State of emergency declared as New Jersey wildfire explodes to 8,500 acres
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(OCEAN COUNTY, N.J.) — A wildfire in New Jersey has exploded to over 8,500 acres after igniting Tuesday near Toms River and threatening more than 1,000 structures, shutting down a major highway and causing thousands of people to flee the flames.
The Jones Road Wildfire was just 10% contained on Wednesday morning, according to the New Jersey Forest Fire Service.
“Smoke and everything was right in my backyard. Everything was covered in black ashes,” said Kelly Mendoza, one of the evacuees.
Fanned by wind gusts and dry vegetation, the fire started in Ocean County around 12:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday and exploded overnight from a few hundred acres to 8,500, according to the Forest Fire.
New Jersey Lt. Gov. Gov. Tahesha Way, who is serving as acting governor while Gov. Phil Murphy is out of the country, declared a state of emergency in Ocean County on Wednesday morning, freeing up resources to battle the blaze.
“Due to its accelerated growth, with an estimated burn of 8,500 acres, threatening more than 1,000 structures, requiring the evacuation of residents in the area, and the loss of power to over 25,000 residents, I am declaring a State of Emergency for Ocean County,” Way said in a statement. “I encourage all residents in the County to continue to monitor the proper channels, and to use caution and follow all safety protocols.”
The fire is located south of Toms River along the Garden State Parkway. At one point on Tuesday evening, flames jumped the parkway, prompting officials to close it and bringing one of New Jersey’s busiest roads to a halt.
Officials said the blaze was threatening structures in Ocean and Lacey Townships.
“As the day progressed, it was kind of scary,” evacuated resident Michael Ferrara told ABC News about weighing his decision to leave or stay.
Ferrara said he watched in horror as flames and smoke closed in on his neighborhood, prompting him to heed the mandatory evacuation orders.
He said the first thing that went through his mind was keeping himself and his family safe.
“But what are you going to take with you — birth certificates, passports?” Ferrara said. “It’s just a very eerie feeling.”
According to ABC News’ Philadelphia station WPVI, more than a thousand structures are under threat and more than 3,000 residents have evacuated the area as evacuation notices remain in place.
A forced power outage due to the fires has also left at least 25,000 customers in the dark, though no injuries across the states of New Jersey have been reported as of Wednesday morning.
Wednesday’s forecast is expected to be breezy through the morning with winds gusting up to 20 mph from the north, but winds should calm this afternoon as high pressure starts moving into the region with the next chance for rain beginning Friday night.
On Wednesday morning, firefighters lifted the evacuation order and cautioned residents to stay on alert.
“I hope that I have a home to return back to,” one distraught evacuee told ABC News.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said Tuesday he has ordered state prosecutors to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the “nowactive criminal investigation” into influencer Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, after they arrived in the state from Romania.
The announcement was first posted to X, saying, “Last week, I directed my office to work with our law enforcement partners to conduct a preliminary inquiry into Andrew and Tristan Tate.”
It continued, “Based on a thorough review of the evidence, I’ve directed the Office of Statewide Prosecution to execute search warrants and issue subpoenas in the now-active criminal investigation into the Tate brothers.”
The brothers landed at the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport on Feb. 27 after Romania lifted a travel restriction on them, despite its ongoing criminal investigations into the Tates for human trafficking and forming an organized criminal group with the goal of sexually exploiting women in two cases. Andrew Tate was also charged with rape.
The Tate brothers deny all charges against them.
The two had been confined to Romania since late 2022 and were charged in both 2023 and 2024. Romanian officials announced that court restrictions prohibiting the brothers from leaving Romania while awaiting trial had been lifted, but that the charges against them remained in force. The Tates also face another criminal case in the United Kingdom, where an arrest warrant has been issued on separate allegations of human trafficking and rape. The UK government has faced calls to demand the Tates’ extradition from the U.S.
The Tates’ release followed reports of lobbying by President Donald Trump’s administration. Trump denied any knowledge of it when questioned by reporters about their arrival in the United States. But Romania’s foreign minister has confirmed that Trump’s special envoy, Richard Grenell, raised the brothers’ case during a meeting in February, although he denied being pressured. Key Trump officials and allies, including Elon Musk and Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. have previously condemned the case against the Tates.
The charges against the Tates remain in force and they will be expected to return to Romania for court appearances, according to a statement from Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT.) The agency warned that failure to observe the remaining judicial restrictions could result in harsher restrictions being instated.
Despite other Trump allies’ support for the Tates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis expressed surprise and anger at their arrival in Florida, telling reporters on the day that the Tates were “not welcome” given the conduct they are accused of.
Uthmeier, the attorney general, said he had directed state law enforcement to investigate whether any of their alleged crimes relating to human trafficking and violence against women triggered Florida jurisdiction, and pledging to “hold them accountable” if so.
One of the alleged victims at the center of one of the Romanian cases against Tate is a Florida woman. The American citizen has accused the Tates of luring her to Romania under the pretence of romantic relationship and then pressuring her into working as a pornographic webcam model, according to court documents.
The Tates have denied the woman’s accusations.
It is unclear if the new Florida investigation involves the women’s allegations. Uthmeier declined to give details on Tuesday but pledged to use “every tool” to hold the Tates accountable.
“These guys have themselves publicly admitted to participating in what very much appears to be soliciting, trafficking, preying upon women around the world,” he told a local reporter. “People can spin it however they want, but in Florida this type of behaviour is viewed as atrocious. We’re not going to accept it.”
“If these guys did criminal activity here in Florida we will go after them with full force of law and hold them accountable,” he said.
A lawyer representing the Tates, Joseph D. McBride, condemned the investigation, accusing Uthmeier of making “inflammatory, biased” comments and claiming the case was politically motivated.
“Today, Attorney General James Uthmeier threw ethics law out of the window when he publicly took a side in an ongoing Florida lawsuit where Andrew and Tristan Tate are suing a Florida woman,” McBride, wrote on X, challenging the attorney general to present evidence.
McBride blamed the new investigation on DeSantis, calling him “an angry, vertically challenged imp who hates Tate and Trump for being actual men. Attorney General Uthmeier is his pathetic lap dog.”
The Tates brought a defamation lawsuit against the Florida woman in the state in 2023, accusing her and her family of conspiring to damage their reputations by participating in the Romanian case. Last month, the woman brought her own countersuit against the Tates, accusing them of using the defamation lawsuit to try to silence victims. Both cases are currently pending.
A lawyer for the Florida woman in the Romania case praised the attorney general’s move to criminally investigate the Tates.
“Florida AG Uthmeier is right to criminally investigate the Tate brothers who have publicly boasted about exploiting women yet have continuously sought to undermine the Romanian investigation into these crimes,” Dani Pinter, senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation said in a statement. “Over 40 victims have been identified across Romania, the United Kingdom, and the United States. They deserve justice. Florida’s investigation is a positive step towards justice realized.”
One of the women who is an alleged victim at the center of one of the Romanian cases is an American woman who lives in Florida.
It’s unclear from Uthmeier’s statement what the investigation is examining right now or how it might proceed.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso and T. Michelle Murphy contributed to this report.
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(NEW YORK) — Stephanie Gonzalez says she and her family have endured “heartbreak” since the deportation of her parents, 55-year-old Gladys and 59-year-old Nelson Gonzalez.
“They really did not deserve to be treated as criminals,” Stephanie Gonzalez, 27, told ABC News on Wednesday, describing how she and her sisters, 23-year-old Gabriella and 33-year-old Jessica, have been “devastated” as their parents, who possess no criminal records and have lived in the United States for 35 years, have been transported like “animals” and placed in “inhumane” conditions.
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents were arrested and detained on Feb. 21 after a routine supervision appointment. That day, Gladys Gonzalez was initially granted a one-year extension to stay in America, prompting her daughter to think that “everything’s gonna be fine, like it always is.”
A few hours later, however, Nelson Gonzalez called to inform the family he was being detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that Gladys’ extension was revoked and she was being detained as well.
“They separated them in separate rooms. They were in rooms alone for hours with no food,” Stephanie Gonzalez said. “They had handcuffed them from their hands or from their wrists and from their ankles.”
She added that it is jarring for her parents to be “treated like criminals,” especially since they had “never, ever been in trouble with the law.”
ICE confirmed to ABC News that Gladys and Nelson Gonzalez do not have criminal records and have been deported to Colombia.
It noted that its “routine operations” involve arresting people who commit crimes as well as “other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents were transported to detention facilities in different states without knowing where they were going and that she and her sisters had no way of tracking them, calling it “a mess.”
“It baffles my mind how they’re treating people this way,” she said, adding that it’s “so cruel” that they were “literally moving them around like animals.”
Stephanie Gonzalez also said her parents had no way of finding each other while in custody — they just happened to be on the same plane back to Colombia.
“When they got on the plane, everyone started clapping because they knew that they had been reunited after so long,” she said, smiling at this “really sweet moment” among the deportees. She added that she feels relieved they are now together in Colombia.
Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez came to America in 1989, seeking asylum from violence in Colombia, their daughter said.
They then faced multiple instances of “fraudulent” lawyers, she said, including one who wasn’t even an attorney and others who ended up disbarred, consequently preventing the proper citizenship paperwork from being filed. Stephanie Gonzalez described this as “so discouraging when you’re trying so hard … to do the right thing.”
An ICE spokesperson said in a statement that Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez “illegally entered the United States” in 1989. After they appeared before an immigration judge who found “no legal basis” for them to remain in the U.S., ICE said the couple was granted a “voluntary departure” with a final removal in 2000.
Stephanie Gonzalez confirmed that her parents were faced with a voluntary deportation day in 2000, but she added that they subsequently spent over 20 years filing appeals. Though her parents’ cases were closed in 2021, Stephanie Gonzalez said they were instructed simply to continue showing up to their supervision appointments and check in with the appropriate authorities.
During these supervision visits, Nelson and Gladys Gonzalez consistently got approved to stay in the U.S., though the time frame almost always varied, she continued.
“Sometimes, they would get three months. One time, they got one month. One time, I think they got almost three years where they didn’t have to appear before immigration,” Stephanie Gonzalez recounted.
“I think it just shows how broken the immigration system is because there was no set rule,” she said, adding that her family always hoped for a “really nice officer.”
Prior to the supervision visit in February that resulted in her parents’ deportation, Stephanie Gonzalez said she and her sisters “weren’t necessarily nervous” because they had been accustomed to “getting good news that they could stay in the country.”
“When I realized that they had gotten arrested and I wasn’t going to even be able to say goodbye, it was awful,” she said. “The fact that I couldn’t even hug them and just … feel their bodies — like it was really hard on me and my sisters.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said her parents offered to self-deport and pay for their own flights to preserve their “dignity” but the government refused.
She said not only do Stephanie and her sisters now have to grieve their parents’ absence but they are also left to settle their parents’ affairs and belongings, causing the situation to feel “like somebody died.”
Stephanie Gonzalez said it has been difficult given how close-knit her family is, especially as she and her sister Gabriella lived with their parents in an apartment in Orange County, California. She also expressed sadness that her parents cannot spend time with Jessica’s 7-month-old son, their first grandchild.
Her mother was the baby’s primary caretaker, and Gabriella had to quit her job to watch after him once their mother was no longer able to, Stephanie Gonzalez added.
Nelson Gonzalez was a certified phlebotomist who drew blood and conducted life insurance exams, his daughter said. He was also a part-time Uber driver, even working overnight to make extra money, with Stephanie Gonzalez emphasizing what immigrants like her parents “contribute to society.”
She expressed a desire for the public to change the narrative around immigrants, emphasizing that her parents are “hardworking people. … They’ve paid taxes. They’ve raised us three to follow the law. … They love America.”
Stephanie Gonzalez and her sisters started a GoFundMe page, which has raised over $75,000.
She noted that she feels “devastated” to hear “so many parents being taken from their kids, families being separated and broken apart.”
“That is something that should break people’s hearts,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Columbia University appears to have ceded to the Trump administration’s demands after a threat to withhold $400 million in federal funds.
The school posted a four-page memo entitled “Advancing Our Work to Combat Discrimination, Harassment, and Antisemitism at Columbia.” Columbia’s response is being closely watched by other schools that became flashpoints for pro-Palestinian protests last year.
The Trump administration canceled $400 million worth of grants and contracts to Columbia University, accusing the university of “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.” The administration sent a letter last week, listing out nine demands Columbia must comply with by Thursday “as a precondition for formal negotiations” regarding federal funding.
Columbia agreed to ban masks, one of the Trump administration’s key demands, saying in the memo, “Public safety has determined that face masks or face coverings are not allowed for the purpose of concealing one’s identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws.”
The university also agreed to stricter controls over its Middle East Studies department, which will now be overseen by a new senior vice provost who “will conduct a thorough review of the portfolio of programs in regional areas across the University, starting immediately with the Middle East.”
Columbia’s Board of Trustees issued a statement supporting the move on Saturday.
“We have and continue to support Interim President Armstrong’s approach, including today’s presentation of the University’s progress and deeply thoughtful actions. We are grateful for her principled and courageous leadership during this unprecedented time, and for the steps she has and is taking to strengthen our institution,” the Board of Trustees said.
“There are many, inside and outside of our community, who are wondering about and characterizing our decision to hold discussions with the federal government. We engaged with the agencies that serve as our regulators on issues that matter both to them and to us. Our goal has been to demonstrate the significant advances we’ve made, discuss the plans for the months ahead, and present Columbia-driven decisions made in accordance with our values and our mission,” the board said.
The memo promised the new senior vice provost would make sure the curriculum is “comprehensive and balanced” and the faculty represent an “intellectually diverse academic environment” as the Trump administration tries to crackdown on left-wing ideology on campus.
The university will also establish a Provostial Advisory Committee on Academic Freedom and Freedom of Expression tasked with advising university leadership on how to protect academic freedom at Columbia.
“The committee members will serve as trusted advisors, both to consult on university policies and procedures and to ensure that our decisions are consistent with our values,” Columbia said in the memo.
Columbia will also establish a commission tasked with examining events on campus since Oct. 7, 2024 — the anniversary of the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war — and “present an analysis with the underlying causes.” The committee will create a report with recommendations to ensure members of the Columbia community “are held accountable for actions that hinder the academic pursuit of any individual within the community.”
The committee will also offer recommendations for a disciplinary process.
