FBI assisting in search for retired Air Force major general missing for two weeks
Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. William N. McCasland. (U.S. Air Force)
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — The FBI is assisting a local sheriff’s office in the search for a missing retired Air Force general who disappeared from his home in late February.
Retired Maj. Gen. William N. “Neil” McCasland held a number of “space research, acquisition and operations roles within the Air Force and the National Reconnaissance Office” while enlisted, according to the Air Force. The roles included director-level positions at the Pentagon, as well as commanding the Phillips Research Site of Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, and the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, according to the Air Force.
McCasland, 68, left his Albuquerque, New Mexico, home on February 27 and hasn’t been seen since, according to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office.
“Due to his background and established partnerships, BCSO is coordinating closely with multiple agencies, including the FBI Albuquerque Field Office,” the sheriff’s office said, adding in a subsequent update that they “have so far uncovered no evidence of foul play.”
McCasland is described as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and 160 pounds, with white hair and blue eyes. He’s believed to have left his home on foot, the BCSO said.
“[D]espite the collective efforts of law enforcement and the community, we still do not know what happened to Neil after he left home on February 27,” the BCSO added.
“Our priority is finding Mr. McCasland safely,” Sheriff John Allen said. “We’re asking the public to help by checking and preserving any security camera footage from the area and reporting any information immediately.”
Rufe filed an inspection report on Monday evening, where she wrote that the 34 panels, both glass and metal, are stored in a “secure” place at the National Constitution Center and have not been “destroyed,” but Rufe noted that some panels “exhibited damage.”
“Still to be determined by the Court is the extent of any damage and the integrity of the exhibits regarding their amenability to being restored to their original condition,” Rufe wrote.
Counsel for the Trump administration and for the city of Philadelphia attended the inspection, after which Rufe told reporters that she observed some “marks” on the panels but could not determine when or how they were made.
The panels, which were removed by the National Parks Service on Jan. 22, tell the stories of the nine enslaved Africans who were held by President George Washington at the President’s House, an open-air outdoor exhibit and memorial at Independence National Historical Park that was built where Washington’s mansion originally stood.
The memorial honors the lives of Austin, Christopher Sheels, Giles, Hercules, Joe Richardson, Moll, Oney Judge, Paris and Richmond, all of whom were held at the site by Washington.
Rufe ordered the federal government on Monday to “securely store all removed panels and to mitigate any further deterioration or damage.”
During a hearing on Friday, Rufe said that she planned to inspect the panels as she considers whether NPS’s removal caused “irreparable harm” as she considers a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the city of Philadelphia. The injunction would block the Trump administration from making any further changes to the President’s House as the lawsuit moves forward.
Rufe filed a post-hearing order on Monday, barring any further “removal and/or destruction of the President’s House” site “until further order from the court.”
Avenging the Ancestors Coalition, an advocacy group founded in 2002 by attorney Michael Coard, launched the 2002 campaign to urge the city to include a slavery memorial in the building of the President’s House. The group, which filed a motion to file an amicus brief in support of the city’s lawsuit, also participated in the inspection.
Coard told reporters on Monday that seeing the panels stored in a room against a wall was “completely disrespectful, demoralizing, defiling.”
“There were scratches and marks on several of the 34 items we saw, there was no cushioning. They were up against the wall. They were on the cement floor,” Coard said. “Had they slipped, the glass items would have fallen to the ground.”
“I can’t say, being quite candid, that there was any damage, there was no damage, but there was desecration, and for me, it’s the same thing,” Coard said.
Asked how he defines “desecration,” Coard said, “The Sixth and Market Street site where America’s first White House stood is historical holy ground. And anytime you defile holy ground, you desecrate it.”
The Colorado River flows below the Glen Canyon Dam on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, in Page, Arizona. (L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Cold and snowy conditions dominated the winter season in the Northeast with much of the region experiencing its coldest winter in a decade or more, and several cities seeing their biggest snowfall in years. However, if you live in other parts of the country, this winter was very different.
Meteorological winter — December to February — was unseasonably warm across much of the contiguous U.S., ranking as the second-warmest winter on record since 1895, behind the 2023-24 season, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While the Northeast faced persistent blasts of bitter cold and snow, exceptional winter warmth in the West nearly pushed the nation to a new all-time high for the season.
Nine states finished off with their warmest winter on record: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Dozens of cities in the West and Plains saw a top 5 warmest winter with cities such as Albuquerque, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City seeing their all-time warmest.
Dallas, Texas, recorded 16 days with high temperatures of at least 80°F, the highest seasonal total on record.
For much of the country, winter was not only exceptionally warm, but exceptionally dry, ranking as the driest winter in 45 years across the Lower 48. Much of the western United States entered the season already grappling with drought, and persistent warmth fueled the worst snow drought in decades across parts of the Rockies as more precipitation fell as rain instead of snow.
Drought on its own already stresses water supplies, agriculture, and ecosystems. But when winter fails to deliver significant mountain snow, those impacts can intensify, according to NOAA.
A persistent snow drought can trigger a cascade of hydrologic changes. Low snowpack and early snowmelt can affect vegetation, reduce surface and subsurface water storage and alter streamflow, all of which directly impact water management and planning across the West.
Snowmelt supplies a large share of the region’s water used by communities, agriculture, and ecosystems. In some states, up to about 75 percent of water supplies can come from melting snow, according to the USGS.
The Colorado River provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
Widespread, persistent drier-than-average conditions also impacted parts of the Heartland and Southeast, bringing drought expansion and intensification during the winter months. Multiple states, including Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska, experienced one of their driest winters on record.
According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor reportreleased on March 5, more than half of the contiguous U.S. is experiencing drought conditions, an increase of about 10% from the beginning of February.
Florida is enduring its worst drought in 25 years, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System, with a heightened risk of wildfires this spring as conditions worsen across the state.
All of Florida is currently experiencing some level of drought, with more than 70% of the state facing an extreme drought level 3 of 4, U.S. Drought Monitor data shows.
“We expect the drought to continue or even worsen in the next couple of months, as we are in the heart of peninsular Florida’s dry season that usually lasts until mid-May,” Florida State Climatologist David Zierden told ABC News. “Then the summer convective rains kick in and provide some relief.”
The National Interagency Fire Center says Florida faces an above-average risk of significant wildland fires throughout meteorological spring, which began on March 1. Dozens of counties across the state have issued burn bans due to the ongoing drought and elevated wildfire risk.
The worsening conditions are raising concerns beyond wildfires, including impacts to water supplies and agriculture.
“Four of the five Water Management districts have either voluntary or mandatory water restrictions limiting outdoor irrigation,” Zierden added. “Range and pasture for cattle is the agricultural commodity that is hit hardest right now.”
“We are at an hour of desperation, and we need your help,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video, speaking directly to the camera.
“We believe our mom is still out there. We need your help,” she said. “Law enforcement is working tirelessly, around the clock, trying to bring her home.”
“She was taken, and we don’t know where, and we need your help,” she said. “So I’m coming on just to ask you … no matter where you are … if you see anything, if you hear anything, if there’s anything at all that seems strange to you, that you report to law enforcement.”
Savannah Guthrie thanked everyone for their prayers and love, and said she believes her mom is feeling those prayers, too.
The exact time of her kidnapping is not clear. Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera disconnected at 1:47 a.m., Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos said, and then at 2:12 a.m., the camera software detected a person. At 2:28 a.m.,Nancy Guthrie’s pacemaker app disconnected from her phone, which was left behind at her house, Nanos said.
This weekend, faced with a demand for a bitcoin ransom and a Monday deadline by someone claiming to be Nancy Guthrie’s kidnapper, Savannah Guthrie and her siblings said they’d pay for their mothers return.
“We received your message and we understand,” Savannah Guthrie said in an Instagram video this weekend. “We beg you now to return our mother to us so we can celebrate with her. This is the only way we will have peace. This is very valuable to us, and we will pay.”
The message Savannah Guthrie references in her new Instagram post is the same message the FBI and Pima County Sheriff’s Department said they were studying Friday, according to a source familiar with the investigation. Investigators have not confirmed the authenticity of the latest message, which was received by a Tucson television station, nor any of the other ransom notes mentioning Nancy Guthrie, according to the source.
As the search intensifies, a 5 p.m. Monday deadline set in an initial ransom note from earlier last week is the point of focus for authorities, though investigators are still not certain of the ransom notes’ authenticity and continue to pursue all leads, a source familiar with the investigation told ABC News on Monday.
Investigators have returned repeatedly to the home of Savannah Guthrie’s sister, Annie Guthrie, where Nancy Guthrie enjoyed dinner and a game night before returning to her home a few minutes away on the night of Saturday, Jan. 31.
Investigators have also returned to Nancy Guthrie’s home, where they’ve examined rooftop cameras, towed away a car and made inquiries of neighbors.
The sheriff’s department said it is “an active and ongoing investigation,” but added that “investigators have not identified any suspects, persons of interest, or vehicles connected to this case.”
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
