HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle reports a civil rights organization is calling for reform at the Houston Police Department after it hired a former detention officer who resigned from his position at the Harris County Joint Processing Center amid allegations of misconduct, according to a Tuesday news release. The Honey Brown Hope Foundation, a local civil rights nonprofit, said in the release that it will hold a news conference in front of City Hall Thursday at 10 a.m. to demand an “immediate and thorough investigation,” into the department’s hiring policies. Tammie Lang Campbell, the organization’s founder and executive director, told the Chronicle the incident highlighted systemic failures in law enforcement across Harris County.
OTHER ALLEGATIONS: New Houston police assistant chief previously suspended over car auction investigation “Our community is plagued by a crisis: law enforcement recycling of bad officers who are committing crimes and not being held accountable by their superiors.” Campbell said. “Tomorrow, we will expose the shocking reality that law enforcement officers, sworn to protect and serve, are themselves breaking the law. We will shed light on the systemic failures that allow these individuals to operate with impunity.”
(WASHINGTON) -- If Congress fails to pass the continuing resolution to fund the government by Saturday, millions of federal workers could head into the holidays without paychecks. They could be furloughed or be asked to work without pay.
That includes some members of the military, and other critical government workers, such as TSA agents and air traffic controllers, just as the holiday travel craze begins.
Some contractors with the federal government are not guaranteed back pay, like federal employees, which could have devastating consequences for workers living paycheck-to-paycheck.
Despite the efforts to avert the shutdown, plans are still being made in case a deal is not made before Saturday's deadline. The White House's Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has already been in touch with agencies about their plans in case of a government shutdown, an OMB official told ABC News. The official said the initial communication with agencies about their shutdown plans happened last Friday.
That communication is part of OMB's procedure, which is required by law, stating that one week prior to appropriations bills expiring, the office must "communicate with agency senior officials to remind agencies of their responsibilities to review and update orderly shutdown plans" and "share a draft communication template to notify employees of the status of appropriations."
The procedure also states that the White House office must continue communicating with agencies ahead of any anticipated shutdown. The policy states that about two business days before the expected lapse in funding, "agencies should notify employees of the status of funding."
Lawmakers in Congress continue to negotiate a deal that would keep the government funded. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told ABC News on Wednesday that lawmakers had a "productive" late-night meeting in the House Speaker Mike Johnson's office.
"We are going to continue to work through the night to the morning to get an agreement we can bring to the floor," Scalise said, adding that he hoped the House could "get it resolved" on Thursday.
Johnson's original plan called for extending government spending at current levels until March and added other provisions like relief for disaster victims and farmers and a pay raise for members of Congress. That plan is in jeopardy as President-elect Donald Trump and Elon Musk have pushed for Republicans not to accept that deal.
Trump has pushed Republicans to deal with the debt limit before he takes office, saying if they don't, "he'll have to 'fight 'til the end' with Democrats."
In a joint statement Wednesday afternoon, Trump and Vice President-elect JD Vance called on Congress to "pass a streamlined spending bill that doesn't give [Senate Majority Leader] Chuck Schumer and the Democrats everything they want."
ABC News' Rachel Scott, Sarah Kolinovsky and Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
LINDALE – UPDATE: The city of Lindale has now rescinded the boil water notice.
The City of Lindale announced Thursday morning that a boil water notice is in effect. This impacts those using Lindale public water on CR 4191 from 15860 CR 4191 to 15606 CR 4191. Also included in the notice area are residents in Beechwood Circle and Redwood Circle. The boil water notice means those affected need to boil water before consuming. Water should be brought to a rolling boil, then boiled for an additional two minutes.
Once the boil water notice is no longer in effect, city officials will rescind the boil water notice. In the meantime, if you have questions, you may contact City of Lindale Water Utilities at (903) 882-4948 or after hours number (903)882-3313.
Cillian Murphy and Barry Keoghan are all smiles in a new photo from the Peaky Blinders film set.
The pair, co-starring in the upcoming Peaky Blinders movie, grinned together while dressed in the show's traditional flat caps and long coats in a new photo released by Netflix on Thursday.
In the upcoming film, Murphy reprises his role as British gangster Tommy Shelby. In August, it was announced that Keoghan joined the cast of the highly anticipated movie.
Netflix also announced that production has wrapped for the movie, which is described by the streamer as an "epic continuation of the multi-award-winning, six-season gangster saga."
Along with Murphy and Keoghan, the cast includes Dune alum Rebecca Ferguson, Reservoir Dogs actor Tim Roth and Boiling Point actor Stephen Graham.
Murphy portrayed the gangster for six seasons between 2013 and 2022. He stars in the new film for Netflix, which was written by show creator Steven Knight and was directed by series veteran Tom Harper.
Peaky Blinders was set in Birmingham, England, between 1919 and 1934 and centered on Tommy and his family making a name for themselves on the mean streets of England.
(WASHINGTON) -- President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday took credit for killing the House Republican-proposed government funding bill, telling ABC News there will be a government shutdown unless Congress eliminates or extends the limit on government borrowing.
"We're not going to fall into the debt ceiling quicksand," Trump said in an exclusive phone interview. "There won't be anything approved unless the debt ceiling is done with."
Trump said he is concerned that if government borrowing reaches the limit set by the debt ceiling, it could lead to an economic depression. Under current law, the federal government would hit its borrowing limit sometime in the spring of 2025, during the first months of the second Trump presidency. Trump said he wants it taken care of now, while Joe Biden is president.
"By doing what I'm doing, I put it into the Biden administration," Trump said. "In this administration, not in my administration."
"The interesting thing is, [the debt ceiling] possibly means nothing, or it means [the] depression of 1929," Trump added. "Nobody really knows. It means nothing, but psychologically it may mean a lot, right? In other words, it doesn't have a real meaning other than you've violated something. And that may be just, one day, half a story, or it may lead to the depression of 1929 and nobody wants to take the chance, except the Democrats."
Congress must pass a funding bill by Friday night to avoid a shutdown of major federal services.
Trump said he is more concerned about the debt ceiling, which was not part of the spending bill rejected by the House on Wednesday after Trump and ally Elon Musk weighed in, than he is in the level of government spending.
"I don't mind the spending for the farmers and for disaster relief from North Carolina, etc., but that's all," he said, referring to $100 billion in disaster relief aid and $10 billion in assistance to farmers.
When asked about concerns about a potential shutdown, the president-elect reiterated there will be a shutdown if the debt ceiling isn't addressed, and claimed it would be Biden's fault.
"Shutdowns only inure to the person who's president," Trump said. "That's what I tried to teach [former House Speaker] Kevin McCarthy, but I obviously didn't do a very good job [with] a shutdown because he kept giving them extensions into my territory, a shutdown only hurts or inures to the person who happens to be president."
As for House Speaker Mike Johnson's fate, Trump said, "If he's strong, he'll survive it. If he's strong, he will survive it."
PECOS (AP) — Two Union Pacific employees were killed and three people were injured when a freight train collided with a tractor-trailer and derailed in a small West Texas city, authorities said Thursday.
The train derailed around 5 p.m. Wednesday in Pecos after the collision at a railway crossing, authorities said. Union Pacific, based in Omaha, Nebraska, said Thursday that two employees had been killed. Pecos Police Chief Lisa Tarango said the other injuries were minor.
The hazardous materials that were being carried on the train included lithium ion batteries and air bags, but none were released in the derailment, city officials said.
Leaked diesel fuel was contained, officials said.
Ronald Lee, emergency services chief for Reeves County, said that some of those injured were in the Chamber of Commerce building, which was damaged in the derailment. He said damage to the building was “significant enough” that officials have advised that no one enter until an engineer can inspect it.
Railroad safety has been in the spotlight ever since a Norfolk Southern train derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, in early 2023, spilling a cocktail of toxic chemicals and catching fire. Regulators urged the industry to improve safety and members of Congress proposed a package of reforms, but railroads haven’t made many major changes to their operations and the bill has stalled.
Eddie Hall, national president of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen union that represents engineers, said in a statement that the derailment is “a reminder that much more needs to be done to make railroading safer.”
The derailment, he said, “should serve as a wake-up call to legislators to improve rail safety.”
Images from the site of the crash in Pecos show that the train was hauling metal shipping containers that were stacked two high.
Pecos, which has a population of about 13,000, is located about 200 miles (321 kilometers) east of El Paso.
Tarango said the clean-up was underway. The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team to investigate.
NACOGDOCHES– The Nacogdoches County Sheriff’s Office is searching for a man who violated his parole and is considered ‘armed and dangerous.’
According to our news partner, KETK, Ray Allen Drgac, 68, was out on parole for an aggravated kidnapping from 1994. The Nacogdoches sheriff’s office said he’s violated his parole. Officials said that Drgac is around 5 foot and 7 inches tall and that they consider him to be armed and dangerous.
Anyone with information on his location is asked to call Nacogdoches County dispatch at 936-559-2607.
FORT WORTH – The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz defended Lockheed Martin’s F-35 in a recent interview following billionaire Elon Musk’s call to stop funding program. Musk, who has been tapped to lead President-elect Donald Trump’s new Department of Government Efficiency with Vivek Ramaswamy, has criticized the Fort Worth-built fighter jet. In recent posts on his social media company X, Musk said Lookheed Martin’s F-35 program should “stop,” calling it the “worst military value for money in history that is the F-35.” In another post, he said “manned fighter jets are obsolete in the age of drones.” Cruz addressed Musk’s criticisms and expressed support for the program in an interview with WFAA, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram’s media partner.
Cruz said he’s a “big fan” of the F-35. The fighter jet gives provides the U.S. an “enormous advantage against our adversaries,” Cruz said, in the interview that aired on Sunday’s “Inside Texas Politics.” Musk is correct that the country needs to be investing in next generation technology, like hypersonics, drones and drone technology, Cruz said. “There’s a lot of advanced weaponry that we need to be investing in, but I think the F-35 gives us an advantage over every one of our enemies across the globe,” Cruz said. “And if there’s one thing the last four years have shown with the mess of foreign policy that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris created, is that we live in a dangerous world, and we need to be prepared to defend ourselves, and I think the F-35 is a hugely important part of doing that.” Musk, who owns X, Tesla and SpaceX, and Ramaswamy, a billionaire and former Republican presidential candidate, are tasked with recommending federal spending cuts to Trump. The Star-Telegram has reached out to spokespersons at Tesla and Space X seeking Musk’s comment on Cruz’s remarks.
MIDLAND COUNTY(AP) – The blob on the satellite image is a rainbow of colors. An analyst digitally sharpens it and there, highlighted in red, is the source: a concrete oil pad spewing methane.
In the 75,000-square-mile (194-square-kilometer) Permian Basin straddling Texas and New Mexico, the most productive oil and gas region in the world, huge amounts of the powerful greenhouse gas escape from wells, compressor stations and other equipment.
Most efforts to reduce emissions have focused on so-called “super emitters” like the one in the satellite image, which are relatively easy to find with improving satellite imaging and other aerial sensing.
Now researchers say much smaller sources are collectively responsible for about 72% of methane emissions from oil and gas fields throughout the contiguous U.S. These have often gone undetected.
“It’s really (important to) approach the problem from both ends because the high-emitting super emitters are important, but so are the smaller ones,” said James Williams, a post-doctoral science fellow at the Environmental Defense Fund and lead author on a new study that took a comprehensive look at emissions within the nation’s oil and gas basins.
Addressing methane is important because it accounts for about one third of all greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change.
Tackling methane emissions in the Permian is especially challenging because there are more than 130,000 active well sites owned by everyone from family operators to international conglomerates, experts said. Each site can have multiple oil wells.
“The Permian is in many ways the most complicated basin in the world; it’s incredibly dense there … with big, small and everything in between,” said Steve Hamburg, chief scientist at the Environmental Defense Fund.
What’s more, pipelines, processing and other activities often are owned by different companies — with tens of thousands of points where methane might escape, either through leaks or intentional venting.
An Israeli company that used satellite data and artificial intelligence to look for leaks in Midland County, Texas, the heart of the Permian Basin, found 50 separate plumes emanating from 16 of 30 sites it monitored. Most were bleeding over 4,500 kilograms of harmful gas per hour and five exceeded 10,000, far above the Environmental Protection Agency’s super emitter threshold of 100 kg/hr.
But the biggest surprise, “was seeing a lot of small emissions in this very crowded place … so close to each other, so close to an area where people actually live,” said Omer Shenhar, vice president of product at Momentick, which provides satellite-based monitoring to oil and gas companies.
Methane traps over 80 times more heat close to the Earth than carbon dioxide does, ton for ton. What’s more, concentrations have almost tripled since pre-industrial times.
A powerful new satellite called MethaneSAT that launched this year will be able to detect small emissions over wide areas that other satellites can’t. Researchers will also be able to track methane over time in all the world’s major oil-producing basins.
“We’ve never had that,” said the EDF’s Hamburg, who leads the project.
Although the satellite cannot pinpoint those smaller sources, “you don’t need to” because operators on the ground can find the sources, Hamburg said.
In the U.S., oil and gas companies will be required to routinely look for leaks at new and existing sites, including from wells, production facilities and compressor station under a new EPA rule.
The rule also phases out the practice of routinely burning off excess methane, called flaring, and requires upgrading devices that leak methane.
States have until 2026 to develop a plan to implement that rule for existing sources.
Oil and natural gas companies also would have to pay a federal fee per ton of leaked methane above a certain level under a final rule announced last month by the Biden administration, although the incoming Trump administration could eliminate that.
Methane — the primary component of natural gas — is valuable commercially, yet many operators in the Permian regard it as a nuisance byproduct of oil production and flare it because they haven’t built pipelines to carry it to market, Duren and Hamburg said.
Neither the Permian Basin Petroleum Association nor the U.S. Oil & Gas Association responded to requests for comment.
Riley Duren, CEO of the nonprofit Carbon Mapper, who was not involved in the study, said it’s always important to tackle super emitters because they have such an outsize impact. They are often fleeting but not always. Some continue for weeks, months or years.
Everything adds up.
“I think … what percentage of the total comes from a large number of small sources versus super emitters is less important than what do you do with the information,” said Duren. There are “literally thousands and thousands of pieces of equipment and they can blow a leak at any time.”
(NEW YORK) -- Luigi Mangione traveled from Georgia to allegedly stalk and kill UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and said he targeted the health care industry because "it checked every box" -- one of a number of entries in a notebook in which the suspect discussed the plot in the weeks before the brazen crime, according to a federal criminal complaint.
Mangione was hit with four federal charges Thursday, including stalking, a firearms offense involving a silencer and murder through use of a firearm, a charge that makes him eligible for the death penalty.
The federal complaint contains previously unreleased excerpts from the notebook that police said they seized from Mangione. Authorities said the writings "express hostility towards the health insurance industry and wealthy executives in particular."
A special edition of "20/20" airing Dec. 19 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC looks at the murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the manhunt that led to the arrest of Luigi Mangione, who went from the Ivy League to alleged killer.
According to the complaint, an entry marked Aug. 15, 2024, said "the details are finally coming together," and, "I'm glad -- in a way -- that I've procrastinated, bc [because] it allowed me to learn more about [acronym for Company-1]."
In an entry marked Oct. 22, 2024, the writings said, "1.5 months. This investor conference is a true windfall ... and -- most importantly -- the message becomes self evident."
Later on in the entry, the pages describe an intent to "wack" the CEO of one of the insurance companies at its investor conference, the complaint said.
Mangione waived extradition on Thursday morning and was transported via plane and helicopter from Pennsylvania to New York.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch were waiting when Mangione arrived in Manhattan.
Mangione made his initial appearance in federal court in lower Manhattan on Thursday afternoon and answered "yes" to several questions by the judge. Mangione, wearing chinos, a white shirt and black quarter-zip sweater, appeared docile and stone-faced at the defense table. He did not enter a plea.
Mangione's New York lawyer, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, said her client was prepared to appear in state court and complained the federal charges were sprung on them.
"This is a highly unusual situation we find ourselves in," Agnifilo said. "I have never seen anything like that
She said the theories of the two cases appear to be in conflict, noting the state case accused Mangione of terrorizing a group of people while the federal case accused him of stalking an individual.
The judge told the parties to confer.
Mangione’s next court date is Jan. 18.
Mangione will be remanded into custody at MDC Brooklyn, the same federal lockup where Sean "Diddy" Combs is currently jailed.
The federal charges could make Mangione eligible for the death penalty. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison without parole if convicted of the state charges.
Danielle Filson, a spokesperson for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, said this week that "the state case will proceed in parallel with any federal case."
Mangione first appeared in court in Blair County, Pennsylvania, on Thursday morning and agreed to be extradited to New York.
Mangione stood as the judge read him his rights. The Ivy League graduate answered "yes" when asked if he understood and answered "yes" when asked if he wanted to waive extradition.
Spectators gathered outside the Blair County courthouse as Mangione was taken inside.
One person held a sign reading "Deny, Defend, Depose," echoing the words written on shell casings and a bullet at the murder scene.
Adam Giesseman, who had a sign that said "Free Luigi" and "Murder for Profit is Terrorism," told ABC News, "Our country is broken."
Another waiting spectator, who only gave her first name, Natalie, voiced frustration that the insurance system is "set up for profit over people's health."
"It's unfortunate that this happened, and I'm not glorifying it in any way -- but it's brought attention to the issue that affects all Americans," she said.
Mangione, 26, is accused of gunning down Thompson outside a Hilton hotel on Dec. 4 as the UnitedHealthcare CEO headed to an investors conference. Prosecutors alleged Mangione waited nearly an hour for Thompson to arrive.
A Manhattan grand jury upgraded charges against Mangione to include first-degree murder in furtherance of terrorism, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
The killing in the heart of Midtown Manhattan was "intended to evoke terror," Bragg said.
In New York, Mangione is also charged with two counts of second-degree murder, one of which is charged as killing as an act of terrorism; two counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree; four counts of criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree; one count of criminal possession of a weapon in the fourth degree; and one count of criminal possession of a forged instrument in the second degree.
In Pennsylvania, where Mangione was arrested on Dec. 9 after nearly a week on the run, he faces charges including allegedly possessing an untraceable ghost gun. Mangione had a 9 mm handgun with a 3D-printed receiver, a homemade silencer, two ammunition magazines and live cartridges when apprehended, prosecutors said.
Mangione's case in Pennsylvania will be kept active; at the conclusion of his trial in New York, prosecutors would determine how to proceed, Blair County District Attorney Peter Weeks said on Thursday.
Mangione's next hearing in Pennsylvania is scheduled for Feb. 24. This hearing may get postponed or be conducted as a remote Zoom appearance given the impracticality of returning Mangione to Pennsylvania for an in-person hearing, Weeks said.
(NEW YORK) -- A deadly, undiagnosed disease that has been spreading in one region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) may be linked to malaria, health officials said Thursday.
As of Dec. 14, the latest date for which data is available, 592 cases have been reported with 37 confirmed deaths and 44 deaths under investigation, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the public health agency of the African Union.
Over the last week, 181 samples from 51 cases were tested in a laboratory, Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, Africa CDC chief of staff, said during a Thursday press briefing.
Laboratory testing showed 25 out of 29 tested were positive for malaria. Additionally, rapid testing showed 55 out of 88 patients were positive for malaria.
Ngashi said there are two hypotheses: The first is that the undiagnosed disease is severe malaria "on a background of malnutrition and viral infection" and the second is the disease is a viral infection "on a background of malaria and malnutrition."
Malaria is a serious disease caused by a parasite that infects a certain type of mosquito, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most people contract malaria after being bitten by an infected mosquito.
Most cases of malaria occur in sub-Saharan Africa, but it also occurs in parts of Oceania and in parts of Central and South America and Southeast Asia.
Malaria can be deadly if is not diagnosed and treated quickly, the CDC said.
What we know about the disease
The disease first appeared in a remote area in the province of Kwango, in the southwestern part of the DRC on the border with Angola, according to Africa CDC.
The first case was documented on Oct. 24. Patients have been experiencing flu-like symptoms including fever, headache, coughing and difficulty breathing as well as anemia, Africa CDC said during a press briefing earlier this month.
A plurality of cases, or 42.7%, have occurred in children under 5 years old. This age group also has the largest number of deaths, with 21 so far, data from Africa CDC shows. Children between ages 5 and 9 make up the second highest number of cases
Africa CDC said in a post on X earlier this month that it took five to six weeks after the first case was reported for local authorities to alert the national government, highlighting "gaps in Africa's disease detection systems: limited surveillance, testing delays & weak lab infrastructure."
-ABC News' Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
The first teaser trailer for the upcoming James Gunn-directed Superman film was released on Thursday.
The teaser from DC Studios gives fans their first taste of what to expect in the film starring David Corenswet as Clark Kent/Superman and Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane.
DC Studios teased the trailer ahead of its release with a new look at Corenswet in full superhero gear on Monday and a new look at Brosnahan's intrepid reporter on Wednesday.
Gunn first announced he was taking on the project in March 2023. He shared a photo with the cast of the upcoming film earlier this year, following a table read.
Along with Corenswet and Brosnahan, the upcoming film will also star Nicholas Hoult as Superman's archnemesis Lex Luthor, Skyler Gisondo as Jimmy Olsen, Sara Sampaio as Eve Teschmacher and María Gabriela de Faría as Angela Spica/The Engineer.
The cast also includes Isabela Merced, who plays Hawkgirl; Edi Gathegi, who plays Mister Terrific; Anthony Carrigan, who plays Metamorpho; Nathan Fillion, who plays Guy Gardner/Green Lantern; and Wendell Pierce, who plays Daily Planet Editor-in-Chief Perry White.
Pruitt Taylor Vince and Neva Howell play Clark's adoptive human father and mother, Jonathan and Martha Kent, respectively. Alan Tudyk is also cast in an undisclosed role.
UPDATE:A second earthquake registering 2.6 magnitude hit on the shore of Caddo Lake near the Longhorn Army Ammunition Plant. This was just south of the first event shortly after lunchtime Thursday.
HARRISON COUNTY – The U.S. Geological Survey has reported that a 3.3 magnitude earthquake happened near Uncertain in Harrison County on Thursday. According to our news partner KETK, the earthquake reportedly struck at 6:15 a.m. on Thursday 5 kilometers beneath Caddo Lake near Uncertain, on the Texas side of the Texas-Louisiana border. According to the USGS, the quake was reportedly felt in Shreveport and Longview.
