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(NEW YORK) — Cold and snowy conditions dominated the winter season in the Northeast with much of the region experiencing its coldest winter in a decade or more, and several cities seeing their biggest snowfall in years. However, if you live in other parts of the country, this winter was very different.

Meteorological winter — December to February — was unseasonably warm across much of the contiguous U.S., ranking as the second-warmest winter on record since 1895, behind the 2023-24 season, according to a new report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

While the Northeast faced persistent blasts of bitter cold and snow, exceptional winter warmth in the West nearly pushed the nation to a new all-time high for the season.

Nine states finished off with their warmest winter on record: Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Texas, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah and Wyoming. Dozens of cities in the West and Plains saw a top 5 warmest winter with cities such as Albuquerque, Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Salt Lake City seeing their all-time warmest.

Dallas, Texas, recorded 16 days with high temperatures of at least 80°F, the highest seasonal total on record.

For much of the country, winter was not only exceptionally warm, but exceptionally dry, ranking as the driest winter in 45 years across the Lower 48. Much of the western United States entered the season already grappling with drought, and persistent warmth fueled the worst snow drought in decades across parts of the Rockies as more precipitation fell as rain instead of snow.

Drought on its own already stresses water supplies, agriculture, and ecosystems. But when winter fails to deliver significant mountain snow, those impacts can intensify, according to NOAA.

A persistent snow drought can trigger a cascade of hydrologic changes. Low snowpack and early snowmelt can affect vegetation, reduce surface and subsurface water storage and alter streamflow, all of which directly impact water management and planning across the West.

Snowmelt supplies a large share of the region’s water used by communities, agriculture, and ecosystems. In some states, up to about 75 percent of water supplies can come from melting snow, according to the USGS.

The Colorado River provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven states: California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.

Widespread, persistent drier-than-average conditions also impacted parts of the Heartland and Southeast, bringing drought expansion and intensification during the winter months. Multiple states, including Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois and Nebraska, experienced one of their driest winters on record.

According to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor report released on March 5, more than half of the contiguous U.S. is experiencing drought conditions, an increase of about 10% from the beginning of February.

Florida is enduring its worst drought in 25 years, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System, with a heightened risk of wildfires this spring as conditions worsen across the state.

All of Florida is currently experiencing some level of drought, with more than 70% of the state facing an extreme drought level 3 of 4, U.S. Drought Monitor data shows.

“We expect the drought to continue or even worsen in the next couple of months, as we are in the heart of peninsular Florida’s dry season that usually lasts until mid-May,” Florida State Climatologist David Zierden told ABC News. “Then the summer convective rains kick in and provide some relief.”

The National Interagency Fire Center says Florida faces an above-average risk of significant wildland fires throughout meteorological spring, which began on March 1. Dozens of counties across the state have issued burn bans due to the ongoing drought and elevated wildfire risk.

The worsening conditions are raising concerns beyond wildfires, including impacts to water supplies and agriculture.

“Four of the five Water Management districts have either voluntary or mandatory water restrictions limiting outdoor irrigation,” Zierden added. “Range and pasture for cattle is the agricultural commodity that is hit hardest right now.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The Washington, D.C., Bar has initiated disciplinary proceedings against Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin over allegations he improperly threatened to withhold federal funding from Georgetown University’s law school and then attempted to sideline an investigation into his conduct, according to a petition.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — A 2.3 magnitude earthquake struck about half a mile west of Sleepy Hollow, New York, on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Geological Survey confirmed.

The earthquake struck at 10:18 a.m. ET.

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

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(NEW YORK) — A jury has found the Alexander brothers guilty on all counts in their federal sex trafficking trial in New York City.

Jury deliberations began Thursday for the former real estate titans, Oren and Alon Alexander, 38-year-old twins, along with their brother, Tal Alexander, 39, who have denied sexually assaulting anyone or running a sex trafficking conspiracy, as prosecutors have charged. They pleaded not guilty.

Throughout the five-week trial, 11 women testified that they were sexually assaulted by one or more of the brothers. At least eight of the women claimed they were drugged by one of the Alexanders. 

“These are chilling, reprehensible, and unacceptable acts,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, whose office prosecuted the case, said in a statement following the verdict. “We commend the victims for their courage in coming forward and testifying at the trial. They bravely overcame the pain of reliving the abuses inflicted upon them and, as a result, prevented others from becoming victims.”  

A spokesperson for the Alexander family called the verdict “deeply disappointing.”

“We believe there are substantial problems with the evidence and the way this case was presented,” the spokesperson, Juda S. Engelmayer, said in a statement. “The legal process does not end here. We will continue fighting every day until justice is done and the three brothers regain their freedom.”

An attorney for one of the brothers also vowed to keep fighting.

“There are a lot of avenues open to us. We’re not gonna stop,” Marc Agnifilo, who represented Oren Alexander, said outside court on Monday. “We believe in our client’s innocence and we’re not gonna stop fighting until we prevail. And we believe that we will one day prevail.”

The brothers’ federal sentencing has been set for Aug. 6.

Oren and Tal Alexander gained notoriety in New York’s luxury real estate market through their company, Alexander Group, and have been under federal investigation alongside Alon since late 2024.

They have been accused of luring women to nightclubs and parties, then drugging and sexually assaulting them.

In his closing statement, federal prosecutor Andrew Jones said there is “crushing evidence” that the brothers “masqueraded as party boys when really they were predators” who committed an “array of federal sex offenses.”

Jones recounted the graphic accounts of the alleged victims and said the wealthy brothers had a “playbook” luring women with exclusive parties, yachts and luxury travel so they could assault them.

“Once they had their victims where they wanted them, the defendants assaulted them using force, using drugs, or using both,” Jones said.

Then, the brothers allegedly bragged about their exploits in blog posts with titles like “It’s not rape if… you use her tears as lube” and “It’s not rape if… she secretly wants it.”

Jones told the jury the allegations are corroborated “by the sheer number of other victims who testified here — women who never met each other, who have each led different lives, in different professions, sometimes in different cities. But they had one horrific thing in common — they were each raped by these men. And they described near identical experiences of their assaults.”

During closing arguments, defense attorney Howard Srebnick conceded the brothers could be “obnoxious” and their conduct “inappropriate,” but he told the jury, “Nobody was being assaulted, nobody had been trafficked.”

Srebnick urged jurors to reject the government’s case against his client, Alon Alexander, insisting prosecutors failed to meet their burden of proof.

In her closing argument, Deanna Paul said the brothers “are not mobsters,” though sometimes they acted like “entitled a——-.”

A defense attorney for Tal Alexander, Paul argued that prosecutors have asked the jury to “connect dots that really aren’t there.”

In his summations, Agnifilo suggested to the jury that the victims in this case were dissatisfied with their encounters with the Alexanders, which motivated them to testify in this trial. 

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(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City Saturday are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

According to a federal criminal complaint released Monday, both suspects openly pledged allegiance to ISIS while in the presence of police, and one suspect allegedly told officers they “wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing,” which the suspect noted “caused only ‘three deaths.’”

The explosive devices contained the volatile substance triacetone triperoxide, known as TATP, and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside the Gracie Mansion mayor’s residence with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

One of the devices was ignited and deployed at protesters in a crosswalk on East End Avenue and East 87 Street, and the other device was detonated close by, Tisch said.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects, a black 2010 Honda with New Jersey license plates, parked on the Upper East Side of Manhattan near Gracie Mansion, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody are charged in a five-count federal complaint with attempting to provide material support and resources to ISIS, use of a weapon of mass destruction, transportation of explosive materials, interstate transportation and receipt of explosives, and unlawful possession of destructive devices.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, according to Tisch and the federal complaint.

The suspects were ordered to be held without bail after they made their initial appearances, both in shackles, in Manhattan federal court on Monday afternoon. They did not enter a plea to the charges.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said Monday. “Let me say this plainly: Anyone who comes to New York City to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable in accordance with the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

The anti-Muslim protest drew counterprotesters who called their response “Run Nazis Out of New York City,” according to the criminal complaint.

“FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the matter with our partners at NYPD as well as the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York,” the FBI said in a statement Sunday.

Balat and Kayumi are suspected of attending the event as part of the counterprotest to the anti-Muslim demonstration, authorities said Monday.

Neither Mamdani nor his wife, Rama Duwaji, were in Gracie Mansion when the incident occurred, the mayor said Monday.

Immediately following his arrest, Kayumi was asked by someone in the surrounding crowd why he allegedly attempted to bomb the protest, according to the complaint.

“Kayumi responded in part and as captured on NYPD body-worn camera footage, ‘ISIS,'” the complaint states.

Balat waived his Miranda rights to remain silent following his arrest, according to the complaint, and allegedly provided a written statement in which he “pledge[d] [] allegience [sic] to the Islamic State,” the complaint states.

Balat also allegedly told police that “they wanted to carry out an attack bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing, which Balat noted caused only ‘three deaths,'” according to the complaint.

The April 15, 2013, Boston Marathon bombing also left more than 500 people injured.

Kayumi, whom the complaint said also waived his Miranda rights, allegedly “stated, in substance and in part, that he was affiliated with ISIS; watched ISIS propaganda on his phone; and was partly inspired to carry out his actions that day by ISIS,” according to the complaint.

“Anti-Muslim bigotry is nothing new to me, nor is it anything new for the one million or so Muslim New Yorkers who know this city as our home,” Mamdani said at Monday’s news conference.

“While I found this protest appalling. I will not waver in my belief that it should be allowed to happen. Ours is a free society, where the right to peaceful protest is sacred. It does not only belong to those we agree with. It belongs to everyone,” Mandani added.

Many of the counterprotesters on Saturday confronted the “display of bigotry,” the mayor said. He also praised NYPD officers who swiftly responded to the incident and arrested the suspects, saying they were “faced with a chaotic situation that quickly could have become far more dangerous.”

The mayor specifically cited the “courageous and selfless” acts of two NYPD officers, Assistant Chief Aaron Edwards and Sgt. Luis Navarro, who attended Monday’s news conference. Mamdani said the officers “ran towards the danger so that others could run safely.”

Tisch said the last incident in New York City in which an IED was deployed occurred in December 2017, when Akayed Ullah detonated a homemade bomb he had strapped to his torso in a pedestrian underpass connecting the Port Authority Bus Terminal to the Time Square subway station.

Ullah, a permanent resident of Bangladesh who was living in Brooklyn at the time, was the only person injured in the act, which federal prosecutors said was committed on behalf of ISIS of Iraq. Ullah was convicted in April 2021 by a federal jury on all six counts of the indictment and was sentenced to life in prison.

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(NEW YORK) — Two improvised explosive devices brought to a counterprotest outside Gracie Mansion in New York City are being investigated as “an act of ISIS-inspired terrorism,” and the two suspects arrested in connection with the incident are facing federal terrorism charges, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.

The devices contained the volatile substance TATP and were made to “injure, maim or worse,” Tisch said of Saturday’s incident.

“These were not hoax devices or smoke bombs. They were improvised explosive devices,” Tisch said during a news conference outside Gracie Mansion with New York City Mayor Zohran Mandami, the city’s first Muslim mayor.

Tisch said a third suspected IED was found in the car of the two suspects parked on the East Side of Manhattan, prompting an immediate evacuation of homes in the area. She said the device did not test positive for explosives.

All of the devices are being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, for additional testing, Tisch said.

Two Pennsylvania men who are in custody in connection with the devices will be charged with federal crimes, Tisch said. The complaint has not yet been unsealed.

The suspects were identified as Emir Balat of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, and Ibrahim Kayumi of Newton, Pennsylvania, Tisch said.

“They’re suspected of coming here to commit an act of terrorism,” Mamdani said. “Anyone who comes to NYC to bring violence to our streets will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

The explosives were deployed at an anti-Muslim protest outside Gracie Mansion, the mayor’s residence, that was organized by far-right, anti-immigrant provocateur Jack Lang, officials said. The event was called “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City.”

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. has intercepted encrypted communications believed to have originated in Iran that may serve as “an operational trigger” for “sleeper assets” outside the country, according to a federal government alert sent to law enforcement agencies.

The alert, reviewed by ABC News, cites “preliminary signals analysis” of a transmission “likely of Iranian origin” that was relayed across multiple countries shortly after the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, was killed in a U.S.-Israeli attack on Feb. 28.

The intercepted transmission was encoded and appeared to be destined for “clandestine recipients” who possess the encryption key, the kind of message intended to impart instructions to “covert operatives or sleeper assets” without the use of the internet or cellular networks.

It’s possible the transmissions could “be intended to activate or provide instructions to prepositioned sleeper assets operating outside the originating country,” the alert said.

“While the exact contents of these transmissions cannot currently be determined, the sudden appearance of a new station with international rebroadcast characteristics warrants heightened situational awareness,” the alert said.

While the alert is careful to say there is “no operational threat tied to a specific location,” it does instruct law enforcement agencies to increase their monitoring of suspicious radio-frequency activity.

If the contents of the alert prove true, it would confirm the fears expressed by law enforcement officials after the U.S. and Israel struck Iran that sleeper cells deployed around the West could be used for retaliation.

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(NEW YORK) — A newly surfaced video appears to show a U.S.-made missile hitting a building in Iran adjacent to a girls’ school where local officials say 168 people were killed, experts told ABC News.

The eyewitness video was first posted Sunday morning by the Iranian outlet Mehr News, and then shared online by Trevor Ball, a former U.S. Army Explosive Ordnance Disposal technician, who now works as a researcher with the investigative group Bellingcat.

Ball said in a post on X that the video showed a U.S.-made Tomahawk missile.

ABC News geolocated the video adjacent to the site of the deadly Feb. 28 strike, in which several buildings connected to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps were destroyed along with a nearby building housing a school for girls.

The missile seen impacting in the video is not hitting the girls’ school but another building in the IRGC complex.
Experts told ABC News the missile has the characteristics of a Tomahawk, which is used by the United States and is not known to be fielded by Iran or Israel.

Sam Lair, a research associate at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies, told ABC News that the size and shape of the missile resemble the Tomahawk.

“I do believe this points towards U.S. responsibility for the strike in the area,” he said.

N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of Armament Research Services, also said the munition seen in the video appeared to be a Tomahawk.

“That indicates it is a U.S. strike,” he said.

Jenzen-Jones earlier cautioned that attributing responsibility for the strike on the nearby school would be difficult without access to munition fragments. He said the new video was still not proof as to who was responsible for striking the school.

“We can only be definitive about the one in the video. Of course, it makes it more likely the surrounding targets were hit by the U.S., but it doesn’t give certainty,” he said.

ABC News has reached out to the Pentagon for a comment.

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(NEW YORK) — Videos released by the Texas Department of Public Safety appear to cast doubt on the Department of Homeland Security’s account of a fatal agent-involved shooting of U.S. citizen that occurred in South Padre Island, Texas, in March 2025.

Ruben Ray Martinez, 23, was fatally shot by a Homeland Security Investigations agent on March 15, 2025. The incident was initially reported by local news outlets as an officer-involved shooting. DHS did not reveal the involvement of its agent until February when media outlets reported that the agents were involved.

In a statement given to San Antonio ABC affiliate, DHS said HSI agents were helping South Padre Island Police officers control traffic after an unrelated accident at the popular spring break destination when a driver “intentionally ran over” an agent “resulting in him being on the hood of the vehicle.”

The statement went on to say: “Upon witnessing this, another agent fired defensive shots to protect himself, his fellow agents, and the general public.”

DHS said an agent was taken to the hospital with a knee injury after the incident.

In a statement provided to ABC News, attorneys for Martinez’s mother said the video footage calls the DHS account of the shooting into question.

“These new videos confirm that Ruben’s car was barely moving when he was shot,” the statement from attorneys Charles M. Stam and Alex Stamm said. “That he was braking, not accelerating. That nobody was on the hood of his car. That nobody was in front of his car when he was shot. That he was shot at point-blank range through his side window by an ICE agent who was in no danger.”

The statement went on to say: “This batch of evidence shows no justification for Ruben’s killing.

In a statement, Todd Lyons, acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said: “We stand by the grand jury’s unanimous decision that found no criminality. This incident was investigated from every possible angle by an independent body, and it cleared our officer.”

Body camera video
Footage from the body-worn camera of a South Padre police officer appears to show Martinez’s blue Ford slowly approaching the intersection and moving forward when someone is heard saying, “Keep going.”

Martinez’s vehicle slows to a crawl or a possible stop as a group of pedestrians are seen crossing the street. Martinez moves forward after the pedestrians pass and officers appear to become concerned and yell, “Stop him” and “Get him out.” Three shots can be heard as the officer with the camera runs toward the vehicle.

Martinez’s brake lights appeared to be on when he is shot. Since the DPS footage does not include the perspective of the agent who shot Martinez, it does not show any possible impact between agents and the vehicle.

“Stop the f—— vehicle someone,” can be heard saying as the vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Agents are then seen pulling Martinez and his passenger, Joshua Orta, out of the car. Paramedics on scene begin to render aid roughly over a minute after he was pulled from the vehicle.

A toxicology report released shows Martinez has a blood alcohol level of 0.12% above the legal limit of 0.08%.

In his statement to ABC News, Lyons, the acting head of ICE, pointed to an investigative report done by the Texas Rangers which included analysis of multiple body cameras, and which showed Martinez holding a bottle of Crown Royal Whiskey and “rolling toward an officers location,” Lyons said in the statement.

Lyons’ statement continued: “Officers yell ‘where are you going’ and ‘stop him.’ At this point, an officer directing traffic ‘was directly in front of the Fusion’ and ‘only one-half a car length away.'”

Lyons said, “Martinez ‘rolled forward and made an immediate left turn.’ The agent then ‘appears to move as if he were on the vehicles hood.'”

The agent’s perspective
The agent who shot Martinez, identified in documents as Jack Stevens, said he approached the vehicle after an officer yelled to “get him out.” Stevens said that when he approached, he noticed the smell of marijuana coming from the driver’s side window, according to the documents.

“The driver’s eyes were open widely, fist clenched to the steering wheel, and he was looking past the officers on scene as he failed to comply with the loud and repeated verbal commands of multiple law enforcement officers. This is a behavior I have observed in my training and experience as a pre attack indicator and sign of noncompliance as the suspect is looking in the path of their intended movement and is not indicative of compliance,” he said.

“This path of movement, if left unmitigated, would, using the vehicle as a weapon, have resulted in numerous casualties,” he wrote.

Stevens said he was struck and knocked backwards by the driver’s-side front pillar and side mirror, according to the documents. He said he attempted to backpedal to avoid being run over and was “still in contact with the vehicle as the vehicle struck” another agent.

Stevens said recent incidents where vehicles had been used as a weapon, like the New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans earlier in the year were “fresh on my mind,” according to the documents.

“Upon observing the vehicle strike SA [Hector] Sosa causing him to fall onto the hood of the vehicle and driving through the scene, with SA Sosa clinging to the vehicle’s hood, I discharged my service issued handgun firing through the open driver’s side window striking the driver multiple times. This action stopped the threat and gained compliance from the driver who stopped the vehicle and placed it into park,” he wrote.

A grand jury decided not to issue an indictment in the case, south Texas ABC affiliate KRGV reported.

Passenger speaks with investigators
In a recording of an interview that was also released, the passenger, Joshua Orta, told investigators that when they approached the scene of the accident, an officer spotted a container of alcohol in the vehicle but told him to keep going forward and turn to the left, but Martinez continued straight toward the other officers, Orta said.

“That’s when he, you know, panicked and turned the wheel, and he didn’t floor the gas but he kind of went a little bit and I guess they thought he was like trying to run the cop over or something,” Orta said in the interview.

“I saw the officer, kind of get on the hood. Like he didn’t hit him, but like he … caught his feet,” he said.

Orta said Martinez did not intend to run over the agents.

“He didn’t know what to do … he definitely didn’t want to go to jail. But as far as, like, running over an officer … he wouldn’t do that,” he said.

Orta died in a car crash in February, KRGV reported.

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(NEW YORK) — Police arrested four people after a smoke-generating “suspicious device” was thrown during a protest at the New York City mayor’s residence Saturday.

It was not immediately known if Mayor Zohran Mamdani or his wife, Rama Duwaji, were inside Gracie Mansion at the time. Mamdani had no public events announced but was in the city, according to his public schedule released Friday night.

Police sources told ABC News that the anti-Muslim protest was organized by a “known agitator.”

The NYPD bomb squad was investigating if the device was a smoke bomb, after some smoke started coming out of the device before the crowd was moved back, sources said.

No injuries were reported during the incident.

The mayor’s office did not immediately return messages to ABC News for comment.

Two unidentified people arrested were accused of throwing a suspicious device, police sources said.

One person was arrested for disorderly conduct and another person was arrested for deploying pepper spray, according to sources.

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