Microscopic view of the Cyclospora cayetanensis oocyst, foodborne parasite taken during laboratory research. (Quantic69/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) The first two deaths of the cyclosporiasis outbreak have been reported in Michigan, the state’s health department announced Monday.
Both people had “significant underlying health conditions that may have been impacted by cyclosporiasis and dehydration,” the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) added. No additional information will be provided, according to the department.
The deaths come as cases in the state have surpassed 11,000 for a total of 11,234, including 193 hospitalizations, MDHHS data shows.
MDHHS added that cyclosporiasis is typically not a life-threatening illness and that deaths are uncommon in the U.S.
Federal health officials have so far linked cases in Michigan and eight other states to shredded iceberg lettuce served at some Taco Bell restaurants.
Taylor Farms, the supplier of the lettuce, issued a voluntary recall of all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. Consumers are being advised to throw out or return any iceberg lettuce.
Taco Bell said last month that it is no longer using lettuce from Taylor Farms de Mexico at any of its restaurants.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) wrote on its website that it “is aware of two cyclosporiasis-related deaths in people with underlying health conditions from Michigan as part of this outbreak. CDC will update its website to include laboratory confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths.”
The CDC has previously said it is investigating other outbreaks and illnesses of cyclosporiasis nationally that are unrelated to the nine-state outbreak.
Since May 1, cases of cyclosporiasis have topped 18,000 in 45 states, according to data updated by the CDC on Wednesday.
There are at least 6,707 laboratory-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis, including 423 hospitalizations, the data shows.
The agency is also aware of at least 11,500 additional cases that have not yet been laboratory confirmed or require further investigation and analysis.
The CDC said it can take up to six weeks to determine if a sick person should be counted in the agency’s tally, meaning nationally reported cases may be lower than state totals.
Meanwhile, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) published data last week showing a “sharp rise” in cyclosporiasis infections among travelers returning from Mexico.
Between April 30 and July 15, 67 cases have been reported among returning travelers in England, Wales and Scotland. Comparatively, an annual average of 93 cases has been recorded between 2022 and 2025.
UKHSA said it is advising all travelers to take precautions when traveling abroad including “maintaining good food and water hygiene to reduce their risk of infection.”
Cyclospora, the parasite that causes infection, usually spreads through food or water contaminated with feces, according to the CDC.
Foodborne outbreaks of cyclosporiasis have been linked to various types of imported fresh produce, such as raspberries, basil, snow peas, mesclun lettuce and cilantro, the CDC says.
The most common symptom of cyclosporiasis is watery diarrhea “with frequent and sometimes explosive bowel movements,” according to the CDC. Other symptoms nay include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or bloating.
U.S. President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat, on July 31, 2026 in Camp David, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Minnesota’s Democratic governor for cyberattacks on the state’s water systems even though U.S. officials previously told ABC News authorities are investigating whether Iran or hackers associated with the country could be behind them.
“We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don’t think so. I think, I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent,” Trump said a Cabinet meeting at Camp David.
More than 30 water systems in Minnesota were targeted in a cyberattack Sunday and Monday according to Minnesota IT Services (MNIT).
MNIT said the attackers targeted systems to remotely monitor and control equipment, including the programmable logic controllers (PLCs).
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in an alert Thursday that cyber threat actors are targeting PLCs and modifying passwords to “to lock out operators.”
Despite the warnings, Trump laid the blame on Minnesota and Democratic Gov. Tim Walz.
“I think that Minnesota ought to get its act together. It’s one of the worst run states,” he told ABC News’ Mary Bruce when she asked about the attack.
Walz pushed back against Trump in statements on social media Friday.
“Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran,” he said.
The governor also noted federal cuts by the The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) weakened cyber security.’
“DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks. Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it,” he said.
MNIT said there are no active requests from Minnesota localities for residents to change their water use and that it is working with federal investigators in the probe. The agency said it has not determined who was responsible.
“In this situation, ‘impacted’ means investigators confirmed malicious activity involving a system’s technology. It does not mean every affected community experienced a disruption to water service,” MNIT said in a statement Thursday.
Patriot launchers modules mounted on M983 HEMTT, part of the U.S.-made MIM-104 Patriot surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, are pictured on a open field on Feb. 18, 2023, in Zamosc, Poland. (Photo by Omar Marques/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump appeared to reverse course on his offer earlier this month to license Ukraine to produce Patriot missiles, saying during a Friday Cabinet meeting that “we have not agreed to that.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez has been charged with manslaughter with a firearm, months after he allegedly shot and killed neighbor. (Collier County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — A man has been charged with manslaughter months after he allegedly shot and killed his neighbor, mistaking him for a bear, according to an arrest affidavit.
Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez, 25, was charged on Tuesday for the March killing of his neighbor Jason Sheffield in Naples, Florida.
Rodriguez’s wife, Katherin Hidalgo, told investigators that she heard a noise around midnight and was worried a wild animal was attacking the farm animals she has in her backyard, so she woke her husband up to investigate, according to the affidavit.
After leaving the house with a smaller caliber rifle, Rodriguez — who was 24 at the time — returned to tell his wife he believed it may have been a bear, before retrieving a larger caliber rifle, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez told investigators he fired a single round from the larger rifle to the ground. Rodriguez then alleged he believed the noise was walking closer and that he was about to be attacked, prompting him to shoot a round in the direction of his neighbor’s property at about waist level, according to the affidavit.
Hidalgo told investigators she heard at least two gunshots before her husband returned to the residence, according to the affidavit.
Hidalgo told investigators that Rodriguez told her whatever was making the noise — which he believed might have been a bear — began approaching him, so he shot off a “couple of warning shots,” according to the affidavit.
“According to Katherin, Ariel did not further investigate because he feared he might have wounded the bear and did not want to risk getting attacked. He told Katherin he would go check in the morning,” the affidavit said.
Around 8 a.m. the next day, Rodriguez explored his property but did not see anything. He then proceeded to explore his neighbor’s property, where he discovered his neighbor lying face down with blood on his body, according to the affidavit.
In the morning, Rodriguez told his wife he had shot someone before dialing 911, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez dialed 911 and stayed on the phone with dispatchers until deputies arrived. Rodriguez was brought in on the charge of manslaughter with a firearm, according to the affidavit.
“Ariel was frantic as he informed the dispatcher that he shot off a gun yesterday at a noise he believed to be a bear, but now believed he accidentally shot his neighbor,” investigators wrote in an arrest affidavit.
When officers responded to the scene, Rodriguez and his wife were handcuffed, detained and placed in the back of separate patrol vehicles, according to the affidavit.
Investigators found the neighbor dead, lying face down in an overgrown patch of vegetation behind a chicken coop. He appeared to have blood on the back of his shirt, according to the affidavit.
Donna Massey, the mother of shooting victim Sonya Massey, is comforted during a press conference at New Mount Pilgrim Church on July 30, 2024, in Chicago. Sonya Massey was shot in the head and killed in her home by Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson after she called police to report a possible prowler. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sean Grayson, the former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal 2024 shooting of Sonya Massey, was on Friday denied early release by a prisoner review board.
“I am writing to confirm that the Board voted 3-0 to deny Sean Grayson’s medical release application,” an Illinois Prisoner Review Board spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “He will remain in custody.”
Grayson had asked for an early release because he has cancer. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January, after his conviction last October.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this photo illustration, a Kalshi logo is seen displayed on a smartphone on the top of a laptop. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York sued Kalshi on Friday, alleging its prediction market is nothing more than illegal, unlicensed gambling, in large part because outcomes depend more on chance than skill.
The lawsuit does not seek to close down Kalshi, but, if successful, it could dent its ability to operate.
Kalshi insists its event contracts are federally regulated derivatives outside the scope of state gaming laws but New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit said Kalshi is merely seeking “to avoid the legal and financial consequences of New York’s close regulation of gambling by offering what is quintessentially wagering.”
“It’s sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our own state. States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange,” Elisabeth Diana, Kalshi’s Head of Communications told ABC News. “This would also hurt New Yorkers, who would be driven offshore. We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product.”
The lawsuit alleged Kalshi violates state laws prohibiting wagering on games involving New York college teams and all sports betting for those under 21.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has said prediction markets are its exclusive purview, filed for a temporary restraining order to halt the state’s lawsuit.
“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” James said in a statement. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction makers like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple.”
The lawsuit sought a court order demanding Kalshi submit to state regulators and taxes, to forfeit illegal profits and pay restitution to users nationwide, a possible penalty that could cost Kalshi an estimated $36 billion, according to a statement of facts accompanying the lawsuit.
“Kalshi has chosen to ignore New York’s gambling laws, which exist to protect consumers, prevent problematic gambling, deliver funding for critical public services and ensure that every company plays by the same rules,” Governor Kathy Hochul said.
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Testing on hair found at the home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother in the Tucson, Arizona, area is complete and does not point to a suspect in the 84-year-old’s abduction, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told ABC News on Thursday.
“The hair was done … and there was nothing,” Nanos said in an interview.
That leaves a mixed sample of DNA retrieved from Nancy Guthrie’s home as the only known piece of biological evidence, and one that has so far not been affirmatively linked to a suspect.
The sample is a mix of as many as four people, the sheriff revealed. It’s not clear the technology even exists yet to untangle it, though the sheriff said multiple labs across the country are trying, including the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, and labs in Kansas, Florida, California and Arizona.
“My understanding is there are at least five, maybe six, labs across the country that are working on all of this,” Nanos said. “We have some of the brightest minds in the nation, if not the world, working on this.”
Investigators believe Guthrie was taken from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by a masked man captured on her doorbell camera. But six months later, Nanos is unable to say whether that masked man was working alone.
“I don’t think anybody’s here ready to say it’s one guy, it’s 10 guys,” Nanos said. “Did he have help? Could have.”
“My understanding is there are at least five, maybe six, labs across the country that are working on all of this,” Nanos said. “We have some of the brightest minds in the nation, if not the world, working on this.”
Investigators believe Guthrie was taken from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by a masked man captured on her doorbell camera. But six months later, Nanos is unable to say whether that masked man was working alone.
“I don’t think anybody’s here ready to say it’s one guy, it’s 10 guys,” Nanos said. “Did he have help? Could have.”
In an undated stock photo, a computer hacker is seen typing on a laptop. (STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Federal and state authorities are investigating a series of coordinated cyberattacks at more than 30 water plants in Minnesota earlier this week. Authorities are looking into whether Iran or hackers associated with the country could be behind the attacks, multiple U.S. officials told ABC News Thursday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — The father of a Georgia teenager who carried out a deadly mass shooting at his high school was sentenced to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder and other charges after a jury found him criminally culpable for the attack.
Colin Gray, 55, admitted to providing the assault rifle used by his then-14-year-old son in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School, which killed two students and two teachers.
His son, 16-year-old Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to all 55 counts against him, including murder and aggravated assault. Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced him to life in prison without parole on Tuesday.
The teen’s father appeared in the Barrow County Courthouse before the same judge on Thursday to learn his fate. He faced more than 100 years in prison after being found guilty of 27 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children in the second degree, and reckless conduct. The jury deliberated for fewer than two hours before returning the guilty verdicts in March.
Colin Gray is the latest parent to be charged and convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child. Judge Primm noted the novelty of the school shooting case, saying it’s the first of its kind in Georgia and the second he’s aware of in the nation.
“What we’re really referencing is this new phenomenon of parents being charged in conjunction with crimes that their children are committing,” Primm said. “It’s a divisive case.”
Primm said the father was convicted because “the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter” and he didn’t get his son help or remove his access to guns.
“No parent thinks that their child is going to be the next school shooter, but it became more and more obvious that something bad was going to happen,” Primm said.
The judge told Colin Gray that if he had used gun locks or removed the ammunition from his house, “you wouldn’t be here today.”
The defense asked for 10 years in prison in what attorney Chris Hobbs called the first case of its kind tried in Georgia, arguing that Colin Gray knew his son was struggling but misjudged the warning signs.
“We understand the gravity of this situation. Four people are gone, and nothing the court can do today can change that. But the question today is narrower, and in some ways harder — what does justice require when a father’s negligence and a son’s concealed intent meet on a single morning?” Hobbs said.
Prosecutors asked the judge that Colin Gray be sentenced to 80 years in prison, saying that he gave Colt Gray a gun months after law enforcement asked him to restrict his son’s access to guns, and that the risk was “staring him in the face every day” in the form of a shrine to the shooter in the Parkland high school massacre in his son’s bedroom.
“This was the risk he was ignoring, that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school, and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said during the sentencing hearing Thursday. “He is the reason four people are dead, seven are injured and countless others traumatized. And he is the reason a 16-year-old boy was sentenced two days ago to the rest of his life in prison.”
Several of the family members of those killed in the school shooting addressed the court on Thursday, speaking to the pain they continue to endure.
Colin Gray declined to address the court prior to his sentence.
During the two-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Colin Gray had been warned that his son had an affinity for mass shooters and was aware that the teen kept a shrine on his bedroom wall dedicated to the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Instead of getting his son psychological help, Colin Gray gave the boy an AR-15-style weapon as a Christmas present that the teen ultimately used to carry out the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, prosecutors said.
Colin Gray testified in his own defense during the trial, breaking down while being questioned about whether he noticed any “red flags” that would have led him to believe the boy was capable of committing a mass shooting.
“I struggle with it every day,” Colin Gray testified. “He’s a good kid, you know? He wasn’t perfect, but to do something, uh, that heinous, like I don’t, I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
During his testimony, Colin Gray confirmed that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, telling jurors the gift came with rules.
“This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you’re 18, this will be your gun,” Colin Gray said he told his son.
Following the verdict, Smith said that evidence showed that there were “multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time.”
“You just had to do one thing — take that rifle away — and this would have been prevented,” Smith told reporters.
Several other parents have been convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their children.
In 2024, Jennifer and James Crumbley were convicted of charges stemming from a deadly mass shooting at a Michigan high school committed by their then-15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley. The parents were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separatetrials after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at their home and their indifference toward their son’s mental health. They were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Their son pleaded guilty in October 2022 to murdering four students and injuring several others in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct — one count for each person killed by his son, Robert Crimo III, during a mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July Parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. As part of a plea deal, Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
His son, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In an ongoing case, the father of a 15-year-old girl who shot and killed a student and teacher at a Wisconsin school in 2024 faces charges alleging he allowed his daughter access to guns used in the deadly shooting.
The father, Jeffrey Rupnow, was charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. His case is set to go to trial next year.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
A job seeker fills out an application during the HIRE360 Diversity Hiring Expo on April 28, 2026, in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The United States economy slowed more than expected as an inflation surge took hold over the early months of the Iran war, a government report on Thursday showed.
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% over three months ending in June, marking a slight slowdown from 2.1% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The figure came in lower than economists’ expected.
Still, the latest data outperformed 0.5% annualized gross domestic product (GDP) recorded over final three months of 2025.
The period covered by the data release followed a historic global oil shock set off by the Middle East conflict.
The national average price for a gallon of gasoline soared to a price as high as $4.56 a gallon in May, AAA data showed, before easing somewhat after a preliminary peace agreement last month.
Annual inflation has climbed to 3.5%, putting it more than 1 percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Still, hiring has proven more resilient than many economists feared, despite elevated costs for businesses and shoppers.
In recent quarters, a burst of investment in artificial intelligence has accounted for a large share of the nation’s economic growth.
A surge of AI spending accounted for roughly two-thirds of gross domestic product growth over the first half of 2025, JPMorgan Asset Management found, outpacing the contribution made by hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers. Many of the nation’s largest companies have poured funds into the chips and data centers necessary to operate AI.
The combination of elevated inflation and a resilient labor market, meanwhile, has raised the chances of an interest rate hike, futures markets show. The prospect of a rate increase poses the risk of a slowdown in economic activity over the coming months as corporations face the prospect of higher borrowing costs.
The benchmark rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who took the helm of the central bank this summer, has vowed to dial back inflation.
“Persistently high prices are a burden for the American people,” Warsh told reporters in Washington, D.C., last month. “This committee will deliver price stability.”
