Tyler Boebert is seen in this undated police booking photo. (Garfield County Sheriff’s Office – Colorado)
(GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo.) — The oldest son of Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., was arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, authorities said Monday.
Tyler Boebert, 21, of New Castle, Colorado, was arrested Sunday on a warrant on “multiple charges,” the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office said in a press release.
Court records show he was arrested on five felony counts, including three counts of sexual exploitation of a child and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
The arrest follows an investigation conducted by the sheriff’s office and the 9th Judicial District Attorney’s Office, according to the sheriff’s press release.
Tyler Boebert’s bond was set at $10,000, which he posted the same day, the sheriff’s office said. His next court appearance is set for Aug. 19, court records show.
Attorney information for Tyler Boebert was not immediately available.
“I love my son,” Rep. Boebert said in a statement to ABC News. “We take these allegations very seriously and pray for everyone affected during this challenging time.”
-ABC News’ Lauren Peller contributed to this report.
First responders at the scene of a deadly car crash in Grand Junction, Colorado, on Aug. 9, 2026.(Grand Junction Police Department)
(NEW YORK) — Five 17-year-old boys died when their vehicle went off a cliff in Colorado and crashed, authorities said.
The crash occurred in a residential area of Grand Junction late Saturday, according to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office.
Police and fire personnel responded shortly before 8 a.m. local time Sunday to a report of a possible vehicle that drove off the edge of a cliff in the 2000 block of Lookout Lane, according to the Grand Junction Police Department. They located the crashed vehicle on the hillside, police said.
All five victims were pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said.
“Initial investigation indicates the vehicle was traveling southbound on Lookout Lane when it veered off the roadway and down the steep incline of the hillside,” the Grand Junction Police Department said in a release on Sunday.
Speed is being considered as a factor in the crash, which remains under investigation, police said.
First responders from multiple agencies worked to recover the bodies from the crash site. All five teens died from injuries sustained in the crash, the coroner’s office said in a statement Monday.
The driver, front seat passenger and a third occupant were wearing their seatbelts, while the two other occupants were not and were ejected from the vehicle, according to the coroner’s office.
The teens were residents of Grand Junction, according to the coroner’s office, which did not publicly identify them, citing a policy not to release the names of minors.
“Our hearts are heavy following the tragic losses this weekend,” the police department said.
U.S. President Donald Trump takes a question from reporters during an event in the Oval Office on Aug. 10, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The same legal team that successfully challenged President Donald Trump’s first bid to end birthright citizenship is asking a federal judge to clarify that the Supreme Court’s ruling also blocks a second executive order attempting to target specific children who Trump says are exempt from becoming Americans at birth.
Trump’s second birthright order — signed last week as a response to the high court’s June ruling — attempts to deny citizenship to children born on U.S. soil to an “alien enemy,” or a “foreign government employee,” or a parent who “engaged in a commercial transaction” to obtain citizenship or who are born in a territory where citizenship is not conferred by statute.
Attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, representing a class of potentially affected immigrant families, filed a motion in federal district court in New Hampshire on Tuesday seeking a declaratory order that the new order effectively defies the Supreme Court.
“Nothing requires this Court to countenance the continued assault on this foundational constitutional principle or issue an endless string of EO-specific injunctions,” the attorneys wrote. “The court should make clear that [Trump] may not take away class members’ birthright under the auspices of these or any other executive actions.”
The Supreme Court did confirm four categories of children born on U.S. soil who would not automatically become citizens: the children of ambassadors, those born on foreign public ships, those born to enemies occupying American territory and members of Indian tribes. But its 6-3 decision left little room for additional exemptions.
Court precedent “indicated that the four exceptions were a closed set,” Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote in a concurring opinion, “meaning that there can be no additional exceptions recognized based on subsequent circumstances or developments. And the decision has consistently been read that way.”
Chief Justice John Roberts’ majority opinion explained that the key determinant of citizenship was “fixed by the place of nativity, irrespective of parentage.”
The administration argues that the categories specified in Trump’s second executive order are acceptable exemptions from birthright citizenship under the legal interpretation presented by Roberts.
The president’s executive order is set to take effect on Sept. 6.
The ACLU argued in its motion to the court that none of those specified exemptions appear in the Constitution or federal citizenship law and seeks to block the order.
(NEW YORK) — Robert Gilman, a U.S. citizen and former Marine, has been freed from detention in Russia on humanitarian grounds, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Luigi Mangione attends a pre-trial appearance at Manhattan Criminal Court on Aug. 11, 2026, in New York City. (Barry Williams-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Accused CEO killer Luigi Mangione is in a packed Manhattan courtroom on Tuesday for the last scheduled pre-trial conference before jury selection begins next month in his state murder case.
The last two rows of the courtroom were filled with about 20 Mangione supporters, some wearing shirts declaring his innocence or calling for expanded courtroom access.
Tuesday’s appearance could be the last time Mangione is seen in public before jury selection starts on Sept. 8, and the conference is one of the final opportunities for prosecutors and defense attorneys to finalize details of the high-profile trial.
Judge Gregory Carro began the hearing by shooting down the defense’s claims that access to the trial was limited or that prosecutors were involved in dictating the coverage plans. He told prosecutors that this was not the court’s “first rodeo” when it comes to high-profile cases.
“There has never been a discussion or decision by this court to exclude the public for these proceedings, and quite the opposite is true,” the judge said, adding that there will be an overflow room for the trial.
Prosecutors allege Mangione gunned down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in an assassination-style killing on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024. He has pleaded not guilty in separate state and federal cases, and faces the possibility of life in prison if he’s convicted in his state murder case.
In the two months since Mangione last appeared in state court, his defense lawyers abruptly withdrew plans to argue he was experiencing an “extreme emotional disturbance” as he allegedly killed Thompson. The rare psychiatric defense would have involved Mangione’s lawyers arguing he experienced a “profound loss of self-control” at the time of the alleged murder and that he should be convicted of the lesser crime of manslaughter, which carries a 25-year maximum sentence.
Mangione’s lawyers withdrew their notice about the planned defense after the judge said his lawyers would have to turn over Mangione’s psychiatric records if they chose that route.
Mangione’s lawyers and federal prosecutors in Manhattan also discussed a possible guilty plea in his federal case in June, sources previously told ABC News. The sources said it was not clear how close the two sides came to an agreement before the negotiations stopped, and Mangione’s federal trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 5.
Prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office have said they would push for a stiffer sentence in his state murder case if Mangione were to plead out of the federal case.
“Any guilty pleas in these matters must account for the seriousness of defendant’s offenses, the loss of an innocent life, the impact of those crimes on the victim’s family, and the other state interests that are implicated, including the sanctity of life principle that underpins the state homicide charges,” prosecutor Joel Seidermann wrote in July.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) looks on during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in the U.S. Capitol Building on March 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(GARFIELD COUNTY, Colo.) — Tyler Boebert, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert’s oldest son, has been arrested on charges of sexual exploitation of a child, according to the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office.
Boebert of New Castle, Colorado, was arrested Aug. 9 on a warrant charging him with sexual exploitation of a child as well as “multiple other charges,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release.
Boebert’s bond was set at $10,000, which he posted the same day, the sheriff’s office said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Puerto Rican government is now forcing residents across the island to ration water by cutting off the water supply for 48 hours at a time. (David G. Houser/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon said on Sunday that authorities are working closely with federal agencies as they grapple with a water crisis that has left more than 180,000 households facing 48-hour water supply shuts-off and rationing.
Gonzalez-Colon declared a state of emergency in the U.S. territory on July 31 in response to serious drought and falling levels in water reservoirs. On Friday, authorities began implementing rotating 48-hour water shut-offs in parts of the capital San Juan, as well as neighborhoods in the cities of Carolina, Juncos, Gurabo, Trujillo Alto, Canovanas and Loiza.
The governor told reporters during a press conference on Sunday that an “interagency support plan for municipalities” had been activated to coordinate assistance to the island’s communities.
“Mayors have a direct liaison inside the government of Puerto Rico,” Gonzalez-Colon said. “Each head of agency has the responsibility to maintain communication with that mayor, to understand the needs that arise, to channel urgent situations, to support the distribution of water trucks, and to facilitate coordination with the agencies that need to intervene.”
The island’s Public Housing Administration has begun installing community cisterns in different public housing complexes, the governor said, while portable water is also being distributed directly to residents with support from the fire department.
Puerto Rican authorities are working closely with the federal government in their response to the crisis, Gonzalez-Colon said. “We are combining a climate committee, actually a drought committee, with all the scientific people. The federal government is helping us out as well,” she said in a press conference on Saturday.
“In the case of Puerto Rico, a few weeks ago was the hottest day in San Juan in 100 years,” Gonzalez-Colon said on Saturday, telling CNN that the island was also grappling with almost 1,000 fires across the island.
July was the driest month on record for San Juan in more than 120 years and the fourth hottest on record for the capital. The U.S. Drought Monitor said that as of Aug. 4, almost 25% of Puerto Rico was experiencing a severe drought and another 36% was under a moderate drought.
“This situation is out of our hands,” Gonzalez-Colon said last week, blaming the severe weather for the shortages. “Nothing prevents this from worsening,” the governor added.
Puerto Rico Resident Commissioner Pablo Jose Hernandez, meanwhile, last week urged Gonzalez-Colon to seek a federal emergency declaration from President Donald Trump. “Faced with the water crisis, Puerto Rico needs an immediate response,” Hernandez wrote in a post to X.
Amid concern over disruption to the island’s vital tourism and hospitality industry, the government-owned Puerto Rico Tourism Company said in a statement that it was “committed to our tourism industry, providing the necessary support to maintain the continuity of operations in our hostels and guarantee services to their guests.”
“Water distribution continues in areas impacted by the scheduled interruption plan, supporting the continuity of services and the care of our visitors,” it added.
ABC News’ Ayanna Martinez contributed to this report.
The New York Police Department said a 27-year-old woman and a 5-month-old girl were killed, August 8, 2026, when the boat they were aboard capsized near Liberty Island in New York Harbor, pictured here. (Aire Images/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The operator of a boat that capsized in New York Harbor, leaving a mother and her baby daughter dead, is in federal custody, prosecutors said.
Manuel Hernandez, 46, is due to appear in federal court on Monday afternoon, ABC New York station WABC reported.
Investigators are looking into whether the boat was an illegal charter operation, the Coast Guard said. Hernandez was initially arrested on state charges — 13 counts of reckless endangerment — according to the New York Police Department.
The boat overturned near the Statue of Liberty on Saturday night, sending all 14 on board into the water, the Coast Guard said.
The New York Police Department identified the two people killed as 27-year-old Sara Sanchez and 5-month-old Antonella Garcia, of Queens, New York. Sources told ABC News the victims were mother and daughter.
The 12 survivors were rescued with minor injuries, the Coast Guard said.
Sanchez leaves behind her husband, who was on the boat and survived, and their 6-year-old son, who was not on the boat, WABC reported.
The mother of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old Black woman whose body was found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3 in Jackson, Mississippi, told ABC News on Sunday afternoon that her daughter’s death has “just devastated” her family. (Photo courtesy of Christy Spivey)
(WASHINGTON) — The mother of Tasia Fortune, a 29-year-old woman whose body was found hanging from a tree on Aug. 3 in Jackson, Mississippi, told ABC News on Sunday afternoon that her daughter’s death has “just devastated” her family.
“This has just devastated us,” Fortune’s mother, Christy Spivey, said. “Tasia was strong-minded, she was full of laughs and love, she had faith in God. … She had so little and gave so much.”
Spivey said that she last saw her daughter, who is a mother of four, on July 26 after she traveled from Mississippi, where she has lived for over a decade, to Kentucky for a family reunion.
When asked about Fortune’s state of mind the last time she saw her, Spivey said, “She was better than I had seen her in a long time. She was at peace.” Asked if her daughter could have died by suicide, Spivey said, “She did not do this to herself. I know my daughter and she did not do this to herself.”
A spokesperson for the Jackson Police Department (JPD) confirmed to ABC News on Saturday night that police are investigating Fortune’s death and confirmed that the Hinds County Coroner’s Office identified Fortune.
Asked about the status of the investigation and if any persons of interest have been interviewed, the spokesperson did not provide further comment.
The Mississippi State Medical Examiner’s Office is conducting an autopsy to determine Fortune’s cause and manner of death, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
Jackson City Council member Kenneth Stokes sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney Baxter Kruger, asking for help in investigating this case, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
“We are in dire need of the assistance of the U.S. Attorney’s Office with the death of an unidentified female discovered hanging in the backyard of an abandoned house on the Road of Remembrance in Jackson, Mississippi,” the letter says.
The woman has since been identified as Fortune.
ABC News reached out to Stokes for further comment. Asked if his office is investigating this case, Kruger did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
Police are asking anyone with information about the case to call Crime Stoppers at 601-355-TIPS.
A view of the Lincoln Memorial as the Reflecting Pool is drained on the National Mall on July 22, 2026, in Washington, D.C. (Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump acknowledged on Sunday that there was “no video or proof” of alleged vandalism to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool after weeks of claiming that damage to the pool’s surface was the deliberate work of saboteurs.
Even after acknowledging contractor error and a lack of evidence of vandalism on Sunday, the president still went back to the case against former Olympian David Hearn, whose charges prosecutors moved to drop after new evidence revealed that the section Hearn was alleged to have damaged was already in disrepair when he arrived.
Trump nonetheless again accused Hearn — who pleaded not guilty to a felony destruction of property charge in July and has maintained he didn’t damage the pool — of intentional vandalism.
“There was substantial other damage to the Reflecting Pool, also but, unfortunately, there is no video or proof, other than the damage, itself,” Trump wrote on social media on Sunday.
Trump also said that there was “some contractor error done by rushing the job for a July 4th opening.”
The president said that contractors were “working on the Pool, and it will reopen shortly,” but said that “it was a very small area of this massive Pool” which was damaged, calling it “relatively inconsequential.”
“Security cameras have been, and are being, installed,” he added.
On Monday, Hearn’s lawyers said they were “reviewing all legal remedies” for what they described as “continued harassment.”
Norm Eisen of Democracy Defenders Fund, Mary Dohrmann of Washington Litigation Group and Steve Levin of Steptoe LLP said in a statement, “The government is continuing to attack an innocent man. Our first filing in the case on July 10 included photographic evidence from before Mr. Hearn touched the Reflecting Pool proving that he caused no damage. Our other filings provided even more proof.”
“Finally, the U.S. Attorney’s own motion on July 31 admitted the damage was caused by ‘a botched installation and not vandalism,'” the statement added, describing the continued allegations as “outrageous.”
Going back as early as June, the president has insisted that the damage to the Reflecting Pool — which he ordered resurfaced so the bottom would be “American flag blue” — was purposely destroyed by criminal vandals.
“I can’t help it if somebody goes in with a knife and starts hacking it up. And we also have pictures of it,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 22. But asked if the president could share the photos, he demurred.
“No, at the right time you’ll see it. You’ll see it in court. You’ll see it in court. But all you have to do is call the Parks Department, call the Department of Interior,” Trump said at the time. But that evidence has not been released publicly.
The Justice Department moved to dismiss the case against Hearn in July, acknowledging the damage to the pool “was the result of flawed installation by the contractor.” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s motion sought to dismiss the case without prejudice, which could still leave Hearn exposed to a future indictment.
Last week, Associate Judge Todd Edelman issued an order granting in part the Department of Justice’s request to dismiss the case. Edelman said he would wait to determine whether to grant the dismissal with prejudice after hearing more arguments from the government and Hearn’s attorneys.
Trump criticized Pirro after her office moved to dismiss the case, writing in a post to social media on Aug. 1 that while there “may have been some contractor difficulty” in the installation of a new pool liner, “the major damage was caused by VANDALS!”
“I disagree 100% with Jeanine Pirro,” Trump said in his post.
ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Peter Charalambous contributed to this report.
