(NEW YORK) — Scientists are flocking to Florida’s Gulf Coast for a glimpse of a mysterious 425-feet-deep “blue hole” on the ocean floor.
The glowing mystery hole, about 155 feet below the water’s surface, is similar to the sinkholes seen on solid land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The site, dubbed the “Green Banana,” has been a hot topic for scientists and deep-sea explorers who’ve been hoping for a glimpse of the phenomenon from afar.
Surprisingly, the first reports of blue holes came from fishermen and recreational divers, not scientists or researchers. In general, the holes appear to host diverse biological communities full of marine life, including corals, sponges, mollusks, sea turtles and sharks.
NOAA scientists already have collected 17 water samples from the area surrounding the hole along with four sediment samples.
Remarkably, they also discovered two dead but intact smalltooth sawfish, an endangered species, at the bottom of the hole, according to NOAA. Remains of one of the animals were recovered for examination.
NOAA scientists plan to embark on a new mission to a second, deeper area of the hole in August. That mission will consist of a team of scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida Atlantic University, Georgia Institute of Technology and the U.S. Geological Society, according to NOAA.
Researchers are interested in studying the seawater chemistry in the holes for its unique qualities.
“Little is known about blue holes due to their lack of accessibility and unknown distribution and abundance,” NOAA said in a statement. “The opening of a blue hole can be several hundred feet underwater, and for many holes, the opening is too small for an automated submersible.”
Researchers don’t know much about blue holes, but scientists are hoping to learn if the holes are connected to Florida’s groundwater or if there is groundwater intrusion into the Gulf of Mexico.
They’re also looking to see if a particular blue hole is secreting nutrients or harbors microenvironments or new species of microbes.
ABCBy KRISTOFER RIOS, MARJORIE MCAFEE, NEIL GIARDINO, ZOE LAKE, JOHN KAPETANEAS, and ANTHONY RIVAS
(PORTLAND) — Garrison Davis, a 17-year-old videographer and citizen journalist in Portland, Oregon, has documented the city’s Black Lives Matter protests against police brutality nearly every night since they began more than 50 days ago following the death of George Floyd.
Over the weekend, he posted images on Twitter of a group of moms who had created what they called a “Wall of Moms” to protect protesters. On the other side of their barrier, however, were not the city’s own police force, but rather federal authorities. A few hours after they’d formed the wall, the moms were among protesters who were tear gassed by these agents during violent clashes.
Some of the federal agents in Portland are part of a Department of Homeland Security task force established to respond to the growing protests and acts of civil disobedience that have occurred across the country. The U.S. Marshals Service, which operates under the Department of Justice and partners with the DHS’ Federal Protective Service to protect federal properties, had also been sent to the city. The DHS said these forces were there to protect the federal properties from “criminal acts of violence and vandalism.”
But as violence between the federal authorities and protesters increases, questions about their use of force and whether federal agents should be there in the first place have emerged.
“What’s going on here isn’t the federal government coming in to address real needs,” said Vera Eidelman, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. “There are real needs elsewhere. It’s the government miscasting protesters as violent criminals and trying to scare people from going out and protesting police brutality.”
Davis told ABC News the federal agents began arriving around the Fourth of July and that within days he “saw Portland police pull back and the federal officers really take over trying to quell the protests.”
Those on the ground, however, say the federal agents have only inflamed tensions.
“The federal response, I think, caught a lot of people off guard,” said Davis. “A lot of people here were not ready for that. Protesters weren’t ready for that. Journalists were not expecting this to happen. So I think that definitely caught a lot of people off guard.”
Daryl Turner, president of the Portland Police Association, told ABC News that “every night we have violence — we have rocks, bottles, bioweapons thrown at us. … And we are showing great restraint.” He also called for the federal authorities to work “in concert with local police.”
“Right now, that’s not happening and that concerns me,” he said.
“I heard the impact. I heard him fall. I was standing like 10 feet away,” said Davis. “I immediately turned to the side and I saw his body just on the ground, just blood pouring from his head. People were grabbing him, pulling him into the park to get medical treatment. … His body was limp. His head bobbing around. He was taken to the hospital. His skull was fractured. … It’s that kind of unnecessary display of violence that didn’t accomplish anything and wasn’t a response to anything.”
Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley of Oregon also raised alarms last week when he tweeted a video that had circulated online showing agents pulling up to arrest a protester in what appeared to be an unmarked van.
Mark Pettibone, another protester, says he too was taken by federal agents in an unmarked van and that he still doesn’t know why he was detained.
“We were stopped by a smaller group of protesters … and they warned us that there had been some vans that they saw driving around, basically snatching up protesters that were by themselves, away from larger crowds — kind of vulnerable,” Pettibone, 29, said. “And within seconds of them warning us about that, sure enough, one pulled up right in front of us. So I fled.”
Pettibone said he ran because he had “no idea who these people were.” They were dressed in unmarked military gear and they did not state why they were stopping the protesters, he said.
“So I feared for my life and I ran. They eventually caught up with me and pulled me into the van,” Pettibone said, adding that the men who grabbed him pulled his hat down over his eyes as they searched for weapons.
Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Ken Cuccinelli said Tuesday that federal agents had been deployed to Portland after 35 to 40 straight days of violence during which “we obtained intelligence that the federal facilities there were going to be targeted and were going to see directed violence.”
He said that officers were sent to help the base officers already present at these facilities and claimed the intelligence was correct. “Over the Fourth of July weekend, when we had advanced other officers to Portland, there were additional assaults on the individuals and the facilities themselves.”
Cuccinelli said that “as long as the violence continues at that level associated with federal facilities, we’ll have to maintain our elevated presence.” He also said all federal agents are in uniform.
“The same protesters are coming night after night. They all recognize them as uniformed and all of our agents that you’ve seen interact with any of these crowds have their insignia on their sleeves — they’re identified as police front and back — so Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protection or Federal Protective Service. They are all clearly marked. They all identify themselves to individuals with whom they are interacting. For instance, if they are seizing somebody because they match the description of someone who assaulted a law enforcement officer, they identify themselves as federal agents immediately upon addressing that person. So that’s going on on a regular basis — that’s standard procedure.”
The incidents involving protesters being pulled into unmarked vehicles caught the attention of 53-year-old Christopher David, a U.S. Navy veteran, who said he was shocked by the agents’ actions.
“I saw the video of the men in combat fatigues with no insignia abducting citizens off the streets of Portland and stuffing them into unmarked vans,” David said. “And I was very concerned about that because if the federal government can do that, anybody can go to the store and … acquire used combat fatigues … get an unmarked minivan and then go off and abduct people off the streets. And we don’t know whether that’s the federal government or just a bunch of civilians playing dress up.”
David dressed in his old Naval Academy sweatshirt Saturday night when he attended the protests. He said he had hoped to start a dialogue with the federal agents, and remind them of their responsibility to defend American citizens and the Constitution.
“I took the oath of office — the oath of the Constitution — extremely seriously, and I know that all federal employees do as well, including those men who are down there attacking people and gassing people in downtown Portland,” David said. “And I wanted to ask them why they were no longer honoring their oath of office, why they were no longer honoring the Constitution, because what they were doing was blatantly unconstitutional.”
David wouldn’t see federal agents for most of the night, during which he said the protests were mostly peaceful. However, just as he was thinking about going home, he said eight to 10 of them came “rushing” out of the courthouse to confront a group of protesters.
“I had been standing in the park across from the courthouse when that happened,” he said. “So I walked into the street right in front of the courthouse. … And after they got done with that group, chasing them off, they came to me and surrounded me, and I started trying to talk to them. I said, ‘Why are you dishonoring your oath to the Constitution? Why are you doing unconstitutional things?'”
MORE: Oregon attorney general announces lawsuit against federal agents for their tactics on protesters David said that as the officers approached him, one of them “about 3 feet away” pointed a semiautomatic weapon at his chest.
“Then another officer came and plowed into me … he knocked me off balance,” David said. “Then I plant myself right there. I’m going to stand my ground right there.”
David said he knew the federal agents were going to beat him. “So I put my hands down and I just took it,” he said. He suffered a broken hand in two places and was treated by medics on site before being taken to the hospital, he said.
“I wasn’t a real person. I was a target with that guy,” he said. “When that little dude started whacking me with his baton, I really wonder what he was thinking at that moment.”
David said he still doesn’t know who they are or what agency they’re from, and that he only saw alphanumeric codes on a little patch on their clothing.
Richard Cline, deputy director of the DHS’ Federal Protective Service, said during a press conference Tuesday that the incident involving David was being investigated.
The U.S. Marshals, whose officers were involved in the incident, told ABC News in part that their actions were based upon the circumstances at the time of the incident and that the deputies believed that the force used was necessary to protect themselves and others from physical harm.
Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler was among six mayors from across the U.S. on Monday who signed a letter demanding the federal government remove its agents from their cities, calling their deployment to the protests “unacceptable” and “chilling” and accusing Trump of “terror tactics.”
Wheeler told ABC News he wants federal authorities removed before the violence goes too far.
“Your presence here isn’t wanted,” he told ABC News of the federal agents. “It is clearly ratcheting up the violence and the vandalism. Local and state law enforcement can handle this, and we need you to leave right now before somebody dies.”
After months of unrest, the clashes in Portland seem far from over. But there is still hope about where the movement will lead next.
“I want to use my 15 minutes to put out a message to my fellow vets,” David said. “I also want to use my 15 minutes to try to refocus this whole discussion back to Black Lives Matter.”
(WASHINGTON) — A Raytheon engineer who “endangered national security” was sentenced Wednesday to 1 1/2 years in prison.
Ahmed Serageldin had worked on a radar system used to defend against ballistic missiles and had pleaded guilty to keeping classified national defense documents about that system at his home without authorization.
Serageldin apologized for his behavior in court Wednesday.
“I was sloppy, but I have always been loyal to my job and to the country,” Serageldin said before the sentence was handed down.
Federal prosecutors in Boston had asked for five years in prison.
“He took over 3,100 digital documents,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Garland said, adding he also took more than 100 physical documents. More than 500 of those documents were labeled classified and “exposed” to anyone who wanted to see them.
“Defendant deserves this serious sentence because he deliberately endangered national security, at the very least by keeping national defense information where it was viewable and available to others,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
The judge said five years was too much and questioned whether the offense was as serious as prosecutors portrayed.
“You have no evidence that he actually transmitted it to a foreign power,” said Judge Patti Saris.
“That is correct we do not have that evidence,” Garland replied.
“That’s very important,” Saris said. “He’s not a trader or a spy. He basically misused classified information in his home.”
Defense attorneys called Serageldin, 67, of Sharon, Massachusetts, a “loyal American” who deserved nothing more than three years probation.
“He didn’t transfer secret documents anywhere,” defense attorney George Vien said. “He worked on them at home.”
Capt. Jason Hall, who oversees the Dual Band Radar for the United States Navy, told the judge that Serageldin’s conduct “could degrade the effectiveness” of the radar system.
“Compromise of this sensitive technical information would diminish the strategic advantage of successor radars,” Hall said.
While Saris said Serageldin intended no harm, she cited the volume of documents he kept at home when she imposed her 18-month sentence.
“I don’t think you intentionally harmed the United States, but you put it at risk,” the judge said.
(SAINT LOUIS, Mo.) — One person is dead and another injured after a shooting Wednesday at a mall in suburban St. Louis, police said.
The person who died was identified only as a man in his early 20s, police said. The age of the person, also a man, who was injured was not immediately clear.
A suspect is still on the loose.
A spokesman for the St. Louis County Police said in a press conference that although the event was initially believed to be an active shooter situation, further investigation showed that was not the case.
Police said two groups had been involved “in a dispute” at the St. Louis Galleria mall, located in the city of Richmond Heights, before shots were fired around 12:30 p.m. local time.
No other details were provided about the dispute and police are working to determine if there was a relationship between the groups.
Authorities are looking for someone who they described as a person of interest.
The spokesman said it was of “paramount importance” this person be identified and apprehended.
“We need to identify that individual as soon as possible,” he said.
Police are also looking for three or four other individuals who were in the group with the person of interest. Police believe they fled on foot.
St. Louis County Police remained at the scene along with multiple other jurisdictions.
The public is urged to avoid the area and the mall is expected to be closed for the day. Police noted that there is no known threat to others.
(TOPEKA, Kan.) — As school districts across the country grapple with how and when to reopen safely during the coronavirus pandemic, the Kansas State Board of Education rejected Gov. Laura Kelly’s executive order delaying the start of the school year despite rising cases of COVID-19 in the state.
In a virtual meeting on Wednesday, the 10-person board effectively blocked the order, which would have barred any public and private school K-12 instruction from Aug. 10 to Sept. 8, in a split vote. School districts can now decide when they want to start the school year for more than half a million students.
Kelly announced the executive order last week before releasing details on Monday. The additional three weeks, she said, would provide schools time to obtain supplies like masks, thermometers and hand sanitizer, as well as review curriculum options on in-person, hybrid and virtual learning that the state’s board of education released last week.
A law enacted last month by the Republican-controlled state legislature required the board to approve the Democratic governor’s executive order for school reopening.
Following the vote, Kelly said the decision “puts our students, faculty, their families and our economy at risk.”
“The cases of COVID-19 in Kansas are at an all-time high and continue to rise. Our decisions must be informed by public health experts not politics,” the governor said in a statement.
Kansas currently has 24,104 confirmed cases of COVID-19, according to state data. Since early June, cases have been steadily on the rise in the state. On July 13, Kansas saw a record number of new cases, with 1,447, according to The COVID Tracking Project.
During Wednesday’s board meeting, Kelly’s chief of staff, Will Lawrence, said the delay would give the state time to “flatten the curve.”
In voting for the order, Ann E. Mah said, “I want to be on the right side of history on this one.”
Jim Porter pointed out the irony of the members deciding on the “wisdom” of sending students and staff back to school “from the comfort and safety of our own homes,” before voting yes on the order.
Those opposed to the delay argued that districts, especially rural ones that don’t have outbreaks, should make their own decision on reopening.
“This virus is not the same across the state,” Jean Clifford said before voting against the order. Reacting on social media, some Kansans said they were “horrified” and “disappointed” by the order’s rejection, while others argued that this is not a “one-size-fits-all decision” and hoped that districts do “what is best for their students and staff.”
Ahead of Wednesday’s vote, some school districts had already announced plans to delay the start of the school year. On Tuesday, the school board in Kansas City, Kansas, voted to start school on Sept. 9, with virtual learning for the first nine weeks. The school district is seated in Wyandotte County, which has the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the state. Last week, Topeka’s school board also approved a plan to reopen remotely on Sept. 9.
Other school districts are still reviewing their plans, including Olathe in hard-hit Johnson County, which has the highest number of cases in the state. Wichita, the largest school district in Kansas, has yet to release its plan, but had said it was looking to have students start in-person in August.
borchee/iStockBy KARMA ALLEN, ABC News
