(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge ordered on Friday that a pregnant woman and her 4-year-old son from Ghana cannot spend another night at a Washington, D.C.-area airport where they have been detained for more than a week.

Anabella Gyasi arrived at Dulles International Airport on May 19 with a valid tourist visa to bring her son to the United States for medical treatment, and she had been detained in a holding room by Customs and Border Protection since then, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

ACLU-VA Executive Director Mary Bauer hailed the ruling, saying, "Today the court ordered in no uncertain terms that Ms. Gyasi and her son are not to spend another night in Dulles Airport."

"Ms. Gyasi's health and the viability of her pregnancy have both been endangered for more than a week as a result of the Trump administration's dangerous and unlawful detention practices," Bauer said, referring to the administration's ongoing immigration crackdown.

"While we're relieved that Ms. Gyasi and her son will soon be free from this nightmare, no one should be subjected to the inhumane conditions they endured," Bauer added.

Gyasi and her son were heading back to Ghana on Friday, a person familiar with the case told ABC News. 

The ACLU filed a habeas petition for Gyasi and her son on Tuesday, alleging they are being detained "despite long-standing regulations and policies requiring that certain at-risk individuals, such as pregnant women and children, be released." The petition also pointed to a court settlement that requires children to be transferred out of detention within 72 hours.

The 38-year-old mother first brought her son to the U.S. in 2024, when he was 2 years old, to see a specialist for physical abnormalities affecting both of his hands, according to the habeas petition. At that appointment, Gyasi was told her son was too young for corrective surgery.

Earlier this month, Gyasi scheduled a pre-operation appointment at a children's hospital in Ohio and planned on traveling with the same tourist visa she had previously used, according to her lawyers.

A Department of Homeland Security official confirmed to ABC News on Thursday that Gyasi was in CBP custody at Dulles and said she "will remain in custody pending her immigration hearing."

The DHS spokesperson called the allegations about the conditions of her detention as "false." 

"Everyone in CBP custody, including this individual, has access to appropriate care, including medical evaluation by a doctor, medication, and food," DHS said.

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(STAFFORD COUNTY, Va.) -- Five people were killed and 44 were injured in a massive crash between a bus and multiple vehicles on Interstate 95 in Virginia early Friday morning, according to state authorities.

The accident unfolded at about 2:35 a.m. on I-95 south in Stafford County, about 45 miles south of Washington, D.C., the Virginia State Police said.

As traffic slowed for a work zone, a bus did not slow down and struck a Chevrolet Suburban, police said.

The bus then hit other cars, while the Suburban was forced into an Acura SUV and other cars, police said.

The Acura caught fire, police said. Four of the five people killed were in the Acura: a 45-year-old man, a 44-year-old woman, a 13-year-old girl and a 7-year-old boy, all from Greenfield, Massachusetts, police said.

The fifth victim killed, a 25-year-old woman, was in the Suburban, police said.

Forty-four people were taken to hospitals, including three with critical injuries, police said.

The bus -- which was en route from New York City to Charlotte, North Carolina --was carrying about 34 people, police said, noting that the bus driver, Jing S. Dong, 48, suffered injuries.

Charges are pending, police said.

The crash initially closed all lanes of I-95, Virginia's Department of Transportation said, causing massive delays for the Friday commute. All lanes have since reopened.

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(DENALI NATIONAL PARK AND PRESERVE, Ala.) -- One of the four climbers who fell while ascending Mount McKinley in Alaska has been rescued from the 17,200-foot basin, according to the National Park Service.

The search for the remaining three climbers, who also fell while climbing Mount McKinley at 18,200 feet, is now a recovery mission, the NPS said.

The NPS said it does not know the status of the rescued survivor.

"Due to terrain and conditions at the site, a high-altitude helicopter was unable to land and instead conducted the evacuation using a long-line extraction. The climber was transported to the Kahiltna Base Camp and then transferred to a LifeMed air ambulance for transport to a hospital," the NPS said Friday.

Mount McKinley -- located in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve -- is the tallest peak in North America, according to the NPS.

The climbers, part of a seven-member climbing team, fell in the vicinity of Denali Pass, according to the NPS. 

The NPS received a report of the incident at around midnight Thursday after two other climbers were evacuated by helicopter from the mountain at around 11 p.m. Wednesday, as part of a separate incident, the NPS said. 

Three members of the climbing team returned to High Camp at 17,000 feet after attending to their fallen partners, the NPS said. 

The NPS said it is actively responding to the incident. Weather conditions on the mountain are improving and will soon enable helicopter operations, the NPS said. 

The extent of the climbers' injuries and their condition remains unknown, the NPS said. 

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(NEW YORK) -- A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent charged in the nonfatal shooting earlier this year of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis was arrested in Texas on Friday, more than a week after prosecutors announced the charges, officials in Minnesota said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- Former Attorney General Pam Bondi told members of the House Oversight Committee Friday that the Justice Department had released all the documents required by the Epstein Files Transparency Act, but that she did not lead every aspect of the process, according to a copy of her prepared opening statement.

After a tumultuous year at the DOJ that was largely defined by her controversial handling of the Epstein files, Bondi participated in a nearly four-hour closed-door interview with the House Oversight panel Friday.

"As the head of a large Department with broad responsibilities, I did not lead every aspect of this effort or conduct that document review myself," Bondi said, according to her prepared opening statement. "I delegated oversight over this process to Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche."

Following her appearance, Bondi, in a social media post, disputed Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia's claim that she "continues to push all of the investigation and the blame on Acting AG Todd Blanche."

"NOT TRUE," Bondi posted. "I praised Acting AG Blanche’s management of this Herculean task. I said his ethics are beyond reproach and that he is an incredible Attorney General."

The second Trump cabinet official to testify behind closed doors as part of the Oversight Committee's yearlong Epstein probe, Bondi was expected to face questions about reneging on her promise to publicly release the DOJ's files on convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, which ultimately prompted Congress to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act forcing the release of millions of documents.

As Bondi walked into the hearing room Friday morning, a group of Epstein survivors shouted, "Tell the truth." She did not answer questions from reporters.

"Before we start today, I want to reiterate what I have said many times regarding the Department’s handling during my tenure as Attorney General of the voluminous materials that are now commonly known as the Epstein Files," Bondi told the panel according to her prepared remarks. "To the best of my knowledge, the Department produced everything required under the Epstein Files Transparency Act."

"There were redaction errors," the former attorney general said. "But since day one of this process, this Department has been committed to accountability and transparency."

Trump removed Bondi as attorney general in April after sources said he grew frustrated with her handling of the Epstein files and the unsuccessful prosecutions of his perceived political opponents.

"Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year," Trump wrote on social media announcing her departure. "We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future."

Earlier this week, Axios reported that Trump had appointed Bondi to serve on an advisory panel on AI policy, tasked with coordinating cooperation between the government and tech leaders.

In an unusual arrangement, a DOJ spokesperson said that Bondi would be accompanied during Friday's transcribed interview by Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Harmeet Dhillon and other DOJ personnel, in order to "assist the Committee in understanding the Department's role in implementing and complying with the Epstein Files Transparency Act during her tenure."

"Because former Attorney General Bondi oversaw the Department at the time the Act was enacted and carried out, DOJ's presence is solely to ensure accurate representation of Department processes, facilitate any necessary clarifications, and support a complete factual record for the Committee," a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement earlier this week.

The DOJ originally sought to have Bondi avoid appearing by arguing that the subpoena the committee issued "no longer obligates her to appear" since she left the role of attorney general. Bondi ultimately agreed to testify voluntarily after the top Democrat on the committee introduced a resolution to hold her in contempt for failing to appear.

Shortly after beginning her tenure as attorney general last year, Bondi faced immediate pressure from Trump's MAGA followers and others to begin releasing the DOJ's files from its investigations of Epstein and his associates. Speaking to Fox News in February 2025, Bondi said Epstein's client list was "sitting on my desk right now to review" and said the release of the files was a "directive by President Trump."

However, when the DOJ released the "first phase" of the Epstein files that month -- inviting, with great fanfare, conservative influencers to receive the files -- it was determined that nearly every document released was already public. By July, the Department of Justice and FBI said in a joint memo that no further documents would be released, citing victim privacy and the assertion that the documents warranted no further investigations -- a decision that sparked backlash from much of the MAGA base.

"To that end, while we have labored to provide the public with maximum information regarding Epstein and ensured examination of any evidence in the government's possession, it is the determination of the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation that no further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted," the memo said.

Bondi later defended her statement about Epstein's client list by clarifying she was referring to the Epstein files generally along with other files released by the Trump administration, including documents related to JFK and MLK Jr. The DOJ/FBI memo also said that their review of the files "revealed no incriminating 'client list'" and no evidence that Epstein blackmailed prominent individuals.

Despite the memo stating that no further investigation was warranted, Trump in November ordered Bondi to investigate Epstein's ties to Bill Clinton and other prominent Democrats. At the time, Bondi said the DOJ would "pursue this with urgency and integrity" and assigned the matter to the U.S. attorney in Manhattan.

The Justice Department's subsequent release of Epstein files following the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act prompted bipartisan criticism when the DOJ improperly redacted files -- both exposing victim identities while concealing other information --- and declined to release millions of additional files by claiming they were duplicative, privileged or contained sensitive victim information.

Bondi's deputy and successor, now-acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, acknowledged the release of sensitive victim information was "horrible" and "inexcusable."

He said the DOJ is finished investigating Epstein.

"And so I think that to the extent that the Epstein files was a part of the past year of this Justice Department, it should not be a part of anything going forward," Blanche said in April.

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(NEW YORK) --A fire erupted on Amtrak work trains in a Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey early Friday, suspending Penn Station service for NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters.

LIRR service resumed by the morning rush hour, but the NJ Transit suspension into Penn Station lasted through mid-day Friday. Around 1 p.m., NJ Transit said it was resuming trains into and out of Penn Station, but it warned that commuters should still be prepared for delays and cancelations.

Two Amtrak work trains collided in the Hudson River tunnel at about 1:25 a.m., impacting the electrical system and igniting a fire, said Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. Several workers were injured, according to ABC New York station WABC.

One NJ Transit passenger called the experience "frightening," telling ABC News, "Someone yelled there was a fire on the track ... there was a very loud explosion that shook the train and caused the lights to go out. We didn't move for maybe 8 to 10 minutes."

"I rely on NJ Transit to get to work, so I am now deeply concerned about how I will commute safely moving forward," the New Jersey resident said.

Amtrak service was also impacted. Trains south of Penn Station were suspended all Friday morning and Amtrak warned of "lengthy delays" north of Penn Station.

On Friday afternoon, Amtrak announced that its Penn Station service resumed, but said travelers should expect residual delays.

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(NEW YORK) -- Two people died in a collision between a rider on an electronic scooter and another on a bike on the bike path during the morning commute on a New York City bridge on Thursday.  

Francis del Valle, 39, who was operating the scooter, and Dmytro Stechenko, 35, who was on a pedal bike, were heading in opposite directions on the Queensboro Bridge around 8:20 a.m. when they collided, according to police.

Both victims were rushed to New York Presbyterian-Queens, where they were pronounced dead.

Del Valle was driving the Blade GT II scooter, according to investigators, which sells for $1,700 and is advertised to go "zero to 53 [miles per hour] in 3.9 seconds."

The electric stand-up scooter is illegal to operate on New York City streets because it can reach speeds of more than 50 miles per hour, in excess of what the city allows for e-mobility devices.

Following the incident, it appeared the NYPD was directing bicyclists to use the south outer roadway, according to investigators. That part of the bridge has been pedestrian-only since the bridge's lanes were reallocated in May 2025.

The north outer roadway used to be shared by cyclists and pedestrians, but that was becoming too crowded and dangerous. Two dozen people were injured there between 2021 and 2025.

Rachel Huynh, a friend of del Valle, told WABC that he left behind a wife and two children.

"His wife is in bad shape, especially with the kids. I can't imagine. He was a really great husband to her, and they've been going out to vacations, exploring the whole world," she told WABC.

A spokeswoman for Mayor Zohran Mamdani said in a statement that the city is reviewing the crash and reiterated that fast e-scooters are illegal in the city.

"Every New Yorker deserves to feel safe, and the Mamdani administration will continue to work to remove these illegal devices from our streets and bring accountability to micromobility use," the spokeswoman said.

Transportation safety groups also echoed the mayor's office's warning.

"Our thoughts are with their families, friends, and community. Crashes like these are entirely preventable. Scooters that travel this quickly have no place in our bike lanes," Ben Furnas, the executive director of the non-profit Transportation Alternatives, said in a statement.

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(WASHINGTON) -- A federal judge in Virginia on Friday ordered a temporary freeze on any payments coming from the Trump administration's "Anti-Weaponization Fund" as she considers arguments in a lawsuit brought by a former Jan. 6 prosecutor to block the fund permanently. 

The order from U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema specifically bars the administration "from taking any further action pursuant to the creation or operation of the Anti-Weaponization Fund," including transfers of money or consideration of claims from individuals who may argue they are victims of political persecution. 

The $1.776 billion fund, announced last week, was established by the Justice Department to compensate those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.

It was created in exchange for President Donald Trump agreeing to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS as well as two civil claims for $230 million related to the Russia collusion investigation he faced during his first term in office and the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate -- sparking accusations of self-dealing and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, pressed about the fund earlier this month, said, "Anybody in this country is eligible to apply if they believe they're a victim of weaponization."

Friday's order did not weigh in on the legal merits of the case brought by former Jan. 6 prosecutor Andrew Floyd and other plaintiffs suing under the basis that the fund is unlawfully discriminatory under claims that it would only presumably benefit political allies of President Trump. 

Judge Brinkema ordered an expedited briefing schedule in the lawsuit and a hearing set for Friday, June 12, to consider whether to grant a longer term freeze barring the administration from moving forward with the fund. 

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(WASHINGTON, D.C.) -- An immigration law attorney whose career has spanned over two decades said he has never experienced a hearing like the one he had in Annandale, Virginia.

“Normally, these master calendars will have 10 people, maybe sometimes 15, but usually in that range. The judge opened the hearing and said well, we have 100 cases on today's docket,” attorney Joseph M. Perez told ABC News.

Master calendar hearings are when immigrants in deportation proceedings first appear before a judge and are informed of their rights and the charges they may be facing. It’s a crucial first step in deportation proceedings that can occur on an individual basis or in groups of a few people.

But in recent weeks, attorneys like Perez said they are seeing as many as 100 people slotted for the same time with little to no notice in advance, prompting them to call these hearings “mega masters,” which they say could be a new tactic by the Trump administration aimed at deporting as many people as quickly as possible.  

Multiple attorneys told ABC News that, in some cases, scheduled master calendar hearings are being abruptly canceled and consolidated into larger proceedings.

On Monday, attorney Briana Carlson represented a client in Virginia at one of the hearings and the judge announced she had 80 cases on the docket, she said. Her client’s hearing had originally been scheduled for July.

“He was scheduled for a hearing in July, which we knew about, but we were preparing an application for relief, and so my paralegal happened to check the portal for that relief, and that's when she found the new hearing date that had been advanced to today, which no one received notice of,” she said.

Carlson said that when she reached out to an immigration court in Sterling, Virginia, for a different case that had also been rescheduled, a clerk notified her that the court had received a nationwide directive to advance master calendar hearings if they’re scheduled in July or later.

A spokesperson for the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an agency within the Department of Justice that oversees immigration courts, did not deny the existence of the directive, and in part, said the agency “prioritizes the timely completion of all cases.”

“Unnecessary delay hurts both aliens with meritorious claims and the American public who wish to see aliens with non-meritorious claims removed as quickly as possible. As it continues to add new immigration judges, EOIR will continue to make scheduling adjustments to ensure all cases are handled in a timely and lawful manner,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

NPR was first to report on the so-called “mega masters” hearings.

Reports of the massive hearings across the country have prompted the American Immigration Lawyers Association to issue guidance to lawyers, urging them to constantly check their online calendars to see if their cases have been rescheduled.

Vanessa Dojaquez-Torres, Practice and Policy Counsel at AILA, says there’s growing concern that the Trump administration is placing individuals who do not have attorneys in these consolidated hearings in an attempt to force them to miss a hearing, which can automatically trigger a final order of removal.

“The goal is for people that are not showing up, they're going to get an in absentia removal order, and that is going to help the court kind of clear their backlog, as we know, is one of the main goals of this administration,” Dojaquez-Torres said.

Earlier this month, the Trump administration proposed a rule that, if approved, would increase the fee for migrants ordered removed in absentia from $5,130 to $18,000. Critics of the fee increase say it’s an attempt to force undocumented immigrants to self-deport.

In the notice announcing the proposed rule, the administration said the fee is meant to help reimburse ICE for the costs of immigration enforcement.

Perez said that the shift to larger master calendar hearings is shortsighted.

“They want to accelerate things, but there's also existing scheduling orders. Scheduling orders are issued by every court; they lay out how the case is going to proceed, what days you have to send the documents for. They're advancing these cases to a date upon which you do not have enough time to comply with the scheduling order, so they really haven't thought about the whole thing here,” he said.

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(HAWAII) -- Police in Hawaii said they're searching for a 36-year-old man wanted in connection with three homicides within days.

"Over the past 48 hours, our island has experienced three separate homicides in the Puna district, all of which we believe are connected and involve a single suspect," Hawai'i Island Police Chief Reed Mahuna said at a news conference. Hawai'i Island is also known as the Big Island.

"We have mobilized significant resources and personnel to address this situation swiftly and thoroughly," the chief said. "Bringing this suspect into custody without anyone further being harmed is the No. 1 priority."

The suspect is identified as Jacob "Jake" Daniel Baker, of Pāhoa, Hawaii, police said. A gun wasn't used in any of the homicides, but Baker "should be considered armed and extremely dangerous," Mahuna said.

The first death was discovered Monday evening, when an officer responded to a home and found a 69-year-old man partially submerged inside a cement pond, police said.

On Tuesday afternoon, officers responded to a home just 400 to 500 feet away from the first victim and found a 79-year-old man dead from apparent blunt force trauma, police said.

On Tuesday night, the third victim -- a 69-year-old man -- was found dead about 19 miles away from the first two locations, police said.

No motive is known, police said. There's no known connection between the victims besides the first two living near each other, police added.

"These are a tragic series of events and our thoughts are with those who are grieving," the chief said.

Anon Shine, whose father, Bob Shine, was among the victims, told ABC News, "My dad was a very community-minded person who was a fixture of the Puna community."

In his rural farming neighborhood, residents live off the land and value "community over money or status," she said.

Shine said her "warm-hearted" dad "was a community organizer and just such a giving man."

A woman filed a petition for a temporary restraining order against Baker last week. According to court documents, she wrote, "Jacob Baker has threatened my life, the life of a disabled man[,] three people currently living on the farm[,] multiple threats in the past … 3 people are not comfortable in their homes."

Police urge anyone who sees Baker to not approach him and to immediately call 911.

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(NEW YORK) -- A new economic report identified a "remarkable" rise in food insecurity, potentially explaining gloomy consumer outlooks despite strong economic fundamentals.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released a report on Wednesday identifying uncertain access to adequate food and consumer pessimism on the rise in certain vulnerable groups across the country.

The report, which relies on newly collected data from the Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE), found a "remarkable increase in food insecurity, particularly among lower-educated and lower-income households and households with young children."

It also identified "a contemporaneous increase in pessimism among the same groups, along with a sharp decline in job-finding expectations."

The report found that between late 2025 and early 2026, there was an increase in households reporting they had to skip meals, use food banks, rely on SNAP benefits or dip into savings to cover groceries, which are up 2.9% from a year ago, the Bureau of Labor Statistics noted earlier this month.The survey showed that the percentage of those who didn’t have enough food or kids missed a meal more than doubled from June 2020 to early 2026.

More specifically, it found that, of households with income under $50,000 a year, 16% reported not enough food or kids missing meals in late 2025 and 19.7% recorded those circumstances in early 2026. That's up from just 6.7% in mid 2020.

The survey noted that 40.1% of the same subset of respondents reported dipping into their savings in early 2026 versus 37.8% in late 2025 and 29% in mid-2020.

Among respondents with a high school diploma, the survey found 10.7% had received food donations in mid-2020, compared to 18.8% in late 205 and 20.9% in early 2026.

Food insecurity, the SCE report notes, "is associated with poor health outcomes as well as lower educational attainment, worker productivity, and lifetime earnings."

The report also highlighted the existence of "solid economic fundamentals," such as "low unemployment, historically high household net wealth, and resilient consumer spending" despite a growing sense of consumer pessimism, suggesting "a 'K-shaped' economy, in which consumption growth in recent years has been driven largely by higher-income and college-educated households while lower-income households have seen fewer gains."

It says the findings concerning food insecurity are likely a helpful guide to understanding generally low consumer sentiment, despite an economy with "solid economic fundamentals."

"While not necessarily causal, the observed positive association between food insecurity and overall consumer pessimism, together with the increase in the incidence of food insecurity, especially among households at the bottom of the K-shape, point to a potential explanation for the unusually low recent levels of consumer sentiment at a time when the hard economic data paint a more positive picture," the report reads.

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(WASHINGTON) -- Farms all over the country are bracing for the impact of drought after months of little precipitation, experts told ABC News.

More than 60% of the continental United States has been under moderate drought or worse conditions since April 7, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

The nation as a whole has experienced a dry, warm period that began in the early autumn of 2025 and has pushed into recent weeks, Brad Rippey, a U.S. Department of Agriculture meteorologist, told ABC News.

Long-term drought trends have put Midwest crops at risk

Farms in the Midwest that produce winter wheat have been especially impacted, Rippey said. The largest region that produces winter wheat -- the Great Plains stretching from Montana to Texas -- has been hit the hardest by drought as well as some spring freezes, Rippey added.

Up to 44% of this year's winter wheat is rated as very poor to poor, according to the latest data from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), released on Tuesday. Nebraska is at the top of the list, with 82% of its winter wheat crop rated very poor to poor, but states like Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas are experiencing high rates of poor crop as well, according to the NASS.

While there was good moisture when the winter wheat was planted in the fall, extremely dry conditions from the beginning of March through the first half of May prevented optimal growing conditions, Brad Fuller, president of the Western Horizons Corporation and a consulting agronomist to many farms in Kansas, told ABC News.

Agriculture experts are expecting a 32% abandonment of winter wheat in the U.S. this year, according to the USDA's Wheat Outlook. Such a high abandonment rate has only happened once since the Dust Bowl era in 1933 -- in 2022 when drought conditions were at record highs, Riddey said.

The issues have also extended to the cattle industry due to poor rangeland and pasture conditions as a result of the dry conditions, Riddey said.

"A lot of the rangeland and pastures out in the middle section of the country are also in pretty rough shape heading into the key hay production season," Riddey said.

Farmers in the Midwest are holding out hope for the spring-planted crops. But conditions were so dry in recent weeks that some growers skipped planting crops like corn or sorghum, Fuller said.

"We've had places in southwest Kansas that have gone well over 200 days without more than a half an inch of rain," he said.

Farms in the West could be at risk as well

The West is facing dry, hot conditions in the near future, coming off "devastatingly" warm months in March and April, Riddey said. To exacerbate the situation, some reservoirs -- especially Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the largest in the country -- are experiencing low water levels due to the lack of snowpack during the winter.

These reservoirs are crucial for farms in the West that supply the rest of the country, Steven Fassnacht, a professor of snow hydrology at Colorado State University, told ABC News. About 75% of the nation's lettuce and leafy greens are grown in California, according to the state's Department of Food and Agriculture.

When there's less surface water, farmers in California will turn to groundwater, Amanda Fencl, director of climate science for the Union of Concerned Scientists, told ABC News. But overuse of groundwater can decrease the water quality and lower the groundwater table, causing the land above it to sink. Overuse of groundwater can also alter the soil moisture, making it drier and lower, Fassnacht said.

Lake Mead could reach a record-low level of 1,036 feet of elevation in 2026, according to the 24-month study released by the Bureau of Reclamation last week. Lake Powell is also projected to drop to a new record-low level in the coming months, surpassing the previous record of around 3,520 feet set in 2023, Cody Moser, senior hydrologist at the Colorado River Basin Forecast Center, said during a webinar on May 7. The Colorado River basin as a whole is currently sitting at 49% of storage of its historic average, Riddey said.

"There are a lot of pieces of pie for that limited Western water," Riddey said.

Small, family-run farms would be most impacted by water shortages, Fencl said. They may be faced with having to take certain crops out of production or changing which crops they decide to harvest.

Drought conditions typically lead to lower yields and loss in profits, Fencl added.

What will climate conditions be like in the near future?

While it has been raining in the Midwest in recent days, it's not nearly enough to make up for the dry conditions over the last eight months, Riddey said.

"It's not going to recover from just a couple of rain events," he said. "It will take some time."

But there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Monsoon season is expected to start in early July and last through August and September. After that, the development of El Niño conditions in October will bring more drought relief into the fall, winter and spring of 2027, Riddey said.

"All indications are we should see a pretty active monsoon that could provide some relief, but we have to get between now and monsoon onset," he said.

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(PLAINFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich.) -- A man is dead and a woman was critically injured after a home exploded in Plainfield Township, Michigan, on Tuesday, according to the sheriff's office.

The home was completely destroyed with debris on fire when deputies and fire personnel responded to the scene after nearly 50 calls reported an explosion and house fire around 4 a.m., according to the Kent County Sheriff's Office.

"The fire was intentionally set, we believe, by the husband at this point, intending to be a murder-suicide at the residence," Kent County Undersheriff Bryan Muir told reporters.

Officials have not released the names of the man and woman in the explosion, but said they believe "the husband" set the fire, Muir said. The woman was associated with the address, according to authorities.

Two neighbors -- a teenager who lived next door and another man who lived nearby -- pulled the injured woman from the home after the explosion, according to the sheriff's office. She was treated on the scene and taken to the hospital in critical condition, the sheriff's office said.

"We are very proud of them for stepping up and helping someone in need during an extremely dangerous situation," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

"Without their actions, it is likely she would have perished in the fire. She has some significant medical-related issues right now and we are hoping for a recovery," Muir said.

Hours later, a dead man, believed to be the person registered to the address, was found at the scene, the sheriff's office said.

The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, but investigators preliminarily believe a source of natural gas was released in the basement and used to start the fire, Alpine Township Fire Chief Jeremy Kelly said.

Investigators believe the explosion was a "domestic-related situation at the home," Muir told reporters.

There are no concerns of any gas leaks or other home explosions in the area, Muir said.

"We want to relay to the family affected by this our deepest sorrows for having to deal with a situation so tragic," Muir said. 

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(WASHINGTON) -- Inflation jumped for a second consecutive month in April as the Iran war drove up gasoline prices and strained household budgets, government data on Thursday showed.

Prices rose 3.8% in April compared to a year earlier, according to the Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Index, an inflation gauge preferred by the Federal Reserve. The PCE stood at 2.8% as recently as February.

Inflation now stands at its highest level since May 2023, the Commerce Department report showed.

The savings rate, meanwhile, fell to 2.6%, its lowest level since 2022, suggesting some strapped consumers are struggling to stash away extra funds.

A persistent increase in consumer prices may put pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates as a means of dialing back inflation. The latest reading comes days after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh began a four-year term atop the central bank.

For now, futures markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady when policy makers meet next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of investor sentiment.

However, markets peg the chances of a quarter-point rate increase by the end of the year at more than one in three, well above where odds of a rate hike stood prior to the war, the tool shows.

The benchmark interest rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Middle East conflict prompted the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil supply. The standoff triggered one of the largest oil shocks ever recorded.

As a result, gasoline prices surged. The price of an average gallon of gas stood at $4.42 as of Thursday, AAA data showed – an increase of $1.44 per gallon since the war began on Feb. 28. That amounts to a 48% price jump in about three months.

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(MINNEAPOLIS) -- A suspect has been apprehended after a 26-year-old man was fatally shot while attending a prayer service in Minnesota, authorities said.

Khalid Ibrahim Abdi was shot multiple times just before 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Canterbury Park Expo Center in Shakopee, about 25 miles outside of Minneapolis, the Shakopee Police Department said.

He was taken to the Hennepin County Medical Center and later died from his injuries, police said.

A suspect was taken into custody Thursday morning and is being held pending charges, police said. The suspect's name has not been publicly released.

Abdi was a member and field representative of the AFSCME Council 5 labor union, according to AFSCME Council 5 executive director Bart Andersen.

"It is with unimaginable sadness and heartbreak to share that we lost our union brother and AFSCME Council 5 Field Representative Khalid Abdi today, who was shot and killed while attending an Eid prayer gathering," Anderson said in a statement.

"Khalid will be forever remembered for his tenacious organizing spirit, his warm and inviting presence, and his unyielding passion and drive to fight for the working-class and all historically marginalized communities," Anderson said.

"Please keep Khalid's family, friends, neighbors, and all of us coworkers in your thoughts," he continued. "Khalid's tenacity, heart, and joy lives in all of us forever."

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(ESCONDIDO, Calif.) -- A 69-year-old Southern California man known for the display of American flags and Make America Great Again memorabilia he kept in his front yard has died, days after being attacked and beaten outside his home, authorities said.

Kerry George Sheron, whose family members said was an Army veteran and a supporter of President Donald Trump, was assaulted last week outside his Escondido residence that locals dubbed the "Trump House."

Sheron was pronounced dead at a hospital on Sunday, according to a statement from the Escondido Police Department.

Thomas Caleb Butler, 32, of Escondido and served in the Navy was arrested in connection with the incident, police said.

Police have yet to comment on a possible motive.

According to military service records provided by the Navy to ABC News, Butler enlisted in the Navy in December 2011. He served as an information systems technician and was discharged in January 2023, records show.

Butler was being held without bail on Wednesday at the San Diego County Jail, where he was booked on May 21, on suspicion of attempted murder, elder abuse, making criminal threats and battery, according to online jail records.

"The case is in the process of being presented to the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, which is reviewing the circumstances to determine whether charges will be amended," police said.

The cause and manner of Sheron's death are pending an autopsy by the San Diego County Medical Examiner.

In a GoFundMe campaign that as of Wednesday afternoon has raised more than $40,500 to cover Sheron's funeral expenses, family members called the incident that claimed Sheron's life "brutal and unprovoked."

Sheron's wife, Maria Garcia, told ABC San Diego affiliate station KGTV that she wants her husband to be remembered as a man of service and faith.

"I want to remember my husband, you know, how he was [a] very good man, you know, [his] service in the church, service in the army," said Garcia, who called her husband "my hero."

Jim Gillie, one of Sheron's friends, told KGTV that Sheron's front-yard MAGA decorations had been targeted in the past.

"Back in March, people came through with razor blades and cut up a bunch of Kerry's flags," Gillie said. "Kerry was used to it because he'd come out here with his Trump signs and stuff during the week and flags, and people would drive by and honk and wave, and most of the people are good, but when someone would flip him off, he'd just look at me and say, they have their right to freedom of speech, too."

Escondido police said the incident with Sheron unfolded around 2:14 p.m. on May 20, when officers were called to Sheron's home to investigate a report that an assault had just occurred.

"Upon arrival, officers located an elderly male suffering from significant injuries," police said in a statement. "A bystander who intervened during the incident was also injured. Officers learned the suspect had fled the area on foot prior to their arrival."

Sheron was taken to a hospital in critical condition, police said.

Officers immediately searched Sheron's neighborhood and located Butler, who matched the description of the person witnesses said attacked Sheron, according to the statement.

Tanya Sierra, a spokesperson for the San Diego County District Attorney's Office, told ABC News on Wednesday that an announcement on whether to amend the charges against Butler is expected to be made at the suspect's next court date on June 3.

ABC News Steve Beynon contributed to this report.

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(FLORIDA) -- The 16-year-old boy accused of killing his stepsister on a cruise is allowed to stay out of jail with certain restrictions, a federal judge in Florida ruled.

In February, after the teen was charged as a juvenile, the 16-year-old was permitted to live with his uncle instead of being held in custody. But in April, when the case was moved to adult court, prosecutors said the teen should be detained.

"We do not know what triggered him," prosecutors argued in court Wednesday. "Who will be the next object he will become fixated on?"

The teen's lawyers have countered that he's a child who has been cooperative with the investigation and has shown no indication of hurting anyone in the months since his stepsister's killing. 

The suspect arrived at court Wednesday with his father and his uncle and was seen wearing an ankle monitor. The judge ruled he's only allowed to leave his house with his uncle and will be electronically monitored by authorities.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Edwin Torres said Wednesday that U.S. Marshals should examine options for potential detainment in the Tampa area.

Prosecutors allege the teenager "sexually assaulted and intentionally killed" his 18-year-old stepsister, Anna Kepner, during the family's November vacation on a Carnival cruise. Anna Kepner died from mechanical asphyxiation, officials said. 

The stepbrother has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and aggravated sexual abuse. He is set to go on trial in September.

Prosecutors are alleging more details about the night Kepner died from Wednesday's hearing as well as a newly unsealed transcript from a February detention hearing.

Closed-circuit television on the cruise captured many of the movements of Kepner and her stepbrother, as well as the movements of their 13-year-old sibling who was sharing their room, prosecutors said in the Feb. 6 transcript.

The night Kepner died, the suspect was seen entering their shared cabin around 7:35 p.m., the transcript said. At about 7:38 p.m., Kepner was seen entering the cabin -- the last time cameras would capture her alive, prosecutors said. 

At approximately 7:51 p.m., the 13-year-old sibling entered the cabin and quickly exited, prosecutors said.

The suspect was not seen leaving the cabin again until 10:13 p.m., when he is "looking left and right down the hallway, appearing to check if there is anyone in the hallway," prosecutors said. He's seen between 10:23 p.m. and 10:49 p.m. "entering and exiting the cabin approximately two more times," prosecutors said, and he put a privacy sign on the door at 10:53 p.m.

The video showed the 13-year-old and the suspect coming and going a few more times, prosecutors said. At 12:09 a.m., when the 13-year-old tried to get into the room, the suspect prevented him, and made the 13-year-old wait outside for a few minutes, prosecutors said.

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(LONGVIEW, Wash.) -- A second employee has died after a chemical tank ruptured at a paper mill in Washington state, officials said Wednesday.

Nine people remain missing, as recovery efforts are underway a day after the incident, officials said.

"We're bracing ourselves for this being the deadliest industrial tragedy in modern Washington state history," Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

"When you have a tragedy of that scale, the impacts on individuals, on families and on communities is profound," he said. "I want to extend my deepest condolences to those who have been directly impacted by the loss of a loved one during this extraordinarily challenging time."

Fire authorities said the "hazardous materials incident" was reported Tuesday morning at Nippon Dynawave Packaging, a pulp and paper mill in Longview, a city of 38,000 people about 50 miles northwest of Portland.

The response transitioned from rescue to recovery as of Wednesday morning, Cowlitz2 Fire & Rescue Chief Scott Goldstein said during Wednesday's press briefing.

"I want to acknowledge again the tremendous support that we have received from our state and regional and federal partners, but more specifically the tremendous impact that this incident continues to have on the victims, the families, the coworkers, my responders, all the agencies, responders, and the broader community," he said. "Understand that there are members working the site tirelessly that have lost coworkers, lost friends, and they remain dedicated to focusing on our recovery efforts."

The effort to recover the nine employees will be "slow, methodical and deliberate," Longview Fire Battalion Chief Matt Amos said during the press briefing on Wednesday.

"The priority is ensuring responder safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care, and respect as possible," he said.

Authorities said recovery efforts were delayed due to safety concerns over the unstable tank, which contains white liquor, a chemical mixture used in the paper-making process.

The remaining product in the damaged 900,000-gallon tank is roughly 25,000 gallons, a "significantly smaller volume" than initially believed, "allowing emergency responders to develop a plan to move forward to remove it," local authorities and Nippon Dynawave Packaging said in a joint statement Wednesday. The tank is believed to have been about 60% full at the time of the rupture, authorities said.

The tank ruptured at approximately 7:15 a.m. Tuesday, resulting in the release of white liquor, officials said. Authorities initially referred to the incident as a chemical explosion and then an implosion, before referring to it as a rupture and blast.

"There was a rupture, a failure, a blast," Goldstein said. "All of those to us mean the same. It's not why it happened, it's the damage that we observe. Vehicles are damaged, buildings are damaged, mechanical equipment is damaged, collapsed and failed."

There was a shift change around the time, with employees in their workspaces when the blast occurred, he said. Authorities have not found any video recording of the incident, he said.

One of the injured employees transported to the hospital following the incident has since died, officials said Wednesday, bringing the confirmed number of fatalities to two.

The Cowlitz County Coroner's Office will release the names of the deceased "when all individuals have been recovered and family notifications are complete," officials said Wednesday.

Family identified one of the deceased employees as Gilbert Bernal, a beloved husband, dad and grandfather.

"My father was the most selfless man I knew," Bernal's daughter, Geovana Bernal, said in a statement to ABC News on Tuesday. "He worked hard to provide for his family and he loved us so much."

Geovana Bernal said her brother viewed images of her father and confirmed his death after speaking with the coroner's office.

Seven other employees suffered injuries in the incident, including chemical burns, and remain hospitalized, authorities said Wednesday.

One firefighter was also injured in the incident and has since been treated and released from a nearby hospital, according to authorities.

The cause of the rupture is unknown, Goldstein said Tuesday.

White liquor is a chemical mixture of sodium hydroxide, sodium sulfide and disodium carbonate used in the paper-making process, according to Goldstein.

The U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board said Wednesday it is opening an investigation into the incident "to determine how it happened and what can be done to prevent something like this from happening again."

A team of CSB investigators will be arriving at the incident site in Longview on Wednesday.

The Washington State Department of Labor and Industries said it is also investigating.

There is no direct threat to the public, authorities said.

Contamination was confirmed to have entered the nearby Columbia River, Goldstein said Wednesday, with mitigation efforts and more testing underway "to better understand the scope and extent of that environmental impact."

The Washington State Department of Ecology and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are helping monitor air and water quality, officials said Wednesday.

"At this time, there are no negative health impacts to air quality or the City of Longview's drinking water system," officials said Wednesday. "The public is asked to keep away from ditches and dikes in the city while water testing is underway."

The Nippon facility is located on the Washington-Oregon border near the Columbia River. The kraft pulp and paper mill and liquid packaging plant employs around 1,000 people, according to the Washington Department of Ecology.

"On behalf of NDP, these are our people," Brian Wood, director of support services for Nippon Dynawave Packaging, said during Wednesday's briefing. "We are focused on our people. We are focused on helping our responders find and recover those things. That is our people. That is our focus today."

"We are profoundly grateful for the people behind me, for the responders and what they've done with us and for us," he continued.

Wood said the company will cooperate with investigators and they "look forward to a full and complete investigation."

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEWARK, N.J.) -- Tensions continue to rise outside an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility in Newark, New Jersey, as activists and Democratic leaders clash with the federal government over conditions there.

A hunger strike inside the 1,000-bed Delaney Hall detention center has been ongoing since Friday after detainees alleged they are not being well fed or provided sanitary living conditions, according to activists.

"They're given rotten frozen food, or in the case of last week, they found live worms in their food. We're also hearing of people being denied toilet paper," activist Catalina Adorno told New York ABC affiliate WABC on Tuesday.

Several protests have taken place outside the facility since the strike began, and ICE agents were filmed using pepper spray and batons against protesters who have gotten close to them, according to WABC.

The Department of Homeland Security has denied the allegations of a hunger strike and inhumane conditions inside Delaney Hall, which is currently holding 300 detainees. DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin claimed during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday that there were "only a handful of individuals that was refusing to eat" because they allegedly wanted their "ethnic right food."

"Well, they can go back to their country and get whatever food they want," he told reporters. "The fact is, we're giving them the calories they want. This isn't Holiday Inn."

Activist groups and several New Jersey Democratic Congress members, including Rep. Rob Menendez Jr., and Sen. Andy Kim, have pushed back against DHS claims and have participated in protests since Friday.

Menendez and Kim went inside the Delaney Hall detention center Saturday after repeated asks and said they saw the poor conditions and treatment of detainees firsthand.

"These are not the people that Donald Trump keeps saying that they were trying to lock up. You know, there is a woman that was pregnant that says she's not getting full, OB-GYN care," said Kim, who has called for Delaney Hall to be shut down.

"There is a woman that had a miscarriage that said that she did not get the care that she needed and was left to be able to manage that on her own," he added.

Kim joined protesters again on Monday along with New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill, who said she was denied access to the facility multiple times over the past couple of weeks.

The governor spoke with some of the protesters, which included families of the detainees, and joined calls for the facility to be closed.

"My request for access to Delaney Hall was formally denied this morning, raising serious questions about what they are trying to hide from public view," Sherrill said in a statement Monday, in part.

"I have long opposed private detention facilities and will continue to advocate for the closure of Delaney Hall and against any expansion of mass detention facilities in New Jersey," the statement continued.

"I came today to hear from families and advocates, and what I heard from them was heartbreaking. I will continue to hold ICE accountable," the statement further said, adding that Sherrill would continue working with Menendez, Kim and others "to demand answers, protect constitutional rights, and ensure humane conditions."

"The people inside Delaney Hall are fathers and mothers, sons and daughters, and members of our community. In New Jersey, we believe in the rule of law and that everyone deserves to be treated with basic dignity. We have a duty to safeguard the rights, health, and well-being of everyone within our borders," the statement said.

Shortly after Sherrill left the rally on Monday, things became more tense between the protesters and federal agents. ICE agents deployed pepper spray and fired rubber bullets into the crowd as they clashed with agents, who were moving vehicles in and outside the facility, according to WABC.

Several people were hit with the spray including Kim, who was seen trying to de-escalate the situation.

"Instead of engaging with me and others about the poor conditions, ICE sent in an armored vehicle and a line of armed agents that only poured gasoline on the fire," the senator said on social media Monday.

Mullin decried the Memorial Day protest and told reporters Wednesday that Congress members "probably shouldn't have been there."

Lauren Bis, DHS acting assistant secretary, accused the New Jersey lawmakers of conducting a "political stunt."

"We need these sanctuary politicians to stop peddling this garbage and cooperate with us to get these criminals out of their state," she said in a statement Monday.

The protests and clashes continue, with federal agents deploying pepper spray against protesters who formed a human barricade outside the facility.

Mullin alleged in a social media post Tuesday night that law enforcement agents were sprayed with "an unknown chemical substance."

"Two individuals were arrested for assaulting, resisting, and impeding federal officers," Mullin said.

Sherrill did not immediately have a comment about Mullin's claims.

Protesters showed up to Delaney Hall Wednesday but the demonstrations were peaceful as of the afternoon.

ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) -- A Google employee fraudulently made more than $1 million by using inside information to place Polymarket bets on what users were searching for on Google, according to a federal criminal complaint unsealed Wednesday in New York. 

For Michele Spagnuolo, these were sure bets because, as a Google software engineer, he had access to company data that tracked user searches, according to the complaint, which said Spagnuolo "misappropriated confidential and valuable nonpublic information from his employer and used that information to place a series of Google-related bets on Polymarket, a prediction market platform."

Spagnuolo, 36, is charged with commodities fraud, wire fraud and money laundering.

"Unlike the counterparties to his trades, Spagnuolo knew the outcome of these wagers before the trading public did because he had accessed Google's confidential, commercially valuable internal data," the complaint said.  

He correctly bet -- using an account under the name AlphaRaccoon -- that Google's most-searched person in 2025 would be the singer known as D4vd, according to the complaint. At the time he placed that bet, the prediction market Polymarket "assigned a near-zero probability to d4vd being 'the #1 searched person on Google this year,'" the complaint said.

After Google publicly announced its Year in Search 2025 results on Dec. 4, 2025, Spagnuolo's AlphaRaccoon account profited $1.2 million on his Google Year in Search 2025-related bets, federal prosecutors said.

"Once he won, Spagnuolo then took deliberate steps to conceal his unlawful use of nonpublic information by attempting to obscure the source and ownership of his unlawful proceeds," the complaint said.

Spagnuolo, an Italian citizen, was arrested Wednesday morning in New York, where he appeared briefly before a federal magistrate judge.

He did not enter a plea and was released on a $2.25 million bond, secured by $1 million cash, $50,000 of which needs to be posted Wednesday. 

A Google spokesperson, responding to the charges against Spagnuolo, said in a statement, "We're working with law enforcement on their investigation. The employee accessed our marketing material using a tool available to all employees, but using such confidential information to place bets is a serious breach of our policies. We've placed the employee on leave and will take the appropriate action."

This is the second case involving Polymarket that the U.S. attorney's office for the Southern District of New York has brought this year.

A U.S. special forces soldier, Gannon Van Dyke, pleaded not guilty last month to making fraudulent bets on Polymarket about the raid that ousted Nicholas Maduro from Venezuela. Van Dyke was positioned to know about the raid because he helped to plan it and took part in it, prosecutors said. 

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