Category: National

(WASHINGTON) — America’s national parks and other federal lands are in danger of falling into disrepair following the firings of thousands of federal employees by the current administration, experts said.

Federal agencies that were already strapped for resources, such as the National Parks Service and U.S. Forestry Service, will now be struggling to find workers to perform critical functions for visitors and maintenance, said Kristen Brengel, senior vice president of government affairs at the National Parks Conservation Association.

More than 1,000 NPS employees were terminated by the Trump administration, Brengel said, while more than 2,000 U.S. Forest Service employees have been fired, according to Fire & Safety Journal Americas.

Some of the eliminated positions include search-and-rescue staff and campsite supervisors, Brengel told ABC News.

With park visitation expected to increase in the next year, fewer employees could translate to longer lines to get into parks, changes in park hours and more trash pileups at some locations.

The National Parks Service did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

‘Most beloved federal employees’

When tourists arrive at national parks, the expectation is that a ranger will be there to greet and educate them, Brengel said.

Surveys from the Pew Research Center find that National Parks employees have a 76% approval rating — the highest among federal employees. NPS workers are dedicated to their jobs and care deeply about the parks they service, Brengel said.

“National park rangers are among the most beloved federal employees,” Brengel said. “These are folks that everyone loves to see when they go to our national parks.”

The NPS has been “stretched thin” since 2010, with a 20% reduction in park service staff in the last 15 years, Brengel said.

“This means that people have to do collateral duties,” Brengel said. For example, a person sitting at the front desk of a visitor center may also be responsible for maintaining restrooms.

The lack of staffing is not new; it was also a problem in the 1980s and 1990s, according to Andrea Lankford, a former law enforcement and search and rescue park ranger for Cape Hatteras, Zion National Park, Yosemite National Park and the Grand Canyon.

Visitation to the parks continues to increase

More than 325 million people visited national parks in 2023, and visitation in 2025 will likely exceed that number, Brengel said. The NPS also contributed a record $55.6 billion to the U.S. economy in 2023 and supported 415,000 jobs that year, according to the NPS.

“We fully expect visitors to flood into national parks this spring and summer, and for parks to just generally be understaffed and not be able to handle that influx,” she said.

Last week, the Trump administration reversed a hiring freeze for seasonal National Parks Service employees, allowing the system to fill crucial roles to help maintain and operate popular parks ahead of the summer season, according to a memo obtained by ABC News.

NPS will now be permitted to hire a total of 7,700 workers, according to the memo. But the one-month delay in hiring seasonal workers, on top of the firing of probationary park rangers, could impact tourists this summer at some of the country’s most popular national parks, said Bill Wade, executive director of the Association of National Park Rangers.

“It’s pretty safe to say that in many parks, at least for the start of the season, visitors are going to probably see some sort of impact and a decline in their experience,” he said.

Tourists could experience long lines to get into the parks, changes in hours at visitor centers, trash pileups and restrooms that are not cleaned as frequently, Wade said.

In addition, there could be delays for road, trail and building maintenance, Brengel said, noting that people who fill potholes and repair leaky roofs were among those terminated.

Impact of firings on Forest Service

Understaffing has also been a concern for the U.S. Forest Service, said Owen Wickenheiser, a former wilderness and climbing ranger at the Okanagan Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state.

“We were already short-staffed as a land management agency, with the number of trails expected to maintain,” Wickenheiser, who was recently fired, told ABC News. “We have one of the busiest districts in all of Washington state.”

Wickenheiser said the lack of rangers means “people will just trash the place.”

“No one is going to be actively searching out all the trash that we pick up — that’s going to make it into the lake,” Wickenheiser said. “Trees that fall down every year across the trail will likely go uncut and people will be hiking over trees all the time.”

Jaelle Downs, who was fired recently from the Forest Service as a wilderness ranger at the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, said she doesn’t know “what the summer is going to look like.”

“Even with volunteers, I don’t see how things aren’t going to be very covered in trash, very covered in human waste, it’s concerning,” she told ABC News.

Downs said she worries how the mass firings will affect future rangers.

“The excited, on-the-ground workers who were preparing to carry on the work of the agency have just been demoralized and pushed out. I just wonder where the next generation is going to come from,” she said.

Hiring freeze exemptions exist for critical health and safety positions, and more than 1,000 U.S. Forest Service firefighter positions were recently approved with more currently under review, according to a USDA spokesperson.

“Protecting the people and communities we serve, as well as the infrastructure, businesses, and resources they depend on to grow and thrive, remains a top priority for the USDA and the Forest Service,” the spokesperson said. “We have a solemn responsibility to be good stewards of the American people’s hard-earned taxpayer dollars and to ensure that every dollar spent goes to serve the people, not the bureaucracy.”

ABC News’ Ben Siegel contributed to this report.

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(GAINES COUNTY, Texas) — A measles outbreak in Texas is continuing to grow, reaching 124 cases, new data released Tuesday shows.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, and 18 people have been hospitalized so far, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Five cases included those who have been vaccinated.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases with 62, followed by 39 cases among children ages 4 and under.

Gaines County is the epicenter of the outbreak, with 80 cases confirmed among residents, according to DSHS. State health data shows the number of vaccine exemptions in the county have grown dramatically.

Roughly 7.5% of kindergarteners in the county had parents or guardians who filed for an exemption for at least one vaccine in 2013. Ten years later, that number rose to more than 17.5% — one of the highest in all of Texas, according to state health data.

Individual schools saw similar jumps. At Loop ISD, located in Gaines County, 13.08% of students between kindergarten and 12th grade received a conscientious exemption from at least one vaccine during the 2018-19 school year, During the 2023-24 school year, that figure rose to more than 47.95%, according to DSHS data.

On Monday, DSHS warned that people may have been exposed to measles in central or south-central Texas associated with the outbreak in the western part of the state.

“A person from the outbreak area who was later diagnosed with measles visited locations in the San Marcos and San Antonio areas the weekend of Feb. 14-16 while they were contagious,” DSHS wrote in an update on its website, sharing exposure times and locations.

Meanwhile, in neighboring New Mexico, at least nine cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders Texas, a spokesperson for the state’s department of health told ABC News on Friday.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has separately confirmed 93 cases in eight states so far this year in Alaska, California, Georgia, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island and Texas.

Similarly to the local outbreaks, most of the nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown. Of the cases, 4% are among those who received one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) shot.

Measles is one of the most contagious diseases known to humans. Just one infected patient can spread measles up to nine out of 10 susceptible close contacts, according to the CDC.

Health officials have been urging anyone who isn’t vaccinated to receive the MMR vaccine.

The CDC currently recommends people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.

In the decade before the measles vaccine became available, an estimated 3 to 4 million people were infected every year, according to the federal health agency.

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(LOS ANGELES) — An Instagram influencer accused of a drunk driving crash that killed a man in Southern California last summer has now been arrested, officials said.

Summer Wheaton, 33, surrendered Monday at the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station when a warrant was issued for her arrest following a monthslong investigation, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

She faces several charges, including gross vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and driving under the influence, the sheriff’s department said.

Wheaton was released after posting bond, according to records viewed by ABC News.

On the night of July 4, 2024, Wheaton allegedly crossed the median on the Pacific Coast Highway and crashed head-on into another vehicle, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.

The other car’s driver — 44-year-old rideshare driver Martin Okeke — was killed in the crash.

Beforehand, Wheaton had been at a large party at the restaurant Nobu in Malibu, KABC reported.

Wheaton has more than 100,000 followers on Instagram and describes herself online as a “wellness advocate” focused on “empowering individuals to become their highest selves.”

On Tuesday morning, a day after her arrest, Wheaton posted Bible verses to her Instagram story.

Wheaton went on a monthslong Instagram hiatus after the deadly crash, but returned in December with a promoted post for a “faith-based planner” she had created.

In the promotional video — which featured shots of Wheaton exercising, journaling and gazing out at the ocean — Wheaton spoke vaguely of a “hard” few months.

“You know that feeling when life feels like it’s all falling apart, but somehow it’s the start of something really beautiful? Well, that was me,” she said in the voiceover. “The last few months have been hard. I went through moments where I truly didn’t know I pulled through.”

“But in the chaos, something shifted. I was reminded of a deeper truth: that beautiful things can bloom out of despair,” she said. “Sometimes it’s in those broken places where faith takes root and grows stronger.”

Wheaton did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A Missouri woman has pleaded guilty in connection with what prosecutors called a “brazen” attempt to fraudulently put Elvis Presley’s Graceland estate up for auction.

Lisa Findley pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud in U.S. District Court in Memphis, Tennessee, on Tuesday. As part of a plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss one count of aggravated identity theft that was previously filed against her.

When asked if she understood what she was pleading guilty to, Findley said, “yes.” She did not make a statement explaining her conduct.

Prosecutors are recommending Findley receive a 57-month federal prison sentence. She is due back in court for sentencing on June 19.

Findley, 53, initially pleaded not guilty to the charges in the wake of her arrest last year. The trial had been scheduled to start in mid-April before Tuesday’s change of plea hearing.

The mail fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said Findley formed a “brazen scheme” to try to “extort a settlement from the Presley family.”

As part of the scheme, prosecutors said Findley forged the signatures of Elvis Presley’s late daughter Lisa Marie and Florida notary Kimberly Philbrick in order to claim that Lisa Marie did not pay back a $3.8 million loan from a purported company called Naussany Investments that listed Graceland as collateral.

Philbrick spoke exclusively to ABC News, telling “Good Morning America” in August 2024 and “IMPACT x Nightline” in October 2024 that she never notarized anything for Lisa Marie Presley and has no idea how her name got involved in the scheme.

Naussany Investments, an unregistered entity that prosecutors said Findley was behind, filed public notices in May 2024 stating that it would auction off Graceland at the front of the Shelby County Courthouse.

A Shelby County chancellor issued a temporary injunction at the eleventh hour that prevented such an auction from taking place, citing an affidavit from Philbrick that stated her signature was forged and she never met Lisa Marie.

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

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(KEENE, NH) — An online content creator has been charged with criminal mischief for allegedly making “disturbing” videos of her contaminating store products by urinating on them, spawning an investigation and a product recall dating back four years ago.

The investigation began on Feb. 14 when the Keene Police Department in New Hampshire received an anonymous tipoff regarding a woman – later identified as 23-year-old Kelli Tedford – who had “posted disturbing videos to an internet site” of her “contaminating items in a local business with her urine,” according to a statement from the Keene Police Department released on Friday.

Police immediately launched an investigation in cooperation with the local grocery store, the Monadnock Food Co-Op, and the affected items were removed in coordination with the health department, officials said.

Monadnock Food Co-Op subsequently issued a voluntary recall for red quinoa, white quinoa, tri-color quinoa, cornmeal, polenta, coconut shreds and raw walnuts and affirmed that “our community’s health and safety remain our top priorities.”

“While this was a highly unusual situation, we took swift action in accordance with our food safety and recall procedures,” Monadnock Food Co-Op said in their statement released on Friday. “We have also been in direct communication with the Keene Health Department, which has confirmed that no ongoing risks remain. We continue to cooperate fully with the Keene Police Department and the Keene Health Department regarding this matter. We have strict food safety protocols and recall procedures in place. We are reviewing our security measures and procedures to further safeguard our store and customers.”

However, during the police investigation into the incident, authorities found “numerous additional videos” of Tedford committing the same act over a four-year period, said the Keene Police Department.

“At this time, it appears likely that similar historic incidents occurred in Keene and surrounding communities where Tedford contaminated items and/or surfaces with urine, as several videos appear to be recorded as early as 2021,” police said.

As a result of this incident, the Monadnock Food Co-Op sustained an estimated financial loss of more than $1,500 in destroyed merchandise and cleaning costs.

“At this time, it appears likely that similar historic incidents occurred in Keene and surrounding communities where Tedford contaminated items and/or surfaces with urine, as several videos appear to be recorded as early as 2021,” police said.

As a result of this incident, the Monadnock Food Co-Op sustained an estimated financial loss of more than $1,500 in destroyed merchandise and cleaning costs.

Tedford was arrested on Friday by the Keene Police Department and charged with criminal mischief as a class B felony, authorities confirmed. She was subsequently released on personal recognizance bail and is scheduled for arraignment on April 7 at the 8th Circuit Court in Keene.

The investigation is ongoing, and police said that additional criminal charges are possible.

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(MONTROSE COUNTY, CO) — Police are desperately searching for a man who has now been missing for almost two weeks after visiting a national park in Colorado, authorities said.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park staff and the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office have now asked for the public’s assistance in locating a missing person named as Jordan Marsters, a 31-year-old man from Denver, Colorado, who went missing nearly two weeks ago and hasn’t been hear from since Feb. 13, according to a statement from the National Park Service on Monday.

“Marsters was traveling through Grand Junction on February 11 and in Montrose on February 12,” officials said. “His last known locations were in Montrose on February 12 and 13 and at Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on the morning of February 13 at approximately 7:20 am.”

Marsters is described as 5 feet, 7 inches tall and weighing approximately 140 lbs. with blonde hair and blue eyes. last seen wearing a tan jacket and black hoodie and police say he was driving a white Kia Fuente rental car with Texas license plates “TXH4349.”

It is unclear how long Marsters was supposed to be traveling through the national park for but authorities have asked for anybody with information about his whereabouts or who was in contact with him on the days leading up to Feb.13, to contact Black Canyon National of the Gunnison National Park immediately.

 

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(FULTON COUNTY, GA) — Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Monday satisfied the judgment against him that required him to pay two Fulton County election workers a total of $148 million for defamation.

A jury found Giuliani liable in 2023 for defaming Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss by falsely accusing them of tampering with the 2020 presidential vote in Georgia.

In the process of reaching a settlement in January, he was held in contempt twice, by two different federal judges, for failing to relinquish possessions and continuing to defame the two election workers.

Court documents showed that the settlement action was dismissed in district court on Monday after it was determined that Giuliani had fully satisfied his obligations to Freeman and Moss.

Giuliani began surrendering assets soon after a federal jury determined what he should pay Freeman and Moss in damages and penalties in December 2024.

The settlement last month allowed him to keep his condo in Florida and his World Series rings.

A statement from Giuliani at the time of the settlement said that he would agree not to further defame the two election workers. It did not include an admission of guilt.

Giuliani was previously disbarred in New York and in Washington after his law license was stripped over his efforts to aid President Donald Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 election.

His representative, Ted Goodman, said in a statement last month that the plaintiffs’ attorneys could take the possessions from the former Trump lawyer, “but they can never take away his extraordinary record of public service.”

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(HOUSTON, TEXAS) — Authorities in Texas said on Monday that they have thwarted a “mass casualty attack” after arresting a suspect who allegedly made terroristic threats against police officers.

Seth “Andrea” Gregori was arrested on a terroristic threats warrant Monday morning, the Corpus Christi Police Department said.

“The Federal Bureau of Investigation was notified of Gregori making terroristic threats against Corpus Christi Police Department Officers,” the police department said in a statement. “The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the threats and secured an arrest warrant for Gregori.”

The 21-year-old suspect allegedly planned an attack on police “similar to the 2016 Dallas ambush,” the FBI’s Houston office said.

In the 2016 incident referenced by the FBI, five Dallas police officers were killed and seven injured in an ambush-style shooting.

The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, told a hostage negotiator that he wanted to kill white people, especially police officers, and expressed anger for Black Lives Matter, police said. The ex-U.S. Army reservist was killed by police when they detonated a bomb delivered by a robot.

The 21-year-old suspect allegedly planned an attack on police “similar to the 2016 Dallas ambush,” the FBI’s Houston office said.

In the 2016 incident referenced by the FBI, five Dallas police officers were killed and seven injured in an ambush-style shooting.

The shooter, Micah Xavier Johnson, told a hostage negotiator that he wanted to kill white people, especially police officers, and expressed anger for Black Lives Matter, police said. The ex-U.S. Army reservist was killed by police when they detonated a bomb delivered by a robot.

Police did not release any additional details on the case involving Gregori.

No charges have been filed yet in the case, the Nueces County District Attorney’s Office told ABC Corpus Christi affiliate KIII.

It is unclear if Gregori has an attorney at this time.

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(NEW YORK) — New York City’s congestion pricing toll generated nearly $50 million in revenue in its first month, officials said Monday, as the Trump administration moves to kill the first-in-the-nation program.

From Jan. 5, the first day of the program, to Jan. 31, tolls from the congestion pricing program generated $48.66 million, according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which manages the city’s subways as well as bridges and commuter rails.

The net revenue for that period was $37.5 million when taking into account expenses to run the program, the MTA said.

The program is on track to generate $500 million in net revenue by the end of this year, as initially projected, the MTA said.

“With an initial performance in line with projections, we can confidently move forward with projects that rely on funds from the Congestion Relief Zone,” MTA Chief Financial Officer Kevin Willens said in a statement. “We look forward to seeing similar results in the coming months.”

The update comes after the U.S. Department of Transportation last week said it pulled federal approval of the plan following a review requested by President Donald Trump.

The review found that the “scope of this pilot project as approved exceeds the authority authorized by Congress” under the Federal Highway Administration’s Value Pricing Pilot Program, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a letter to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Wednesday.

Trump celebrated the DOT’s move, saying on his social media platform Truth Social, “CONGESTION PRICING IS DEAD. Manhattan, and all of New York, is SAVED. LONG LIVE THE KING!”

The MTA said it immediately challenged the Trump administration’s reversal in federal court. The MTA is seeking a declaratory judgment from the court that the DOT’s move is “not proper” and is not turning off the tolls under the program until there’s a court order, Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said Wednesday.

Duffy, who called the plan “unfair,” told CBS News on Wednesday that he’d be open to some form of congestion pricing while questioning the price of the NYC toll.

The congestion pricing plan charges passenger vehicles $9 to access Manhattan below 60th Street during peak hours as part of an effort to ease congestion and raise funds for the city’s public transit system. During peak hours, small trucks and charter buses are charged $14.40 and large trucks and tour buses pay $21.60.

According to the MTA’s findings, 68% of the $48.66 million in revenue generated in January came from passenger vehicles, 22% from taxis and for-hire vehicles, 9% from trucks and 1% from buses and motorcycles.

New York officials have touted the success of the program in easing traffic, with Hochul saying last week that congestion has “dropped dramatically” since the program went into effect last month.

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(OXFORD, OHIO) — A fraternity at Miami University in Ohio has been suspended after a student complained of “inhumane” hazing, according to a hazing incident report obtained by ABC News.

According to the report, which was made by a member of another fraternity, an unnamed student was “coerced and forced into accepting a Bid at Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” after which he was allegedly “hazed for multiple days and was forced to cut communication with all others.”

The student was allegedly “required to ingest an entire can of chewing tobacco and then do a handstand.” He vomited as a result, and “was then told to eat the throw up,” though the report states he did not.

Students pledging the fraternity were also “forced to do wall sits while covered in baby oil” and forced to drink every time they slipped, the report states.

They were allegedly also forced to stay in a basement and not permitted to leave except for food and showers, it states.

In a message the alleged victim showed the reporting student, an active member allegedly threatened a pledge, saying he would hold a “12 gauge down his throat and watch his brain splatter.”

As a result of the alleged hazing, the unnamed student contacted the student who made the report and asked to join his fraternity instead, saying Sigma Alpha Epsilon “was not the right fit for him,” the report states.

“During this phone call I noticed that his voice sounded shaky and fearful,” it states.

Upon informing Sigma Alpha Epsilon he would be dropping out of the pledging process, members allegedly tried to convince him to stay, according to the report.

Members “said things such as ‘the first week is always the hardest’ ‘you’ll see why we do all the things we do’ ‘we all had to go through it’ ‘some of the guys haze just to haze,'” the report states.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon was suspended as a result of the hazing incident report, the student newspaper, The Miami Student, first reported.

A spokesperson for the university did not immediately respond to a request for comment from ABC News but confirmed the suspension in a statement to local ABC affiliate WCPO.

“A Miami University Greek organization (Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity) is under investigation and its activities have been summarily suspended by the Office of Community Standards for allegations of hazing,” the statement said.

The fraternity chapter, as well as the national organization, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

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