NYC deputy mayor for public safety resigns, latest in Adams admin to leave
(NEW YORK) — New York City’s deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks III, resigned Monday in the latest fallout from the corruption scandal engulfing the administration of Mayor Eric Adams.
“We spoke yesterday and we spoke again this morning and he stated he wants to move on to other things in his life,” Adams told NY1. “I wish my good friend well.”
Banks’ brother, David Banks, resigned as schools chancellor. First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, David Banks’ wife, is arranging her departure from the administration.
Phil Banks had his phones seized last month as part of a federal investigation into city contracts of how the police department enforced nightlife regulations. David Banks and Sheena Wright had their phones seized as well.
Phil Banks, at one point the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the NYPD, resigned from the department in 2014 amid a different corruption scandal during the prior administration. Federal prosecutors at the time named Banks an unindicted coconspirator.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging him with bribery and fraud. He is resisting calls for his resignation.
“New Yorkers are saying keep doing the job you’ve been doing,” Adams told NY1.
(NEW YORK) — Utah placed a blanket ban on at least 13 books in schools, including works by Sarah J. Maas, Judy Blume, Rupi Kaur, Margaret Atwood and other authors, in what free speech advocates say is the first state book ban.
The Utah State Board of Education put together a list of titles that have met the statewide threshold for removal based on a newly enforced law.
H.B. 29, signed by Gov. Spencer Cox in March, requires all schools to remove a book if school officials from at least three school districts or at least two school districts and five charter schools have determined that a book constitutes “objective sensitive material.”
“Objective sensitive material” is defined under the law as an instructional material that constitutes pornographic or indecent material, which is further defined in Utah law as depicting or describing sex or nudity while also lacking “serious value” for minors.
This first set of removed material — that state officials say will be updated in accordance with further book restrictions — includes Forever by Judy Blume, a coming-of-age book that touches on sexuality; Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, a post-apocalyptic novel, and Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, a poetry book about “violence, abuse, love, loss, and femininity.”
“The Board is committed to following the law and the list will be updated if and when needed,” a spokesperson for the state Board of Education said in a statement to ABC News.
Several groups have spoken out against the banning of these books, including PEN America, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting free speech, and Let Utah Read, a coalition of Utah residents, educators, librarians and others.
“Allowing just a handful of districts to make decisions for the whole state is antidemocratic, and we are concerned that implementation of the law will result in less diverse library shelves for all Utahns,” said Kasey Meehan, a program director for PEN America’s Freedom to Read initiative.
Advocacy groups say they fear this is just the start of “statewide book purges.”
“Unlike some legislators who are out to make political hay and use national culture war issues to divide us, Utahns understand that great American authors like Judy Blume, Sherman Alexie, and Toni Morrison are not pornographers, and no one should be criminally charged for selling, giving, or lending a book to a high school student,” Let Utah Read said in a statement, referencing other authors who have faced bans in schools across the country.
(NEW YORK) — Three major wildfires were raging across Southern California Tuesday, threatening thousands of homes as firefighters and the state National Guard were battling to bring the flames under control amid a triple-digit heatwave, officials said.
The Line Fire in San Bernardino County, the Airport Fire in Orange County and the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles County are all being fueled by extremely dry vegetation and spreading rapidly, officials said.
The Line Fire
As of Tuesday afternoon, the Line Fire was threatening 65,600 structures, including homes and commercial properties, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (Cal Fire).
Fire crews achieved 5% containment on the blaze on Monday night as Gov. Gavin Newsom deployed the state National Guard to support the ongoing response to extinguish the blaze.
While evacuation orders were issued for 9,200 structures in the area, with another 56,400 structures under evacuation warnings, Cal Fire said no buildings have been destroyed or damaged.
“We’re pouring resources into this incident aggressively by deploying more air and ground support through the California National Guard,” Newsom said in a statement. “This is on top of nearly 2,000 firefighters, nearly 200 engines, and air assets we already have tackling this fire. California stands with these communities and has their backs.”
Newsom said the California National Guard will support the ongoing response to the Line Fire, the cause of which remains under investigation. Eighty troops split into four 20-person teams and one military police company have been sent to the fire scene to assist the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department with traffic control in evacuated areas.
National Guard troops are also helping firefighters battle the flames. Four UH-60 Blackhawk helicopters for water bucket dropping operations and two C-130 aircraft with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems are among the resources deployed by the National Guard, Newsom said.
The fire, which ignited Sept. 5, is burning in steep and rugged terrain, making access difficult, Cal Fire said. Firefighters are working to build “control lines” to contain the blaze.
“Stronger winds are predicted Tuesday which could help fire spread and contribute to longer range spotting. Mid-week cooling may moderate fire activity and increase fuel moistures,” Cal Fire said.
The Airport Fire
Another major fire in Southern California broke out Monday afternoon in an unincorporated area of Orange County, prompting the evacuations of 1,427 homes, according to Cal Fire. The fast-moving Airport Fire in Trabuco Canyon in the hills southeast of Irvine had burned 9,333 acres by Tuesday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
The fire was 0% contained Tuesday afternoon, according to Cal Fire.
Two firefighters battling the blaze were hospitalized with heat-related injuries and one civilian suffering from smoke inhalation was also treated at a hospital, Cal Fire said. The Fire was burning in the direction of the Cleveland National Forest.
At least four people, including a couple and their 3-year-old child who were hiking on a trail in the area, had to be airlifted to safety, officials said. A man and his cats were airlifted to safety from their home, officials said.
Several emergency communication towers on Santiago Peak in the fire zone, as well as towers operated by local broadcasting stations, were being threatened by the fire, officials said.
As of Tuesday afternoon, no structures had been destroyed or damaged, according to Cal Fire.
The Airport Fire began around 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, sparked by county public works crews working on a fire prevention project by trying to move boulders to prevent public access — mostly by motorcyclists — to an area of the canyon with a lot of dry vegetation that could ignite easily, officials told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.
“The fire has been classified as unintentional,” said Orange County Fire Authority Deputy Chief TJ McGovern.
At least 1,000 firefighters were battling the blaze Tuesday.
The Bridge Fire
Elsewhere, the Bridge Fire, which started on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles Country, had burned 4,178 acres as of Tuesday afternoon. The fire north of Azusa in the Angeles National Forest was 0% contained.
Evacuation orders are in place for a mobile home park, campgrounds and a small river community.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — The fiberglass roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, was left in tatters, a 10,000-square-foot sheriff’s facility was demolished and several people were killed at a senior living community in St. Lucie County. That was among the widespread damage emerging Thursday after Hurricane Milton slammed Florida’s west coast with ferocious wind gusts, torrential rain and at least 36 reported tornadoes the whirling storm spawned even before making landfall, officials said.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday at least 10 people are confirmed dead, likely caused by the tornadoes.
Search and rescue is the “highest priority” at the moment, Mayorkas said.
“Milton may have passed, but the danger it poses has not,” he said. “Downed power lines. Floodwaters, non-potable drinking water and debris are creating deadly conditions. Keep listening to local officials and shelter in place until it is safe.”
Officials said state, county and National Guard search-and-rescue crews had rescued hundreds of people, including more than 400 trapped by high water at an apartment complex in Clearwater.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier that authorities are still assessing damage in hard-hit areas, including Siesta Key south of Sarasota, where Helene made landfall around 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday as a Category 3 storm packing 120 mph winds.
“Right now, it looks like Sarasota County had the most significant storm surge, likely somewhere between 8 to 10 feet. And remember with Helene, we had 15 to 20 feet up in Taylor County,” DeSantis said at a news conference.
However, DeSantis said the early damage assessment indicates the hurricane, which came on the heels of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago, “was not the worst-case scenario.”
“The storm did weaken before landfall and the storm surge as initially reported had not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene,” DeSantis said.
The most tornado warnings in state history
About 125 homes were destroyed by suspected tornadoes before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
At least 36 tornadoes were reported across Florida, and, according to the National Weather Service, there were 126 tornado warnings issued Wednesday across the southern half of the state, the most in any day on record for the state of Florida and the second most of any state in the nation for one day.
The St. Lucie Medical Examiner confirmed Thursday that four people were killed when a tornado ripped through the Spanish Lakes County Club Village, a retirement community in St. Lucie County. No further details were released.
St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told ABC News that a twister also demolished his department’s 10,000-square-foot storage facility, which was constructed of red iron.
“Our team was within 50 yards of this structure that got hit,” Pearson said. “And we were actually storing all of our high-water rescue vehicles and our patrol vehicles (were) in this structure to prevent them from damage from the hurricane. Within seconds, a tornado came through and just demolished the structure.”
Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert told ABC News Thursday morning that the storm toppled numerous trees in her city and pushed several boats onto shore. She said the windows of some high-rises were also broken and that a small bridge leading to Lido Key was compromised.
“Overall, I think we’re doing better than we thought. In the city of Sarasota, believe it or not, we had no calls for rescues,” said Alpert, adding that most residents in the town heeded evacuation warnings.
Roof blows off Tropicana Field, crane collapses on Tampa Bay Times office
Dramatic photos and videos emerged overnight as Milton ripped into Florida. Winds of 90 mph whipped through downtown St. Petersburg, collapsing a crane at a building construction site there, according to city authorities. No injuries were reported, but video from the scene showed damage to nearby buildings.
Wind also tore off a large portion of the translucent fiberglass roof at the Tropicana Field stadium in the city, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.
“The majority of the roof has been ripped off and is now located south of the stadium,” St. Petersburg City Development Administrator James Corbett said Thursday morning, adding that 14 staff members inside the stadium at the time of the incident were found safe.
The non-retractable dome stadium, built in 1990, was to be used as a staging area for first responders.
The storm also dumped 18 inches of rain on St. Petersburg, causing flooding and serious damage to key infrastructure, including drinking water systems, power lines and sewage facilities, officials said.
Don Tyre, the city’s building official, said a 500-foot section of a T-crane being used to construct a 46-story residential skyscraper in downtown St. Petersburg collapsed due to the high winds, striking a nearby building. However, the remaining 600-foot section was intact and will be inspected by an engineer before it is brought back into service.
There were no reports of injuries from the toppled crane. Part of the crane fell onto the office of the Tampa Bay Times, wrecking the newspaper’s newsroom.
Times’ officials said Thursday morning that its building was closed ahead of Milton’s landfall and no employees were inside the office when the crane collapsed.
Milton also caused a major water main break in St. Petersburg, which is impacting portable water service across the city. The subsequent shutdown of the water main is expected to last until necessary repairs can be completed, officials said.
Tampa-area 7-Eleven store damaged
To the north of Tampa, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office said authorities received more than 140 calls regarding roadway obstructions. First responders “are working to remove these hazards as quickly as possible,” the office wrote on X.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reported significant storm damage to a 7-Eleven store northwest of Tampa, with Sheriff Chad Chronister warning of downed trees and power lines in the county. Chronister urged residents to stay indoors while responders cleared the damage.
Hundreds of apartment complex residents rescued
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his department’s personnel were stationed across the county and responded to several rescue calls.
“We had eight high-water rescue teams ready to assist, and it became necessary to utilize them overnight,” the sheriff said. “Fortunately, there were no serious injuries reported, but we did have significant rescues.”
One notable rescue operation occurred at a Clearwater apartment complex, where rising waters threatened the lives of about 2,000 residents, the sheriff’s office said.
“We rescued approximately 430 people using high-water vehicles and boats,” Gualtieri said. “The water was so high that it reached the second-floor balconies of some apartments, but thankfully, many residents had moved to higher ground.”
Gualtieri added, “We appreciate the cooperation of the residents, especially those on the barrier islands, who evacuated and helped minimize the impact of the storm. We are all working together to rebuild and recover from this challenge.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.