Trump planning to attend Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday: Sources
Samuel Corum/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is planning to attend the Super Bowl in New Orleans on Sunday, sources confirmed to ABC News.
The Super Bowl 59 matchup between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles comes one month after a terrorist drove a truck down Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year’s Day, killing 14 people and injuring dozens more.
There will be over 2,700 state, federal and local law enforcement members securing the game, according to officials.
The game gets a SEAR 1 rating — meaning there is a federal coordinator that is in charge of the security; in this case, it’s the special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations’ New Orleans field office. Drones are not allowed anywhere near the stadium.
“We have reviewed and re-reviewed all the details of what happened on Jan. 1,” NFL Chief of Security Cathy Lanier said. “We have reviewed and re-reviewed each of our roles within the overarching security plan, and we have reassessed and stressed tested — our timing, our communication protocols, our contingency measures and our emergency response plans multiple times over, over the past several weeks.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(LOS ANGELES) — California homeowners shared evacuation stories and video clips of the damaging flames plowing through their community as the Pacific Palisades fire continues to blaze since its start on Tuesday.
Zibby and Kyle Owens, who own a home in Pacific Palisades but also reside in New York, sat down with Diane Macedo on ABC News Live on Wednesday morning, showcasing footage from their Google Nest camera that reveals the devastating flames. The camera faces their backyard, with the fire engulfing the surrounding area and moving closer to their pool.
“This is the worst-case scenario playing out in front of our eyes right now,” Kyle Owens said. “It’s not just a place, it’s a beautiful community.”
The video was the last contact the Owens received from their home since they lost power shortly afterward.
Fires are common in California, and the Owens said they are not new to this experience. The couple recently evacuated from a New Year’s Eve fire that started with fireworks. However, these particularly powerful Santa Ana wind gusts, which allow the fire to burn five football fields per minute, concerned Kyle Owens about the future of this community.
“If we’re able to go back at some point, I don’t know what we are going back to,” Kyle Owens said.
Kyle Owens also discussed how Pacific Palisades, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the area, is particularly difficult to evacuate due to its hillside homes and winding streets. Many friends waited over three hours to get down the mountain, a drive that would normally take around two minutes.
Two other Pacific Palisades residents, Kenny and Tricia Rakusin, who live along the coastline, said they also struggled to escape the fire zone as a buildup of vehicles trying to travel the hill toward Pacific Coast Highway clogged the road. Tricia Rakusin said her daughter also witnessed many people forced to abandon their cars along Sunset Boulevard.
“This neighborhood has been in place for decades, there’s never been a fire anywhere close to where we live,” Tricia Rakusin said. “No one has ever conceived the possibility of this.”
Along with the stress of the destructive flames and imminent damage, Tricia Rakusin said their insurance canceled all policies in their area four months ago.
“When we go up there, it will be from a war zone,” Kenny Rakusin said. “The unknown is really challenging.”
As of now, the Pacific Palisades fire, which is among two other fires in LA County, has grown to at least 3,000 acres and is zero percent contained.
On top of the uncertainty of their home’s condition, the Owens worry the flames could travel to Zibby’s bookshop in Santa Monica, which is also under an evacuation warning. For the Owens and many others, these flames are wiping away businesses and homes full of memories and connection.
“There is so much soul to the neighborhood,” Zibby Owens said. “It’s unthinkable that this place could vanish.”
Regina Mullen, mother of, Kyle, a Navy SEAL that died in February 2022/ABC News
(NEW YORK) –The mother of a Navy SEAL recruit who died after completing “hell week” training has told ABC News that the cases against the men she blames for her son’s death were dismissed by the Navy and she says she hasn’t been told why.
In February 2022, 24-year-old Kyle Mullen died after successfully endured the 120-hour week of brutal training that’s designed to push Navy SEAL candidates to their physical and mental limits.
His mother, Regina Mullen, is now demanding accountability for his death.
Mullen recounted parts of her son’s story on “Good Morning America” in an interview with ABC News’ Will Reeve airing on Tuesday morning.
“I got a text. It said, ‘Hell Week Secured!’” Mullen told “GMA.” “So I immediately called him and he answered and he was out of breath and he said, ‘Hey mom, I did it. Hell Week secured.’ And I said, First I’m like, ‘my God, you’re all happy.’ And then I’m like, ‘wait a minute, you all right? Are you in a hospital? You don’t sound good.’”
“All he said to me is, ‘Mom, I love you. Don’t worry about me. And he hung up,” Mullen continued.
Kyle died hours later from bacterial pneumonia, with the final medical check showing swollen legs that required him to be sent back to his barracks in a wheelchair with abnormalities in his lungs and severe trouble breathing.
A Navy investigation cited failures “across multiple systems” that led to a number of candidates being at a “higher risk of serious injury” with “inconsistent medical monitoring.”
Additionally, a “lack of training” among commanding officers and an “at all costs” mindset among the candidates was also cited in the investigation.
“We have a failed leadership and under a command that killed a man unnecessarily and injured many,” said Regina Mullen. “I think it’s pretty reasonable to ask for accountability.”
Mullen insists that Capt. Brad Geary, who was in charge of her son’s trainee class, and Cmdr. Doctor Erik Ramey are responsible.
But now, with the case being dismissed, Regina Mullen said questions still remain about the quality of her son’s medical care and that she has not yet been provided with any answers.
“The Navy’s not giving me what I’m asking for,” Mullen said. “The medical treatment of Kyle’s care — why won’t they provide it? I want the Board of Inquiry to be reinstated. This is what I really want so we can go public.”
A lawyer for Geary released a statement to ABC News saying “this case was badly mishandled from the beginning. When we were noticed for the board of inquiry it became very clear that a comprehensive investigation had never been done and the deciding officer hadn’t had access to all the evidence. Through the discovery process, the Navy was forced to gather all the relevant evidence which made continuing the case unsustainable.”
Ramey’s attorney told ABC News that “we invested a substantial amount of time investigating the case with the assistance of top medical experts. The overwhelming evidence confirmed that Dr. Ramey met the medical standard of care.”
The investigation also looked into allegations of the use of performance enhancing drugs among SEAL candidates. Authorities say they found a bottled labeled as human growth hormone in Mullen’s car. Investigators, however, “determined that [Mullen] died in the line of duty, and not due to own misconduct.”
Mullen says the medical examiner told her they did not test her son for steroid use. “She said that they didn’t test for it because it was irrelevant to the cause of death. Right. For the medical exam, for the Navy medical examiner.”
The Navy has refused to comment, “citing privacy considerations for the officers.”
“Cases sometimes take a long time and that can be frustrating,” Regina Mullen’s attorney, Kevin Uniglicht, told ABC News. “The problem in this case is that when we have a dismissal, we don’t have a basis for it. Secondly, when we’re doing our investigation and we can’t find documents, we have to question, where are the documents? Was there ever treatment? If there is treatment, why didn’t it follow the military’s protocol on medical standards?”
“We’re trying to figure out what they’re hiding. It’s simple as that,” Uniglicht continued.
Since her son’s death, Regina Mullen says she has seen some improvement, with candidate’s vitals being checked more consistently and preventative antibiotics administered prior to “hell week” so sailors don’t catch pneumonia. But, she says, more work still needs to be done.
Mullen said she still lives with the pain of her son’s death every day.
“I’m deflated, I’m upset,” Mullen said. “The pain is unreal for me. I don’t get the call anymore. I don’t get the jokes anymore. I don’t get the little cards. I don’t get that anymore.”
“Before he left the Navy, I said, ‘how am I going to live my life if something happens to you?’” Mullen continued. “He said, ‘Mom, you’re the strongest person I know. You got this.’”
“He was just trying to be a hero and protect people,” Mullen said. “And it happened by his own … own country, by his own military.”
Megan Piphus, a musician and the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” and her pupper Mini lead vocal exercises during the recording of nonprofit Saving Our Daughters’ first album; ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Saving Our Daughters brought star power into the recording booth to help empower some young women working on the group’s first album.
The nonprofit, founded in 2014, is dedicated to supporting young girls of color in overcoming barriers. The girls, known as “Student Cinderellas,” are a part of the collaborative album called “Cinderella Sweep.”
They’re teamed with women of color from the entertainment industry who play the role of “Celebrity Godparents.” Saving Our Daughters recruited musician Megan Piphus, the first Black female puppeteer on “Sesame Street,” who wrote a song called “Stop Me Now” as she started work on her next children’s music project.
“After writing it, I immediately thought of the work that I’ve gotten to do with Saving Our Daughters,” she said. “And so, we then thought, what if we made this entire project for young girls, and then partnered with Saving Our Daughters to get the girls to actually be on the album.”
She noted that there were no women who looked like her doing puppetry when she started doing it as a 10-year-old, but she still drew inspiration from people she admired.
“Now I’m in a position to be able to mentor young girls and provide them a view, a representation of what it looks like for a girl of color to be in the entertainment industry, to be a producer, to be a singer,” she said.
Piphus also brought her puppet Mini to the session, adding an extra layer of fun to the girls’ vocal warmups.
“I want the girls to listen to this album and really think past any limits in their mind and dream beyond their wildest dreams,” Piphus said.
Saving Our Daughters also got Broadway actress Jasmine Forsberg, star of the musical “Six,” to join the group.
“Music is all about finding your voice,” Forsberg said. “It is a universal language, and it’s a beautiful opportunity for girls around the world to be able to come together and express themselves through song.”
She’s thankful for the “incredible artistic mentors” she had when she was a little girl.
“I always knew that when I grew up, I wanted to be able to pay that forward,” Forsberg said.
The initiative seemed to inspire some of the girls.
“My dream is to be a professional dancer or be a CEO of finance or beauty,” one said.
Another suggested she has multi-pronged ambitions.
“I want to be a singer, a doctor and a fashion designer when I grow up,” she said.
One appeared to want to follow in Forsberg’s footsteps.
“When I get older, I think maybe like a Broadway star, because they sing and sometimes also dance,” she said at the session.
Regardless of where their paths lead, Piphus is hopeful that this experience sticks with them.
“There’s so much memory, I think, involved in music, and so I’m hoping that the sound and the messaging is something that they will remember for a lifetime,” she said.