Category: News

BlakeDavidTaylor/iStockBy MARLENE LENTHANG, ABC News(DALLAS) — A Texas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder, authorities said. Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the Dallas police force, was taken into custody and transported to the Dallas County Jail for processing, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a press conference. A man came forward in August 2019 and told investigators that Riser directed him to kidnap and kill two people in 2017, Garcia said. The murders took place when Riser was off-duty, Garcia added. Officials said his…

kali9/iStockBy Dr. MISHAL REJA, ABC News(NEW YORK) — Crisanna Tang, a New York-based health care worker, was just on her way to work. “A man got on the train without a mask,” said Tang, a 31-year-old Chinese American born in New Jersey and raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida, “and he sits across from me. He started saying, ‘Go back to China,’ and started spitting all over me, and said all these things about Chinese people causing the virus.” Tang is not alone. The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate said…

pinkomelet/iStockBy CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC News(AUSTIN, Texas) — Even as some states ease or end mask mandates, a handful of businesses say they will still require customers and staff to wear face coverings as the pandemic continues. The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced earlier this week that they were fully lifting mask mandates in their states. Texas’ mandate lifts on March 10, and Mississippi ended its mandate as of Wednesday. The moves drew ire from health officials and even President Joe Biden, who blasted the decisions as “Neanderthal thinking” amid…

Prince George’s County FireBy MARK OSBORNE, ABC News(LAUREL, Md.) — A former Maryland police chief is facing more than a dozen attempted murder charges after he allegedly targeted a series of enemies in at least 12 arson cases going back a decade, officials said. David M. Crawford, the former police chief of Laurel, Maryland, was charged and arrested on Wednesday. The 12 fires took place in Prince George’s, Montgomery, Howard, Frederick and Charles counties from 2011 until late last year. Law enforcement said it had been unable to make a…

uschools/iStockBy BEATRICE PETERSON and BENJAMIN SIEGEL, ABC News(WASHINGTON) — As Capitol Police and National Guard troops were on high alert amid a potential threat tied to March 4, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi downplayed that the House changed its schedule so it wouldn’t be in session on Thursday. “I don’t think anybody should take any encouragement that because some troublemakers might show up that we changed our whole schedule,” Pelosi told reporters. “No, we just moved it a few hours,” she said, to accommodate Republicans headed to an issues retreat Thursday…

ALFSnaiper/iStockBy LUIS MARTINEZ, ABC News (WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. officials confirmed Thursday that the Capitol Police have requested a 60-day extension for the National Guard presence at the Capitol. One official said the request is being reviewed. The request came as the Capitol was on high alert after threats of another possible attack plot tied to March 4. There are currently more than 5,000 National Guard members still in the city from a peak of 25,000 present for security at the Jan. 20 inauguration. The scheduled end of the current…

DNY59/iStockBy AARON KATERSKY, ABC News (NEW YORK) — In the first case of its kind in New York, a Long Island doctor has been charged with murder for prescription practices that led to the deaths of five patients between 2016 and 2018. Dr. George Blatti ignored repeated warnings and prescribed “massive quantities of opioids” and other drugs that killed five patients and endangered the lives of six others, prosecutors said Thursday. Blatti is the first doctor charged in New York with depraved indifference murder for prescription abuses. “This doctor’s prescription…

Rattankun Thongbun/iStockBy EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News (MONTGOMERY, Ala.) — Alabama’s governor said Thursday she is extending the state’s mask mandate until April 9. “After April the 9th I will not keep the mask order in effect,” Gov. Kay Ivey said at a news conference. “We’ve kept the mask mandate in place for more than a generous period of time because it’s helped,” she said. “We’ve seen dramatic results and real progress being made.” This week the state reached its lowest average for daily new coronavirus cases and hospitalizations since June,…

Park County Sheriff’s OfficeBy MORGAN WINSOR, ABC News (FAIRPLAY, Colo.) — A Colorado man has been arrested in connection with the unsolved murders of two women who were found dead in 1982, authorities said. Alan Lee Phillips, 70, of Dumont, Colorado, was taken into custody without incident in Clear Creek County on Feb. 24 and is currently being held at the Park County Jail in the town of Fairplay, about 90 miles southwest of Denver. Park County Sheriff Tom McGrath announced the arrest on Wednesday. “I am honored to make…

ABC NewsBy MAX GOLEMBO, ABC News (NEW YORK) — A strong storm hit Southern California Wednesday, bringing hail, snow and heavy rain to the area. The hail was so heavy that it covered the ground in San Diego and 1 to 2 inches of rain fell. Snow fell east of Los Angeles and on Mount Laguna near San Diego. Mount Laguna saw about 5 inches. On Thursday morning, the storm is moving through the central Rocky Mountains with heavy snow — up to 10 inches. In the afternoon and evening,…