3 survivors rescued from icy lake after plane goes missing in Alaska
Alaska National Guard
(SOLDOTNA, ALASKA) — Good Samaritans helped save stranded plane crash victims on Monday after their aircraft went missing over a mountain range in Alaska.
A Piper PA-12 Super Cruiser was reported overdue on Sunday night, according to the Alaska National Guard. The plane had taken off from Soldotna Airport in Soldotna, Alaska, earlier in the day on Sunday.
The Alaska Rescue Coordination Center, a U.S. Coast Guard Super Hercules, Alaska State Troopers and Alaska National Guard launched a search effort but could not find it.
There was no emergency transmitter signal coming from the wreckage.
However, the Alaska National Guard told ABC News that a cellphone ping led searchers to believe the plane was near Tustumena Lake and the Kenai Mountains.
It was a civilian in an aircraft who wound up spotting the plane crash site on Monday.
Alaska officials said it was a testament to the strength of the community in Alaska that when an aircraft goes down, everybody takes to their planes and they go out and look.
One of the good Samaritans seeking the missing plane was Dale Eicher, who told ABC News that he was able to fly over the site of the crash approximately half an hour after it was first located and saw the survivors awaiting rescue.
An Alaska Army National Guard Blackhawk medivac variant with extended range, a hoist and a flight medic — part of the 207th Aviation Troop Command — went out to where the wreckage was spotted and found three people on the wing of the PA-12, which had seemingly broken the surface of a frozen body of water and had become partially submerged.
The National Guard told ABC News that the plane had missed the main lake; instead, the aircraft seems to have settled amid a glacial field and large body of water.
All three passengers on the plane survived the crash, were successfully rescued and were taken to a local hospital. There are no further updates on any injuries or what led to the crash.
ABC News’ Lena Camilletti contributed to this report.
(CALIFORNIA) — A cousin of the Menendez brothers said she’s “thrilled” that California Gov. Gavin Newsom is addressing the brothers’ request for clemency and ordering the parole board to investigate further.
“I certainly gasped in relief,” cousin Anamaria Baralt, one of at least 20 relatives in support of the brothers’ release, told ABC News at a virtual news conference Thursday. “This is huge.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents — have “cautious optimism” they’ll be released, Baralt said.
“They are the first life without parole prisoners on this path,” added another cousin, Tamara Goodell. “So when we look at any advancements … it’s definitely with hope, but also understanding that there are no promises.”
“There’s no guarantee of outcome here,” Newsom said Wednesday on his new podcast, “This is Gavin Newsom.” “My office conducts dozens and dozens of these clemency reviews on a consistent basis. But this process simply provides more transparency, which I think is important in this case, as well as provides us more due diligence before I make any determination for clemency.”
Baralt called Newsom’s decision a “positive step forward” and said she’s confident the parole board will determine Lyle and Erik Menendez are not a risk to public safety.
“We have seen their rehabilitation over the last three decades,” Baralt said.
She said the parole board’s investigation will find: the brothers’ repeated and sincere remorse; their work to improve prison culture and run several programs to help inmates reenter society; and how they’ve spent most of their lives in prison but still built meaningful lives helping others. The board will also consider their age at the time of the crime and their lack of criminal history outside of “making a horrific decision” as a direct result of the abuse they endured, Baralt said.
“We understand that this is not without professional risk for him,” Baralt said of Newsom.
Lyle and Erik Menendez filed the petition in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin, Andy Cano, eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father Jose Menendez; and allegations from a former boy band member, Roy Rossello, who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
Hochman argued the letter failed the credibility test, saying if it existed, the defense would have used it at the brothers’ trials in the 1990s.
Hochman said Rossello’s allegation failed the admissibility test, because the brothers didn’t know about his claims until recent years, so it couldn’t have influenced their state of mind during the crime and “play a role in self-defense or premeditated murder.”
After Hochman’s announcement, Erik Menendez said to the family, “We need you strong,” Goodell recalled. “They both really mirrored our frustration, but they also said, ‘Let it go. We need to focus on moving forward.’ And so that is our focus.”
Baralt stands by the new evidence.
The letter to Cano, while received in December 1988, was not discovered until recent years, according to the brothers’ attorney.
Baralt stressed that Cano was 14 or 15 at the time Erik Menendez sent him that letter.
“It’s only natural for a teenage boy to not realize he is sitting on critical evidence. Andy wasn’t a lawyer. He wasn’t even an adult,” she said. “To pose the question now, decades later, after he passed, of why wasn’t the letter submitted back then? It’s like asking a teenager who got in a fender bender why didn’t you call the police to file a report — because a teenager doesn’t know any better. He didn’t realize how vital that letter would be to the case.”
And as for Rossello’s admission in 2023, Baralt stressed that it’s common for abuse victims to not disclose for years.
“Roy coming out to share his story in his own time is new evidence” that should be considered admissible, she said.
Baralt said Hochman’s decision “felt extra hurtful, because it was only a few weeks ago that dozens of [relatives] sat in his office and described the horror of being in this victim family, with 35 years of being retraumatized.”
“We have become victims in this process,” she said. “We have been laughed at, ridiculed and forced to relive the pain over and over again.”
Lyle and Erik Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 shotgun murders of their parents, Kitty and Jose Menendez. The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, while prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
In October, then-LA County District Attorney George Gascón announced he supported resentencing for the brothers. Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
The DA’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Weeks after Gascón’s announcement, he lost his race for reelection to Hochman.
Hochman, who came into office on Dec. 3, has yet to announce if he is in support of or against resentencing for the brothers. He’s expected to decide in the coming weeks.
A hearing regarding the resentencing case is set for March 20 and 21.
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(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — Educators, students and advocates across the Florida higher education system spoke out Monday against the recent removal by the state of hundreds of general education courses that touch on race, gender, and sexual orientation, calling the restrictions “censorship” during a webinar hosted by the United Faculty of Florida union.
“I chose to pursue a career in education to engage students in critical thinking, adaptability and global competence — skills that are essential to success and societal contribution,” said Jeniah Jones, a Florida State College at Jacksonville professor. “Restrictions on diversity, equity and inclusion in the curriculum … undermine this mission by narrowing students’ understanding of the world and their role in it.”
Educators also argue that limiting general education options may also make it harder for students to fulfill their general education requirements.
A slate of directives and policy changes from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and the State University System of Florida’s Board of Governors in recent years has changed the landscape around what colleges and universities can say about race, politics, gender and sexual orientation.
DeSantis signed SB 266 in 2023, which prohibits universities from expending state or federal funds to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities that relate to diversity, equity and inclusion.
DeSantis touted the legislation at the time, saying in a statement: “Florida has ranked No. 1 in higher education for seven years in a row, and by signing this legislation we are ensuring that Florida’s institutions encourage diversity of thought, civil discourse and the pursuit of truth for generations to come.”
SB 266 amended a state statute requiring universities to go through an intensified review process to ensure that their general education course offerings are in compliance with the restrictions.
Schools are unable to offer classes that include “identity politics” or that are “based on theories that systemic racism, sexism, oppression, and privilege are inherent in the institutions of the United States and were created to maintain social, political and economic inequities,” according to the Florida statute.
At Florida State University, at least 432 courses from the college’s general education curriculum were removed in part because of the rules, according to meeting minutes from the Board of Trustees.
ABC affiliate First Coast News reported in November 2024 that University of North Florida removed 67 courses from the university’s list of general education options.
FSU told ABC News that the courses would be offered as electives instead of being able to fulfill general education requirements. UNF told First Coast News the same, that the courses will still be offered and available as electives.
The state university system’s Board of Governors also later restricted state funding toward diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including “political or social activism.”
Florida Commissioner of Education Manny Diaz, Jr. had applauded the move: “Higher education must return to its essential foundations of academic integrity and the pursuit of knowledge instead of being corrupted by destructive ideologies.”
Marsilla Gray, a University of South Florida Ph.D. student and graduate assistant, said that professors are losing the freedom to discuss “not only the latest research in a deep and unbiased manner, but also the ability to connect how these findings relate to our society as a whole” based on these changes.
“It directly impacts student preparedness for both young scientists who want to go on to careers as researchers, physicians and educators, but also for non-STEM majors, for whom their few natural science Gen-Eds may be their only exposure to critically evaluating scientific statements and tying that to what they learn in their social science and humanities courses,” she said on the Monday call.
Robert Cassanello, a University of Central Florida history professor, said the restrictions are reminiscent of past pressures from political groups — including religious prohibitions on teachings of evolution or anthropology as well as Cold War-era prohibitions on the discussion of communism or socialism.
“When the legislature has tried to interfere with curriculum, it never produced good outcomes,” said Cassanello, in the press call.
Leah Sauceda, a Florida State University student, said a general education requirement on Latin American history led her to seek a history degree as well as an international affairs major.
“My classes helped me realize the study of history isn’t about the past, as contradictory as that sounds, but rather it is a tool to understand how the past is inextricably linked to the present and all possible futures,” she said on the Monday call. “History helps us understand the world and our place in it. It is heartbreaking to think that the same transformative opportunity I had can be taken away from future students because the Board of Governors would rather us ignore history than learn from it.”
The calls against DEI removals in higher education come as President Donald Trump implements anti-DEI restrictions on a federal level via several executive orders.
The Board of Governors declined ABC News’ request for comment.
(NEW YORK) — A Cornell University graduate student filed a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s executive orders aimed at going after universities and “foreign national” protesters, then he was asked to surrender to ICE.
Momodou Taal, a Ph.D. student in Africana Studies at Cornell University, filed the suit on Saturday hoping to prevent the administration from targeting him and others who have participated in pro-Palestinian protests. An attorney for Taal said he had been targeted by some of the same groups that had advocated for Mahmoud Khalil’s arrest and that his client feared he could be next.
Taal is a citizen of the U.K. and Gambia and is in the United States on a student visa.
According to court records, Taal was temporarily suspended from Cornell in April and September of 2024 for his participation in student protests. Instead of imposing sanctions that could have affected his immigration status, the university chose to allow Taal to continue studying remotely until Spring 2025 when his full access to the campus would be restored, his lawyers said.
In an X post on Wednesday, Taal said law enforcement agents “from an unidentified agency” had been seen parked outside his home in Ithaca, New York.
“Trump is attempting to detain me to prevent me from having my day in court,” he wrote.
On Thursday, attorney Eric Lee filed an affidavit, stating, “It appears the government is attempting to detain Mr. Taal imminently.” Witnesses had seen an undercover law enforcement official parked outside Taal’s home, his attorney said. The man allegedly showed the witnesses a badge “indicating he is a member of law enforcement.”
Taal’s attorneys petitioned for a temporary restraining order seeking to prevent his arrest.
However, on Friday, his attorneys said they received an e-mail from a Justice Department lawyer asking Taal to turn himself in to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“ICE invites Mr. Taal and his counsel to appear in-person at the HSI Office in Syracuse at a mutually agreeable time for personal service of the NTA and for Mr. Taal to surrender to ICE custody. Accordingly, if you are interested in proposing such a date and time, we will promptly forward it to ICE for consideration,” the email read.
On Friday, Lee posted on X and condemned the Trump administration’s move.
“The Trump administration responded to Momodou Taal’s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the executive orders by sending agents to stake out his house, he said. When we asked the Court to enjoin the administration from detaining Mr. Taal as the case progresses, the administration responded by ordering him to surrender to ICE. This does not happen in a democracy.”
