as well as military strength, and then have the longer time to work on the financial component of this," Barrasso said. "This issues and the urgency of the tax issue doesn't really come into play until l the end of the year to the level that these other issues have the higher urgency right now."
Johnson also said he intends to handle the debt limit -- another Trump priority -- in the reconciliation process, which Republicans could try pass in both chambers without Democratic support.
"That way, as the Republican Party, the party in charge of both chambers, we again get to determine the details of that. If it runs through the regular order, regular process⊠then you have to have both parties negotiating. And we feel like we are in better stead to do it ourselves," he said.
Johnson said members will have "lengthy" sessions to go over the plan for reconciliation since there are "broad opinions" on how to handle it.
"Republicans in this majority in the House and Senate â our intention, our mission is to reduce spending in a meaningful way so we can get, restore fiscal sanity⊠so raising the debt limit is a necessary step so we don't give the appearance that we're going to default in some way on the nation's debt," he added.
Johnson said this does not mean Republicans will "tolerate" spending more to the new debt limit because the "commitment" is to reduce spending, but the final formula has not been determined.
The speaker also told reporters that he'll likely speak with Trump on Tuesday, ahead of the president-elect's visit to Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
"I'm sure I'll speak with him today, probably this afternoon, and when he's in town, I'm sure we'll get together," Johnson said. "He and I both have a very busy schedule. He's trying to jam a lot into that visit on the Hill, so we're sympathetic to that." Johnson said.
Johnson said there will be more discussions on Trump's agenda when he meets with House Republicans at Mar-a-Lago this weekend.
"He's bringing in big groups of House Republicans to Mar-a-Lago over the weekend three days in a row to meet with and talk with all of our team members about what's ahead of us and the challenges and how we can accomplish all this together. So we're very excited about that. The president-elect is excited about it, and we all are as well," Johnson said.
Senate Republicans are preparing to meet with President-Elect Trump in the Capitol tomorrow, and one of their key objectives will be attempting to forge a clearer path about how to proceed with advancing Trump's agenda through a fast-track budget tool called reconciliation, Republican Whip John Barrasso, R-Wyo. said.
"He's going to be with Senate leadership as well as the entire Senate conference to talk about that exact thing tomorrow and how we get on the same page with the House," Barrasso said.
Barrasso said today that the "goal is the same" regardless of whether Congress ultimately proceeds with a one-part bill, as Speaker Johnson and Trump have suggested, or with a two-part strategy championed by Majority Leader Thune.
But he made the case for a two-part plan that would deliver wins for Trump early in his presidency and allow for more time to address tax policy that doesn't expire until the end of the year.
"It was a suggestion by John Thune -- this was before Christmas -- he said 'Let's get an early win on the border.' It was an issue in the election and it is a big issue for the American people and it is a big issue for national security, and we just thought we could get that done in a quicker fashion with a focus on that, on taking the handcuffs off of American energy as well as military strength, and then have the longer time to work on the financial component of this," Barrasso said. "This issues and the urgency of the tax issue doesn't really come into play until l the end of the year to the level that these other issues have the higher urgency right now."
Senate Republicans have slightly more breathing room on these measures than their House colleagues as they have a 3-seat GOP majority. In the House, Johnson might only be able to afford to lose a single Republican, so his preference for one large bill appears to be focused on getting his members together.
"If you put a number of high priority issues together, then people are more apt to vote for the larger package, because even though there may be something in it that doesn't meet their preference, they're not going to be willing to vote against the larger measures that are such, such high priority for the American people and for President Trump," Johnson told Newsmax on Monday.
(PALM BEACH, Fla.) -- President-elect Donald Trump declared in a left-field proposal on Tuesday that his administration will rename the Gulf of Mexico the "Gulf of America" in his latest attack on Mexico.
"We're going to change because we do most of the work there and it's ours," Trump said. "It's appropriate, and Mexico has to stop allowing millions of people to pour into our country," Trump said in a long, winding news conference.
Trump criticized Mexico for the increase of drugs into the U.S. and said that he would make Mexico and Canada pay through "substantial tariffs."
"We want to get along with everybody. But you know ... it takes two to tango," he said.
Shortly after, longtime Trump ally Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene announced on X that she had instructed her staff to begin drafting legislation to change the name of the gulf.
"This is important to begin funding the changing of maps for all agencies within the federal government, like the FAA and the military," she said in her post.
The Gulf of Mexico has been identified by several names through its history, with "Golfo de Mexico" first appearing on maps in the mid-16th century when Spain occupied the areas now known as Cuba to the south, Mexico to the west and the the U.S. states that surround it to the North.
The Gulf of Mexico is one of the largest and most important bodies of water in North America. It's the ninth-largest body of water in the world and covers some 600,000 square miles.
Half of the U.S. petroleum refining and natural gas processing capacity is located along the Gulf of Mexico, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it supplies about 40% of the nation's seafood.
Its more than 17.2 million acres of marsh and nearly 30,000 miles of tidal shoreline draw millions of tourists to the area each year, the NOAA says, and it's home to hundreds of fish species.
Trump's promise to rename the gulf isn't the first.
In 2012, then-Mississippi State Rep. Steve Holland proposed a bill that also would have renamed the gulf into the "Gulf of America," however the Democrat backtracked and said he was joking and using it as a way to criticize his Republican colleagues over their anti-immigrant stances.
"They are trying to really discriminate against immigrants, which offends me severely," Holland told ABC News in 2012. "I just thought if we're gonna get into it, we might as well all get into it, it's purely tongue and cheek."
Stephen Colbert suggested the same name during the 2010 BP oil spill on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report."
(WASHINGTON) -- The House voted at 1 p.m. Tuesday on the Laken Riley Act, passing the bill as its first piece of legislation of the 119th Congress on a vote of 264 to 159.
Forty-eight Democrats voted in favor of the bill.
âLaken Riley was brutally murdered by an illegal alien that President Biden and the Democrats let into this country with their open border policy," House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after the vote. "It is hard to believe after countless horrific stories like Lakenâs, ANY House Democrats would vote against deporting illegal aliens who commit violent crimes against American citizens.
âBut 159 just did, demonstrating some Democrats have ignored the loud and clear message from voters in this election who demanded secure borders, the deportation of violent illegal aliens, and laws that put the safety and security of the American people first," he added.
Reintroduced by Georgia Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican, the legislation pins Riley's death on the Biden administration's open-border policies and grants power to attorneys general to sue the federal government if they can show their states are being harmed over failure to implement national immigration policies. The measure also allows states to sue the Department of Homeland Security for harm caused to citizens allegedly due to illegal immigration.
The bill was named after Riley, a nursing student who was murdered by illegal immigrant Jose Ibarra while jogging on campus at the University of Georgia. Ibarra was sentenced to life in prison for the murder.
"The only thing President Biden did after Laken's tragic death was apologize for calling her murderer an illegal," Johnson said ahead of the vote. "That's outrageous. We all know the real victim here was young Laken. There are real consequences to policy decisions. This one was deadly."
The House previously passed the bill in March by a vote of 251-170, with 37 Democrats voting in favor. The bill was expected to pass again with bipartisan support.
âHouse Republicans heard the voices of those who wanted change and voted to pass the Laken Riley Act," Johnson said Tuesday. "We will always fight to protect Americans, and todayâs success is just the beginning of Republican efforts to undo the catastrophic damage caused by years of the Democratsâ failed leadership.â
The measure now heads to the Senate, where Majority Leader John Thune teed up a procedural vote on the Laken Riley Act, which could occur as soon as this week. It will be one of the first legislative actions taken by the new Senate.
The bill will need 60 votes to advance through the upper chamber. Even with the Republicans' new 53-vote majority, it could prove difficult to court the necessary Democratic support to advance it.
So far, only one Democrat, Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, is reportedly co-sponsoring the bill, which is being led in the chamber by Sens. Katie Britt, R-Ala., and Ted Budd, R-N.C. It is unclear whether there will be requisite Democratic support to clear the Senate.
The Senate, under Democratic leadership last session, never considered the act as a standalone bill. But it previously considered the Laken Riley Act when Senate Republicans forced a vote on it as an amendment to a sweeping government funding package in March. The amendment was considered as a government shutdown loomed, and changes to the bill would have likely forced a government shutdown.
No Democrats voted for it at the time, though it later earned the support of Montana Sen. Jon Tester, who lost reelection to Republican Sen. Tim Sheehy.
(NEW YORK) -- Online holiday shopping soared to a fresh record high in 2024, driven by an array of e-commerce discounts and adoption of AI-fueled shopping assistants, according to data released on Tuesday by Adobe.
E-commerce sales topped $240 billion in November and December, climbing nearly 9% when compared with the gift-buying season a year prior, data showed.
The data indicated that three product categories accounted for more than half of the online holiday spending: electronics, apparel and home goods.
Spending on cosmetics totaled nearly $8 billion, jumping more than 12% compared to a year prior. That marked the largest year-over-year spending increase for any product category, the data showed.
Discounts helped drive strong sales for some high-priced items, Adobe said, pointing to a 20% jump in units sold for expensive goods.
The fresh data indicated a spike in use of shopping assistants powered by generative AI, suggesting the technology has seeped into the retail sectorâs busiest time of the year.
Traffic to retail sites from generative AI-powered chatbots skyrocketed 1,300% over November and December when compared to the same period a year prior, the data showed.
The share of consumers arriving via AI shopping assistants remains modest, however, Adobe said. Shoppers arrived at retail sites via links shared by the chatbots.
âThe 2024 holiday season showed that e-commerce is being reshaped by a consumer who now prefers to transact on smaller screens and lean on generative AI-powered services to shop more efficiently,â Vivek Pandya, a lead analyst at Adobe Digital Insights, said in a statement.
The e-commerce data comes weeks after initial indicators pointed to a robust holiday shopping season.
Overall holiday spending surged in 2024, blowing past expectations and outpacing customer purchases over the gift-buying season last year, according to data released by Mastercard SpendingPulse last month.
The end-of-year flex of consumer strength marks the latest indication of resilient U.S. buying power, which has kept the economy humming despite a prolonged stretch of high interest rates.
Gross domestic product grew at a solid 2.8% annualized rate over three months ending in September, the most recent quarter for which data is available.
The labor market has slowed but proven sturdy. The unemployment rate stands at 4.2%, a historically low figure.
Consumer spending accounts for nearly three-quarters of U.S. economic activity.
The increase in holiday spending coincided with an initial bout of relief for borrowers, as the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a total of one percentage point over the final few months of the year.
However, interest rates still stand at a historically high level of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Lower interest rates typically stimulate economic activity by making it easier for consumers and businesses to borrow, which in turn fuels investment and spending. But interest rate cuts usually influence the economy after a lag of several months, meaning the recent lowering of rates likely had little impact on holiday spending.
GREGG COUNTY — A former Longview ISD employee was sentenced for the abuse against special education students at J.L Everhart Elementary. According to our news partner KETK, Cynthia Denise Talley was sentenced to five years in prison on Tuesday for seven counts of injury to a child with intent to cause bodily injury and one count of unlawful restraint of a minor. Talley is one of six women arrested in 2022 after Longview ISD officials reportedly saw video footage of employees and campus administration mistreating special education students.
