Multiple people killed after small plane crash in North Carolina: NPS
(KILL DEVIL HILLS, N.C.) — Multiple people were killed after a single-engine plane crashed into the woods near the Wright Brothers National Memorial’s First Flight Airport in North Carolina.
The crash occurred on Saturday at approximately 5 p.m. ET, according to a press release from the National Park Service (NPS).
The number of people killed and their identities have not been released.
Eyewitnesses reported that the airplane crashed while attempting to land at the airport, according to the NPS.
The plane caught fire as a result of the crash and was extinguished by the Kill Devil Hills Fire Department and other local fire departments, according to the NPS.
An investigation into the crash is being conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board, and the Federal Aviation Administration has been notified.
Wright Brothers National Memorial is closed Sunday as the investigation continues, according to the NPS.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX) — The judge overseeing the Arizona “fake elector” case that charged several Trump allies with alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election in the state has set a trial date of Jan. 5, 2026.
At a hearing in Phoenix on Monday, Arizona Superior Court Judge Bruce Cohen heard several motions from the defendants’ attorneys including some motions to dismiss the case.
Many of the defendants, including Trump adviser Boris Epshteyn and former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, appeared virtually.
An attorney for former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani argued in court that the allegations against Giuliani are not crimes and instead amount to free speech.
“The way I see it, is that in every instance where they’ve alleged Mr. Giuliani has done something in this indictment, it’s all conduct related to his constitutional right, freedom of speech, to petition the government,” the attorney said.
An attorney for Jim Lamon, one of the so-called fake electors, argued at length that the charges in the indictment against his client are “insufficient” and that his client was told to be a “duly qualified elector” by state party chair Kelli Ward.
Ward, Lamon’s attorney said, told Lamon that the documents he signed purporting that Trump won Arizona “was vetted out by lawyers all throughout the administration.”
“That’s what he was told,” Lamon’s attorney argued.
“I think we can agree [Lamon] was not part of the Trump campaign,” Lamon’s attorney added. “There’s no evidence he talked to Trump or the campaign at all.”
Krista Wood, an attorney with the Arizona attorney general’s office, asked for a protective order over the grand jury proceedings, citing “several leaks” in other similar cases, including the Fulton County election interference case case in Georgia.
“Given the number of defendants and defense counsel, there’s a larger probability of that type of information being leaked,” Wood said of the grand jurors’ names.
All those indicted in the case pleaded not guilty earlier this summer to charges of fraud, forgery, and conspiracy for their alleged efforts to overturn the state’s election results. Trump’s former attorney Jenna Ellis subsequently reached a cooperation agreement with prosecutors in exchange for the state dropping the charges against her.
(NEW YORK) — A busy series of northern lights activity will soon come to a peak as the sun reaches its solar maximum stage in the coming months.
Several regions in the United States were treated to a multicolored light show earlier this week due to an increase in solar storm activity. The Aurora Borealis display stretched as far south as Arizona, Mississippi and Texas on Monday, images show.
The event followed other viewings in the U.S. in May and January. Opportunities to see the northern lights are expected to increase in the coming months.
How are the northern lights created?
Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field reaches its solar maximum, in which the number of solar flares is at its highest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather and Prediction Center.
The northern lights occur when atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere clash with a solar flare, which causes the atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow, creating a spectrum of color in the night sky.
Earth is currently approaching the peak of Solar Cycle 25, in which more sunspots with intense magnetic activity are expected, according to NOAA. Impactful space weather events are possible throughout 2024.
The current cycle is expected to peak between November 2024 and March 2026, according to NOAA. Northern lights activity will be heightened during this time, scientists say.
After the solar maximum is over, the sun’s magnetic field equalizes and returns to normal.
Where can the northern lights be seen?
The northern lights are visible — typically at the poles — as the solar flares travel through space and into Earth’s magnetic field. In the U.S., the northernmost states, such as Maine and Alaska, have the best viewing opportunities.
The lights can be seen closer to the equator depending on the strength of the geometric storms. But the further south you go, a more reddish hue is visible rather than green. This is because the curvature of the Earth causes the particles to interact higher in the atmosphere.
The Space Weather Prediction Center advises star-gazers to get away from city lights and travel to the darkest location possible for the best viewing.
Typically, within an hour or two of midnight tends to be the best time, according to NOAA.
It is notoriously hard to predict when an Aurora Borealis will occur, scientists say. Often, auroras can occur with just a 30-minute warning, according to the Michigan Technological University. Researchers typically use satellites to measure the speed and density of solar wind to forecast when conditions are favorable for the northern lights to occur.
On Thursday, the northern lights may be visible from Fairbanks to as far south as Unalakleet, Talkeetna and Tok in Alaska, according to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute website, which tracks the phenomenon.
Intense geomagnetic storms can potentially disrupt navigation systems by interfering with radio and GPS signals, as well as electrical power networks, due to the subatomic particles that bombard the Earth, according to NOAA.
(BOSTON) — The family of a Boston police officer whose death is at the center of the Karen Read murder case has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against her and two Massachusetts bars they went to before his death.
John O’Keefe III, 46, was found dead the morning of Jan. 29, 2022, outside a home in Canton, Massachusetts, police said. The civil lawsuit, filed Monday, alleged that his girlfriend, Read, struck him with her car while intoxicated and left him for dead.
The lawsuit, which includes O’Keefe’s brother, parents and niece as plaintiffs, is suing Read and two bars — C.F. McCarthy’s and Waterfall Bar and Grille — for unspecified damages, alleging wrongful death and negligent infliction of emotional distress.
Read’s attorney told ABC News her defense team is not commenting on the lawsuit at this time.
A representative for C.F. McCarthy’s had no comment when contacted by ABC News. ABC News was unable to reach the owner of Waterfall Bar and Grille.
The lawsuit comes after a judge declared a mistrial last month in the case against Read, who was charged with second-degree murder, manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence and leaving the scene of a fatal accident. She had pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors alleged she hit O’Keefe with her car and left him to die in the middle of a snowstorm after the two got into an argument earlier in the day.
Judge Beverly Cannone declared a mistrial in the case on July 1 after the jury said it was unable to reach a unanimous consensus on the fifth day of deliberations. The Norfolk District Attorney’s Office said they planned to retry the case, and the new trial has been scheduled to start on Jan. 27, 2025.
Cannone last week denied a request to dismiss two of Read’s charges — second-degree murder and leaving the scene of a fatal accident — in the retrial. Read’s attorneys had argued in court filings that retrying her on the charges would violate double jeopardy protections because, based on subsequent statements from four jurors, the jury had reached a unanimous decision to acquit Read on the charges.
In her ruling released on Friday, Cannone concluded that double jeopardy was not at issue “because the defendant was not acquitted of any charges and defense counsel consented to the court’s declaration of a mistrial.”
Read has strenuously denied the allegations, and her lawyers alleged that a fellow police officer was involved in O’Keefe’s death and colluded with others in a cover-up.
The lawsuit alleges Read and O’Keefe’s relationship had been “deteriorating” in the months leading up to his death, during which time Read “picked fights, experienced jealousy and had delusions of unfaithfulness.”
Read was served seven alcoholic drinks over roughly an hour and a half while at C.F. McCarthy’s with O’Keefe on the night of Jan. 28, 2022, and “showed signs of intoxication,” the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit then alleges she carried out her drink and went to Waterfall, where she was served one shot and one mixed alcoholic drink, before leaving with O’Keefe shortly after midnight and driving him to a residence in Canton.
The lawsuit alleges the two had an argument and she “drove her SUV and hit” O’Keefe, then fled the scene and went to O’Keefe’s home. The lawsuit claims Read returned to the residence later that morning and observed him “laying on the ground, buried in the snow, where she had earlier left him to die.” O’Keefe suffered trauma injuries before becoming hypothermic, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit alleges the two bars negligently service alcohol to an intoxicated person, and that Read “intended the reckless conduct that resulted in [O’Keefe’s] injuries/death.”
The lawsuit also alleges Read “intentionally and/or recklessly inflicted severe emotional distress” on O’Keefe’s then-14-year-old niece, who was under his care. Read allegedly returned to his home, woke the teen up and told her something had happened to her uncle, that “she hit her uncle or a snow plow hit her uncle,” according to the lawsuit.