15-year-old boy shot at school in Omaha, in critical condition; suspect in custody
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(OMAHA, Neb.) — A 15-year-old boy is in critical condition after he was shot at his high school in Omaha, Nebraska, on Tuesday, police said.
The shooting inside Northwest High School was reported at about 12:23 p.m., and a description of the suspect was put out over the radio, Omaha police said. The suspect was taken into custody around 12:58 p.m., police said.
The shooting appeared to stem from an incident between two students, police said.
(NEPTUNE BEACH, Fla.) — An 18-year-old was arrested outside a Florida polling location Tuesday after police said he wielded a machete in order to intimidate voters.
Caleb James Williams faces charges of aggravated assaulted on a person 65 years of age or older and improper exhibition of a firearm or dangerous weapon.
In a press conference after the arrest, Neptune Beach Police Chief Michael J. Key said Williams “brandished a machete in an aggressive, threatening posture over his head” at two women, ages 71 and 54.
Williams was accompanied by seven other male teens, ages 16 and 17, who police said went to the Beaches Branch Library “to protest and antagonize the opposing political side.”
“The group was there for no other reason but for ill intentions to cause a disturbance,” Key said. “This is not an incident of solely a First Amendment protected right, but rather one where they were simply there to cause a ruckus.”
None of the other teens currently face any charges, but Key said the investigation is ongoing and additional charges are possible.
Duval County Democratic Party Chair Daniel Henry said in a statement the young men had been wielding flags bearing former President Donald Trump’s name during the incident, and that the individuals they confronted were carrying signs in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
Henry described it as a “troubling act of intimidation” and thanked police for the swift response.
“Violence and intimidation have no place in our democratic process,” Henry said. “The Duval County Democratic Party stands with those who seek to express their views peacefully and without fear of reprisal.”
Key said he is “extremely proud” of police for their handling of the incident.
“Voting in our country is one of the most sacred and protected rights we have,” he said. “Ensuring everyone’s right to vote is crucial and it will not be impeded upon in Neptune Beach or Duval County.”
He also expressed his anger at the incident, and emphasized how seriously police will take such incidents.
“I don’t know if you can see the visceral anger I have, but I’m angry at this — I’m extremely angry at this.” Key said. “It is one thing to go up and exercise your First Amendment right, which we so dearly take as a sacred right to express. But again, the moment you move to violence, that goes out the window.”
“To say I’m disturbed is an understatement. I’m mad that this happened in Neptune Beach,” he added.
Police are in contact with Jerry Holland, the Duval County supervisor of elections, and Key said they are committed to protecting voters’ safety at the polls.
“This is a safe location to vote, it was a safe location to vote today before this incident, and it will continue to remain a safe location to vote,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — An OceanGate whistleblower testified during a United States Coast Guard hearing into the deadly 2023 implosion of the Titan that he had “no confidence” in the way the experimental submersible was being built.
David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, said he was known as a “troublemaker” in the tourism and expeditions company because he was so outspoken about his safety concerns — voiced years before five people were killed when the Titan catastrophically imploded during a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023.
Lochridge said Tuesday during an ongoing Coast Guard hearing into the deadly implosion that he was hired in 2015 to in part work on the operations for the Titan but was ultimately not involved in its development. Lochridge said he was “phased out” after butting heads with OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — one of the five people who died in the implosion.
When asked by the Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard if he had confidence in the way the Titan was being built in 2017, Lochridge said, “No confidence whatsoever, and I was very vocal about that, and still am.”
Lochridge submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his concerns about the submersible’s carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, after he said Rush asked him to inspect it.
“At the end of the day, safety comes first,” Lochridge said. “Yes, you’re taking a risk going down in a submersible, but don’t take risks that are unnecessary with faulty, and I mean faulty, deficient equipment.”
Lochridge testified Rush “liked to do things on the cheap.” Asked why the company resorted to cost-cutting measures, Lochridge said, “The desire to get to the Titanic as quickly as we could to start making profit.”
He said he did not know about the financial side of the company, but that “there was a big push to get this done.”
“A lot of steps along the way were missed,” he said.
Lochridge testified that Rush wanted to do manned testing of the first Titan prototype, though Lochridge recommended doing unmanned testing due to his concerns.
“I knew that hull would fail,” he said. “It’s an absolute mess.”
Lochridge was fired from OceanGate in 2018, days after submitting his report and attending an hourslong meeting with OceanGate executives, including Rush, ABC News previously reported. Documents reviewed by ABC News stated that it was clear Lochridge and Rush were “at an impasse” regarding the Titan hull, and “the only option was the termination of your employment.”
Lochridge testified Tuesday he was terminated because he was “anti-project.”
“I didn’t want to lose my job,” Lochridge said. “I wanted to go to Titanic. It was on my bucket list. I wanted to dive this, but dive it safely.”
Following his termination, Lochridge said he reached out to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in February 2018 with his concerns about public safety and was placed under the agency’s Whistleblower Protection Program. Recent Stories from ABC News
“I wouldn’t want to see anybody dying for the sake of going in a sub,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “It’s a magical place. I love it. I’m very passionate about what I do. If there’s risk like that, don’t do it.”
A defect was discovered in the first prototype of the carbon-fiber hull in 2019, and it was not used on Titanic missions, the Coast Guard said.
A second carbon-fiber hull was subsequently made that was used on Titanic missions, including the doomed dive on June 18, 2023.
OceanGate suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the implosion.
The Coast Guard’s hearing into the implosion is scheduled to last two weeks. Lochridge is the only witness scheduled to testify on Tuesday.
During his testimony, Lochridge said he started being phased out of his duties after he inadvertently “embarrassed” Rush during a 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck on OceanGate’s Cyclops 1 submersible.
Lochridge, a veteran submersible pilot, said he was meant to take several paying clients down to the wreck to take a 3-D model, but Rush wanted to pilot the dive instead. Lochridge said he objected, noting that the wreck is “dangerous” and that over a dozen people died during dives to the site at the time — and eventually persuaded Rush to let him go along.
He said Rush ended up getting the vessel stuck in the wreck and refused to relinquish control of the submersible to Lochridge until one of the crew members yelled at Rush to give Lochridge the PlayStation controller that piloted the vessel.
Lochridge said Rush threw the controller at his head and one of the buttons came off, though he testified that he was able to repair it and get them back to the surface.
After that, Lochridge said Rush stopped talking to him.
Lochridge testified he raised objections after OceanGate phased out its relationship with the University of Washington’s Applied Physics Laboratory in 2016. He said Rush decided to do all engineering for the Titan in-house.
Asked by the board why that was the case, Lochridge said, “Arrogance.”
He also testified the company only cared about making money and it wasn’t interested in scientific research.
“The whole idea behind the company was to make money, that’s it,” Lochridge said. “There was very little in the way of science.”
OceanGate sued Lochridge following his termination, alleging, among other things, breach of contract, fraud and misappropriation of trade secrets. Lochridge alleged in a counterclaim lawsuit that he was fired for raising concerns about quality control.
During the hearing on Tuesday, Lochridge said he dropped his OSHA case and walked away from the lawsuits in late 2018 because he didn’t want to “put my family through any more of this,” financially and emotionally.
“It was going nowhere,” he said. “It was too much for us as a family.”
Lochridge and OceanGate settled the dispute out of court in November 2018. Lochridge said OSHA closed the case in December 2018 following the settlement agreement.
“I never paid a penny to OceanGate, I’m going to state that clearly,” Lochridge said Tuesday. “I gave them nothing, they gave me nothing.”
In his final remarks, Lochridge said he hopes the investigation will shed light on “why OSHA did not actively address my concerns.”
“I believe that if OSHA had attempted to investigate the seriousness of the concerns I raised on multiple occasions, this tragedy may have been prevented,” he said. “As a seafarer, I feel deeply let down and disappointed by the system that is meant to protect not only seafarers but the general public as well.”
ABC News has reached out to OSHA for comment. OSHA had previously declined to comment to ABC News on the case.
The Coast Guard hearing is scheduled to resume on Thursday, with testimony from the company’s former scientific director and a crew member who was on board OceanGate’s 2016 dive to the Andrea Doria shipwreck.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — A landmark bill to ban some dyes in food served at California public schools, aimed at protecting children’s health, is headed to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk to be signed into law after passing the state legislature on Thursday.
Assembly Bill 2316, also known as the California School Food Safety Act, would prohibit six potentially harmful food dye chemicals from being provided in the state’s public schools. It was approved by the California Assembly on Thursday after passing the state Senate earlier in the week.
“California has a responsibility to protect our students from chemicals that harm children and that can interfere with their ability to learn,” Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, who introduced the legislation back in February, said in a statement Thursday, adding, “This bill will empower schools to better protect the health and well-being of our kids and encourage manufacturers to stop using these harmful additives.”
Gabriel was previously successful in his efforts to ban potentially harmful food and drink additives in products sold throughout the state through the passage of the California Food Safety Act last year. The legislation bans potassium bromate, propylparaben, brominated vegetable oil and Red 3 from food that is manufactured, delivered and sold in the Golden State.
Newsom signed the bill into law last October, making California the first state in the U.S. to ban the additives.
Under the newly passed California School Food Safety Act, Red Dye No. 40, Yellow Dye No. 5, Yellow Dye No. 6, Blue Dye No. 1, Blue Dye No. 2 and Green Dye No. 3 will be banned from food served to students in public schools during regular hours.
The bipartisan bill was supported by the Environmental Working Group and Consumer Reports.
Studies suggest that consumption of the six dyes and colorants banned under A.B. 2316 may be linked to hyperactivity and other neurobehavioral problems in some children, as the California Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment outlined in a 2021 report.
While there are still thousands of chemicals allowed for use in our country’s commercial food system, many of those that have been reviewed by the Food and Drug Administration have not been reevaluated for decades. Red 40, for example, was last evaluated for health risks in 1971.
Reports from the American Academy of Pediatrics align with this push to reassess the safety of artificial food coloring.
“Over the last several decades, studies have raised concerns regarding the effect of [artificial food colorings] on child behavior and their role in exacerbating attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms,” doctors write. “Further work is needed to better understand the implications of AFC exposure and resolve the uncertainties across the scientific evidence. The available literature should be interpreted with caution because of the absence of information about the ingredients for a number of reasons, including patent protection.”
Dr. Stephanie Widmer, an ABC News medical contributor, board-certified emergency medicine physician and toxicologist, told “Good Morning America” previously, while discussing California’s earlier harmful chemical ban, “These chemicals are all kind of in different foods and all exert different effects and different concerns.”
“Some of them are associated with neurological problems, some are reproductive problems, some have been linked to cancer,” Widmer said at the time. “It really depends on the substance.”
