ABC News Live Rundown: Friday, February 24, 2023
Stay up to date on the developing stories making headlines.
Stay up to date on the developing stories making headlines.
At least three people are dead and dozens have been hospitalized after a tornado outbreak moved through Arkansas on Friday night, local officials told ABC News. More than 28 million people across the South and Midwest are under a tornado watch, according to the National Weather Service. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders declared a state of emergency due to Friday's severe weather and activated the National Guard to assist state and local law enforcement.
The Justice Department on Friday announced the arrest of an Ohio man who allegedly sought to burn down a local church planning to host two drag show events this weekend. Prosecutors have charged 20-year-old Aimenn Penny with one count of malicious use of explosive materials and one count of possessing a destructive device. The Cleveland Field Office of the FBI gathered information that Penny was part of a White Lives Matter group that espouses racist, pro-Nazi and homophobic views.
The nine service members killed in two helicopter crashes earlier this week have been identified by the U.S. Army. The two Black Hawk helicopters were on a "routine training mission" when they crashed Wednesday night near Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Five service members were aboard one of the helicopters, and four were on the other, when the crash happened.
The clock is ticking for lawmakers to address Social Security's financial shortfall before Americans begin to see their checks reduced. The Old Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund, which is the trust fund for retirees, will only be able to make full payments until 2033 -- also a year earlier than previously projected -- the report stated. Medicare also faces serious financial headwinds but received slightly better projections in the newest report.
The judge overseeing Dominion Voting Systems' billion-dollar defamation suit against Fox News, in a major ruling Friday, ordered that the case will go to trial, rebuffing efforts by Fox to have it dismissed before a Delaware jury is seated in mid-April. Dominion's $1.6 billion suit accuses Fox News of knowingly pushing false conspiracy theories about the voting machine company in the wake of the 2020 election, in order to combat concerns over ratings and viewer retention. Attorneys for Fox News and Dominion presented arguments last week in dueling summary judgment motions each side had submitted earlier.
Self-proclaimed image architect Law Roach continues to take the fashion industry by storm. Since then, he's been busy, walking in Hugo Boss' Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show, working with Valentino, spending some well-deserved quality time with family -- and now, partnering with T.J. Maxx to spotlight designer offerings from the brand's "The Runway" collection. The Runway is T.J. Maxx's premium designer shop that features high-end fashion finds at accessible prices all year long.
The counsel for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg on Friday urged House Republicans to denounce former President Donald Trump's attacks on Bragg's office, saying they are collaborating with him to undermine his criminal probe. "You and many of your colleagues have chosen to collaborate with Mr. Trump's efforts to vilify and denigrate the integrity of elected state prosecutors and trial judges," the attorney for Bragg said in letter to Reps. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio., Bryan Steil, R-Wis., and James Comer, R-Ky. The three are chairmen of House committees probing the DA's investigation into Trump.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said multiple investigators in East Palestine, Ohio, fell ill while studying possible health impacts from the train derailment last month. Residents of the town and the surrounding area had been complaining of symptoms such as lethargy and headaches ever since a Norfolk Southern train derailed Feb. 3, releasing vinyl chloride, ethyl acrylate and isobutylene into the environment -- chemicals considered to be very toxic, possibly even carcinogenic with high exposure. First reported by CNN and confirmed by ABC News, seven investigators from the CDC and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry -- part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services -- started experiencing symptoms.
The head of a police union in the San Francisco Bay Area faces federal charges for allegedly smuggling thousands of synthetic opioids into the U.S. from multiple countries with the intent to distribute them. San Jose Police Officers Association Executive Director Joanne Marian Segovia, 64, has been charged with attempt to unlawfully import a controlled substance -- specifically valeryl fentanyl, a fentanyl analog -- according to a complaint filed in federal court earlier this week. Between 2015 and 2023, Segovia received 61 shipments that were labeled "Wedding Party Favors," "Shirts Tops," "Gift Makeup," "Chocolate and Sweets," "Food Supplement," "Health Product" and "Supplement," originating from countries including Hong Kong, Hungary, India and Singapore, according to the complaint.
The first assistant director for "Rust" has been sentenced to six months unsupervised probation as part of a plea deal in connection with the fatal on-set shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. David Halls, 63, was charged with negligent use of a deadly weapon in connection with the October 2021 shooting on the Santa Fe set of the Western. Halls had handed a Colt .45 revolver to Alec Baldwin that fired while the actor was practicing a cross-draw, striking Hutchins.
An orangutan at a Virginia zoo relied on a fellow mother, a human, to teach her how to breastfeed. The orangutan, named Zoe, did not have natural maternal instincts because she was orphaned at 9 months old when her mother died unexpectedly, according to Jessica Gring, a lead zookeeper at the Metro Richmond Zoo, where Zoe was born and raised. Zoe failed to nurse her first baby, a boy named Taavi, properly, and zookeepers had to step in and hand-raise the now 2-year-old orangutan.
Gabrielle Union and Zaya Wade turned heads in glowing looks at the 2023 GLAAD Media Awards on Thursday. Union dazzled in a vibrant hooded Moschino gown covered in colorful beadwork and embroidery while Zaya went for a Miu Miu matching set that included a jacket and mini skirt. While on the red carpet, Union spoke up about supporting Zaya, who is transgender, and whose father is former NBA star Dwyane Wade.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden touched down in Mississippi on Friday, nearly a week following a severe string of tornadoes that tore through the South left at least 26 dead. The first couple toured Rolling Fork, Mississippi, a delta-region city pummeled by a tornado which was later assigned the rare and powerful classification rating of EF-4. The president approved disaster relief for the state on Sunday.
Following Donald Trump's unprecedented indictment by a Manhattan grand jury Thursday, the former president begins the first steps in the criminal justice process. The Manhattan district attorney's office said it has been in contact with Trump's attorneys to arrange Trump's surrender to authorities in order to begin criminal proceedings. Trump, a Florida resident, will have to travel to New York City to adhere to the court's deadline and be processed by authorities before heading to court for the unsealing of the indictment.
Former South African Olympic and Paralympic runner Oscar Pistorius had his parole denied following a board hearing Friday. The hearing took place in Atteridgeville Correctional Centre on the outskirts of Pretoria, South Africa, where Pistorius has been incarcerated since 2016. Pistorius was convicted of murder in the shooting death of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
Following the deadly school shooting at a private Christian elementary school in Nashville Monday, one teacher has turned to social media to ask fellow educators what they do to prepare for emergencies such as an active shooter incident. Erica Rogers teaches preschoolers at a Baptist church in North Carolina and said for her, this latest school shooting seemed to hit closer to home given the parallels she saw in what unfolded in the Tennessee capital and her everyday life. "After learning about Monday's shooting in Nashville, it just kind of really triggered me," Rogers, 28, told "Good Morning America."
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against Norfolk Southern seeking to hold the railroad company accountable for the derailment last month in East Palestine, Ohio, and its toxic aftermath, according to court records. The civil lawsuit on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency seeks injunctive relief and monetary penalties from Norfolk Southern for the response costs to the Feb. 3 derailment, including a nearly $65,000 fine for every day it violated clean water laws. The derailment and its aftermath have sparked a firestorm of criticism and concerns from residents about their health.
Pope Francis is expected to leave the hospital Saturday morning after spending three days recovering from bronchitis, according to the Vatican press office. "His Holiness's return home to Santa Marta is expected for tomorrow, dependent on his latest medical test results carried out this morning," director of the Holy See press office, Matteo Bruni, said in a statement Friday morning. Bruni said the pontiff's hospital stay has gone well "with normal medical progress."
Mourners will gather on Friday for the first of six funerals in the wake of Monday's mass shooting at The Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, Tennessee. Friends and family of 9-year-old victim Evelyn Dieckhaus were asked to wear pink and green to her funeral service on Friday afternoon. The service for 9-year-old victim Hallie Scruggs will be on Saturday.
The unprecedented indictment of former President Donald Trump in New York has thrust the top prosecutor in Manhattan into the spotlight. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg Jr., a Harvard grad and New York native, picked up the investigation into Trump that never got off the ground during his predecessor's tenure. Bragg has had a storied career in the New York courts and have been involved in various high-profile cases.