Ex-FBI informant Alexander Smirnov, charged with lying about Biden family, reaches plea deal

(CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa.) — Fracking has been on the national stage this election season and swing state Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes in play, is at the center of the issue with one the largest natural gas deposits in the U.S.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, sees water and other chemicals pumped into underground rock formations that contain methane or natural gas. The fluids crack the rock, releasing the gas which is then captured and brought above ground.

Eight years ago, Michelle Stonemark built her dream home in Cecil Township, Pennsylvania, on the same street as much of her extended family. She was followed by some new neighbors — a fracking operation.

As the Stonemarks’ home was under construction, a natural gas company built a well pad for oil and gas production just a few feet away.

“I was scared to death. I was scared about what harms it would cause us,” she told ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos.

It’s a significant industry in Pennsylvania, but there is precedent for states banning fracking — it’s happened in California, Maryland, New York, Vermont and Washington.

Only Congress has the power to completely ban fracking, but presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris see it as a topic that resonates with voters in the Keystone State.

Former President Trump says Harris is against the practice.

“Starting on Day One of my new administration, I will end Kamala Harris’ war on Pennsylvania energy,” he said at an Oct. 26 rally. “And we will frack, frack, frack.”

In 2019, when Harris was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, she firmly stood for a ban on fracking. During a CNN town hall on climate change in 2019 when she was still a senator, Harris said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”

Now, Vice President Harris has positioned herself as a supporter of fracking. Harris reiterated that she would not ban fracking during the ABC News Presidential Debate.

“I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States,” she said during September’s ABC News debate. “And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”

The Stonemarks documented the experience of living so close to an active fracking operation, with video showing flames shooting into the sky in the middle of the night as excess natural gas was burned off.

Their windows and tools in their garage often vibrate with the hum of machinery at the nearby well pad.

“The noise that comes off of that … are low-level sounds, low-level frequencies, more like a bass that cause vibrations, more like a constant hum, the kind of noise you feel in your chest and in your ears and in your head,” Michelle Stonemark told ABC. “We suffered from headaches and nosebleeds during that time.”

In Cecil Township, there’s legislation that would require new fracking operations to be placed at least 5,000 feet away from schools and 2,500 feet away from homes. The current minimum distance is 500 feet. The city council passed the resolution on Monday night.

Stonemark supports the legislation, but it may not change her situation. The family has already upgraded their air filters and installed air quality monitors outside, but she’s angry about it.

“Every day we wake up and we don’t know what we’re going to get. We don’t know how loud it’s going to be, how what it’s going to smell like outside,” she told ABC News. “[Or] If my kids can play outside; we don’t know if we can have people over.”

She’s also concerned that it’s causing health issues for the family.

“We don’t know if the nosebleed my daughter has is from fracking. We don’t know if the nausea and the headaches that we’re feeling are from fracking,” she said. “Every day is undue stress and anxiety on myself, my husband, my kids. So, yeah, it pisses me off.”

In 2023, a taxpayer-funded study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh found that children who live within one mile of unconventional natural gas development — including fracking — were found to be five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma, a type of cancer. It was also linked to adverse birth outcomes and exacerbating existing asthma symptoms.

In the race for the White House, politicians are hoping a vow to keep fracking will secure them votes. However, the issue is more complex for the people with fracking operations in their backyard. Even pro-fracking Republicans like Scott Byrd are in favor of the proposed changes.

“First of all, I’m very pro fracking,” he told ABC News. “It just has to be done in an industrial rural area.”

However, Byrd noted that neither of the candidates have offered particulars on the issue.

“I’m mainly motivated by responsibilities as a parent,” he said. “You see your two children, you have to do everything you can do to protect them.”

In a statement to ABC News, Range Resources, which runs fracking operations in Cecil Township, noted that it works closely with “municipalities and residents to foster open communication, address community concerns, and proactively minimize any potential impacts.”

However, it said that the township’s ordinance is “a stark outlier from the 50 other municipalities where Range operates, as it seeks to restrict future natural gas development within its borders.”

Byrd emphasized the need to frack safely.

“If the technology is not there to do it without hurting children, everybody else, we need to get more into research and development. We’re not just going to jump the gun,” he said. “They’re running with it and ignoring the risks. We have to do something.”

Stonewall noted that fracking is a polarizing topic, but it shouldn’t be something people are simply for or against.

“I’m neither for it or against it — I believe it has its place. I believe that we need to be an energy independent nation,” she said. “I just don’t believe that we need to be doing it at the expense of people living their everyday lives.”

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(MEMPHIS, Tenn.) — A former Memphis police officer testified Thursday at the federal trial of three ex-officers facing charges related to the January 2023 beating death of Tyre Nichols that he believes he panicked during the encounter.

“I lost my composure,” Desmond Mills Jr., who pleaded guilty to charges connected to the beating death of Nichols, said when he was asked about accidentally pepper-spraying himself during the encounter, according to WATN, the ABC affiliate in Memphis covering the case in the courtroom. “I felt like I was panicking.”

Justin Smith, Demetrius Haley and Tadarrius Bean were charged on Sept. 12, 2023, with violating Nichols’ civil rights through excessive use of force, unlawful assault, failing to intervene in the assault and failing to render medical aid. These charges carry a maximum penalty of life in prison, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The officers have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Mills and Emmitt Martin III, the two other officers who were also charged in this case, have pleaded guilty to some of the federal charges.

Mills pleaded guilty to two of the four counts in the indictment — excessive force and failing to intervene, as well as conspiring to cover up his use of unlawful force, according to the DOJ. The government said it will recommend a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, based on the terms of Mills’ plea agreement.

Martin pleaded guilty to excessive force and failure to intervene, as well as conspiracy to witness tamper, according to court records. The other two charges will be dropped at sentencing, which has been scheduled for Dec. 5, according to the court records.

On Wednesday, Mills reiterated his testimony from the day before that he was angry he sprayed himself with pepper spray, and therefore used excessive force on Nichols, according to WATN.

“I was angry because I just [pepper] sprayed myself in the face,” Mills said on Tuesday, according to WATN. “I didn’t give him a chance to give me his hands.”

Judge Mark Norris told the jury on Wednesday to disregard the emotional part of Mills’ Tuesday testimony, when Mills was asked who used excessive force in the police body camera footage from the night of Nichols’ beating, according to WATN. Mills did not answer the direct question, instead breaking down in tears on the stand.

“I wish I would’ve stopped the punches. It hurts to watch. It hurts inside so much,” said Mills, who cried during his testimony, according to WATN. “It felt bad every time the picture is on the screen to know I’m a part of that. I made his child fatherless. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I know ‘sorry’ won’t bring him back, but I pray his child has everything he needs growing up.”

“We’re praying for everyone involved,” Ben Crump, the civil rights attorney representing the Nichols’ family, said during a prayer vigil Wednesday morning outside the courthouse when asked for his response regarding Mills’ emotional testimony.

Crump said this trial was one of the most emotional trials he has ever attended, a sentiment shared by Antonio Romanucci, his co-counsel.

“In my career, which is now over 40 years,” Romanucci said, “I have never seen such testimony as I did yesterday — police officer who had such contrition,” Romanucci said. “[Former] Officer Mills, without knowing it, just talked about why we’re here, and that’s for accountability.”

The prosecution told ABC News earlier this month that they will not have any statements until after the trial. The defense attorneys did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

“The first time I watched the video with my attorney, I couldn’t hold it anymore,” Mills said on Thursday when the prosecution asked him why he pleaded guilty, according to WATN. “I want to make it right.”

Mills agreed with Martin Zummach, Smith’s attorney, during cross-examination on Thursday when he asked if the handcuffs, which were secured to one of Nichols’ wrists at one point during the encounter, could be considered a deadly weapon and could lead to deadly force being authorized by police, according to WATN. The ex-officer also consented that “necessary force” can be very ugly and violent.

Defense attorneys asked Mills on Wednesday about the use of his baton on Nichols, which Mills said on Tuesday he used to hit Nichols three times the night of their encounter, according to WATN.

Mills claimed that he didn’t use the baton to hit Nichols in the head, but admitted that he used it improperly since it’s only meant to be used in self-defense, according to WATN. He said it was the first time he ever used his baton or used excessive force on a suspect.

Mills noted that the use of his baton was not because verbal commands weren’t working on Nichols when asked by the defense, according to WATN.

Mills disagreed with Bean’s attorney when he asked Mills if he was the only one who could intervene to stop the beating, since Mills didn’t have his hands on Nichols that night, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed that the other officers could have moved Nichols away from the strikes and punches while they held his hands.

Mills admitted to the defense that the reason he changed his statement about what happened that night was because he took a plea deal from prosecutors, according to WATN. He said he lied in earlier statements.

Mills told prosecutors that when he told Lt. Dewayne Smith, his former supervisor, that the arrest was done “by the book,” he only said that to hide what really happened, according to WATN. The ex-officer claimed that there was a mutual understanding that their off-camera conversations would go unreported.

“I needed this job for my wife and kids,” Mills said when the prosecution asked why he was not initially truthful about the encounter. “This job has good insurance. I have children with special needs. I needed this job for my family. I let them down.”

Mills was asked about response to resistance forms from the incident, stating they weren’t accurate and that Nichols, “was not aggressive at all,” according to WATN.

Mills said that Haley asked him if Mills’ body camera captured him during the encounter with Nichols.

“I hope I’m not on there,” Mills said Haley told him.

Body-camera footage shows that Nichols fled after police pulled him over on Jan. 7, 2023, for allegedly driving recklessly, then shocked him with a Taser and pepper-sprayed him.

Officers allegedly then beat Nichols minutes later after tracking him down. After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition.

“I was going along, either way, [with] the cover-up,” Mills said. “Hoping for the best that Mr. Nichols would survive and this whole thing would blow over.”

Nichols, 29, died in the hospital on Jan. 10, 2023. Footage shows the officers walking around, talking to each other as Nichols was injured and sitting on the ground.

Memphis Police Chief Cerelyn Davis said she has been unable to substantiate that Nichols was driving recklessly. The incident triggered protests and calls for police reform.

After the police encounter, Nichols was transferred to the hospital in critical condition. The medical examiner’s official autopsy report for Nichols showed he “died of brain injuries from blunt force trauma,” the district attorney’s office told Nichols’ family in May 2023.

The five former officers charged in this case were all members of the Memphis Police Department SCORPION unit — a crime suppression unit that was disbanded after Nichols’ death. All of the officers were fired for violating MPD policies.

“As an officer, I respond to scenes where the victim looks like Mr. Nichols [did after he was beaten],” Mills said. “This was the first time I was a part of it.”

Mills’ cross-examination ended Thursday, according to WATN.

ABC News’ Deena Zaru and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

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(WEATHERFORD, OK) — A tornado-producing storm was tearing through southwestern Oklahoma early Monday, with at least one confirmed tornado, the National Weather Service said.

The storm was near Granite, a town with a population of about 1,600, at about 3:37 a.m. CST, the service said.

Tornado warnings were in effect for western Washita County, southwestern Custer County, northwestern Kiowa County, northeastern Greer County and southeastern Beckham County.

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

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