1 dead, 5 injured in shooting at manufacturing facility in New Albany, Ohio
WSYX
(NEW ALBANY, OHIO) — One person was killed and five others were injured in a shooting at a facility in New Albany, Ohio, according to local law enforcement officials, who said they believe they’ve identified a suspect.
New Albany Police said they responded late Tuesday to a facility run by KDC/One, a beauty products manufacturer, for a reported active shooter situation. About 100 people were evacuated from the building.
“Police are finishing evacuating employees from the building,” the department said in an update at about 1:30 a.m. “The suspect is no longer believed to be in the area.”
Six people were transported to local hospitals, Police Chief Greg Jones told reporters at a press conference outside the facility. One of those people died, he said.
Police said they believed they knew who the suspect was, although the person had not been taken into custody.
A firearm was recovered from the scene, Jones said.
Deb Cohn-Orbach/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Department of Transportation said the Federal Highway Administration has “terminated approval” of New York City’s congestion pricing plan, the first of its kind in the nation, which went into effect earlier this year.
The DOT shared a letter from Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, in which he said a review found that the “scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress” under the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Pilot Program.
“New York State’s congestion pricing plan is a slap in the face to working class Americans and small business owners,” Duffy said in a statement on Wednesday. “Commuters using the highway system to enter New York City have already financed the construction and improvement of these highways through the payment of gas taxes and other taxes. But now the toll program leaves drivers without any free highway alternative, and instead, takes more money from working people to pay for a transit system and not highways. It’s backwards and unfair.”
In response to the letter, a New York state official said that whatever the Trump administration intends, the state will fight in court to preserve congestion pricing.
The congestion pricing plan, which launched on Jan. 5, newly charged passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses were charged $14.40 and large trucks and tour buses $21.60.
On Donald Trump’s first day in office, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy asked the president and his administration to “reexamine” the highly debated congestion pricing plan and its impact on the Garden State.
In a letter to Trump, Murphy requested that “New York’s congestion pricing scheme receive the close look it deserved but did not receive from the federal government last year.”
In his letter to Hochul, Duffy noted that Trump asked him to review the Federal Highway Administration’s approval of the congestion pricing program upon assuming his position as secretary last month.
“In particular, the President expressed his concerns about the extent of the tolling that was approved by the Department of Transportation on highways that have been constructed with funds under the Federal-aid Highway Program and the significant burdens on the New York City residents, businesses, and area commuters (including those from New Jersey and Connecticut) who regularly use the highway network in the CBD tolling area,” Duffy said.
Duffy also mentioned Murphy’s letter to Trump, in which the governor “expressed significant concerns about the impacts that the imposition of tolls” on New Jersey commuters and residents.
The secretary also said there are pending legal challenges over the plan “which question whether the scope of the project exceeds the authority of VPPP.”
Duffy said the Federal Highway Administration will contact the New York State Department of Transportation “to discuss the orderly cessation of toll operations under this terminated pilot project.”
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city’s subways as well as bridges and commuter rails, has said the toll would enable it to issue $15 billion in bonds to help fund capital projects.
In response to Murphy’s letter to Trump, Hochul told reporters that if the congestion pricing plan is ultimately killed, “that comes with $15 billion more” the federal government will need to give to New York.
Police are searching for a man who has now been missing for almost two weeks after visiting a national park in Colorado, authorities said. (National Park Service)
(MONTROSE COUNTY, CO) — Police are desperately searching for a man who has now been missing for almost two weeks after visiting a national park in Colorado, authorities said.
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park staff and the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office have now asked for the public’s assistance in locating a missing person named as Jordan Marsters, a 31-year-old man from Denver, Colorado, who went missing nearly two weeks ago and hasn’t been hear from since Feb. 13, according to a statement from the National Park Service on Monday.
“Marsters was traveling through Grand Junction on February 11 and in Montrose on February 12,” officials said. “His last known locations were in Montrose on February 12 and 13 and at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on the morning of February 13 at approximately 7:20 am.”
Marsters is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing approximately 140 lbs. with blonde hair and blue eyes. last seen wearing a tan jacket and black hoodie and police say he was driving a white Kia Fuente rental car with Texas license plates “TXH4349.”
It is unclear how long Marsters was supposed to be traveling through the national park for but authorities have asked for anybody with information about his whereabouts or who was in contact with him on the days leading up to Feb.13, to contact Black Canyon National of the Gunnison National Park immediately.
(WASHINGTON) — Two apparent assassination attempts, a terrorist-inspired attack in New Orleans, an explosion in Las Vegas and a pair of global conflicts see President-elect Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office under circumstances that can only be described as high pressure and high stakes.
Monday’s inauguration of the 47th president — which will be the first to take place indoors since 1985 — will occur against a backdrop of domestic and international threats, all of which need to be mitigated to ensure a safe, peaceful transfer of power.
Presidential inaugurations have always been targets for nefarious activities, most often tied to groups with opposing political positions who plan acts of civil disobedience. Unfortunately, that dynamic has changed and threats against public officials have increased exponentially.
Assassination attempts seemed to dominate the news last year, including an attempt on Trump’s life (closely followed by an apparent second attempt) and the fatal attack on United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. This makes the security concern for Trump’s second inauguration unlike any in recent history.
In 1998, the National Special Security Event (NSSE) procedures were established by President Bill Clinton as part of Presidential Decision Directive 62. This laid out the security roles of federal agencies at major events after the 1996 Olympic bombings in Atlanta, where a lack of an overall coordinating federal agency was cited as a security gap that needed to be addressed.
The Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000 added special events explicitly to the powers of the Secret Service, making it the clear federal coordinator for all large NSSE-declared events.
Under that planning process, the Secret Service has to coordinate all federal, state and local resources for the event, which this year is taking place amid unprecedented threats from assassinations, ISIS-inspired attacks, vehicle ramming attacks and potential domestic violent and foreign actor threats.
This means every facet of the inauguration, from aerial surveillance and perimeter access controls to mass transit, road closures and security sweeps must all be planned and prepared for. In this environment, the Secret Service will also lean on interagency coordination centers to vet and address all risks that arise.
The Department of Defense is one of the critical stakeholders and resource providers for inauguration ceremonies and security. Defense Department support assets are sure to be employed to assist with K-9 and technical security sweeps, along with aviation security and aiding the Coast Guard in making sure the Potomac River is safe.
These assets have a dual responsibility: they are mandated by policy to support the Secret Service and to follow the commander in chief by law.
Perhaps the one that will be most critical is the interagency intelligence operation, which is co-chaired by the Secret Service, FBI and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department.
With the current threat levels, these groups are sure to be running down leads locally, nationally and internationally to mitigate any potential threat to the inauguration or any of the high-level people attending.
Presidential movements on Inauguration Day will be a particular focus for planners. From the swearing-in inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to celebratory gatherings Trump may attend, each movement that day will have Secret Service security mitigation measures in place.
Under the Secret Service NSSE umbrella and through the dedication of its personnel, Monday’s inauguration should be a well-planned and secure event despite the historic threat environment.
(Donald J. Mihalek is an ABC News contributor, retired senior Secret Service agent and regional field training instructor who served during two presidential transitions. He was also a police officer and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. The opinions expressed in this story are not those of ABC News.)
