Six killed after car crashes off elevated roadway, catches fire in Newark
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(NEWARK, N.J.) — Six people who were traveling in a vehicle in Newark, New Jersey, were killed after the car crashed off an elevated roadway Friday night, the authorities said.
The incident took place around 10:47 p.m. at the intersection of Raymond Boulevard and Blanchard Street, where the vehicle was traveling on a southbound on-ramp, according to the Essex County Prosecutor’s office.
“While on the ramp, the vehicle somehow went off the roadway, became airborne, and struck a support column for the Pulaski Skyway before landing on the ground. Upon landing, the vehicle caught fire,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The six people who were killed were not immediately identified.
(NEW YORK) — The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has reached a settlement with Amazon over allegations of hazardous workplace conditions, ABC News first reported Thursday. The settlement requires that Amazon adopt “corporate-wide ergonomic measures” to reduce the risk of injuries to workers.
The 10 facilities cited in the settlement, located in New York, Florida, Idaho, Pennsylvania, Colorado, Illinois and New Jersey, all had a high number of complaints of workplace injury. Amazon will have to pay a $145,000 penalty, adopt workplace safety measures and allow OSHA access to inspect those facilities for the next two years, according to the terms of the settlement.
Though the settlement only mandates oversight on those 10 facilities, all Amazon facilities will be required to adopt new safety measures and provide procedures for their employees to voice their concerns about workplace conditions.
A Department of Labor official said the settlement is the “largest of its kind” and “will resolve all outstanding ergonomic litigation” by the agency against Amazon. The official noted, however, that the settlement will not affect the investigation into the company by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York over allegations Amazon conspired to conceal injuries and risks to workers at its warehouses. Amazon has denied those allegations.
“Today’s agreement acknowledges our progress and notes that we should keep implementing and following our existing comprehensive ergonomics policies and procedures,” Amazon said in a statement following the announcement of the settlement. “There isn’t a claim of wrong-doing on Amazon’s part for the withdrawn citations, nor a directive to adopt new safety controls. We appreciate OSHA’s willingness to consider all the facts and reach today’s agreement with us, and we look forward to continuing to work with them going forward.”
ABC News reached out to Amazon for additional comment.
This settlement comes as Amazon workers have gone on strike at facilities across the country, citing low pay, lack of benefits and poor conditions.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in history, after announcing Friday that he was pardoning nearly 2,500 nonviolent drug offenders.
Biden said in the announcement — which came just three days before his term ends — that he is commuting the sentences of nearly 2,500 people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses and “serving disproportionately long sentences compared to the sentences they would receive today under current law, policy, and practice.”
He did not provide additional details as to the exact number of people who would be affected by the clemency action, timelines involved or any of the qualifying criteria used for assessing the pardons.
“Today’s clemency action provides relief for individuals who received lengthy sentences based on discredited distinctions between crack and powder cocaine, as well as outdated sentencing enhancements for drug crimes,” Biden wrote.
In the 1980s, Biden supported several bills that increased penalties for drug users, including one that essentially lengthened sentences for crack cocaine users, predominantly African-Americans, as compared to those convicted of using powder cocaine, who were predominantly white.
Congress has since tried to address sentencing disparities through the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 and the First Step Act of 2018.
“This action is an important step toward righting historic wrongs, correcting sentencing disparities, and providing deserving individuals the opportunity to return to their families and communities after spending far too much time behind bars,” he said, with no direct mention of his prior record.
He also acknowledged that the decision would set a historic precedent.
“With this action, I have now issued more individual pardons and commutations than any president in U.S. history,” Biden said in the statement.
Hinting he’s not done yet with his pardon power, Biden also wrote that he will “continue to review additional commutations and pardons.”
Emergency units respond to airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Figure skaters and coaches returning from the recent U.S. national championships were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, officials said.
The U.S. Figure Skating organization confirmed that “several members” of the skating community were aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 which took off from Wichita, Kansas, and crashed approaching Reagan National Airport after colliding with a helicopter shortly before 9 p.m.
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” the organization said.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the organization said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the jet and three personnel aboard the Army helicopter, which officials said was on a training flight at the time of the crash.
Officials have not publicly confirmed the number of fatalities in the crash.
At an early Thursday morning news conference, officials said they were continuing search-and-rescue operations in the icy Potomac River but did not say whether anyone had been pulled from the water alive, or confirm any deaths.
Meanwhile, Russian media reported that two Russian figure skaters were on board the American Airlines flight, and the presidential spokesman expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed in the plane crash.
“There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday morning.
Earlier, several Russian state media outlets reported that the 1994 world figure skating champions in pairs, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were on board the plane, though U.S. authorities have not confirmed these reports.
