Two girls fall from Ferris wheel at Louisiana harvest festival: Sheriff
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(NEW ROADS, La.) — Two young girls were hospitalized after they were thrown from a Ferris wheel at a weekend harvest festival in Louisiana, authorities said.
The incident unfolded at around noon on Saturday at the Harvest Festival on False River in New Roads, about 40 miles northwest of Baton Rouge, according to Pointe Coupée Parish Sheriff Rene Thibodeaux.
Thibodeaux said both girls injured in the incident are under the age of 13. The sheriff said both were taken to hospitals, with one of them airlifted to a medical facility.
The conditions of the injured girls were not released.
“Our hearts go out to the families, and our prayers,” Thibodeaux said.
“The Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal is actively investigating an incident in which two riders fell from a Ferris wheel ride at the New Roads Harvest Festival Saturday,” the Louisiana Office of State Fire Marshal said in a statement.
Witness Madison Fields told ABC affiliate station WBRZ in Baton Rouge that it appeared the bucket in which the girls were riding tipped upside down and dumped the girls out.
“It caught on to the wires, and then it tilted over, and the two girls fell out,” said Fields. “I heard like a body, just like something falling. I heard a loud boom.”
Fields said one of the girls appeared to fall face-first to the ground.
Fields told WBRZ that she had been planning to ride the Ferris wheel prior to the accident.
“It was sad and upsetting, like, because, what if that could have been me?” Fields said.
Volunteers with Samaritan’s Purse search for meaningful personal items for members of the Alvarado family in the rubble of their home which burned in the Eaton Fire on February 05, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(LOS ANGELES) — An arrest has been made in connection with the Palisades Fire, which caused widespread destruction in Los Angeles County and killed a dozen people earlier this year, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.
Jonathan Rinderknecht, 29, is accused of “maliciously” igniting a fire on Jan. 1 in the Pacific Palisades that ultimately erupted into the Palisades Fire, the Department of Justice said.
The New Year’s Day brush fire was suppressed by fire crews but continued to smolder underground before high winds caused it to surface and spread nearly a week later, “causing what became known as the Palisades Fire, one of the most destructive wildfires in Los Angeles City history,” acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said during a press conference on Wednesday.
Rinderknecht has been charged by criminal complaint with destruction of property by means of fire. He was arrested on Tuesday near his residence in Florida and is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Orlando federal court on Wednesday, officials said.
The Palisades Fire erupted on Jan. 7, burning more than 23,000 acres over more than three weeks and destroying nearly 7,000 structures, according to California fire officials.
It ignited the same day as the Eaton Fire, which burned more than 14,00 acres in Los Angeles County, destroying more than 9,400 structures and killing 19 people, according to officials.
The fires started burning during strong Santa Ana winds, which, combined with dry conditions, helped their ability to spread quickly. This spread prompted mass evacuations.
The Palisades Fire decimated the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles.
What became known as the Lachman Fire was detected at 12:12 a.m. on Jan. 1 on a hilltop in the Pacific Palisades, according to the DOJ.
Rinderknecht, who the DOJ said was working as an Uber driver at the time and once lived in the Pacific Palisades — had dropped a customer off in the area of the fire, according to the complaint. Two of his passengers that night allegedly told law enforcement later that he appeared “agitated and angry,” the complaint stated.
The complaint alleges Rinderknecht caused the fire by lighting a combustible material, such as vegetation or paper, with an open flame, likely a lighter.
He attempted to contact 911 several times to report the fire, before ultimately getting through once he had cell service, according to the complaint. He allegedly made a three-minute screen-recording of his iPhone while attempting to call 911 and asking ChatGPT, “Are you at fault if a fire is lift [sic] because of your cigarettes?” according to the complaint.
“Based on my training and experience and this investigation, this indicates that RINDERKNECHT wanted to preserve evidence of himself trying to assist in the suppression of the fire and he wanted to create evidence regarding a more innocent explanation for the cause of the fire,” a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives wrote in an affidavit in the complaint.
Essayli said the suspect left in his car but then returned and filmed firefighters responding to the blaze.
There is no indication that anyone else was in the area at the time the fire started, Essayli said.
Investigators interviewed Rinderknecht on Jan. 24, during which he allegedly lied about where he was when he saw the Lachman Fire, according to the DOJ.
“He claimed he was near the bottom of a hiking trail when he first saw the fire and called 911, but geolocation data from his iPhone carrier showed that he was standing in a clearing 30 feet from the fire as it rapidly grew,” the DOJ said in a press release.
Essayli said he didn’t want to discuss motive, though he pointed to digital evidence included in the complaint of an image Rinderknecht allegedly generated in July 2024 using ChatGPT, showing in part “a burning forest and a crowd fleeing from it.”
“You could see some of his thought process in the months leading up, where he was generating some really concerning images up on ChatGPT, which appears to show a dystopian city being burned down,” Essayli said.
The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in federal prison if convicted, the DOJ said.
Essayli said the DOJ will make determinations on additional charges against Rinderknecht in the coming days.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell called the investigation into the Palisades Fire “extremely intensive and thorough.”
“I’m proud of the professionalism and dedication shown by our detectives and the team who work collaboratively with our federal, state and local partners,” he said during the press briefing. “That teamwork ultimately led to the arrest of the suspect responsible for this devastating crime.”
Over the past eight months, investigators pursued more than 200 leads, conducted hundreds of interviews and collected more than 13,000 pieces of evidence, including fire debris, digital data and DNA samples, as part of the probe, according to Kenny Cooper, special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Los Angeles Field Division.
“We have a lot of different data that all concluded where this fire started, and the fire behavior from that origin, from that Lachman Fire, was clearly established in the Palisades Fire,” Cooper said at the press briefing.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city will release the Los Angeles Fire Department’s report on the Palisades Fire “shortly,” now that an arrest has been made.
“More than 9 months ago, our city faced one of the most devastating periods our region had ever seen. Lives were tragically lost. Thousands of homes were destroyed. Our heroic firefighters fought the blaze valiantly with no rest,” she said in a statement. “Each day that families are displaced is a day too long and as we are working tirelessly to bring Angelenos home, we are also working towards closure and towards justice — and today is a step forward in that process.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ daughters leave Manhattan Federal Court after court adjourned for his sex trafficking and racketeering trial on July 1, 2025. (Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs deserves a prison sentence of no more than 14 months — a sentence that would effectively amount to time served — after a jury convicted him earlier this year of transportation for the purposes of prostitution, his attorneys argued in a new court filing Tuesday, saying, “It is time for Mr. Combs to go home to his family.”
Combs, who was acquitted of more serious sex trafficking and racketeering charges, has been jailed more than a year since his arrest in New York.
“Mr. Combs must be sentenced for what the jury convicted him of—interstate transportation of fully consenting adults with intent to engage in prostitution. But it would be unlawful, and a perversion of justice, for the Court to sentence him as if the jury had convicted him of sex trafficking and RICO, or to increase his sentence based on the Court’s own findings about force or coercion or racketeering,” defense attorneys said in their sentencing memorandum to the judge.
The memo runs 380 pages — including letters from Combs’ mother, children, friends and business associates — and takes aim at the apparent recommendations by prosecutors and the Probation Department for tougher sentences. Prosecutors have not completed their sentencing memorandum and the probation recommendation is not public, though the defense suggests it is about five years.
“The prosecutors, for their part, have lost all perspective,” the defense said. “This draconian approach makes Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts seem benevolent: instead of ‘Sentence first-verdict afterwards,’ the government’s view is ‘Verdict be damned—lock him up and throw away the key.'”
Combs’ attorneys called his case “unique,” since he made no money from the prostitution crimes. Instead, Combs transported Cassie Ventura, a woman who testified under the pseudonym “Jane” and male escorts so he could watch them have sex in various locations, “threesomes where fully competent adult men and women voluntarily crossed state lines and had consensual sex with each other.” The women dispute whether the sex was consensual.
Defense attorneys also appealed to Combs’ character in urging the judge for a lenient sentence, calling him “an extraordinary person who has made monumental professional and personal contributions throughout his 55 years” and who wants to be with his family, a description at odds with his portrayal by prosecutors as a violent, controlling, unpredictable sex fiend.
“He lost many loved ones, including his father, his best friend, Christopher Wallace—professionally known as Notorious B.I.G.—as well as the love of his life and mother of four of his children, Kim Porter, and most recently, his mentor, Andre Harrell,” the filing said. “These events were devastating, and for decades Mr. Combs struggled with serious substance abuse issues, anger and anxiety, and other flaws that he did not properly or professionally address until his incarceration last year.”
Chino Valley Fire responded to an apparent explosion on the 4200 block of Sierra Vista Dr., in Chino Hills, Calif., Nov. 16, 2025. KABC
(CHINO HILLS, Calif.) — A suspected gas leak caused a home in California to explode, injuring nine people, officials said. An investigation is underway.
The explosion also forced an evacuation of nearby homes in the Chino Hills neighborhood Sunday night, according to authorities.
Jenny Smith, a spokesperson for the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department, told ABC News that the explosion was caused by a possible gas leak.
“Deputies found a residence, in the 42000 block of Sierra Vista Drive, that had caught fire from a possible gas leak. There was damage to surrounding homes due to the incident. The fire department, SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas, were called and arrived on scene,” Smith said in a statement.
Smith added that none of the injuries sustained by the victims appear to be life threatening.
“The initial report was that nine people who were in the house were transported to a local hospital. No injuries appeared to be life threatening. The cause of the fire is still under investigation,” she added.
Members of the Chino Valley Fire District closed the impacted street and took multiple injured individuals to the hospital, according to a social media post.
“Firefighters found major damage to the reported house and minor damage to surrounding homes. Four patients were transported with varying injures to an area hospital,” the Facebook post read.
The Chino Valley Fire District also noted that the gas leak was contained by the end of the evening and evacuated residents could return to the their homes.
“Final Update 10:45 PM: The gas leak has been stopped. Crews will remain on scene to continue the overhaul and investigation. Residents will be allowed back into the unaffected homes at approximately 11:00 pm,” the post added.
“They were just screaming for help, saying, ‘Ow. It hurts! Help me!’ You know, barefooted in their pajamas. The little boy without a shirt, just in his sweatpants. It was hard,” a neighbor said.
“Their hair was burnt, they had blood on their faces,” the other neighbor said.
SoCal Edison and SoCal Gas did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
