Sinkhole on New Jersey interstate was caused by collapse of abandoned mineshaft
WABC
(WHARTON, N.J.) — A sinkhole on a northern New Jersey interstate that’s closed eastbound traffic for over 24 hours was caused by a collapse of abandoned mineshaft, officials said.
Interstate 80 eastbound in Wharton is closed and will stay closed until further notice as sinkhole repairs continue, the New Jersey Department of Transportation said on Friday.
Crews responded to the 40-foot by 40-foot sinkhole on Thursday morning.
The area has been stabilized and excavation work started Thursday night, according to the Department of Transportation.
Officials aren’t saying when the interstate will reopen because of the weather and the “extensive nature of the repairs,” the department said.
At least two people are dead and several others injured as the Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Woodley fires burned through thousands of acres and prompted sweeping evacuations around Los Angeles County.
The dry landscape in the region heavily contributed to fire’s ability to spread quickly. Only 0.16 inches of rain has fallen in the region since May 6, according to the National Weather Service.
But without the low humidity and extreme winds, the dry landscape wouldn’t present as big of a threat.
On Monday, the National Weather Service began warning of a “life-threatening” Santa Ana windstorm that could spark severe wildfires in Southern California — more than 24 hours in advance of the first wildfire.
What made the Santa Ana wind event so severe is the upper-level support lining up with the surface gradient, Curt Kaplan, a retired operational forecaster for the National Weather Service in Oxford, California, told ABC News. The upper low that moved over Baja California caused a strong colder air subsidence, or sinking, north-northeast over the region.
The sinking air associated with the colder dense air aloft was able to descend, bringing damaging mountain waves across the Los Angeles and Ventura County mountains that then crashed into the foothills and some coastal communities.
As the upper support relaxes later on Wednesday, with the upper low pushing east, the strong winds should taper off to moderate, typical Santa Ana winds late morning into the afternoon hours, Kaplan said.
Many of the cities — like Burbank, Pasadena and Beverly Hills — as well as the Pacific Palisades neighborhood, are not usually affected by typical Santa Ana northeast winds, Kaplan said.
Four wildfires were burning in Southern California on Wednesday afternoon: the Palisades Fire, Eaton Fire, Hurst Fire and Woodley Fire.
The earlier-than-normal warning from the NWS allowed for ample time to prep for the fire threat.
On Monday evening, California Gov. Gavin Newsom directed state departments to position fire engines, handcrews, aircraft and additional support in areas that could be impacted.
The region remained under a state of emergency on Wednesday as the fires continued.
More than 30,000 people have been forced to evacuate their homes, and fires ripped through the Pacific Palisades, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Los Angeles County.
Celebrities such as Josh Gad, Steve Guttenberg, Chris Pratt, Mandy Moore and Eugene Levy have documented how the fire was impacting their homes.
Some of the regions under elevated fire risk this week, such as Malibu, were impacted by a raging wildfire last month that spread to more than 4,000 acres and forced 20,000 residents into evacuation.
(WASHINGTON) — A 5-year-old girl suffered a gunshot wound in her upper body after her 3-year-old brother accessed an unsecured firearm in a southwest Washington, D.C., apartment on Monday evening, police said.
Metropolitan Police Chief Pamela A. Smith said that officers responded at approximately 6:30 p.m. to an apartment in the Unit block of Galveston Street SW for reports of a shooting.
“What we know at this time is the female victim was injured when a younger child accessed a firearm that was unsecured in the apartment,” Smith said.
The girl was administered first aid and transported to an area hospital in serious condition. She remained in critical condition, according to Smith.
A man, who was responsible for providing care for the children at the time the incident occurred, was inside the apartment and was arrested and charged with cruelty to children, police said.
A woman was also arrested and charged with assaulting a special police officer, who worked at the apartment complex, police said. Police said they believed the woman was the sister of the girl who was shot.
“What I want to emphasize tonight is that this incident really highlights the danger of unsecured firearms in homes and especially around children,” Smith said. “We want to emphasize the importance of firearm safety and we are asking everyone to keep our young female victim in your prayers at this time.”
Smith said the investigation remained ongoing and that the information provided at the press conference was preliminary and subject to change.
(NEW YORK) — A federal appeals court on Monday rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn a jury’s verdict last year that found he sexually abused writer E. Jean Carroll in the mid-1990s.
The Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decided “Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings” and “has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial.”
The jury in the civil case held Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in a dressing room at a Bergdorf Goodman department store in Manhattan in the mid-1990s, and determined that, in 2022, he made defamatory statements about her. The jury awarded Carroll $5 million in damages.
A different jury, in a separate civil trial, ordered Trump to pay Carroll, a former Elle magazine columnist, $83 million in damages. Trump’s appeal of that verdict is pending.
In the first trial, Trump claimed District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan erred by allowing two women, Jessica Leeds and Natasha Stoynoff, to testify about Trump’s alleged sexually assaults of them. Trump denied the claims of those two women.
Trump also faulted Kaplan’s decision to allow part of the now-infamous “Access Hollywood” tape into evidence. In the 2005 recording, Trump is heard describing to then-Access Hollywood host Billy Bush how he kissed and grabbed women without first obtaining their consent.
The appellate court, in Monday’s opinion, decided the tape was admissible “as evidence of a pattern” of alleged behavior by Trump.
“The jury could have reasonably concluded from those statements that, in the past, Mr. Trump had kissed women without their consent and then proceeded to touch their genitalia,” the opinion said.
