AI wildfire detection cameras in Wisconsin are providing real-time alerts for local fire departments and state agencies.

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A former Utah school bus driver who admitted to setting fire to his school bus, was sentenced to five years in federal prison, bringing an end to a decade-long case that raised concerns about student safety.

Michael Austin Ford, 60, of West Valley City, pleaded guilty in March to arson of a vehicle belonging to an organization receiving federal funds after investigators determined he intentionally ignited a Granite School District bus with a cigarette lighter while driving it in April 2023. Federal prosecutors said surveillance video captured Ford setting the fire beneath the dashboard and continuing to drive as smoke billowed past his face.

In addition to the prison term, Ford was sentenced Monday to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $21,000 in restitution.

The case drew heightened attention because prosecutors also accused Ford of setting another school bus fire in February 2022 while 42 children were aboard. According to court records, students reported smelling smoke and were seen on video covering their faces with their shirts and coughing as smoke filled the bus. Ford eventually stopped the vehicle, evacuated the students, and used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames. No serious injuries were reported. The charge related to that incident was dismissed as part of his plea agreement.

Federal authorities said Ford also attempted to tamper with the bus video surveillance system in the days leading up to the April 2023 fire, but investigators were still able to obtain video evidence showing him igniting the blaze.

Fires Go Back at Least 10 Years

Ford had worked for the Granite School District since 1998 and drove school buses for approximately 25 years before he was terminated following the investigation.

Investigators also linked Ford to several other suspicious fires. According to court documents, authorities determined he was involved in eight fires, including four involving Granite School District buses, two at his West Valley City residence and two involving personal vehicles. Police noted that the four bus fires all originated in the dashboard area and occurred while Ford was driving. One of those incidents occurred in 2017 when a bus was partially engulfed in flames, damaging part of the vehicle. No children were on board, and no injuries were reported. Authorities initially believed the fire was caused by mechanical problems before later identifying Ford as the driver.

“Protecting our most vulnerable population is a top priority,” U.S. Attorney Melissa Holyoak said in a statement following the sentencing. “I want to thank our law enforcement partners and my office who worked tirelessly on this case to bring it to a close and hold Mr. Ford accountable for his intentional disregard for safety and the law.”

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A Long Island teenager and his mother are being praised after helping rescue a neighbor from a house fire while the boy waited for his school bus, reported People News.

The incident reportedly occurred March 31 when Jovani Moss, 15, heard “crackling” of flames coming from a house across the street from his family’s residence in Melville, New York.

“I didn’t notice the fire at first,” Moss told local news reporters. “But I heard the crackling of the fire, and I turned to look and called my mom.”

Moss said he immediately alerted his mother, Natechia Moss, and asked whether he should go to the house or call 911.

Natechia reportedly instructed her son to contact emergency responders while she rushed outside her house to warn the homeowner. She repeatedly rang the doorbell but got no response and thus began kicking the door until it partially opened. “I kept kicking the door,” she said via the article “Finally, I got it ajar a little bit, and all of a sudden, I saw her standing there and I grabbed her and said, ‘Your house is on fire!’”

The homeowner had reportedly attempted to re-enter the burning residence to retrieve her cat and jewelry before eventually escaping safely. Firefighters from the Melville Fire Department responded to the blaze. No injuries were reported.

Moss has since been hailed as a hero for reacting quickly, though the teen downplayed the attention. “A lot of people calling me a hero,” he said via the report. “I was like, ‘I’m not really a hero. I’m just being a good neighbor.”

He credited his mother with setting the example and teaching him to stay aware of his surroundings.

“Take out the ear pods. Keep your phone in your pocket until you get on that bus,” Natechia said of the advice she gives her son. “Always be aware.”

Melville Fire Chief Donald Barclay praised the family’s actions. “We are thankful no one was hurt and that Jovani did the right thing and helped his neighbor. The world needs more Jovani,” said Barclay via the article. He also commended the department’s volunteer firefighters, saying the incident reflected “the idea of helping your neighbor in multiple ways.”

Written with assistance from AI.

Related: Evacuated Family Grateful Georgia School Bus Driver Sees House Fire
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Related: Massachusetts School Bus Catches Fire

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WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans, and one Democrat, maintained their support for President Donald Trump’s war in Iran, after blocking for the fifth time a resolution that would force the president to seek congressional authorization for further action in the Middle East.

The vote failed 46-51, largely following the same split as previous failed measures. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., opposed the resolution to rein in Trump, and Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., voted in favor, just as they have in the four times prior. 

Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, David McCormick, R-Pa., and Mark Warner, D-Va. were absent.

Thirteen U.S. service members and thousands of civilians across the Middle East have died in the war, which the Trump administration has claimed is about regime change and stopping Iran’s nuclear program.

As of Wednesday, the Pentagon updated the number of American troops injured in the conflict to 400.

Fetterman and all but one Senate Republican blocked the measure one day after Trump extended a ceasefire with Iran after the prospects of a second round of peace talks fell through. Trump did not specify an end date to the ceasefire extension but announced the United States would not back down on its blockade of ships traveling to and from Iranian ports.

Trump claimed late Tuesday night that Iran is “collapsing financially!” 

“They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately- Starving for cash! Losing 500 Million Dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!” he wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.

U.S. military forces fired on and seized a sanctioned Iranian cargo ship Sunday.

Iran’s foreign minister, Seyed Abbas Araghchi, wrote Tuesday on X that the seizure was “an act of war and thus a violation of the ceasefire.” 

Early Wednesday, Iran claimed responsibility for attacking two commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, a key narrow maritime passage where a fifth of the world’s petroleum flowed prior to the war. Iranian parliament representative Ebrahim Rezaei declared on X, “an eye for an eye, an oil tanker for an oil tanker.” 

Baldwin leads opposition to war

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., lead sponsor of Wednesday’s War Powers Resolution, said on the floor ahead of the vote that Trump sold Americans “a bad bill of goods” when he campaigned on lowering costs and not starting any new foreign wars.

“This war has taken us backwards and created more problems for the people that I work for,” she said, citing increasing fuel and fertilizer costs as a result of a standstill in the Strait of Hormuz.

The latest U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation numbers reflected a 21% increase in the cost of fuel from February to March.

A gallon of regular gas remained on average just north of $4 across the country, according to AAA.

United Airlines announced Wednesday it plans to raise airfare as much as 20% to offset the cost of jet fuel, according to multiple media reports.

Brent crude oil, the global oil market’s standard, spiked above $100 a barrel Wednesday, as it has numerous times since the beginning of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

“Less than two months ago, oil prices were normal, the Straits of Hormuz was open, commerce was happening,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., ahead of the vote. 

“And then President Trump made the decision without a rationale, without a plan, without consulting with allies, without consulting or seeking a vote of Congress to enter the nation into yet another war in the Middle East. And the entire world is suffering,” Kaine said.

Trump entered the joint war on Iran alongside Israel on Feb. 28.

Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., said passing the resolution would be “unwise.”

“We’ve been through these votes recently, and nothing has occurred in the makeup of this body or in the situation in Iran or the Middle East to materially change since the last time we voted on this matter,” the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee said on the floor ahead of the vote. 

Wicker was the only Republican to speak out against the resolution during Wednesday afternoon’s debate.

Earlier vote

Senate Democrats last forced a vote to stop Trump’s actions in Iran on April 15, just days after the president threatened on social media to wipe out Iran’s “whole civilization” and to bomb its power plants and bridges.

Senate Democrats say they have no plans to stop introducing War Powers Resolutions and speaking out against the war.

Several sent a letter Sunday to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth demanding answers about “troubling allegations of civilian harm incidents,” including a strike on an elementary school that killed more than 160 children on the war’s opening day.

“We are concerned that these were all preventable tragedies. The high human toll of this war reflects the administration’s broader disregard for the strategic, legal, and moral imperative to minimize civilian harm,” the senators wrote.

The letter, led by Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., was also signed by Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M; Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii; Tina Smith, D-Minn.; Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.; Raphael Warnock, D-Ga.; Jeff Merkley, D-Ore.; Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.; Peter Welch, D-Vt. and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats. 

The 11 senators who joined Baldwin in sponsoring Wednesday’s War Powers Resolution, a vestige of Congress’ efforts to rein in President Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, included Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sens. Gillibrand, Kaine, Merkley and Van Hollen, as well as Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Chris Murphy, D-Conn.; Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill.; Andy Kim, D-N.J.; Cory Booker, D-N.J.; and Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.

WASHINGTON — The approval gap on President Donald Trump’s war in Iran narrowed slightly Thursday in the U.S. House, when a War Powers Resolution gained a handful of votes, though still falling just short of passage.

The effort to force Trump to seek congressional authorization before further action in Iran failed 213-214, with one Republican voting present — shrinking the daylight compared to a 212-219 result in early March.

Democrats Greg Landsman of Ohio, Juan Vargas of California and Henry Cuellar of Texas flipped to vote in favor of the resolution brought to the floor by Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. 

Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, remained the only Democrat in opposition.

Golden said in a statement following the vote that he opposed the War Powers Resolution because it “would weaken our hand.”

“The purported aim of this and other war powers resolutions is to stop the hostilities. Thankfully, the United States and Iran are currently in a ceasefire, and we are negotiating over critical questions of national security and international order. I believe we must maintain a strong negotiation position over Iran’s nuclear program, freedom of movement in the international waters at the Strait of Hormuz, and how to achieve a durable peace between our two nations,” Golden said.  

As he did in early March, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., supported curtailing Trump’s military operations in the Middle East without further approval from Congress.

Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, switched his support from last month’s “yes” vote to “present” Thursday.

The vote occurred one day after the Senate rejected a similar proposal, for the fourth time. The Senate’s vote margin has remained unchanged, with the exception of a couple absences.

Ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon

The vote also happened minutes after Trump announced on his social media platform Truth Social a 10-day ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon, a separate deadly war front that flared just days after the United States and Israel launched their Feb. 28 joint strikes on Iran.

The U.S. and Iran, meanwhile, are more than halfway through a two-week ceasefire that began on tenuous ground on April 7.

Talks with the Iranians, led by Vice President JD Vance, collapsed Saturday in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Trump on Thursday repeated his earlier claims that the war is winding down.

“We’re very close to making a deal with Iran. You’ll be the first to know,” Trump told reporters at the White House before departing for a planned event in Nevada to promote his no tax on tips policy. 

“I think we have a chance. And if that happens, oil goes way down, prices go way down, inflation goes way down, and you’re going to have much more importantly than even that, you won’t have nuclear holocaust happening now,” Trump said.

The war is “very close to being over,” Trump told Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo Wednesday. Trump told the New York Post Tuesday that Iran-U.S. peace talks could pick up again “over the next two days.”

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Thursday the U.S. military remains “locked and loaded” on Iran’s “critical dual use infrastructure,” including power plants and energy infrastructure, if the regime does not meet U.S. demands.

Strait of Hormuz

The U.S. is three days into a blockade on vessels from any nation sailing in and out of Iranian ports and coastline. 

Thirteen vessels turned around to comply with orders from the U.S. Navy in the waters just east of the narrowest point in the Strait of Hormuz, Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine said during a joint press briefing Thursday morning from the Pentagon.

U.S. Central Command updated that figure to 14 in a Thursday morning X post.

Caine said more than 10,000 sailors, marines and airmen are executing the operation on more than a dozen ships and dozens of aircraft.

Caine said in addition to the blockade, U.S. forces in all international waters are ordered to “actively pursue any Iranian flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran.”

The flashpoint in the Strait of Hormuz has rocked global energy markets, causing massive fuel shortages and soaring gas prices. Americans are paying on average $4.09 for a gallon of regular gas, and $5.61 for a gallon of diesel, according to AAA.

The war has claimed the lives of 13 American troops, and injured 398 as of Thursday, according to the Pentagon. Thousands of civilians have been killed and injured across the Middle East since the start of the conflict.

A Georgia school bus driver is being hailed as a hero after stopping her route to alert and safely evacuate a family from a house fire, reported FOX 5 Atlanta.

Marlene Davis, a Morgan County school bus driver, was on her morning route March 20 when she noticed smoke and flames coming from a home, according to the news report.

“I saw the big flame coming from inside the house,” Davis told local news reporters. “I just had to stop the bus and go to the door.”

Davis, who had one student on the school bus at the time, pulled over and rang the doorbell until someone answered, the report said.

A man inside, who had been asleep, answered the door and was unaware that the home was surrounded by flames. Davis helped him and others inside to evacuate safely. Everyone inside the house did not suffer any injuries, and the fire was later contained.

Davis said she later realized how serious the situation was after receiving a message from her supervisor indicating the residents had been asleep.

“It was the only thing that I could have done, and it was the right thing to do,” she said. “And I couldn’t just leave them.”

Later that day, the homeowner where the evacuated family lived flagged Davis down by flashing his vehicle headlights to give her a card and express his gratitude for her actions. Family members and loved ones also expressed gratitude for the driver’s quick thinking, which may have prevented serious injury or worse.

Officials have not released additional details about the cause of the fire. The investigation is ongoing.

Article written with the assistance of AI.

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Two student transportation professionals at STN EXPO East will discuss how transportation departments can set up a collaborative partnership with local police and fire departments to aid in safe emergency response.

Tracie Franco, director of transportation at Leander Independent School District in Texas, will join Joshua Hinerman, state director of student transportation at the Tennessee Department of Education and former director of transportation for Robertson County Schools near Nashville, in a panel discussion facilitated by STN Editor in Chief Ryan Gray March 29.

They will share tips to proactively reach out and train with emergency first responders to make sure they are aware of the unique response and recovery efforts needed for a school bus incident. They will discuss coordinated training and in-service efforts, student ridership technology that can provide instant access to crucial information in an emergency and making sure transportation departments are engaging with the district wide community to increase awareness on safety efforts.

Attendees will leave the session with a better understanding of the logistics related to involving first responders in emergency response best practices in their student transportation department and strategies to improve their incident response protocol.

The session will provide attendees with practical strategies to work with law enforcement, fire, EMS and other emergency management agencies in preparing response to school bus emergencies. Franco and Hinerman will discuss their personal experiences with school bus crashes and lessons learned on joint training with first responders.

The STN EXPO East conference will be held on March 26-31 at Embassy Suites by Hilton Charlotte Concord Golf Resort & Spa. Main conference registration gives access to five days of educational sessions, hands-on training, unique networking events, product demonstrations and updates on the latest industry happenings. Register at stnexpo.com/east.

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New Poll: American Voters Support Federal Investments in Electric Vehicles Broad, Bipartisan Support for EV Investments and Incentives that Lower Costs, Expand Access, and Help the U.S. Beat China in the Race for Auto Manufacturing WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new bipartisan national poll conducted by Meeting Street Insights and Hart Research finds broad public support …

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