Severe weather possible for Kentucky, Tennessee areas already pummeled by tornadoes
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Around 30 million Americans may see storms producing tornadoes, strong winds, large hail and flash flooding on Tuesday, including those already dealing with damage from previous tornadoes over the weekend.
Overnight, five tornadoes were reported — three in Nebraska, one in Oklahoma and one in Illinois — and destructive winds greater than 70 mph were reported in parts of Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas, where hail the size of a grapefruit was spotted falling from the sky.
More than 80,000 people are without power across five states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas and Missouri.
Several of these areas will be impacted again on Tuesday, as storms begin to move east from Texas to Kentucky.
About 30 million people are in the storm zone, with an enhanced risk from Greenville, Mississippi, to Louisville, Kentucky. Memphis, Nashville and London, Kentucky — which was hit by a powerful twister over the weekend — are also under the threat of these severe storms.
These areas could see winds reaching 75 mph, possible strong tornadoes and large hail. Flood watches are also in place for most of Kentucky and western West Virginia.
Isolated storms are possible in the afternoon and evening, but these are difficult to predict before they begin as they will form quickly overhead.
Showers and thunderstorms will reach the mid-Atlantic on Wednesday morning, especially targeting North Carolina and Virginia. The threat for severe weather is low, but damaging winds and even tornadoes are still possible.
Rain is expected to hit Washington, D.C., and New York on Wednesday and Boston on Thursday and Friday.
(LOS ANGELES) — The commander overseeing military operations in Los Angeles said Wednesday that troops deployed to the city can temporarily detain individuals but cannot make arrests, clarifying their authority amid ongoing protests.
“On federal orders, these soldiers do not conduct law enforcement operations like arrests or search and seizure,” Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman told reporters during a morning briefing. “They are strictly used for the protection of federal personnel as they conduct their operations.”
Sherman, who leads Task Force 51 — a deployable command post for routine and contingency operations — is coordinating the deployment of 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to Los Angeles. The deployment marks a significant escalation in the federal response to protests that began after recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations across Los Angeles.
Currently, 2,000 National Guard members are actively performing operations in the city, with an additional 2,000 troops scheduled to complete their mobilization and begin training by Thursday afternoon, Sherman said.
The 700 Marines, deployed from Twentynine Palms, California, are currently undergoing specialized training at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, approximately 30 miles south of downtown Los Angeles. Sherman described the two-day training as “extensive,” focusing on crowd control tactics that are outside their typical duties.
“This is stuff that we do not usually do,” Sherman acknowledged, noting that while the Marines are trained to use weapons for personal protection, their primary role will be crowd control and protecting federal facilities.
About 1,000 Guard members have already participated in operations protecting federal buildings and personnel, according to Sherman. He emphasized that while troops can temporarily detain individuals, they must wait for law enforcement officers to make actual arrests.
The deployment faces legal challenges, with California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Gov. Gavin Newsom filing a lawsuit challenging the federal government’s authority to deploy troops without state coordination. The lawsuit argues that the deployment violates state sovereignty and the 10th Amendment of the Constitution.
President Donald Trump accused Newsom of not protecting ICE officers “in a timely manner” and said the officers were “attacked by an out of control mob of agitators, troublemakers, and/or insurrectionists.”
When asked about the legal challenge, Sherman responded, “That’s beyond my scope. I’m here to run operations.”
Sherman stressed that the military’s mission is specifically focused on protecting federal agencies, their personnel, and facilities in areas where demonstrations have occurred. “We are strictly there to help them do their job and to protect them,” he said.
(MILWAUKEE) Two Milwaukee police officers were shot after responding to a call for a person with a weapon late Thursday, police said.
A suspect has been arrested in connection with the shooting on Friday morning, police said.
In what is being described as an “ambush,” officers were fired upon as they approached an alley, according to police.
A 32-year-old officer has been hospitalized in critical condition while a 29 year-old officer hospitalized with a non-life-threatening injury, police said.
The identity of the suspect has not been revealed by police, but officials said criminal charges will be presented to the Milwaukee district attorney’s office “in the upcoming days.”
“Thank you to our law enforcement partners who assisted us in taking the suspect into custody. As a start reminder, the Milwaukee Police Department will not tolerate harm to our community or our officers. Individuals inflicting harm against the public and our officers will be held accountable,” police said in a statement.
“It is with profound sorrow and outrage that we confirm that two Milwaukee police officers were tragically shot and critically injured in the line of duty tonight. Our thoughts are with these officers, their families, friends, and colleagues. These officers face unimaginable suffering and they have long roads ahead of them,” a statement from the Milwaukee Police Association said.
“This senseless act of violence has struck the very heart of our department and our community. We have reached a breaking point. Violence in our city is out of control, and those who protect our neighborhoods are increasingly in the crosshairs,” the statement continued. “We have had five officers killed in the line of duty over the past seven years and dozens of our officers have been shot and shot at while trying to serve our neighborhoods. Our officers wear the badge with pride and honor, but our officers need more leadership from the city to bring an end to this violence.”
Milwaukee Mayor Cavalier Johnson said in response to the shooting: “It’s a sad day. It’s a very sad day. Because no officer, no person in law enforcement should ever, ever be fired upon. For the person that shot at our police officer, I want you to know, you should turn yourself in. Know that the men and women on this police force, they are going to find you, they’re going to arrest you, and you’re going to be brought to justice anyway.”
ABC News’ Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.
(BOSTON) — A first responder testified Monday in Karen Read’s murder retrial that she heard the defendant say, “I hit him,” multiple times after her boyfriend, Boston police officer John O’Keefe, was found unresponsive in the snow outside a Massachusetts home in 2022.
Prosecutors allege, following a night of drinking in Canton, that Read struck O’Keefe with her Lexus SUV outside of a get-together at another officer’s home and left him to die in a blizzard in January 2022. An autopsy found that the 46-year-old died of hypothermia and blunt force injuries to the head.
After a jury was unable to reach a verdict in the initial murder trial last year, Read is being retried on charges including second-degree murder, vehicular manslaughter while operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol and leaving the scene of a collision causing death. She has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence, with her attorneys arguing the police investigation was “riddled with errors” and alleging that witnesses colluded on their narrative about O’Keefe’s death.
Katie McLaughlin, a Canton firefighter paramedic who responded to the scene after Read and two others found O’Keefe in the snow outside the residence, was one of several witnesses who testified Monday in the ongoing trial.
As she did when she testified during the first trial, McLaughlin told the court that Read told her, “I hit him,” while she was trying to get details on O’Keefe during the early morning of Jan. 29, 2022.
“I asked if there had been any significant trauma that happened that preceded this, and she answered with a series of statements that she repeated — ‘I hit him. I hit him,” McLaughlin testified.
McLaughlin testified that she heard Read say, “I hit him,” four times.
An officer who was also present then signaled for his sergeant to come down, she said.
McLaughlin said she didn’t ask Read to clarify what she meant.
“I felt at that point, given the situation and how disturbing — and it was a very emotional situation, the woman was very upset — I didn’t feel comfortable pushing and asking for more. I just didn’t think that it was the right time for that,” she said. “And it was also really not my place at that point, and I feel like that was something that the police were — that’s more their role.”
McLaughlin said she subsequently told two colleagues in the ambulance at the scene what Read allegedly said.
O’Keefe was found by a flagpole near the home of Boston police officer Brian Albert.
Similar to the first trial when McLaughlin testified, defense attorney Alan Jackson grilled the witness on her relationship with Albert’s daughter, Caitlin, while mentioning times the two have attended the same social functions.
McLaughlin described Caitlin Albert as someone she went to high school with, shares mutual friends and socializes with, but wouldn’t consider a friend.
“We’ve known each other for years, but we are not close friends,” McLaughlin said. “We don’t have a relationship, just her one-on-one. It’s just group settings.”
Jackson also questioned if McLaughlin took any notes on what she said she heard Read say. The paramedic said she didn’t, and had only jotted down demographic information on O’Keefe onto her glove, such as his name and date of birth.
Asked by the prosecutor how she remembered Read’s alleged remarks, she said, “I won’t ever forget those statements.”
Jennifer McCabe, a key witness for the prosecution, testified last week that she also heard Read say, “I hit him,” while standing with Read and McLaughlin.