Nearly 400 flights canceled into and out of Atlanta airport due to severe weather
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(ATLANTA) — Nearly 400 flights were canceled into and out of Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport on Saturday after severe weather and hail fell overnight.
Weather so far has forced 380 Delta flight cancellations at the airport, with additional delays and cancellations expected.
Around 100 Delta Airlines aircrafts were inspected overnight for possible damage from the hail that fell last night, with nearly all having returned to service Saturday, according to a spokesperson for Delta.
“Delta people are working as safely and quickly as possible to recover flights impacted by thunderstorms, lightning, hail and winds at our Atlanta hub Friday night. We thank our customers for their continued patience and understanding,” the airline spokesperson said.
“Intense thunderstorms, including one that brought reports of microburst winds and quarter-inch hail to our hub at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, drove more than 90 diversions to other airports in the U.S. Southeast and a pause in airport operations for safety reasons the evening of June 27,” the spokesperson added.
Severe weather conditions in the area led to ground stops and flights being diverted at the airport on Friday.
The air traffic control tower that manages aircraft around the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in Atlanta was briefly evacuated Friday evening due to “strong winds,” according to the FAA. The tower was not unstaffed during this time as few controllers stayed back to handle the air traffic in the area, the agency said.
In ATC recordings, controllers can be heard telling pilots that they evacuated due to weather and there are three personnel in the tower — controller, supervisor and traffic management.
Delta said it is performing inspections on its aircraft for any potential hail damage.
(WASHINGTON) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly conducted raids targeting businesses in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
A coalition of activists had warned delivery drivers and restaurants of the planned enforcement one day prior.
“I have heard those reports, I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters Tuesday. “It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals. It is disrupting.”
She also emphasized that the Metropolitan Police Department was not involved.
George Escobar, chief of programs and services at CASA, an organization geared toward improving quality of life for working-class Americans, told ABC News by phone on Tuesday that the organization regularly receives tips about planned raids — but this one was different.
“This one, to be honest, alarmed us a little bit, because it was really specific,” Escobar told ABC News.
The organization has run a 24-hour tip hotline since the first Trump administration.
“We’re experienced. We don’t get alarmed by, like, you know, any old threat, because, you know, they’re frequent, right? And they come in all different, all different types of forms,” he said.
However, in this instance, CASA was warned that ICE would be using President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at the “beautification” of the U.S. capital to justify the raids, Escobar said.
“We received notice about a specific kind of operation on how they were going to be conducted: what the pretense of maybe entering some of these small businesses were going to be, the fact that they were looking specifically at food businesses and possibly delivery workers,” he explained.
ABC News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for comment but has not yet received a response.
“If ICE wants to snatch up every single immigrant working in food service and delivery, then the entire industry will collapse,” Amy Fischer, a core organizer with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, which supports migrants arriving in the capital, said in a statement.
The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington — which represents the more than 60,000 restaurant workers in the area — said in a statement shared with ABC News that it was “deeply concerned” by the reports of ICE raids and drop-ins across Washington, D.C.
RAMW said it urges “policymakers on a local and federal level to consider the real-world impact on local businesses and communities.”
“Immigrants make up a significant portion of our workforce at all levels. From dishwashers to executive chefs to restaurant owners, immigrants are irreplaceable contributors to our most celebrated restaurants and beloved neighborhood establishments,” the statement said. “The immigrant workforce has been essential to sustaining and growing our local restaurant industry and has been a major contributor to our local economy.”
“At a time when our economy is already fragile, losing even one staff member at a single establishment has a profound impact on the operations of a restaurant and its ability to serve patrons, RAMW added. “Disrupting restaurant staffing across the industry can create a damaging ripple effect felt immediately throughout the entire local economy.”
An exterior view of Manhattan Criminal Court on December 23, 2024 in New York City. Adam Gray/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — The man who allegedly stabbed two court security officers as they screened people at the metal detectors at the Manhattan criminal courthouse was carrying out a “planned and calculated attack” that would have been worse had the weapon not been curved, prosecutors said.
Jonathan Wohl made his initial appearance on Tuesday in the same courthouse where he allegedly charged at officers with a folding knife on Monday, prosecutors said. He also allegedly carried handwritten papers that prosecutors said expressed animosity toward the court system.
Wohl is charged with two counts of attempted murder, three counts of attempted aggravated assault upon a police officer and two counts of assault, officials said. He did not enter a plea and the judge remanded him into custody.
Wohl has a history of problematic interactions with court security officers over the last two years, prosecutors said, but at the time of the attack, Wohl had no pending cases at Manhattan criminal court.
Wohl allegedly charged the metal detectors on Monday morning with his folding knife open and ready inside his bag, according to the criminal complaint.
He allegedly slashed the first officer at least twice, cutting both sides of the officer’s face, prosecutors said.
Another officer tried to shield himself with a tray, but Wohl allegedly slashed him twice, causing a laceration to the officer’s face and a puncture wound to the side of his neck that required stitches, prosecutors said.
After five hard, downward stabs, prosecutors said another court officer tackled Wohl, who continued to struggle with the knife, stabbing a third officer in the back of his vest, and trying to use the knife against other officers who were subduing him. During the struggle, one sergeant’s ribs were broken and another officer sustained bruising, prosecutors said.
All five injured officers have since been released from the hospital, officials said.
The officers’ injuries would have almost certainly been worse, or even fatal, if not for their vests and if not for the fact that the blade was curved, prosecutors said.
According to prosecutors, Wohl had notebook containing the messages “Give me liberty or give me death” and “Protect Rodney Hinton.” Rodney Hinton is an Ohio man who is charged with fatally striking a police officer with his car in retaliation for his own son’s death in a police shooting.
“Our court officers perform a vital, profound function. It’s a dangerous job,” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. “The defendant, we allege, as it appears, engaged in targeted activity focused on officers. We will not tolerate that.”
(HENNEPIN COUNTY, Minn) — The massive search for the man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers, one fatally, concluded on Sunday evening when he was arrested by police, officials confirmed.
Vance Boelter, 57, was arrested near his farm in Green Isle, Minnesota. He was booked into Hennepin County Jail at about 1 a.m. on Monday, according to online records.
Vance was spotted on a trail via camera earlier Sunday and then taken into custody, police said during a press conference.
Minnesota State Patrol Lt. Col. Jeremy Geiger said when police closed in on Boelter in the woods, he surrendered without incident.
“The suspect crawled to law enforcement teams and was placed under arrest at that point in time,” Geiger said.
After his arrest, Boelter was taken to an undisclosed police facility where he is being interviewed, officials said.
Boelter is accused of the fatal shootings of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and her husband, and a separate shooting attack on Sen. John Hoffman and his spouse.
During a press conference on Sunday night, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz condemned the killing of Rep. Hortman, saying, “One man’s unthinkable actions have altered the state of Minnesota.” The governor thanked law enforcement partners for their role in the suspect’s capture, saying, “This is a great example of coordination and collaboration.”
Police noted it was the “largest manhunt in Minnesota state history,” with Boelter’s capture coming 43 hours after the shootings occurred.
The twin attacks in Champlin and Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, on Saturday led to the discovery in the suspect’s vehicle of an alleged target list of dozens of Minnesota Democrats, including Gov. Tim Walz, U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar, U.S. Sen. Tina Smith and state Attorney General Keith Ellison, according to law enforcement sources.
During a press conference Sunday evening, police said a hat believed to be associated with the suspect was found near his alleged vehicle. There were several items of evidence relevant to the ongoing investigation found in the vehicle outside of the alleged target list, police added.
The discovery of the hat is what led authorities to believe Boelter was in the area.
Police said that Boelter had been in contact with individuals, but were trying to determine if he was receiving any assistance while on the run from law enforcement. “All options are on the table,” said Drew Evans, the superintendent of the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension in the Minnesota Department of Public Safety said earlier Sunday.
The FBI was offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Boelter’s arrest.
There was a nationwide warrant for Boelter’s arrest on a state level and a federal warrant for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, police said Sunday.
Boelter is suspected of gaining entry to the lawmakers’ homes by disguising himself as a police officer, even arriving at the victims’ home in a vehicle that looked like a police cruiser equipped with flashing emergency lights, officials said.
The shootings unfolded around 2 a.m. Saturday, when Minnesota State Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were both shot multiple times at their home in Champlin, Minnesota, authorities said.
Soon after the shooting at the Hoffmans’ home, state Rep. Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed at their home in Brooklyn Park, according to authorities.
Police believe the suspect opened fire on the victims while wearing a latex mask, sources said.
Following the shooting at Hoffman’s residence, officers were sent to Hortman’s home to check on her well-being, officials said. As officers arrived at the residence, they encountered the gunman at around 3:35 a.m. The suspect and the officers exchanged gunfire before the suspect escaped, flee on foot and leaving behind his fake police car, where investigators found his target list, authorities said.
Court records filed in Hennepin County, Minnesota, say that Hoffman’s child was the one who initially made the call that their parents had been shot.
Two associates of Sen. Hoffman and his wife told ABC News on Sunday that the couple was awake and out of surgery.
Yvette Hoffman is conscious and “doing relatively well,” and John Hoffman is alert and recovering from a collapsed lung, the associates said. One source estimates that Sen. Hoffman was shot multiple times.
“Everybody is cautiously optimistic,” one of the sources said.
Boelter – a husband and father, according to an online biography – has touted an extensive background in security and military training, according to an ABC News review of his online presence and professional history.
Boelter helped lead the private security firm Praetorian Guard Security Services, which is based in the Twin Cities area, according to the company website.
The suspect’s wife was detained for questioning after a traffic stop near Onamia late on Saturday morning, multiple law enforcement sources told Minnesota ABC News affiliate KSTP. She was released without being arrested, according to KTSP, which reports it’s unknown why her vehicle was stopped.
ABC News’ Josh Margolin, David Brennan, Emily Shapiro, Jack Moore, Luke Barr and Mike Levine contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
