Category: National

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — Opening arguments in the re-trial of Jason Meade are set to begin in a Columbus, Ohio, courtroom on Thursday morning as the former Franklin County Sheriff’s deputy faces charges of murder and reckless homicide in the fatal 2020 shooting of 23-year-old Casey Goodson Jr.

A jury, made up of nine women and three men, was seated on Wednesday afternoon, according to ABC Columbus station WSYX.

Meade’s second trial comes more than two years after his first trial ended in a mistrial in February 2024, as jurors failed to reach an agreement on the verdict. He has pleaded not guilty.

Meade, who testified during his first trial, claimed that he shot Goodson on Dec. 4, 2020, because he said the man waved a gun at him. Goodson’s family said that he was shot while returning from a dentist appointment and was walking into his grandmother’s home with a Subway sandwich in his hand.

A gun was found in Goodson’s possession with the safety on, according to police. Goodson was a legal gun owner and had a concealed carry permit, which was found in his wallet, police said.

No body camera video of the incident exists because at the time Franklin County Sheriff’s deputies were not issued body-worn camera equipment.

Meade was working with the U.S. Marshals in search for a potential violent fugitive when he fatally shot Goodson.

Goodson was not the target of the search.

The Franklin County Coroner’s Office found that Goodson had been shot six times from behind, including five times in his back.

A judge ruled ahead of the trial that Meade will be allowed to argue self-defense during his second trial, according to WSYX.

Prosecutors had argued that Meade should not be able to claim self-defense because he caused the situation that led to Goodson’s death, WSYX reported, but the judge ruled that Meade does have the option to argue self-defense because no evidence has been presented yet in this new trial.

Seth Walton, an attorney representing Goodson’s family, told ABC News on Wednesday that the family has endured “years of coordinated lies and distortions” as they cope with Goodson’s death.

“The only evidence that Casey Goodson, Jr. did anything to contribute to his own death comes from Jason Meade, and Jason Meade alone,” Walton said. “No independent witness. No footage. Just the word of the man who shot him in the back. And yet, despite everything Meade has claimed, the facts and evidence were strong enough to indict him and nearly convict him at the end of the last trial.”

Brian Steel, president of the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 9 — the union that represents Meade — has supported him and claimed that shooting was justified.

“We just want the facts of this case to get out there, and where the jury lands, the jury lands,” Steel told WSYX.

“The reality is, he was not just an innocent person with a subway sandwich; he was an individual with a gun, pointed a gun at a cop, and the cop reacted,” Steel added.

ABC News reached out to Meade’s attorneys for comment.

Meade was charged with two counts of murder and one court of reckless homicide in Dec. 2, 2021 and was indicted by a grand jury.

Franklin County Prosecuting Attorney Gary Tyack appointed two special prosecutors in June 2021 to investigate the case, citing a potential conflict of interest with his office, which has represented the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office in legal proceedings.

The charges against Meade were brought by special prosecutors Tim Merkle and Gary Shroyer following an investigation by the Columbus Division of Police and the local branch of the FBI.

Meade was placed on administrative leave amid the investigation before retiring on disability on July 2, 2021.

This case led to widespread outrage and fueled pressure for the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office to equip deputies with body-worn cameras — a new policy that was rolled out in 2022, WSYX reported.

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(NEW YORK) — A 56-year-old Louisiana man is facing federal charges for allegedly supplying an assault-style pistol that Shamar Elkins is suspected of using to allegedly kill eight children, including seven of his own, in a shooting in Shreveport over the weekend, officials said.

Charles Ford, of Shreveport, was arrested and charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm and making false statements about the firearm to federal agents assisting in the investigation of Sunday’s massacre, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Louisiana. He faces a total of up to 20 years in prison if convicted of both charges, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

“Words fall short in the face of the acts Shamar Elkins perpetrated in Shreveport on April 19 – they are beyond comprehension or description,” U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Keller said in the statement announcing the charges.

Elkins, 31, died after leading police on a chase following the mass shooting in Shreveport that also left two women hospitalized with gunshot wounds.

Keller said investigators probing how Elkins obtained the weapon were led to Ford through information they obtained from the original purchaser of the weapon.

“Elkins’ death means that our community will never see him face justice,” Keller said. “Our hope, as we continue to investigate and prosecute this case alongside our law enforcement partners, is that holding the person whose gun Elkins used to perpetrate the crime accountable will give some small bit of solace to our Shreveport community.”

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

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(NEW YORK) — Two people died and at least 19 others were injured following a chemical leak at a West Virginia refinery plant that was scheduled to be shut down Wednesday morning, officials said.

Kanawha County Commission President Ben Salango told reporters that workers were cleaning and decontaminating the Catalyst Refiners plant in Nitro, West Virginia, which is in the process of shutting down, when the incident took place around 9:30 a.m.

Kanawha County Emergency Manager CW Sigman said that as the workers were decommissioning a tank, nitric acid and M2000A were mixed, creating hydrogen sulfide.

“We could smell it downwind,” Sigman told reporters at a news conference.

A total of 21 people were taken to the hospital, two of whom died, according to Salango. Frank Barber, the president of Ames Goldsmith Corp, which owns the plant, said in a statement that the unidentified deceased victims were employees of the company.

One victim was listed in critical condition as of Wednesday afternoon, according to Salango. Barber said that the victim was also an employee of Ames Goldsmith.

Seven of the hospitalized victims were EMS crews who rushed to respond to the scene, Sigman said.

“They put themselves in harm’s way to try and save a life,” he said.

The plant was used to refine silver, according to Salango.

Sigman said that some of the employees immediately put on respirators and helped to get the people inside the plant out of harm’s way.

Sigman said the investigation is ongoing and will involve state and federal agencies as they try to get more answers as to how the incident took place.

He said that according to the plant manager, it was not uncommon for decontamination crews to mix the nitric acid and M2000A.

“But there was something going on that was different. That will [be] for the investigators to determine,” Sigman said of the decommission procedures.

A shelter-in-place was ordered for the surrounding area as investigators determine the extent of the leak.

Sigman said that fire officials have visited and toured the plant “in the last few months,” and met with plant managers about emergency response.

Barber said Ames Goldsmith is working with investigators in their probe.

“This is an unfathomably difficult time. Our thoughts and prayers are with our colleagues and their families,” he said.

West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey said he was monitoring the situation.

“We are working around the clock with local officials to ensure this incident is contained and that all necessary state resources are on the ground to protect the community,” he said in a statement.

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(LOS ANGELES) — The 14-year-old girl whose dismembered remains authorities say were found decomposing in the singer D4vd’s towed Tesla last year died by “multiple penetrating injuries,” according to the newly unsealed medical examiner’s report.

D4vd — a 21-year-old Los Angeles resident whose legal name is David Burke — has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of the teen, Celeste Rivas Hernandez, officials said. The “Romantic Homicide” singer was arrested last week following a monthslong investigation.

The Los Angeles County medical examiner found she had two penetrating wounds of her torso, including injury to her liver, and reported evidence of traumatic injury. There were presumptive positives for benzodiazepines and meth/MDMA in her system, the report stated.

There was severe postmortem change to her body based on how long she had been dead.

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

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(BRANTLEY COUNTY, Ga.) — Dry conditions from a persistent drought and gusty winds were fueling wildfires on Wednesday in the Southeast, including a blaze in Southeast Georgia that has destroyed dozens of homes and prompted evacuations.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp declared a state of emergency for 91 counties in South Georgia.

The wildfire in Brantley County, Georgia, grew from about 700 acres at 10 a.m. local time on Tuesday to 5,000 acres at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, County Manager Joey Carson said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“Obviously, this fire became a lot larger than we thought it would be on Monday. We’ve got resources that have come in from all over South Georgia and now from the state,” said Carson, adding that he expects more resources from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to arrive later Wednesday.

The fire, burning northwest of Brunswick, Georgia, was 10% contained on Wednesday morning, Chuck White, director of Emergency Management in neighboring Camden County, said at the news conference.

At least 47 homes have been destroyed by the blaze, which started on Monday off of U.S. Highway 82 near the Brantley County-Glynn County line, authorities noted.

Schools in Brantley County canceled classes on Wednesday due to the fire threat and smoke, officials said.

“This decision has been made to ensure the safety of our students, families, and employees, and to allow our Brantley County families time and space to navigate the impacts of the fire,” the local school system said in a statement.

On Tuesday, students and staff at two schools in the Brantley County town of Waynesville were forced to evacuate during the school day, officials said.

The Georgia Forestry Commission also issued its first mandatory burn ban in state history on Wednesday. The ban on outdoor burning, which will remain in effect for at least 30 days, is for 91 counties in the lower half of the state due to worsening drought conditions and rising wildfire activity, the agency said.

Carson noted that firefighters nearly had the Brantley County fire under control on Tuesday until afternoon wind gusts escalated the fire danger.

“Within 30 minutes, the winds picked up pretty significantly, and it went from being almost in control to a major wildfire,” Cason said. “Yesterday morning, we had 700 acres burned. It burned over 4,000 acres in a matter of hours as soon as the wind picked up.”

Persistent dry conditions have led to one of the worst droughts on record for parts of Georgia, fueling wildfires in the state.

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor, more than 48% of Brantley County is under an “Exceptional Drought” — the highest level of drought it has experienced in more than 25 years.

Across Georgia, more than 69% of the state is under an “Extreme Drought.” At the start of the year, only 1% of the state was under an “Extreme Drought” or higher.

Georgia needs between 12 and 18 inches of rainfall to end its current drought, according to data from the National Centers for Environmental Information.

Another major wildfire, the Pinelands Road Fire in nearby Clinch County, Georgia, started on Monday on mostly private forest land, officials said. It grew to 9,000 acres by Wednesday and was spreading toward Echols County, they noted.

In Florida, near the Georgia-Florida line, the Railroad Fire was burning in Clay and Putnam Counties, which are also under drought conditions. As of Wednesday morning, the Railroad Fire had grown to more than 4,000 acres and was more than 50% contained on Wednesday morning, according to the Florida Forest Service.

Across the Southeast — including Florida, Alabama, Georgia, South and North Carolina and Virginia — more than 97% of the region is under a “moderate drought” or higher.

Florida is experiencing its worst drought in 25 years. At least 71% of the state is under an “extreme” or “exceptional drought,” the two highest levels.

Fire alerts issued from Texas to Montana and Minnesota

Meanwhile, pockets of fire weather continue to linger in parts of the Rockies and Great Plains on Wednesday.

More than a dozen states across the Rockies and Plains from Texas to Montana and Minnesota are under fire weather alerts on Wednesday due to hot, dry and windy conditions.

Relative humidity in parts of the Rockies and Plains on Wednesday is expected to fall to as low as 5%, and wind gusts up to 30 to 45 mph are also forecast, allowing any wildfires to rapidly start and spread.

The wildfire threat is expected to continue Thursday in the Rockies and Plains as wind gusts are forecast to reach 60 mph and relative humidity is expected to be down to the single digits.

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(NEW YORK) — Ghislaine Maxwell, the convicted co-conspirator of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is again asking a federal judge in New York to vacate her sex trafficking conviction and release her from prison.

Maxwell submitted her new request, which she wrote herself, to federal prosecutors in New York, who said they received “a FedEx envelope — marked with a ‘ship date’ of April 16, 2026 — that contained a USB drive with the defendant’s amended motion and exhibits,” according to a letter to the district court that was posted online early Monday morning.

Prosecutors did not disclose details of Maxwell’s argument, which has not yet been filed on the public docket, but said it “seems to have some overlap” with her original motion to dismiss that district and appellate courts rejected in 2024. The U.S. Supreme Court subsequently declined to hear her appeal.

Having exhausted all of her direct appeals, Maxwell filed a habeas petition this past December in which she contended that “substantial new evidence has emerged” regarding her case. Maxwell’s submission this week comes after the district court judge, in February, allowed Maxwell to submit an amendment to that petition following the Justice Department’s release of the Epstein files.

Maxwell previously argued, unsuccessfully, that her conviction and her 20-year sentence should be tossed because she did not receive a fair trial and was covered by the non-prosecution agreement that Epstein’s attorneys had negotiated for him as part of the wealthy financier’s 2028 plea deal.

She also argued her conviction was based on vague allegations of “grooming” victims that did not amount to a crime.

Maxwell is currently serving her sentence for aiding and participating in Epstein’s trafficking of underage girls, which involved a scheme to recruit young women and girls for massages of Epstein that turned sexual. Federal prosecutors in New York said Maxwell helped Epstein recruit, groom and ultimately abuse girls as young as 14.

In an interview with then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Ghislaine Maxwell said nothing during the interview that would be harmful to President Donald Trump, telling Blanche that Trump had never done anything in her presence that would have caused concern, according to sources familiar with what Maxwell said.

Epstein died by suicide in a New York jail in 2019.

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(NEW YORK) — A baby girl was found abandoned in a stroller in New York City’s Times Square, and a search is underway for the child’s father, authorities said.

Police responded to a report of an abandoned baby by West 44th Street and Seventh Avenue shortly after 11 p.m. Tuesday night.

The 1-year-old girl was found in a stroller conscious and alert and appeared to be unharmed, authorities said.

She was taken to an area hospital for evaluation and is reported to be in stable condition.

Detectives are searching for the baby’s father, who police say may have taken the girl during a dispute with the child’s mother and was the last person seen with her.

Police said the father knocked the stroller over onto the sidewalk in Times Square and ran away. He is being sought for child abandonment and custodial interference, authorities said.

The father is believed to be homeless and is known to hang around the Times Square area often, authorities said.

Police are pulling surveillance cameras in the area to try to retrace his steps.

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(MENDOCINO, Calif) — A 78-year-old woman has died from snake bites in Northern California, marking the third deadly snake bite victim in the state this year.

The woman was walking in a rural area in Redwood Valley on April 8 when she suffered three venomous snake bites, the Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office said.

She was treated at a hospital but died on April 10, the sheriff’s office said.

While about 7,000 to 8,000 people are bitten by venomous snakes each year in the U.S., only about five of those people die from the bites, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

But this already marks the third deadly snake bite in California this year.

A 25-year-old man died after he was bitten by a rattlesnake while mountain biking in Irvine in Southern California in February, according to ABC Los Angeles station KABC. In March, a 46-year-old woman died after she was bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking at Southern California’s Wildwood Regional Park, KABC reported.

Peak rattlesnake season is just getting underway. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said bites are most common between April and October.

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(NEW YORK) — There is evidence that the planet is healing amid massive efforts to mitigate climate change and fight biodiversity loss.

Once-threatened species are rebounding, lawmakers are making policy changes that increase protections against harmful practices and preservation of ecosystems has come to the forefront, according to recent events.

The wins, however, don’t cancel out the realities that the planet continues to be on a tipping point. The world is currently off track to meet the goal outlined in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, according to the United Nations.

The planet has entered an era of “water bankruptcy,” due to irreversible damage to water systems, according to the U.N.’s University Institute for Water, Environment and Health. Deforestation is continuing to occur at a rapid rate, including 16.6 million acres of tropical primary forests lost in 2024 – equivalent to 18 soccer fields per minute, according to the World Wildlife Fund.

Despite the losses, recent environmental wins prove that efforts to protect the planet and its inhabitants are working.

Threatened species are recovering

Most sea turtles are rebounding worldwide as a result of conservation, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Green turtles made an especially notable recovery. Once hunted to near-extinction for their eggs – used to make turtle soup – green turtle populations have risen significantly since the 1970s, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s 2025 update to its Red List of Threatened Species. Their status was downgraded from endangered to least concern.

Global conservation efforts included protecting eggs, releasing hatchlings on beaches and reducing capture in fishing nets, according to the IUCN.

Endangered Central California coast coho salmon are returning to Central California’s Russian River after decades of absence – an indicator of river restoration. During the 2024 to 2025 spawning season, more than 30,000 adult coho salmon migrated to the rivers along the Mendocino Coasts – double the record-breaking number of 15,000 seen in the previous season, according to NOAA Fisheries.

A group of wild horses known as Przewalski’s horses has returned to Central Asia after being driven to near-extinction in the 1960s.

In 2024, several zoos took part in the first stages of the reintroduction of the horses to their native Kazakhstan.

Subsequent efforts brought the Przewalski’s horses to neighboring Mongolia.

Przewalski’s horses are known as the last surviving lineage of true wild horses. Their populations declined as a result of habitat loss, overhunting and hybridization with domestic horses, according to the WWF’s Natural Habitat Adventures.

Countries taking action to protect natural resources

In the U.S., the federal government under the Trump administration has taken several actions that could potentially harm the environment, including granting fossil fuel operations in the Gulf exemption from Endangered Species Act protections; the Senate voted to overturn Biden-era Arctic protections; and the U.S. Department of the Interior reached a nearly $1 billion deal with French energy company, TotalEnergies, to end the company’s offshore wind development.

But other countries are making strides in protecting vast amounts of land and water.

Earlier this year, the High Seas Biodiversity Treaty – aimed to protect 60% of the global ocean that is beyond national jurisdiction – entered into force globally.

Adopted under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), the treaty opened for signature in September 2023 and could safeguard marine ecosystems beyond national borders.

In July 2026, Ethiopia launched a national campaign to plant 700 million trees a day, aiming to plant 50 billion trees by the end of 2026.

The I-25 Greenland wildlife overpass near Larkspur in Colorado opened in December 2025. The overpass is the largest in the U.S. and will allow elk, pronghorn, mule deer, black bears, mountain lions and a variety of other species to cross, according to the Colorado Department of Transportation.

Italy will ban the killing of male chicks starting in 2027, ending the deaths of 34 million birds every year. Male chicks are often killed because they cannot produce eggs.

Poland, once the largest fur-producing country in Europe with mink, fox, chinchilla and raccoon dog farms housing around 3.4 million animals, has banned fur farming. The European Union is considering a union-wide ban on fur production.

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(NEW YORK) — Nearly three weeks after American Lynette Hooker went overboard and disappeared in the Bahamas, an attorney for her husband Brian Hooker is asking the public “to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Michigan-based attorney Crystal Marie Hauser told ABC News that Brian Hooker never would have harmed his wife of 25 years.

Lynette Hooker has been missing since April 4. That evening, after the couple departed Hope Town for their yacht, Soulmate, in Elbow Cay, bad weather caused Lynette Hooker to fall off their dinghy and go overboard, Brian Hooker told authorities.

Brian Hooker was arrested on April 8 and questioned by police. He was released on April 13 without charges.

On April 14, Brian Hooker told ABC News that he was staying in the Bahamas with a “sole focus” of finding his wife, “no matter how likely or unlikely that is.”

“My only focus is to go back to the boat and then hire or beg people to help me go find some areas to search,” he said.

But hours after that interview, Brian Hooker left the Bahamas, with his Bahamian attorney saying he wanted to be with his terminally ill mother.

Asked if Brian Hooker plans to return to the Bahamas to help with the search, Hauser said, “I imagine that is where his heart is, but I can’t speak on whether or not that’s what he would be doing.”

Karli Aylesworth, Lynette Hooker’s daughter and Brian Hooker’s stepdaughter, has traveled to the Bahamas and told ABC News she doubted Brian Hooker’s story.

“I don’t understand how she drowned or got floated away,” Aylesworth said. “It just made me be more, ‘Why didn’t he do this? Why didn’t you do that? Why did that happen?'”

Lynette Hooker’s mother, Darlene Hamlett, told ABC News the couple had a volatile relationship.

“We all handle things in different ways,” Hauser said. “Be open-minded to the fact that just because Karli and Darlene are making these claims, there’s absolutely no evidence to support any of the allegations — absolutely none.”

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