Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(SHEARON HARRIS LAKE, N.C.) — A 10-year-old girl is dead and a woman suffered “critical injury” after a drunken boater struck swimmers in a North Carolina lake over the weekend, according to officials.
Quinten Gregory Kight, 40, has been charged with felony operating a motor vessel while under the influence, unintentionally causing serious injury to another person, in the incident on Shearon Harris Lake.
Kight was also charged with operating his motor boat on the lake negligently, endangering the life of Jennifer Ann Stahle by not looking forward in the direction of travel and being under the influence, according to court documents.
“This was a heartbreaking accident, but one that was preventable. Alcohol was a factor, and the decision to operate a boat while impaired had devastating consequences,” Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson said in a statement on Monday. “We urge everyone to think twice before mixing alcohol with watercraft operation. It only takes a moment for lives to be changed forever.”
Kight was arrested on Monday.
While his bond was initially set at $500,000, Kight has posted an amended bond of $250,000, according to court documents. He is not allowed to operate a motor vehicle of any kind and is subject to cam monitoring, court documents said.
Kight has been appointed a public defender but the identity of his attorney was not immediately clear from court records.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Nuclear power on the moon is critical to the United States’ space exploration and national security goals, and the U.S. government should “move quickly” to build reactors there before its terrestrial rivals, according to a directive issued by Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, which was obtained by ABC News.
One full “day” on the moon is two weeks of light followed by approximately two weeks of darkness (in Earth time). Nuclear energy, referred to as fission surface power, or FSP, in the directive, is a “sustainable” and “high-powered” energy source that can survive through the lunar night and be deployed on other celestial bodies, like Mars, according to Duffy.
“We’re in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon,” Duffy said at a press conference on Tuesday. “And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. And some of the key locations on the moon, we’re going to get solar power. But this vision technology is critically important, and so we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars studying.”
“Can we do it? We are now going to move beyond studying, and we are going,” Duffy continued. “We have given direction to go. Let’s start to deploy our technology, to move to actually make this a reality.”
When reached for comment by ABC News, NASA said, “We’ll let these directives speak for themselves.”
The directive, dated July 31, calls for a “Fission Surface Power Program Executive” to be named within 30 days, who will implement and oversee the project and will report directly to the NASA administrator. It does not say what exactly the nuclear reactors would power on the moon.
“Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s,” Duffy said in the directive. “The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.”
Politico was the first to report on this directive.
A second directive, issued on the same day by Duffy, aims to speed up the development of replacements for the International Space Station, which is set to retire by 2030.
While NASA has never used a fission nuclear reactor in space, it has been using nuclear material to power spacecraft since the 1960s. Known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, these systems use the heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238, a nuclear element, to create electricity for powering spacecraft and rovers. Currently, NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is using an RTG system for its power.
In recent years, billions of dollars have been spent developing a new kind of nuclear reactor called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These reactors produce less power than traditional reactors, but are significantly smaller in size. SMRs are still being developed in the U.S. and there are no units currently in operation.
“There’s a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best. We have ice there, we have sunlight there. We want to get there first and claim that for America,” Duffy said Tuesday.
Jessica Leslie, 34, pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court on Monday to a charge of criminal contempt that accused her of willfully disobeying court rules against disclosure of grand jury information, the DOJ said.
Leslie had served on the grand jury as part of the investigation into Read, who was ultimately acquitted of murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend.
Federal prosecutors said that between Aug. 11, 2022, and March 4, 2024, Leslie disclosed “sealed information to unauthorized individuals, including the names of various witnesses appearing before a federal grand jury, the substance of witness testimony and other evidence presented to the grand jury.”
Leslie agreed to a sentence of incarceration for one day, deemed served, and 24 months of supervised release, court records said. Her sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 26.
While the charging document did not specify that Leslie was a grand juror in the Read case, sources confirmed the case to ABC News.
Federal prosecutors did not say how they learned Leslie had disclosed secret grand jury information, but sources said authorities had been monitoring social media accounts and other communications during a case that received widespread attention.
Read was originally indicted by a Boston grand jury in June 2022 in the death of her police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her car outside the home of a fellow police officer after a night of heavy drinking in January 2022 and then left him to die there during a major blizzard.
The first trial ended in a mistrial last year after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
In a second trial that ended in June, Read was found not guilty of the most serious charges against her — murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident. She was convicted of operating under the influence of liquor and sentenced to one year of probation.
Lauren Semanchik and 29-year-old Tyler Webb were found dead in Semanchik’s Franklin Township home over the weekend and their suspected killer is New Jersey State Trooper Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo Jorge Santos. WABC
(PITTSTOWN, N.J.) — A New Jersey State Police sergeant, who once served on Gov. Phil Murphy’s security detail, is suspected of killing his former girlfriend and the volunteer firefighter she was dating in a house in Franklin Township before dying by suicide, authorities said.
Following Sunday’s double homicide, police discovered Sgt. 1st Class Ricardo Jorge Santos dead in a Mercedes SUV from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot in Johnson Park in Piscataway, New Jersey, according to a statement from the Henderson County Prosecutor’s Office.
Killed in what investigators said was a “targeted act” in Pittstown, Henderson County, were 33-year-old Lauren Semanchik, a local veterinarian, and 29-year-old Tyler Webb, a volunteer firefighter from Forked River, New Jersey, according to the prosecutor’s office.
“Considering the suspect’s subsequent suicide, we recognize that many questions remain, and healing will take time. While justice in the legal sense may not proceed, our commitment to supporting survivors and preventing future tragedies remains unwavering,” Henderson County Prosecutor Renee Robeson said in a statement.
Franklin Township police officers responded to Semanchik’s home around around 12:22 p.m. on Sunday after a 911 caller reported finding an unconscious woman there with “apparent physical trauma,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Upon entering the Pittstown home, officers found Semanchik and Webb dead from “apparent gunshot wounds from a semiautomatic firearm,” according to the prosecutor’s office.
Investigators are looking into the possibility that Semanchik and Webb were killed on Friday night, officials said. Detectives learned that a 911 call came in around 7:08 p.m. on Friday from an area near Semanchik’s home in which a dispatcher could hear gunshots and screaming in the background, the prosecutor’s office said. Officers responded to the call and checked the area but did not find the source of the gunshots and screaming, according to the prosecutor’s office.
As the investigation unfolded, detectives zeroed in on Santos as the primary suspect after learning he had previously dated Semanchik.
“After ending her relationship with Santos in approximately September 2024, Semanchik accused Santos of “harassing and controlling behavior,” according to the prosecutor’s statement.
The investigation uncovered a video surveillance system with a rear-facing camera that Semanchik had installed in her car, authorities said. Detectives combed through the surveillance footage from Semanchik car and saw that when she left work at the Long Valley Animal Hospital around 5:25 p.m. on Friday, she was followed to her home by a 2008 Mercedes SUV matching Santos’ vehicle, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Just after 6 p.m. on Friday, an individual was recorded on surveillance video “surreptitiously walking through the wooded area along the driveway” of Semanchik residence, authorities said. The video also showed Webb’s vehicle arriving at the home around 6:45 p.m.
Investigators collected a semiautomatic handgun from the vehicle that Santos’ body was found in and believe the suspect used the firearm to commit the homicides and take his own life.
Santos served in the New Jersey State Police’s executive protection unit, which guards the governor, officials said. He was most recently assigned to the agency’s dignitary protection unit, which guards high-ranking state officials.
“We are shocked and devastated by this horrific tragedy,” a spokesperson for Murphy said in a statement. “Due to the law enforcement investigation currently underway, we will refrain from further comment at this time.”
Friends and colleagues of both victims mourned their horrific death and Robeson urged “anyone experiencing threats, harassment, or abuse to seek help and know thy are not alone.”
“Not only was Lauren a phenomenal veterinarian, she was one of the kindest souls you could ever encounter and a friend to us all,” a colleague of Semancik’s at Long Valley Animal Hospital told New York ABC station WABC.
The Pinewald Pioneer Fire Company in Bayville, New Jersey, where Webb was a volunteer firefighter, released a statement on social media, saying, “Tyler served our department with dedication and honor.”
“His contributions to our company and community will never be forgotten,” the department wrote in the post.
(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Coast Guard has released its final report on the catastrophic implosion of OceanGate’s Titan submersible, which killed five people on a deep-sea voyage to the Titanic wreckage in June 2023, criticizing the company’s CEO, Stockton Rush, and singling him out as a major reason for the disaster.
The 335-page report, released Tuesday, comes nearly a year after the Coast Guard’s Marine Board of Investigation held a two-week hearing into the unprecedented implosion of the experimental vessel.
Rush was warned repeatedly about how dangerous his submersible was and not only ignored all the warnings, but threatened anyone who raised concerns, according to the report released Tuesday. Many who spoke up were threatened with lawsuits or termination, it said.
“A false sense of safety and security was created by Mr. Rush through his misrepresentation of the TITAN’s safety, achieved by falsely claiming substantial safety margins, misleading mission specialists regarding testing procedures, and exaggerating the number of hull test dives for the final TITAN hull,” the report says.
Rush, the co-founder of OceanGate, was among those killed in the implosion. Had he survived, the Coast Guard’s investigative team would have recommended manslaughter charges to the DOJ, the report said.
“This marine casualty and the loss of five lives was preventable,” Jason Neubauer, Titan MBI chair, said in a statement about the report’s release. “The two-year investigation has identified multiple contributing factors that led to this tragedy, providing valuable lessons learned to prevent a future occurrence. There is a need for stronger oversight and clear options for operators who are exploring new concepts outside of the existing regulatory framework. I am optimistic the ROI’s findings and recommendations will help improve awareness of the risks and the importance of proper oversight while still providing a pathway for innovation.”
In addition to Rush, those killed in the June 2023 implosion included French explorer and Titanic expert Paul Henri Nargeolet, British businessman Hamish Harding, Pakistani businessman Shahzada Dawood and his 19-year-old son, Suleman.
The submersible company suspended all exploration and commercial operations after the deadly implosion.
In response to the report, OceanGate said in a statement, “We again offer our deepest condolences to the families of those who died on June 18, 2023, and to all those impacted by the tragedy. After the tragedy occurred, the company permanently wound down operations and directed its resources fully towards cooperating with the Coast Guard’s inquiry through its completion.”
The board heard from more than two dozen witnesses during its September 2024 hearing. They included several former employees of OceanGate.
The main purpose of the hearing was to uncover the facts related to the implosion — including the submersible’s design, operation and safety protocols — to help determine the cause of the incident and make recommendations to prevent similar casualties. The board also set out to determine if there was any evidence of misconduct, negligence or violations by anyone licensed or certified.
The report also singles out OceanGate’s “inadequate design, certification, maintenance and inspection process for the Titan,” as was often highlighted during the board hearing last year.
“OceanGate’s toxic safety culture, corporate structure, and operational practices were critically flawed and at the core of these failures were glaring disparities between their written safety protocols and their actual practices,” the report says.
Ahead of the report’s release, the Coast Guard said in June that its Marine Board of Investigation was in the “final portion of its analysis phase” as part of its over two-year probe, and that the report would come out once the commandant’s review was completed.
The National Transportation Safety Board is also investigating the implosion and will make its own determination as to the probable cause. That investigation is ongoing. A final report is expected in the coming months.
The Coast Guard’s hearing last year revealed one of the last messages sent from Titan to the surface vessel Polar Prince as the doomed submersible descended toward the ocean floor.
The short text messages were the only means of communication between the Titan crew and the personnel on the Polar Prince as the vessel attempted to reach the Titanic, which sits 3,800 meters below sea level.
At approximately 2,274 meters, the Titan sent the message, “All good here,” according to an animation created by the Coast Guard that showed the text communications.
The last communication from the submersible was sent at approximately 3,341 meters: “Dropped two wts,” meaning drop weights, according to the Coast Guard.
All communications and tracking from the submersible to Polar Prince were lost at 3,346 meters, according to the Coast Guard.
Neubauer revealed during the hearing that the master of the Polar Prince told them that in hindsight, he believes he felt the ship “shudder” around the time when communications with the sub were lost.
The Coast Guard also released footage during the hearing that showed Titan debris, including the tail cone, aft dome, aft ring, hull remnants and carbon fiber debris, on the seafloor. The footage was from a remotely operated vehicle, which located the Titan debris approximately 500 meters from the bow of the Titanic following a four-day search.
The Coast Guard heard lengthy testimony from David Lochridge, the former director of marine operations for OceanGate, who had raised concerns about the Titan’s carbon fiber hull.
“I knew that hull would fail,” Lochridge said during the hearing. “It’s an absolute mess.”
He also testified that the company wasn’t interested in scientific research and only cared about making money, and that Rush “liked to do things on the cheap.”
Lochridge said he was fired days after he submitted a report in January 2018 outlining his safety concerns about the submersible’s carbon-fiber hull, including imperfections, and he subsequently filed a complaint with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. His whistleblower retaliation case was closed in late 2018 after he and OceanGate entered a settlement agreement in their respective lawsuits, OSHA said. Lochridge’s safety allegations regarding the Titan were referred to the Coast Guard, OSHA said.
Issues and concerns with the Titan and its transport were revisited in testimony throughout the hearing.
In 2022, the thruster controls malfunctioned and caused the vessel to spin once it reached the Titanic depth, though the pilot was able to retrain it himself and they completed the dive. In another dive that year, a loud bang was heard as the Titan ascended. The NTSB determined that the hull’s strain response changed after this loud bang incident in subsequent dives, an agency official testified.
In 2023, the Titan partially sank four weeks before the implosion following a night of high seas and fog, according to the Coast Guard. Days before the implosion, passengers slammed against the vessel during resurfacing when the platform malfunctioned.
One former OceanGate employee testified that there were also concerns about having to tow the sub on the open seas when they switched to using the Polar Prince in 2023.
The Titan had 70 equipment issues in 2021 that needed correcting, and 48 more in 2022, according to the Coast Guard.
The submersible made 13 successful dives to the Titanic wreckage until its fatal implosion.
Smoke from the Rosa Fire rises in Riverside County, California, Aug. 4, 2025. Cal Fire
(SOLVANG, Calif.) — The Gifford Fire, a wildfire burning in Central California that has destroyed over 72,000 acres in five days, continues to rage and is now accompanied by two additional fires emerging nearby, according to officials.
Since it started on Friday afternoon, the Gifford Fire — which is situated within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California — has burned 72,460 acres and has only reached 7% containment, prompting evacuation orders for those in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, officials said.
While the flames have been centered around thick brush and rugged terrain, officials said over 800 structures are threatened by this wildfire.
Nearly 2,000 personnel have been dispatched to help fight the flames, with “great progress made on the west, north and east flanks of the fire” on Monday, according to Los Padres National Forest officials.
Warmer weather on Thursday and Friday could increase the “fire behavior” and pose a threat to the already raging flames, officials said.
On Tuesday, officials said they will deploy helicopters to “deliver very significant water drops” and will establish two new base camps to allow personnel to “more efficiently access the fire perimeter.”
An air quality alert in Cuyama, California, and an air quality watch for the rest of Santa Barbara County continues to remain in place “until conditions improve,” according to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.
The fire is also impacting those outside of California, with smoke from the flames filtering into the Las Vegas Valley, “reducing visibility and air quality,” according to the National Weather Service Las Vegas.
Officials expect smoky conditions in the Las Vegas area “for at least another couple of days.”
Along with the Gifford Fire, firefighters are now also battling two additional flames in Central California that began on Monday — the Rosa Fire and the Gold Fire, according to Cal Fire.
The Rosa Fire, which is situated within Riverside County, has prompted evacuation orders and has destroyed 1,200 acres as of Tuesday, according to Cal Fire. The Gold Fire, which is located in San Bernardino County, is centered around “steep, rugged terrain in the northern area of the Mountaintop Ranger District” and has burned 348 acres, Cal Fire said.
As of Tuesday, the Rosa Fire is 5% contained and the Gold Fire is 0% contained, officials said.
The cause of all three fires remains under investigation, officials said.
A view of Pacific Ocean along coastline at Pacifica Municipal Pier in Pacifica, California, United States on July 30, 2025. Tsunami alerts issued at California Coast after magnitude 8.8 earthquake off Russia. Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu via Getty Images
(LONDON) — The massive magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula last week has triggered the activity of seven volcanoes in the area, according to the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
The RAS said this is the first time in almost 300 years that seven volcanoes erupted at once in the region. Director of the institute Alexey Ozerov described the situation as an “extremely rare phenomenon that can be described as a parade of volcanic eruptions.”
The magnitude 8.8 earthquake that struck late on July 29 caused several aftershocks, including a magnitude 6 aftershock in the Pacific Ocean near Kamchatka at 6 a.m. local time Tuesday morning, according to the Kamchatka branch of the Unified Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Among those erupting is the Klyuchevskoy Volcano, which the Kamchatka Volcanic Eruption Response Team reported to be spewing ash on Tuesday.
The earthquake on July 29 has now caused the southern part of the Kamchatka Peninsula to shift southeastward, according to the local branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Unified Geophysical Service.
The Kamchatka branch of the Federal Research Center “United Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences have calculated the surface of the Earth shifted to the southeast, with the greatest shift occurred in the south of the peninsula reaching almost 2 meters.
The greatest shift occurred in the south of the peninsula, movement that is comparable to the horizontal displacement that resulted from the 2011 earthquake in Japan. Seismologists acknowledge the peninsula has “shifted somewhat more modestly” although they do not specify the exact amount.
The eruptions follow the volcanic activity of the Krasheninnikov Volcano that saw lava flow in the last week for the first time in nearly 600 years. Local officials said the last lava flow was recorded in 1463.
A Russian seismologist told local media that there is a direct connection between last week’s powerful earthquake and increased volcanic activity in Kamchatka.
“We attribute the eruptions to the earthquake, which activated the magmatic foci and provided them with additional energy,” Alexey Ozerov, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and director of the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, told TASS, a state-affiliated media in Russia.
The Krasheninnikov volcano is located less than 150 miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake that struck off the east coast of the Russian peninsula on July 29.
The intense quake was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded, and the world’s largest since 2011. It spurred tsunmai warnings from Japan to Hawaii and the West Coast of the United States.
Volcanic activity is common for the Kamchatka Peninsula, which is home to 29 active volcanoes, according to the U.S. Geological Survey, with three of those currently erupting previously laying dormant according to the RAS
Massive eruptions began at 6 a.m. local time on Sunday, prompting the evacuation of personnel in the area, according to the Kronotsky Nature Reserve’s website.
The regional Ministry of Emergency Situations said there are no settlements along the ash plume’s path of the Klyuchevskoy and said there are no registered tourist groups in the volcano’s vicinity.
House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer issued numerous subpoenas on Tuesday — including one to the Department of Justice for the complete Jeffrey Epstein files and another for depositions with former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Comer said he wants the Justice Department to turn over the “full, complete, unredacted Epstein Files” on or before Aug. 19.
“While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell’s cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government’s enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell,” Comer wrote in a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi.
In addition to the Clintons, the panel issued subpoenas for depositions from James Comey, Loretta Lynch, Eric Holder, Merrick Garland, Robert Mueller, William Barr, Jeff Sessions, and Alberto Gonzales. Republicans on the committee are seeking information from these officials regarding the Epstein files.
The move from Comer comes after Democrats on the panel forced a vote to issue a subpoena right before recess where three House Republicans supported the effort.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(JACKSON, Tenn.) — A manhunt for the suspect in the Tennessee kidnappings and killings of four people, including three from the same family, ended Tuesday when he was taken into custody, police said.
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, was taken into custody in Jackson by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, according to the Jackson, Tennessee, Police Department.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Texas House of Representatives is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday afternoon, although it’s unclear whether the body will be able to as several Democratic members have fled the state over a Republican redistricting plan.
Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, on Tuesday ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to find and arrest the Democrats who fled the state, an order Abbott said will remain in effect until they are “accounted for and brought back” to Austin.
The Texas House is scheduled to be in session at 1 p.m. CT, according to the official website.
Many Texas Democrats left the state on Sunday in protest of a Republican-led effort, backed by President Donald Trump, to create a new congressional map that could create up to five new Republican seats and help the party keep control of the U.S.House in the 2026 midterm elections.
They received support from blue state governors on Monday, including New York’s Kathy Hochul and California’s Gavin Newsom. Both Hochul and Newsom said they would effort partisan redistricting in their own states as a response to Texas.
On Tuesday morning, Democratic National Committee chairman Ken Martin will join Texas House Democrats and Illinois Gov JB Pritzker for a press conference. President Trump also weighed in on Tuesday morning amid the heightened tensions in a phone interview on CNBC, arguing Republicans are “entitled” to more seats in Congress.
“We have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know, and we are entitled to five more seats,” Trump claimed.
At the same time, he criticized Democratic governors are working on plans to potentially draw new congressional maps in their favor and used it as an argument for the efforts in Texas to continue.
“That’s all gerrymandered. California is gerrymandered. We should have many more seats in Congress. In California, it’s all gerrymandered,” the president said.
