Wildfire warnings continue in parts of the country as strong winds persist
ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Powerful winds and wildfire warnings persist in several states, with some areas still fighting existing flames, as a new cross-country storm emerges in the Pacific Northwest on Friday.
Red flag warnings are in place for areas in the Southwest, including New Mexico and north-central Texas, where wind gusts will reach up to 40 mph on Friday paired with a relative humidity down to 10%.
Firefighters have continued to battle the Gail Fire in New Mexico, which has burned 238 acres and is 10% contained, officials said on Thursday.
The southern half of Missouri and northern half of Arkansas also face red flag warnings on Friday, with wind gusts up to 45 mph and a relative humidity of 20% to 25%.
According to the Arkansas Forestry Division, 96 wildfires statewide have been contained, but four new wildfires are active.
“We are mobilizing all resources and working closely with local, state and federal partners,” the forestry division said in a statement on Friday.
Southeast Florida also remains under fire weather alerts, with red flag warnings in place from Orlando to Stuart and elevated fire dangers from West Palm Beach down to Miami. The humidity will be as low as 20% in these parts of the state, creating ideal conditions for existing fires to spread.
In Miami-Dade County, a fire has burned 25,000 acres and is 30% contained, officials said. It is burning in largely unoccupied parts of the Everglades.
Along with the threat of wildfires, other parts of the country will experience frigid temperatures, with central Mississippi, nearly all of Alabama and most of Georgia under frost and freeze warnings on Friday.
As the weekend progresses, a new cross-country storm will bring strong winds to the Midwest, heavy snow to the North and severe storms to the South.
The storm will begin with rain and mountain snow throughout the Pacific Northwest on Friday. Oregon is expected to be hit with 10 inches of snow in the mountains during the day and into the evening Friday. Idaho and western Montana should expect 8 to 16 inches of snow Friday night into Saturday morning.
By Sunday, strong to severe winds of up to 40 to 60 mph are expected across the Great Plains and upper Midwest, creating a threat for dust storms, ground blizzards and the destruction of power lines and trees.
E. Jason Wambsgans/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(HIGHLAND PARK, Ill.) — Highland Park, Illinois, mass shooting suspect Robert Crimo III changed his plea to guilty on Monday as opening arguments in his trial were set to begin, according to Chicago ABC station WLS.
Crimo is accused of killing seven people and injuring dozens of others in the mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. He pleaded guilty to 21 counts of first-degree murder, three counts of each person killed, and dozens of attempted murder charges, according to WLS.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 23.
Jury selection wrapped up in the trial on Wednesday with opening statements planned for Monday. The trial was expected to take a few weeks.
Crimo told police he wore women’s clothing during the shooting and used makeup to hide his facial tattoos and blend in with the crowd during the chaos, prosecutors said. Crimo was apprehended hours later and prosecutors said he confessed to the shooting.
Crimo appeared ready to accept a guilty plea last June during a hearing, only to reject the deal in front of devastated members of the victims’ families. He was expected to plead guilty to seven counts of murder and 48 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm at the hearing at the time, according to The Associated Press.
“We have Fourth of July coming up and it will be two years,” Leah Sundheim, whose mother, Jacquelyn Sundheim, was killed in the shooting, said at a news conference at the time. “All I wanted was to be able to fully grieve my mom without the looming trial, knowing that he was going to spend the rest of his life in jail. And instead, we were yet again shown [Crimo’s] complete and blatant disregard for humans.”
Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., who was present during jury selection and again on Monday, pleaded guilty last year to reckless conduct, admitting to signing the Firearm Owner’s Identification card for his son to apply for gun ownership. He did not answer questions while leaving court Monday.
The younger Crimo was 19 at the time and and too young to get a FOID card on his own. Illinois at the time required people ages 18, 19 or 20 to have parent or guardian authorization.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge has blocked the removal of a Palestinian activist from the United States while weighing a petition challenging his arrest, court documents show.
Mahmoud Khalil was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at Columbia University over the weekend, despite having a green card, his attorney told ABC News, sparking an outcry from civil rights groups.
ICE agents arrested Khalil — a leader in the Manhattan university’s encampment movement — on Saturday night, claiming that his student visa had been revoked, his attorney, Amy Greer, said in a statement to ABC News.
However, Khalil is in the United States on a green card and not on a student visa, Greer said Sunday. Despite informing agents about his legal status, ICE detained him, she said.
President Donald Trump claimed Khalil was a “Radical Foreign Pro-Hamas Student” and said this is the “first arrest of many to come” in a post on his Truth Social platform on Monday.
“We will find, apprehend, and deport these terrorist sympathizers from our country — never to return again,” he added.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said Khalil is a former Columbia University graduate student and was arrested by ICE “in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism.”
“Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization,” McLaughlin said in a statement Sunday night. “ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also shared an article about Khalil on Sunday night and posted on X, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Baher Azmy, one of the lawyers representing Khalil, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“So setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
Greer said she is challenging Khalil’s arrest, which occurred at his university residence.
“Overnight we filed a habeas corpus petition on Mahmoud’s behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention,” she said Sunday.
At one point during a phone call with agents, they hung up on Greer, a representative of her law firm told ABC News.
Greer said they initially did not know Khalil’s whereabouts following his arrest. His wife, who is eight months pregnant and a U.S. citizen, was unable to find him at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was purportedly transferred, Greer said — adding that he might have been transferred to Louisiana.
An attorney for Khalil confirmed to ABC News on Monday that he’s currently being held at a detention facility in Jena, Louisiana.
“ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” the lawyer said. “The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, called for Khalil’s release.
“The Department of Homeland Security’s lawless decision to arrest him solely because of his peaceful anti-genocide activism represents a blatant attack on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free speech, immigration laws, and the very humanity of Palestinians,” the group said in a statement on Monday. “We and other civil rights groups are in communication with Mahmoud’s legal counsel. This fight is just starting.”
Several hundred protesters massed Monday in lower Manhattan to demand his release, carrying signs that said “No political prisoners in the United States” and “Release Mahmoud Khalil.”
“He was arrested for speaking out against genocide,” said Marian Osman, one of the organizers. “We have a right to free speech. Political speech is protected speech in this country.”
After Trump posted that Khalil would not be the last pro-Palestinian demonstrator arrested, Osman pledged protesters would not be intimidated.
“We are just getting started,” she said. “I don’t think protesters should be scared. I think protesters should be upset and angry.”
The arrest occurred just days after Trump took to social media threatening to defund universities that allowed “illegal protests” and claiming “agitators” will be sent back to their home countries.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on [sic] the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump posted on Truth Social on March 4.
Columbia released the following statement on Sunday: “There have been reports of ICE around campus. Columbia has and will continue to follow the law. Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings.”
“Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community,” the statement continued.
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.
