(HOUSTON) — Juan Carlos Flores was on his delivery route in Houston on Monday when he found a 5-month-old baby abandoned on the side of a road after an apparent carjacking.
With the help of nearby residents, Flores was able to reunite the kidnapped baby with his mother.
“When I went close to the baby, I wanted to cry, because I [said] it’s impossible the baby can be here on the side of the street alone,” Flores told ABC News.
Home surveillance video showed the baby being left on the side of the road Monday morning. Ageint Security said the video showed several delivery truck drivers had driven past the baby in the 22 minutes before Flores spotted him.
The hero driver quickly alerted the closest resident and flagged down police, who were searching for the baby nearby. He led the officers back to the house where the neighbor was caring for the child.
“I asked [the neighbor] if the baby belongs to them, they said, ‘What, are you kidding me?’” said Flores. “[The police] came, like 5 to 10 cars of police, with the mom crying, and they told me the baby was stolen with the car.”
The Houston Police Department confirmed to ABC news that no arrests have been made so far. It’s asking for the community to help identify the driver seen dropping the baby off in the surveillance video.
Flores began driving for Amazon at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic. He told ABC News he has already delivered thousands of packages, but this was the best delivery he’s ever made and “the best thing that’s happened to me in my job.”
(NEW YORK) — A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 99.2 million people worldwide and killed over 2.1 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
Here’s how the news is developing Monday. All times Eastern:
Jan 25, 8:56 am Fauci says he believes UK variant is indeed more virulent
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the United States, said he believes a new, more contagious variant of the novel coronavirus that was first detected in the United Kingdom is also more virulent.
When British scientists first studied the mutation “intensively” on a case-by-case basis, Fauci said they initially thought the variant was more transmissible but not necessarily more likely to cause serious illness or death.
“When they went and became more gradual and looked at the data, they became convinced that it is in fact a bit more virulent, namely making it more difficult when you get to the point of serious disease and even death. So I believe their data. I haven’t seen all of it, but from what I’ve heard I believe the data,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told ABC News chief anchor George Stephanopoulos in an interview Monday on Good Morning America.
ABC News has learned that U.S. President Joe Biden plans to impose a ban on most non-U.S. citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa as well as reinstate an entry ban on almost all non-U.S. citizens from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European nations that allow travel across open borders. The move comes as new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus have emerged out of South Africa, Brazil and the U.K. Some researchers worry that the mutations could reduce the potency of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently being used in the U.S.


Fauci, who is Biden’s chief medical adviser, said he believes the South Africa travel ban was “prudent” and “the right decision,” though he admitted “there’s always a possibility and even a likelihood of some slippage.”

“Right now, even though our surveillance isn’t as comprehensive as we’d like it to be yet, it doesn’t appear that this particular mutant is in the United States — although it well may be,” he said. “But if you have a free inflow of people from a country in which that mutant is clearly dominant — I talk to my colleagues often in South Africa, it clearly is dominant there — I believe the travel ban will be important, in addition to having a situation where anybody coming into the country now is going to be required to have a negative test before they even get on the plane, when they land to have a degree of quarantine as well as another test.
Fauci expressed hope that the vaccine shortages and delays in many communities across the U.S. will be corrected “within a very reasonable period of time,” while cautioning, “it’s going to take a little time.”
“We’ve got to pull out all the stops,” he said. “We’ve got to get into the trenches and figure out exactly at that local level what’s going on and how to fix it.”
He said “getting the vaccine situation on track” is Biden’s “highest priority.”
“The president has said it publicly, but in a private session, just sitting down with him and with the medical team, he’s very serious. He said: ‘Science is going to rule. We’re going to go by the facts. We’re going to go by the evidence. We’re going to go by the data,'” Fauci recalled. “So the idea that the president himself sits down with you, says, ‘I want science to rule, go out there and do everything we need to do to get it done,’ just is really very refreshing.”
Jan 25, 8:17 am Biden to impose South Africa travel ban and reinstate restrictions on Brazil, much of Europe
U.S. President Joe Biden plans to impose a ban on most non-U.S. citizens entering the country who have recently been in South Africa as well as reinstate an entry ban on almost all non-U.S. citizens from Brazil, Ireland, the United Kingdom and 26 other European nations that allow travel across open borders, a White House official told ABC News.
The new restrictions are expected to go into effect on Saturday, the official said.

The move comes as a new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus have emerged out of South Africa, Brazil and the U.K. Some researchers worry that the mutations could reduce the potency of the two COVID-19 vaccines currently being used in the U.S.
Jan 25, 7:31 am Israel bans almost all incoming flights for one week
A ban on almost all incoming flights went into effect in Israel on Monday.
The ban will last until Jan. 31, according to a joint statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Transport.
The measure applies to all incoming flights except for cargo planes, aerial firefighting and flights for emergency medical evacuation. There is also a “temporary restriction” on permits for operating Israeli airlines, according to the statement.
Meanwhile, people are now only allowed to fly out of Israel for medical treatment, judicial proceedings to which the person is a party or must participate in, or the funeral of a close relative. The measure also applies to private Israeli planes, according to the statement.
The Israeli government previously announced it is extending the country’s lockdown to the end of the month amid a spike in COVID-19 infections, and that travelers are only allowed to board a flight to Israel on presentation of a negative COVID-19 test during the 72 hours preceding travel.
Jan 25, 6:27 am Fauci describes what it was like working with Trump
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, opened up about his experience working with former U.S. President Donald Trump in an interview with The New York Times that was published Sunday.
When COVID-19 began to rapidly spread in the northeastern part of the country last year, particularly in New York City, Fauci said Trump had “almost a reflex response” to try to “minimize” the situation.
“I would try to express the gravity of the situation, and the response of the president was always leaning toward, ‘Well, it’s not that bad, right?’ And I would say, ‘Yes, it is that bad,'” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told the newspaper. “It was almost a reflex response, trying to coax you to minimize it. Not saying, ‘I want you to minimize it,’ but, ‘Oh, really, was it that bad?'”
Fauci, who was a key member of the Trump administration’s coronavirus task force, said another thing that made him “really concerned” was the former president taking input from non-experts on unproven methods to treat COVID-19, like hydroxychloroquine.
“It was clear that he was getting input from people who were calling him up, I don’t know who, people he knew from business, saying, ‘Hey, I heard about this drug, isn’t it great?’ or, ‘Boy, this convalescent plasma is really phenomenal,'” Fauci told the newspaper. “And I would try to, you know, calmly explain that you find out if something works by doing an appropriate clinical trial; you get the information, you give it a peer review. And he’d say, ‘Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, this stuff really works.'”
“He would take just as seriously their opinion — based on no data, just anecdote — that something might really be important,” Fauci added. “That’s when my anxiety started to escalate.”
When the leadership of the White House coronavirus task force changed hands last February, with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence coordinating the government’s response and Trump at the podium taking questions from reporters during the press briefings, Fauci said it went from “the standard kind of scientifically based, public-health-based meetings” to “the anecdotally driven situations, the minimization, the president surrounding himself with people saying things that didn’t make any scientific sense.”
“Then I started getting anxious that this was not going in the right direction,” he told the newspaper. “We would say things like: ‘This is an outbreak. Infectious diseases run their own course unless one does something to intervene.’ And then he would get up and start talking about, ‘It’s going to go away, it’s magical, it’s going to disappear.'”
That’s when Fauci said it became clear to him that he needed to speak up, even if it meant contradicting the president.
“He would say something that clearly was not correct, and then a reporter would say, ‘Well, let’s hear from Dr. Fauci.’ I would have to get up and say, ‘No, I’m sorry, I do not think that is the case,'” he told the newspaper. “It isn’t like I took any pleasure in contradicting the president of the United States. I have a great deal of respect for the office. But I made a decision that I just had to. Otherwise I would be compromising my own integrity, and be giving a false message to the world. If I didn’t speak up, it would be almost tacit approval that what he was saying was OK.”
This upset Trump’s “inner circle,” Fauci said.
“That’s when we started getting into things I felt were unfortunate and somewhat nefarious — namely, allowing Peter Navarro to write an editorial in USA Today saying I’m wrong on most of the things I say,” he told the newspaper. “Or to have the White House press office send out a detailed list of things I said that turned out to be not true — all of which were nonsense because they were all true. The very press office that was making decisions as to whether I can go on a TV show or talk to you.”
Fauci said there were a couple times where Trump even called him personally to say, “Hey, why aren’t you more positive? You’ve got to take a positive attitude. Why are you so negativistic? Be more positive.”
Fauci said he and his family have received death threats, beginning last March, and that his wife once suggested he consider quitting.
“But I felt that if I stepped down, that would leave a void. Someone’s got to not be afraid to speak out the truth,” he told the newspaper. “Even if I wasn’t very effective in changing everybody’s minds, the idea that they knew that nonsense could not be spouted without my pushing back on it, I felt was important. I think in the big picture, I felt it would be better for the country and better for the cause for me to stay, as opposed to walk away.”
Jan 25, 5:13 am Russia sees lowest daily case count since November
Russia confirmed 19,290 new cases of COVID-19 on Sunday, the country’s lowest daily case count since the start of November, according to the country’s coronavirus response headquarters.
An additional 456 deaths from the disease were also registered nationwide on Sunday. That brings Russia’s totals to 3,738,690 confirmed cases and 69,918 deaths, according to the coronavirus response headquarters.
The Eastern European nation of 145 million people has the fourth-highest cumulative total of diagnosed COVID-19 cases, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Jan 25, 4:22 am US reports over 130,000 new cases
There were 130,485 new cases of COVID-19 confirmed in the United States on Sunday, according to a real-time count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
Sunday’s tally is the lowest daily case count that the U.S. has recorded in a month and is also far less than the country’s all-time high of 298,031 newly confirmed infections on Jan. 2, Johns Hopkins data shows.
An additional 1,770 fatalities from COVID-19 were registered nationwide on Sunday, down from a peak of 4,462 new deaths on Jan. 12, according to Johns Hopkins data.
COVID-19 data may be skewed due to possible lags in reporting over the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday weekend.
A total of 25,127,009 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 419,215 have died, according to Johns Hopkins data. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
Much of the country was under lockdown by the end of March as the first wave of the pandemic hit. By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up over the summer.
The numbers lingered around 40,000 to 50,000 from mid-August through early October before surging again to record levels, crossing 100,000 for the first time on Nov. 4, then reaching 200,000 on Nov. 27 before nearing 300,000 on Jan. 2.
(TACOMA, Wash.) — An independent investigation is underway after a Tacoma Police Department officer struck at least one pedestrian with his patrol car while trying to clear a crowded scene.
Officers responded to the intersection of South 9th Street and Pacific Avenue in Tacoma around 6 p.m. Saturday night after receiving “numerous reports” of an incident that was occurring there, according to a police press release.
When authorities arrived, there were several vehicles and about 100 people blocking the intersection, police said, but did not provide additional details on the incident. According to ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO-TV, the crowd was watching a “street sideshow.”
Officers then began clearing the intersection, but during the operation, police said people surrounded a police vehicle as the officer was stopped in the street. The officer, “fearing for his safety,” then tried to back up but was unable to do so due to the crowd, police said. He then hit at least one pedestrian while trying to escape, police said.
“While trying to extricate himself from an unsafe position, the officer drove forward striking one individual and may have impacted others,” the press release states.
A witness wrote on Twitter that the officer was in pursuit of a driver doing burnouts nearby. Video shared by that same witness appeared to show the back tires of a police SUV moving forward running over the victim as the crowd screamed in horror.
Another video posted to the social media site appeared to show the SUV driving into a crowd of people, knocking several over before running over the victim.
The officer then “stopped at a point of safety and called for medical aid,” according to police. The victim was transported to an area hospital.
Puyallup Police Capt. Dan Pashon, who is part of the team investigating the incident, told KOMO that two people were transported to the hospital. One victim has been released, and the other remained in the hospital as of Saturday evening, KOMO reported.
Additional information about the victims and their conditions was not immediately available.
The incident has been turned over to the Pierce County Force Investigation Team, which will conduct an independent review, police said.
Tacoma Police interim Chief Mike Ake said in a statement that he is “concerned” that the department is “experiencing another use of deadly force incident.”
“I send my thoughts to anyone who was injured in tonight’s event, and am committed to our Department’s full cooperation in the independent investigation and to assess the actions of the department’s response during the incident.”
ABC News’ Alice Chambers, Ben Jimenez and Timmy Truong contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A turbulent week of weather is ahead with three different major storms expected to track across the United States.
The two biggest takeaways form this extremely active weather pattern includes the increasing likelihood of a long-duration heavy rain and snow event coming to California that could have major impacts to the state.
Already this morning a quick hit of snow is moving through the upper Midwest and is quickly dropping 1 to 3 inches of snow.
The quick round of snow brought hazardous travel conditions to I-80 in Nebraska on Saturday night where ABC News affiliate KETV is reporting an accident caused two deaths and one injury after a car crossed the median and collided with a semi-truck.
There are winter weather alerts being issued this morning with more certainly to be issued in the coming hours.
A storm will bring some more mountain snow and valley rain in the Southern Rockies later Sunday and into Monday.
It will bring snow and ice to parts of the central Plains and Midwest and some additional severe weather will be possible across parts of northern Texas and Oklahoma where, locally, damaging winds and hail will be possible.
By Monday night, the snow and wintry mix will stretch from Iowa to New Jersey with the heaviest snow falling from northern Kansas into parts of Illinois.
Chicago, in particular, could quickly pile up several inches of snow on Monday night and a wintry mix is likely to cause slick roadways from Indianapolis to the Appalachian mountains.
As the storm slides east, it will have some trouble producing snow near the major northeast cities and this likely means that snowfall amounts near Philadelphia and New York will be kept in the low range.
On the snowfall forecast, locally over 6 inches of snow is expected from western Kansas to Chicago and a few areas of 3 to 6 inches is possible from the Kansas-Nebraska Border to Ohio.
It is important to note that the snow totals look quite low near the major northeast Cities and Chicago could easily pick up over 6 inches of snow from this storm on Monday night.
Another storm will quickly move into the western U.S. on Sunday and bring widespread mountain snow and heavy rain from San Francisco to Los Angeles.
Locally, 10 inches of snow will be possible in the southern California mountains later Sunday and Monday which could make travel very treacherous.
As this storm moves across the country, it will bring another quick hit of snow to parts of the Midwest.
Once this storm reaches the East Coast, it remains unclear just how intense the storm will be and exactly where this storm will track.
Some computer models are indicating that a rather powerful storm will develop near the mid-Atlantic and bring at least some snow to the mid-Atlantic states by Thursday.
Given that the models aren’t in agreement on some of the most important details of this setup, uncertainty remains high at this time.
Also by the middle of the week, another separate storm will arrive in California and, as of Sunday morning, this storm looks to be the most concerning.
The storm will bring an atmospheric river of moisture to California that will bring torrential rain and extreme mountain snow for the second half of the week.
One of the biggest concerns is that California saw five of its top six fires by acreage in its history in 2020 and there is a tremendous amount of land there that is susceptible to debris flows and mudslides.
Additionally, there is an excessive rainfall forecast for the week and the region will become more susceptible to flash flooding with locally over 10 inches of snow possible in California this week alone.
Several feet of snow could make travel through mountain passes impossible and quite dangerous.
(NEW YORK) — Tributes are pouring in for iconic TV host Larry King, who died Saturday morning at age 87.
Former President Bill Clinton tweeted, “I enjoyed my 20+ interviews with Larry King over the years. He had a great sense of humor and a genuine interest in people. He gave a direct line to the American people and worked hard to get the truth for them, with questions that were direct but fair. Farewell, my friend.”
I enjoyed my 20+ interviews with Larry King over the years. He had a great sense of humor and a genuine interest in people. He gave a direct line to the American people and worked hard to get the truth for them, with questions that were direct but fair. Farewell, my friend. pic.twitter.com/Q28Xy4F91W
Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, tweeted, “I mourn the passing of Larry King whom I have known for nearly 40 years. He was a great interviewer – sensitivity, humorous and witty. And he actually let you talk! An all around mensch. Millions around the world shall miss him, including myself.”
CNN founder Ted Turner said in a statement, “Larry was one of my closest and dearest friends and, in my opinion, the world’s greatest broadcast journalist of all time. If anyone asked me what are my greatest career achievements in life; one is the creation of CNN, and the other is hiring Larry King. Like so many who worked with and knew Larry, he was a consummate professional, an amazing mentor to many and a good friend to all. The world has lost a true legend.”
CNN President Jeff Zucker said in a statement, “We mourn the passing of our colleague Larry King. The scrappy young man from Brooklyn had a history-making career spanning radio and television. His curiosity about the world propelled his award-winning career in broadcasting, but it was his generosity of spirit that drew the world to him.”
“We are so proud of the 25 years he spent with CNN, where his newsmaker interviews truly put the network on the international stage,” Zucker said. “From our CNN family to Larry’s, we send our thoughts and prayers, and a promise to carry on his curiosity for the world in our work.”
Here are more tributes to King:
I am saddened by the news of Larry King’s passing. He was a unique & legendary interviewer with a talent for putting his guests at ease while getting answers to the most important questions of interest to the millions who tuned in each night. He will be greatly missed.
Larry King was a Brooklyn boy who become a newsman who interviewed the newsmakers. He conducted over 50,000 interviews that informed Americans in a clear and plain way.
New York sends condolences to his family and many friends.
I’ve known Larry King since I arrived in LA 42 years ago. Larry King Live changed CNN in the 80s blending entertainment with news & I loved being on the show. Larry was one of the best interviewers on TV. Always well prepared, asked intelligent questions, & always made the pic.twitter.com/kuDOx6gob5
It is literally true that thousands of us can make that sad statement this morning. While he was easily caricatured, I’ve never known anybody who made a bigger deal out of the slightest kindness afforded him. #RIPLarryKing
Larry King was a friend through thick and thin. A masterful interviewer and storyteller. He helped put CNN on the map by making news through the art of dialogue.. May he Rest In Peace.
Just heard the awful news about Larry King. He taught me so much. He was a true mensch. He probably even taught me that word. So long pal, thanks for all the laughs. Say hi to Rickles. #RIPLarryKing
Larry King was a legendary radio and tv pioneer. I always loved doing his tv shows and occasionally he would ask me to guest host while he was on vacation. One with Jack Hanna and animals from the Columbus Zoo remains a favorite. Larry will be missed but he left fond memories.
Thanks for the countless interviews and insights, Larry King. You understood human triumph and frailty equally well, and that is no easy feat. There was no one else like you, and you shall be missed. Rest with the heavens now.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are saddened by the passing of Larry King and offer their deepest condolences to his family and friends. pic.twitter.com/Di0aw7LZ5R
I’ve had the honor of being interviewed by Larry King multiple times in my life. It was always a joy and a pleasure. He truly was the King of Talk. On a personal level, I’ll miss him. Professionally, we’ll all miss him. Rest In Peace, my friend. pic.twitter.com/lPt2BZybva
iStockBy: HALEY YAMADA, ABC News 
