Category: National

(BRANDYWINE, Md.)  — On 7 acres in Brandywine, Maryland, Peter Scott, a former United States Army counterintelligence agent assigned to Special Forces, is farming to help food-insecure veterans in the D.C. metropolitan region.

“I was at a place in life where I needed to do something and I needed to feel like it was something good after my time in service,” said Scott.

He returned stateside after serving in Afghanistan and Iraq.

“I separated after about 12 years of service. I thought I was fine, but a few years went by and I was not fine,” Scott said. “I reached a moment with my family where it was ‘go get help or get out.’ I decided to go get help.”

After entering an inpatient program for combat PTSD, Scott met other service members who were food insecure. This discovery, along with a newfound passion for gardening, led him to launch Fields4Valor.

Since its inception, Fields4Valor has helped feed more than 500 veterans and their families. According to the Military Family Advisory Network, 1-in-5 active-duty military and veteran families experience food insecurity. And that number is on the rise.

While picking up her weekly bag of groceries from the farm, Shara Simms, a disabled Air Force veteran, expressed her admiration for the honey that is harvested from the honeycombs Scott maintains, calling it “liquid gold.”

Simms said the weekly bags afford her the opportunity to share “fresh fruit and honey that we don’t necessarily get in the stores because it’s extra expensive.”

“We live and die on everybody’s good will,“ said Scott. This year, he estimates approximately 300 volunteers helped on the farm – sometimes sourced from area military installations.

From the garden where rhubarb, kale, peppers, cucumbers and lettuce are grown, to the beehives where honey is extracted to fill jars and made into soaps, to the chicken coop where 120 chickens produce fresh farm eggs – everything is given to veterans.

Scott takes whatever is left over and sells it at Crossroads Community Food Market to help fund the farm.

Scott’s years in combat zones left him feeling the need to seek some form of redemption.

“I’ve seen some combat,” he said. “[I’ve] been asked to do things that maybe morally I don’t feel good about. It’s hard to conduct yourself in war.”

He said he found a void that needed to be filled.

“I think something like Fields4Valor should exist as long as the need is there,” he said.

For more information on Scott’s mission to help food insecure veterans, please contact Fields4Valor at admin@fields4valor.org.

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(YEMASSEE, S.C.) — The ongoing operation to capture 43 monkeys that escaped from a South Carolina lab nabbed at least one of the furry runaways on Saturday, according to officials.

Officials in the town of Yemassee said they recovered overnight one of the rhesus macaque monkeys that had escaped from Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center on Wednesday.

“She is well and having a peanut butter and jelly sandwich,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard said in a statement.

Yemasee officials said that “a significant number” of the escaped primates were located in a facility near where the rescued animal was found and were “jumping back and forth over the facility’s fence.”

“Alpha Genesis management and staff are on-site, actively feeding and monitoring the animals, and they will continue these efforts throughout the weekend,” the town’s officials said in a statement.

“The primates continue to interact with their companions inside the facility, which is a positive sign,” they added.

Westergaard said the monkeys were having a nap Saturday afternoon.

“They are coming down to the ground a bit more now. It is a slow process,” he said.

The creatures escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis center left the door to their enclosure open, Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes said during a briefing Thursday with town officials.

The primates are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each who have never been tested, according to police. There is no public health threat, police said.

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A large storm over the central U.S. is bringing a range of weather issues, from flooding rain and severe weather to heavy snow in the Rockies.

This early season snowstorm has brought more than three feet of snow to portions of New Mexico.

Angel Fire, New Mexico, is home to a popular ski resort that has picked up 40 inches of snowfall in the last 36 hours. That’s still 8 inches below their record snowfall for one storm.

Las Vegas, New Mexico, has picked up 31.7 inches of snow from this storm, breaking their all-time record snowfall of 27 inches in 1958.

Rociada, New Mexico, had 36 inches of snow; 28 inches of snow fell in Genoa, Colorado; 24.5 inches fell in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 20 inches fell in Kenton, Oklahoma.

Denver, Colorado’s snow total of 19.2 inches makes this their third-largest November snowstorm on record.

Winter Storm Warnings have been allowed to expire across parts of Colorado Saturday morning, as the snow tapers off and quieter weather moves in.

Rafael feeds flood threat

Tropical Storm Rafael is meandering around the central Gulf of Mexico with winds of 50 mph.

After seeing so much activity in the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, it’s a relief to see a storm that will not be making landfall as a dangerous storm.

There will be indirect impacts from Rafael as some of the moisture from this storm is pulled into a front as it moves across the south Saturday.

There is a High Risk for Excessive Rainfall in parts of Louisiana today with up to 8 inches of rain in the forecast. That flash flood risk extends as far north as Kentucky today.

Rafael is also churning up the seas enough to bring a dangerous rip current risk to several beaches along the Gulf Coast this weekend.

Waves up to 7 feet have prompted High Surf Advisories through Sunday, with minor coastal flooding also possible in parts of Louisiana.  

Wildfire risk

While there are several dangerous wildfires still burning in the west, the conditions have improved enough to limit fire growth this weekend across California.

In the Northeast, a Red Flag Warning remains in effect for portions of 6 states on Saturday due to elevated fire weather concerns.

Wind gusts up to 35 mph and humidity as low as 25% could help to rapidly spread any fires that flare up, so residents are urged to avoid open flames this weekend.

Rain will move into the northeast by Sunday night, offering a bit of relief to an area that hasn’t seen much measurable rainfall in more than a month.

While any rainfall is better than nothing, this is not looking to put a dent in the severe to extreme drought across much of the northeast.

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(SEATTLE) — Five people were stabbed in Seattle on Friday, marking the latest incident in a string of stabbings over the past two days in the same area, police said.

A suspect was taken into custody following Friday’s stabbing attack, which appeared to be random, Seattle Police Deputy Chief Eric Barden told reporters at a press briefing.

The suspect, whose name has not been released, is believed to be linked to several of the recent stabbing incidents, police said.

The latest stabbing incident occurred Friday afternoon in the 1200 block of South Jackson Street, in the Chinatown-International District, Seattle police said.

Four of the victims were transported to a local hospital in various conditions, including one who still had a knife in them, Barden said. A fifth victim was treated and released at the scene, police said.

A man matching a description given by witnesses was located nearby and arrested without incident, Barden said. A weapon was also recovered near the suspect, he said.

“This is a horrific tragedy, a mass casualty event,” Barden said.

In addition to the five victims in this incident, five other people have been stabbed in the area in a roughly 38-hour period, according to Seattle police.

The suspect is believed to be linked to four of those stabbings, while one is still being investigated, police said.

The first incident occurred early Thursday, in which a 52-year-old woman was stabbed eight times, police said.

Three other stabbing incidents involving male victims occurred on Thursday, police said. Two of the victims were stabbed multiple times. The other victim told police the assailant tried to stab him in the chest but he managed to block the assault, though sustained a cut to his hand, police said. The victim’s cellphone was also stolen, police said.

Another stabbing occurred early Friday, where a victim was found bleeding “heavily from the neck” and transported to a local hospital in serious condition, police said.

Barden said that beyond the robbery incident, the stabbings appeared to be “just random attacks.”

“This incident was apparently one individual over a 38-hour period of time committing random assaults. That is an aberration. That is not at all the norm,” Barden said. “With a suspect in custody, I think we are returned to normal.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Chinese effort to hack prominent Americans is far more pervasive than previously reported, ABC News has learned.

Sources told ABC News that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials are concerned the espionage operation by the Chinese government may have been in place for well over a year — and perhaps longer — before it was recently discovered.

The Chinese appear to have been able to gather large volumes of data in a sweeping covert campaign targeting the cellphones and mobile devices of business leaders and other high profile Americans of both political parties, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

The evidence is mounting that in some cases the Chinese operation was able to tap into, or get access to, what cellphone users of Verizon, AT&T and Lumen were communicating.

Authorities are trying to determine whether the Chinese were able to listen to conversations and watch text messages in real time, as they were occurring, or if they captured the material for review at a later time.

Sources said that U.S. officials are only beginning to understand the breadth of the Chinese operation, but what they have found so far is deeply concerning and represents a massive breach of privacy on a disturbing scale.

The targets have included not only former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, but also individuals working in a number of government agencies.

The FBI is systematically contacting victims, sources said.

Salt Typhoon, the name given to an advanced, persistent threat actor run by the Chinese government, is believed to be behind the operation.

Intelligence officials suspect Salt Typhoon hackers exploited routers as a gateway to cellphones and mobile devices, and there is concern that Chinese capabilities for intrusion may have made significant advances.

In a statement issued last month, Verizon representatives said, “We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers to gather intelligence. Along with federal law enforcement, industry peers and third-party cyber experts, we have been and are working to confirm, assess and remediate any potential impact. Verizon is committed to assisting law enforcement in this investigation.”

Representatives for AT&T and Lumen declined to comment.

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(SANTA FE, NM) — A major storm system is bringing a historic early season snowstorm to New Mexico and Colorado.

Some areas could see up to 3 to 4 feet of snow, as the storm system moves out of the Southwest and into the western Plains.

A blizzard warning has been issued for parts of northern New Mexico, where a combination of strong winds and snow could reduce visibility to near zero.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued two statewide emergency declarations this week in response to the storm.

“This declaration gives the state more resources to continue supporting local responders as this major snowstorm persists,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement on Thursday. “I thank every single responder who has been out in the cold since Wednesday clearing roads, escorting people to safety, and doing what needs to be done to support New Mexicans challenged by this storm.”

Since Wednesday, New Mexico State Police officers have responded to “multiple calls” to assist stranded motorists, the governor’s office said.

The state’s Department of Transportation and New Mexico National Guard have been working to clear roads.

In Colorado, several locations, from Pueblo to Colorado Springs, have already gotten 12 to 18 inches of snow as of the late morning Friday, as snow continues to fall.

A winter storm warning is in effect Friday for Denver, which could see 8 to 16 inches of snow.

Schools were canceled Friday in Denver due to the storm.

“Major” weather impacts are expected in eastern Colorado starting Friday, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.

“Conditions will worsen through the day and evening as heavy snow spreads northwest across the area,” the National Weather Service in Boulder said on social media. “Impossible travel east and southeast of Denver!”

The same storm system is also expected to bring heavy rain to parts of Texas and Oklahoma, where there is a flash flood threat Friday. Locally, at least 5 inches of rain is possible.

As the storm system moves north and east on Saturday, the heavy rain threat will move into the Mississippi River Valley, from Tennessee to Louisiana.

ABC News’ Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — A text messaging service said Friday that it discovered “one or more” of its users allegedly sent out racist text messages to phone numbers across the country and that the service quickly shut down the accounts.

A representative from TextNow, a mobile provider that allows people to create phone numbers for free, told ABC News that the company was cooperating with law enforcement and condemned the vile messages that were sent to users this week.

The texts, which tell the user they’re going to be taken to a plantation to “pick cotton,” have been reported in at least 14 states and primarily appeared to target Black users from teenagers to adults, according to investigators in several states.

The messages address the recipients by name.

The TextNow representative said once the accounts that were allegedly behind the texts were reported, their teams disabled the accounts in less than an hour.

“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned they have been sent through multiple carriers across the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” the representative said in a statement.

“We do not tolerate or condone the use of our service to send messages that are intended to harass or spam others and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future,” the representative added.

One text message reviewed by ABC News read, “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.”

As of Friday, the texts were reported by authorities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York.

Local and federal investigators, including the FBI, said they were looking into the messages and urged anyone who received them to contact the authorities. The probes are ongoing.

A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that it has not been determined if the source of the racist texts is domestic or foreign, but efforts are underway to determine the origins of the sources.

Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video statement posted on X Friday that “some” of the racist text messages “can be traced back to a VPN in Poland.”

“At this time, they have found no original source – meaning they could have originated from any bad actor state in the region or the world. We will continue to investigate,” Murrill said.

NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson condemned the texts and said that many in the Black community are already on edge because of what he sad was a rise in racist rhetoric during the election season.

“These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results,” Johnson said.

ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Abby Cruz, Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.

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(YEMASSEE, SC) — Forty-three primates remain on the loose in a South Carolina town, two days after escaping from a research laboratory, authorities said Friday.

As of midday Friday, the monkeys “have not yet been re-captured and returned to their enclosures,” a Yemassee Police Department spokesperson said in a statement.

Traps were being set around the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center in Yemassee, where the rhesus macaque monkeys escaped en masse from their enclosures around 1 p.m. on Wednesday, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

The animals have since been seen near the research center, according to the Yemassee police spokesperson.

“Current observations show the primates playfully exploring the perimeter fence of the facility, engaging with those still inside by cooing to them,” the spokesperson said while urging the public to “stay clear of this area as Alpha Genesis works diligently to safely recover these animals and return them to their habitats unharmed.”

The monkeys escaped when a new employee at the Alpha Genesis center left the door to their enclosure open, Yemassee Town Administrator Matthew Garnes said during a briefing Thursday with town officials.

Mia Mitchell, a resident of Yemassee, told ABC News she was driving home Wednesday evening when she saw one of the escaped primates running across a road.

“I thought my eyes were deceiving me and I was like, ‘That couldn’t be a monkey,'” Mitchell said.

Mitchell said she and her daughter immediately pulled over and stopped to get a closer look.

“I turned around and parked on the side of the road and it ran across the road toward a house and up a tree,” Mitchell said. “I stood there and my daughter, she was jokingly saying, ‘Here monkey, monkey!’ And I was like, ‘Girl, don’t call that monkey.'”

Police officers were searching for the furry fugitives using thermal imaging cameras, according to the sheriff’s office.

The primates, according to police, are all very young females weighing 6 to 7 pounds each. There is no public health threat, police said.

“The animals have never been used for testing due to their young age and size,” the Yemassee Police Department said in a statement Thursday. “A spokesperson from Alpha Genesis can confirm that these animals are too young to carry diseases.”

Police warned residents that the monkeys can act “skittish and any additional noise or movement could hinder their safe capture.”

“Residents are strongly advised to keep doors and windows secured to prevent these animals from entering homes,” the sheriff’s office said. “If you spot any of the escaped animals, please contact 911 immediately and refrain from approaching them.”

Police said they are working with staff of Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center to find the escapees.

Representatives of the Alpha Genesis Primate Research Center could not be immediately reached for comment.

According to its website, Alpha Genesis “provides the highest quality nonhuman primate products and bio-research services worldwide,” including serum, plasma, whole blood and tissue samples.

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., said in a social media post Thursday afternoon that she is looking into the escaped monkeys.

“We’re diligently gathering all relevant information to keep our constituents informed regarding the recent escape of primates from Alpha Genesis Inc. in Beaufort County,” Mace said. “Our office has been in direct communication with the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and is working closely with their team to monitor and assess the situation.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case has paused all upcoming deadlines in the case, after special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday requesting the pause.

As ABC News previously reported, Smith and the Justice Department are in talks about the best way to wind down the election case and his classified documents case, following Trump’s election victory on Tuesday.

The decision is based on longstanding Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office, sources said.

“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, the defendant is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” Friday’s filing said. “The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”

“By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations. The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request,” said the filing.

Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.

Smith subsequently charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court’s July ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.

U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has been in the process of considering how the case should proceed in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling,

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(KENOSHA, Wis.) — Several replica guns have been recovered from the home of a 13-year-old who allegedly planned to scare students at a Wisconsin elementary school, but was stopped from entering the building, according to police.

The 13-year-old tried to enter his former school, Roosevelt Elementary School, around 9 a.m. Thursday, carrying a backpack and duffel bag, Kenosha police said.

The teen attempted to enter through other doors, but was not able to get in, Kenosha Unified School District Superintendent Jeffrey Weiss told reporters. He then approached the front entrance and was buzzed into a vestibule area. Two school employees confronted the student, who got nervous and then fled, Weiss said.

The suspect, who was taken into custody at his home on Thursday, has been charged with one count of terroristic threats, Kenosha police said.

In a search at the suspect’s home, police said they discovered several air soft replica handguns and a replica rifle.

No real guns were found, police said, and the suspect’s mother told authorities the teen doesn’t have access to guns.

The suspect told police he went to the school that day to sell candy, police said. The teen “later told a social worker that he went to the school with the intent to scare students,” police said in a statement.

The teen is expected to make his first court appearance on Friday, police said.

Police said the suspect looked up school shootings online and made comments to fellow students for weeks leading up to the incident.

“We narrowly missed a tragedy,” Kenosha Police Chief Patrick Patton told reporters at a news conference on Thursday, before police determined the guns were not real.

“I can’t stress … really how heroic our office staff was,” Weiss said, adding, “They helped avert a disaster.”

Kenosha is located about 40 miles south of Milwaukee.

ABC News’ Doug Lantz contributed to this report.

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