(BROWN COUNTY, Ind.) — A K-9 unit with the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in Indiana located two missing 11-year-old kids who became separated from their mother and were lost in the woods, police said.
First responders were dispatched to the area of Sundance Lake in Hoosier National Forest at approximately 5:48 p.m. on Sunday afternoon after they received a report that two 11-year-old children “became separated from their mother and were lost in the thick woods,” according to a statement from the Brown County Sheriff’s Office.
“Our department, along with the Department of Natural Resources – Law Enforcement, Nashville Police Department, Harrison Township Fire Department, and Southern Brown Volunteer Fire Department all began searching the area,” police said.
The initial search turned up nothing but when Deputy Cody Loncaric arrived in the scene with his K-9 partner named Knox, the dog immediately began his first track in a field close to where the juveniles went missing, officials said.
“Knox began his first track in the field which was approximately 550 yards in length,” authorities said. “K-9 Knox pointed first responders in the right direction and helped to successfully locate the two missing juveniles.”
Police did not say who long the two children had been missing for or how long but took the opportunity to credit the search team who were able to find the kids deep within the thick forest.
“We are beyond thankful for the great teamwork put together by all involved,” officials said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at a news conference October 06, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — Members of the Texas National Guard have arrived in Illinois, according to sources familiar with their whereabouts and video taken of them at an Army Reserve training facility in a Chicago suburb.
The Texas National Guard boarded a military plane on Monday afternoon in Texas, as state and city leaders in Illinois were holding a news conference asking them to stay away from Chicago.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday shared a photo on social media showing what he called the state’s “elite” National Guard boarding a plane, but he did not say where they were headed.
“Illinois will not let the Trump administration continue on their authoritarian march without resisting,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We will use every lever at our disposal to stop this power grab because military troops should not be used against American communities.”
Pritzker said at a news conference on Monday that over the weekend, he called on Abbott “to immediately withdraw his support of this decision” to send the Texas National Guard members to Chicago.
Earlier Tuesday, Abbott had replied to Pritzker on social media, saying, “I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.”
During a news conference on Tuesday morning, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said he had not received no advance information on the whereabouts of the Texas National Guard troops.
“We have not heard directly, of course, from the president or his administration and my expectation is that, regardless of what this administration is doing, I’m going to remain firm and committed to protecting the rights and the civility of our nation and will start right here in Chicago,” Johnson said.
“We do know that much like what we’ve seen in other parts of the country, there is a process that the National Guard goes through before they’re actually released into the streets of Chicago or anywhere,” Johnson added.
Johnson said that what he does know is that the deployment of National Guard troops in Chicago is “illegal, unconstitutional, it’s dangerous, it’s wrong.”
The state of Illinois and city of Chicago filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block the federalization and deployment of the National Guard.
The foundational principle separating the military from domestic affairs is “in peril” as Trump seeks to deploy the National Guard to cities across the country, lawyers for Illinois and Chicago wrote in the lawsuit.
“Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” Pritzker said during a news conference.
To support his point, Pritzker played a video of an ICE raid conducted last week on an apartment complex in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, which he claimed was filmed by federal authorities with high-definition cameras for social media purposes. He said it was the same video that Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on social media on Saturday.
“They brought Black Hawk military helicopters and more than 100 agents in full tactical gear,” Pritzker said.
He added, “In the dead of night and seemingly for the cameras, armed federal agents emerged from the Black Hawk helicopters, rappelling onto the roof of that apartment building.”
The governor alleged the Trump administration is following a playbook to “cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them. Why? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send military troops to our city,” Pritzker said.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, Trump said he did not yet see the need to use the Insurrection Act, but “if I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”
(NEW YORK) — A week into the government shutdown, air traffic controller sick calls are beginning to cause delays and cancellations as a number of airport towers and control facilities don’t have enough staff to properly handle all flights.
Controllers are considered essential workers and are exempt from being furloughed during a shutdown. An estimated 13,294 controllers will continue to work without pay during the shutdown, according to the Department of Transportation’s shutdown plan.
California’s Burbank Airport was hit hardest Monday and was forced to close its tower from 4:15 p.m. through 10 p.m. PDT because it had no air traffic controllers, according to FAA documents.
The airport remained open but flights were delayed on average more than 2.5 hours. Controllers from a San Diego facility handled traffic into and out of Burbank during the tower closure.
“Clearance is closed. Ground’s closed. Local’s closed. The tower is closed due to staffing. You just contact SoCal on the 1-800 number in the green book for your clearance,” a controller can be heard informing pilots on air traffic control recordings, referring to a published listing of airport information.
Several other ATC facilities also experienced staffing issues on Monday. The Philadelphia TRACON (Terminal Radar Approach Control), Denver Center, Detroit TRACON, Indianapolis Center, Phoenix Airport, and the Phoenix TRACON also had staffing advisories from the Federal Aviation Administration. More than 600 flights Monday were delayed in and out of the Denver Airport and over 200 at Phoenix Airport.
“There have been increased staffing shortages across the system. When that happens, the FAA slows traffic into some airports to ensure safe operations,” the agency said in a statement to ABC News.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), the union representing controllers nationwide, said it’s working with the FAA to mitigate any disruptions in the national airspace.
“It is normal for a few air traffic controllers to call in sick on any given day, and this is the latest example of how fragile our aviation system is in the midst of a national shortage of these critical safety professionals,” NATCA said in a statement to ABC News.
While ATC staffing is at critical levels across the country, it’s rare for it to have impacts on flights due to staffing shortages in places like Arizona or California, according to FAA documents reviewed by ABC News.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a press conference on Monday that sick calls from controllers have been spread out across the region and not from one specific airport or ATC facility, but acknowledged that staffing levels at certain facilities are down as much as 50 percent.
“We don’t have one facility that has had long-term issues with the sick leave. But that is concerning to me. And if someone has to take sick leave, to drive Uber to make the difference, those are decisions they’re going to make themselves. But of course, that’s concerning for us,” Duffy said.
“These are high-skilled, high-performing, safety-driven professionals that I don’t want them driving for work,” Duffy added. “I don’t want them finding a second job to pay the bills. I want them to get paid for the work they’re doing today, keeping our planes in the air and our skies safe.”
Duffy met with controllers handling Newark’s airspace Monday and said they expressed concerns over the added financial stress of the shutdown in an already demanding job.
“The consistent message from these controllers was they’re not just now thinking about the airspace and the jobs they have to do in these towers or TRACON centers across the country. They’re thinking about, ‘am I going to get a paycheck?’” Duffy said. “So now what they think about as they’re controlling our airspace is, ‘how am I going to pay my mortgage? How do I make my car payment? I have a couple kids at home, how do I put food in the table? I’m working six days a week — do I have to take a second job and drive Uber when I’m already exhausted from doing a job that’s already stressful to think about.’”
Air traffic controllers will receive a partial paycheck on October 14 but will not be paid on October 28 if the shutdown continues, according to NATCA. Under the Government Employee Fair Treatment Act of 2019 (GEFTA), controllers will receive back pay after the shutdown ends.
The staffing crisis also led to some heated political exchanges on social media. California Governor Newsom posted on X, saying, “Thanks, @realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15pm to 10pm today because of YOUR government shutdown.”
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy fired back at Newsom, posting, “News Flash! Your Democrat friends shut down the government because they want to make Americans pay the health care for illegals. And no state has more illegals than California! You care more about illegals than our hard-working American air traffic controllers. If you’re looking for someone to blame, look in the mirror – we all know it’s your favorite thing to do.”
Another aspect of air travel impacted by the shutdown, which is on the verge of running out of funding, is the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. Duffy said the EAS program, which provides airlines with subsidies to fly to rural areas that otherwise wouldn’t have air service because the route wouldn’t be profitable, will run out of funding on Sunday, Oct. 12.
“Air carriers that continue to operate EAS flights beyond October 12, 2025, would do so at their own risk as the Department may not be able to pay the contracted subsidy,” the DOT said in a notice. The notice also says that if carriers continue to operate during the funding lapse, they could be reimbursed on a “pro rata basis,” meaning they might not receive the full amount owed.
The biggest impacts would be felt in Alaska, where air travel is the primary mode of transportation. Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski posted on X, saying, “The critical assistance these routes provide makes a disruption on any scale detrimental to these communities, and the local air carriers serving them.”
Murkowski said she is working with the administration to find a solution.
A memorial is seen surrounding the Robb Elementary School sign following the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School on May 26, 2022 in Uvalde, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
(UVALDE, Texas) — One of the two senior police officers charged in connection with the failures on the day of the Uvalde, Texas, elementary school mass shooting will go on trial Jan. 5, the judge overseeing the case told ABC News.
Judge Sid Harle said there has been an agreement to move the case of former school officer Adrian Gonzales from Uvalde to Corpus Christi for trial on 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child.
A pretrial hearing in the case, scheduled for Oct. 14, has been canceled now that trial arrangements are under way.
Nineteen children and two teachers were killed in the May 2022 rampage at Robb Elementary School. Law enforcement waited some 77 minutes at the scene before breaching a classroom and killing the gunman.
Also charged is former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo, who was the on-site commander on the day of the shooting. Arredondo faces 10 counts of child endangerment and abandonment on behalf of the injured and surviving children in classroom 112.
The judge said Arredondo’s case remains on hold pending the outcome of ongoing litigation between the Uvalde District Attorney’s Office and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which has refused to allow its personnel to cooperate with the investigation into the shooting, according to the litigation.
Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows (Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)
(ELLSWORTH, Maine) — The Maine secretary of state’s office is investigating after 250 blank election ballots were found in a resident’s Amazon order last week, saying misconduct has not been ruled out, while maintaining the safety of the state’s election process.
The same day that an unnamed resident reported the bizarre delivery, the town of Ellsworth — 40 miles away — reported 250 missing absentee ballots, according to officials.
During a press conference this week, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, who is running for governor, said her office has partnered with the FBI, the U.S. Postal Service and other state agencies to lead the probe.
“This year, it seems that there may have been attempts to interrupt the distribution of ballots and ballot materials, but we are stronger and better than anyone who tries to do our elections harm. Time and time again, election officials and law enforcement rise to meet the challenges we face,” Bellows said.
“I have full confidence that law enforcement will determine who is responsible, and any bad actor will be held accountable. We will not stop until we have answers,” Bellows added.
Early in-person voting began in Maine on Monday for the Nov. 4 election, where constituents will decide on a referendum that could tighten restrictions on absentee voting in the state.
Bellows maintained the safety of this election at the press conference.
“Even if the most enterprising criminal were able to fabricate Maine ballots or Maine absentee ballot envelopes or if that chain of custody were broken, our elections would remain free, safe and secure because of the checks and balances in absentee voting itself,” Bellows said at the news conference.
Amazon told ABC News in a statement that the company is cooperating with relevant investigators on the situation.
“We’re cooperating with the law enforcement agencies investigating this incident. Based on our initial findings, it appears that this package was tampered with outside of our fulfillment and delivery network, and not by an Amazon employee or partner,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
Amazon’s initial findings match the description shared by the woman who received the blank ballots originally. She told officials that the package appeared to have been previously opened and retaped before she received it and handed it over to the Newburgh town office.
Bellows and Maine’s elections previously garnered national attention when she called for the removal of now-President Donald Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot in 2024, which was later overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.
In this screen grab from a video, the orbit of 2025 TF is shown close to Earth’s orbit. (NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory)
(NEW YORK) — An asteroid just flew closer to Earth than many satellites, according to space agencies.
The space object, named 2025 TF, zoomed over Antarctica at a distance of just 265 miles above the Earth’s surface last Wednesday, Oct. 1, at 8:47 p.m. ET, the European Space Agency said on Monday. The International Space Station orbits at a similar altitude.
The majority of satellites are low earth orbit, at altitudes between 100 miles and 1,242 miles, the research project Aerospace Security notes.
The small asteroid is between 3.2 feet to 9.8 feet across and didn’t pose significant danger to the planet, the ESA said. However, the agency noted that it could have produced a fireball if it struck Earth’s atmosphere and became a meteorite once it hit the ground.
Astronomers didn’t notice the asteroid until a few hours after it passed, according to the ESA. The Catalina Sky Survey, a mission funded by NASA to track near-Earth objects, first spotted the object. Shortly after that, it was observed by astronomers at the ESA’s Planetary Defence Office.
“Tracking down a metre-scale object in the vast darkness of space at a time when its location is still uncertain is an impressive feat,” the ESA said. “This observation helped astronomers determine the close approach distance and time given above to such high precision.”
The object is not expected to fly by Earth again until April 2087, according to NASA.
Another small asteroid — named 2025 TQ2 — flew within Earth’s vicinity the day after 2025 TF’s approach, according to the Minor Planet Center. The asteroid zoomed over Canada at a distance of about 3,014 miles last Thursday, Oct. 2, according to EarthSky.org.
Space agencies track thousands of near-Earth objects, but they are only considered Potentially Hazardous Asteroids if they are larger than 500 feet in diameter and get closer than 4.65 million miles of Earth, according to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies.
Between Sept. 23 and Sept. 28, 10 asteroids passed near Earth at a distance closer than the moon, according to data from NASA.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker speaks at a news conference October 06, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. Scott Olson/Getty Images
(CHICAGO) — As members of the Texas National Guard boarded a plane on Monday, as state and city leaders in Illinois were holding a news conference asking them to stay away from Chicago.
It was not immediately clear when the Guardsmen would arrive in Chicago. Texas Gov. Abbott on Monday shared a photo on social media showing the state’s “elite” National Guard boarding a plane — but he did not say where they were headed.
“Illinois will not let the Trump administration continue on their authoritarian march without resisting,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said. “We will use every lever at our disposal to stop this power grab because military troops should not be used against American communities.”
Earlier in the day, Abbott had replied to Pritzker on social media, saying, “I fully authorized the President to call up 400 members of the Texas National Guard to ensure safety for federal officials.”
The state and city of Chicago filed a lawsuit on Monday seeking to block the federalization and deployment of the National Guard.
The foundational principle separating the military from domestic affairs is “in peril” as Trump seeks to deploy the National Guard to cities across the country, lawyers for Illinois and Chicago wrote in a lawsuit.
“Let me be clear, Donald Trump is using our service members as political props and as pawns in his illegal effort to militarize our nation’s cities,” Pritzker said during a news conference.
To support his point, Pritzker played a video of an ICE raid conducted last week on an apartment complex in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago, which he claimed was filmed by federal authorities with high-definition cameras for social media purposes. He said it was the same video Secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem posted on social media on Saturday.
“They brought Black Hawk military helicopters and more than 100 agents in full tactical gear,” Pritzker said.
He added, “In the dead of night and seemingly for the cameras, armed federal agents emerged from the Black Hawk helicopters, rappelling onto the roof of that apartment building.”
The governor alleged the Trump administration is following a playbook to “cause chaos, create fear and confusion, make it seem like peaceful protesters are a mob by firing gas pellets and tear gas canisters at them. Why? To create the pretext for invoking the Insurrection Act so that he can send military troops to our city,” Pritzker said.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday afternoon, Trump said he did not yet see the need to use the Insurrection Act, but “if I had to enact it, I’d do it, if people were being killed and courts were holding us up, or governors or mayors were holding us up.”
: Fox TV analyst Mark Sanchez looks on prior to the game between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field on December 21, 2021 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
(INDIANAPOLIS) — The 69-year-old truck driver who police say was seriously injured during an altercation with former NFL quarterback Mark Sanchez is “thankful to be alive and is recovering at home with his wife,” his attorney said.
Sanchez, a Fox Sports color commentator, was initially arrested for multiple misdemeanors in connection with this weekend’s confrontation in Indianapolis. On Monday, after investigators learned of the severity of the victim’s injuries, prosecutors announced Sanchez was also charged with a felony: battery involving serious bodily injury.
Perry Tole was the victim of a “violent,” “unprovoked” attack from Sanchez and tried to defend himself by stabbing the former NFL player, Erik May, an attorney for Tole, told ABC News.
Sanchez, 38, suffered several stab wounds while Tole “suffered a severe laceration to the side of his face, penetrating all the way through his left cheek,” according to court documents.
Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV obtained this photo, with the black bar in place, showing who his family says is the alleged victim in the hospital.
“You can see from the pictures that he’s got an enormous wound, cut on his face,” that impacted his jaw, mouth and tongue, May said.
“The scarring that he has and is gonna have, it effects his speech right now. Obviously, he’s in a lot of pain, there’s a lot of swelling,” May said, explaining that is one of the reasons why Tole is not giving interviews.
“Mentally, what he and his wife are going through has been considerable,” May said. “He’s just really shaken up.”
Tole’s son is getting married next week and “he’s not gonna be able to attend the wedding, so he’s sad about that,” victim attorney Eddie Reichert added.
The incident unfolded early Saturday morning, when Sanchez allegedly approached Tole, who was doing his assigned work at a hotel loading dock and told him he couldn’t park there, according to police and prosecutors. Sanchez allegedly climbed into the victim’s truck and kept him from calling for help, according to court records.
The victim said Sanchez shoved him when he tried to get his phone, and he felt he was “in physical danger,” so he pepper-sprayed Sanchez, according to court documents.
When Sanchez allegedly advanced toward him again, the victim said he thought, “this guy is trying to kill me,” so he pulled out a knife, “and when Mr. Sanchez came at him,” the victim stabbed Sanchez several times, according to court documents.
The victim said he went “flying back into the dumpster and falling onto the pallets on the ground,” and that he “was not aware of what Mr. Sanchez was physically doing to him, whether he was punching him or otherwise striking him,” court document said. The victim said he could only see Sanchez’s feet “coming at him,” and once the victim stood up, he stabbed Sanchez again, the documents said.
Tole has filed a civil suit against Sanchez and Fox.
Sanchez’s brother said in a statement, “This has been a deeply distressing time for everyone involved. Mark and our family are incredibly grateful for the concern, love, and support we’ve received over the past few days.”
“Mark remains under medical care for the serious injuries he sustained and is focused on his recovery as the legal process continues,” the statement said.
The sentence for the felony charge could be one to six years, Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears said.
Sanchez, a first-round draft pick of the New York Jets in 2009, is next due in court on Nov. 4.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day speaks with ABC News. (ABC News)
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — The Portland police chief is disputing President Donald Trump’s claim that the Oregon city is a “war zone” that is burning down and “war-ravaged” by protesters and violent criminals, amid legal challenges to the White House’s deployment of National Guard troops.
“No, I would not say Portland’s war-ravaged,” Portland Police Chief Bob Day told ABC News on Monday, calling the narrative that the city is under siege by protesters “disappointing.”
“It’s not a narrative that’s consistent with what’s actually happening now,” Day said. “Granted, 2020 and ’21, that conversation made a lot more sense. But in the last couple of years, under my administration, we’ve seen great strides made in the area of crime and safety.”
A U.S. district judge over the weekend temporarily blocked the Trump administration from deploying the National Guard to Portland, where the White House sought to have troops protect federal buildings.
Day said the demonstrations centered on an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility take up a single block of the 145-square-mile city. He said in the past three months, there have been a few dozen arrests at the facility for assault and vandalism, but that his department is able to manage it with regional support.
“We have been engaged. We have been addressing violence. We have been addressing vandalism,” he said.
Sending in the National Guard would increase attention and potentially draw outsiders “looking to create some energy,” he said.
“The National Guard is not needed at this time for this particular problem,” Day said. “We are grateful for their service, respectful of the National Guard. These are citizen soldiers, Oregonians, or our neighbors, our friends. But for that role, we don’t need them right now.”
On Sept. 27, Trump directed Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to provide “all necessary troops” to Portland amid protests at the city’s ICE facility.
The State of Oregon and the City of Portland sued, with officials in the city and state denouncing the action as unnecessary. U.S. District Judge Karin Immergut on Saturday temporarily blocked the Trump administration from sending the National Guard to Portland, finding that conditions in Portland were “not significantly violent or disruptive” to justify a federal takeover of the National Guard, and that the president’s claims about the city were “simply untethered to the facts.”
The Trump administration swiftly appealed the order and sent 200 California National Guard troops to Portland, leading Immergut to issue a second restraining order on Sunday that temporarily bars any federalized members of the National Guard from being deployed to Oregon.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt maintained Monday that Trump is working within his authority as commander-in-chief to deploy the National Guard to Portland because he has deemed the situation there “appropriate” to warrant the action.
“For more than 100 days, night after night after night, the ICE facility has been really under siege by these anarchists outside,” she said during a press briefing. “They have been disrespecting law enforcement. They’ve been inciting violence.”
Trump on Monday continued to rail against the city, calling Portland a “burning hellhole” and likened the situation there to an “insurrection.”
“Portland is on fire. Portland’s been on fire for years, and not so much saving it,” he said while taking questions in the Oval Office on Monday. “We have to save something else, because I think that’s all insurrection. I really think that’s really criminal insurrection.”
(EDISTO ISLAND, S.C.) — A South Carolina judge’s house went up in flames Sunday, hospitalizing three and destroying the home.
Circuit Court Judge Diane Goodstein was walking her dogs on the beach in Edisto Island, S.C., about an hour south of Charleston, when the fire began, according to officials. Her husband, former state Sen. Arnold Goodstein, their son, Arnold Goodstein III, and one other occupant were forced to jump from the burning building from an elevated first floor to escape the blaze, officials said.
The three occupants were rescued by kayak from the home’s backyard due to the area’s marshy terrain, Colleton County Fire-Rescue told ABC News. One occupant was airlifted to Medical University of South Carolina hospital in Charleston and the other two were taken there via ground transportation, according to Colleton County Fire-Rescue.
The current condition of the victims is not known.
The South Carolina Supreme Court said in a statement that the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED) responded to the scene and is investigating the cause of the fire. “Local law enforcement partners have been alerted and asked to provide extra patrols and security. The Judicial Branch will remain in close communication with SLED,” the statement added.
“SLED’s investigation is active and ongoing,” the agency told ABC News.
Last month, Goodstein blocked the South Carolina Election Commission from providing the Department of Justice with millions of voter files that included personal names, addresses, driver’s license numbers and social security numbers, according to court documents.
President Trump issued an executive order in March prohibiting non-citizens from registering to vote, leading the DOJ to request the information of more than 3.3 million registered voters in South Carolina. Goodstein’s decision, however, was reversed a few days later by the State Supreme Court, according to court documents.
Goodstein was first elected to her Circuit Court judgeship in 1998, according to the South Carolina Judicial Branch.
