July 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Oleksii Liskonih/iStockBy CHRISTINA CARREGA, ABC NEWS

Following several weeks of protest that resulted in clashes with law enforcement officials in Oregon, the state’s attorney general has launched a criminal investigation into two “unlawful” tactics allegedly made by federal agents.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum also announced she filed a federal civil lawsuit on Friday evening against the Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection to begin the process for a restraining order to stop the agents “from unlawfully detaining Oregonians.”

The lawsuit asks for a declaration that the federal agents’ alleged actions violate the First Amendment as well as the Fourth and Fifth Amendments, and “an injunction permanently restraining defendants from engaging in tactics” such as the two incidents Rosenblum says were “unlawful.”

Requests for comment from the named defendants in the civil case were not returned on Saturday.

U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy J. Williams also ordered an investigation into federal law enforcement’s actions in Portland on Friday.

On the heels of the police-involved death of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25, protests sparked nationwide calling for an end to police brutality against people of color and for reforms to law enforcement. Many of the peaceful protests escalated with the arrests of thousands across the country.

Even as recent protests nationwide have been mostly peaceful, there has been violence at demonstrations in Portland, Oregon.

The lawsuit follows recent threats by President Donald Trump to override local authorities in cities he described as “war zones” run by “liberal left-wing Democrats.”

Acting Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Chad Wolf said earlier this week that Portland has been “under siege for 47 straight days by a violent mob while local political leaders refuse to restore order to protect their city.”

In the lawsuit, Rosenblum writes, “The federal administration has chosen Portland to use their scare tactics to stop our residents from protesting police brutality and from supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.”

Rosenblum also singles out two incidents this month when federal agents allegedly assaulted or arrested “peaceful” protesters.

The first incident, on July 12, left a protester with “several injuries” to the head after an agent allegedly used an “impact weapon.” A joint criminal investigation with the Multnomah County District Attorney Rod Underhill was launched regarding this alleged assault, Rosenblum said. The Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has also launched an investigation.

In the second incident, on July 16, a man was walking down the street when an unmarked car with “undercover federal agents wearing generic green military fatigues forcibly detained” him. The arrest, filmed by a bystander, was viewed millions of times on Twitter.

According to CBP spokesperson Stephanie Malin, “[CBP] agents had information indicating the person in the video was suspected of assaults against federal agents or destruction of federal property.”

The man, identified by Rosenblum as Mark Pettibone, was “eventually” released. CBP confirmed no charges were filed.

Pettibone said in a declaration of support for Rosenblum’s lawsuit that he was peacefully protesting when he was suddenly detained and searched and held in a cell at the federal courthouse before being released.

“No one told me why I had been detained, provided me with any record of an arrest, or explained what probable cause they had to detain me,” he wrote.

“These tactics must stop. They not only make it impossible for people to assert their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully. They also create a more volatile situation on our streets,” said Rosenblum.

Gov. Kate Brown told ABC News late Friday that she has asked Wolf to remove the agents from the state.

“They obviously have refused to leave. … Their presence here is … making a challenging situation even more difficult. It’s like pouring gasoline on a fire,” said Brown.

Wolf and acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli refuted that all the protesters have been peaceful in separate Twitter posts Friday.

“DHS officers were assaulted with lasers and frozen water bottles from violent criminals attempting to tear down federal property,” Wolf wrote.

“The only positive thing I can think of to say about these criminals is at least they’re clear about what they want to do, even if they don’t care about who they hurt: Portland protesters flood police precinct, chant about burning it down,” wrote Cuccinelli.

Lawyers with the American Civil Liberties Union announced Friday it would attempt to secure a restraining order against federal law enforcement responding to demonstrations. If granted, the order would prevent federal authorities from removing journalists or legal observers from protest areas.

The ACLU’s complaint aims to build on a similar order requiring Portland police to have probable cause of a committed crime before arresting or using force against protest observers and journalists.

“The answer to protests against police brutality can’t be bringing in federal agents to engage in even more brutality,” said Vera Eidelman, a national attorney with the ACLU.

ABC News’ Quinn Owen contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

July 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Go Nakamura/Getty ImagesBY: WILLIAM MANSELL AND ELLA TORRES, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — The novel coronavirus pandemic has now killed more than 600,000 people worldwide.

Over 14.1 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their nations’ outbreaks.

The United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 3.6 million diagnosed cases and at least 139,266 deaths.

Here is how the news is developed Friday. All times Eastern. Check back for updates.

1:55 p.m.: DeSantis not worried about virus affecting his kids

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called the risk of his children getting infected with COVID-19 “incredibly low,” adding that he does not “fear this virus’ effect on my kids.”

The governor said he came to this conclusion after looking at the data in the U.S., Florida and across the world. His comments come as many states are struggling with if and how to offer in-person schooling this fall in the absence of any meaningful federally issued guidelines.

He also updated the public on the state’s handling of the virus, including that hospitals in Florida will receive 30,000 more bottles of remdesivir, an antiviral COVID-19 drug candidate, within the next two days.

1:12 p.m.: FDA approves 1st emergency use authorization for pool testing

The Food and Drug Administration has issued the first emergency use authorization for pooled testing for COVID-19, according to a statement from the agency.

The sample pooling will allow up to four people to be tested at once, which is “an important public health tool because it allows for more people to be tested quickly using fewer testing resources,” the agency said.

Samples collected from the pool are tested using one test, the FDA said. If the pool is positive, it means one or more people tested positive so then each sample is tested again individually. This testing method still requires individual nasal swab specimens.

The authorization for the testing method was granted to Quest Diagnostics.

11:59 a.m.: Arizona reports record number of deaths

In Arizona, 147 people died over the last 24 hours, according to the state’s health department, marking the highest number of daily deaths to date.

The previous record was 117 on on July 7. At least 2,730 in the state have now died.

The daily positivity rate was particularly high, at 35%, in part because the number of new tests was half of what was reported Friday.

Hospitalizations, however, did drop by more than 200 — the most significant decline all summer.

10:46 a.m.: Florida deaths surpass 5,000

The Florida Department of Health reported that 90 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths to 5,002.

The number of cases increased by 10,328, with the total reaching 337,569. This positivity rate clocked in at 12.17%, according to the department.

Hospitalizations rose 441 from Friday.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to address the media in his daily briefing later this afternoon.

9:14 a.m.: Miami Beach establishes 8 p.m. curfew

Miami Beach residents are now under an 8 p.m. curfew amid rising cases in Florida.

The curfew which went into effect Saturday at 12:01 a.m., is two hours before the countywide curfew and will run through July 24.

All businesses in the area, including commercial, entertainment and restaurants, must close by 8 p.m. Take-out will also be prohibited from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m., but kitchens can remain open during those times if they are providing delivery services.

8:37 a.m.: 25 million infected in Iran, president says

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said that a startling 25 million Iranians have been infected with the coronavirus, a figure that is much higher than the official toll of some 271,000 and surpasses the current confirmed cases globally.

Rouhani said the 25 million was based off a new Health Ministry report, but did not detail why there was such a discrepancy.

The president also said that another 35 million people “will be at risk.” Iran has a population of more than 80 million.

“Our estimate is that as of now 25 million Iranians have been infected with this virus and about 14,000 have lost their dear lives,” Rouhani said in a televised speech.

Iran’s official toll of confirmed cases is 271,606, according to Johns Hopkins data, putting them in the top 10 countries hardest hit. Globally, there are more than 14 million confirmed cases.

The 25 million infected would make Iran the hardest-hit country. The United States currently holds that position, with more than 3.6 million.

7:02 a.m.: Florida Sheriff uses chopper to break up ‘COVID-19 parties’

The Osceola County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced it is using helicopters to patrol and break up “COVID-19 parties.”

The sheriff’s office released aerial footage from the helicopter Friday showing a large gathering happening in the street and then deputies pulling up to the gathering to break it up.

Sheriff Russ Gibson told ABC affiliate WFTV-TV that many young people are gathering at a house party to either plan to catch the coronavirus or not care if they get infected.

Gibson said his department plans to increase its patrols this weekend and focus on three subdivisions in the west side of the county where he said people are renting homes for the weekend and having large groups over for house parties, according to WFTV.

The large gatherings come at a time when Florida is seeing a sharp surge in coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and deaths.

Florida has more than 327,000 diagnosed cases, with at least 4,805 deaths.

The Sunshine state added 11,548 new cases on Friday, the third consecutive day the state has had a single-day case total over 10,000. Friday also marks the third consecutive day where the state reported over 120 deaths. Over 9,000 patients are also currently hospitalized, nearly 1,900 of them in Miami-Dade county.

4:51 a.m.: US death count up 19%

The number of new coronavirus cases is up 19.7% from last week and the national death count is up 19% during the same period, according to an internal Federal Emergency Management Agency memo obtained by ABC News.

Those figures aren’t the only increases. The national fatality rate is now 3.8% and the test positivity rate saw a slight increase in the last seven days, coming in at 10.1%. It was 9.8% during the week prior, according to the FEMA. memo.

Other concerning rises include that 13% of COVID-19 inpatients are on a ventilator, which is the first weekly rise in this stat since early June. Also, 32% of in-use ventilators across the U.S. are occupied by COVID-19 patients. At the coronavirus peak in April, it was 45%. In early June, it was 17%, according to FEMA.

The number of available ICU beds also continues to be a problem. The memo said that 19% of all medical facilities in the U.S. have more than 80% of their ICU beds filled.

Two of the hardest-hit states, Florida and Texas, are still not seeing a slowdown in cases. From July 8-14, Florida had its highest test-positivity rate to date at 17.9%. It also had a record daily death toll of 156 on July 16. Hospitalizations in the sunshine state, according to the FEMA memo, are expected to peak in 10 days.

Meanwhile in Texas, the state had record highs of cases and deaths on July 15.

This grim news is not exclusive to the U.S., COVID-19 cases reached 14 million across the globe Friday. The world hit 10 million on June 28 — a 40% increase in less than three weeks.

Copyright © 2020, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

July 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

JulNichols/iStockBY: WILLIAM MANSELL, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — Even before the global coronavirus pandemic forced people to stay inside and businesses to close in a largely unprecedented way, summer months strained electrical grids. The oppressive heat forces residential and commercial units alike to crank up the air conditioning, causing a significant increase in power usage and a greater likelihood of a blackout.

But now, with a record number of people working from home, combined with high unemployment amid the summer heat here in the U.S., there could be a heightened risk of power outages, experts say, despite the overall decrease in power consumption across the country.

At issue are residential grids that are not designed for the sustained increase in power demand. The issue was examined in a report by the Earth Institute at Columbia University, which focused on electricity usage in hundreds of Manhattan apartments in April.

Overall, weekday electricity use in those apartments increased by 7% after New York City’s stay-at-home order from March 30 – April 5. However, when the study looked at “work” hours, the departure was more pronounced. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, the report said there was a 23% increase in “average apartment-level electricity consumption.”

And this data was published in late April, before temperatures started to climb, which is a key contributing factor to power outages, study author Vijay Modi, professor of mechanical engineering and a faculty member of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, told ABC News.

New York as a case study

While an increase in residential power use is expected, The New York Independent System Operator, a not-for-profit corporation responsible for operating the state’s bulk electricity grid, said the “electricity supplies in New York State will be adequate to meet forecasted peak demand conditions.”

In its initial summer report, New York ISO said the state’s peak load this summer is predicted to reach 32,296 megawatts (MW), which is well below the 41,319 MW of power resources available across the Empire State. New York’s record peak demand of 33,956 MW was set in July 2013.

New York City’s response to the coronavirus has led to an 8-10% decrease in the overall electricity usage in the state from July 5 – July, the New York ISO report said, which includes systems serving both commercial and residential areas.

The report indicates an increase in residential energy use, “especially during the midday,” but did not share specific numbers. It said it prepared to meet consumer energy demands this summer.

“The grid is well-equipped to handle forecasted summer demand,” Wes Yeomans, New York ISO vice president of operations, said in a statement. “We operate the grid to meet reliability rules that are among the strictest in the nation and are designed to ensure adequate supply.”

Con Edison, New York City’s main power provider, said it’s also prepared to handle the increased loads.

“No utility would guarantee that there will be no outages for an entire summer. Heat, humidity and increased demand for power place stress on equipment. But if outages occur, our crews will respond,” a Con Ed spokesperson told ABC News.

The company told ABC News it has spent $1.3 billion to prepare its system for summer 2020 and is “confident that we have done everything possible to maintain reliable service.”

Similar to the Columbia University study, Con Edison said it forecasts overall New York City usage to be down because of a decrease in office use but with an increase in residential areas. Should an outage occur, the utility said it would send generators to those affected.

The key area for concern is residential grids, Yury Dvorkin, assistant professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, told ABC News.

“Due to stay-at-home orders, residential demand has changed its typical cyclic daily profile and, in many cases, has increased,” Dvorkin testified during a New York City Council meeting in late May about the city’s cooling needs.

He said even if large parts of Manhattan are using less energy, that doesn’t mean it’s going to help grids deliver power to residents in Queens or Brooklyn, areas he said that have seen a huge rise in new residential units over the past several years.

Not all grids, even in the same city, are created equally. Systems serving primarily residential areas throughout the U.S. would likely see a greater risk of power outages because those grids were not designed for people to be home.

Modi said it’s not just heat and usage that leads to blackouts, it’s also a combination of time and days during a surge of usage. Residential grids, he said, are typically not set up for people to be working from home during weekdays, and this out of norm usage pattern increases the probability of a blackout on a hot day.

“I think it will be a combination of all those [things] and now you add on top of that, if we are all not going to the beach or park, everybody at home on that hot day, kids are not at camp, using A/C across the buildings … that’s starting to increase the risk,” Modi said.

Vulnerable populations

An added risk for residents this summer if there’s a lengthy power outage is that many places people could go to cool down, libraries, malls, gyms, etc., are shut down or operating at limited capacity due to social distancing demands.

Dvorkin said many residents are electricity-vulnerable and cannot withstand a prolonged power outage. It could only be three to four hours before health issues would arise following a blackout for the most at-risk population.

For some, “if you can’t restore [power] within that time frame, people will incur some long-term health implications,” he told ABC News. Electricity is a “critical dependency because some have life support equipment at home which must be recharged,” he said.

The potential pitfalls for electrical grids this summer won’t be limited to New York City: areas across the country where temperatures are high and usage is up are at an increased risk, the Earth Institute study said.

“There is no reason to expect that the changes we are observing in New York City are not occurring in other U.S. regions, or elsewhere in the world,” the Earth Institute authors wrote. “Furthermore, in places where energy loads are primarily residential, and there is not a proportional reduction in nonresidential load, we would expect to see total energy demands increasing — along with higher risk for disruptions to existing energy supply and distribution systems.”

The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that power consumption in the country will actually decline by 4% in 2020 and then grow by 1% in 2021.

“This decline in expected consumption reflects significant changes in electricity consumption patterns resulting from efforts to mitigate COVID-19,” EIA said in a statement Tuesday. “These mitigation and reopening efforts are currently evolving, which introduces heightened uncertainty into the STEO’s electricity forecasts.”

However, like other energy forecasts, EIA’s report includes both commercial and residential use. It says the decline is almost solely from the drop in commercial and industrial use.

National sales of electricity to residential areas was 8% higher in April this year compared to April 2019. Despite the increase in a month before temperatures spiked, EIA said it forecasts “COVID-19 mitigation efforts will decrease gradually through the third quarter of 2020” and that 2020’s power usage numbers will be flat compared to 2019.

Soaring temperatures tax the system

Modi said the issue of increased temperatures this year would be particularly troubling for warmer regions of the U.S.

“If I’m in a hot climate and I see COVID numbers growing, [like] in Phoenix and everybody is home and it’s hot and everyone has cranked up their A/C, I think they will see impacts,” Modi said.

And the weather is not expected to cooperate. In fact, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration forecasts warmer summer temperatures throughout the U.S., especially along the coasts.

In NOAA’S latest climate report, much of the U.S. has a 50% chance or higher to exceed normal temperatures from July through September. Places that have an even higher probability of warmer temps include the Northeast, West Coast, Southwest, Florida and Alaska.

Those temperatures are likely to test grids throughout the summer as states like Arizona, Texas, Florida re-institute some shutdown policies due to recent spikes in COVID-19 hospitalizations, forcing more people to stay at home.

However, Arizona Public Service, who provides electricity to more than 2.7 million people in Arizona, said even with temperatures forecast to be above 110 degrees in the state this weekend, the organization does see residents’ power being impacted.

“We do not foresee any issues with meeting or planning for demand and no concerns in continuing to do so should the stay-at-home conditions continue,” Jacob Tetlow, Senior Vice President of Operations at APS, said in a statement to ABC News. “We like to say ‘summer is our season.’ Warm temperatures are normal, and we work all year long to prepare for summer. We have the resources and supplies in place to reliably meet customer demand.”

APS said it does not anticipate any disruption of service this summer despite its peak demand forecast for 2020 7,470 MW of is expected to exceed its all-time peak demand of 7,367 MW, which was set in 2017. The company said it has a 15% reserve margin to combat these types of peaks, even in residential areas.

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July 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

Mason Trinca/Getty ImagesBY: QUINN OWEN, LUKE BARR AND JAKE DATE, ABC NEWS

(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The U.S. attorney in Oregon has requested an investigation of federal law enforcement agents following recent clashes between federal agents and demonstrators protesting police brutality in Portland.

The request comes in the wake of threats by President Donald Trump to override local authorities in cities he described as “war zones” run by “liberal left-wing Democrats.” The agents deployed in Portland this week were part of a Department of Homeland Security task force established to respond to the growing protests and acts of civil disobedience that came after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

“They just want to destroy our country,” Trump said Thursday. “We’re not going to let it happen. We’re not letting it happen.”

Ken Cuccinelli, the acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security, took to Twitter early Friday to accuse Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler of having “encouraged and aided” violence in his own city after Wheeler called for an end to the administration’s “heightened troop presence.”

The “coordinated strategy” from @POTUS is to bring law enforcement to bear on criminal violence. The “tense situation” is the over 40 days of violence @Tedwheeler has encouraged and aided by handicapping the police and praising the violent criminals. https://t.co/NmhSmcAVTn

— Acting Deputy Secretary Ken Cuccinelli (@HomelandKen) July 17, 2020

https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

Wheeler doubled down in a press conference Friday afternoon asking for Trump to remove the troops: “Keep your troops in your own buildings, or have them leave our city.”

Cuccinelli told “Fox and Friends” on Friday morning the agency is prepared to send more federal agents “to places like Portland,” even without a request from local authorities. Certain DHS agents typically protect federal buildings, like courthouses, where Cuccinelli said the department may need to surge personnel.

He went on to suggest that local officials have directly enabled violent protesters.

“This is not just random where these violent rioters go,” he said. “And it’s probably not a coincidence that the local government is willing to let them attack the federal government because they support them.”

The Homeland Security Office of Inspector General has already launched one inquiry into possible misuse of force by federal agents after reports surfaced last week that a demonstrator had been shot in the head with a nonlethal munition.

A video circulated widely online this week showed agents pulling up to arrest a demonstrator in what appeared to be an unmarked van. They were later identified as Border Patrol agents operating as part of an extended federal mandate by the Trump administration to crack down on contentious protests.

“Based on news accounts circulating that allege federal law enforcement detained two protestors without probable cause, I have requested the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General to open a separate investigation directed specifically at the actions of DHS personnel,” U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said in a statement.

Customs and Border Protection said the person seen taken into custody in the viral video was suspected of a prior crime.

“[CBP] agents had information indicating the person in the video was suspected of assaults against federal agents or destruction of federal property,” CBP spokesperson Stephanie Malin said in a statement.

The person who was detained was questioned and let go with no charges filed, according to a CBP official.

Jann Carson with the American Civil Liberties Union of Oregon called the incident a “kidnapping.”

“What is happening now in Portland should concern everyone in the United States,” Carson said in a statement. “Usually when we see people in unmarked cars forcibly grab someone off the street we call it kidnapping.”

ACLU lawyers said they would attempt to secure a restraining order against federal law enforcement responding to demonstrations. If granted, the order would prevent federal authorities from removing journalists or legal observers from protest areas.

“It has not shocked us, but there’s been a shameful response by law enforcement in both Portland and across the country engaged in a backlash against these protests,” said Oregon ACLU’s Kelly Simon.

The lawyer’s complaint aims to build on a similar order requiring Portland police to have probable cause of a committed crime before arresting or using force against protest observers and journalists.

When federal agents are deployed outside their normal duties, CBP generally refrains from disclosing specifics about how many are sent to each area.

“Personnel deployed have specialized training for operations in chaotic environments such as the ones we have recently faced across the country,” a CBP spokesperson said in a statement.

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July 18, 2020 • No Comments • National News

ABC NewsBY: REED MCDONOUGH, ABC NEWS

(NEW YORK) — At least 21 states have some type of heat alert Saturday, from the Great Plains to New England.

Heat index values are expected to soar into the triple digits for the central U.S. Saturday, while heat index values in the 90s will impact the Northeast.

The heat wave will continue to build through the weekend, especially in the Northeast, where cities are expected to remain in a heat wave through the beginning of next week. Heat index values will hover in the triple digits from Washington D.C. to Philadelphia and even New York City through at least Tuesday.

Heat isn’t the only weather-related issue impacting the U.S. this weekend. More than 11 million people are at risk for severe weather Saturday across the Midwest and western Great Lakes region.

The main threats will be potentially damaging wind and large hail and a few possible tornadoes.

Meanwhile out west, red flag warnings remain in effect through Saturday night for portions of Idaho and Wyoming. Dry air, along with wind gusts near 30 mph, pose a risk for fires to easily spread Saturday.

Conditions are expected to improve later this weekend.

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