Massive South Carolina wildfire jumps border, spreads into North Carolina
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(RALEIGH, NC) — A massive wildfire burning for more than a week in South Carolina jumped the border Saturday and was spreading Sunday into North Carolina, where firefighters were already battling multiple blazes, officials said.
The Table Rock Fire, which started on March 21 in the Table Rock State Park in Pickens County, South Carolina, had burned 11,468 acres total as of Sunday morning in both South Carolina and North Carolina, charring more than 500 acres overnight, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.
The Table Rock Fire is now the highest-priority fire in the United States as fire crews responded from multiple states to help battle the blaze, which prompted the evacuations of more than 1,400 homes and businesses on Thursday.
As the fire spread across the border into North Carolina, the South Carolina Forestry Commission said firefighters had upped containment of the fire from 0% on Saturday to 9% by Sunday morning.
Derrick Moore, operations section chief with the South Carolina Forestry Commission’s Southern Area Blue Team, said fire crews are hoping that rain forecast for the area later Sunday and into Monday will help firefighters extinguish the flames.
Pickens County Sheriff Tommy Blankenship said last week that investigators suspect the Table Rock Fire was started by four teenagers. He alleged that the negligent behavior of the teens caused the fire but declined to elaborate.
“They will be held accountable for their actions. I can promise you that,” Blankenship said in a video posted to social media.
Another fire, the Rattlesnake Branch Fire, spread Saturday from South Carolina’s Pickens County into western North Carolina’s Transylvania County, according to an update Sunday from Transylvania County officials.
The Rattlesnake Branch Fire in North Carolina’s Pisgah National Forest in Haywood County was burning close to the Transylvania County line but had not breached it, according to Transylvania County officials. The fire had burned nearly 1,900 acres and was 20% contained, according to the Sunday update.
A third fire threatening to spread into Transylvania County is the Persimmon Ridge fire, which is burning in South Carolina near the Table Rock Fire and had grown to more than 2,000 acres as of Sunday afternoon. That fire also was threatening to jump the border into North Carolina, Transylvania County officials said.
Meanwhile, in Polk County, North Carolina, three wildfires continue to burn but authorities said firefighters who have been battling the blazes for days had made significant progress.
The Black Cove Complex Fire – comprised of three wildland blazes: the Black Cove Fire, the Deep Woods Fire and the Fish Hook Fire – had reached a combined 7,670 acres as of Sunday, according to Polk County officials.
The Black Cove fire, which was started March 19 by a downed powerline, was 35% contained after burning 3,501 acres, officials said.
The Deep Woods fire, which also started on March 19, has burned 3,970 acres, authorities said Sunday. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
The Fish Hook Fire, which started March 20 by a downed powerline, was 100% contained on Sunday after burning 199 acres, according to officials.
(WASHINGTON) — In the weeks since President Donald Trump has assumed office, more than 200,000 federal workers at more than a dozen agencies have had their roles eliminated.
The mass culling stems in large part from efforts by Elon Musk and the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency, which has sought to dismantle large swaths of the federal government.
Many of those fired have been classified as probationary employees, a status unrelated to job performance. While probationary employees can be recent hires — typically having served in their roles for under one or two years — the status can also apply to long-serving government employees who’ve changed roles or agencies.
In addition to those who’ve been fired, 75,000 federal workers have accepted buyouts.
Here are the agencies where workers are facing termination:
Department of Education
Dozens of “probationary employees” were let go from the Department of Education on Feb. 12, according to two sources familiar with the firings.
Dismantling the Department of Education was one of Trump’s key campaign promises. He has slammed the department as a “con job” that should be “closed immediately,” and has directed Musk to investigate the agency.
The Department of Education is the smallest cabinet-level agency with 4,400 employees. Another 1,400 employees work in the agency’s office of Federal Student Aid.
Department of Homeland Security
More than 400 employees at the Department of Homeland Security have had their positions eliminated, officials said. About half of the cuts were in the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which saw over 200 dismissed.
The firings at FEMA came after Musk slammed federal spending on what he misleadingly called “luxury hotels” for undocumented immigrants.
In addition to the cuts at FEMA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) lost 130 staffers, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and DHS Science and Technology had smaller degrees of cuts.
Additionally, 12 Coast Guard members who work on diversity, equity and inclusion were affected by the reduction in force, with an offer to support border security efforts at the southwestern border.
Department of Energy
Roughly 2,000 people have been fired from the Department of Energy, including at the National Nuclear Security Administration.
One of the terminated employees, Krzan Matta, told ABC News the firings were conducted in a “haphazard” and “arbitrary” manner.
“There’s no consideration for the mission. There’s no consideration for whether or not this position is critical,” he said.
United States Agency for International Development
As part of Trump and Musk’s stated objective of shuttering the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), more than 10,000 staffers have been placed on leave, multiple sources told ABC News.
Roughly 600 USAID workers remain in their roles.
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has also been targeted by Trump and Musk, who have said they plan to gut the 1,700-employee consumer watchdog agency.
On Feb. 14, government lawyers representing the agency’s acting director reached an agreement to temporarily hold off on firing CFPB workers while a lawsuit challenging the dismantling of the agency makes its way through court.
Department of Veterans Affairs
More than 1,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees have been dismissed from their roles, the agency said on Feb. 13.
In a statement, the department said the cuts were part of the “government-wide Trump Administration effort to make agencies more efficient, effective and responsive to the American People.”
Department of Agriculture
The Department of Agriculture (USDA) has also faced significant cuts — including to the U.S. Forest Service, which manages wildfire response and prevention.
Among those who lost their jobs was Carly Arata, who told ABC News she had been a probationary employee at the Natural Resources Conservation Service since September, but worked as a contractor in the role for a year before that.
Arata developed conservation plans for farmers in Georgia and helped them get federal funding.
“These poor farmers. … It’s like I abandoned them, and that’s not the case at all,” Arata said. “They were amazing and cared so much about their land, and I wanted to help them preserve that.”
Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has fired 388 probationary employees, the agency confirmed on Feb. 20.
Another 171 staffers are now on administrative leave from the EPA teams responsible for diversity, equity and inclusion and environmental justice.
Department of Health and Human Services
The Department of Health and Human Services has also lost thousands of employees, including at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), according to the Associated Press.
About 700 workers were fired from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), multiple sources told ABC News.
At least 16 of the CDC cuts were to members of the World Trade Center Health Program, which critics said could put the health of 9/11 first responders at risk.
Department of the Interior
About 2,300 people have been fired from the Department of the Interior, according to Reuters.
Approximately 800 of those terminations were reportedly from the Bureau of Land Management.
Another 1,000 workers were fired from the National Park Service, according to the National Parks Conservation Association.
Office of Personnel Management
The Office of Personnel Management — which serves as the federal government’s HR agency, and has been overseeing the mass reductions process — has also faced cuts of its own staff.
About 200 probationary employees were told they were being fired in a prerecorded message that instructed them to “gather your personal belongings and exit the premises,” according to an audio recording of the call obtained by ABC News.
General Services Administration
The General Services Administration has also had its staff reduced, with Reuters reporting more than 100 people were laid off.
Small Business Administration
About 720 employees at the Small Business Administration have lost their jobs, Politico reported, reducing its headcount by about 20%.
Internal Revenue Service
The Internal Revenue Service began laying off more than 6,000 new and newly-promoted employees across the country on Feb. 20, sources familiar with the planning told ABC News.
These layoffs, impacting roughly 6-7% of the agency’s 100,000-person workforce, began midday on Feb. 20 primarily outside the DC area, with thousands of employees facing layoffs at offices in Texas, Florida, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Tennessee, New York and other states, sources told ABC News.
Department of Defense
The Pentagon announced on Feb. 21 that it will “release” some 5,400 civilian probationary workers beginning the following week and freeze hiring in the first wave of what could amount to more than 70,000 fired.
“We expect approximately 5,400 probationary workers will be released beginning next week as part of this initial effort, after which we will implement a hiring freeze while we conduct a further analysis of our personnel needs, complying as always with all applicable laws,” Darin Selnick, acting secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, said in a statement on Feb. 21.
The statement said 5-8% of the Department of Defense’s civilian workforce will be cut in total, which would amount to 43,900 to 70,240 individuals removed. This upper bound is higher than the total number of the department’s probationary employees, which is roughly 55,000 worldwide, implying the cuts could reach deeper than the probationary workforce.
(NEW YORK) — As bird flu continues to spread across the U.S., stores around the country are reporting a shortage of eggs amid soaring prices, high demand and supply limits.
More than 150 million poultry birds have been killed across all 50 states in an attempt to combat bird flu since 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The number of birds affected by the virus has been rising in recent months, with roughly 7 million affected in November, 18 million in December and 23 million in January, according to the latest figures from the USDA.
Over the last 30 days, 150 flocks were confirmed to test positive for bird flu, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.
Once a bird is infected, the only way to stop the virus from spreading further is to depopulate or cull the entire flock. It can take time for a flock to repopulate to lay eggs, affecting their price.
The Consumer Price Index, published Wednesday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, showed prices were 3% higher in January compared to a year ago. Prices for eggs increased 15.2% — the largest increase in egg prices since June 2015, according to the bureau.
As grocery stores and supermarkets limit the number of cartons of eggs that can be purchased, some people have resorted to stealing in order to get their hands on eggs.
Stores enforce purchase limits
Chains across the country have enforced limits on how many eggs customers can buy due to the high demand and shrinking supply.
“Due to ongoing issues with the supply of eggs, we are currently limiting egg purchases to one dozen per customer, per day, in all Trader Joe’s stores across the country,” a representative for Trader Joe’s confirmed to “Good Morning America” on Monday.
Other retailers, including Sprouts Farmers Market and Costco, have also implemented purchase limits on fresh eggs. Photos taken at Costco showed the warehouse giant limiting egg purchases to three per member.
This week, Lidl US announced it would also limit egg purchases to two per customer across all its stores.
“The following egg brands sold at Lidl US stores are currently limited to 2 per customer to ensure fair distribution: Green Valley, Simpson’s Eggs, and Puglisi’s Farm,” a Lidl US spokesperson said. “Specialty egg brands, including cage free, free range and organic, do not have limitations at this time at Lidl US.”
Despite concerns about the safety of eggs available in stores, experts say it’s highly unlikely to contract bird flu from commercially sold eggs.
Some turn to egg heists
Earlier this month, 100,000 organic eggs worth an estimated $40,000 were stolen from a facility in Green Castle, Pennsylvania.
Tom Flocco, CEO of Pete and Gerry’s Eggs, told “Good Morning America” in an exclusive interview last week that the company was going to boost security.
“I’ve worked in other industries before where things get stolen from factories,” Flocco said. “It happens. It’s terrible. I’m not happy about it, but it does happen. It could happen once; it could happen again. We are putting additional measures in place.”
Additionally, at Luna Park Café in Seattle, hundreds of dollars worth of eggs and other breakfast foods were stolen, according to the Seattle Police Department.
In the early morning hours on Feb. 5, two male suspects were caught on surveillance video entering a refrigerated shed at the restaurant, police said. The men stole 540 eggs worth $387, as well as bacon, ground beef, blueberries and liquid egg products, the SPD said.
A café employee said they saw one of the suspects return to the property, but he got back in the van and fled when he realized he’d been spotted, police said.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud, Kelly McCarthy, Joshua Richardson and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The government has claimed that Palestinian protester Mahmoud Khalil intentionally misrepresented information on his green card application and therefore is inadmissible to the United States.
According to recent court filings, President Donald Trump’s administration said Khalil failed to disclose when applying for his green card last year that his employment by the Syria Office at the British Embassy in Beirut went “beyond 2022” and that he was a “political affairs officer” for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees from June to November 2023.
“Khalil is now charged as inadmissible at the time of his adjustment of status because he sought to procure an immigration benefit by fraud of willful misrepresentation of a material fact,” attorneys for the administration said in the filing.
The administration also claimed that Khalil did not tell the government that he was a member of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest group.
The government arrested Khalil on March 8 after invoking a rarely used provision of immigration law that they said allows the secretary of state to revoke the legal status of people whose presence in the country could have “adverse foreign policy consequences.” The new accusations seem to represent an attempt to strengthen the administration’s justification for detaining Khalil and denying his release.
“Khalil’s First Amendment allegations are a red herring, and there is an independent basis to justify removal sufficient to foreclose Khalil’s constitutional claim,” the filing says.
“The additional charges the government filed last week are completely meritless,” Marc Van Der Hout, whose legal firm represents Khalil, told ABC News in response to a request for comment. “They show that the government has no case whatsoever on this bogus charge that his presence in the U.S. would have adverse foreign policy consequences. This case is purely about First Amendment protected activity and speech, and U.S. citizens and permanent residents alike are free to say what they wish about what is going on in the world.”
“Regardless of his allegations concerning political speech, Khalil withheld membership in certain organizations and failed to disclose continuing employment by the Syria Office in the British Embassy in Beirut when he submitted his adjustment of status application. It is black-letter law that misrepresentations in this context are not protected speech,” the government said in the filing.
During a State Department briefing Monday, spokesperson Tammy Bruce was asked multiple times about whether the department now viewed prior work for UNRWA as grounds for disqualification for visa applicants — but she repeatedly declined to answer.
“If you lie in your efforts to come to the United States to get a visa for any reason, or for a green card, maybe there haven’t been repercussions, or we haven’t done things properly in the past. A lot of things have changed with the election of Donald Trump,” Bruce said in a general statement during the briefing.
Khalil, a leader of the encampment protests at Columbia last spring, was taken upon his initial detention from his student apartment building to 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan and then to an immigration detention facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, before being transported to an Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention center in Louisiana, according to his legal team.
ABC News’ Shannon Kingston contributed to this report.
