At Boston Marathon, authorities will be watching ‘broad set’ of potential targets
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(BOSTON) — At this year’s Boston Marathon, 12 years after the deadly marathon bombing, law enforcement will be watching “a broad set of potential soft targets for an attack,” according to a bulletin obtained by ABC News.
About 30,000 runners are participating in the April 21 race and another half-million spectators are expected along the route.
According to the bulletin, congested areas where the largest amount of people gather — particularly designated viewing areas — are likely the most vulnerable spots for a mass casualty attack, along with nearby publicly accessible areas, tunnels, pre-event gatherings and post-event celebrations.
A policy change may provide a motivation for an attack, the bulletin said, pointing to marathon organizers allowing runners to select “non-binary” regarding gender.
“Following this announcement, individuals posting content consistent with racially or ethnically motivated violent extremism posted online calling for an attack on the 2023 Boston Marathon, according to an organization that tracks violent extremist activity online,” the bulletin said. “Some of these individuals called for an attack similar to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.”
Three people were killed and hundreds were injured by the powerful explosives detonated near the finish line during the 2013 marathon.
There are also symbolic anniversaries that coincide with the timing of the Boston Marathon, including the holidays of Easter, Ramadan and Passover, as well as anniversaries of prior attacks that occurred in the third week of April: the Columbine High School shooting massacre on April 20, 1999; the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995; the Branch Davidians’ compound fire in Waco, Texas, on April 19, 1993; and Adolf Hitler’s birthday on April 20.
“The significance of these holidays and key dates may be viewed as an opportune time for acts of violence for many threat actors,” the bulletin said, “and it may serve as motivation to disrupt or attack the Boston Marathon or the surrounding areas along the route.”
The bulletin said law enforcement officials are unaware of any specific or credible threats to high-profile attendees of the Boston Marathon but are highlighting the threat environment for these officials’ awareness.
“Absent a specific, actionable threat to the 129th Boston Marathon, the FBI and [the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Intelligence and Analysis] are providing indicators to aid law enforcement and first responders in identifying and mitigating threats,” the bulletin said.
(BOSTON) — Karen Read’s second trial is set to begin Tuesday, seven months after a first prosecution in the alleged murder of her police officer boyfriend ended with the jury unable to reach a verdict.
Read is accused of killing her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, in January 2022. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her vehicle and left him to die as Boston was hit with a major blizzard. Read has denied the allegations and maintained her innocence.
At least four jurors who served on her first trial last year confirmed that she was found not guilty of second-degree murder and leaving a scene of personal injury and death, according to Read’s attorneys.
Read was also charged with manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence.
She pleaded not guilty to all three charges.
Jury selection in the retrial begins on Tuesday. Jury selection could last weeks. Her first trial lasted more than two months, including deliberations, and drew widespread national coverage.
In a surprise twist this week, Read added one of the alternate jurors from her first trial to her legal team for the retrial. Victoria George, the alternate juror, is a licensed civil attorney in Massachusetts.
Last August, a judge declined to dismiss the two charges in her retrial, saying no verdict was announced in court so she was not acquitted of any charges — despite her attorneys’ claim the jury found her not guilty in deliberations. Read filed several appeals to state and federal courts to get the charges dropped, without success.
Read and O’Keefe met friends for drinks at a local sports bar before the storm and then went to another nearby bar, Read told ABC News.
Around midnight, O’Keefe and some others elected to leave after they were invited to the home of Brian Albert, a fellow Boston police officer, she said.
Read, who said she was tired, claims she dropped O’Keefe off outside Albert’s residence and then drove her SUV to O’Keefe’s house and fell asleep.
Albert and others who attended the gathering at his home say that O’Keefe never went inside the home.
Read said she awoke alone and anxiously called O’Keefe’s friends to say he never came home.
Read said she drove around Canton for 20 minutes before meeting up with two friends of O’Keefe — Kerry Roberts and Jennifer McCabe, sister-in-law of Brian Albert — and returning to O’Keefe’s house thinking he may have made his way home.
Not finding him at the house, the trio drove back to the home where Read said she dropped him off. They found his body lying motionless on the front snowbank, according to her.
He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead that morning. An autopsy found that he died of hypothermia and blunt force injuries to the head.
Prosecutors have alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier that day.
Damning testimony during Read’s trial led to the suspension of Massachusetts State Police Officer Michael Proctor last July. Trial testimony revealed Proctor was communicating with Canton Police Officer Kevin Albert during the investigation ahead of Read’s murder trial.
Albert is the brother of Brian Albert, who hosted the party at the house where O’Keefe’s body was found outside.
Kevin Albert was also placed on administrative leave last July, according to Boston ABC affiliate WCVB.
ABC News’ Meghan Mariani contributed to this report.
(GUANTANAMO BAY) — Attorneys representing at least one of 17 alleged Venezuelan gang members who were deported Sunday to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison say the men were sent there two days after a federal judge issued an order prohibiting such deportations.
A federal judge on Friday blocked a Trump administration policy allowing the deportation of migrants to countries other than their own without giving them a chance to argue their removal in immigration court — although it’s unclear whether those deported on Sunday would have been protected by the order.
In his ruling on Friday, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy blocked the removal of any individual subject to a final order of removal from the United States to a third country other than the country designated for removal in immigration proceedings unless they are given written notice and the opportunity to “submit an application for protection.”
The ruling was issued two days before the Trump administration sent 17 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua to El Salvador’s CECOT prison.
Among the 17 alleged gang members sent to El Salvador was Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who was being held in the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo after being deported from the U.S.
Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU, told ABC News he has serious concerns about what he called the government’s “sudden allegations” against Escalona that precipitated Escalona’s being sent to CECOT.
“He and others being sent to the Salvadoran prison must be given due process to test the government’s assertions,” Gelernt said.
A White House official told ABC News that the 17 alleged gang members who were deported to El Salvador were not deported under the Alien Enemies Act that was used to send more than 200 alleged gang members to El Salvador last this month, but under different authorities, including Title 8.
The announcement of the “counter-terrorism operation” from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, included no mention of the authority the administration used to deport the 17 individuals.
“DHS’ routine failure to provide meaningful notice and opportunity to present a fear-based claim prior to deportation to a third country has led to hundreds of unlawful deportations, placing individuals at serious risk of persecution, torture, and/or death,” attorneys for the detainees said in a complaint last week.
Escalona, who entered the U.S. on May 14 and requested asylum, filed a sworn declaration in early March in which he stated that he was not a gang member and asked the government not to send him to Guantanamo.
“I believe that I am at risk of being transferred because I have a final order of deportation and am from Venezuela,” Escalona said in the sworn declaration. “I also believe that I am going to be transferred to Guantanamo because of my tattoos, even though they have nothing to do with gangs. I have twenty tattoos.”
Authorities have said they use tattoos to help identify gang members. Escalona, who said in his declaration that he had been in immigration detention in El Paso, Texas, since May 22, listed his tattoos that he said include a cross, a crown, the ghost icon for the social media app Snapchat, his niece’s name, and the word “Faith” in Spanish.
“I do not want to be transferred to or detained at Guantanamo. I am afraid of what will happen to me when I get there,” Escalona said in the declaration. “I want access to an attorney to help me get out of detention and figure out what options I have in my immigration case.”
“If I am transferred to Guantanamo, I will be separated from my family,” he said.
The government opposed Escalona’s request for a temporary restraining order prohibiting his deportation to Guantanano, Gelernt told ABC News.
“The government opposed our request for TRO on the ground that he was not in imminent danger of being sent from the U.S. to Guantanamo, but told the Court they would alert it within 2 business days if he or other Plaintiffs were transferred to Guantanamo,” Gelernt said. “The government has apparently chosen to use a loophole and transfer him on a Friday night, thereby avoiding notice to the Court at this point. He has apparently now been transferred to the notorious Salvadoran prison.”
According to Escalona’s sworn declaration and the ACLU, his partner is currently detained in El Paso and his 2-year-old daughter is under the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
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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.
