Dangerously high temperatures to take over Midwest, excessive heat warning issued in Chicago
(NEW YORK) — Thirty-eight million people are under heat alerts Monday as dangerously high temperatures are set to take over the Midwest.
An excessive heat warning has been issued in Chicago, where the heat index — what the temperature feels like with humidity — could reach a scorching 110 degrees on Monday and Tuesday.
The cities of Minneapolis; Madison, Wisconsin; and Omaha, Nebraska, are also under excessive heat warnings. The heat index may climb as high as 115 degrees in these cities on Monday.
In Detroit, public schools will be released three hours early on Monday and Tuesday due to the heat.
The heat will spread east and south through the week. Record highs are possible from Chicago to Louisville, Kentucky, on Tuesday and from Nashville, Tennessee, to Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
This comes after record-high temperatures in Texas this weekend. Amarillo climbed to a record of 104 degrees on Sunday.
There are hundreds of deaths each year in the U.S. due to excessive heat, according to CDC WONDER, an online database, and scientists caution that the actual number of heat-related deaths is likely higher.
(NEW YORK) — One of the last messages sent from the doomed Titan submersible during its June 2023 voyage to the Titanic wreckage was “all good here,” according to a presentation from a U.S. Coast Guard hearing on the deadly implosion.
The Marine Board of Investigation for the U.S. Coast Guard’s two-week hearing into the incident began on Monday, 15 months after the OceanGate vessel catastrophically imploded during its deep-sea voyage, killing all five people aboard.
An animation created by the Coast Guard during the Monday hearing showed the text communications between the Titan and the surface vessel, Polar Prince, as the submersible descended toward the ocean floor on June 18, 2023. The short text messages were the only means of communication between the Titan crew and the personnel on the Polar Prince as the vessel attempted to reach the Titanic, which sits 3,800 meters below sea level.
At approximately 2,274 meters, the Titan sent the message, “All good here,” according to the animation.
The last communication from the submersible was sent at approximately 3,341 meters: “Dropped two wts,” meaning drop weights, according to the Coast Guard.
All communications and tracking from the submersible to Polar Prince were lost at 3,346 meters, according to the Coast Guard.
Debris from the Titan was found on the ocean floor four days later. All five crew members — including OceanGate CEO Stockton Rush — were determined to have died in a catastrophic implosion.
The Coast Guard released a new image during the hearing Monday that shows Titan debris, including the tail cone, at the bottom of the ocean.
Tym Catterson, a former contractor for OceanGate, testified during Monday’s hearing that there were “no red flags” on the day of the incident. He said he believes the intention of shedding the two 35-pound weights was to slow the vessel down as it approached the ocean floor. He thought the weight was dropped a little early than is typical — not due to any emergency but to ensure a smooth landing, he said.
“Considering who was in the cab with Stockton at that particular time — there are two billionaires in there with him — I would absolutely guarantee that he’s trying to make sure that this just goes as absolutely perfect and spot-on as he can,” Catterson said.
He said when the tracking and communications were lost, the initial thought was that the transponder failed. When rescuers heard banging noises during their search for the vessel, he said they believed the vessel was drifting.
“This was all theories that were just flying around between people that were totally without sleep and very anxious,” he said. “It’s the worst thing that could be happening.”
Two witnesses say they wouldn’t go in the Titan
Some two dozen witnesses are scheduled to testify during the two-week hearing.
The hearing’s first witness — Tony Nissen, OceanGate’s former engineering director — testified that he was kept in the dark and didn’t know that OceanGate’s goal when he was initially hired was to go to the Titanic.
Asked whether he felt comfortable going down to the Titanic in the submersible, Nissen responded that Rush had asked him to be the pilot to run the Titanic missions, and he turned him down.
“I told him, I’m not getting in it,” Nissen said. “He asked me why, and I said, ‘Because the operations crew, I don’t trust them.'”
“He said, ‘Well, what if I’m mission director?'” Nissen continued. “I said, ‘You still have the same operations crew.’ But I didn’t trust Stockton either. Take a look at where we started and when I was hired, nothing that I got was the truth.”
Catterson also testified that he would not have felt comfortable going to the depths of the Titanic wreckage in the Titan, saying he had questions about the integrity of its carbon fiber and titanium construction.
“I don’t believe that the composites are the correct material for a pressure vessel that’s experiencing external compression,” he said. “I had my doubts.”
When asked if he ever voiced his concerns to OceanGate employees, he testified that he told Rush, Nissen and David Lochridge, the former OceanGate operations director — “pretty much anybody that would listen.”
Catterson said he had raised the issue about the integrity of the carbon fiber hull with Rush “no less than half a dozen” times. He said he thought the sub was “underbuilt” and that Rush responded to his concerns by saying, “I have several engineers working on this and they say otherwise.”
The company’s former finance director, Bonnie Carl, a former contractor for OceanGate, testified Monday that she was aware of a conversation between Lochridge and Renata Rojas, a mission specialist, when Lochridge told Rojas not to go on the Titan, warning that it was “unsafe.”
Titan not classified
It is common for submersibles to get classification, but both Catterson and Nissen testified that the Titan had not been classified. Catterson talked about recommending classification for it to Rush.
“The reason for the classification is basically that it’s proof of due diligence. It’s also primarily one of the ways that you can get insurance for the submersibles. That’s one of the very big things,” he said. “I had explained this to [Rush], and he, well, I guess that wasn’t as big of a worry for him as it would be for most people. I don’t know, I said my piece.”
According to a Coast Guard presentation during Monday’s hearing, the Titan was tested to 1.09 times its operating pressure — the industry standard is 1.25 times.
Issues with sub
The Coast Guard and witnesses detailed issues and concerns with the sub.
The vessel had 70 equipment issues in 2021 that needed correcting, and 48 more in 2022, according to the Coast Guard.
The Titan partially sank four weeks before the incident following a night of high seas and fog, according to the Coast Guard. Days before the implosion, passengers slammed against the vessel during resurfacing, the Coast Guard said.
Nissen testified that he believes the Titan was struck by lightning in April 2018.
“That is a difficult thing to prove, except I had to drag a lot of my engineering team down there to replace all the electronics in it. And I could find all the lightning traces. So it took high energy for sure,” he said.
He testified that he wouldn’t sign off on a dive to the Titanic in July 2019 due to a crack in the hull, and said he was subsequently fired.
Carl said she was concerned about some of the employees working on OceanGate submersibles.
“There were some young engineers — and by young, I mean late teens, early 20s — without any experience, we were aware of, wrenching on the sub, and without supervision right there on them,” she said. “And that made me nervous.”
Hearing to last two weeks
The hearing is scheduled to run through Sept. 27. Former OceanGate employees scheduled to testify later in the hearing include Lochridge; co-founder Guillermo Sohnlein; and Steven Ross, former scientific director, according to a schedule released by the Coast Guard.
The main purpose of the hearing is to uncover the facts related to the implosion and to make recommendations, according to Jason Neubauer, chair of the Marine Board of Investigation.
“The Marine Board’s investigation will determine as closely as possible the factors that contributed to the incident, so that proper recommendations for the prevention of similar casualties may be made,” Neubauer said at the start of Monday’s hearing.
The investigation will also examine whether there is any evidence of misconduct or criminal acts in connection with the incident, he said.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the implosion and will make its own determination as to the probable cause, according to Marcel Muise, an investigator with the agency’s Office of Marine Safety.
Attorneys with the firm Debevoise & Plimpton, which represents OceanGate, are also attending the hearing.
“There are no words to ease the loss endured by the families impacted by this tragic incident, but we hope that this hearing will help shed light on the cause of the tragedy and prevent anything like this from happening again,” Jane Shvets with Debevoise & Plimpton said during opening remarks.
In addition to Rush, those killed in the implosion included French explorer Paul Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The submersible company suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.
(NEW YORK) — Ernesto has become a Category 1 hurricane Wednesday after hitting Puerto Rico overnight and leaving power outages and flooding in its wake.
The center of then-Tropical Storm Ernesto passed within 40 miles of San Juan, Puerto Rico, early Wednesday, producing strong winds and heavy rain.
More than 570,000 customers are without power in Puerto Rico, according to LUMA, a service provider. The island’s eastern and central regions are the most impacted.
The storm was moving away from Puerto Rico on Wednesday morning with hurricane strength winds of 75 mph.
The highest rainfall total recorded so far is 9.6 inches in Naguabo, Puerto Rico.
More rain is possible this morning and into early afternoon before the storm moves out of Puerto Rico.
On Culebra island, east of Puerto Rico, sustained winds of 68 mph were reported with a gust up to 86 mph. A METAR Observation Station at the Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico reported sustained winds of 48 mph and a gust of 74 mph.
Tropical storm warnings were issued for Puerto Rico and a hurricane watch was in effect for the British Virgin Islands.
President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for Puerto Rico on Tuesday night.
Puerto Rico Gov. Pedro Pierluisi had warned residents to stay home starting on Tuesday evening, when the tropical storm-force winds are forecast to reach the island. Total rainfall could reach up to 10 inches in some spots.
A flash flood warning was issued for parts of Puerto Rico early Wednesday morning, as several inches of rain already caused flooding. Heavy rain and gusty winds will continue in Puerto Rico into the afternoon as Ernesto moves away from the island.
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
(MILWAUKEE, Wis.) — People gathered outside the Milwaukee District Attorney’s Office on Monday to demand charges be filed against four hotel security guards involved in the death of a Black man that was ruled a homicide.
“D.A. Chisholm, all we want you to do is your job, that’s all we want,” Naisha Mitchell, D’Vontaye Mitchell’s sister, said during the morning rally.
“You told us you were waiting on the autopsy results before you made your next move. Those results came back last week. In my opinion, you should have been at these people’s houses the same day they came out,” she continued.
The demands come days after the Milwaukee County medical examiner ruled Mitchell’s death was a homicide, the result of restraint asphyxia and toxic effects of cocaine and methamphetamine.
“The medical examiner’s report confirms the obvious here, which was that, you know, D’Vontaye Mitchell was murdered outside of the Hyatt Hotel in Milwaukee by Aimbridge Hospitality employees,” William Sulton, one of the attorneys representing Mitchell’s family, told ABC News.
On Friday, Sulton released newly obtained surveillance video that showed the moments leading up to Mitchell’s death.
“It broke my heart. I didn’t know what to feel. I didn’t know how to feel. If it broke something inside of me because it was so brutal and just what they did to him. It’s unbelievable,” DeAsia Harmon, Mitchell’s wife, told ABC News in an interview after seeing the surveillance videos.
On June 30, Mitchell, 43, showed up to the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency hotel acting frantically, running into the hotel’s gift shop and women’s bathroom, surveillance video showed. Mitchell’s family has said he was having a mental health episode.
The newly released surveillance video shows one security guard dragging Mitchell through the lobby doors before another security guard joins him and starts punching Mitchell while he is still on the ground. A hotel employee then grabs a broom and starts striking Mitchell. The security guards continue to punch Mitchell before he is pinned to the ground for more than 8 minutes, the video, reviewed by ABC News, shows.
“What these videos demonstrate is that he was brutally beaten to death,” Sulton said, adding Mitchell’s family expects the District Attorney’s Office will now charge the security guards.
“We were fortunate in this case to have onlookers who had cell phone video footage, which allowed us to prove that Mr. Mitchell was murdered,” Sulton said, adding that “there are still items that need to be investigated. There’s still evidence that needs to be collected.”
On July 12, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) released a statement saying they had initiated a death investigation the day of the incident, referring felony murder charges with the underlying charge of battery to the District Attorney’s Office on July 5. MPD said the investigation was ongoing and declined further comment.
Aimbridge Hospitality, the hotel management firm that employed the security guards, told ABC News in a new statement they had terminated the guards after reviewing their actions, which were in violation of their policies and procedures. The security guards involved in the incident have not been identified.
“We are continuing to do everything we can to support law enforcement with their ongoing investigation of this tragedy, and will continue our own investigation,” Aimbridge Hospitality said in the statement
Harmon, Mitchell’s wife, said she was devastated to learn the circumstances of her husband’s death. “I didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know what to feel. I just knew that a part of me was going. A part of me was gone. My daughter just lost her father. And it’s still not real to me,” Harmon said.
“He was a gentle giant. He was loving and caring, and he was smart and funny and very talented. He was a wonderful father, wonderful husband, great friend, brother, cousin, son, all across the board. Everybody who’s ever come in contact with him loved him,” Harmon said.
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“I want the law to actually mean something. I want his life to mean something. It meant something to me. It meant something to my daughter. It meant something to his entire family. So for me, I want everyone involved, everyone involved to go to jail,” Harmon said.