(NEW YORK) — Alphabet’s Google illegally dominated two markets for online advertising technology, according to a federal judge.
Judge Leonie Brinkema of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia said in a ruling Thursday that Google had broken the law to build its dominance over the largely invisible system of technology that places advertisements on pages across the web.
“Plaintiffs have proven that Google has willfully engaged in a series of anticompetitive acts to acquire and maintain monopoly power in the publisher ad server and ad exchange markets for open-web display advertising,” the judge wrote in his ruling. “For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets.”
The Department of Justice had sued Alphabet claiming Google had a monopoly in ad technology that allowed the company to charge higher prices and take a bigger portion of each sale. The Justice Department has said Google should have to sell off at least its Google Ad Manager, which includes the company’s publisher ad server and its ad exchange.
“We won half of this case and we will appeal the other half,” Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president for regulatory affairs, said in a statement. “The Court found that our advertiser tools and our acquisitions, such as DoubleClick, don’t harm competition. We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools. Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”
ABC News has reached out to Alphabet for comment.
Google is now facing the possibility of two different U.S. courts ordering it to sell assets or change its business practices. A trial will be held this April in Washington on the DOJ’s request to make Google sell its Chrome browser and take other measures to end its dominance in online search.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(Grant County, Ind.) — Over 50 years after a mom was killed and her daughter was left abandoned with her body, the young mom’s cold case murder has been solved, Indiana authorities said.
On the night of July 7, 1972, Phyllis Bailer, 26, and her 3-year-old daughter were driving the 100 miles from Indianapolis to Bluffton, Indiana, to visit Bailer’s parents — but they never made it, the Indiana State Police said.
The next morning, around 10:30 a.m., Bailer’s car was found empty in Grant County, Indiana, police said.
About one hour later, a woman driving in Allen County, Indiana, discovered Bailer and her daughter along the side of the road in a ditch.
Bailer had been sexually assaulted and shot to death, police said. Her 3-year-old daughter was with her and unharmed.
No arrests were made.
Years later, a partial DNA profile was developed from Bailer’s clothing, which eliminated authorities’ main suspect, police said.
The murder continued to go unsolved for decades.
Last year, “a much stronger DNA profile” was developed from Bailer’s clothes, police said, and investigators started working with a forensic genealogy company.
Genetic genealogy is an investigative tool — first used in 2018 in the arrest of the Golden State Killer — in which unknown DNA from a crime scene is identified by comparing it to family members who voluntarily submit DNA samples to a database.
Through genetic genealogy, police identified Fred Allen Lienemann as the person who left DNA on Bailer’s clothing, authorities announced on Wednesday.
Lienemann, who was 25 years old at the time of the murder, “had no known connections to Phyllis Bailer but had a significant criminal history,” police said.
Lienemann was killed in Detroit in 1985, police said. If he was alive, prosecutors would charge him with Bailer’s murder, police said.
“Phyllis Bailer never made it to Bluffton to visit her family,” state police spokesperson Sgt. Wes Rowlader wrote on social media. “After years of questions, this family finally has answers about what happened to her.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security is demanding “detailed records” on Harvard University’s student visa holders, according to a statement from the department.
The school must turn over student visa holders’ records, specifically those pertaining to “illegal and violent activities,” or risk losing the school’s Student and Exchange Visitor Program status, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Harvard in a letter sent by the department.
The SEVP allows for noncitizen students to study at the university under a specific visa.
Noem told Harvard it is a “privilege” to have foreign students attend Harvard, “not a guarantee.”
“The United States Government understands that Harvard University relies heavily on foreign student funding from over 10,000 foreign students to build and maintain their substantial endowment,” Noem wrote in a letter dated April 16 and obtained by ABC News. “At the same time, your institution has created a hostile learning environment for Jewish students due to Harvard’s failure to condemn antisemitism.”
Noem requested that Harvard provide a tranche of information to the department to keep its SEVP status, asking it for information on student visa holders’ “known” illegally activity, violent activity, threats to students or faculty, disciplinary actions taken as a result of being involved in a protest, whether a student obstructed the school’s learning environment and the coursework that a student is taking to maintain the visa status, according to the letter.
“In the event the school fails to respond to this request within the timeframe provided … SEVP will automatically withdraw the school’s certification,” she wrote.
DHS is also pulling $2 million in grants from Harvard — part of a larger effort by the Trump administration to halt grant funding for the university.
“Harvard bending the knee to antisemitism — driven by its spineless leadership — fuels a cesspool of extremist riots and threatens our national security,” Noem said in a press release. “With anti-American, pro-Hamas ideology poisoning its campus and classrooms, Harvard’s position as a top institution of higher learning is a distant memory. America demands more from universities entrusted with taxpayer dollars.”
On Monday, Harvard said it is refusing to comply with a series of demands from President Donald Trump’s administration. The Joint Task Force to Combat Anti-Semitism subsequently announced a multibillion-dollar freeze on funding to the university.
The administration’s task force said it would withhold $2.2 billion in multiyear grants and $60 million in multiyear contract value to the institution.
In a statement, Harvard said it is aware of the letter sent by DHS and “values the rule of law,” according to a university spokesperson.
“Harvard is aware of the Department of Homeland Security’s letter regarding grant cancellations and scrutiny of foreign student visas, which — like the Administration’s announcement of the freeze of $2.2 billion in grants and $60 million in contracts, and reports of the revocation of Harvard’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status — follows on the heels of our statement that Harvard will not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights,” the spokesperson said. “We continue to stand by that statement. We will continue to comply with the law and expect the Administration to do the same.
(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — More than 6 million people in multiple states across the Southwest and South Plains are under red flag warnings Thursday as strong winds and warm temperatures are forecast to increase wildfire threats.
Firefighters in New Mexico, West Texas, Colorado, eastern Arizona, central Kansas and parts of Oklahoma are among the states bracing for critical to extreme threats of wildfires erupting and rapidly spreading.
The entire state of New Mexico is under red flag warnings, including the cities of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, which were both under critical threat of fire danger Thursday morning. Other cities in New Mexico that are under extreme risk of wildfires erupting include Silver City, Deming, Los Lunas and Socorro.
“Extremely critical fire weather conditions are expected across much of New Mexico today due to very strong winds combined with a dry airmass,” the National Weather Service office in Albuquerque said in a statement posted on social media.
The NWS said critical fire weather conditions across central and eastern New Mexico will stretch into Friday.
Extremely low relative humidity, ranging 5% to 15%, combined with winds forecast to gust between 45 and 65 mph or higher, could cause any new fires to spread rapidly, officials said.
Much of New Mexico continues to battle severe to extreme drought conditions, which will also exacerbate the fire threat.
The extreme warning means a “threat to life and property from existing or potential wildfires due to weather and fuel conditions,” according to the NWS.
Several wildfires have already erupted across New Mexico this year, including one that ignited in the Carson National Forest in northern New Mexico last week. Firefighters responded to the blaze quickly and managed to keep it from spreading beyond three acres, officials said.
On March 19, several wildfires broke out across New Mexico, including the Gail Fire west of the town of Mayhill that burned 235 acres, officials said.
“We’ve been saying that this year’s fire season will potentially be early and significant, and here we are,” Forest Fire Management Officer Brent Davidson of the U.S. Forest Service in New Mexico said in a statement earlier this month. “Wildfires do not stop at property boundaries and we hope this puts into focus how important it is for everyone to prepare. Whether you have 10 minutes or 10 hours, you can do something to get ready for wildfire.”
Raging wildfires also broke out in Oklahoma last month, leaving four people dead and more than 140 injured, according to the state’s medical examiner. The multiple Oklahoma fires erupted amid gusty winds, low humidity and dry vegetation. More than 400 homes and structures were destroyed and at least 170,000 acres burned across the state of Oklahoma.
ABC News’ Shawnie Caslin Martucci contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Thursday sharply criticized Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, urging the central bank to lower interest rates and saying Powell’s “termination cannot come soon enough.”
It was not clear whether Trump’s comments indicated a desire to remove Powell from his position or an eagerness for the completion of Powell’s term as Fed chair in 2026. The Fed is an independent government agency established by Congress.
The remarks came a day after Powell voiced alarm about Trump’s tariffs policy, saying it would likely hike inflation and slow economic growth. Powell indicated that the Fed may approach interest rates with restraint as policymakers observe the economic effects of Trump’s tariffs.
“Jerome Powell of the Fed, who is always TOO LATE AND WRONG, yesterday issued a report which was another, and typical, complete “mess!” Trump said Thursday morning in a post on Truth Social.
Powell should “certainly lower” interest rates, Trump added.
Since Trump took office he has criticized Powell on multiple occasions, despite a longstanding norm of political independence at the central bank. The sentiment echoes repeated criticism of Powell that Trump voiced during his first term in office.
On Wednesday, Powell raised the possibility of what economists call “stagflation,” which is when inflation rises and the economy slows.
If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation under such a scenario, it risks stifling borrowing and slowing the economy further, experts previously told ABC News.
On the other hand, experts said, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a potential slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.
Last month, Trump urged the central bank to reduce interest rates, hours after it chose to leave borrowing rates unchanged. In January, Trump also advocated for interest-rate cuts in response to what he described as the prospect of lower oil prices.
In November, days after Trump’s election victory, Powell struck a defiant tone when asked whether he would resign from his position if Trump asked him to.
“No,” Powell said, pausing to let the one-word answer register with the reporters assembled at a press conference at the Fed headquarters, blocks away from the White House.
When asked whether Trump could fire or demote him, Powell responded: “Not permitted under the law.”
Powell has repeatedly affirmed the Fed’s political independence. During a press conference at Fed headquarters last month, Powell was asked again about threats to the agency’s political independence.
“I did answer that question in this very room some time ago, and I have no desire to change that answer and have nothing new for you on that today,” Powell said.
The Federal Reserve Act, which founded the central bank in 1913, granted the central bank a measure of independence from the White House.
Federal law allows the president to remove a Federal Reserve governor, including the Fed chair, “for cause.”
Experts who previously spoke to ABC News acknowledged that some legal ambiguity surrounds what type of conduct warrants sufficient cause for removal, but they said a policy dispute is unlikely to meet such a standard.
Marco Iacobucci/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(ROME and LONDON) — Pope Francis arrived on Thursday for a meet-and-greet with inmates at a prison in Rome amid the Catholic Holy Week, making a public appearance for one of the first times since his lengthy hospital stay.
The pontiff, 88, made the short drive from the Vatican to Regina Coeli prison to greet about 70 inmates, the Vatican said.
Francis visited the same Roman prison on Holy Thursday in 2018 to celebrate the mass “In Coena Domini” — or The Lord’s Supper — with the traditional rite of washing feet to commemorate what Jesus did to his disciples at the Last Supper.
Francis has remained mostly out of public view since his release in March from Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where he’d spent more than five weeks after being diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia.
Francis delegated to two cardinals his role in presiding over this weekend’s Easter masses, The Vatican Press Office said on Wednesday.
Saturday’s Easter Vigil mass will be overseen by Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, dean of the College of Cardinals, and Sunday’s Easter mass will be overseen by Cardinal Angelo Comastri, emeritusvicar general for Vatican City, the office said.
Francis also on Wednesday met at the Vatican with medical staff from Gemelli, thanking them for his treatment. Francis appeared in a wheelchair, according to photos released by the Vatican.
“Thank you, and thank you for all you have done. Thank you for being so strong,” he said. “When women are in charge, things work. Thank you, and thank you all. I pray for you and please do it for me. Thank you. And thank you for your service in the hospital, it is very good. Thank you. Keep going like this.”
ABC News’ Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
Extensive fire damage to the Pennsylvania Governor’s Mansion and Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence / Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images
(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wants Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate the arson attack on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence as a possible antisemitic hate crime.
“While the local district attorney has not yet filed hate-crime charges, he acknowledged that Governor Shapiro’s religion appears to have factored into the suspect’s decisions,” Schumer wrote in a letter to Bondi on Thursday. “Our federal authorities must bring the full weight of our civil-rights laws to bear in examining this matter. No person or public official should be targeted because of their faith, and no community should wonder whether such acts will be met with silence.”
“I appreciate your strong condemnation of the attack and urge you to ensure that the federal government does everything in its power to pursue justice and uphold the fundamental values of religious freedom and public safety,” Schumer added. “I look forward to your response and to the Justice Department’s continued vigilance in the face of antisemitic violence.”
The fire at the governor’s residence was reported at about 2 a.m. ET Sunday and the family was safely evacuated. The attack occurred hours after the Shapiro family hosted more than two dozen people for the first night of Passover.
Investigators have not released a motive, but search warrants provide the most direct indication of why suspect Cody Balmer allegedly hopped a fence at the governor’s mansion, broke windows and hurled inside Molotov cocktails police said he made from beer bottles and gasoline.
Balmer, 38, called 911 less than an hour after the attack, identified himself and told the call-taker that he will not take part in Shapiro’s plans “for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people,” a search warrant said. Balmer added that Shapiro needed to “stop having my friends killed.”
“Our people have been put through too much by that monster,” Balmer said, according to the document.
After turning himself in, Balmer allegedly told police he would have attacked Shapiro with a hammer if he happened upon the governor inside the residence, according to court documents.
Balmer faces eight criminal charges, including attempted murder, terrorism and aggravated arson. Prosecutors at this time have not invoked a hate crime law, which in Pennsylvania is known as ethnic intimidation.
Attorney General Pam Bondi strongly condemned the attack in remarks at the Department of Justice on Wednesday, but she declined to label the act “domestic terrorism” or commit to opening a separate federal case against the suspect.
“It is absolutely horrific what happened to him,” Bondi said. “We have been praying for Josh, for his family. Those photos, it was horrible. I firmly believe that they wanted to kill him. … We are working with state authorities to do — it’s now a pending investigation — anything we can to help convict the person that did this and keep them behind bars as long as possible.”
Bondi did not answer a direct question from a reporter about whether she would label the action “domestic terrorism,” as she has repeatedly described the wave of attacks carried out on Teslas and dealerships around the country in recent months.
“Prosecutors will ultimately determine what motivated this,” Shapiro told reporters at the opening of a new Hershey’s Chocolate processing facility in Hershey, Pennsylvania. “The district attorney and the Department of Justice can comment on that further.”
When asked by a reporter if he wants hate crime charges filed, Shapiro said that’s a decision for the district attorney and the Department of Justice.
State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Anadolu via Getty Images
LONDON — Three people, including a child, were killed in a “massive” Russian drone strike overnight on Dnipro, Ukraine, the local governor said.
“Thirty people were injured, five of them children,” Serhiy Lysak, who leads the local administration, said on the Telegram messaging app. The injured later climbed to 31.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine described the strike as a “difficult night,” saying Russia had targeted “ordinary residential buildings, ordinary civilian infrastructure.”
“Tragically, three people were killed by this Russian strike, among them a girl, Veronika — she was only 17 years old,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “My condolences to the families and loved ones.”
The injured included a 9-month-old girl, along with two boys aged 6 and 11, the governor said.
The drones damaged at least 15 buildings in Dnipro, including students dorms and school buildings, Mayor Borys Filatov said on social media.
Rescue workers were busy on Thursday clearing the rubble near a destroyed high-rise building, Lysak said in a post in Ukrainian.
“Someone remembers how this building was built many decades ago, entire generations grew up here,” he said. “A few steps away is a playground, where, next to toys and swings, there are cars destroyed by fire. And then there is rubble and blood.”
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.
(NEWARK, NJ) — A Florida man allegedly boarded an Amtrak train in New Jersey carrying ammunition, multiple handguns and an AR-15 style rifle, New Jersey authorities said.
Jeffrey O. Kennerk, 34, of Fort Lauderdale, was indicted on several charges, including aggravated assault, possession of a weapon for unlawful purpose and causing or risking widespread injury or damage, the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office and the Division of Criminal Justice said in a press release on Wednesday.
“This defendant allegedly hauled a small arsenal of deadly weapons and ammunition through busy transit stations, and on a train filled with passengers,” New Jersey’s Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin said in a statement.
Transit police at Penn Station in Newark, New Jersey, noticed an unattended black-and-white-zebra-pattern bag on Jan. 3, according to officials. A K-9 team cleared the bag for the presence of explosives, then the officers opened it and found inside a case for a Glock handgun, according to a press release, which cites two complaints and an indictment.
Inside the case was a handgun with a loaded 18-round magazine, officials said. Also in the bag were an AR-style magazine with rifle rounds and a “plastic bag containing a shirt and two boxes labeled 9 mm bullets; four boxes of .223 caliber bullets.”
“A zipped secondary compartment in the suitcase contained a pink duffle bag containing a black Zastava Arms AK-47 style rifle with one round loaded in the chamber and multiple loaded magazines,” the A.G.’s press release said.
After law enforcement found the bag, at about 2:55 p.m., they reviewed camera footage from the station, which appeared to show a man, whom police allege was Kennerk, who was carrying two suitcases, including the one with the zebra pattern.
“The subject walked away, allegedly, leaving behind the zebra print suitcase, and went to the Amtrak ticket window,” officials said. “It was learned that the subject was boarding an Amtrak train bound for Virginia and the next stop would be the Trenton Transit Center.”
Two officers boarded that train as it arrived in Trenton, officials said. When they approached Kennerk, he allegedly showed them a valid Amtrak ticket — although it was for another train. Police officers in Trenton had been notified that Newark officials were searching for Kennerk. He was arrested before he could board his ticketed train, officials said.
“The collective actions of law enforcement eliminated the possible carnage that could have been caused by the weapons involved in this case,” New Jersey Transit Police Chief Christopher Trucillo said in a statement.
As Kennerk was arrested, police searched his second suitcase and found multiple other weapons, officials said. He was allegedly carrying in that “dark maroon colored” suitcase an AR-15-style rifle, along with “multiple caches of ammunitions, multiple extended magazines, and multiple handguns,” officials said.
“The indictment of this individual underscores the severe threat posed by those who amass illegal weapons with blatant disregard for public safety,” said Col. Patrick J. Callahan, superintendent of the New Jersey State Police, in a statement.
Deputy Attorney General Karen Bracizewsk, of New Jersey’s Division of Criminal Justice, is expected to lead the prosecution against Kennerk, officials said.
ABC News’ Jessica Gorman and Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Hours before a long-awaited, critical hearing in Erik and Lyle Menendez’s attempts to get out of prison, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office indicated it wants to put Thursday’s hearing on hold.
Lyle and Erik Menendez are set to return to court on Thursday for a high-stakes resentencing hearing that could bring them one step closer to potential freedom, despite objections from Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Now, in a filing late Wednesday, prosecutors have urged the court to obtain a copy of a recently completed risk assessment conducted on the brothers by the California Board of Parole Hearings at the request of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The filing by the district attorney’s office urges the judge to delay the sentencing if the court cannot get a copy of the report in time for the hearing.
“On April 15, 2025, the People were made aware that the Parole Board has completed its Comprehensive Risk Assessment Reports for Lyle and Erik Menendez,” the filing states, later adding, “There is no legitimate reason why the Court should not now possess the most current and up to date risk assessments before making any resentencing decisions in this case. The People believe that the Court should have all available information before making any sentencing decisions in this case.”
“To the extent the Court needs additional time to obtain these documents from the Governor’s office, the People request a continuance as necessary,” the filing adds.
The brothers — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars.
If the court decides to move forward with Thursday’s resentencing hearing, a judge will decide whether they deserve freedom. Ten family members are ready to take the stand at the hearing, ABC News has learned, while a prison expert and former inmate may also testify.
On Friday, Lyle and Erik Menendez had a major win in court when the judge ruled in their favor at a hearing regarding DA Nathan Hochman’s motion to withdraw the resentencing petition submitted by the previous DA, George Gascón, who supported resentencing and the brothers’ release.
In the DA’s three-hour argument Friday, he argued the brothers — who were listening to the hearing via video — haven’t taken responsibility for their actions and he called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.” Hochman also dismissed the brothers’ claim that they were sexually abused by their father.
Menendez attorney Mark Geragos fired back, calling Hochman a “’90s Neanderthal” for refusing to believe the brothers.
The judge on Friday denied Hochman’s motion to withdraw and said the brothers’ resentencing hearing will proceed as planned this Thursday and Friday.
Geragos called the decision “probably the biggest day since they’ve been in custody.”
“They’ve waited a long time to get some justice,” he said.
Hochman said in a statement after the ruling, “We concluded that the case was not ripe for resentencing based on the Menendez brothers’ continuing failure to exhibit full insight and accept complete responsibility for the entire gamut of their criminal actions and cover-up, including the fabrications of their self-defense defense and their lies concerning their father being a violent rapist, their mother being a poisoner, and their trying to obtain a handgun for self-defense the day before the murder.”
“Until the Menendez brothers finally come clean with all their lies of self-defense and suborning and attempting to suborn perjury, they are not rehabilitated and pose an unreasonable risk of danger to public safety,” he said.
This potential path to freedom gained momentum in October, when Hochman’s predecessor, Gascón, announced he was in support of resentencing.
Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.
Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón — who lost his reelection bid to Hochman in November — praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.
Over 20 Menendez relatives are in support of the brothers’ release. Several of those relatives spoke with ABC News last week, including cousin Diane VanderMolen, who said Erik Menendez asked her to relay a message.
“They are truly, deeply sorry for what they did. And they are profoundly remorseful,” VanderMolen said. “They are filled with remorse over what they did. And through that, they have become pretty remarkable people.”
Besides resentencing, the brothers have two other possible paths to freedom.
One is their request for clemency to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Newsom announced in February that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether Lyle and Erik Menendez pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.
After the risk assessment, which Hochman said in the filing is now complete, Newsom said the brothers will appear at independent parole board hearings in June.
The other path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.
In February, Hochman announced he was asking the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the brothers’ new evidence wasn’t credible or admissible.
