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(NEW YORK) — Pedro Hernandez, the man convicted of abducting and murdering Etan Patz, must be re-tried by June 2026 or he will be released from custody, a federal judge in New York ruled on Friday.

This is the latest twist in what Judge Colleen McMahon called “the nearly half-century long saga of the disappearance and presumptive murder” of Patz.

Six-year-old Patz went missing while walking to his school bus stop alone in SoHo in 1979. He became the first missing child whose face appeared on a milk carton and changed the way the country responds to missing children cases.

Hernandez’s first trial ended in a hung jury. In 2017, after Hernandez’s second trial, he was convicted of kidnapping and murder and sentenced to 25 years to life. Because of a lack of physical evidence, the trial hinged entirely on purported confessions from Hernandez, who has a documented history of mental illnesses and a low IQ.

A federal appeals court ruled earlier this year that Hernandez was wrongfully convicted because of an error by the state court judge who oversaw his trial. The appellate court ordered Hernandez released or retried within a “reasonable” period of time.

The Manhattan District Attorney’s office will be asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and, in the meantime, said it has not decided whether to put Hernandez on trial again. 

McMahon said it was not her job “to read the tea leaves and make predictions,” though she expressed some sympathy for the “unusual, even extraordinary, difficulties” the district attorney’s office faces. All but one member of the original trial team no longer works there and dozens of long-scattered witnesses need to be found.

McMahon gave the district attorney’s office until June 1 to retry Hernandez. “If jury selection does not commence by June 1, 2026, Hernandez must be released,” McMahon said.

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(LANGHORNE, Pa.) — A Pennsylvania high school student died from bacterial meningitis, according to the local school district.

Ryan Duffy, 18, a senior at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, contracted Streptococcus Pneumoniae Meningitis last week and was treated in the ICU before dying Tuesday, according to a letter sent to parents by the Neshaminy School District and obtained by ABC News.

“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of a member of our school community, Ryan Duffy, who passed away earlier today, October 14, 2025.  Ryan’s family has given us permission to share with you that he became suddenly ill late last week and was admitted to the ICU at the hospital,” the letter read. “We hold the family in our thoughts and wish them strength in this difficult time. Ryan was diagnosed with Streptococcus Pneumoniae Meningitis.”

The Neshaminy School District is using enhanced cleaning protocols at Neshaminy High School, but the school said that Duffy’s form of meningitis is not typically contagious.

“It is important to note that this type of meningitis is not usually contagious in a school setting and does not typically spread through casual contact, such as being in the same classroom or cafeteria,” the letter continued.

According to the CDC, though this type of meningitis is spread through droplets that are released when you cough, sneeze, or talk, it is not highly contagious.

Parents in the community are mourning Duff’s death from the disease.

“These old diseases that have been around for years are still affecting people,” said Eddie Maurer, a parent from Bensalem, told ABC News affiliate ABC 6. “It just doesn’t make sense. It’s hard to believe.”

Bacterial meningitis causes inflammation of the brain’s protective lining and spinal cord and can lead to death in a few hours if not treated properly, according to the CDC.

Symptoms include severe headaches, high fevers, excessive vomiting, stiff neck and confusion, according to the CDC, and the best way to inoculate yourself against the disease is through vaccination.

“Most people recover from bacterial meningitis if managed properly,” the CDC page on the infection says, but “those who recover can have permanent disabilities.”

It is not yet known how Duffy contracted the infection.

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(NEW YORK) — The Department of Justice brought charges Thursday against the voting machine company Smartmatic, accusing it of allegedly bribing an official in the Philippines to win contracts, according to court papers filed in the Southern District of Florida.

The indictment accuses Smartmatic and a number of employees of bribing a Philippine official in order to retain business, specifically in relation to the purchase of voting machines in the 2016 Philippines election.

The charges come as Smartmatic is involved in a multibillion-dollar defamation lawsuit against Fox News, having accused the channel of “knowingly and intentionally” spreading false claims of voting machine fraud in the wake of the 2020 election, causing Smartmatic to lose business.

Fox has said they were covering newsworthy allegations made by President Donald Trump and others, and has accused Smartmatic of looking to profit off a lawsuit.

Thursday’s indictment alleges that the Philippine bribes exceeded $1 million.

“To finance the bribes, the co-conspirators allegedly created a slush fund by over-invoicing the cost per voting machine supplied for the 2016 Philippine elections,” a DOJ press release on the charges stated. “To conceal the corrupt payments, they used coded language, created fraudulent contracts and sham loan agreements, and routed transactions through bank accounts in Asia, Europe, and the U.S., including within the Southern District of Florida.”

The superseding indictment comes after the Department of Justice previously indicted a number of Smartmatic officials, but not the company itself.

The charges filed Thursday against Smartmatic include conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and conspiracy to commit money laundering, among others.

Smartmatic in a statement said they “categorically deny those allegations” and called the indictment “wrong on the facts and wrong on the law,” adding that they believe the move was “targeted, political, and unjust.”

“We will contest the claims, and we are confident we will prevail in court,” the statement said.

Smartmatic also said the indictment was “more of the same” from the previous indictment last year, which they called “spurious.” The statement also claimed that the U.S. attorney in the case had been “misled and politically influenced by powerful interests, despite our extensive cooperation with the government.”

“Smartmatic will continue to stand by its people and principles,” the statement said. “We will not be intimidated by those pulling the strings of power.”

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(NEW YORK) — A measles outbreak in South Carolina has grown to 15 cases, state health officials said on Friday.

The newly identified cases were close contacts of people who were quarantining at home and were not in any school settings when contagious, according to the South Carolina Department of Public Health (SCDPH).

“Because they were quarantining before they became infectious, no additional exposures have occurred with these new cases,” the department said.

The outbreak was first identified in the South Carolina upstate region in early October, according to the SCDPH. Several of the cases have been confirmed in Spartanburg County, which sits on the border with North Carolina.

Last week, at least two elementary schools in Spartanburg County sent more than 150 unvaccinated students home to quarantine for 21 days after being exposed to measles. Since then, at least five of the 150 children have contracted the disease, officials said.  

In a press conference earlier this week, South Carolina health officials said more than 100 students from Global Academy of South Carolina and Fairforest Elementary are continuing to quarantine at home.

Of the more than 600 students at Global Academy, a K-5 charter school, just 17% have their required immunizations, state health department data shows.

Meanwhile, Fairforest has a vaccination rate of 85%, according to the data. A vaccination rate of 95% is typically considered to be when a location or an area has herd immunity to help prevent outbreaks in communities.

Health officials announced earlier this week that they are deploying a mobile vaccination unit in the county over the next two weeks to provide measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) shots for free.

It comes as the U.S. is seeing the highest number of measles cases in more than 30 years, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

As of Wednesday, 1,596 cases have been confirmed in 41 states, with more than 90% of cases among those who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.

CDC data shows 44 measles outbreaks have been reported across the U.S. so far this year, compared to 16 outbreaks reported all of last year.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two MMR vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC said.

Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to the highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. However, CDC data shows vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years.

During the 2024-2025 school year, 92.5% of kindergartners received the MMR vaccine, according to data. This is lower than the 92.7% seen the previous school year and the 95.2% seen in the 2019-2020 school year, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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(NEW YORK) — In the aftermath of a destructive typhoon, historic floodwaters have destroyed remote communities across western Alaska, causing hundreds of evacuations that could continue for days, officials said.

“This is still a very much fluid situation; we are still in the process of evacuating hundreds of people from the affected towns,” Michelle Torres, the outreach branch chief for the state of Alaska, told ABC News on Thursday.

These devastating floods were fueled by remnants of Typhoon Halong, which originated in the northern Philippine Sea on Oct. 5. This typhoon brought the massive flooding to these western regions of Alaska on Saturday night into Sunday, sweeping across the west coast of the state on Monday and dumping more than 6 feet of water in some areas. Along with coastal flooding, wind gusts reached 50 to 100 mph in some of the 49 communities affected.

Remote, coastal towns have been hit the hardest by the floods, including Kipnuk, Alaska, which is about 500 miles from Anchorage.

So far, 264 people were evacuated on Thursday and 211 on Wednesday from these impacted communities by the Alaska National Guard, according to Jeremy Zidek from the Alaska Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management.

The evacuations of these flooded-out, smaller communities will continue “for days” as there are likely hundreds left to be evacuated, Zidek said. Both local agencies and private charters are being used for the evacuations, Zidek said.

At least one person has died from these floods, with two people remaining missing, officials said. But, officials said there is currently no concern that additional people may be missing.

Photos from the Alaska National Guard show around 300 displaced individuals taking shelter in a C-17 aircraft.

“Through it all, we stand shoulder to shoulder with our neighbors, evacuating those displaced, flying supplies and lending a helping hand wherever it’s needed most,” the Alaska National Guard said in a statement on Friday.

At least 2,000 people from rural Alaska have been displaced, according to the Alaska Community Foundation.

“Alaskans have already come together to raise more than $1 million in support – and the fund is still growing,” the Alaska Community Foundation said in a news release.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said on Thursday that the U.S. Coast Guard has rescued 38 people from the flood and helped “evacuate 28 people from a temporary shelter.”

“The Coast Guard continues to support the state of Alaska’s response efforts in impacted communities,” Noem said in a post on X on Thursday.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced on Thursday that he signed an application for a Presidential Disaster Declaration, asking President Donald Trump to “declare a major disaster for Alaska” as a result of this storm.

Dunleavy previously declared a state of emergency for “all areas impacted or threatened by these storms.”

Alaska previously experienced major flooding in 2023 when a glacier lake outburst occurred on the Mendenhall Glacier, located about 12 miles north of Juneau, Alaska. The 2023 flooding destroyed homes situated along the river, with decades’ worth of erosion happening in one weekend, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

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