Days of disabled workers earning less than $7.25 an hour may soon be over
STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Department of Labor is proposing a rule that will eliminate the certificates that allow employers to pay some workers with disabilities less than the federal minimum wage, which stands at $7.25 an hour.
The department announced the change on Tuesday, which also marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
“One of the guiding principles of the American workplace is that a hard day’s work deserves a fair day’s pay, and this proposal ensures that principle includes workers with disabilities,” said Wage and Hour Administrator Jessica Looman in a statement on the proposed rule.
She continued, “Since the enactment of the Fair Labor Standards Act in 1938, opportunities and training have dramatically expanded to help people with disabilities obtain and maintain employment at or above the full federal minimum wage. Similarly, employers today have more resources and training available to recruit, hire and retain workers with disabilities in employment at or above the full minimum wage, and this proposed rule aligns with that reality.”
The rule, if passed, would no longer allow employers to apply for certificates under Section 14(c) of Fair Labor Standards Act, which allows for the subminimum wage. It would set a three-year phase-out period for employers who currently have existing certificates.
A 2020 report from the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights found that some workers were being paid less than a dollar an hour for their work.
The disability community faces higher rates of poverty and lower rates of employment in the workforce, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Council on Disability. Disabled advocates have long criticized Section 14(c) for perpetuating what they call discrimination and stigma.
(LOS ANGELES) — A wind-whipped Southern California brush fire that exploded to over 20,000 acres in about 24 hours, destroying homes and prompting mass evacuations, remained out of control Thursday as Gov. Gavin Newsom rallied state and federal resources to battle the blaze.
The governor declared a state of emergency in Ventura County as firefighters struggled to gain an edge on the Mountain Fire, which had burned 20,484 acres and destroyed an undetermined number of homes since starting near the town of Camarillo. The blaze was 5% contained Thursday evening.
The November fire came amid unseasonably warm temperatures and strong Santa Ana winds. The National Weather Service issued red-flag warnings for Ventura and Los Angeles counties that are to remain in effect through at least Friday morning.
Aerial footage from ABC Los Angeles station KABC showed what appeared to be row after row of destroyed homes in the towns Camarillo, Moorpark and Somis.
Multiple people were taken to the hospitals to be treated for smoke inhalation and other injuries, Ventura County emergency officials said. Some victims became trapped in their cars as they raced from the fast-moving flames, officials said.
In a press conference Thursday evening, Ventura County Fire officials said 88 structures has been damaged and 132 structures were destroyed, the majority of which were homes.
Offcials said there were 10 confirmed injuries, most due to smoke inhalation and all were deemed non-life threatening.
At least 14,000 people were ordered to evacuate, said Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff.
Newsom announced on Wednesday that he has mobilized statewide resources to help battle the fire and has secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to make vital resources available to extinguish the fire.
The California Office of Emergency Services said it had prepositioned 48 pieces of firefighting equipment, nine helicopters and over 100 personnel in 19 counties across California in advance of dangerous fire weather forecast in many parts of coastal and inland California.
“This is a dangerous fire that’s spreading quickly and threatening lives,” Newsom said in a statement. “State resources have been mobilized to protect communities, and this federal support from the Biden-Harris Administration will give state and local firefighters the resources they need to save lives and property as they continue battling this aggressive fire.”
The Mountain Fire is one of two wind-driven fires that broke out in Southern California, leading the NWS to issue rare November red flag warnings for Los Angeles and Ventura counties alerting of an “extreme fire risk” from Malibu into the San Gabriel Mountains, north of Los Angeles, where winds could gust near 100 mph.
“A very strong, widespread, and long-duration Santa Ana wind event will bring widespread extremely critical fire weather conditions to many areas of Los Angeles and Ventura counties Wednesday into Thursday,” according to the NWS warning.
The cause of the fire remained under investigation Thursday.
Due to extreme wind conditions, fixed-wing aircraft are unable to assist in firefighting efforts, according to the Ventura Fire Department, which said ground crews, helicopters and mutual aid resources are “actively working to protect lives and property.”
Broad Fire
A second wildfire erupted in Los Angeles County’s Malibu area Wednesday — named the Broad Fire — and has burned at least 50 acres southwest of South Malibu Canyon Road and the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Malibu, according to CAL Fire.
The fire was 15% contained Wednesday evening, according to the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
Local fire officials have warned residents to prepare for potential evacuations and the PCH has been closed in both directions between Webb Way and Corral Canyon.
Santa Ana wind conditions
Named after Southern California’s Santa Ana Canyon, the region’s Santa Ana winds bring blustery, dry and warm wind that blows out of the desert, drying out vegetation and increasing wildfire danger.
The long-duration Santa Ana wind event was expected to peak late Wednesday, becoming moderate on Thursday, then tailing off to light offshore winds on Friday.
Northeast winds moving 20 to 40 mph with gusts up to 60 mph are expected across the canyons and passes of Southern California, with higher winds in the more wind-prone areas.
Another surge of wind is expected to peak through Thursday morning with widespread northeast winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts to 50 mph before weakening considerably by Thursday afternoon.
(NEW YORK) — The woman who accused Pete Hegseth of sexual assault in 2017 told police at the time that he took her phone and blocked her from leaving his hotel room on the night of the incident, according to a 22-page police report obtained by ABC News.
The report, compiled in Oct. 2017 by the Monterey Police Department, provides graphic new details of an alleged altercation that now threatens to derail Hegseth’s bid to become President-elect Donald Trump’s Defense Secretary.
The report documents a police investigation that did not result in charges against the former Fox News star. It includes interviews with the woman, who is identified only as Jane Doe, and Hegseth, who told police that the encounter was consensual.
As ABC News has previously reported, Doe met Hegseth at an event hosted by the California Federation of Republican Women in Monterey, California, where Hegseth was featured as a speaker.
At an event afterparty, according to the police report, Doe told police she had drank “much more than normal” and described her recollections as “fuzzy,” but that she recalled confronting Hegseth at one point after observing him “rub the women on their legs” — a claim one other witness confirmed in a separate interview with police.
“JANE DOE stated the next memory she had was when she was in an unknown room” with Hegseth, who she said “took her phone from her hands” and, when she attempted to leave, “blocked the door with his body,” according to what she told investigators.
Doe said she remembered Hegseth’s military dog-tags “hovering over her face” and said he eventually “ejaculated on her stomach,” according to the report. Doe told police that she recalled saying “no” a lot during the encounter.
Days later, Doe told her partner she believed she had been the victim of a sexual assault and visited a nurse, who administered a sexual assault examination and first alerted the authorities.
When police approached Hegseth as part of their investigation, he “stated that the engagement between himself and JANE DOE was mutual.”
“HEGSETH stated there were a couple of times he had made sure JANE DOE was comfortable with what was going on between the two of them,” according to the report.
The officer who prepared the report wrote that the two had “been drinking and the events were blurred and lacked specifics and a fluid sequence of events.” Investigators obtained video surveillance from the hotel and collected Doe’s clothes and underwear as evidence in their probe.
Tim Parlatore, a lawyer for Hegseth, said in the statement on Saturday, prior to the report being posted online, that the allegations were false and Hegseth settled in December 2020 only because he feared his career would suffer if her allegations were made public.
Parlatore emphasized police did not bring charges and said Hegseth was the victim of “blackmail” and “false claims of sexual assault.”
(NEW YORK) — A search is underway in New York City for two suspects, including one dressed all in pink, who allegedly crashed an empty subway train after brazenly walking into a station and stealing it, authorities said.
The theft of the train in the nation’s largest subway system unfolded amid the deployment of additional police officers to the subway system to combat a surge in crime. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul even deployed National Guard troops as part of a five-point plan to protect subway riders.
According to a New York Police Department incident report, the thieves, a man and a woman, stole the empty train just after midnight on Thursday at the Briarwood subway station in the borough of Queens, according to police.
“These two individuals entered an unoccupied train and operated it, causing a collision and damage to the train,” according to the NYPD incident report.
No injuries were reported and the suspects fled the area on foot, according to police.
No arrests have been announced as of Wednesday morning, police said.
The duo was caught on surveillance cameras walking through the empty train at Briarwood station before taking it on a short joy ride, police said.
One of the alleged thieves was described as a woman with a medium build and medium complexion, according to police.
“She was last seen wearing a pink shower cap, a pink sleeveless shirt, pink shorts, and carrying a pink handbag,” according to the incident report.
Her accomplice was described by police as a man with a slim build and light complexion, He was dressed in a blue tank top, red shorts and carrying a black backpack.
It was at least the second theft of a New York City subway train in less than eight months.
On Dec. 30, 2023, a group stole empty trains parked in a restricted area near the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station in Queens. Authorities said the group entered the operators’ compartments of two lead train cars before driving them northbound.
Amidst a 45% year-over-year spike in New York City transit crime in January, mostly due to grand larcenies, Hochul deployed 1,000 state workers, including 250 state police troopers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police members, to assist the NYPD in enhanced baggage checks at heavily trafficked areas of the subway system.
Hochul also directed the New York National Guard to make 750 members, who are currently part of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield, available to help check subway riders’ bags for weapons.
According to the most recent NYPD crime statistics, transit crime as of Sunday is now down 5.4% from this time in 2023.
