Hurricane Hone moves south of Hawaii’s Big Island as Category 1 storm
Hurricane Hone was moving late Saturday south of the Big Island of Hawaii as a weak Category 1 storm, with winds of 75 mph.
The storm was expected to remain at about the same status, walking the tight line between tropical storm and hurricane on Sunday and into Monday. Hurricanes have winds of 74 mph or greater.
Hone is moving westerly at 12 mph and is currently 105 miles south of Hilo, Hawaii, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Hurricane force winds were only extending about 15 miles from the eye of the storm, meaning the Big Island is only experiencing tropical storm conditions, and is only expected to. Tropical storm force winds were extending up to 125 miles.
A Tropical Storm Warning had been issued as Hone approached Hawaii. That warning remained in effect for Hawaii County at about 11 p.m. on Saturday, weather officials said.
While the storm isn’t expected to make a direct hit on the islands, it is still close enough to deliver some potentially dangerous impacts. Tropical Storm conditions are likely occurring on the Big Island overnight and early Sunday, especially at higher terrains and through passes.
About 6 to 12 inches of rainfall are expected on the Big Island — especially near the windward and southeast-facing slopes — and there is a Flash Flood Watch there. For the smaller islands, about 2 to 4 inches of rain are expected.
Life-threatening surf and rip currents are also impacting Hawaii.
(MEMPHIS) — Opening statements began on Wednesday in the federal trial of three former Memphis police officers charged in connection with the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Rogers presented the prosecution’s case, explaining to jurors what evidence they can expect to see and warned them that they will watch and hear “horrifying” body camera video and audio over the course of the trial, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom.
“They stood by his dying body and laughed,” Rogers said, describing what happened after the officers were finished beating Nichols, according to WATN. “These will not be easy days.”
Defense attorneys for the former officers — Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley and Justin Smith — also began presenting opening statements.
John Perry, Bean’s defense attorney, told jurors that they can expect to see that the evidence will show the officers did their job, according to WATN.
“It will take you 5 minutes to deliberate,” Perry said, according to WATN.
Michael Stengel, Haley’s attorney, said that Nichols did not stop for 2 miles after officers turned on their police lights, according to WATN. Stengel claimed that there is no evidence that the officer knew who was driving at the time and there was no personal vendetta concerning rumors of a woman.
“When they got the wallet [of Nichols] after the stop, that’s when they learned who it was,” Stengel said, according to WATN.
Bean, Haley and Smith, along with two other officers involved in the incident, were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid – charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The 4-count indictment also charged all five officers with conspiring to engage in misleading conduct by attempting to falsify or intentionally withholding details of the arrest in statements and to a supervisor – charges that carry up to 20 years in prison, per the DOJ.
Bean, Haley and Smith have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Desmond Mills Jr. and Emmitt Martin III, the two additional officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.
Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.
Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’s plea agreement.
Tyre Nichols’ mother, RowVaughn Wells, who attended opening statements, told reporters on Wednesday that she hopes the jury will return a guilty verdict.
“Our hope is that they’re found guilty and to show the world that my son was a good person and he wasn’t the criminal that they’re trying to make him out to be,” she said.
ABC News reached out to the attorneys representing the officers but requests for comment were not immediately returned.
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023 – three days after a traffic stop captured in body camera footage and surveillance footage, which allegedly shows officers violently striking Nichols repeatedly and walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground. He was also pepper-sprayed and tased during the incident. The beating triggered protests and calls for police reform.
Police said Nichols was pulled over for reckless driving, though Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that.
Body camera footage shows Nichols getting away from the officers after the initial stop, but he was apprehended minutes later by the officers. He then sustained multiple punches, kicks and hits from a baton from the officers.
Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition where he later died. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.
While Nichols’ mother has said that first responders told her he was drunk and high, the autopsy report shows that his blood alcohol level was .049, the DA’s office said. The district attorney’s office told the family that was “well less than the legal limit to drive.”
The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit – a crime suppression unit that has since been disbanded after Nichols’ death.
Rogers told the jury on Wednesday that the SCORPION unit followed an alleged rule that they called the “run tax,” according to WATN, where it was understood that the first person to reach a running suspect would beat them.
Perry claimed that his client, Bean, was not present at the initial stop and only arrived at the second scene after hearing a call on dispatch radio, according to WATN.
The five officers charged in connection to Nichols’ death were all fired for violating the policies of the Memphis Police Department.
All five former officers also face state felony charges, including second-degree murder, aggravated assault and aggravated kidnapping, in connection with Nichols’ death. They pleaded not guilty.
ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Cecilia sat in front of her computer repeatedly refreshing the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services webpage on Monday, waiting for the application for the Biden administration’s “Keeping Families Together” program to show up on her screen.
Minutes later, she clicked it open and submitted the form in less than 20 minutes.
A little more than 24 hours later, she got an e-mail sharing the news that she had been waiting 20 years to hear.
“I see that I got approved, and I’m like, oh that was quick,” she told ABC News in an interview. “I was lost for words…a whole bunch of emotions were going on.”
Cecilia, who asked ABC News not to disclose her full name so she can freely disclose her immigration status, is one of the first immigrants to receive parole in place, a temporary relief from deportation under a new program that allows undocumented spouses and stepchildren of United States citizens to apply for permanent legal residence without having to leave the country.
Noncitizen spouses are already eligible for legal status under current laws but often have to apply from their home countries and face up to a 10-year ban from returning to the U.S.
On June 18, President Joe Biden announced an executive action launching the program, calling it a “commonsense fix” to keep families together.
“This action is a better way. It doesn’t tear families apart, while requiring every undocumented spouse to fulfill their obligations under the law,” Biden said.
It’s estimated that half a million noncitizen spouses and 50,000 children could benefit from the program, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
In order to qualify for the program, applicants must be in the country unlawfully and pass background checks. They also have to prove they’ve lived in the country for at least a decade and must be married to a U.S. citizen on or before June 17, 2024.
Some noncitizen stepchildren under the age of 21 are also eligible.
Cecilia’s family brought her to the U.S. from Mexico when she was a 4-year-old, she told ABC News.
After unsuccessfully applying for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which continues to be paused pending a yearlong battle that could permanently end the program, she thought her dreams of finally being able to pursue a career as a chemist were over. For years, she said her parents worked to help her with paying out of state tuition because of her status.
In 2018, she met her future husband when he was studying biology at the same school.
“At the time I didn’t really tell him about my status, because I was like, what if he doesn’t like me because I’m not here legally,” she told ABC News.
However, she said her husband was overwhelmingly supportive of her despite her being undocumented. He has helped her get through school while raising their 3-year-old. He was working when she shared the news that her application was approved.
“He was like, ‘Are you not playing with me?'” she recalled. They went to celebrate as soon as he got home.
“We always try to celebrate little moments in our lives, even if they’re small, because we never know when one us might not be there and we try to be united as a family, she said.
Cecilia learned about the new policy from American Families United, a nonprofit organization that advocates for legal pathways to citizenship for foreign nationals married to U.S. citizens.
“Countless American families like Cecilia’s have endured years of uncertainty, holding onto the hope that one day they could live without fear,” said Ashley DeAzevedo, president of American Families United, in a statement. “We are encouraged to see the quick approval of Cecilia’s application—she is American in every way that counts. Now, she will have the opportunity to contribute even more to her family and this nation that she calls home.”
Cecilia believes that because she had already submitted biometrics and other information to USCIS as part of her DACA application, her case was expedited.
A USCIS official told ABC News that the agency may prioritize applicants who already have other pending applications and have submitted accurate biographic information.
Cecilia has already applied for her work permit and plans to apply for lawful permanent residence status as soon as she’s able to, finally putting the frustration of living in limbo as an undocumented immigrant in the past for good. Her dreams of owning a home, launching her career and raising her child with her husband seem within reach.
She’s urging other undocumented immigrants to remain hopeful.
“I feel like people should be more hopeful and that there are people advocating for them,” she said. “Everyone deserves an extra opportunity.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is once again brushing aside traditional debate preparations as his first match against Vice President Kamala Harris approaches, reverting to a similar strategy of policy meetings with advisers and a series of interviews and town halls.
In the week leading up to the Sept. 10 ABC News debate, Trump was on campaign trail for a town hall in Pennsylvania, gave an economic address in New York and will hold a rally in Wisconsin this weekend. His campaign said the former president sees talking to voters is a form of debate prep, too.
“Our debate and prep is every day. It’s called Donald Trump talking to voters,” one Trump campaign adviser said.
Trump campaign senior adviser Brian Hughes told ABC News that because Trump gives “dozens of unscripted interviews and can stand with reporters unscripted for hours at a time, he doesn’t need staff cheat codes to go into a debate.”
“He is reviewing policy with advisers,” Hughes said, adding that Trump is “always prepared to discuss his successful time as president.”
During a town hall event Wednesday with Fox News host Sean Hannity, Trump said he was “gonna let [Harris] talk” in the debate.
“When I had [President Joe] Biden, you and I had the same discussion. And I let him talk. I’m gonna let her talk,” Trump told Hannity when asked how he will respond to Harris when she tries to get under his skin.
In the last three weeks, Trump has only done two events that the campaign has described as rallies out of the nearly dozen campaign stops he has had — a break in the campaign’s traditional style.
The campaign instead has been persistent with scheduling more smaller-scale, policy-focused speeches and participating in moderated discussion panels with allies. During these events, Trump has worked to fine-tune his attacks on Harris, though, at times, he often struggled to stay on topic.
Trump and his campaign have long strayed from mock-style debates, and say that despite having a different challenger, his method remains the same. Rather, in between campaign stops, Trump and his campaign have been focusing on nailing down several different policy areas, a similar strategy to how he approached the June debate against Biden.
Trump had limited outbursts and personal attacks on the debate stage against Biden in June, and his campaign said he will focus on a similar strategy against Harris. Still, Trump has not held back on the trail, lobbing personal attacks at Harris.
The campaign has also tapped former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who recently endorsed Trump, for debate preparations. Campaign advisers took note of Gabbard’s debate performance against Harris and Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary, and made headlines at the time for taking aim at Harris’ record as a prosecutor.
In public comments over the weekend, Gabbard offered insight into the types of tactics she would advise Trump about ahead of next week’s debate, warning that Harris should not be “underestimated.” The former president has previously said he thinks debating Harris will be “easier” than Biden.
“I think Kamala Harris has a lot of experience. She’s not to be underestimated. President Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have very different records,” Gabbard said.
She argued that Trump should focus on Harris’ flip-flops, which “will be an opportunity for voters to look at and compare and contrast those records.”
“It really is just sharing the experience that I have with her on that debate stage in 2020 and frankly, helping to point out some ways that Kamala Harris has already shown that she is trying to move away from her record, move away from her positions, and how that contradicts the positions and statements that she is making now that she is the Democratic nominee,” Gabbard said.
Trump also recently sat down for a town hall with Gabbard in Wisconsin, answering questions from voters on issues such as the economy, immigration and national security.
As the Trump campaign tries to focus on Harris’ record, another attack anticipated on the debate stage is the distinction that Harris is currently serving in the White House and can make policy decisions now.
“That’s one of the points that I will make all the time. Do it. You can do it right now,” Trump claimed in an interview with the Daily Mail last month.
The ABC News debate will take place on Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 9 p.m ET. A prime-time pre-debate special will air at 8 p.m. ET.