2 dead in explosion at manufacturing plant in Louisville, Kentucky: Police
ABC News
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Two people were killed and four remain in the hospital from an explosion at a manufacturing facility in Louisville, Kentucky, officials said.
The “hazardous materials incident” was reported Tuesday afternoon at a Givaudan Sense Colour facility, a natural food coloring plant, according to the Louisville Metro Emergency Services.
First responders were initially told by the business that all employees were accounted for, officials said Wednesday. But then a second victim was found buried in rubble late Tuesday evening after crews went back to the scene upon guidance from the business that someone was likely still there. It took three-and-a-half hours to remove that victim from the rubble, officials said.
“We are deeply saddened to share the news that two of our team members lost their lives in this accident,” Givaudan Sense Colour said in a statement.
The University of Louisville Hospital said it received seven patients with injuries including burn and blast wounds. All those injured are employees of the plant, officials said.
Four people remain hospitalized on Wednesday, all in stable condition, officials said.
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, officials said.
Drone footage taken by Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS showed extensive damage to the facility.
Residents within two blocks of the facility were evacuated, officials said. A shelter-in-place order was also issued for those within a 1-mile radius of the facility but it has since been lifted, officials said.
Air monitoring is clear at this time, officials said.
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Federal authorities have arrested an Arizona man after he allegedly posted videos online threatening to kill President-elect Donald Trump and his family.
In the videos, posted on Facebook in recent months, Manuel Tamayo-Torres issued an array of bizarre and outlandish claims about Trump, but he also apparently brandished an AR 15-style rifle and other weapons in the videos, and in August he recorded his trip to an arena in Glendale, Arizona, as Trump was holding a campaign rally there, according to charging documents filed in the case.
While the charging documents only refer to Trump as “Individual 1,” they say Tamayo-Torres made “vague yet direct threats” against “the president-elect,” and sources familiar with the investigation separately confirmed Tamayo-Torres’ alleged threats targeted Trump.
“[Y]ou’re gonna die,” Tamayo-Torres allegedly said in a video he posted on Thursday. “[Y]our son’s gonna die. Your whole family is going to die. … I’m going to put a hole in your face.”
The clip was one of “numerous” rambling and curse-laden videos he’s posted “on a near-daily basis” in recent months claiming that “Individual 1” kidnapped and sex-trafficked his children, according to the charging documents.
It’s unclear if Tamayo-Torres actually has children.
Earlier in November, Tamayo-Torres allegedly posted a video threatening “Individual 1” while holding up “what appears to be a white AR 15-style rifle with a 30-round magazine inserted into it,” charging documents said.
In another video, according to the charging documents, Tamayo-Torres said he witnessed “Individual 1” and the Secret Service kidnap his daughter. The video was posted Aug. 23 from Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona, where Trump was holding a campaign rally that day.
During the rally, Trump noted that he was “nearly assassinated” a month earlier, when a Pennsylvania man, Thomas Crooks, opened fire on him with an AR 15-style rifle during a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Authorities have yet to identify a clear motive in that attack.
Trump told rallygoers there are “risks incurred by leaders who stand up to the corrupt political establishment.”
“When you stand up, you bring on some trouble for yourself, but you have to do what’s right,” Trump said.
While investigating the more recent alleged threats from Tamayo-Torres, an officer from a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives task force found photos on Facebook that showed Tamayo-Torres holding a bullpup-style shotgun, a rifle, and the AR15-style rifle seen in one of his videos, according to charging documents.
Tamayo-Torres was arrested Monday near San Diego, where he anticipated moving soon, court records indicate.
Though he was arrested in California, the charges against him were filed in Arizona. He was charged with one count of making threats against a president or president’s successor.
He was also charged with four counts of making false statements during the purchase of a firearm, after he allegedly lied on federal forms a year ago while trying to buy a pistol from a Phoenix gun store.
He swore on those forms that he had not been previously convicted of a felony, but he had been convicted of assault in 2003 in San Diego, so he was legally prohibited from possessing firearms, the charging documents said.
As of Tuesday evening, court records did not list an attorney representing Tamayo-Torres.
(WASHINGTON) — Nearly 1,600 individuals have faced charges in the four years since a mob of President-elect Donald Trump’s supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol, according to figures released by the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Monday.
But one of the largest investigations in the Department of Justice’s history now faces a future rife with uncertainty.
Of the roughly 1,583 defendants whom prosecutors have charged in connection with the Capitol riot, 608 have faced charges for assaulting, resisting or interfering with law enforcement trying to protect the complex that day, the office said.
Roughly 174 of those 608 were charged with using a deadly or dangerous weapon or otherwise causing serious injury to an officer.
And in a rare move, the U.S. Attorney’s Office revealed it is currently evaluating whether to bring charges in roughly 200 cases that have been referred to them by the FBI, about 60 of which involve potential felony charges involving allegations of assault or impeding law enforcement.
While the U.S. Attorney’s Office has provided monthly “by the numbers” updates in connection with the Capitol attack — detailing arrests, guilty pleas and sentencings among other figures — Monday’s update is the first to include an estimate of the number of uncharged cases being evaluated by prosecutors.
It comes just days before Trump is set to take office for his second term and potentially follow through on his years-long public promises to pardon a vast number of Jan. 6 defendants, whom he has described as “political prisoners” unfairly targeted by the Biden administration.
The two months since Election Day have already proved to be a time of major instability for the Justice Department’s Capitol riot cases — as prosecutors have sought to manage an increasing number of newly emboldened defendants seeking delays in their cases with the potential promise of pardons or commutations on the horizon.
While Trump has promised to hand down a number of pardons and commutations during his first hours in office to some Jan. 6 defendants, neither he nor his transition have provided concrete guidance on how sweeping those pardons will ultimately be.
Trump’s Justice Department is also expected to slow down or even shutter completely the ongoing investigation into the attack.
In figures released Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office made clear to document how many cases are outstanding in advance of Trump’s inauguration, noting that 170 defendants who have already pleaded guilty or been found guilty still await sentencing.
Roughly 300 cases remain where a charged defendant hasn’t pleaded guilty or been found guilty, approximately 180 of whom have been charged with assaulting or impeding police.
The Federal Reserve Board Building. Via Douglas Rissing/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A jobs report to be released on Friday will provide a key gauge of the nation’s economic health, just days before the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump.
The findings could also help determine whether the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates when officials meet later this month.
U.S. hiring has defied doomsayers for much of President Joe Biden’s term in office. Stubborn inflation, high interest rates and a contentious presidential campaign have proven no match for a resilient labor market.
Economists expect the U.S. to have added 155,000 jobs in December. The figure would mark a slowdown from the previous month but it would keep the labor market growing at a steady clip.
In November, employers added a robust 227,000 jobs. The unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, but it continued to hover near a 50-year low.
Alongside steady hiring, inflation has eased and the economy has expanded, giving rise to hope that the U.S. can achieve a soft landing.
Inflation has slowed dramatically from a peak of more than 9% in June 2022, but price increases remain higher than the Fed’s target of 2%. The pace of price increases has ticked up in recent months.
The Fed dialed back its fight against inflation over the final months of last year, lowering interest rates by a percentage point. Still, the Fed’s interest rate remains at a historically high level of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
Last month, the Fed predicted fewer rate cuts in 2025 than it had previously indicated, suggesting concern that inflation may prove more difficult to bring under control than policymakers thought just a few months ago.
A solid jobs report that matches economists’ expectations could give the Fed more reason to delay interest rate cuts, since such a sign of economic strength may ease concern that a continuation of high interest rates would tip the economy into a downturn.
Instead, the Fed could wait and see if inflation falls closer to target levels, while remaining somewhat assured that the labor market will remain sturdy.
If the jobs report falls short of economists’ expectations, however, central bankers may view potential interest rate cuts with a heightened sense of urgency.
Speaking at a press conference in Washington D.C. on Wednesday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank may proceed at a slower pace with future rate cuts, in part because it has now lowered interest rates a substantial amount.
Powell also said a recent resurgence of inflation influenced the Fed’s expectations, noting that some policymakers considered uncertainty tied to potential policy changes under Trump.
“It’s common-sense thinking that when the path is uncertain, you get a little slower,” Powell said. “It’s not unlike driving on a foggy night or walking around in a dark room full of furniture.”
Trump has proposed tariffs of between 60% and 100% on Chinese goods, and a tax of between 10% and 20% on every product imported from all U.S. trading partners.
Economists widely forecast that tariffs of this magnitude would increase prices paid by U.S. shoppers, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to consumers.
