In a decision that could complicate Gov. Gavin Newsom’s push to build a giant water tunnel and remake California’s water system, a state appeals court has rejected the state’s plan for financing the project.
The 3rd District Court of Appeal ruled against the state Department of Water Resources’ plan to issue billions of dollars in bonds to build the 45-mile tunnel beneath the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.
The decision is a win for California ratepayers and taxpayers, said Roger Moore, a lawyer representing six counties in Northern California and two water agencies in the Delta region.
He said it underlines that state agencies “have to take real steps to make sure that there is transparency and accountability.”
Upholding a 2024 decision by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge, the court ruled the water agency does not have the authority under a 1959 law to issue bonds for a new “unit” of the State Water Project, which delivers water from the Delta to farms and cities, and “exceeded its delegated authority” in planning to finance the tunnel through bonds.
Kirsten Macintyre, a spokesperson for the department, said the court didn’t say the Department of Water Resources lacks the authority to build the project or borrow funds to pay for it, but rather that the description the state presented in the case was “overly broad.”
“While DWR respectfully disagrees with that conclusion, we have taken additional steps to resolve the issue,” she said in an email.
Last year, the agency opened a second court case in an effort to confirm its bond-issuing authority, a step that Macintyre said was taken to “address the court’s concerns.”
If the appeals court decision stands and the ongoing case doesn’t bring a different conclusion, it might lead the Newsom administration to revise its plan for financing the project. Officials could also petition for the California Supreme Court to hear the case.
State officials have said that the tunnel, called the Delta Conveyance Project, ultimately would be paid for by participating water agencies that agree to repay the bonds.
The tunnel would create a second route to transport water from new intakes on the Sacramento River to the south side of the Delta, where pumps send water into the aqueducts of the State Water Project.
The system of aqueducts and pipelines transports water from the Delta to 27 million people in cities from the Bay Area to San Diego, and to 750,000 acres of farmland.
In 1960, California voters approved bonds for the construction of the State Water Project. Legislation in 1959 had given DWR the authority to build the Feather River Project, an initial component of the State Water Project.
But in the ruling last week, the court said DWR officials were wrong to rely on that provision. The three judges said it doesn’t allow the agency to issue bonds “under the guise of a ‘further modification’” of that original water system.
Newsom has said the project is essential for the state’s future and has made it a central priority of his administration.
State officials and supporters of the project have said the tunnel would modernize the state’s water system for more severe droughts and deluges with climate change, and would withstand sea level rise and the risks of a major earthquake in the region.
Opponents, including environmental advocates, fishing groups and tribal leaders, argue the project would harm the Delta’s communities and ecosystem, and further threaten native fish that are already in decline.
A search is underway in Alabama for a missing child who authorities believe is in danger.> > WATCH VIDEO OF THE SEARCH SCENE HERE:The Walker County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public to stop searching for a missing 5-year-old believed to be in danger because of explosives and booby traps found on the property in the area.Johnathan Everett Boley, 5, was last seen about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 7000 block of Highway 195 in Jasper. He was originally reported to be four years old, but the sheriff updated his age to five.Sheriff Nick Smith said the boy was living with his father, who reported him missing at about 1 p.m. The mother moved to Florida one year ago and the father is given five days each year for visitation. The child went missing during visitation, according to the sheriff.The boy weighs 50 pounds, has blond hair, blue eyes and was wearing a yellow Mickey Mouse shirt, black pants and “Paw Patrol” shoes, authorities said.Johnathan may be with the black Labrador Retriever seen in this photo. That dog is also missing.Explosives foundHis father was taken into custody after explosive devices were found on the property.Deputies were planning to execute a search warrant at the father’s home on Wednesday, but called off that search after finding what they called “unusual explosive devices” on the property.Authorities released photos of the explosives, described as pipe bombs, found on the property.The father is former military and neighbors said they have heard explosions for weeks.There was one reported Wednesday, but officials cannot confirm if that is connected to the missing child.The FBI explosives team is on the scene.The searchOfficials are still continuing the search. Agencies have been using drones and tracking dogs to search for the 5-year-old boy. A helicopter from Montgomery is also being used.Divers were brought in on Thursday to search some ponds around the house.The sheriff asked anyone with a doorbell camera or game camera to check their video to see if the child is on it.Anyone with information is asked to contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at 205-384-7218 or call 911.
JASPER, Ala. —
A search is underway in Alabama for a missing child who authorities believe is in danger.
> > WATCH VIDEO OF THE SEARCH SCENE HERE:
The Walker County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public to stop searching for a missing 5-year-old believed to be in danger because of explosives and booby traps found on the property in the area.
Johnathan Everett Boley, 5, was last seen about 11:30 a.m. Wednesday in the 7000 block of Highway 195 in Jasper. He was originally reported to be four years old, but the sheriff updated his age to five.
Sheriff Nick Smith said the boy was living with his father, who reported him missing at about 1 p.m. The mother moved to Florida one year ago and the father is given five days each year for visitation. The child went missing during visitation, according to the sheriff.
The boy weighs 50 pounds, has blond hair, blue eyes and was wearing a yellow Mickey Mouse shirt, black pants and “Paw Patrol” shoes, authorities said.
Johnathan may be with the black Labrador Retriever seen in this photo. That dog is also missing.
Walker County Sheriff’s Office
Explosives found
His father was taken into custody after explosive devices were found on the property.
Deputies were planning to execute a search warrant at the father’s home on Wednesday, but called off that search after finding what they called “unusual explosive devices” on the property.
Authorities released photos of the explosives, described as pipe bombs, found on the property.
The father is former military and neighbors said they have heard explosions for weeks.
There was one reported Wednesday, but officials cannot confirm if that is connected to the missing child.
The FBI explosives team is on the scene.
The search
Officials are still continuing the search. Agencies have been using drones and tracking dogs to search for the 5-year-old boy. A helicopter from Montgomery is also being used.
Divers were brought in on Thursday to search some ponds around the house.
The sheriff asked anyone with a doorbell camera or game camera to check their video to see if the child is on it.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Walker County Sheriff’s Office at 205-384-7218 or call 911.
A prominent Imperial Valley farmer charged with killing his estranged wife was extradited to Arizona on Tuesday, where bail has been set at $5.5 million.
Michael Abatti, 63, was arrested on Dec. 23 for allegedly killing Kerri Ann Abatti, 59. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder on Wednesday in Navajo County Superior Court.
An Imperial County Sheriff’s Office booking mugshot of Michael Abatti.
(Imperial County Sheriff’s Office)
Once bail is posted, Abatti will be allowed to return to El Centro — where he lives and where he can receive ongoing medical treatments, according to his attorneys, Owen Roth and Danielle Iredale. He is required to surrender his passport, and will be allowed limited travel to Arizona and Wyoming, where the Abattis own property.
Kerri Abatti was shot in her home in the Arizona town of Pinetop-Lakeside at around 9 p.m. on Nov. 20, authorities say. An autopsy report shows she was shot once in the head. The shot came from outside her house and went through a window.
Her nephew found her after hearing a loud bang, and called 911, according to autopsy reports. She died while being taken to a hospital in Show Low, which is roughly 10 miles from Pinetop-Lakeside.
According to the couple’s divorce filings, the Abattis had been embroiled in a bitter feud about the amount of financial spousal support Kerri Abatti was owed following the separation. Kerri Abatti left her husband and their El Centro home in August 2023 after 31 years of marriage.
While he was on a fishing trip, she left for Pinetop-Lakeside, where the couple owned a 7,000 sq. ft. home on a 14-acre lot.
Kerri Abatti grew up in Pinetop-Lakeside; it is where her parents, siblings and extended family reside.
The couple have three adult children who live in California and Nevada.
Photos of Michael Abatti taken Wednesday in Navajo County show him shirtless and wearing a suicide vest.
His attorneys told The Times on Monday that he had surrendered to authorities in El Centro when he learned of the arrest warrant. He also waived his right to extradition.
At a press conference on Monday, Navajo County Sheriff David Clouse told reporters his detectives “had strong reason to believe that Mr. Abatti had traveled from El Centro, Calif., on Nov. 20 to Pinetop, Ariz., committed the homicide and traveled back to California.”
A pre-trial conference and release hearing is scheduled for March 17 in Navajo County.
A woman was arrested after deputies caught her in the process of an apparent murder-suicide with her great-granddaughter Monday, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies said the woman, Deborah Collier, 69, was charged with attempted first-degree murder. It all started when Collier’s family found a suicide note. Deputies began looking for her after she left her home in the Daytona Park Estates area of DeLand and left behind a suicide note.A VSO deputy spotted her vehicle and conducted a traffic stop for a well-being check. Collier was located behind the wheel, while her 13-year-old great-granddaughter was unconscious in the passenger seat, according to the VSO. Deputies said the child had white pill residue on her and found her totally unresponsive. Inside Collier’s purse, authorities found prescription pills and a typed note explaining she was ending her and her great-granddaughter’s lives to spare the family further stress.Detectives learned that the victim requires 24-hour care due to her disabilities. Collier and her husband were her sole guardians since birth. VSO said the demands of caretaking have contributed to significant stress in the family.Because Collier opposed placing the victim in an assisted living facility, she acted out of desperation and decided to end both her great-granddaughter’s life and her own, according to deputies. Collier believed that no one would care for her like family.Deputies said she was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail and is currently being held without bond.If you or someone you know needs help, you can talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988, or you can chat online here.
VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. —
A woman was arrested after deputies caught her in the process of an apparent murder-suicide with her great-granddaughter Monday, according to the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies said the woman, Deborah Collier, 69, was charged with attempted first-degree murder.
It all started when Collier’s family found a suicide note.
Deputies began looking for her after she left her home in the Daytona Park Estates area of DeLand and left behind a suicide note.
A VSO deputy spotted her vehicle and conducted a traffic stop for a well-being check.
Collier was located behind the wheel, while her 13-year-old great-granddaughter was unconscious in the passenger seat, according to the VSO.
Deputies said the child had white pill residue on her and found her totally unresponsive.
Inside Collier’s purse, authorities found prescription pills and a typed note explaining she was ending her and her great-granddaughter’s lives to spare the family further stress.
Detectives learned that the victim requires 24-hour care due to her disabilities. Collier and her husband were her sole guardians since birth.
VSO said the demands of caretaking have contributed to significant stress in the family.
Because Collier opposed placing the victim in an assisted living facility, she acted out of desperation and decided to end both her great-granddaughter’s life and her own, according to deputies.
Collier believed that no one would care for her like family.
Deputies said she was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail and is currently being held without bond.
If you or someone you know needs help, you can talk with the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline by calling or sending a text message to 988, or you can chat online here.
17-year-old shot, killed in Orange County, deputies say
WESH TWO NEWS STARTS NOW WITH BREAKING NEWS. WE WANT TO GET TO THAT BREAKING NEWS TONIGHT. A 17 YEAR OLD HAS DIED AFTER A SHOOTING IN ORANGE COUNTY. ORANGE COUNTY DEPUTIES SAY THEY WERE CALLED TO THE AREA OF 26TH STREET NEAR ORANGE BLOSSOM TRAIL AT AROUND 9:00 THIS EVENING. THAT’S WHERE WE FIND WESH TWO. DAVID JONES, HE IS LIVE THERE RIGHT NOW. AND DAVID, IT IS STILL A VERY ACTIVE SCENE. THERE. LUANA IT IS JUST AWFUL NEWS THIS HOLIDAY SEASON, AS THE ORANGE COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE SAYS, ANOTHER TEENAGER HAS BEEN SHOT AND KILLED. OCSO HAS BEEN OUT HERE SINCE ABOUT 9:00 THIS EVENING. YOU CAN SEE A LARGE CONTINGENT OF DEPUTIES AND DETECTIVES. ALL OF RIO GRANDE HAS BEEN BLOCKED OFF HERE AT 26TH STREET, WHERE JUST A FEW BLOCKS FROM I-4 AND OBT, THEY ORIGINALLY RESPONDED OUT HERE ABOUT A SHOOTING. AND WHEN THEY GOT ON SCENE, THEY FOUND A 17 YEAR OLD BOY HAD BEEN SHOT. HE WAS TAKEN TO THE HOSPITAL WHERE HE DIED. THE SHOOTING FOLLOWS A SEPARATE SHOOTING ON CHRISTMAS EVE THAT ALSO TOOK THE LIFE OF ANOTHER 17 YEAR OLD BOY, AND A SHOOTING ON CHRISTMAS DAY, WHERE A 15 YEAR OLD BOY SHOT AND KILLED A 13 YEAR OLD GIRL AND TOLD DEPUTIES IT WAS ACCIDENTAL. OF COURSE, IT’S TOO FAR, TOO EARLY FOR OCSO TO RELEASE AN IDENTITY OF THE VICTIM IN THIS SHOOTING. BUT WE WILL, OF COURSE, BE FOLLOWING THIS AND BRING YOU UPDATES AS WE RECEIVE THEM. FOR NOW, C
A 17-year-old is dead after being shot Sunday evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office. Deputies responded to a shooting call in the 1500 block of 26th Street at approximately 9 p.m.Once on the scene, deputies found the teenager with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a hospital where he later died, according to the report. The investigation is in its early stages, and authorities have not released any further information.>> This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is released.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. —
A 17-year-old is dead after being shot Sunday evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a shooting call in the 1500 block of 26th Street at approximately 9 p.m.
Once on the scene, deputies found the teenager with a gunshot wound. He was transported to a hospital where he later died, according to the report.
The investigation is in its early stages, and authorities have not released any further information.
>> This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is released.
Imani Smith, who once played a young Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King” on Broadway, died on Sunday after she was found with stab wounds at a home, according to the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office.Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2025She “had her whole life ahead of her,” a GoFundMe account set up by Smith’s aunt, Kira Helper, said. “She was a vivacious, loving and fiercely talented person.”On December 21, just after 9:15 a.m., authorities in Edison, New Jersey, received a 911 call about a stabbing, according to a release.”Upon their arrival to a residence on Grove Avenue, they discovered Imani Smith, 26, of Edison with stab wounds,” the release said. Smith was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she was declared dead.Officials have arrested Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, of Edison, in connection with Smith’s death. Authorities said the two knew each other before the incident and described it as “not a random act of violence.”Smith’s father, Rawni Helper, said in a phone call with CNN Saturday that Jackson-Small is the father of Smith’s 3-year-old son.Jackson-Small is facing several charges, authorities said, including first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is currently being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center according to jail records.CNN has reached out to his attorney at the Middlesex County public defenders office for commentSmith worked from 2011 to 2012 for Disney’s “The Lion King,” Broadway’s third-longest running show, according to Playbill.The former child actress is survived by her son, “her parents, her two younger siblings, and an extended family, friends, and community who loved her so very much,” the GoFundMe said.”A true triple-threat performer, she most notably played the role of Young Nala on Broadway in Disney’s Lion King — an experience that reflected the joy, creativity, and light she put into the world,” the post, which has raised more than $70,000, said.CNN’s Sarah Dewberry contributed to this report.
CNN —
Imani Smith, who once played a young Nala in Disney’s “The Lion King” on Broadway, died on Sunday after she was found with stab wounds at a home, according to the Middlesex County, New Jersey, Prosecutor’s Office.
Video above: Remembering those we lost in 2025
She “had her whole life ahead of her,” a GoFundMe account set up by Smith’s aunt, Kira Helper, said. “She was a vivacious, loving and fiercely talented person.”
On December 21, just after 9:15 a.m., authorities in Edison, New Jersey, received a 911 call about a stabbing, according to a release.
“Upon their arrival to a residence on Grove Avenue, they discovered Imani Smith, 26, of Edison with stab wounds,” the release said. Smith was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital, where she was declared dead.
Officials have arrested Jordan D. Jackson-Small, 35, of Edison, in connection with Smith’s death. Authorities said the two knew each other before the incident and described it as “not a random act of violence.”
Smith’s father, Rawni Helper, said in a phone call with CNN Saturday that Jackson-Small is the father of Smith’s 3-year-old son.
Jackson-Small is facing several charges, authorities said, including first-degree murder and third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose. He is currently being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center according to jail records.
CNN has reached out to his attorney at the Middlesex County public defenders office for comment
The former child actress is survived by her son, “her parents, her two younger siblings, and an extended family, friends, and community who loved her so very much,” the GoFundMe said.
“A true triple-threat performer, she most notably played the role of Young Nala on Broadway in Disney’s Lion King — an experience that reflected the joy, creativity, and light she put into the world,” the post, which has raised more than $70,000, said.
A 16-year-old boy was killed and four others were injured during a Christmas Day shooting in Lancaster, authorities said Thursday night.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that deputies responded to the 1000 block of E. Angela Court, a suburban street that ends in a cul-de-sac lined with single-family homes with red tile roofs and two-car garages. The incident was reported shortly after 1:00 p.m.
They discovered the 16-year-old at the scene of the shooting, where he was declared dead. A 17-year-old girl, 15-year-old boy and two men, 19 and 29, the statement said, were taken to a local hospital with “non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.”
The department said in an email late Thursday that “[a]t this time we don’t expect any other updates.”
The department is asking anyone with information about the shooting to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homicide Bureau at (323) 890-5500. To report a tip anonymously, call “Crime Stoppers” at (800) 222-TIPS (8477), download the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP on Google play or the Apple App Store, or visit lacrimestoppers.org.
A La Jolla woman who previously pleaded guilty to trying to pay an undercover detective $2 million to kill her husband was found dead last week, authorities said.
Tatyana Natasha Remley, 44, died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head on Dec. 18, according to the San Diego medical examiner’s office. She died at Piazza della Famigia, a public square in the heart of Little Italy, on 523 W. Date St. in San Diego.
Remley’s body was found outside a bar, according to witnesses. Soon after the incident last week, police responded to the scene and covered her body with a yellow tarp.
David Ohara, an eyewitness to the incident, later described what he saw on X.
“I just witnessed a suicide,” Ohara wrote. “The young lady shot one time in the air and then turned the gun on herself.”
Court records show that Remley had two run-ins with the law, one dating back to 2023 and another in September of this year.
On July 11, 2023, Remley filed for divorce from her estranged husband, Mark Remley, who was 57 years old at the time. The couple, who married in 2011, produced an equine-human acrobatics show called Valitar.
The show, set to premiere at the Del Mar Fairgrounds, was canceled “due to poor ticket sales and artistic differences with some of the performers,” according to an article from the Coast News Group in 2012.
Some employees told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2012 that the Remleys rushed the production and failed to pay performers for about a month.
But court records revealed that the couple was well off, owning six homes at one point. According to the Union-Tribune, Mark Remley bought his then-wife a $218,000 engagement ring.
However, signs of trouble emerged even before the divorce was filed. On July 2, 2023, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call of a fire at the couple’s $5-million home in the 4600 block of Rancho Reposo.
Remley, who was home at the time authorities arrived, had three guns and ammunition in her possession, according to deputies. She was arrested that day on suspicion of firearm-related offenses.
The cause of the fire was unknown at the time, but in September of this year, Remley was charged with felony arson. She was accused of setting fire to a structure and forest land. She pleaded not guilty to the charge, and was set to appear in court on March 3, 2026.
The following day, deputies received a tip that she was looking to hire a hitman to kill her husband, according to a previous Times report.
Remley met up with an undercover sheriff’s detective to hash out the plan on Aug. 2.
“She provided detailed information on how she wanted her husband killed and his body disposed,” the department said in a news release in 2023. “Remley brought three additional firearms and U.S. currency as a down payment for the murder.”
Remley allegedly offered $2 million in exchange for the slaying, authorities said.
In December 2023, she pleaded guilty to solicitation of murder and was sentenced to three years and eight months in state prison. She only served one year of her sentence, according to ABC 10 News San Diego.
In a final post to her Instagram account in October, Remley spoke about overcoming obstacles.
“I want to talk about how beautiful life is,” Remley said in the video. “Love yourself no matter what someone does to you. No matter how hurt you get.”
Remley celebrated her 44th birthday 10 days before her death.
If you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts, seek help from a professional or call 988. The nationwide three-digit mental health crisis hotline will connect callers with trained mental health counselors. Or text “HOME” to 741741 in the U.S. and Canada to reach the Crisis Text Line.
A thunderous explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, collapsed part of the building, sent flames shooting out and left people trapped inside, authorities said.Video above: Neighbor describes sound of nursing home explosionPennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a news conference several hours after the explosion that at least two had been killed.The explosion happened at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak, although the cause of the explosion was unclear several hours later, as was the extent of the casualties.A plume of black smoke rose from the nursing home, as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances from across the region rushed there, joined by earthmoving equipment.Police Lt. Sean Cosgrove said he didn’t know if anyone was missing, and that residents had been evacuated by emergency responders, bystanders and staff.“A lot of the details at this point are still unknown,” he told reporters at the scene.Bucks County emergency management officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17 p.m. and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed. Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside.Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” Tye said.He got up to go look and saw “fire everywhere” and people escaping the building. The explosion looked like it happened in the kitchen area of the nursing home, he said. Tye said some of the people who live or work there didn’t make it out.“Just got to keep praying for them,” Tye said.The cause of the explosion was unclear.The local gas utility, PECO, said its crews had responded to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home shortly after 2 p.m.“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility. PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the utility said in a statement.Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said investigators from the safety division were headed to the scene.Hagen-Frederiksen said first responders and emergency management officials were describing it as a gas explosion, but that won’t be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close.Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant the facility, told WPVI-TV that over the weekend, she and others there smelled gas, but “there was no heat in the room, so we didn’t take it to be anything.”The nursing home is about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. Its owner, Saber Healthcare Group, said it was working with local emergency authorities. The facility had been known until recently as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.Jim Morgan, president of the Bristol Township School Board, said district buses would take people from the nursing home to a reunification center at Truman High School. He said officials were working on setting up beds and providing water and other needs to residents.“This is just something that is sad for everybody and the families and the workers that are there,” Davis said.According to Medicare.gov, the 174-bed facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “much below average,” with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
BRISTOL, Pa. (Video above: WPVI via CNN Newsource) —
A thunderous explosion at a nursing home just outside Philadelphia killed at least two people, collapsed part of the building, sent flames shooting out and left people trapped inside, authorities said.
Video above: Neighbor describes sound of nursing home explosion
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said in a news conference several hours after the explosion that at least two had been killed.
The explosion happened at Bristol Health & Rehab Center in Bristol Township, just as a utility crew had been on site looking for a gas leak, although the cause of the explosion was unclear several hours later, as was the extent of the casualties.
A plume of black smoke rose from the nursing home, as emergency responders, fire trucks and ambulances from across the region rushed there, joined by earthmoving equipment.
Police Lt. Sean Cosgrove said he didn’t know if anyone was missing, and that residents had been evacuated by emergency responders, bystanders and staff.
“A lot of the details at this point are still unknown,” he told reporters at the scene.
Bucks County emergency management officials said they received the report of an explosion at approximately 2:17 p.m. and said a portion of the building was reported to have collapsed. Ruth Miller, a Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency spokesperson, said her agency had been informed that people were trapped inside.
Willie Tye, who lives about a block away, said he was sitting at home watching a basketball game on TV when he heard a “loud kaboom.”
“I thought an airplane or something came and fell on my house,” Tye said.
He got up to go look and saw “fire everywhere” and people escaping the building. The explosion looked like it happened in the kitchen area of the nursing home, he said. Tye said some of the people who live or work there didn’t make it out.
“Just got to keep praying for them,” Tye said.
The cause of the explosion was unclear.
The local gas utility, PECO, said its crews had responded to reports of a gas odor at the nursing home shortly after 2 p.m.
“While crews were on site, an explosion occurred at the facility. PECO crews shut off natural gas and electric service to the facility to ensure the safety of first responders and local residents,” the utility said in a statement.
Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, press secretary at the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, said investigators from the safety division were headed to the scene.
Hagen-Frederiksen said first responders and emergency management officials were describing it as a gas explosion, but that won’t be confirmed until his agency can examine the scene up close.
Musuline Watson, who said she was a certified nursing assistant the facility, told WPVI-TV that over the weekend, she and others there smelled gas, but “there was no heat in the room, so we didn’t take it to be anything.”
The nursing home is about 20 miles northeast of Philadelphia. Its owner, Saber Healthcare Group, said it was working with local emergency authorities. The facility had been known until recently as Silver Lake Healthcare Center.
Jim Morgan, president of the Bristol Township School Board, said district buses would take people from the nursing home to a reunification center at Truman High School. He said officials were working on setting up beds and providing water and other needs to residents.
“This is just something that is sad for everybody and the families and the workers that are there,” Davis said.
According to Medicare.gov, the 174-bed facility underwent a standard fire safety inspection in September 2024, during which no citations were issued. But Medicare’s overall rating of the facility is listed as “much below average,” with poor ratings for health inspections in particular.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court ruled against President Trump on Tuesday and said he did not have legal authority to deploy the National Guard in Chicago to protect federal immigration agents.
Acting on a 6-3 vote, the justices denied Trump’s appeal and upheld orders from a federal district judge and the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals that said the president had exaggerated the threat and overstepped his authority.
The decision is a major defeat for Trump and his broad claim that he had the power to deploy militia troops in U.S. cities.
In an unsigned order, the court said the Militia Act allows the president to deploy the National Guard only if the regular U.S. armed forces were unable to quell violence.
The law dating to 1903 says the president may call up and deploy the National Guard if he faces the threat of an invasion or a rebellion or is “unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
That phrase turned out to be crucial.
Trump’s lawyers assumed it referred to the police and federal agents. But after taking a close look, the justices concluded it referred to the regular U.S. military, not civilian law enforcement or the National Guard.
“To call the Guard into active federal service under the [Militia Act], the President must be ‘unable’ with the regular military ‘to execute the laws of the United States,’” the court said in Trump vs. Illinois.
That standard will rarely be met, the court added.
“Under the Posse Comitatus Act, the military is prohibited from execut[ing] the laws except in cases and under circumstances expressly authorized by the Constitution or Act of Congress,” the court said. “So before the President can federalize the Guard … he likely must have statutory or constitutional authority to execute the laws with the regular military and must be ‘unable’ with those forces to perform that function.
“At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois,” the court said.
Although the court was acting on an emergency appeal, its decision is a significant defeat for Trump and is not likely to be reversed on appeal. Often, the court issues one-sentence emergency orders. But in this case, the justices wrote a three-page opinion to spell out the law and limit the president’s authority.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who oversees appeals from Illinois, and Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. cast the deciding votes. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh agreed with the outcome, but said he preferred a narrow and more limited ruling.
Conservative Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel A. Alito Jr. and Neil M. Gorsuch dissented.
Alito, in dissent, said the “court fails to explain why the President’s inherent constitutional authority to protect federal officers and property is not sufficient to justify the use of National Guard members in the relevant area for precisely that purpose.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta filed a brief in the Chicago case that warned of the danger of the president using the military in American cities.
“Today, Americans can breathe a huge sigh of relief,” Bonta said Tuesday. “While this is not necessarily the end of the road, it is a significant, deeply gratifying step in the right direction. We plan to ask the lower courts to reach the same result in our cases — and we are hopeful they will do so quickly.”
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had allowed the deployments in Los Angeles and Portland, Ore., after ruling that judges must defer to the president.
But U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer ruled Dec. 10 that the federalized National Guard troops in Los Angeles must be returned to Newsom’s control.
Trump’s lawyers had not claimed in their appeal that the president had the authority to deploy the military for ordinary law enforcement in the city. Instead, they said the Guard troops would be deployed “to protect federal officers and federal property.”
The two sides in the Chicago case, like in Portland, told dramatically different stories about the circumstances leading to Trump’s order.
Democratic officials in Illinois said small groups of protesters objected to the aggressive enforcement tactics used by federal immigration agents. They said police were able to contain the protests, clear the entrances and prevent violence.
By contrast, administration officials described repeated instances of disruption, confrontation and violence in Chicago. They said immigration agents were harassed and blocked from doing their jobs, and they needed the protection the National Guard could supply.
Trump Solicitor Gen. D. John Sauer said the president had the authority to deploy the Guard if agents could not enforce the immigration laws.
“Confronted with intolerable risks of harm to federal agents and coordinated, violent opposition to the enforcement of federal law,” Trump called up the National Guard “to defend federal personnel, property, and functions in the face of ongoing violence,” Sauer told the court in an emergency appeal filed in mid-October.
Illinois state lawyers disputed the administration’s account.
“The evidence shows that federal facilities in Illinois remain open, the individuals who have violated the law by attacking federal authorities have been arrested, and enforcement of immigration law in Illinois has only increased in recent weeks,” state Solicitor Gen. Jane Elinor Notz said in response to the administration’s appeal.
The Constitution gives Congress the power “to provide for calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.”
But on Oct. 29, the justices asked both sides to explain what the law meant when it referred to the “regular forces.”
Until then, both sides had assumed it referred to federal agents and police, not the standing U.S. armed forces.
A few days before, Georgetown law professor and former Justice Department lawyer Martin Lederman had filed a friend-of-the-court brief asserting that the “regular forces” cited in the 1903 law were the standing U.S. Army.
His brief prompted the court to ask both sides to explain their view of the disputed provision.
Trump’s lawyers stuck to their position. They said the law referred to the “civilian forces that regularly execute the laws,” not the standing army.
If those civilians cannot enforce the law, “there is a strong tradition in this country of favoring the use” of the National Guard, not the standing military, to quell domestic disturbances, they said.
State attorneys for Illinois said the “regular forces” are the “full-time, professional military.” And they said the president could not “even plausibly argue” that the U.S. Guard members were needed to enforce the law in Chicago.
Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including one who was being held on a murder charge, used jail phones to call friends on the outside who met them and arranged a Lyft ride to whisk them out of Georgia, authorities said Tuesday.The inmates, who were captured in South Florida, were able to “compromise” a portion of a cell inside the DeKalb County Jail to make their escape, said DeKalb County Chief Deputy Temetris Atkins. He didn’t provide more specifics because jailers don’t want other inmates to know the facility’s weaknesses.“We repaired the area that was compromised, and we’re looking at other areas that are similar to that to fortify them to make sure that they are not compromised in the same manner,” Atkins said at a Tuesday news conference.DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox described the jail as an “aging facility that’s deteriorating right before our eyes.” The jail is in Decatur, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Atlanta.The escape was discovered early Monday during a routine security check, authorities said. All three inmates were captured in Florida, said Eric Heinze, assistant chief inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.After jailers realized the three were gone, investigators listened to recordings of conversations they’d had on recorded phone lines. They learned that one of the inmates had contacted people on the outside who helped them evade capture after the escape, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said.The inmates were picked up by an unnamed man and taken to one of their girlfriends’ homes, Brown said. Then, a Lyft ride was arranged to transport them to an address in Florida, he said.“As you can imagine, the Lyft driver is very traumatized by this,” Brown said.The inmates range in age from 24 to 31, with the youngest one charged with murder and armed robbery. The other two inmates face charges that include armed robbery and arson.The sheriff’s office had warned that the men might be armed and were considered dangerous after their escape.The inmate accused of murder and armed robbery, Stevenson Charles, 24, has had several run-ins with law officers in Georgia and Florida. He had been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping and bank robbery, a federal agent wrote in a Monday affidavit regarding the recent jail escape.After being sentenced, the agent wrote, Charles was turned over to DeKalb County authorities on Dec. 5 to face the murder charge, details of which were not immediately available. A federal criminal complaint charging him with the escape does not list an attorney who could be contacted to comment on his behalf, and it wasn’t clear whether he has one at this early stage of the case.In one of multiple cases involving Charles in South Florida, he is accused of meeting a man through the Grindr online dating application and then pulling a gun on him when they met in person at a Miami residence in 2022. Charles then drove the man to various Miami area banks, withdrawing money from the victim’s accounts, court records show.
Three inmates who escaped from a jail east of Atlanta, including one who was being held on a murder charge, used jail phones to call friends on the outside who met them and arranged a Lyft ride to whisk them out of Georgia, authorities said Tuesday.
The inmates, who were captured in South Florida, were able to “compromise” a portion of a cell inside the DeKalb County Jail to make their escape, said DeKalb County Chief Deputy Temetris Atkins. He didn’t provide more specifics because jailers don’t want other inmates to know the facility’s weaknesses.
“We repaired the area that was compromised, and we’re looking at other areas that are similar to that to fortify them to make sure that they are not compromised in the same manner,” Atkins said at a Tuesday news conference.
DeKalb County Sheriff Melody Maddox described the jail as an “aging facility that’s deteriorating right before our eyes.” The jail is in Decatur, about 10 miles (16 kilometers) east of downtown Atlanta.
The escape was discovered early Monday during a routine security check, authorities said. All three inmates were captured in Florida, said Eric Heinze, assistant chief inspector with the U.S. Marshals Service Southeast Regional Fugitive Task Force.
After jailers realized the three were gone, investigators listened to recordings of conversations they’d had on recorded phone lines. They learned that one of the inmates had contacted people on the outside who helped them evade capture after the escape, U.S. Marshal Thomas Brown said.
The inmates were picked up by an unnamed man and taken to one of their girlfriends’ homes, Brown said. Then, a Lyft ride was arranged to transport them to an address in Florida, he said.
“As you can imagine, the Lyft driver is very traumatized by this,” Brown said.
The inmates range in age from 24 to 31, with the youngest one charged with murder and armed robbery. The other two inmates face charges that include armed robbery and arson.
The sheriff’s office had warned that the men might be armed and were considered dangerous after their escape.
The inmate accused of murder and armed robbery, Stevenson Charles, 24, has had several run-ins with law officers in Georgia and Florida. He had been sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to multiple counts of kidnapping and bank robbery, a federal agent wrote in a Monday affidavit regarding the recent jail escape.
After being sentenced, the agent wrote, Charles was turned over to DeKalb County authorities on Dec. 5 to face the murder charge, details of which were not immediately available. A federal criminal complaint charging him with the escape does not list an attorney who could be contacted to comment on his behalf, and it wasn’t clear whether he has one at this early stage of the case.
In one of multiple cases involving Charles in South Florida, he is accused of meeting a man through the Grindr online dating application and then pulling a gun on him when they met in person at a Miami residence in 2022. Charles then drove the man to various Miami area banks, withdrawing money from the victim’s accounts, court records show.
A Florida woman was arrested and charged with murder for killing two of her ex-husbands on the same day. One shooting happened shortly before 3 p.m. Dec. 17, in the 7000 block of Chatum Light Run. Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrived to find the 54-year-old victim with two gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died about five hours later. Before his death, he told deputies that an individual, possibly his ex-wife, came to his door and shot him after he answered. Their 15-year-old daughter witnessed the shooting. According to authorities, Susan Erica Avalon, 51, of Citrus County, was later identified as a person of interest. Authorities arrived at her home on Dec. 18 to find her wiping her vehicle with cleaning rags and bleach. After letting Avalon know they were there to speak about her ex-husband, she asked, “Which one?” At that point, they began looking into the welfare of her second ex-husband, who lived in Tampa. The MCSO’s Homicide Investigative Unit requested help from the Tampa Police Department, and he was found dead inside his home in the 1200 block of East Frierson Avenue. He had multiple gunshot wounds. Authorities believe Avalon went to Tampa first to kill her second ex-husband, then traveled to Manatee County to shoot her first ex-husband. The 54-year-old’s name is being withheld due to Marcy’s Law. The Tampa victim’s name has not been released. Detectives have not disclosed a motive at this time.
A Florida woman was arrested and charged with murder for killing two of her ex-husbands on the same day.
One shooting happened shortly before 3 p.m. Dec. 17, in the 7000 block of Chatum Light Run.
Deputies with the Manatee County Sheriff’s Office arrived to find the 54-year-old victim with two gunshot wounds. He was taken to a local hospital, where he died about five hours later.
According to authorities, Susan Erica Avalon, 51, of Citrus County, was later identified as a person of interest.
Authorities arrived at her home on Dec. 18 to find her wiping her vehicle with cleaning rags and bleach.
After letting Avalon know they were there to speak about her ex-husband, she asked, “Which one?”
Manatee County Sheriff’s Office
At that point, they began looking into the welfare of her second ex-husband, who lived in Tampa.
The MCSO’s Homicide Investigative Unit requested help from the Tampa Police Department, and he was found dead inside his home in the 1200 block of East Frierson Avenue. He had multiple gunshot wounds.
Authorities believe Avalon went to Tampa first to kill her second ex-husband, then traveled to Manatee County to shoot her first ex-husband.
The 54-year-old’s name is being withheld due to Marcy’s Law. The Tampa victim’s name has not been released.
Detectives have not disclosed a motive at this time.
A woman is facing charges after allegedly pushing a child underwater during an altercation at a pool at the Gaylord Palms resort in Kissimmee on Friday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.Deputies responded to the resort’s pool rea around 4:30 p.m. on Friday for a reported battery involving a child. Witnesses told the sheriff’s office that three children were playing in the pool when the splashing became aggressive. The suspect, Tiffany Griffith, 36, of Fort Myers, then allegedly entered the pool and yelled at a 6-year-old boy after he dunked her 6-year-old son underwater.The sheriff’s office said Griffith then put her hands on the other child’s shoulders and forcibly dunked him underwater for several seconds. The boy exited the pool visibly upset and suffering from a nosebleed and told his parents about the incident, according to deputies.Griffith then allegedly began yelling at the victim’s mother before leaving the area. She was arrested and transported to the Osceola County jail where she is being held without bond on one count of aggravated child abuse.The Gaylord Palms has been contacted for comment, but no response has been received yet.
OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. —
A woman is facing charges after allegedly pushing a child underwater during an altercation at a pool at the Gaylord Palms resort in Kissimmee on Friday, according to the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to the resort’s pool rea around 4:30 p.m. on Friday for a reported battery involving a child. Witnesses told the sheriff’s office that three children were playing in the pool when the splashing became aggressive. The suspect, Tiffany Griffith, 36, of Fort Myers, then allegedly entered the pool and yelled at a 6-year-old boy after he dunked her 6-year-old son underwater.
The sheriff’s office said Griffith then put her hands on the other child’s shoulders and forcibly dunked him underwater for several seconds. The boy exited the pool visibly upset and suffering from a nosebleed and told his parents about the incident, according to deputies.
Griffith then allegedly began yelling at the victim’s mother before leaving the area. She was arrested and transported to the Osceola County jail where she is being held without bond on one count of aggravated child abuse.
The Gaylord Palms has been contacted for comment, but no response has been received yet.
A Southern California driver made a startling discovery Sunday morning when they found a live bird of prey stuck in the grille of their car.
The bird, whose head was peeping out, was a great horned owl, authorities said. An officer with Santa Barbara County Animal Services was called to a residence in the 1000 block of Amethyst Drive in the town of Orcutt around 9:30 a.m. Sunday. At least four firefighters from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department helped with the bird’s rescue, the department told The Times.
“This is the first time we had an owl, that I’m aware of, entangled in a vehicle,” said Scott Safechuck, a public information officer for the county Fire Department. “Usually it’s a cat, or sometimes we have cattle that get onto the highway.”
Firefighters carefully cut away portions of the grille as they tried to extract the owl on Sunday.
(Santa Barbara County Fire Department )
Authorities do not know how long the owl was stuck but say it may have happened Saturday. The removal operation took about 30 minutes, after which the owl, which had sustained injuries, was taken to the Wildlife Care Network, a wildlife rescue center in Goleta.
An employee at the wildlife network said that each animal the center helps receives a series of tests, such as CT scans and X-rays, upon arrival. The organization did not immediately provide an update on the owl’s status.
“It’s infrequent that things like this happen,” Safechuck said. “It’s remarkable the owl was still alive.”
Police have identified a person they believe is connected to the mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, earlier this week, sources tell Boston sister station WCVB.Multiple media outlets, including CNN, ABC News, and CBS News, have reported that a search warrant for an individual has been signed and that investigators are actively seeking that person. The Associated Press and the New York Times also report that police are actively seeking an individual.No name has been released. Hundreds of investigators are involved in the region-wide search for the person. Sources tell WCVB the search for the suspect now includes New Hampshire.Related video below: Former FBI Assistant Director details agencies’ work in identifying person of interest in MIT professor, Brown shootingsNuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot Monday night at his home on Gibbs Street at about 9 p.m. He was taken to an area hospital with apparent gunshot wounds and died the next morning, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.Loureiro was an MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center. On Saturday, two Brown University students were killed and nine others were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the Barus & Holley engineering building, where exams were scheduled. “We don’t know the motive of either one of these shootings, but from an investigative standpoint, what could possibly match? Shell casings from the scene, he left those at MIT, it could also be from surveillance cameras in and around the professor’s house or on the campus,” former FBI agent Brad Garrett said.The two students killed in the shooting shooting at Brown were identified as Ella Cook, a Birmingham, Alabama, native and leader of the College Republicans at Brown, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman who was studying to become a doctor. The gunman in both slayings remains unidentified and at large. In the days since the Brown shooting, investigators have released a series of images from area security cameras of a person of interest. They describe the person as wearing a two-tone coat and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. In all the images, however, the person’s face is partially covered by a mask and hair is covered by a winter hat. The person spent hours in the neighborhood around the university on Saturday.Video below: Former Rhode Island AG on FBI investigation into Brown, MIT shootingsIn Brookline, Loureiro’s neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots Monday night. “We heard a really loud noise. I thought it sounded like a crashing noise, but my husband heard it, and he said it sounded like gunshots,” neighbor Anne Greenwald said.No images of a suspected gunman or vehicle in that case have been released to the public. Loureiro, who grew up in Portugal and joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research. Brookline is about 50 miles north of Providence.Anyone with information about the case is asked to submit tips to investigators through the FBI’s website or by calling 401-272-3121. A reward of up to $50,000 is offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
BROOKLINE, Mass. —
Police have identified a person they believe is connected to the mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor in Brookline, Massachusetts, earlier this week, sources tell Boston sister station WCVB.
Multiple media outlets, including CNN, ABC News, and CBS News, have reported that a search warrant for an individual has been signed and that investigators are actively seeking that person. The Associated Press and the New York Times also report that police are actively seeking an individual.
No name has been released. Hundreds of investigators are involved in the region-wide search for the person. Sources tell WCVB the search for the suspect now includes New Hampshire.
Related video below: Former FBI Assistant Director details agencies’ work in identifying person of interest in MIT professor, Brown shootings
Nuno F.G. Loureiro, 47, was shot Monday night at his home on Gibbs Street at about 9 p.m. He was taken to an area hospital with apparent gunshot wounds and died the next morning, according to the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office.
Loureiro was an MIT faculty member in the departments of Nuclear Science & Engineering and Physics, as well as the Director of MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center.
On Saturday, two Brown University students were killed and nine others were wounded when a gunman opened fire in the Barus & Holley engineering building, where exams were scheduled.
“We don’t know the motive of either one of these shootings, but from an investigative standpoint, what could possibly match? Shell casings from the scene, he left those at MIT, it could also be from surveillance cameras in and around the professor’s house or on the campus,” former FBI agent Brad Garrett said.
The two students killed in the shooting shooting at Brown were identified as Ella Cook, a Birmingham, Alabama, native and leader of the College Republicans at Brown, and Mukhammad Aziz Umurzokov, a freshman who was studying to become a doctor.
The gunman in both slayings remains unidentified and at large.
In the days since the Brown shooting, investigators have released a series of images from area security cameras of a person of interest. They describe the person as wearing a two-tone coat and about 5 feet 8 inches tall. In all the images, however, the person’s face is partially covered by a mask and hair is covered by a winter hat. The person spent hours in the neighborhood around the university on Saturday.
Video below: Former Rhode Island AG on FBI investigation into Brown, MIT shootings
In Brookline, Loureiro’s neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots Monday night.
“We heard a really loud noise. I thought it sounded like a crashing noise, but my husband heard it, and he said it sounded like gunshots,” neighbor Anne Greenwald said.
No images of a suspected gunman or vehicle in that case have been released to the public.
Loureiro, who grew up in Portugal and joined MIT in 2016, was named last year to lead MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, where he aimed to advance clean energy technology and other research.
Brookline is about 50 miles north of Providence.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to submit tips to investigators through the FBI’s website or by calling 401-272-3121. A reward of up to $50,000 is offered for information that leads to an arrest and conviction.
Deaths have been reported after a business jet crashed while attempting to land at a regional airport in North Carolina, according to a local sheriff.“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. Campbell did not elaborate on how many people were killed.Video above: Crash scene at Statesville Regional Airport in North CarolinaThe jet crashed while attempting to make a landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found that FAA records show the plane that crashed was a Cessna 550 Citation, a smaller jet often used by businesses. This Citation was built in 1981 and last certified for flight in March of this year.Flight plans show the plane was bound for Sarasota, Florida, and had three additional flights planned for Thursday. From Sarasota, the plane had planned to fly to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening.Flight tracking data reviewed by the National Investigative Unit shows the jet departed Statesville Regional at approximately 10:06 am. The jet reached its highest altitude — approximately 2,000 feet — less than two minutes after departure and about a mile from the airport, and then it began to descend.It continued descending and at approximately 11 miles from the airport, the plane turned back and made an attempt to fly directly back to the airport. The final recorded data point, about nine minutes after takeoff, shows the plane less than a half-mile from the airport near the Lakewood Golf Club about 800 feet of altitude and approximately 109 mph. On its website, the airport says it provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams. The airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, is currently closed. This is a developing story. Check back for updates. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
STATESVILLE, N.C. —
Deaths have been reported after a business jet crashed while attempting to land at a regional airport in North Carolina, according to a local sheriff.
“I can confirm there were fatalities,” Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell said. Campbell did not elaborate on how many people were killed.
Video above: Crash scene at Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina
The jet crashed while attempting to make a landing at Statesville Regional Airport around 10:15 a.m. Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The Hearst Television National Investigative Unit found that FAA records show the plane that crashed was a Cessna 550 Citation, a smaller jet often used by businesses. This Citation was built in 1981 and last certified for flight in March of this year.
Flight plans show the plane was bound for Sarasota, Florida, and had three additional flights planned for Thursday. From Sarasota, the plane had planned to fly to Treasure Cay International Airport in the Bahamas before returning to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and then to Statesville by evening.
Flight tracking data reviewed by the National Investigative Unit shows the jet departed Statesville Regional at approximately 10:06 am. The jet reached its highest altitude — approximately 2,000 feet — less than two minutes after departure and about a mile from the airport, and then it began to descend.
It continued descending and at approximately 11 miles from the airport, the plane turned back and made an attempt to fly directly back to the airport. The final recorded data point, about nine minutes after takeoff, shows the plane less than a half-mile from the airport near the Lakewood Golf Club about 800 feet of altitude and approximately 109 mph.
On its website, the airport says it provides corporate aviation facilities for Fortune 500 companies and several NASCAR teams. The airport, about 45 miles north of Charlotte, is currently closed.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
A picture is beginning to emerge about Nick Reiner’s movements before and after his parents were killed.
Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, were found dead in their Brentwood home Sunday afternoon.
Nick Reiner, 32, was charged Tuesday with their murders. But authorities offered few details, including when or how the couple died, how investigators came to focus on Nick Reiner as a suspect and what a motive for the crime could be.
But a rough timeline is beginning to taking shape:
A Santa Monica hotel
A source familiar with the investigation told The Times that Nick Reiner was at the Pierside Santa Monica hotel Sunday.
That was hours after Nick and his parents got into some type of argument at a Saturday holiday party at talk show host Conan O’Brien’s home, according to several family friends.
Rob Reiner, left, and son Nick Reiner discuss their film “Being Charlie” at AOL Studios in New York on May 4.
(Adela Loconte / WireImage via Getty Images)
A hotel staff member told The Times police had been actively investigating at the hotel since Sunday and were still there on Tuesday afternoon. The management of the hotel did not respond to requests for comment. The worker spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to comment.
Authorities also declined to comment on the hotel and what role, if any, it plays in the case.
It is unclear when Nick Reiner checked in and when he left The Pierside Santa Monica, which sits a few blocks from the beach, with rooms that start at $220 a night.
When police got to the hotel, Nick Reiner was gone.
Law enforcement near the home of Rob Reiner on Sunday night following news of the killings.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
An arrest near USC
Officers with the Los Angeles Police Department’s Gang and Narcotics Division, along with a U.S. Marshals task force that typically searches for fugitives, tracked Nick Reiner down in South L.A. on Sunday night, according to L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell. The arrest was without incident, the chief said.
Reiner was found near USC, around 15 miles from the scene of the stabbings, McDonnell said. He declined to provide details on how the suspect was found and apprehended.
Reiner was taken into custody around 9:15 p.m. Sunday and booked on suspicion of murder at 5:04 a.m. Monday.
KABC-TV obtained video purportedly showing video of Nick Reiner at a convenience store in South L.A. shortly before he was arrested.
A bouquet of roses and a candle sit outside the Brentwood home Rob Reiner
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Unanswered questions
Prosecutors filed two counts of first-degree murder with special circumstances against Nick Reiner on Tuesday afternoon. He also faces a special allegation that he used a deadly weapon, a knife, in the crime, L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said during a news conference Tuesday.
Still, officials have not offered a narrative about what happened.
One key question is when the Reiners were killed. Prosecutors have alleged Nick Reiner stabbed his parents in “approximately the early morning hours” on Sunday, according to a news release. But a specific time has not been disclosed.
“We don’t have that kind of specificity yet,” L.A. Police Chief Jim McDonnell said of the timeline of the couple’s deaths. “We’re waiting on the coroner to be able to try and determine as best they can at this point.”
On Sunday afternoon, a massage therapist showed up at the Reiner home for a weekly session with the couple. When there was no answer at the gate, the therapist called their daughter, Romy Reiner, who arrived at the home and discovered her father’s body, according to a source close to the Reiner family who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Reiners’ bodies were found in their bedroom in their Brentwood home, LAPD Assistant Chief Dominic Choi said at the department’s weekly commission meeting.
Pieces of a puzzle
With no official time of death, it’s unclear whether Nick Reiner checked in at the Santa Monica hotel before or after his parents were killed.
Nick Reiner was living in a guesthouse on his parents’ property and his mother had become increasingly concerned about his mental health in recent weeks, a family friend said.
Authorities on Tuesday also declined to offer a possible motive for the killings.
With prosecutors alleging a special circumstance — that Nick Reiner committed multiple homicides — he could face a death sentence or life in prison without the possibility of parole if convicted at trial. Prosecutors have not made a decision on whether to seek capital punishment.
MEXICO CITY — A shop owner facing threats shutters the clothing store that had been in his family for generations.
A leader of a citrus growers association is kidnapped and killed after refusing mob demands for a cut of profits.
Enraged peasant farmers fed up with paying graft turn on cartel thugs in a bloody showdown.
In Mexico, these real-life incidents all arise from a signature offense: extortion.
Gang shakedowns are rampant in Mexico, victimizing untold numbers — street vendors and taxi drivers, restaurateurs and farmers, factory owners and mine operators. All are coerced into paying tithes to criminal bands, sometimes the same cartels that run drugs.
“It’s a very sensitive crime because of its social impact,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last week. “It doesn’t only affect one person. It affects everyone.”
An agent of the attorney general’s office in Mexican state of Michoacán inspects the area where vehicles were burned by members of criminal gang near the city of Quiroga in November.
(Enrique Castro/AFP via Getty Images)
Sheinbaum launched a high-profile crackdown against extortion, but her efforts face steep odds. Extortion, experts say, is a multibillion-dollar racket, perhaps even more lucrative than drug-trafficking. It sometimes is called “the invisible crime,” since most victims fail to report threats, fearing retaliation.
Those targeted often confront a ghastly choice: accept ultimatums to hand over cash, property or other assets — or face death, a threat routinely aimed at family members as well.
“Sure, I can say, ‘I won’t pay: They can go ahead and kill me,’ ” said Antonio, a floriculturist outside Mexico City who hands over almost $600 in derecho de piso [protection] at each flower harvest, the amount doubling in holiday seasons, including this month’s Virgin of Guadalupe feast. “But I cannot allow them to kill my kids. Or take my wife.”
Like other victims who spoke to The Times, Antonio, 56, a father of four, asked that only his first name be used for security reasons.
“We live in terror,” he said. “We have to work for these delinquents. And no one in the government helps us.”
Farmer Jesús Cuaxospa works on his farm where he grows cempasúchil flowers in San Luis Tlaxialtemalco on the outskirts of Mexico City in October.
(Claudia Rosel / Associated Press)
Mexico and two other Latin American countries, Colombia and Honduras, are among the world’s five most extortion-scarred nations, according to the Global Organized Crime Index, an annual ranking from a Geneva-based research group. Filling in the top five are Somalia and Libya.
Apart from the devastating impact on individuals and families, extortion exacts extreme societal costs: displacement, a profound sense of insecurity and the distortion of local economies.
In Mexico, strong-armed extortion gangs have been accused of price-fixing, taking over industries, unions and transport routes, and running construction sites —and even setting prices for foodstuffs, building materials and other items.
Sheinbaum regularly boasts of her administration’s success in curbing violent crime, especially homicides, down by more than one-third since she took office last year, according to official figures. But she concedes that extortion is on the rise, though there are no accurate metrics for an offense so hugely under-reported.
Calling the eradication of extortion “one of the great challenges” facing Mexico, Sheinbaum pledged to bolster enforcement, stiffen penalties and increase safeguards for anyone receiving threats.
She is championing a constitutional amendment to make extortion a federal crime and put the onus on law enforcement, not individuals, to hunt down violators. Prosecutors could pursue cases without victims having to file complaints.
Since the inauguration of Mexico’s “National Strategy against Extortion” in July, authorities say police have arrested more than 600 suspects and fielded more than 100,000 calls to an expanded toll-free extortion hotline. Officials also moved to block cellphone access in Mexican prisons, where gangs specialize in “virtual kidnapping” — calling people on the outside and demanding ransoms for loved ones allegedly abducted.
“Don’t answer a telephone number that you don’t recognize,” Sheinbaum warned people last week.
In one notorious case, authorities say a prison gang targeted 14 nurses who were dispatched to Mexico City during the COVID-19 pandemic. Inmates using cellphones warned the nurses to stay in their hotel rooms and say nothing — they supposedly were under surveillance. Accomplices contacted relatives demanding cash. But police got wind of the scheme. No money was paid and no one was injured.
Security forces stand guard following an operation at a butcher shop allegedly linked to the La Familia Michoacana cartel in Sultepec, Mexico, in July.
(Alfredo Estrella/AFP via Getty Images)
Sheinbaum’s anti-extortion campaign faces a major barrier: Barring a massive culture shift, many victims will remain hesitant to approach the law, lacking trust in the system.
“Making a complaint is not an option, because you never know if authorities are in collusion with the criminals,” said César, co-owner of a restaurant in downtown Mexico City.
About two years ago, he said, one of his partners began to receive threats on his cellphone. The callers had the name of his wife and children. The partner was nervous but did nothing at first.
“Then one day two South Americans arrived at the restaurant,” César recalled.
Their message: Pay $2,500 a week to be “allowed to work in peace.”
His partner soon abandoned the restaurant, and the city.
Management hasn’t heard from the goons since.
Even so, César, like the owners of many businesses, tries to keep a low profile; his name and those of associates aren’t on display at the restaurant. Staff is instructed not to blab to anyone.
“Still, we live with uncertainty and worry all the time that these guys will come back,” César said. “We know that at any moment we could be victims.”
Recent victims whose cases shocked Mexico include a successful young butcher entrepreneur in Tabasco state and a woman taxi driver in Veracruz state. Both were found dead after rejecting extortion threats, according to reports. The driver, Irma Hernández, 62, a retired teacher, was kidnapped and forced to make a jihadi-style video in which — surrounded by armed men — she implored her fellow cabbies: “Pay your cuota [fee] … or you’ll end up like me.”
Avocado growers have received so many extortion demands from criminal gangs that some hired private security forces, like this one on patrol in Tancitaro, Michoacán, in 2019.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Sometimes, though, the fed-up marks fight back.
Two years ago the corn and bean growers of the impoverished hamlet of Texcapilla tired of paying annual protection fees of about $200 per planted acre and decided: No más. Armed with machetes and shotguns, the peasant farmers confronted enforcers of the dominant area cartel, La Familia Michoacana, on a soccer field outside a school. By the time the melee ended, authorities said, 14 were dead —10 gang members and 4 farmers.
Carlos Manzo, the former mayor of Uruapan in Michoacán state, also pushed back. He blamed Sheinbaum’s government for not doing enough in Michoacán, where gangsters have long fleeced the booming avocado sector and other industries.
“We are surrounded by criminal groups dedicated to extorting and killing,” Manzo told a crowd in May. “But we are going to confront them.”
Less than two weeks earlier, Bernado Bravo, a leader of regional lime growers in Michoacán, also was shot dead. Bravo repeatedly had denounced extortion demands.
With so much at risk, it’s not surprising that some potential victims bolt. . For more than 80 years, Vicente’s family ran a men’s clothing business in downtown Mexico City. He didn’t think much of it when, about four years ago, men began calling demanding money. Then one day three guys arrived at the shop.
“They said if I didn’t pay, I would lack security, and if I lacked security, something might happen to my workers — if not to me, to my family,” Vicente recalled.
Like many targets, Vicente hoped the threat would go away. But the menacing strangers kept barging in — and upping their demands, from $500 a month to $1,000 a month to $2,000 a month, all the way up to $10,000 a month.
His sons urged Vicente to walk away: The business, however beloved, wasn’t worth a bullet to the head. Reluctantly, Vicente finally agreed. The shutdown left 15 people out of work, many of them longtime employees. Some ended up hawking clothing from street stalls.
Vicente says he never reported the extortion attempt: Like César, he feared some crooked law enforcement insider would reveal his name and address to the mob. He has tried to put the experience behind him. But it hasn’t been easy. Three generations of family life revolved around that shop.
“Because I refused to pay extortion I was forced to shut down the business that my grandfather founded in 1936, and that my father and I continued,” said Vicente, 67. “It was painful. Very painful.”
McDonnell is a staff writer and Sánchez Vidal a special correspondent.
Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were the two people found dead Sunday at a Los Angeles home owned by Reiner, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds and a family member is being questioned by investigators, the official said.The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” alongside Carol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said they were bereft by the news.“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Reiner’s death a devastating loss for the city.“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.
LOS ANGELES —
Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were the two people found dead Sunday at a Los Angeles home owned by Reiner, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds and a family member is being questioned by investigators, the official said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.
Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.
Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”
His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” alongside Carol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.
“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”
Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Reiner’s death a devastating loss for the city.
“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”
The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.
Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.
Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.
Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were the two people found dead Sunday at a Los Angeles home owned by Reiner, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds and a family member is being questioned by investigators, the official said.The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” alongside Carol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.Relatives of Lear, the legendary producer who died in 2023, said they were bereft by the news.“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Reiner’s death a devastating loss for the city.“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.
LOS ANGELES —
Director-actor Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were the two people found dead Sunday at a Los Angeles home owned by Reiner, according to a law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
The official could not publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Investigators believe they suffered stab wounds and a family member is being questioned by investigators, the official said.
The Los Angeles Fire Department said it responded to a medical aid request shortly after 3:30 p.m. and found a 78-year-old man and 68-year-old woman dead inside. Reiner turned 78 in March.
Detectives with the Robbery Homicide Division were investigating an “apparent homicide” at Reiner’s home, said Capt. Mike Bland with the Los Angeles Police Department.
Los Angeles authorities have not confirmed the identities of the people found dead at the residence in the upscale Brentwood neighborhood on the city’s west side that’s home to many celebrities.
Reiner was long one of the most prolific directors in Hollywood, and his work included some of the most memorable movies of the 1980s and ’90s, including “This is Spinal Tap,” “A Few Good Men,” “When Harry Met Sally” and “The Princess Bride.”
His role as Meathead in Norman Lear’s 1970s TV classic “All in the Family,” alongside Carol O’Connor’s Archie Bunker, catapulted him to fame and won him two Emmy Awards.
“Norman often referred to Rob as a son, and their close relationship was extraordinary, to us and the world,” said a Lear family statement. “Norman would have wanted to remind us that Rob and Michele spent every breath trying to make this country a better place, and they pursued that through their art, their activism, their philanthropy, and their love for family and friends.”
Messages to Reiner’s representatives were not immediately returned Sunday night.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called Reiner’s death a devastating loss for the city.
“Rob Reiner’s contributions reverberate throughout American culture and society, and he has improved countless lives through his creative work and advocacy fighting for social and economic justice,” Bass said in a statement. “An acclaimed actor, director, producer, writer, and engaged political activist, he always used his gifts in service of others.”
The son of comedy legend Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner was married to photographer Michele Singer Reiner since 1989. The two met while he was directing “When Harry Met Sally” and have three children together.
Reiner was previously married to actor-director Penny Marshall from 1971 to 1981. He adopted her daughter, Tracy Reiner. Carl Reiner died in 2020 at age 98 and Marshall died in 2018.
Killings are rare in the Brentwood neighborhood. The scene is about a mile from the home where O.J. Simpson’s wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman were killed in 1994.
Balsamo reported from Washington. Associated Press Entertainment Writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed.
