Menendez brothers latest: LA DA to petition Gov. Newsom for clemency

(SAN FRANCISCO) — In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and a coalition of environmental nonprofit groups are suing ExxonMobil for the company’s alleged role in the global plastics pollution crisis.

The state claims the oil and gas giant engaged in a “decades-long campaign of deception” to lie to consumers about the sustainability of plastic recycling, according to the lawsuit filed Monday in San Francisco County Superior Court.

The suit alleges the company perpetuated the myth that plastics, particularly single-use plastics, are sustainable and recyclable, knowing this was false and that 95% of plastics end up in landfills.

ExxonMobil is the leading producer of synthetic polymers, which are essentially the building blocks of single-use plastics such as bottles, wrappers and bags, according to the lawsuit.

“Plastics are everywhere, from the deepest parts of our oceans, the highest peaks on earth, and even in our bodies, causing irreversible damage — in ways known and unknown — to our environment and potentially our health,” Bonta said in a press release announcing the lawsuit.

The lawsuit claims ExxonMobil deliberately shifted the responsibility for plastic waste to consumers by promoting the idea that plastic recycling was their individual duty, while the company knew recycling was not a viable solution.

In response to the lawsuit, a spokesperson for ExxonMobil released a statement to ABC News saying, “For decades, California officials have known their recycling system isn’t effective. They failed to act, and now they seek to blame others. Instead of suing us, they could have worked with us to fix the problem and keep plastic out of landfills.”

The filing follows a two-year investigation initiated in 2022, during which the attorney general says his office issued multiple subpoenas and obtained extensive materials to build the case.

“For decades, ExxonMobil has been deceiving the public to convince us that plastic recycling could solve the plastic waste and pollution crisis when they clearly knew this wasn’t possible,” Bonta said.

“We are focused on solutions and meritless allegations like these distract from the important collaborative work that is underway to enhance waste management and improve circularity,” a spokesperson for the company told Reuters in a written response after the AG opened the investigation in 2022.

Bonta claimed in the lawsuit that ExxonMobil promoted “advanced recycling,” which is portrayed as an innovative recycling solution but that the program is neither new nor effective.

ExxonMobil’s “advanced recycling” process cannot handle large amounts of post-consumer plastic waste such as potato chip bags without risking the safety and performance of its equipment, according to the suit.

The lawsuit claims the recycling program only accounts for “less than one percent of ExxonMobil’s total virgin plastic production capacity, which continues to grow.”

In the statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for ExxonMobil claimed, “To date, we’ve processed more than 60 million pounds of plastic waste into usable raw materials, keeping it out of landfills.”

As of September 2024, Exxon Mobil’s market cap was ranked at over $512 billion, making it the 18th most valuable company in the world.

“ExxonMobil lied to further its record-breaking profits at the expense of our planet and possibly jeopardizing our health. Today’s lawsuit shows the fullest picture to date of ExxonMobil’s decades-long deception, and we are asking the court to hold ExxonMobil fully accountable for its role in actively creating and exacerbating the plastics pollution crisis through its campaign of deception,” Bonta said.

The California DOJ is seeking billions in civil damages, for environmental destruction, harm to public health, and to end the company’s “deceptive practices.”

More than 26 million pounds of trash has been collected from California beaches and waterways since 1985, according to the lawsuit, and approximately 81 percent of it was plastic.

The lawsuit alleges most of the plastic items collected on the annual California Coastal Cleanup Day can be traced to ExxonMobil’s polymer resins.

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(NEW YORK) — Election workers across the country are being bombarded with threats, and law enforcement agencies nationwide are dedicating “substantial resources” to ensure public safety during the election, according to a new threat assessment obtained by ABC News.

The document, transmitted Monday by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau, encapsulates the full picture of Election Day threats, including the risk of physical violence and disinformation generated by foreign governments. Potential targets include “election personnel and government officials, campaign offices, as well as voting-related sites, infrastructure, and technology,” the assessment said.

“Individuals may employ a variety of tactics that could include physical attacks, threats of violence, delivery of suspicious packages, swatting, arson, and property destruction, harassment, as well as cyberattacks and mis/dis/mal-information campaigns,” the assessment also said.

The FBI has received more than 2,000 threats to election workers and “opened at least 100 investigations into these unlawful actions” as of April, the assessment said, citing a September report by the U.S. Department of Justice, with more than 20 people charged.

In the last week alone, multiple individuals in separate states have faced charges related to threats against election officials, according to the assessment:

• Teak Brockbank, 45, of Colorado, pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate threats after he made a series of online threats against election officials in Colorado and Arizona, a judge in Colorado, and federal law enforcement agents.
• Richard Glenn Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, allegedly made threats against an election official.
• John Pollard, 62, of Philadelphia, allegedly threatened to kill a state party representative who was recruiting poll watchers online.

Threats and hostile rhetoric against election officials have proliferated online, according to the assessment:

• Last month, the NYPD Intelligence Bureau found users on several platforms that accused Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of attempting to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, and called for his execution.
• A user in an online extremist messaging channel called for a “national militia for the defense of the Republic” to ensure “election integrity.”
• In September, suspicious packages containing powder were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in at least 15 states.

“Each state runs elections a little bit differently but the commonalities across all the states are that election officials are professional, they follow the laws of their state, and the process is transparent,” Benjamin Hovland, chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, told ABC News.

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(DELPHI, Ind) — A pattern on the body of Delphi, Indiana, murder victim Libby German showed her blood was mixed with moisture, an officer testified at Richard Allen’s trial. The officer said he believes that moisture was Libby’s tears — which led family members watching his testimony in the courtroom to audibly react.

Libby, 14, and her best friend Abby Williams 13, were walking along a hiking trail in rural Delphi when their throats were cut and they were left in the woods on Feb. 13, 2017. Their bodies were found the next day.

Allen was arrested in 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Maj. Pat Cicero of the LaPorte County Sheriff’s Department took the stand Monday. Cicero was not at the crime scene in 2017, but he said he studied the scene photos and various reports.

Abby’s mother cried quietly in the courtroom as prosecutors showed close-up photos of the girls’ faces, bodies, hands, feet and legs.

Cicero showed the jury an image of a blood stain on a tree. He explained it was a transfer stain, meaning it was left behind when a bloodied object touched it.

Cicero testified that the blood stains and patterns on the tree led him to him believe the attack on Libby started at the tree, with swipes of a weapon possibly causing the splatter on the tree.

Libby died from her wounds in a large pool of blood while leaning against the tree, Cicero said. He said he believes she was then dragged about 20 feet to where her body was found.

Abby was likely restrained or unconscious when she was killed, Cicero said, because there was no blood on her hands or arms and she was found with her hands raised vertically.

“Her final position is almost like she was boxing,” he said.

Cicero said he’s been to hundreds of crime scenes and described the position of Abby’s body as very unusual. “I’ve never seen it,” he said.

He also said Abby likely didn’t die right away. “This would have taken some time,” he said.

Allen has admitted to being on the hiking trail the day the girls were killed but he denies any involvement in the murders.

ABC News’ Janel Klein contributed to this report.

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