Month: January 2022

A devastating five-alarm fire broke out in an apartment building in the Fordham Heights neighborhood of the Bronx in New York City on Sunday, killing at least 19 people, including nine children.  More than 200 firefighters with the Fire Department of New York battled the blaze, which was first reported around 11 a.m. in the 19-floor building.

Officials described as one of the worst fires in decades.  NYC Mayor Eric Adams said during a press conference: “This is a horrific, horrific, painful moment for the city of New York and the impact of this fire is going to really bring a level of just pain and despair in our city. This is going to be one of the worst fires we have witnessed during modern times in the city of New York.”  According to data by the National Fire Protection Association, the 19 deaths makes the blaze the third deadliest apartment fire in the United States.

NYC Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro confirmed that the fire may have been sparked by a faulty electric space heater, stating the blaze began in an apartment spanning the building’s second and third floors.  Said Nigro: “The fire consumed that apartment that is on two floors and part of the hallway. The door to that apartment, unfortunately, when the residents left was left open it did not close by itself. The smoke spread throughout the building, thus the tremendous loss of life and other people fighting for their lives at hospitals throughout the Bronx.”

Fire officials said 63 people were deemed to have suffered injuries so far, with at least 32 of them taken to area hospitals. Officials have not released the names of any of the victims. In a press conference Sunday evening, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said the state would establish a victim’s compensation fund for those impacted by the fire.  Said Hochul: “We are indeed a city in shock. It’s impossible to go into that room, where scores of families, who are in such grief, who are in pain, to see in a mother’s eyes as I held her, who lost her entire family … it’s hard to fathom what they are going through.”

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Authorities confirmed that least 27 people were rescued from a large chunk of floating ice in Green Bay, Wisc.  The Brown County Sheriff’s Office said in a post on Facebook that deputies worked with firefighters, Department of Natural Resources officials and the Coast Guard to safely remove the people from the ice off the shore of Point Comfort in Green Bay on Saturday.  Luckily, no one was injured in the incident.

In a statement, the Sheriff’s office said: “The Brown County Sheriff’s Office airboat and the U.S. Coast Guard’s airboat out of Sturgeon Bay were great assets during this rescue. Their ability to carry up to eight additional passengers aside from rescue personnel and ability to traverse ice and water terrain greatly cut down on the amount of time and risk this rescue took.”

The sheriff’s office received reports of broken ice around 10:17 a.m. as the ice floated about three-quarters of a mile during the rescue, settling about a mile away from the shoreline once the operation was completed. While the ice remained in “fairly stable condition”, it was “deteriorating rapidly” and cracking as water crashed against the edges.  According to authorities: “Barge traffic yesterday appears to have weakened the ice along the east shore of the Bay, therefore, the ice should be avoided for all recreational use.”  

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/27-people-rescued-off-floating-ice-chunk-wisconsin-82164186

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Leaders of the nation’s third-largest school district canceled classes for a third consecutive day amid negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union over remote learning and other COVID-19 safety protocols. The teachers union voted this week to revert to online instruction, telling teachers to stay home starting Wednesday during the latest COVID-19 surge — just two days after students returned from winter break.  District officials had to cancel classes each day for students in the roughly 350,000-student district during negotiations, saying there’s no plan to return to districtwide remote instruction.

In a Thursday message to parents, district officials said classes would be canceled Friday but “in-person learning and activities may be available at a small number of schools” based on how many staff show up; a small percentage of teachers have continued to come to schools during what the district has labeled an “illegal work stoppage.” However, the offerings would vary from school to school, and some alerted parents earlier in the day that they wouldn’t have enough staff to have children and preemptively canceled.

Chicago Public Schools, like most other districts, has rejected a districtwide return to remote learning. District officials insist schools can safely remain open with protocols in place, however there was little sign Thursday that either side was softening. Issues on the table including more testing and metrics to trigger school closures.

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During an address on Thursday to commemorate the anniversary of the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol a year ago, President Joe Biden criticized former President Donald Trump, denouncing him for sowing a “web of lies” about voter fraud and a “stolen” election and undermined democracy in the United States because he couldn’t come to terms with the fact that he’d lost.

Biden gave his remarks at the National Statuary Hall at the Capitol, the building that was overrun by extremist Trump supporters in an effort to disrupt the Electoral College vote confirming Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election. In his speech, Biden said:  “I will stand in the breach. I will defend this nation, and I will allow no one to place a dagger at the throat of democracy. [Trump is] not just a former president, he’s a defeated former president.”  Biden accused his predecessor of valuing profit and personal gain over the rule of law and the will of the people.

Biden also noted that Trump did literally nothing to intervene for hours while a radicalized mob broke into the Capitol and looked to harm members of Congress. Said Biden:  “It was an armed insurrection. They were not trying to uphold the will of the people. They were looking to deny the will of the people. They were not looking to uphold a free and fair election, they were looking to overturn one.”

The president also had words for the rioters who ransacked the Capitol, saying they were not “patriots” and were not trying to save democracy.  Biden said:  “You can’t love your country only when you win. You can’t obey the law only when it’s convenient. You can’t be patriotic when you embrace and enable lies. Those who stormed this Capitol, those in instigated and incited it and those who called on them to do so, held a dagger at the throat of America.”

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13 people, including several children, were killed on Wednesday when fire broke out at a row house in Philadelphia’s Fairmount neighborhood. Firefighters arrived at the three-story property at about dawn and found heavy smoke coming from the second floor of the home, which is owned by the Philadelphia Housing Authority. Officials said it took crews almost an hour to get the blaze under control.

Philadelphia Deputy Fire Commissioner Craig Murphy told reporters during a press conference:  “It’s a sad, sad day for the Philadelphia Fire Department and the city. I’ve been around for 35 years now and this is probably one of the worst firsts I’ve ever been to.”  Murphy added: “There were four smoke detectors in that building and none of them operated.  There was an inspection done by the PHA in 2019. When they went out in 2019, they installed four smoke detectors. And there was another inspection in 2020. When they went out that time, they installed two smoke detectors.”

The home was divided into separate living spaces and 26 people were living there at the time of the fire. The PHA is the nation’s fourth-largest public housing authority and owns more than 14,000 affordable housing units, according to its website. Officials said the fire doesn’t appear to be suspicious, but the cause is under investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is aiding in the inquiry.

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Authorities in New Hampshire said Wednesday that the father of missing 7-year-old Harmony Montgomery has been arrested in connection with her disappearance in 2019, which remains unsolved. Adam Montgomery, a 31 year-old from Manchester, was arrested on a warrant charging him with felony second-degree assault arising from 2019 conduct against Harmony, as well as one misdemeanor charge of interference with custody and two misdemeanor charges of endangering the welfare of a child pertaining to Harmony, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said. Despite the arrest, the search for Harmony continues, authorities said. Montgomery was arraigned around noon in Hillsborough County Superior Court North Wednesday but did not appear in court after his arraignment and bail conditions were agreed to by lawyers.

According to court documents, Harmony’s mother first notified police in November that her daughter was missing, but police were unable to find Adam Montgomery, who had legal custody of the child. Last week, the state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families contacted police saying they couldn’t find the girl either. Harmony’s mother had lost custody to Adam Montgomery because of substance abuse issues, according to court documents, but upon regaining sobriety, she started looking for Harmony. After hearing from DCYF last week, Manchester police eventually found Adam Montgomery living in a car. He told police he gave Harmony to his mother around Thanksgiving 2019. However, police found his story inconsistent and Montgomery refused to cooperate.

Detectives have been investigating “non-stop” since becoming aware that Harmony was missing, the department added. They are working in conjunction with DCYF and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the FBI has also joined the investigation. Harmony is described as 4 feet tall, weighing about 50 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and glasses. Anyone with information on her whereabouts is asked to call Manchester police at (603) 668-8711. Anonymous tips can also be called in to the Manchester Crimeline (603) 624-4040. Manchester police said a reward is being offered in connection with the case, which was increased on Wednesday to $43,000.