(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Polo made landfall in Baja California overnight and is expected to make a second landfall on the mainland of Mexico on Tuesday.
Polo slammed the Baja California Peninsula near Las Barrancas as a Category 2 hurricane, packing dangerous winds of 96 to 110 mph.
After making landfall around 11 p.m. local time, Polo was downgraded to a Category 1 storm as it trekked across the Baja and took aim at the Sonora region of mainland Mexico.
There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
Polo formed into a Pacific hurricane on Sept. 20, one of three hurricanes to develop in the Pacific at the same time.
Near-record levels of moisture are coming in from the Pacific, aided by strong flow from Polo.
The hurricane’s remnants will eventually merge later Tuesday with an existing storm system and supercharge moisture across a large swath of the United States.
More than 30 million people on Tuesday across a dozen states from California and Texas to Iowa are under a flood watch.
Overnight, multiple flash flood warnings were in effect across Utah and Arizona.
Zion National Park saw near-record flooding along the Virgin River and Heaps Canyon as a flash flood wave moved through on Monday night.
Water rescues were made on Monday evening in Bullhead City, Arizona, after a vehicle got trapped in floodwaters.
Three hikers were rescued early Monday, Sept. 28, in Big Sur, Calif. after requesting emergency assistance. (Monterey County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — Three hikers were airlifted to safety by rescue crews early Monday morning after becoming lost and disoriented in a Big Sur state park, according to officials.
The hikers called 911 at 7:30 p.m. on Sunday to request emergency assistance, prompting a joint search-and-rescue operation by the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue, Big Sur Fire, and a naval air station in the area, according to the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office.
One of the hikers was experiencing a medical emergency when they called 911, the sheriff’s office said.
The group was located at about 12:30 a.m. The sheriff’s office team located them Monday and hoisted them to safety with “Lasso 3,” a Navy search-and-rescue helicopter, according to the release.
Rescue teams undertook a 2.5-mile hike at about 2,000 feet of elevation along trails that needed to be cleared with machetes and chainsaws because of overgrowth to reach the hikers, authorities said.
The three were hiking in Limekiln State Park along the Big Sur coastline, officials said.
The three were turned over to Big Sur Fire and Ambulance personnel upon their safe return and the mission was concluded at about 4 a.m. on Monday, according to the sheriff’s office.
The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office reminds those venturing into the backcountry to know their limitations and prepare before departing. Hikers are encouraged to use established trails, carry a GPS-enabled device for navigation, and tell a family member or friend when they leave and their expected return time.
SAVED BY THE BELL — Season 2 — Pictured: (l-r) Mario Lopez as Alabert Clifford ‘A.C.’ Slater, Dennis Haskins as Mr. Richard Belding, Lark Voorhies as Lisa Turtle, Tiffani Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski, Elizabeth Berkley as Jessie Spano, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Zachary ‘Zach’ Morris, Dustin Diamond as Screech Powers — Photo by: NBCU Photo Bank (Nbc/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Dennis Haskins, who is best known for his role on the hit sitcom Saved by the Bell, has died at 75, his agent confirmed to ABC News.
“It’s a tragic loss. Everyone loved Mr. Belding and those of us who got to know Dennis, loved him even more. He was a great person, and he loved, I mean absolutely LOVED his fans. He always had time for them, no matter what,” his agent Jay Schachter said.
Haskins’ cause of death has not been released.
He played Principal Richard Belding on three separate shows. First in the Disney Channel show Good Morning, Miss Bliss in 1989, which was later recreated into NBC’s Saved by the Bell.
He starred on Saved by the Bell through the show’s four-season run, from 1989 to 1993, and later reprised the role for Saved by the Bell: The New Class, which ran for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000.
Saved by the Bell is among the defining sitcoms of the ’90s, following a group of high school students as they navigate adolescence. Fans of the show will remember Principal Belding’s catchphrase “Hey, hey, hey, what is going on here?”
The last time Haskins played the famed principal was in 2015 when the cast — Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Elizabeth Berkley, Mario Lopez and Tiffani Thiessen — reunited for a Saved by the Bell sketch on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
Haskins’ other TV and film roles include appearances on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, A Million Ways to Die in the West, Men of a Certain Age, The Bold and the Beautiful, Victorious, Mad Men, How I Met Your Mother, New Girl and Hot in Cleveland, among others.
If you missed Minions & Monsters in theaters, don’t fret. The film will begin streaming exclusively on Peacock on Oct. 28. The animated film from Illumination features the voice talent of Pierre Coffin, Allison Janney, Christoph Waltz, Jesse Eisenberg, Jeff Bridges and Zoey Deutch. It follows the story of how the Minions took over Hollywood as movie stars before unleashing monsters into the world. …
Fans of Oasis will finally be able to watch the band’s recent documentary film on streaming. Oasis: Don’t Look Back In Anger is set to stream on Disney+ and Hulu starting on Oct. 9. This version of the film will include exclusive unseen footage …
The official trailer for La Bola Negra has arrived. Netflix has released a new trailer for its upcoming film about three generations of men who are connected through love, pain and desire. Guitarricadelafuente, Miguel Bernardeau, Carlos González, Julio Torres, Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close star in the movie, which arrives in theaters on Oct. 16 …
The entrance to Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., Oct. 18, 2020. (Getty Images)
Prosecutors in upstate New York are defending their decision not to bring charges in 2024 after an alleged “gang rape” at a Cornell University fraternity.
Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten described the allegations as “morally disturbing” but argued that the facts he knew at the time did not support a prosecution.
“If what was said on social media about this case was true, those fraternity members would be in prison right now,” Van Houten told ABC News.
Van Houten argued that Jane Doe’s account of the incident from 2024 suggested that she consented to the sexual activity. He said that she did not withdraw her consent, and that when she raised concerns, the fraternity members “stopped and did not pursue what they were doing.”
“She clearly consented in the beginning, and there was never any indication that she changed that to the things that she participated in,” he said. “There is a disconnect in the sense of how the community and how social media has understood this to have happened. If at any point Jane Doe had said, ‘I don’t consent to this anymore,’ or in those words, or in any form of communication. If there had been continued sexual activity, contact by these individuals, that would be a crime. But that’s not what was alleged in her statement.”
Van Houten acknowledged that his office did not examine a photo of the fraternity’s Snapchat group, but he argued that the messages do not change his view of the case.
He called the messages, “disgusting and vulgar and immoral.”
“But the question that we analyzed was: Did Jane Doe consent to what happened, and was she unable to consent?” he said. “I’m not clear on exactly how that was given to us, or if anyone here looked at it. That was not critical to our analysis, as I mentioned earlier. The issue was her consent, and if you take that Snapchat being vile and crude and vulgar, that did not have any relevance to the issue of whether Jane Doe consented to what was happening,” Van Houten said.
The DA’s comments come a day after his office announced it would be reopening the 2024 case in light of Jane Doe’s civil lawsuit alleging that she was drugged, assaulted and gang raped by seven former and current members of the Chi Phi fraternity at Cornell.
Cornell’s Chi Phi chapter was barred from campus after the alleged Oct. 19, 2024, incident, though none of the individuals allegedly involved faced criminal charges, according to the DA.
An attorney for Jane Doe responded to Van Houten’s written statement on Monday, alleging his client’s claims were not investigated thoroughly.
“It is challenging for me to understand how a thorough criminal investigation could have been conducted when she was never spoke with anyone other than the officer who took her original complaint,” Thomas P. Giuffra said.
Giuffra also raised concerns that prosecutors might have lost critical evidence because of the two-year delay in investigating the case.
“I believe that opportunities to fully investigate these crimes were lost. We will never fully know what occurred or the identities of everyone who was involved that night,” he said.
Van Houten said his office plans to meet with Jane Doe to “establish a rapport” before having her testify before the grand jury this fall. He added that he requested some of the documents from Cornell’s Title IX investigation (through Jane Doe) and suggested that some of the fraternity members might testify.
Van Houten argued his office is constrained by New York’s laws on sexual assault and consent, which present a high bar to a potential prosecution.
“The law in New York State is clear that if you are voluntarily intoxicated or under the influence of drugs – such that your judgment is impaired — that does not legally, under the penal law, constitute your inability to consent,” Van Houten said. “That’s a very difficult concept, but it’s a concept that I am constrained by when I apply the law to the case.”
The university said in a new statement on Monday that it “supports the decision of the Tompkins County District Attorney (DA) to provide an opportunity for the victim’s story, in the 2024 Chi Phi fraternity Sexual Assault case, to be heard by a criminal grand jury.”
“Cornell also conducted a thorough Title IX investigation, which is separate from a criminal proceeding, over the course of several months,” Monday’s statement said. “During that investigation temporary suspensions and other restrictive measures were used. After investigation, and pursuant to federal law, the matter was sent to a hearing where a panel of trained faculty and staff heard evidence over multiple days. The complainant and respondents had the opportunity to testify and present evidence. At its conclusion, the hearing panel issued a range of sanctions, which included expulsions and suspensions from Cornell. None of the individuals charged were offered the opportunity to write essays as a sole consequence of their involvement.”
Jane Doe’s lawyers allege that the fraternity members “were afforded the opportunity to mitigate their conduct by submitting essays to Cornell.”
The fraternity was closed in 2024, the school said.
“Any suggestion that the University did not impose consequential punishments for those involved is false,” Cornell said on Monday. “A continuation of the false narrative that there were minimal consequences in this case is irresponsible, will make survivors feel less safe and supported, and will perpetuate the underreporting of sexual assault.”
ABC News has reached out to Chi Phi for a comment.
An attorney for one of the defendants denied the allegations and said the incident detailed in the complaint “did not happen.”
“We look forward to confronting the plaintiff in a court of law for her selfishly false claims with both the evidence and her own words.” Attorney Jeremy Saland said.
Another defendant also denied engaging in sexual activity or drug use, though he acknowledged that he sent a message that was included in the complaint.
Caleb Flynn, right, is seen being interviewed by Tipp City police on Feb. 19, 2026, in a still from video shown during his murder trial in Miami County, Ohio, on Sept. 28, 2026. (Pool/ABC News)
An Ohio man accused of murdering his wife in their bedroom and allegedly staging the crime scene to make it seem like an intruder broke into their home denied killing his spouse in an interview with police days after the deadly shooting, according to video shown during his trial on Monday.
Caleb Flynn, 40, a former pastor who once appeared as a contestant on “American Idol” in 2013, is on trial in Miami County, Ohio, for the murder of his 37-year-old wife, Ashley Flynn.
He was arrested on Feb. 19, three days after calling 911 to report a burglary and shooting at their home in Tipp City, north of Dayton in February. He has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder, murder, felonious assault and tampering with evidence.
Prosecutors alleged that Caleb Flynn shot his wife twice in the back of the head in bed so that he could be with his mistress and manipulated the scene to make it seem as if an intruder did it so he “too would be a victim.” According to prosecutors, Ashley Flynn was shot with two 9mm bullets, and Caleb Flynn kept a 9mm handgun in his truck console that was missing from the console when officers arrived at the scene.
While being questioned by a Tipp City police detective and Miami County deputy on the day of his arrest, Flynn was asked point-blank if he had anything to do with his wife’s death, according to video of the interview shown in court on Monday.
“Did you do this? Because I have to ask you,” Chief Deputy Steve Lord of the Miami County Sheriff’s Office asks while questioning Caleb Flynn about what could have led to the deadly shooting.
“No,” Caleb Flynn responds.
While discussing the gun that was missing from Caleb Flynn’s truck console, Lord says he believes the husband is “involved” in the shooting, and that when a grand jury hears the evidence of the case, “they’re going to conclude something.”
“I didn’t touch my wife,” Caleb Flynn says.
Asked if he had any explanation for his gun, Caleb Flynn continues to reiterate, “I didn’t touch my wife.”
“The evidence is a little bit contrary to that,” Lord replies.
The state rested its case on Monday, after calling more than three dozen witnesses over seven days of testimony.
The defense also rested on Monday without calling any witnesses. Caleb Flynn did not testify in his own defense.
Closing arguments are expected Tuesday.
During interviews with investigators played during the trial, Caleb Flynn said that the night of the shooting, he left his bedroom because his coughing was bothering his wife. He said that while sleeping on the couch his dogs woke him up and he went to check on their two daughters and fell asleep in their room. He said he was woken up by the sound of gunshots and found his wife shot in bed in the early hours of Feb. 16.
He called 911 to report the shooting and intruder.
“Somebody broke into my home. Somebody broke in my home and shot my wife,” a frantic-sounding Caleb Flynn can be heard in the 911 call.
“My wife, she’s got two shots to her head, there’s blood everywhere, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God,” he says, adding that the door to the garage was “wide open” and urging first responders to “please hurry.”
Hours before calling 911 on Feb. 16, Caleb Flynn texted his mistress, “Actions will come tomorrow,” prosecutors said.
The former mistress, Alleigha Botner, testified for the state during the trial, reading from some of the more than 100,000 messages they exchanged over her two days of testimony.
“If I could literally kill her and not go to hell, I would do it in a heartbeat,” Caleb Flynn said in one message from May 2025, she testified.
Defense attorneys have conceded that Caleb Flynn said “ugly, hurtful” things in the messages with his mistress, though said he did so to appease her and lied to her to make her happy. The defense has also argued that there is no direct evidence, such as a firearm, tying Caleb Flynn to the murder, “only a theory following an affair.”
Alan Ritchson in season 3 of ‘Jack Reacher.’ (Jasper Savage/Prime Video)
Reacher is coming back for even more.
Prime Video has renewed the hit series for season 6. Alan Ritchson has starred as Jack Reacher in all seasons of the popular show that is based on Lee Child’s book series.
“Reacher hits hard,” Peter Friedlander, the head of Global Television at Amazon MGM Studios, said. “What Lee Child has built and Nick Santora and his creative teams have brought to life is, simply, incredible. Alan Ritchson is Jack Reacher — he’s delivered a performance that has captivated audiences around the world. Together with our partners at Paramount Television Studios, we couldn’t be more excited to continue this journey. Reacher is a truly iconic series, and we’re thrilled to be on the ride with this extraordinary cast and crew for season six.”
Prime Video premiered the fourth season of Reacher on Aug. 12, saying it garnered “massive global viewership” over the new episodes.
Additionally, Reacher was renewed for season 5 ahead of season 4’s release back in May. Production on season 5 is currently taking place in Toronto, Canada. The fifth season will be based on the 20th book in Child’s series, titled Make Me.
Season 4 of Reacher accumulated 66 million viewers globally in its first 28 days, according to numbers from Prime Video. This means it surpassed the performance of season 3. The show has received over 200 million viewers worldwide since season 1 launched in 2022.
Season 4 was based on Child’s 13th book in the series, titled Gone Tomorrow. It followed what happens “when a chance encounter with a distraught stranger on a subway goes horribly wrong,” according to an official synopsis. “Jack Reacher is drawn into a complex and deadly game that pits him against ruthless foes from the highest echelons of power.”
Police roadblocks and a cordon remained in place in the southwestern British village of Whelford on Tuesday morning, as the investigation continued into a possible terrorist plot near a key U.S. air base, with five men suspected of involvement arrested on Sunday but released on bail on Monday.
The men, who police said were all British nationals from London between the ages of 23 and 25, were arrested in the possession of three vans in the early hours of Sunday close to RAF Fairford, which has long been a key hub for U.S. Air Force operations in the Middle East — including in the ongoing conflict with Iran.
Police said the men were suspected of terrorism and explosives offenses, prompting speculation that the detainees were planning to target RAF Fairford, possibly on behalf of a foreign power.
The men were bailed on Monday. Laurence Taylor, the head of National Counter Terrorism Policing in the U.K., said they were placed under “stringent conditions on their movement and contact with others.” The suspects, who have not been charged, “remain under investigation as we explore multiple lines of enquiry,” Taylor said.
“I know there is significant interest in whether the current geopolitical context has a bearing on this incident,” Taylor said. “We are considering this from every possible angle. Including, that this may be activity committed by proxies, or individuals either knowingly or unknowingly, working on behalf of a foreign state.”
Sunday’s arrests, which came after a tip-off from a local farmer, were touted as a major policing and intelligence success. President Donald Trump was among those praising the operation, telling reporters on Sunday that it had been ongoing for a “long time.”
Trump told reporters that the suspects were “looking to do big damage” to U.S. forces present at RAF Fairford. “The arrest in the U.K. was fantastic. Working with Britain, it was an amazing job,” Trump said.
After they were bailed, Trump suggested the men “might be” linked to Iran, though declined to elaborate further.
“I’m surprised that they released them,” Trump said on Monday during an Oval Office event. “I wouldn’t have done that. Look, they’ve been very good. They worked with us very closely. We know everything about them. We would not have released them.”
The Iranian embassy in London denied any connection to the incident in a statement issued on Monday. The mission condemned what it called “recent unfounded and malicious speculations published by some British individuals and media outlets.”
“The circulation of such fabricated speculations, particularly in the aftermath of the criminal acts of aggression committed by the United States and the Israeli regime against the Iranian people, will serve no purpose other than to fuel Iranophobia propaganda in the UK,” the embassy said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also suggested on Monday that the incident near RAF Fairford was linked to “a foreign actor,” though said he had “to be careful” in what he shared publicly.
“There are some things I cannot say on the air for a lot of different reasons,” Rubio said during an interview with Fox News. “Suffice it to say that what happened, what almost happened, what could have happened in the U.K. over the weekend is a very serious situation. It is one that clearly involves the hands of a foreign actor.”
“I know a lot of people are disturbed by the news that some of these people have been released on bail,” he added, thanking British authorities for their work and cooperation.
“We are dealing with elements in the world, in the case of Iran for example, who have openly threatened to attack American interests globally,” he continued. “We’re going to always take that very seriously, there will be repercussions for that if it ever were to happen or even attempted.”
“There’s a lot more news that will come out in the days to come, but there is only so much I can say right now at this point about it other than this is a very serious thing and will be responded to appropriately,” Rubio said.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart, Isabella Murray and Shannon K. Kingston contributed to this report.
Former Special Counsel Jack Smith prepares to testify during a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill, Jan. 22, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
Former special counsel Jack Smith is set to appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday to defend his two criminal investigations of President Donald Trump amid growing calls from Republicans that Smith himself face prosecution by Trump’s Justice Department.
Smith, who secured indictments against Trump over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss and his alleged unlawful retention of classified documents after leaving the White House, has repeatedly said he believes he could prove Trump’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and defended the actions of his investigative team.
Trump has long denied wrongdoing and neither case ultimately made it before a jury following his 2024 election victory, after which Smith moved to dismiss both indictments based on DOJ policy barring prosecution of a sitting president.
In an opening statement to the committee obtained by ABC News, Smith is expected to say, “I stand by my decisions as Special Counsel, including my decision to bring charges against President Trump. I made these decisions without regard to President Trump’s political association, activities, beliefs, or candidacy in the 2024 presidential election.”
“If asked whether to prosecute a former President based on the same facts today, I would do so regardless of whether that President was a Republican or a Democrat,” his statement says.
Trump has repeatedly said Smith should face prosecution and he has become a central target of House and Senate Republicans, who have argued his investigations were fueled by political animus and represented a “weaponization” of the Justice Department.
Senate Democrats have cast Republicans’ attacks on Smith as misleading and hypocritical in light of what they argue is Trump’s blatant weaponization of the department to pursue his political enemies.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in July testimony that the department was investigating a criminal referral from Republicans who accused Smith of lying in prior public testimony before the House Judiciary Committee.
In a lengthy rebuttal to Blanche, Smith’s attorneys argued the referral was based on “spurious” claims that took his testimony out of context in order to create a pretext for the Justice Department to investigate him.
“During his testimony, Mr. Smith provided truthful, responsive answers and candidly discussed his work,” Smith’s attorneys said. “This referral reflects a chilling eagerness to weaponize the justice system by attacking a career, nonpartisan public servant who faithfully and fearlessly performed his duties by following the facts and the law.”
In the nearly two years since Smith’s office was shuttered following Trump’s 2024 election win, nearly every prosecutor and line agent associated with Smith’s investigation have either resigned or been fired.
The Justice Department and FBI have also handed over scores of records from Smith’s probes to Republican lawmakers who have released them in piecemeal disclosures alleging, without evidence, that they expose corruption or otherwise unethical behavior by Smith’s investigative team.
In Tuesday’s hearing, specifically, Republicans are expected to accuse Smith of unlawfully targeting their phone records during the course of his investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
Smith has repeatedly defended his office’s actions with respect to the subpoenaed records, and has said the records were only targeted because they were made in the period where Trump and other White House officials were seeking to disrupt certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election win — which ultimately led to the violent Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol.
“I didn’t choose those members, President Trump did,” Smith said in prior testimony regarding lawmakers whose records his office obtained.
Another factor looming over Smith’s Tuesday testimony is that he is technically barred from discussing details from his other criminal investigation of Trump’s alleged unlawful retention of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
The Trump-appointed federal judge who previously dismissed the classified documents case, Aileen Cannon, has a standing order that prohibits Smith or any other government official from revealing information that could be part of his final report detailing the probe. An appeals court is currently weighing a lawsuit filed by First Amendment advocacy groups seeking to lift Cannon’s order and make the report public.
