1 nursing home resident, 1 employee killed in fire, explosion; cause under investigation
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during a press conference outside of the Governor’s Mansion on April 13, 2025. Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images
The “catastrophic” incident — possibly caused by a gas leak — unfolded Tuesday afternoon at the Silver Lake Nursing Home in Bristol, which is about 25 miles northeast of Philadelphia.
Of the 20 people hurt, 19 are still hospitalized on Wednesday, including one in critical condition, Bristol Township Police Chief CJ Winik said on Wednesday.
Bristol Township Fire Marshal Kevin Dippolito said parts of the first floor collapsed into the basement, trapping people inside.
All employees and all 120 residents of the facility have been accounted for, the police chief said.
Winick praised the “heroism” of the first responders, who he said ran into the building, despite the strong smell of gas, and evacuated residents, including some who couldn’t walk or talk.
“This could’ve been a much more serious catastrophe,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday. “The actions of everybody involved help preserve life.”
The cause of the incident remains under investigation, Dippolito said on Wednesday. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Tuesday that the preliminary belief was that a gas leak was responsible, and Dippolito said the source of the leak was in the facility’s basement.
A sign is displayed outside of the Mary E. Switzerland Memorial Building which houses the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on June 2, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(MINNEAPOLIS) — An official with the Department of Health and Human Services says the agency has “frozen all child care payments” to the state of Minnesota after allegations of fraudulent day care centers there.
In addition, HHS is tightening requirements for payments from the Administration for Children and Families to all states, requiring a justification and a receipt or photo evidence, Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill said in a post on social media Tuesday.
The move comes after an unverified online video from conservative influencer Nick Shirley alleging fraud in child care in Somali communities in Minneapolis. Minnesota officials had disputed the allegations.
In the post, O’Neill wrote the agency was taking steps to address “blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country” and said HHS was demanding Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz conduct a “comprehensive audit” of day care centers identified in the viral video.
In a post on social media, Walz responded to the move by HHS, writing: “This is Trump’s long game. We’ve spent years cracking down on fraudsters. It’s a serious issue – but this has been his plan all along. He’s politicizing the issue to defund programs that help Minnesotans.”
Earlier this week, Minnesota officials had also pushed back on the claims made in the video that went viral last week.
Conservative influencer Nick Shirley posted a 40-minute-long video alleging fraud in childcare in Somali communities in Minneapolis. In the video, Shirley allegedly visited daycares that he said have taken public funds, but there were no children when he visited.
ABC News has not independently verified any of his claims. Unrelated allegations of fraud have been under investigation by state officials dating back to the time of the Biden administration.
According to Minneapolis-St. Paul ABC News affiliate KSTP, Tikki Brown, the commissioner of the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, raised concerns about the video, including whether videos were taken during times when the businesses were scheduled to be open.
“While we have questions about some of the methods that were used in the video, we do take the concerns that the video raises about fraud very seriously,” Brown said on Monday.
“Each of the facilities mentioned in the video has been visited at least once in the last six months as part of our typical licensing process, and in fact, our staff are out in the community today to visit each of these sites again so that we can look into the concerns that were raised in the video,” she added.
Brown noted that children were present during the unannounced visits by the state at all the visits.
The Minnesota Department of Children, Youth and Families did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the video or the allegations of fraud.
After the video Shirley posted to social media went viral, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post that her department was conducting a “massive investigation on childcare and other rampant fraud.” Similarly, FBI Director Kash Patel said the agency had already surged resources into Minnesota and that he believed alleged fraud already uncovered on federal food aid during COVID was “just the tip of a very large iceberg.”
“To date, the FBI dismantled a $250 million fraud scheme that stole federal food aid meant for vulnerable children during COVID,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a Sunday evening X post. “The investigation exposed sham vendors, shell companies, and large-scale money laundering tied to the Feeding Our Future network.”
The COVID fraud scheme was uncovered during the Biden administration, but charges have been brought as late as this year.
At a cabinet meeting earlier this month, President Donald Trump criticized the U.S. Somali community, citing allegations of fraud in Minnesota.
One of the most senior career prosecutors at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota commented on massive amounts of alleged fraud in the state at a press conference earlier this month.
“The magnitude of fraud in Minnesota cannot be overstated. It’s staggering amounts of money that’s been lost,” prosecutor Joe Thompson said on Dec. 18.
Oklahoma Forestry Services captured footage of the Ranger Road fire in Beaver County, Oklahoma. (Oklahoma Forestry Services)
(BEAVER COUNTY, Okla.) — The Oklahoma governor declared a state of emergency on Wednesday due to multiple wildfires in the state’s panhandle region, as critical fire weather conditions persist in the region.
A “series of destructive wildfires” is burning across northwest Oklahoma, the governor’s office said.
The largest, the Ranger Road Fire, has burned 145,000 acres since igniting in Oklahoma’s Beaver County on Tuesday and crossing into Kansas, according to fire officials. It was 0% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services.
Additional local task forces are being deployed to Beaver County, the governor’s office said Wednesday.
Three other “significant” wildfires in Oklahoma’s Texas and Woodward counties were 20% to 25% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to fire officials.
Four firefighters were injured and several homes destroyed in the wildfire in Woodward County, according to Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt.
The town of Tyrone in Texas County was also evacuated earlier Wednesday “as a precaution,” Stitt said.
The governor’s executive order stated that the state’s emergency operations plan has been activated and resources of all state departments and agencies are available “to meet this emergency.”
“As we head into today and tomorrow, conditions remain dangerous,” Stitt said in a statement Wednesday. “We need every Oklahoman to stay alert and continue taking fire warnings seriously.”
A red flag warning is in effect Wednesday across western and central Oklahoma and west of the I-35 corridor, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services. The critical threat of fire danger is expected to continue into Thursday.
“Fire weather conditions will expand eastward across a larger part of Oklahoma as high winds combine with low humidity across most of the state,” the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management said Wednesday.
Red flag warnings, fire weather watches and high wind warnings are also in effect across Kansas.
“There should be NO outdoor burning of any kind until this event is over, as the slightest ember could become tomorrow’s inferno,” the Kansas Division of Emergency Management said on social media.
Signage outside the US Department of Justice (DOJ) headquarters in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 17, 2023. (Ting Shen/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is proposing a new policy that would seek to limit the ability of state bar associations to launch ethics probes into DOJ attorneys, according to a new document posted Wednesday in the Federal Register.
The proposal, which comes amid growing scrutiny of the department’s attorneys and whether they’re complying with ethical obligations in enforcing the Trump administration’s agenda, would seek to empower Attorney General Pam Bondi to request that state bar investigations be suspended pending a DOJ review of any originating complaint.
In the event the state bar authorities “refuse” to suspend their investigations, the proposal says, the Justice Department “shall take appropriate action to prevent the bar disciplinary authorities from interfering.”
It’s not immediately clear what “appropriate action” the department could take to influence state-level proceedings, and the proposed rule does not elaborate further.
The proposal argues that the bar complaint and investigation process has been “weaponized” by political activists in recent years to ensnare officials across DOJ’s ranks into costly and time-consuming proceedings.
“This unprecedented weaponization of the State bar complaint process risks chilling the zealous advocacy by Department attorneys on behalf of the United States, its agencies, and its officers,” the proposed rule said. “That chilling effect, in turn, would interfere with the broad statutory authority of the Attorney General to manage and supervise Department attorneys.”
A Justice Department spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
