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Kaylee Goncalves’ sister speaks out about courtroom confrontation with Bryan Kohberger

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(BOISE, Idaho) — The world came to know the feisty older sister of University of Idaho murder victim Kaylee Goncalves after she gave a ferocious victim impact statement at Bryan Kohberger’s sentencing last week. She said she memorized her speech so she wouldn’t break eye contact with him in the courtroom.

“I was prepared to be arrested that day,” Alivea Goncalves told ABC News of the fiery moment she confronted her younger sister’s killer in court.

Alivea Goncalves said to Kohberger, “You’re a delusional, pathetic, hypochondriac loser who thought you were so much smarter than everybody else. … You aren’t special or deep, not mysterious or exceptional. … No one thinks you are important.”

“I was fueled by seeing the rage on his face,” she told ABC News. “Man … was he mad. That was obviously a big point of why I did what I did — to make him feel small.”

Alivea Goncalves also asked pointed questions like, “What was second weapon you used on Kaylee?” A hypothetical question in the moment, but one that investigators have yet to figure out. Kaylee Goncalves had unique injuries described as a horizontal pattern, and it’s not clear what caused them, police confirmed to ABC News.

“I had one shot at it and I was gonna make the most of it,” Alivea Goncalves said.

Alivea Goncalves said she did eliminate a few thoughts from her statement after realizing Kohberger’s mom and sister were in the courtroom.

“I didn’t anticipate his mother and sister being there,” she said. “And I had specific lines that were directed towards his relationship with his mother and directed towards the shame that he has caused his family, and how the ultimate move of a coward is for him to sit behind bars while the rest of his family has to bear the real weight, the shame of what he’s done.”

She concluded her statement with memorable words to Kohberger, saying that if he hadn’t attacked the students in their sleep, “Kaylee would’ve kicked your f—— ass.”

“I got up there knowing that my speech wasn’t to Kaylee and Maddie — it was for them. … I just wanted to reclaim their power,” she said.

Kaylee, Kaylee’s lifelong best friend Maddie Mogen, their roommate Xana Kernodle and Xana’s boyfriend Ethan Chapin were stabbed to death at the girls’ off-campus house in the early hours of Nov. 13, 2022. On Wednesday, their killer was sentenced to four consecutive life sentences on the four first-degree murder counts and the maximum penalty of 10 years on the burglary count after pleading guilty to all charges.

Kaylee Goncalves was stabbed more than 30 times and had defensive wounds, according to a police report released for the first time last week. The 21-year-old was described as “unrecognizable as her facial structure was extremely damaged,” the report said.

“It’s gruesome and it’s graphic,” Alivea Goncalves acknowledged, but she said it’s information she wanted because she knows “Kaylee absolutely fought for her life.”

In November 2022, when news of the deaths at 1122 King Road reached Alivea Goncalves, she said she started going through her sister’s phone records to see if she had made any calls, convincing herself Kaylee wasn’t picking up her phone because she was at the police station answering questions. But Alivea Goncalves would never speak to her sister again.

Their last conversation was a six-hour FaceTime during which Alivea Goncalves guided her sister through buying her Range Rover, which the 21-year-old proudly drove to Moscow to show her friends on her last trip to their college house. Their dad drives the car now. Alivea Goncalves said many of Kaylee’s other belongings were picked up by their parents, covered in blood and in hazmat bags.

Alivea Goncalves made Kaylee Goncalves an aunt twice over before she died, and twice more after. She was pregnant with a girl when Kaylee Goncalves was murdered, and she named that baby Theo MaddieKay. Alivea Goncalves calls Kaylee and Maddie soulmates, and she describes their namesake as the perfect mixture of Kaylee and Maddie.

Heat indices could hit 120 as sweltering temperatures grip Eastern US

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — More than 185 million people across from South Dakota to Florida and up the East Coast to Boston are on alert for widespread, dangerous heat on Monday and into the new work week, and parts of the Southeast could experience the brunt of the sweltering conditions.

On average, nearly 2,000 Americans die from extreme heat each year, according to CDC data going back to 2020.

The highest temperatures on Monday will be focused in the southeast from the Carolinas to Florida where extreme where heat indices — that is, what the temperatures feel like when humidity is factored in — are forecast to be between 105 and 113 degrees.

Parts of Mississippi and Louisiana are on alert for heat indices up to 120 degrees.

Extreme heat is also expected to continue on Monday and Tuesday in the Midwest, where over the weekend temperatures felt between 97 to 111 degrees from Lincoln, Nebraska, up into Minneapolis.

The Northeast coast from Philadelphia to Boston, including New York City, are in store for multiple days of dangerous heat. Heat indices in the Northeast are forecast to make it feel like the mid-90s to 113 on Monday.

In addition to the sweltering condition, smoke from Canadian wildfires is expected to continue to create hazy conditions in New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut. Over the weekend, smoke from multiple wildfires in Canada prompted an air-quality alert.

Looking ahead to the work week, potentially life-threatening heat and humidity are expected to continue across the eastern half of the country through Wednesday. Major cities including St. Louis, Memphis, Charlotte, Savannah, Tampa, and Jackson, Mississippi, are all likely all see actual temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s. A prolonged heat wave is forecast for those regions as an abundance of tropical moisture settling in is expected to drive the feels-like temperatures up to between 105 to 115 degrees over multiple consecutive days.

Nighttime and early mornings are not expected to provide relief from the sweltering conditions. Overnight and early morning lows are expected to fall only to the 70s or higher.

Between Monday and Wednesday, large portions of the Southeast are expected to be under an extreme heat risk at a four-out-of-four level, including the cities of Atlanta, Charlotte, and Jacksonville and Tallahassee, Florida.

On Sunday, Tampa, Florida, broke an all-time heat record — reaching 100 degrees for the first time in 130 years of recordkeeping.

‘I don’t know’: Trump says of Netanyahu denying Gaza starvation crisis

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Asked if he believed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s claim that there’s no starvation crisis in Gaza, U.S. President Donald Trump replied, “I don’t know,” but then mentioned the images of starving children in Gaza appearing on TV.

“I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly, because those children look very hungry, but we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up,” Trump said Monday as he met with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Scotland.

Starmer quickly chimed in, calling what’s happening in Gaza a humanitarian crisis and “an absolute catastrophe.”

The comments came hours after the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said in a statement that another 14 people died of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours, including two children.

Another 29 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight local time, the ministry said.

Eleven people were also killed on Monday morning near aid distribution sites, two local hospitals that received the bodies told ABC News.

Those officials said the sites were run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but a spokesperson for that group told ABC News no incidents had been reported as of midday.

Israel on Sunday said it was beginning daily military pauses in several densely populated areas to facilitate the movement of aid into the territory.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Trump sets Putin new Ukraine ceasefire deadline, says he’s ‘disappointed’ in Moscow

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — During his visit to the U.K. on Monday, President Donald Trump expressed further frustration with Russian President Vladimir Putin over Moscow’s continued long-range attacks on Ukraine.

The president said he would shorten the 50-day window offered to Putin earlier this month in which to agree to a ceasefire deal or face punishing sanctions and tariffs.

“I’m disappointed in President Putin, very disappointed in him,” Trump told reporters. “So we’re going to have to look and I’m going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to lesser number, because I think I already know the answer what’s going to happen.”

“I’m going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today,” Trump said later in the press conference. There’s no reason in waiting.”

“I want to be generous, but we just don’t see any progress being made,” Trump added.

Trump’s remarks came hours after Polish and allied NATO aircraft were scrambled in response to a large Russian drone and missile attack launched into Ukraine on Sunday night, per a statement from Polish military’s Operational Command.

“Polish and allied duty aircraft have been scrambled and ground-based air defense and radar reconnaissance systems have reached the highest state of readiness,” the command said in a statement posted to X in the early hours of Monday morning, as hundreds of drones and missiles targeted sites across Ukraine.

The alert lasted for around three hours, after which the command posted another statement saying that “deployed forces and resources have returned to standard operational activities.”

NATO’s Air Command and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters stationed in Poland took part in the response, the Polish Operational Command said.

An official at Lithuania’s Defense Ministry confirmed to ABC News that a drone also crossed into Lithuania from Belarusian airspace. Russian forces regularly route drones through Belarusian airspace to attack Ukrainian targets from the north. A search for the drone was still underway as of Monday morning, the official said.

Russia launched 324 drones and seven missiles into Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement published on Telegram.

Of those, 309 drones and two missiles were shot down or suppressed, it said, with 15 strike drones and two missiles impacting across three locations.

At least eight people were injured in Kyiv after a Russian drone hit a residential highrise, the head of the city’s military administration said in a post to Telegram.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, wrote on Telegram that the most recent barrage was evidence of Putin’s lack of commitment to a proposed ceasefire.

“This is how Putin responds to calls to end the war and sit at the negotiating table,” he wrote. “Russian air attacks are still ongoing, with civilian infrastructure, homes and people, including in Kyiv, already affected.”

“There is no alternative to sanctions, strengthening Ukraine’s long-range capabilities and tough actions against Putin’s circle and Putin himself,” Yermak wrote. “He wants nothing but war and Ukraine’s defeat. And there will be no defeat.”

Referring to the scrambling of NATO aircraft and the drone crossing into Lithuania, Yermak added, “The Russians and their satellites are testing NATO’s reaction. Drones entering the airspace of the Baltic countries are signals that cannot be ignored.”

Zelenskyy also posted to Telegram noting that Kyiv is “constantly strengthening the Ukrainian air shield and it is very important to maintain full understanding among partners about how exactly they can help. Step by step, we are closing the funding gap for drone production and this week I will have new talks with partners regarding this task.”

“Restoration and rescue work is currently underway everywhere it is needed,” the president added of the overnight drone and missile impacts. “This particularly concerns electricity supply. Necessary assistance is being provided to the wounded.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Michelle Stoddart, Lalee Ibssa and Fidel Pavlenko contributed to this report.

‘I don’t know’: Trump says of Israeli claim there’s no starvation crisis in Gaza

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Starmer quickly chimed in, calling what’s happening in Gaza a humanitarian crisis and “an absolute catastrophe.”

The comments came hours after the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said in a statement that another 14 people died of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours, including two children.

Another 29 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight local time, the ministry said.

Eleven people were also killed on Monday morning near aid distribution sites, two local hospitals that received the bodies told ABC News.

Those officials said the sites were run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, but a spokesperson for that group told ABC News no incidents had been reported as of midday.

Israel on Sunday said it was beginning daily military pauses in several densely populated areas to facilitate the movement of aid into the territory.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

NATO aircraft scrambled during major Russian drone, missile strike on Ukraine

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Polish and allied NATO aircraft were scrambled in response to a large Russian drone and missile attack launched into Ukraine on Sunday night, the Polish military’s Operational Command said in a statement.

The alert lasted for around three hours, after which the command posted another statement saying that “deployed forces and resources have returned to standard operational activities.”

NATO’s Air Command and Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighters stationed in Poland took part in the response, the Polish Operational Command said.

Russia launched 324 drones and seven missiles into Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian air force said in a statement published on Telegram.

Of those, 309 drones and two missiles were shot down or suppressed, it said, with 15 strike drones and two missiles impacting across three locations.

At least eight people were injured in Kyiv after a Russian drone hit a residential high-rise, the head of the city’s military administration said in a post to Telegram.

Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, wrote on Telegram that the most recent barrage was evidence of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s lack of commitment to a proposed ceasefire,

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down seven Ukrainian drones overnight.

More than 130 million people brace for sweltering conditions across most of the US

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — More than 130 million people across most of the United States are on alert for widespread, dangerous heat on Sunday and into the new work week, and parts of the Southeast coast could experience the brunt of the sweltering conditions.

The highest temperatures on Sunday will be focused between Savannah, Georgia, and Virginia Beach, Virginia, where extreme heat warnings are in effect as heat indices — that is, what the temperatures feel like when humidity is factored in — are forecast to be between 108 and 116 degrees.

Extreme heat is also expected to continue on Sunday in the Midwest, where temperatures will feel between 97 to 111 degrees from Lincoln, Nebraska, up into Minneapolis.

Charleston, West Virginia, and St. Louis, Missouri, are in store for hot and sticky weather on Sunday, with both cities under extreme heat warnings for feels-like temperatures between 102 and 112.

Elsewhere, heat advisories have been issued for Dallas, Texas; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Indianapolis, Indiana; Tampa, Florida; Little Rock, Arkansas; Kansas City, Missouri; and Washington, D.C. Heat indices in those cities are forecast to range from the 90s up to 110 degrees.

Looking ahead to the work week, heat advisories are expected to be in effect on Monday and Tuesday for parts of the I-95 corridor from Boston down to New York City and are forecast to stretch into Tuesday, with heat indices expected in the mid-90s to 105 degrees.

The potentially life-threatening heat and humidity are expected to continue across the eastern half of the country through Wednesday. Major cities including St. Louis, Memphis, Charlotte, Savannah, Tampa, and Jackson, Mississippi, are all likely all see actual temperatures in the upper 90s to low 100s. A prolonged heat wave is forecast for those regions as an abundance of tropical moisture settling in is expected to drive the feels-like temperatures up to between 105 to 115 degrees over multiple consecutive days.

Nighttime and early mornings are not expected to provide relief from the sweltering conditions. Overnight and early morning lows are expected to fall only to the 70s or higher.

Meanwhile, parts of southern and central Minnesota and eastern South Dakota are under a severe thunderstorm watch until midnight. Parts of northern Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin are under a severe thunderstorm watch until 1 a.m.

Later on Sunday, more severe storms are possible for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

As thunderstorms hit the northeast on Sunday, 1,105 flights have been canceled nationwide and 8,320 flights are delayed as of 9:30 p.m. ET.

14 people die from malnutrition in Gaza, health ministry says

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The Hamas-run Ministry of Health in the Gaza Strip said in a Monday statement that another 14 people died of malnutrition over the previous 24 hours, including two children.

Another 29 Palestinians were killed by Israeli airstrikes since midnight local time, the ministry said.

Eleven people were also killed on Monday morning near aid distribution sites, two local hospitals that received the bodies told ABC News.

Those officials said the sites were run by the U.S.- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. GHF has not issued a comment.

Israel on Sunday said it was beginning daily military pauses in several densely populated areas to facilitate the movement of aid into the territory.

3-year-old dies in hot car while in custody of contract worker of Alabama Department of Human Resources, police say

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(BIRMINGHAM, Ala.) — A 3-year-old child died after being left in a vehicle while in the care of a contractor for the Alabama Department of Human Resources, the Birmingham Police Department said in a press release.Katerrius Sparks, from Bessemer, died on July 22, police said.

The contracted worker, whom police didn’t identify, has been cooperating with the investigation into the death, law enforcement said. The worker was “transported to the Birmingham Police Headquarters for questioning,” police said.

Police were dispatched to the 1500 block of Pine Tree Drive at about 5:30 p.m. on July 22, law enforcement said.

“Katerrius was accidentally left inside of a vehicle while in the care of a third-party contracted worker through the Department of Human Resources,” the police said. “Birmingham Fire & Rescue Service arrived and pronounced the victim deceased.”

He was identified by the Jefferson County Coroner, police said.

ABC News has reached out to the boy’s family’s attorney for comment.

First to ABC: DNC ramps up anti-redistricting efforts in Texas with calls to ‘persuadable’ GOP voters

July 28, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas.) — The national Democratic Party is ramping up its offensive against potential mid-decade redistricting in Texas with a new organizing effort launching Monday, according to plans shared first with ABC News.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) says it will deploy 30,000 volunteers to make calls to “persuadable Republican Texas voters” in Republican-held districts to discuss the push by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas state legislators — and rubber-stamped by President Donald Trump — to consider redrawing Texas’ congressional map, which the DNC claims in a statement is an attempt to “rig the Texas maps at the behest of Donald Trump.”

The group will also have volunteer organizers contact state representatives, share public comments, and organize both in person and virtually.

This endeavor from the Democrats comes as Texas lawmakers convene for a special legislative session called by Abbott, who set an agenda that included considering congressional district redistricting “in light of constitutional concerns raised by the U.S. Department of Justice.”

In a letter earlier this month, the Department of Justice told Texas that four majority-minority districts represented by Democrats needed to be redrawn, arguing they were “unconstitutional racial gerrymanders.”

The Texas legislature is also set to tackle flood relief after the devastating flash flooding that killed more than 130 people earlier this month, taxes, and standardized testing during the session, which can last a maximum of 30 days.

Trump told reporters recently he wants his party to pick up five seats if Texas redraws its congressional map, and has suggested that other Republican-led states could follow suit.

Democrats claim that the efforts to redistrict is meant to give Republicans an advantage ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

The DNC says it has already sent text messages to recruit Texans to go to field hearings and to share stories through public comments about how redrawing the districts could impact them. DNC Chair Ken Martin traveled to the state last week to strategize with state leaders.

“The DNC is all hands on deck to hold Donald Trump and Greg Abbott accountable for their scheme to use the tragic Texas floods as cover to redraw the Texas maps in a last-ditch effort to save the Republican majority,” Martin told ABC News in a statement.

“Republicans know that the only way they hold onto the majority is by rigging the system but it won’t work. Democrats will hold Republicans across the country accountable for their vote to rip away health care and food access and that starts with organizing from the ground up,” he added.

Texas state Rep. Gene Wu, the Texas Democratic House Caucus Leader, wrote in a statement thanking the DNC shared with ABC News, “Their new initiative to contact persuadable Republican voters across the state and deploy organizers directly against Republican state reps is exactly the type of partnership Texas Democrats need.”

Monday’s effort comes ahead of the third in a series of field hearings about redistricting being held in different areas of Texas, and as some Democratic governors including California Gov. Gavin Newsom say they are keeping options open for possibly redrawing their state’s own Congressional districts, but many would face logistical and legal hurdles to redraw their maps mid-cycle.

In a statement earlier this month responding to Democratic claims about the redistricting effort, Andrew Mahaleris, a spokesperson for Abbott, wrote, “While partisan activists focus solely on political issues, Governor Abbott is dedicated to delivering results on issues important to Texans, such as flood relief, property tax cuts, and the elimination of the STAAR [standardized] test. The Governor looks forward to the legislature addressing these topics, along with other critical issues, during this special session.”

The Texas Republican Party, meanwhile, has praised the inclusion of redistricting in the special session as “an essential step to preserving GOP control in Congress and advancing the President Trump’s America First agenda.”

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