Category: National

(JACKSON, Wyo.) –A beloved grizzly bear has been struck and killed by a vehicle in Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, officials said.

The famed grizzly bear — known simply as “Grizzly Bear 399”due to the identity tag attached to her ear — was fatally struck on Tuesday evening by a vehicle on Highway 26/89 in Snake River Canyon, just south of Jackson, Wyoming, and her identity was confirmed through ear tags and a microchip, according to a statement from the National Park Service on Wednesday.

“Grizzly bear 399 had a yearling cub with her, whose whereabouts are currently unknown,” park officials said. “At this time, there is no evidence to suggest the yearling was also involved in the incident, but the US Fish and Wildlife Service is monitoring the area.”

Vehicle collisions with wildlife, including grizzly bears, are not uncommon. From 2009 to 2023, there have been 49 grizzly bear mortalities due to vehicle collisions in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem and the National Park Service is now working with state and local agencies to gather more information surrounding this latest incident.

“People from around the world have followed grizzly bear 399 for several decades. At 28 years old, she was the oldest known reproducing female grizzly bear in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem,” said Hilary Cooley, Grizzly Bear Recovery Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

“Wildlife vehicle collisions and conflict are unfortunate. We are thankful the driver is okay and understand the community is saddened to hear that grizzly bear 399 has died,” said Angi Bruce, Wyoming Game and Fish Department Director.

In 2024, including this incident, there have been 2 grizzly bear mortalities from vehicle strikes in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, with the average number of grizzly bear mortalities in the region due to vehicle collisions during 2009-2023 standing at 3.3 bears deaths per year, authorities said.

“The grizzly bear is an iconic species that helps make the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem so extraordinary. Grizzly bear 399 has been perhaps the most prominent ambassador for the species. She has inspired countless visitors into conservation stewardship around the world and will be missed,” said Grand Teton National Park Superintendent Chip Jenkins.

No additional information has been made available at this time and the investigation into the incident is currently ongoing.

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(ARIZONA) — A suspect has been arrested in connection to three separate shooting attacks on a Democratic National Committee office in Arizona, according to Tempe Police Department.

Jeffrey Michael Kelly, 60, faces multiple charges that include unlawful discharge, shooting at a non-residential structure, terrorism and criminal damage.

Kelly is also accused of “hanging suspicious bags of white powder from several political signs lined with razor blades” in Ahwatukee, police said.

On three separate occasions between September and early October, Kelly allegedly fired gunshots at the campaign office, which is shared by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign and the Democratic Party.

No one was injured in any of the three shootings, all of which police said occurred between midnight and 1 a.m.

Photos taken after the second shooting showed at least five bullet holes in the office’s windows and door.

After the third shooting, police released a photo of a silver Toyota Highlander believed to belong to the suspect and announced a reward of up to $1,000 “for any information that leads to the arrest or indictment of the suspect(s) involved in this crime.”

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(BUTLER COUNTY, Pa.) — More than a dozen 911 calls from the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump on July 13 in Butler County, Pennsylvania, were released on Wednesday, reflecting moments of fear and confusion after a gunman opened fire at the outdoor rally.

“They just tried to kill President Trump,” a 911 caller reported.

“We have an emergency. We’re at the Trump rally,” another caller said.

The 15 recordings, some of which capture the sounds of chaos in the background, were released by Butler County.

The first call came in at 6:12 p.m., about a minute after shots rang out. Trump was eight minutes into his speech when the shooting began, according to officials.

“We’re at the Trump rally — gunshots,” a woman shouts above loud crowds.

“Yep, the police are on their way,” the dispatcher responds.

“You better get over here quick!” the woman says.

The gunfire killed Corey Comperatore, 50, and critically injured two other attendees, Jim Copenhaver and David Dutch.

“I have a woman on the line, her husband was shot at the Trump rally,” a dispatcher from neighboring Allegheny County reported.

Another call came from a woman who was trying to locate her husband, who, she told the call taker, had been shot and taken by paramedics.

Trump was left with a bloodied ear before a Secret Service sharpshooter killed the suspected gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks.

The bipartisan House task force investigating the assassination attempt outlined the security failures of the U.S. Secret Service and lack of coordination with local law enforcement in an interim report released earlier this week.

The report revealed that there was “inadequate planning and coordination by the Secret Service with state and local law enforcement before and during the July 13 rally.”

The preliminary findings are based on 23 transcribed interviews with local law enforcement officials, thousands of pages of documents from local, state and federal authorities as well as testimony from a public hearing on Sept. 26, according to the task force.

The task force concluded that the attempt on Trump’s life was “preventable.”

Trump returned to the Butler site earlier this month for a rally marked by enhanced security measures around the fairground, during which he thanked the first responders and the community that rallied behind him in the wake of the assassination attempt.

ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — A New York-based Iranian journalist who was the target of an alleged failed assassination attempt that federal prosecutors say involved an Iranian general said she has “been given a second life.”

Federal prosecutors on Tuesday announced criminal charges against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Brig. Gen. Ruhollah Bazghandi in connection with the alleged murder plot against Masih Alinejad, a prolific journalist and human rights activist who has been critical of the Iranian government, in particular the status of women’s rights.

The charges name Bazghandi and six other Iranian operatives who federal prosecutors said plotted to kill Alinejad.

In response to the charges, Alinejad said it was a “beautiful day” in a statement on X on Tuesday while posting a video of herself riding a bicycle, smiling, and saying, “I love my life.”

Asked by ABC News’ Diane Macedo about the joyful video during an interview on ABC News Live on Wednesday, Alinejad said, “I’ve been given a second life. That doesn’t mean I’m going to stay forever, but it is a beautiful day for me and I have to celebrate it because, look, the Iranian regime actually showed that how far they can go.”

“When I read the details, I was like, ‘Wow, the high-ranking member of Revolutionary Guards actually were in charge to kill me?'”

Alinejad said she met with members of the FBI and the Department of Justice about the case.

“When they named Ruhollah Bazghandi, I was screaming out of joy because it is beautiful,” she said. “You have to be a woman from Iran, from the Middle East, to understand when a killer [gets stopped], how it feels.”

“I smiled. But at the same time, I am very sad because I know that this is happening to my women inside Iran,” she continued. “They are facing the same killers every day.”

Alinejad, 48, fled Iran in 2009 in the aftermath of the country’s disputed presidential elections. Her 2018 memoir, “The Wind in My Hair,” detailed how she helped spark an online movement against the compulsory hijab as the founder of the My Stealthy Freedom campaign.

Alinejad, who lives in exile in New York City, said she has moved 21 times between safe houses in the past three years, following an alleged Iranian plot to lure and kidnap her in 2021.

Since at least July 2022, the Bazghandi network sought to assassinate Alinejad, as directed by individuals in Iran, according to the federal indictment, which was released on Tuesday.

The indictment details how the network of operatives surveilled Alinejad and quotes them talking about her in July 2022.

“I’m close to the place now brother I’m getting even closer,” the indictment quotes one operative as saying.

In response, another said, according to the indictment, “OK my brother dear don’t let her out of your sight. Let’s not delay it my brother dear.”

The operative — Khalid Mehdiyev — was disrupted when he was arrested near the victim’s home on July 28, 2022, while in possession of an assault rifle, along with 66 rounds of ammunition, approximately $1,100 in cash, and a black ski mask, according to the indictment.

The operatives were members of an Eastern European crime group allegedly contracted by the Bazghandi network to kill Alinejad, according to the indictment.

“The Islamic Republic hired criminals to do their dirty job on U.S. soil to get away with it, to get away from accountability,” Alinejad said. “But now, the law enforcement actually found the high-ranking members of the Revolutionary Guards that were behind this assassination plot.”

“I’m not carrying weapons. I’m only 45 kilos. But they were trying to kill me,” she said.

Tehran has not responded to the recent charges.

The FBI released a wanted poster for Bazghandi, who is based in Iran and is being sought on charges including murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.

FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Tuesday that the indictment “exposes the full extent of Iran’s plot to silence an American journalist for criticizing the Iranian regime” and that the FBI will “work with our partners here and abroad to hold accountable those who target Americans.”

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky contributed to this report.

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(ATLANTA) — A comprehensive audit of Georgia’s voter rolls found that just 20 noncitizens were registered to vote on a registration list of over 8 million, according to an announcement Wednesday from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

All 20 of those registrations have been canceled and referred to the authorities for investigation and potential prosecution, Raffensperger said.

An additional 156 registrations were flagged for a “human investigation” that is now underway.

“Georgia has the cleanest voter list in the entire country,” Raffensperger, a Republican, said of the audit. “Georgia can trust in their elections.”

The result of the audit stands in stark contrast to claims being pushed by some Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, that large numbers of noncitizens are going to vote in the 2024 election.

“Our elections are bad,” Trump said at last month’s ABC News presidential debate as part of his criticism of Democrats. “And a lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English, they don’t know even know what country they’re in practically, and these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”

Gabriel Sterling, the COO for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, pushed back on people promoting those claims.

“One of the reasons the secretary ordered this noncitizenship audit is to prove to people that — while there are ways that some can potentially get on — it is increasingly rare,” Sterling said Wednesday. “There is no proof that there is this overwhelming number of noncitizens on the rolls.”

The 20 noncitizens found on the voter rolls were located across seven different counties, Sterling said. They were found in part because they had signed affidavits attesting that they were not citizens in order to get out of jury duty.

Sterling said the 20 have been referred to local prosecutors, and that there are some instances “where they probably should be prosecuted, but that’s not our call.”

Sterling also forcefully pushed back on anyone claiming that voting machines are generating fraud in the election, saying there is “zero evidence of a machine flipping an individual’s vote.”

Sterling said they have seen situations where there are “elderly people whose hands shake and they probably hit the wrong button slightly, and they didn’t review their ballot properly before they printed it.”

He directly called out anyone suggesting otherwise, saying, “There is literally zero — and I’m saying this to certain congresspeople in the state — zero evidence of machines flipping votes. And that claim was a lie to 2020 election and it’s a lie now.”

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(NEW YORK) — A Manhattan judge on Wednesday granted a motion by prosecutors to combine Harvey Weinstein’s retrial on sex crimes charges with his trial on a new charge of forcing oral sex on a woman in 2006.

Prosecutors convinced Judge Curtis Farber to consolidate the cases into a single trial in part by arguing separate trials would be “extraordinarily inefficient.”

Farber did not set a new trial date but suggested it would likely occur in the spring, displeasing the defense, which had hoped for a quicker resolution.

Weinstein is next due in court Jan. 29.

He appeared in court in a wheelchair Wednesday following his recent bone marrow cancer diagnosis.

Weinstein is currently being held in prison on Rikers Island in New York, where he has experienced a slew of health issues amid his ongoing sexual assault trials.

He has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.

He pleaded not guilty to the new charge, based on the 2006 incident, last month.

“Mr. Weinstein has been very consistent from the time of his investigation. He never forced himself on anybody,” his attorney, Arthur Aidala, told reporters outside the courthouse following the arraignment on Sept. 19.

He is also charged in a previous New York State Supreme Court indictment with criminal sexual act in the first degree and rape in the third degree, the Manhattan district attorney’s office said.

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(EAST LANSING, Mich.) Researchers from Michigan State University and Rutgers University say they will lead the first nationally funded study on the effects of structural racism on housing, aging and health.

The research – funded by an expected $3.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health and National Institute on Aging – will examine the impact that “racist and discriminatory” policies over the last 100 years have had on a cohort of 800 Black and white Baltimore-based adults.

Most past research has had an “almost singular focus” on either residential segregation or historic redlining. This report will look at how factors such as redlining, gentrification, predatory lending, urban renewal, freeway construction, segregation and more have shaped the neighborhoods, homes, schools and stores Black residents engage with and how it has contributed to racial inequities, according to researcher Dick Sadler, an associate professor at Michigan State University College of Human Medicine.

The lead researchers say that lifelong exposure to structural racism — the policies and processes causing race-based inequities — are key drivers behind disparities in health and accelerated aging for Black people.

Past research has found that Black residents are more likely to experience earlier onset and greater rates of aging-related cognitive, physical function decline, and frailty compared to other racial and ethnic groups in the U.S.

Researchers say they will also look at how systemic racism impacts other racial and ethnic groups who live in these disinvested environments.

Understanding how divestment and discrimination happens “is critical to the development of strategies to disrupt racial inequities in communities,” according to the study announcement.

“We need to comprehensively document what the full constellation of tools, tactics and strategies look like in our urban landscapes to better contextualize why racial inequities emerge and persist across numerous health endpoints, for which all Americans ultimately suffer but for which Black Americans consistently take the largest hits,” said Sadler and Danielle Beatty Moody, associate professor at the Rutgers University School of Social Work, in the announcement.

Researchers hope the study can support advocacy and policy efforts to address such inequities.

The study comes as the majority of Americans — 65% — say that racism perpetrated by individual people is a bigger problem than racism in laws when it comes to discrimination against Black people in the U.S. today, according to a 2022 Pew Research Center survey. About a quarter — 23% — say that racism in U.S. laws is the larger problem.

However, Pew found that more than half of Black adults — 52% — say racism in U.S. laws is the bigger problem, with 43% arguing that racism by individuals is the larger problem.

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(NASSAU, Bahamas) Search efforts are underway for a 66-year-old woman who fell overboard on a Taylor Swift-themed cruise Tuesday night, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The missing passenger fell off the Royal Caribbean ship Allure of the Season about 17 miles north of Nassau, Bahamas, the Coast Guard said.

The Coast Guard is assisting with the search, which is being led by the Royal Bahamas Defense Force.

The four-night Swift-themed voyage, known as “In My Cruise Era,” set sail from Miami for the Bahamas on Monday. It was not officially affiliated with Swift.

About 400 people registered for the cruise, which was scheduled to include karaoke, a dance party and friendship bracelet trading.

In a statement from the cruise company, Royal Caribbean said it initiated search efforts as soon as the woman fell overboard.

“Our crew immediately launched a search and rescue effort and is working with local authorities We are also providing support and assistance to the guest’s family during this difficult time. To respect the privacy of our guest’s family, we have no additional details to share,” a Royal Caribbean spokesperson said.

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(DELPHI, Ind.) — A pair of teenage girls who were on the Delphi, Indiana, hiking trail the same day two younger girls were murdered are speaking out about their recollections of the “bridge guy.”

Railly Voorhies testified Tuesday at Richard Allen’s murder trial that she was on the small-town trail on Feb. 13, 2017, with a friend and two sisters.

Voorhies, who was 16 at the time, said she passed a man near Freedom Bridge on her walk home.

When asked to describe the man, Voorhies said he was a Caucasian man with his face covered. She said he was overdressed for the weather, had on dark clothes, was wearing a hat and had his hands in his pockets.

The prosecution pulled up a photo of the “bridge guy” — the grainy image of the suspect walking on the bridge near where the girls were last seen — and Voorhies said, “That was the man I had waved at on the trail.”

During cross-examination, defense attorney Jennifer Auger noted that Voorhies gave a different description of the man when interviewed earlier. Voorhies first described the man as in his early 20s or 30s with a bigger build, brown eyes, dirty blonde curly hair, a square jaw and a wrinkly face. She also said he was wearing black jeans, a black hoodie, black boots and a black mask.

During redirect, prosecuting attorney Stacey Diener asked Voorhies if she had ever given a statement to police or asked to give a statement about estimating someone’s height or weight.

Voorhies said, “No. I was certain that was the man that I saw. I can say with confidence the person in the picture is the person I saw.”

Auger then asked Voorhies if the photo of the “bridge guy” influenced her memory, and Voorhies responded, “Possibly, yes.”

Breann Wilber, who was on the trail that day with Voorhies, testified that she also noticed the man who was overdressed for the warm weather.

She said the man was walking with a “purpose,” didn’t respond when Voorhies said hello and gave off “weird vibes.”

Wilber said that, when she saw the picture of the “bridge guy,” the “first thing I thought is — that is the person I saw on the trail.”

During cross-examination, Wilber was also pressed on how her description of the man she saw on the trail changed over the years.

Best friends Libby German, 14, and Abby Williams, 13, were walking along the trail when they were killed on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017.

Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat as they walked over the Monon High Bridge. After crossing the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m., prosecutors said.

The man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to go “down the hill,” prosecutors said. The girls complied, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording, according to prosecutors.

The eighth graders’ bodies were discovered the next day.

Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Voorhies noted in court that she was friends with Libby and Abby on Snapchat, while Wilber said she knew Libby’s older sister and was friends with Libby on Snapchat.

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(DELPHI, Ind.) — A 30-second video filmed by 14-year-old victim Libby German just before she was murdered in Delphi, Indiana, was played for the jury on Tuesday during Richard Allen’s trial.

Allen is accused of killing Libby and 13-year-old Abby Williams while the best friends walked on a trail in their small town on the afternoon of Feb. 13, 2017.

The video — played during testimony from Indiana State Police digital forensic examiner Brian Bunner — showed Libby filming herself and Abby walking on the Monon High Bridge. At one point, the camera panned up, and no one was behind Abby. In a later shot, the video shows a man walking behind her.

According to Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV, a girl’s voice is heard on the video saying, “There’s no path — the trail ends here, so we have to go down here?”

Libby’s mother cried in court when she heard the voice.

The video, which was not enhanced, was played just once for the jury.

Libby posted a photo of Abby on Snapchat as they walked over the Monon High Bridge, prosecutor Nick McLeland told the jury last week in his opening statement. After the girls crossed the bridge, they saw a man behind them, and Libby started a recording on her phone at 2:13 p.m., he said.

The man pulled out a gun and ordered the girls to go “down the hill,” McLeland said. The girls complied, he said, and then the video on Libby’s phone stopped recording.

The eighth graders’ bodies were discovered near the trail one day later.

Indiana State Police crime scene investigator Brian Olehy testified Monday that both girls’ necks were cut, noting that Libby’s was “viciously slashed.” A large pool of blood was visible between their bodies, he said.

Olehy said some of the girls’ clothing was found inside-out in the nearby creek.

Sticks were partially laid over the bodies, Olehy said. When he and another deputy lifted Libby’s body off the ground to place it in a body bag, he said leaves and dirt stuck to her back.

Libby’s phone — in its Harry Potter-themed case — was found underneath Abby’s body, Olehy said.

On Tuesday, Olehy returned to the stand and walked the jury through evidence collected during the autopsies, including: sex assault evidence kits for Abby and Libby; Libby’s Delphi swimming sweatshirt with red stains; jeans with red stains; a gray bra with red stains and a black bra with red stains.

Libby’s mom wiped away tears as Olehy explained the sex assault evidence collection kit.

During cross-examination, defense attorney Brad Rozzi asked if any of the recovered DNA evidence was linked to Allen, and Olehy responded, “No.”

Rozzi asked Olehy if it seemed like the sticks in between the girls’ bodies were placed there intentionally. Olehy replied, “They appeared to be placed there by an individual,” and he went on to say the sticks seemed to be an “attempt at concealment.”

Allen, a Delphi resident, was arrested in 2022 and has pleaded not guilty to murder. Allen has admitted to police that he was on the trail that day, but he denied any involvement in the murders, according to court documents.

ABC News’ Janel Klein contributed to this report.

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