Federal court rules against attempt to withhold Endangered Species Act protections from Joshua tree
Mario Tama/Getty Images
(NEW YORK CITY) — A federal court in California sided with environmentalists, striking down a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) attempt to withhold protections for the Joshua tree under the Endangered Species Act.
The Central District of California ruled on Monday that the FWS decision to not provide ESA protections for the Joshua tree is unlawful and sidesteps climate science.
Known for its twisted stalks and unusual outline, the Joshua tree is native to the arid southwestern U.S. and thrives in harsh desert environments.
In 2015, WildEarth Guardians, an environmental nonprofit group, petitioned the FWS to list Joshua trees as a threatened species, but a second 2023 species status assessment by the FWS found that neither Joshua tree species — Yucca brevifolia and Yucca jaegeriana — requires protections.
The FWS said it looked at threats from wildfire, invasive grasses, climate change and habitat loss and fragmentation. It found that none of the threats rose to the level to meet the definition of a threatened or endangered species throughout all or a significant portion of their ranges, according to the assessment.
“Through our scientific assessment, the Service determined that Joshua trees will remain an iconic presence on the landscape into the future. Although the two species do not need the protections of the Endangered Species Act, the Service cares deeply about Joshua trees and their roles in the desert environment,” said Service Pacific Southwest Regional Director Paul Souza in a statement in 2023.
“We are coordinating closely with partners to ensure the long-term conservation of these species, including the National Park Service and other Federal agencies, and the State of California, which is also considering measures for the protection of Joshua trees.”
However, multiple studies have shown that shifts in climate in the Mojave Desert is a major contributor to weather events that threaten Joshua trees, including wildfires.
“The agency’s decision, for a second time, reflected a massive disconnect from what the best available science shows — that climate change and wildfire will prevent Joshua trees from successfully recruiting new generations over the coming years,” Jennifer Schwartz, managing attorney for WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement sent to ABC News.
After the FWS analysis was released, WildEarth Guardians sued the FWS “for its failure to follow federal law” in denying protections for the Joshua tree.
The Central District of California ruled in favor of the environmental nonprofit’s claims, writing in the decision “that the Service has not provided a rational explanation as to why climate change alone does not threaten the species to become threatened or endangered.”
“The Service provides no explanation as to why it did not use current trends and standards regarding greenhouse gas emissions as a basis for its decision, when this data currently is available,” the decision states.
The court also noted that when assessing the “foreseeable future” of the Joshua tree, the FWS only looked to the middle of the 21st century, while the end of the 21st century is the commonly used timeline for most scientific assessments.
“It is essential that the Service considers climate change’s effect on habitat suitability in relation to young Joshua trees, and not just the persistence of stronger, adult Joshua trees,” the order states.
The federal court has instructed the FWS to reconsider whether the Joshua tree should receive ESA protections with more scientific analysis.
The ruling “serves as yet another reminder that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service must completely grapple with the ongoing and incoming threats from human-created climate change,” Casey Bage, legal fellow for WildEarth Guardians, said in a statement sent to ABC News.
Bage noted that the science “is clear” in this case.
“We must face these facts head-on in order to protect Joshua trees — and other species — to give them the fighting chance that they deserve,” Bage said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
(WASHINGTON) — After hearing the news that President Donald Trump will pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, who served time for tax evasion and bank fraud, their daughter, Savannah Chrisley, in a video on Instagram posted on Tuesday, celebrated the news.
“The president called me personally as I was walking into Sam’s Club and notified me that he was signing paper pardon paperwork for both of my parents,” Chrisley said in the Instagram video. “So both my parents are coming home tonight [Tuesday] or tomorrow [Wednesday], and I still don’t believe it’s real. I’m freaking out — the fact that the president called me.”
“I will forever be grateful for President Trump, his administration and everyone along the way, all of my lawyers, the people who put in countless hours and effort and love for my family to make sure that my parents got home,” the 27-year-old continued.
Chrisley emphasized that her parents now get a “fresh start” thanks to the pardon.
“My parents get to start their lives over… President Trump didn’t just commute their sentences, he gave them a full unconditional pardon. So for that, I am forever grateful,” Chrisley said.
Savannah Chrisley had previously appealed to the Trump administration for pardons for her parents and spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention.
The couple, who became famous for their show “Chrisley Knows Best,” were sentenced in November 2022 to a combined 19 years in prison on charges including fraud and tax evasion.
Todd Chrisley was sentenced to 12 years in prison and 16 months of probation while Julie Chrisley was ordered to serve seven years in prison and 16 months of probation. The couple was also ordered to pay $17.8 million in restitution.
“Chrisley Knows Best” premiered in 2014 and followed the lavish lifestyle of wealthy real estate developer Todd Chrisley and his family.
The charges against the Chrisleys stem from activity that occurred at least as early as 2007, when the couple allegedly provided false information to banks and fabricated bank statements when applying for and receiving millions of dollars in loans, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In 2014, two years after the alleged bank fraud scheme ended, the couple is accused of fabricating bank statements and a credit report that had “been physically cut and taped or glued together when applying for and obtaining a lease for a home in California.”
In a phone interview with ABC News on Tuesday, Savannah Chrisley told ABC News the call from Trump came “totally out of the blue.”
“I kind of had gotten to a place where I had lost hope, and just felt like nothing was going in my favor. And then I got the call … It was just a shock, and the president was so kind and loving. He’s the reason my family is coming back together,” Chrisley said. “I have always stood by him and his administration, and I will continue to stand by them and fight for them.”
(BOSTON) — A JetBlue flight rolled into a grass area off the runway after landing at Boston Logan International Airport on Thursday, officials said.
No one was hurt, Massachusetts Port Authority said.
Passengers were seen exiting the Airbus A220 by the stairs.
“The runway is closed at this time as the aircraft is assessed and passengers are bussed to the terminal,” Massachusetts Port Authority said in a statement.
JetBlue Flight 312 was arriving in Boston from Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A run-in with a rival record executive at Mel’s Drive-in, assault weapons with illegally defaced serial numbers and a sex performance at Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West were some of the topics that jurors in Sean Combs’ criminal trial heard about Tuesday, as prosecutors tried to build their racketeering and sex trafficking case against the rap mogul.
Across nearly six hours of testimony on the trial’s 11th day, federal prosecutors called to the stand Combs’ former personal assistant, a federal agent, the mother of the government’s star witness and a sex worker nicknamed “The Punisher.”
They argued that the wide-reaching testimony helps prove the lengths to which Combs was willing to go to benefit from and protect what they alleged is a criminal enterprise.
Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argued that his private conduct in the bedroom does not amount of sex trafficking. His lawyers have argued any violence alleged by witnesses was driven by love, jealousy and drug use — not a desire to coerce anyone into sex.
Prosecutors plan to continue their case Wednesday by calling Dawn Hughes, a psychologist who specializes in sex trauma, George Kaplan, a former assistant to Combs and Scott Mescudi, the rapper known as Kid Cudi and who briefly dated Combs’ former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
Combs’ former assistant testifies about Suge Knight encounter
Combs’ one-time personal assistant David James told jurors about the wide range of tasks he completed for the rap mogul: from stocking hotel rooms and allegedly buying drugs to being the driver when Combs – allegedly armed with multiple guns – wanted to confront rival record executive Marion “Suge” Knight.
Jurors first heard about the alleged interaction between Combs and Knight during the testimony of Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. It allegedly occurred in approximately 2008 or 2009 and was a moment that threatened to dredge up the violent history between the titans of 1990s rap music and the long-standing rivalries between the East and West Coasts.
Ventura testified that, after a so-called “freak off,” a security guard named D-Roc informed him that Knight, the former CEO of Death Row Records and a longtime rival of Combs, was spotted at Mel’s. Despite her pleas to stop, Ventura said Combs packed up his weapons and headed to the restaurant to confront Knight.
“I was crying. I was screaming, like, please don’t do anything stupid,” Ventura testified last week.
James told jurors the other side of the story, describing D-Roc confronting Knight when they were at Mel’s to pick up cheeseburgers for Combs.
“We pulled into the parking lot and D-Roc looks over and says, ‘That’s motherf——- Suge Knight,'” James said, describing how he drove back to Combs’ house to find Combs and Ventura arguing. “Cassie looked very distressed. She was telling him not to go,” James testified.
James testified that Combs, allegedly with three guns on his lap, ordered him to drive back to the diner. It was that moment, he said, that eventually prompted him to stop working for Combs.
“I was really struck by it. I realized for the first time being Mr. Combs’ assistant that my life was in danger,” James testified.
Prosecutors have charged that Combs and his alleged associates used “violence, use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion” to protect and promote the “power of the Combs’ enterprise.”
James also testified about buying and supplying drugs for Combs and stocking the moguls’ hotel rooms with baby oil, Astroglide lubricant, condoms and prophylactics. He told the jury he once accidentally walked in on a freak-off, featuring Ventura and a male sex worker.
When questioned by defense lawyers, James testified that he once had sex with a prostitute and that he declined to pay for her services, and that he got into a physical altercation with another one of Combs’ employees. James said he spoke with prosecutors under a proffer agreement, meaning he had immunity from being prosecuted for anything he said on the stand.
“Have they given you some type of immunity?” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo asked.
“I’d have to ask my lawyer that question,” he said. “My lawyer said I have no legal visibility.”
Cassie Ventura’s mother testifies about Combs blackmailing her daughter
Regina Ventura, the mother of star witness Cassie Ventura, took the stand on Tuesday to testify about taking a home equity loan to pay Combs in order to prevent him from following through on an alleged threat to release a sex tape of her daughter.
“The threats that have been made towards me by Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs are that … he is going to release 2 explicit sex tapes of me,” Ventura wrote in an email to her mother and Combs’ assistant Capricorn Clark on Dec. 23, 2011. Jurors saw the email when Cassie Ventura testified last week.
“I was physically sick. I did not understand a lot of it. The sex tapes threw me,” Regina Ventura testified about the threat.
Regina Ventura testified that she and her husband decided to take out a loan so they could send Combs the $20,000 he demanded, though he ultimately returned the money.
“We decided that’s the only way we could get the money,” she said. “I was scared for my daughter’s safety.”
Regina Ventura also told jurors she decided to photograph the injuries her daughter allegedly suffered from Combs so that they would have a record of the alleged abuse.
Approximately 15 years after she documented the injuries, prosecutors last week showed the photos to the jury to underscore Cassie Ventura’s testimony about the violence she suffered at Combs’ hands.
‘The Punisher’ testifies about a dozen alleged freak-offs
Known professionally as The Punisher, male escort Sharay Hayes told the jury that he first met Combs and Cassie Ventura in 2012, when he was hired to help create a “sexy erotic scene” for what, Ventura said, was Combs’ birthday. He testified that he got his nickname when he was a teenager based on the way he played basketball.
He testified that Ventura, who used the name Janet when booking sex workers, instructed him to come to Trump International Hotel & Tower on Central Park West in Manhattan to perform a strip act. When he arrived, Ventura asked him to cover her baby oil while Combs watched, Hayes said.
“I was specifically told to not acknowledge her husband. Try not to look at him. No communication between me and him,” Hayes testified. “The room was dimly lit, maybe electronic candles. All of the furniture was covered in sheets and there was an area pretty much for me to sit and for her to sit across from me. There were bowls of water and bottles of baby oil.”
Hayes told jurors that Combs was nude for the encounter and wore a veil, occasionally masturbating during the interaction and offering “subtle directions” to Ventura.
After their first interaction, Hayes said he worked for the couple another eight to 12 times, receiving $1,200 to $2,000 on each occasion.
During their last encounter, Hayes testified Combs instructed him to have sex with Ventura but declined because he could not sexually perform under “a lot of pressure.”
Cross-examined by Combs’ lawyers, Hayes testified that he believed Ventura was comfortable during the exchanges, potentially undercutting the argument she was coerced to participate.
“I didn’t get any cues there was any discomfort there,” Hayes said when asked if Ventura seemed uncomfortable with the encounters.
The question of whether Ventura was forced or participated voluntarily is one of the most critical issues in the prosecution of the onetime cultural icon Combs.
Jurors see evidence of weapons with defaced serial numbers
For the final witness of the day, jurors heard from a federal agent who testified about recovering multiple assault-style weapons from Combs’ Miami Beach residence when it was raided in March 2024. The agent, Gerard Gannon, said the serial numbers of the weapons had been defaced – a violation of federal firearms laws.
Holding parts of the weapons in court for the jury to see, Gannon testified that investigators recovered a 30-round magazine containing 19 rounds and a full 10-round magazine in Combs’ home, with the ammunition on the same shelf as 7-inch platform heels and lingerie.
Prosecutors have alleged Combs and his associates relied on “violence, use of firearms, [and] threats of violence” to operate their criminal enterprise.
