National

(NEW YORK) — Two people were in the LaGuardia Airport air traffic control tower cab when an Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority airport vehicle on a runway at the New York City airport on Sunday night, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

The on-the-ground crash killed both pilots, left dozens injured and prompted LaGuardia to shut down for more than 12 hours. Antoine Forest has been identified by his family as one of the two pilots killed.

The collision happened shortly after Air Canada Flight 8646, which was carrying four crew members and 72 passengers, touched down from Montreal around 11:45 p.m., according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia. The plane, which was operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a rescue-and-firefighting vehicle responding to another aircraft, officials said.

Preliminary data shows the plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it impacted the fire truck, FlightRadar24 told ABC News.

At least 43 people — from the plane and the fire truck — were taken to hospitals, officials said.

As the NTSB investigates the crash, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said there were two people in the air traffic control tower cab at the time of collision: the local controller and the controller in charge.

Two controllers is “the standard operating procedure for LaGuardia for the midnight shift,” Homendy at a news conference on Tuesday.

She said the NTSB has been concerned about fatigue from the midnight shift in past investigations, but stressed that there is no evidence of fatigue so far in this case.

LaGuardia has a runway safety system allowing air traffic controllers to track surface movement of planes and vehicles, but that system “did not alert,” Homendy said.

The analysis found that the system “did not generate an alert due to the close proximity of vehicles merging and unmerging near the runway, resulting in the inability to create a track of high confidence,” Homendy said.

There is no indication yet if the pilots saw the fire truck on the runway, Homendy said, noting that the NTSB is still analyzing the cockpit voice recorder.

Homendy said the NTSB is still working to determine what happened at the air traffic controllers’ shift change around 10:30 p.m.

“We know that that controller was still on duty for several minutes afterwards” the crash, she said, when usually they’d be relieved, so she said the NTSB is investigating if anyone was available to relieve them.

Homendy also stressed that the NTSB “rarely, if ever, investigate[s] a major accident where it was one failure” — usually “many, many things” went wrong, she said.

“Our aviation system is incredibly safe because there are multiple, multiple layers of defense built in to prevent an accident,” she explained.

One passenger on the flight, Joe, said that as the plane was landing, he noticed some emergency vehicles on the tarmac.

“Right before the impacts, we felt something, maybe like an emergency brake that was pulled, or some kind of hard stop, before we hit the truck,” Joe, who did not want to use his last name, told ABC News Live. “But prior to that, there was nothing out of the ordinary that I had noticed.”

“Because I was seated in the emergency aisle, somebody in the plane had shouted, ‘Emergency exits open,'” Joe said. “So at that time, I pulled the lever down, attached the door, put it to the side of the plane, and a few of us had exited through the emergency exit onto the wing of the plane. And FDNY and Port Authority Police directed us to slide down the wing. … It was very low to the ground and easy to get off.”

Joe, who was on the flight with his fiancé, said Monday evening that they were “pretty shaken up, still kind of in shock.”

“And just heartbroken for, obviously, the pilots, and all those that are injured,” Joe said.

He said he believes the pilots “saved many lives on that flight — and my heart’s just broken for them.”

LaGuardia shut down after the crash and slowly resumed flights at 2 p.m. Monday. The runway where the collision occurred will remain closed until 7 a.m. Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(DEFUNIAK SPRINGS, Fla.) — Two students and one adult were hurt in a stabbing at a middle school in Florida on Tuesday, authorities said.

The incident was reported at 7:22 a.m. at Walton Middle School in DeFuniak Springs, about 45 miles north of Destin, the Walton County Sheriff’s Office said.

At 7:30 a.m., the suspect — a student at the school — was detained one block away, according to the sheriff’s office.

The conditions of the adult and two students were not immediately clear.

The school has canceled classes for the day, the sheriff said.

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

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Antoine Forest has been identified by his family as one of the two pilots killed when a regional Air Canada jet collided with a Port Authority airport vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York City.

Sunday night’s on-the-ground crash killed both pilots, left dozens injured and prompted LaGuardia to shut down for more than 12 hours.

The collision happened shortly after Air Canada Flight 8646, which was carrying four crew members and 72 passengers, touched down from Montreal around 11:45 p.m., according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia. The plane, which was operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a rescue-and-firefighting vehicle responding to another aircraft, officials said.

Preliminary data shows the plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it impacted the fire truck, FlightRadar24 told ABC News.

At least 43 people — from the plane and the fire truck — were taken to hospitals, officials said.

One passenger on the flight, Joe, said that as the plane was landing, he noticed some emergency vehicles on the tarmac.

“Right before the impacts, we felt something, maybe like an emergency brake that was pulled, or some kind of hard stop, before we hit the truck,” Joe, who did not want to use his last name, told ABC News Live. “But prior to that, there was nothing out of the ordinary that I had noticed.”

“Because I was seated in the emergency aisle, somebody in the plane had shouted, ‘Emergency exits open,'” Joe said. “So at that time, I pulled the lever down, attached the door, put it to the side of the plane, and a few of us had exited through the emergency exit onto the wing of the plane. And FDNY and Port Authority Police directed us to slide down the wing. … It was very low to the ground and easy to get off.”

Joe, who was on the flight with his fiancé, said Monday evening that they were “pretty shaken up, still kind of in shock.”

“And just heartbroken for, obviously, the pilots, and all those that are injured,” Joe said.

He said he believes the pilots “saved many lives on that flight — and my heart’s just broken for them.”

LaGuardia shut down after the crash and slowly resumed flights at 2 p.m. Monday. The runway where the collision occurred will remain closed until 7 a.m. Friday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge is allowing the release of deposition videos of two former DOGE staffers, ruling that the risk of “embarrassment and reputational harm” is not enough to overcome the public interest in the videos. 

U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon on Monday lifted an earlier order requiring a group of nonprofits to remove the videos from the internet after lawyers with the Justice Department argued that the former Department of Government Efficiency staffers faced threats because of the depositions’ release. 

While Judge McMahon acknowledged that the former staffers faced threats, she said the DOJ could not prove a “particularized harm” to the former staffers that would overcome the public interest in their official conduct as government employees. 

“Here, the testimony in the videos concerns the conduct of public officials acting in their official capacities — a context in which the public interest in transparency and accountability is at its apex,” she wrote. 

Judge McMahon concluded that ordering the videos removed would have little impact on the alleged threats because the videos had been already shared hundreds of thousands of times online.

The DOJ, she said, failed to prove that ordering the removal of the videos “would materially reduce the alleged risk of harm or embarrassment.” 

“The videos have already been widely disseminated across multiple platforms, including YouTube, X, TikTok, Instagram, and Reddit, where they have been shared, reposted, and viewed by at least hundreds of thousands of users, resulting in near-instantaneous and effectively permanent global distribution,” she said.

“This is a predictable consequence of dissemination in the modern digital environment, where content can be copied, redistributed, and indefinitely preserved beyond the control of any single actor,” wrote the judge.

“This decision validates our position that the publication of the videos, which document a process to destroy knowledge and access to vital public programs, was indeed in the public’s interest,” said Joy Connolly, president of the American Council of Learned Societies, one of the nonprofits that released the videos. “We look forward to continuing the pursuit of justice in reclaiming government support for important humanities research, education, and sustainability initiatives.”

The videos were initially released as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit related to the funding cuts carried out by DOGE as part of President Donald Trump’s efforts to trim the size of the federal government. In the videos, two former DOGE staffer. — Justin Fox and Nate Cavanaugh — were questioned about their push to cut more than $100 million in humanities grants, and acknowledged they used DEI keywords and ChatGPT to identify grants to eliminate.

“You don’t regret that people might have lost important income … to support their lives?” an attorney asked one of the staffers about the grant cancellations.

“No. I think it was more important to reduce the federal deficit from $2 trillion to close to zero,” the staffer said.

“Did you reduce the federal deficit?” the attorney asked.

“No, we didn’t,” he said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate is set to vote to confirm Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Monday night.

The vote comes amid backlash over the immigration crackdown and deportations under DHS as well as the ongoing partial shutdown of the department.

A simple majority is needed to confirm Mullin for the job; he is expected to be approved.

Mullin, a first-term Republican senator and ardent supporter of President Donald Trump, will take over DHS with little homeland security experience. During his confirmation hearing last week, Mullin said that he will work hard to earn the respect of people at the department.

“I’ll work beside them every single day to not just secure a homeland, to bring peace of mind and confidence to the agency. My goal in six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day. My goal is for people to understand we’re out there, we’re protecting them, and we’re working with them,” Mullin said at his confirmation hearing.

Mullin’s confirmation vote comes during ongoing DHS partial shutdown — with employees of Transportation Security Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies under DHS not getting paid.

Travelers are experiencing long TSA lines at airports around the country during a busy spring travel season as TSA agents call out. Sunday set a new record with the highest call out rate from TSA officers since the partial government shutdown began at 11.76%, according to newly released data by the agency. 

President Donald Trump announced over the weekend that he would send Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to airports starting on Monday to assist TSA officers.

Trump nominated Mullin to lead the agency earlier this month, after firing Secretary Kristi Noem. His decision came after a week of disastrous hearings on Capitol Hill for Noem and questions about her personal and professional relationships while leading DHS.

Noem has faced criticism over her handling of ICE operations in Minneapolis after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal law enforcement. She was removed from leading operations in Minnesota following the scrutiny, and Border Czar Tom Homan was sent in to take over.

During his confirmation hearing, Mullin was asked about his response to the Good and Pretti shootings when he echoed initial statements from Noem and White House deputy chief Stephen Miller, calling Pretti “a deranged individual that came in to cause max damage.”

Noem later walked back her comments, claiming she did not have all of the facts at the time.

“I think I said this privately when we had a conversation. Those words probably should have been retracted. I shouldn’t have said that,” Mullin said to Democratic Sen. Gary Peters, adding he was “responding immediately without the facts.”

“That’s my fault. That won’t happen as secretary,” Mullin said.

Homan told ABC News’ Kyra Phillips on Monday that he is behind Mullin and looks forward to working with him as DHS secretary.

“We talk every day, if not several times a day. I think he’s the right guy, the right time and the right job,” Homan said. “I think he’s going to come in and you can work across the aisle, and I think, I think we got a lot of good things coming in the near future.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents began fanning out at more than a dozen airports across the nation on Monday to assume some of the duties of Transportation Security Administration officers affected by a federal government funding crisis.

“What I see ICE agents doing is helping TSA plug the holes of security,” White House Border Czar Tom Homan told ABC News on Monday.

President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that the ICE agents assigned to airports will also continue to enforce immigration laws.

“They really are a high-level group of people and they love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory,” Trump said during a gaggle with reporters on the tarmac in Palm Beach, Florida. “But that’s not why they’re there. They’re really there to help.”

Homan said that if ICE agents see “illegal activity,” they will take action because they are federal law enforcement officers.

Asked whether the ICE agents will be carrying out immigration enforcement at airports, Homan said, “We’re not going to ignore illegal conduct in the airport whether it’s human trafficking, whether it’s alien smuggling with somebody that’s wanted, whether it’s … someone that they believe they have reasonable suspicion to talk to because they feel there’s a criminal activity in front of them.”

“Of course, anybody would need probable cause to make any arrests, but yeah, their law enforcement officers and they’re not going to ignore the law while we’re there,” Homan said.

“I’m leaving it up to the TSA Administrator, who’s an expert airport operations,” Homan added. “Where can we plug the holes? Where can we increase security, especially in this heightened security environment, because what’s going on the world? Where can we help you to move those lines and American people quicker to inspections while the same time maintaining security at the airport?”

As ICE agents began showing up at airports on Monday, Trump earlier posted a message on social media asking them to refrain from wearing masks while helping with airport security.

“I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports,” Trump said in his post, adding that he is a “BIG proponent” of ICE agents wearing masks when they “search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals.”

Asked by reporters on Monday on Air Force One why he wants ICE agents to remove their masks at airports, Trump replied, “Because the people coming into the airport, typically speaking, aren’t murderers, killers, drug dealers, etc. There may be a few of them. But there aren’t many.”

Immigration officials wearing masks has been a key issue for critics in Trump’s nationwide mass deportation program.

Trump added that typical travelers at airports are “people that want to come into the country, and that want to leave the country, going to maybe their home countries, so I didn’t think it was an appropriate look for an airport.”

ICE agents were spotted by ABC News at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport early Monday.

The agents appeared to be helping with crowd control at the airport amid long lines of travelers trying to get through security. At one point, lines stretched outside the Atlanta airport’s terminals.

DHS funding battle continues

Democrats have blocked funding for the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to push for policy reforms to ICE, whose aggressive tactics in enforcing immigration laws have prompted protests and lawsuits across the country.

The DHS reforms that Democratic lawmakers have proposed include requiring ICE agents not to wear face masks, be equipped with body cameras and have warrants signed by a judge before entering homes and businesses.

Republicans have, so far, rejected those proposals.

ICE and TSA are both under the umbrella of DHS. But while ICE has remained funded through appropriations from Trump’s tax and spending bill passed last summer, key DHS agencies like TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Coast Guard are left unfunded.

Approximately 60,000 TSA officers have gone over a month with partial pay and last week began getting no paychecks as the stalemate over DHS funding continues.

Some TSA officers have begun calling out sick or quitting as they missed their first paycheck since the shutdown began on Feb. 14. DHS said that more than 400 TSA officers have quit so far.

Confusion over duties of ICE agents

On Sunday, Homan said the deployment of ICE would largely free up TSA agents for specialized tasks, like passenger and bag screening.

Homan, however, said ICE agents are not trained to do specialized work like screening passengers and running X-ray machines.

“But there are roles we can play to release TSA officers from the non-significant role, such as guarding an exit, so they can get back to the scanning machines and move people quicker,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Speaking on Fox News Sunday, Homan said that “ICE can check identification before people enter the screening area.”

But in an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy seemed to contradict Homan.

Asked by Jon Karl, ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent, whether the ICE agents have any practical experience in manning airport security lines, Duffy said, “They run those same type of security machines at the Southern border, right? Packages come through or people come through. They run similar assets.”

Duffy added that ICE agents could also manage the flow of travelers through airport security and help TSA with administrative tasks.

“It depends on who shows up. Every single day will dictate how long these lines are,” Duffy said. “And you don’t know as travelers are trying to figure out, do I have to come an hour-and-a-half early? Do I have to come four hours early? They don’t know until the day of or the afternoon of their flight.”

Homan attempted to clarify what duties ICE agents would have at the airports during an interview on Monday with ABC News. Homan said that Duffy might have been referring to machines used for luggage and other packages that ICE agents already run at airports.

Homan told ABC News that ICE and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) “have a footprint of all the airports, because that’s where we open investigations on currency smuggling and human trafficking.”

“So ICE is involved with baggage investigations on that. So there is a sort of screening,” Homan said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(CHICAGO) — An undocumented immigrant from Venezuela has been arrested in the killing of a Loyola University Chicago student, the Department of Homeland Security said.

Sheridan Gorman, 18, was walking with friends near Tobey Prinz Beach Park, less than a mile from the university’s Lake Shore campus, in the early hours of March 19 when a man walked up to the group and shot Gorman, according to Chicago police.

“She had her entire life ahead of her — her education, her future, her family, the countless lives she would have touched,” Gorman’s family said in a statement. “All of that was taken in a moment.”

The suspect, Jose Medina, was arrested on Friday on charges including first-degree murder and is due at a detention hearing on Monday, police said.

DHS said it’s lodged an arrest detainer as the agency pushes for Medina to be kept behind bars.

DHS said Medina has been apprehended and released twice. He was first apprehended by U.S. Border Patrol and released in May 2023, and the next month, he was arrested for shoplifting in Chicago and released, DHS said. The Chicago Police Department said it doesn’t provide criminal histories.

Gorman “was failed by open border policies and sanctuary politicians,” DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said in a statement. “We are calling on Governor J.B. Pritzker and Chicago’s sanctuary politicians to commit to not releasing this criminal illegal alien from jail back into American neighborhoods.”

Gorman’s family also commented on the immigration policies, saying, “We are gravely disappointed by the policies and failures that allowed this individual to remain in a position to commit this crime. When systems fail — whether through release decisions, lack of coordination, or unwillingness to act — the consequences are not abstract. They are real. And in our case, they are permanent.”

“Accountability must be complete,” the family said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A regional Air Canada jet collided into a Port Authority airport vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, an on-the-ground crash that demolished the front of the airplane, killed two pilots, injured dozens of passengers and prompted the airport to shut down, law enforcement and aviation officials said.

At least 41 people were transferred to local hospitals Sunday night after the plane, which was operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a rescue-and-firefighting vehicle that had been “responding to a separate incident” at 11:47 p.m., a Port Authority spokesperson said.

The pilot and the co-pilot of the plane were killed in the crash, officials said. Two of the injured were Port Authority officers and the other 39 were passengers, officials said.

LaGuardia is closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday, the Port Authority said.

The collision happened shortly after the plane, Air Canada Flight 8646, which was carrying four crew members and 72 passengers, touched down from Montreal, according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia.

The ground vehicle — a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting — had requested permission and had been cleared by the air traffic controller to cross Runway 4 at taxiway Delta, according to audio recordings. Shortly after that permission was granted, an air traffic controller was heard telling the vehicle to stop several times right before the collision, according to the recordings.

Preliminary data shows the Air Canada plane was traveling between 93 and 105 mph when it impacted the fire truck, FlightRadar24 told ABC News.

All passengers have been accounted for, Garcia said, and an unaccompanied minor on the plane was reunited with their family.

Thirty-two of those who had been transferred were later released, Garcia said, adding that several others had serious injuries. Two Port Authority police officers who were injured — a sergeant and an officer — were in stable condition at the hospital, she said.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators have responded to the scene.

Teams from Air Canada and Jazz Aviation are also headed to LaGuardia. Canadian authorities will be involved as a party to the investigation as the plane was operated by a Canadian carrier, but the NTSB will be leading the investigation since the collision occurred in the U.S.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEWARK, N.J.) — Ground stop briefly in place, control tower evacuated at Newark Airport after reports of smoke

A ground stop was briefly in place on Monday morning at Newark Liberty International Airport, where an air traffic control tower was being evacuated due to reports of smoke, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

An FAA spokesperson said there was no fire and the controllers evacuated the tower due to a burning smell from an elevator.

“Arrivals and departures are temporarily paused at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey after air traffic controllers evacuated the tower because of a burning smell coming from an elevator,” the FAA said in a statement. “It happened around 7:30 a.m. local time on Monday, March 23.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — A regional Air Canada jet crashed late on Sunday into a Port Authority airport vehicle at LaGuardia Airport in New York, a collision that demolished the front of the airplane, killed two pilots, injured dozens of others and prompted the airport to shut down on Monday morning, law enforcement and aviation officials said.

At least 41 people were transferred to local hospitals after the plane, which was operated by Jazz Aviation, struck a rescue-and-firefighting vehicle that had been “responding to a separate incident,” a Port Authority spokesperson said in a statement. Two of the injured were Port Authority officers and the other 39 were passengers, officials said.

“The airport will remain closed until at least 2 p.m. Monday to allow for a thorough investigation,” the authority said.

The collision happened shortly after the plane, Air Canada Flight 8646, which was carrying four crew members and 72 passengers, touched down, according to Port Authority Executive Director Kathryn Garcia.

Jazz Aviation, which is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, issued a statement confirming the incident, saying it happened at 11:47 p.m. Air Canada said on social media that it was “aware of an incident” and that Jazz Aviation would issue updates as needed.

All passengers have been accounted for, Garcia told reporters at a pre-dawn press conference at the airport. An unaccompanied minor on the plane was reunited with their family, she said.

Thirty-two of those who had been transferred to the airport were later released, Garcia said, adding that several others had serious injuries. Two Port Authority police officers who were injured — a sergeant and an officers — were in stable condition at the hospital, she said.

The regional jet involved in the collision had traveled from Montreal to New York, according to Flightradar24, a flight information tracker. The cause of the crash was not immediately clear. Preliminary information appeared to show that the flight had landed on Runway 4 and was rolling down the runway when the collision occurred.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to investigate the crash. Chair Jennifer Homendy will serve as the on-scene spokesperson, accompanied by member John DeLeeuw, according to the NTSB. Those investigators were on site by the time Garcia spoke at about 4:30 a.m. ET, according to the Port Authority.

New York City Emergency Management said in a statement that its first responders were present at the airport, adding that the initial response from the Fire Department had ended.

“Units will remain on scene with a watch line that includes one engine, one ladder, and one battalion chief,” the NYCEM’s statement said. “The NTSB is on scene leading the investigation.”

The pilot and the co-pilot of the plane were killed in the crash, multiple officials briefed on the situation said earlier. The New York City Chief Medical Examiner’s Office was on-scene early on Monday, and officials were awaiting confirmation of the identities of those who were killed. Next of kin were to be notified before their names were released, officials said.

The ground vehicle — a Port Authority Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting — had requested permission and had been cleared by the air traffic controller to cross Runway 4 at taxiway Delta, according to audio recordings. Shortly after that permission was granted, an air traffic controller was heard telling the vehicle to stop several times right before the collision, according to the recordings.

At least 18 flights have been diverted from LGA following the airport’s closure, with most being sent to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport or to New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport.

A union official had earlier told ABC News that there were two individuals who had been injured in the crash, saying they were Port Authority police officers assigned to firefighter duty at LaGuardia Airport.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.