(MINNEAPOLIS) — Minnesota prosecutors on Monday announced charges against a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the nonfatal shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis earlier this year.
The federal agent, Christian Castro, was charged with four counts of second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime in the Jan. 14 shooting of Julio Sosa-Celis, according to the Hennepin County attorney.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — A court on Monday ruled in favor of OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk over alleged misconduct in the company’s evolution from a non-profit upstart to a for-profit corporation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
This tornado formed in rural Nebraska, near the unincorporated community of St. Libory, May 17, 2026. (Sierra Lindsey: NOAA NSSL)
(NEW YORK) — About 50 million people in America’s Heartland were in the storm zone on Monday, bracing for another day of destructive thunderstorms and tornadoes.
A level 4 out of 5 moderate risk for severe storms was in place across eastern Kansas, including the cities of Wichita, Topeka, Salina and Manhattan.
The new threat of twisters tearing through the Heartland comes a day after 20 tornadoes were reported in Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota and Kansas.
The rural Nebraska community of St. Libory, just north of Grand Island, appeared to be the hardest hit in the region on Sunday.
At least two homes in St. Libory were destroyed by a suspected tornado that swept through the community on Sunday evening, according to Howard County Emergency Management.
There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries.
Full-time storm chaser Sierra Lindsey posted video on social media of a massive twister cutting across farmland and Highway 281 north of St. Libory on Sunday afternoon.
Severe weather spreading across the Heartland is expected to trigger a new round of tornadoes on Monday afternoon.
Residents from Oklahoma to Iowa, including the cities of Kansas City, Omaha, Lincoln and Des Moines, are being advised to stay alert for twisters.
Flash flooding is also possible due to heavy thunderstorms. A flash flood watch is in place from southeast Nebraska through eastern Kansas and through western and central Missouri.
Storms are expected to start popping up sometime after 2 p.m. CT and will likely grow exponentially once underway.
Flash flooding is also possible in parts of the Heartland due to training thunderstorms, or storms that continue to develop and dump rain over the same area in a relatively short amount of time. A flash flood watch is in place from southeast Nebraska to eastern Kansas and through western and central Missouri.
On Tuesday, a level 2 of 5 risk for severe storms will be in place from Texas to Vermont.
Tuesday’s storms are expected to follow a cold front snaking its way across the country. The main threats will be large hail and damaging wind, although isolated tornadoes are possible in the Great Lakes region.
Stormy weather will reach the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast on Wednesday, from Richmond to Boston, with a level 1 out of 5 risk for strong winds and hail.
Summer-like temperatures expected in the East
Meanwhile, a big warm-up is expected to continue through Wednesday for most of the East, where afternoon temperatures on Monday are forecast to reach the 80s and 90s in many places.
The temperature in New York City is expected to reach near 90 degrees on Monday and could hit the mid-90s in Washington, D.C.
It will be even hotter on Tuesday for a large swath of the I-95 corridor, with highs in the 90s from D.C. to Philadelphia and New York City to Boston.
Extreme fire weather danger
Extreme fire weather danger is forecast for Monday from northeast New Mexico, across the Texas Panhandle and into southwest Kansas and Oklahoma.
Some of the largest wildfires are burning in Meade County, Kansas, where three large wildfires have consumed more than 82,000 acres combined, officials said.
Wildfires in New Mexico and Minnesota also forced evacuations over the weekend.
Several wildfires broke out in parts of Minnesota on Saturday and grew rapidly. The largest Minnesota wildfire, the Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County, has burned more than 1,600 acres and was 20% contained on Sunday night, according to the Minnesota Incident Command System.
The Minnesota wildfires prompted Gov. Tim Walz to declare a state of emergency on Sunday morning, including mobilizing the state’s National Guard to help battle the fires.
“Unpredictable and fast-moving wildfires are putting Minnesota communities at risk,” Walz said in a statement. “This emergency declaration ensures we can fully mobilize the resources needed to protect lives, support evacuations, and help communities respond and recover.”
(NEW YORK) — A court ruled in favor of OpenAI and its chief executive, Sam Altman, in a lawsuit brought by Elon Musk over alleged misconduct in the company’s evolution from a non-profit upstart to a for-profit corporation.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this photo illustration, a laboratory test tubes containing blood to be analyzed for the Hantavirus “Orthohantavirus” outbreak, held by a nurse. (Vincenzo Izzo/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo.) — Colorado public health officials are investigating the death of an adult resident as a result of hantavirus.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and the Douglas County Health Department said the death is not linked to the outbreak on the MV Hondius cruise ship, which led to 11 confirmed and probable cases, including two confirmed deaths and one suspected death.
The individual lived in Douglas County — located just south of Denver — but information about the patient’s name, age and sex were not immediately available.
Health officials said the individual was infected by the Sin Nombre hantavirus, which is the most common cause of hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (HPS) in North America.
HPS symptoms typically appear from one to eight weeks after contact with the virus, with early signs including fever, fatigue and muscle aches, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Half of HPS patients will experience headaches, chills, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain.’
Between four and 10 days after the initial phase of illness, symptoms including coughing, shortness of breath and tightness in the chest can emerge, the CDC said, adding that a patient’s lungs can fill with fluid.
“Hantavirus infections caused by the Sin Nombre hantavirus occur regularly in Colorado, usually in the spring and summer, and can cause a severe and sometimes deadly respiratory disease,” according to public health officials. “In Colorado, the deer mouse is the rodent species that most commonly exposes people to the virus. Avoiding exposure to rodents and their urine, feces, saliva, and nesting materials is the best way to prevent infection.”
According to the CDC, there were six cases of Hantavirus in Colorado from 2020 to 2023.
Luigi Mangione (R) appears for a suppression of evidence hearing in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan Criminal Court on December 18, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Curtis Means-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The judge overseeing Luigi Mangione’s state murder case ruled Monday that certain evidence seized from his backpack during a search at the Pennsylvania McDonald’s where he was arrested must be suppressed, while evidence seized at the stationhouse in Altoona, Pennsylvania — including the alleged murder weapon — will be allowed.
New York Judge Gregory Carro determined Mangione’s backpack was not in a “grabbable area” while he was detained by Altoona police in the McDonald’s.
“The search of the backpack at the McDonald’s was an improper warrantless search,” Carro said.
“Therefore, the evidence found during the search of the backpack at the McDonald’s must be suppressed, including the magazine, cellphone, passport, wallet and computer chip,” he said.
Carro decided the subsequent search of the backpack at the stationhouse “as a valid inventory search,” so the items discovered there, including the alleged 3D-printed gun used, a notebook and handwritten slips of paper with purported escape routes, will be allowed at trial.
Prosecutors have said Mangione’s notebook entries speak to motive.
“The target is insurance,” one entry said. “It checks every box.”
Certain statements Mangione made to Altoona officers will be suppressed, including his response when he was asked why he had initially given a false name.
Statements Mangione made to two Pennsylvania corrections officers are allowed, including a wide-ranging conversation about healthcare, overseas travel and literature. Mangione asked one of the officers how he was being perceived in the media for his alleged crime and expressed a desire to make a public statement.
Mangione attended Monday’s hearing wearing a dark suit. He sat at the defense table as two court officers stood behind him. A small group of Mangione’s supporters, some in “Free Luigi” shirts, watched from the back rows.
Mangione’s state trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 8 for the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, and Carro’s decision will help define the contours of the high-profile criminal trial.
Defense lawyers have argued that the search of the backpack without a warrant violated Mangione’s rights, and have repeatedly urged Carro to block prosecutors from using the evidence.
“At the hearing, Altoona law enforcement officers repeatedly attempted to justify their warrantless search of Mr. Mangione’s backpack … instead, all these officers demonstrated was an utter disregard for a defendant’s constitutional rights and a shocking ignorance of basic search and seizure caselaw,” Mangione’s attorneys wrote in a state court filing.
Lawyers from the Manhattan district attorney’s office pushed back on those claims, arguing the officers acted “in deliberate and painstaking fashion” when they searched the backpack.
“At every step, the Altoona officers responded to this unexpected and alarming situation reasonably,” Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann wrote in a court filing, adding that officers later obtained a warrant for the bag “establishing an independent source for recovering the backpack’s contents.”
Mangione pleaded not guilty to state and federal charges after he was arrested for allegedly gunning down Thompson, a husband and father of two, on a Midtown Manhattan street in December 2024.
As Mangione prepares for his upcoming state trial in September, his supporters continue to fund part of his legal defense. Earlier this month, on Mangione’s 28th birthday, his legal defense fund surpassed $1.5 million.
Representative Jim Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, during the National Action Network (NAN) 35th Anniversary Convention in New York, US, on Friday, April 10, 2026. (Photographer: Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, the longtime Black representative from South Carolina whose seat could be at stake in mid-decade congressional redistricting, told ABC News that he sees the redrawing of congressional seats held by Black lawmakers as part of a larger history of discrimination and disenfranchisement against Black Americans.
“I don’t know why it’s so hard for people to understand this. The country is attempting what I call ‘Jim Crow 2.0.’ It’s just that simple,” Clyburn said.
Some experts have told ABC News that the redistricting in the South could wipe out up to a third of seats in Congress held by African American legislators, and Black lawmakers have been expressing similar concerns ever since the mid-decade redistricting push by Republicans kicked off last year.
Republicans have argued that they are redrawing congressional maps to comply with the Supreme Court or to remedy unfairly-drawn districts, and that the districts that could be changed may still elect Black representatives to Congress.
But Clyburn told ABC News that if the focus remains solely on redistricting, the bigger picture is being missed.
“When I released the book [“The First Eight”], and that’s the whole thing my book was about. I think a lot of people thought I was just whistling Dixie. But no,this is real. It’s as real as anything can be. And we got to come to grips with that. So it’s not just about congressional districts. It’s affirmative action, closing colleges and universities to ordinary Blacks, it’s about we’re not able to get a job in the federal government, state government,” Clyburn said.
“They want to take away federal jobs in the federal government, remove that protection … getting rid of any kind of diversity and inclusion. So this is a very comprehensive thing.”
Clyburn was first elected to the House of Representatives in 1992, the first Black member of Congress from South Carolina in a century, after previously teaching high school history and being involved in political activism.
He spoke with ABC News just hours before South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster announced Thursday evening in an executive order that he would call the state legislature in for an “extra” session to consider mid-decade redistricting.
McMaster’s announcement came amid other states redrawing maps after the Supreme Court’s recent ruling against Louisiana’s congressional map. It also came just two days after, even in the face of pressure from President Donald Trump, the state Senate rejected a key bill that would have let the legislature consider mid-decade redistricting even after formally adjourning.
However, that specific, specialized bill needed a two-thirds majority to pass. In the extra session, a bill that could redraw the congressional map would only need a simple majority.
In a statement celebrating McMaster’s announcement, South Carolina Republican Party Chair Drew McKissick wrote, “Thanks to the Supreme Court ruling, Republicans have an opportunity to get this done, and we should maximize it. Now is the time for lawmakers to stand with President Trump, defend the Constitution, and finish the job.”
Clyburn, speaking before the special session became official, told ABC News he saw the Supreme Court’s decision in Louisiana vs. Callais, which struck down Louisiana’s congressional map, as the continuation of a long line of other Supreme Court decisions he sees as detrimental – including the Citizens United v FEC ruling that unleashed billions of dollars from corporations, labor unions and other groups into American campaigns as a protected form of free speech; as well as the Dred Scott decision, which in 1857 held that Black Americans could never be citizens.
The Fourteenth Amendment, ratified 11 years after Dred Scott, was drafted to repudiate that decision and to prevent the creation of a hereditary class of noncitizens within the United States.
“I’ve been saying this about five or six years. Back when the Supreme Court made a decision … a lot of people look at me like I was some drunken sailor,” Clyburn said. “I said, when the Supreme Court handed down the decision in the so-called Citizens United case, and that is when they created dark money. And I said at the time, I said, this Supreme Court decision will take its place along — will compete with Dred Scott as one of the worst decisions ever made by the Supreme Court.”
“Now, people couldn’t see what I was saying at the time, but I’ve been studying history all my life. And when I saw that [Citizens United] decision, I knew that the foundation was being laid for taking over this country,’’ Clyburn said.
But Clyburn told ABC News that despite all of that, he does have hope for the nation’s future.
“I’m a South Carolinian. Do you know what our state motto is? ‘While I breathe, I hope.’ I’m a real South Carolinian. Breathing and hoping,” he said.
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and ABC News legal contributor James Sample contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys representing the Department of Justice and Donald Trump informed a federal judge on Monday that the president plans to drop his $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service.
ABC News has reported that Trump was planning to drop the suit in exchange for the creation of a $1.776 billion compensation fund for those who allege they were wrongly targeted under the Biden administration.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, during a confirmation hearing in Washington, DC, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. Photographer: Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Two Republican challengers, Rep. Julia Letlow and state Treasurer John Fleming, will advance to a runoff election in Louisiana’s closely watched GOP primary, The Associated Press projected Saturday — a defeat for Sen. Bill Cassidy who had drawn the ire of President Donald Trump.
Letlow had been endorsed by Trump in a three-way race that was seen as a test of the president’s influence among Republicans.
Letlow and Fleming will face off again in the runoff on June 27.
With nearly 100% of the estimated vote counted, Letlow led with about 45% of the vote, followed by Fleming with about 28%, according to the AP. Cassidy trailed with about 25% of the vote.
The primary defeat marks a stunning loss for Cassidy and a potential warning to other Republicans who risk defying the president, as Trump has sought to oust those he views as disloyal. Trump-backed candidates recently defeated several Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plans.
Cassidy’s defeat makes him the first sitting senator to lose a primary since 2017 and the first elected incumbent senator to lose a primary since 2012 — when Indiana GOP Sen. Richard Lugar lost his race to a Tea Party challenger.
Cassidy expressed gratitude for his time in office and acknowledged the race didn’t go like he would have liked.
“But you don’t pout, you don’t whine, you don’t claim the election was stolen,” he said. “You don’t manufacture some excuse –you thank the voters for the privilege of representing the state or the country for as long as you’ve had that privilege, and that’s what I’m doing right now.”
He also took a thinly veiled jab at Trump without naming him.
“Our country is not about one individual, it is about the welfare of all Americans, and it is about our Constitution,” he said. “And it is the welfare of my people and my state and my country and our Constitution, to which I am loyal.”
Trump celebrates
In a post on his social media platform, Trump celebrated Cassidy’s projected defeat and congratulated Letlow.
“Julia Letlow is a fantastic person and, after taking care of some additional business, will make a brilliant Senator for the Great People of Louisiana,” Trump said in the post.
In speech to supporters in Baton Rouge on Saturday night, Letlow opened her remarks thanking Trump.
“I want to say thank you to a very special man, who you all know – the best president this country has ever had: President Donald Trump,” Letlow said.
“When he endorsed me in January, I knew this was going to be a tough race, but tonight Louisiana sent a clear message — that they want a candidate to represent them in the Senate who will always put America first and never turn her back on Louisiana voters,” Letlow continued.
Fleming expressed full confidence he will win the runoff.
“I embrace this challenge enthusiastically. The runoff starts today, and I could not be more energized,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
“The people of Louisiana deserve a senator who cannot be bought, will not be bossed, and will never back down,” Fleming said.
On the campaign trail
On the campaign trail, Letlow, a three-term congresswoman, was anything but shy about Trump’s endorsement, casting Cassidy as disloyal and Fleming as out of touch with the president. Her campaign messaging focused in part on defending parental rights and securing the border.
Fleming, a former congressman who later served in various roles in the first Trump administration, pitched himself to voters as the most staunch conservative, though he did not receive a public endorsement from Trump.
For his part, Cassidy, a physician who was first elected to the Senate seat in 2014, argued his record proved he delivered for Louisianans and sought to tie himself to Trump — campaigning on a conservative agenda, arguing against abortion, supporting “strong borders” and co-sponsoring the SAVE America Act, a legislative priority for Trump.
Trump’s endorsement
Trump upended Cassidy’s reelection bid in January when he encouraged Letlow to enter in hopes of defeating Cassidy.
Trump sought to punish Cassidy, who broke with the party as one of seven senators to vote to convict Trump for his role in inciting the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. The 57-43 vote fell shy of the 67 vote threshold needed to convict Trump.
In a Saturday morning social media post — roughly two hours after polls opened –Trump again ripped on the two-term incumbent while endorsing Letlow. He called Cassidy “disloyal” and castigated him for using his name throughout the campaign.
Despite their fraught relationship, Cassidy has, at times, supported Trump’s agenda. Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccines, grilled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — during his confirmation hearing but cast the deciding vote to advance his nomination.
Yet for some, Cassidy’s vote to convict Trump may have been enough to do him in.
Robert Hogan, a political science professor at Louisiana State University, told ABC News ahead of the primary that some voters still had a “visceral” reaction to Cassidy’s vote to convict the president.
“The Republican activists have been unforgiving,” Hogan said. “This says less about Cassidy, I would say, than it says about the nature of the attraction that voters have towards Trump.”
Healthcare workers receive training on administering the Ebola vaccine in a study carried out with the support of the World Health Organization as part of the fight against the Ebola virus in Kampala, Uganda on February 14, 2025. (Photo by Nicholas Kajoba/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a statement on Sunday that a “small number of Americans” are directly affected by an Ebola outbreak occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
“The CDC is working with other U.S. agencies to coordinate the safe withdrawal of the Americans,” the CDC said in its statement. The agency did not confirm the number of people affected, the type of exposure or whether any individuals had experienced symptoms.
“We don’t discuss or comment on individual dispositions,” Dr. Satish Pillai, the CDC’s incident manager for Ebola, said during a press briefing on Sunday. “It is a highly dynamic situation, and at this point, what I would say is, we continue to assess, we will continue to keep you posted as we learn more.”
On Saturday, the World Health Organization said in a statement that the ebola outbreak in the DRC and Uganda constituted a “public health emergency of international concern.”
As of Sunday, the CDC said there were 10 confirmed Ebola cases and 336 suspected cases in the DRC. There had been 88 suspected deaths in the DRC, as well as two confirmed cases and one confirmed death in Uganda from people who had traveled to the DRC.
The CDC said that the risk to the American public remains low. Ebola virus spreads through direct contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person and does not spread through casual contact or air.
“CDC has extensive experience and expertise in responding to Ebola outbreaks,” CDC acting Director Jay Bhattacharya said on a call with reporters on Friday. “It is a large outbreak, and we were just informed yesterday about it.”
He added, “We’re absolutely committed to making sure that they can get resources as they need. We have helped with other Ebola outbreaks in the past … We have lots of hard-earned lessons. The key thing here is to know that we are absolutely involved.”
It is the DRC’s 17th outbreak of Ebola since the disease emerged in the 1970s, according to the WHO.
This strain of Ebola is caused by Bundibugyo virus, for which there are no therapeutics or vaccines, the WHO said.
The WHO has declared international public health emergencies over previous Ebola outbreaks as well as COVID-19 and mpox.
