Woman caught trying to plant explosive devices at Tesla dealership
(Jeremy Hogan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A woman in Colorado has been arrested after police caught her with explosives at a Tesla dealership, police said.
The 40-year-old suspect, Lucy Grace Nelson, was arrested on Monday after the Loveland Police Department launched an “extensive investigation” on Jan. 29 following a series of vandalizations with incendiary devices at the Tesla Dealership in Loveland, Colorado, according to a statement from the police released on Wednesday.
“On Monday evening, Nelson returned to Loveland Tesla while in possession of additional incendiary devices, along with materials attributed to vandalism,” the Loveland Police Department said. “Detectives apprehended Nelson prior to further damage occurring.”
Nelson was immediately arrested and booked into the Larimer County Jail after being charged with explosives or incendiary devices use during felony, criminal mischief and criminal attempt to commit a Class 3 felony, authorities said.
She was issued with a $100,000 cash surety bond following the charges.
“The Loveland Police Department continues to work closely with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Denver Field Division, with Federal charges likely to follow,” police said.
(WASHINGTON) — Federal watchdogs have raised concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration’s air traffic control system for decades, an ABC News analysis of government reports found.
In the weeks since the fatal plane crash over the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, DOT Secretary Sean Duffy said the FAA is hoping to deploy a “brand-new air traffic control system” within the next four years.
“This should have happened four years ago, 10 years ago, 15 years ago,” Duffy said. “Right now, we’re at a point where we can actually do it, and we can do it really fast again.”
Red flags regarding the FAA’s handling of air traffic control matters have spanned Republican and Democratic administrations for more than 30 years.
In 1990, Government Accountability Office Transportation Issues Director Kenneth Mead told a congressional subcommittee that although the FAA had made progress, the agency had “inexperience in developing large-scale, highly automated systems” and was “still experiencing problems in modernizing the ATC system.”
“In light of the tremendous levels of F&E [facilities and equipment] funding projected for the next few years, it is crucial that FAA show[s] the Congress, the aviation community, and the flying public that ongoing and future activities will result in demonstrable improvements,” Mead added at the time.
The modifications may have been easier said than done.
“Planned improvements in safety and capacity have been delayed, and the costs, both of maintaining existing technologies and of replacing outdated ATC systems and infrastructure, have grown,” a 2005 GAO panel found, noting that cultural, technical and budgetary factors constrained or impeded ATC modernization.
“FAA no longer sees its modernization program as a multiyear initiative with a defined end; rather, it now sees the program as an ongoing investment in technological advances designed to improve aviation safety and capacity,” the panel explained.
The Office of Inspector General at the U.S. Department of Transportation, which conducts investigations at DOT divisions such as the FAA, the Federal Railroad Administration and the Federal Transit Administration, took a deep dive into the FAA’s handling of ATC matters multiple times.
Inspector general reports in 2008 and 2012 found that the physical conditions of many ATC facilities were deteriorating, with issues ranging from “poor facility design” to water leaks and ventilation problems.
The 2008 IG report mentioned that the FAA was expected to finish implementing its Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen, by 2025. The GAO posted on its website earlier this month that there was “mixed progress” with NextGen’s implementation.
As the years went on, the investigations into the FAA continued.
In 2015, the IG included the tower at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on its list of “frequently least efficient” large hub airport towers.
Less than two years later, the IG recognized some improvements made by the FAA to its contingency plans, but found that their ATC facilities “are not yet fully prepared to respond effectively to major system disruptions, in part because of a lack of necessary controller training for these types of emergency events.”
By 2023, concerns over staffing at FAA ATC centers were making headlines.
“FAA has made limited efforts to ensure adequate controller staffing at critical air traffic control facilities,” the IG found at the time, pointing out that the FAA’s Washington Center was authorized to have 21 traffic management coordinators but instead had 13, while the facility was authorized to have 36 operational supervisors but instead had 25.
One of the final federal investigative reports prior to the fatal collision over the Potomac came in September 2024. The GAO made seven recommendations to the FAA, including calling on the agency to report to Congress on how it was handling risks involving “unsustainable and critical systems.”
The FAA “has been slow to modernize the most critical and at-risk systems,” the GAO said at the time. “About one third of FAA ATC systems are considered unsustainable.”
ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Sam Sweeney and Ayesha Ali contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A federal judge in Manhattan on Friday will consider whether to continue blocking Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Treasury Department payment systems as part of the Trump’s administration’s efforts to cut federal spending.
The attorneys general of 19 states have argued that allowing Musk’s associates to access the payment system would be a “huge cybersecurity risk” and potentially allow the Trump administration to unlawfully “block federal funds from reaching beneficiaries who do not align with the President’s political agenda.”
“All of the States’ residents whose [personal identifiable information] and sensitive financial information is stored in the payment files that reside within the payment systems are at risk of having that information compromised and used against them,” the lawsuit said.
The lawsuit comes as Musk’s cost-cutting troops have gained access to at least 16 federal agencies, with Trump recently signing an executive order giving DOGE additional authority to help carry out massive layoffs across the government as part of his campaign pledge to trim the federal bureaucracy.
The lawsuit — filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James and 18 other state attorneys general — raised particular concern about unvetted DOGE employees accessing sensitive government records including social security numbers, bank information, and federal tax returns. According to the lawsuit, Musk being able to access the Bureau of Fiscal Services — which serves as the country’s checkbook by dispersing trillions in funding — could allow Musk to cut off government spending from the source.
In a court order last weekend, a federal judge in New York temporarily blocked the Trump administration from allowing individuals associated with DOGE to access the Treasury department records and payment systems.
“The Court’s firm assessment is that, for the reasons stated by the States, they will face irreparable harm in the absence of injunctive relief. That is both because of the risk that the new policy presents of the disclosure of sensitive and confidential information and the heightened risk that the systems in question will be more vulnerable than before to hacking,” U.S. District Judge Paul Engelmayer wrote, prompting a Mush to blast the judge and Vice President JD Vance to question the legality of the order.
While the Trump administration challenged the temporary order, U.S. District Judge Jeanette Vargas — a Biden-nominated judge who will hear the case going forward — reiterated that there was “sound factual basis” for the temporary restraining order when it was imposed late last week.
Judge Vargas will consider granting a preliminary injunction to block DOGE’s access to the systems at Friday’s hearing.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin have signed onto the lawsuit.
(SAN DIEGO) — A fighter jet crashed into the San Diego Harbor on Wednesday, with the two pilots on board ejecting before being rescued by the Coast Guard, according to San Diego Fire-Rescue.
A Navy official didn’t confirm if one or two people were on the two-seat EA-18G Growler, but said the crew was successfully recovered.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
