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Plains and the Midwest bracing for more severe weather, possible tornadoes

May 17, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Residents in parts of the Midwest and Great Plains are bracing for another day of severe weather threats, including possible tornadoes, damaging winds and large hail.

The severe weather, expected to extend into Monday and Tuesday, is forecast to be especially active from north-central Oklahoma up into Minnesota and western Wisconsin.

The greatest risk areas, a level 3 out of 5 “enhanced risk,” according to the National Weather Service, stretch from east-central Nebraska up to southwest Minnesota and include the cities of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and Grand Island, Nebraska. Large hail, damaging winds and tornadoes are possible in the enhanced risk area.

The new severe weather threats come a day after storms across the central part of the country prompted reports of tornadoes in Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska, and hail the size of baseballs in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska.

Thunderstorms near Concordia, Kansas, on Saturday produced estimated wind gusts of 90 mph, knocking down trees and power lines.

Hill City Airport in northwest Kansas reported wind gusts up to 82 mph. The strong winds also fueled dust storms in the area, which threatened driving conditions.

Thunderstorms on Saturday night prompted a flash flood emergency in central Grundy County, Missouri, including the city of Trenton, when six to eight inches of rain fell in a matter of hours.

The adverse weather conditions are expected to continue through the start of the workweek. On Monday, more than 30 million people from the central Plains to the Midwest are expected to be on alert for a potential outbreak of severe weather.

A level 4 out of 5 “moderate risk” advisory has been issued for parts of central and northeast Kansas into far southeast Nebraska, including the city of Topeka, Kansas. The risk for the area includes potentially strong tornadoes, hail larger than baseballs, and destructive winds.

A level 3 out of 5 enhanced risk advisory also extends from north-central Oklahoma into central Wisconsin, including the cities Wichita, Kansas; Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; and Des Moines, Iowa.

On Tuesday, a level 2 out of 5 “slight risk” advisory for severe weather is expected to stretch from northeast Texas to Michigan, and include potentially strong to severe thunderstorms.

Fire weather also impacting the Plains and Southwest
Parts of the Plains and Southeast are also expecting critical fire weather conditions to continue into this week amid widespread warm, dry and windy conditions.

Several wildfires broke out in parts of Minnesota on Saturday and rapidly grew. The largest Minnesota wildfire, the Flanders Fire in Crow Wing County, has burned more than 1,100 acres and was 0% contained on Sunday morning, prompting evacuation orders in the city of Crosslake.

The Minnesota fires prompted Gov. Tim Walz to declare a state of emergency Sunday morning, including mobilizing the state’s National Guard.

Dozens of wildfires also broke out over the weekend across the Great Plains from Montana to the Dakotas, as well as in Texas and New Mexico over the last week.

On Sunday, the greatest wildfire threats are in areas of northwest Texas, including Amarillo, and parts of New Mexico and Kansas.

Red-flag fire danger warnings have also been issued from Arizona to southern Nebraska, as well as in California’s Central San Joaquin Valley. Severe to extreme drought conditions exist in some of the red-flag warning areas, where expected wind gusts topping 55 mph threaten to rapidly spread wildfires.

The extreme fire weather danger will continue into Monday in parts of far eastern New Mexico, far southeast Colorado, far southwest Kansas, parts of Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle.

Summer-like temperatures expected in the East
Meanwhile, a big warm-up is expected for most of the East, where afternoon temperatures on Sunday and Monday are forecast to reach the 80s and 90s in many places.

The temperature in New York City is expected to reach the mid-80s on Monday and could hit the lower 90s in Washington, D.C.

It will be even hotter on Tuesday for a large swath of the I-95 corridor, with highs in the 90s from Washington, D.C., to Philadelphia and New York City.

GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy faces Trump-backed challenger Julia Letlow in closely watched Louisiana primary

May 16, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s grip on the GOP and the potential political fallout for his perceived enemies will face another test on Saturday in Louisiana’s Republican primary.

Incumbent Sen. Bill Cassidy is competing against Trump-backed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow (LA-5) and John Fleming, the state Treasurer and a former House Freedom Caucus Freedom member who served in multiple posts in the first Trump administration.

It’s expected the threeway split could cause the race to go to a runoff next month if no candidate wins an outright majority in Saturday’s primary.

Trump upended the race in late January when he encouraged Letlow to enter in hopes of defeating Cassidy, who in 2021 voted to convict the president in his second impeachment trial. She launched her campaign just days later.

Cassidy, asked by CNN on Friday why Trump wants him replaced, said, “I can’t understand the president’s mind.”

He continued, “I’m not claiming the president loves me, no, but you can work with people even if you don’t love each other if you got a common goal. And my goal is to make my country and my state and everybody who lives here better off.”

Throughout the campaign, Cassidy has argued his record proves he delivers for Louisianans. The two-term senator has touted his work helping pass the HALT Fentanyl Act, negotiating the passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and championing healthcare.

In 2024, Trump won the deep-red state with 60% of the vote, and if his preferred candidate wins, it would mark another victory for the president in his efforts to oust those he views as disloyal. Trump-backed candidates recently defeated several Indiana state senators who opposed his redistricting plans.

Cassidy could now be staring down the end of a long political career as part of a shrinking class of GOP lawmakers to have broken with the president. He is one of three remaining senators in the upper chamber to have voted to convict Trump.

Letlow has been anything but shy about Trump’s endorsement, casting Cassidy as disloyal and Fleming as out of touch with the president. Her campaign messaging has focused in part on defending parental rights and securing the border.

The first Republican woman from Louisiana to be elected to Congress, Letlow romped to victory in 2021. She ran in a special election for the House after her husband, who was elected to the office, died from COVID-19-related complications before he could take office.

Cassidy’s campaign has labeled her “Liberal Letlow” and unleashed a wave of attacks portraying her as a champion of DEI over comments she made in 2020 while working at the University of Louisiana at Monroe.

In a recent debate against Fleming, Letlow defended her position at the time, arguing “the left completely hijacked” DEI and she has “spent the last five years in Congress working against it.”

Meanwhile Fleming, who argues he is the most conservative candidate, told ABC News some pressured him to drop his campaign.

Fleming said he was eventually able to reach Trump by phone and the president called him “fantastic.”

However Trump’s public endorsement of Letlow has not changed.

Despite their fraught relationship, Cassidy has, at times, supported Trump’s agenda. Cassidy, a physician and longtime proponent of vaccines, grilled Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — a vaccine skeptic — during his confirmation hearing but cast the deciding vote to confirm his nomination out of committee.

Most recently, Trump blamed Cassidy, chairman of the Senate health committee, for the stalling of his surgeon general pick, Make America Healthy Again-aligned Casey Means.

The shift from open, nonpartisan primaries to a closed system also complicates Cassidy’s road to victory. Registered and unaffiliated, or “No Party” voters, choose between the two parties. If no candidate receives a majority, the race will head to a runoff on June 27.

In Louisiana, Democrats slightly outnumber Republicans with roughly 1 million registered voters in each party, according to the Secretary of State office. There are more than 813,000 “No Party” voters.

Adding to the fire is Landry’s move to postpone the House primaries in the nationwide redistricting battle — even as absentee ballots had been returned — while keeping the Senate race on May 16. Lawsuits have been filed in response and some, including Cassidy and Fleming, warn the move is leaving voters confused.

Fleming hedged on whether he would endorse an opponent should he lose the race, adding he takes issue with what he calls dishonest ads, particularly from those backing Letlow.

“We’ll have to wait and see,” he said.

Business owner Mark Spencer is also running in the GOP primary.

In the Democratic primary, Nick Albares, Gary Crockett and Jamie Davis are vying for the nomination to unseat Cassidy. The Cook Political Report rates the race as solid Republican in the Pelican State.

The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. CDT on May 16.

Trump administration to create $1.776B ‘Truth and Justice Commission’ to compensate allies: Sources

May 16, 2026 by WDNY Radio

Trump administration to create .776B ‘Truth and Justice Commission’ to compensate allies: Sources

Trump administration to create $1.776B ‘Truth and Justice Commission’ to compensate allies: Sources — U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he prepares to board Air Force One at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 15, 2026 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — The Department of Justice is finalizing a deal to launch a so-called “Truth and Justice Commission” and establish a compensation fund of $1,776,000,000 to pay claims made by alleged victims of government “weaponization” in exchange for President Donald Trump dropping his ongoing lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, sources told ABC News.

Sources told ABC News that the proposed deal — which is likely to face legal hurdles and has already been criticized by Democrats as a “slush fund” for Trump’s allies — arose after months of deliberations between the White House and DOJ officials who originally attempted to craft a legal justification for the settlement to compensate Trump directly.

Internally, DOJ lawers believed they could ignore the conflict of interest outright, privately arguing that Trump has both the right to sue as a private citizen and the power to command the executive branch as president, according to sources familiar with their discussions.

Advocating a centuries-old legal principle known as the “rule of necessity,” DOJ lawyers have argued that no alternative existed other than letting the lawsuit proceed with Trump acting as the plaintiff while being directly in charge of the defendants — the IRS and Treasury — according to sources.

Sources said that plan was ultimately scuttled in favor of the $1.776 billion compensation fund — with the figure being a nod to the nation’s founding — as the judge overseeing Trump’s IRS lawsuit began to raise issues with Trump suing the very government he leads. In an order last month, U.S. District Judge Katheen Williams ordered Trump’s lawyers in the case and the Department of Justice to submit court filings by next week to justify whether both sides of the case were sufficiently adverse for the matter to proceed.

Terms of the proposed compensation arrangement could change before the deal is finalized, sources said.

Judge Williams also appointed a group of prominent attorneys — including a former solicitor general as well as a federal judge — to weigh in on the case.

In a court filing this week, the attorneys identified serious issues with the lawsuit, arguing that Trump has “extraordinary” control over the defendants in the case and that the “circumstances raise the specter that Defendants and their attorneys may instead be operating at the President’s direction.”

“Additionally, since taking office, President Trump has significantly expanded the President’s oversight and control over the Attorney General and DOJ, including in ways that blur the line between fidelity to the President’s policy priorities and fidelity to the President himself,” the filing said.

Trump sued the IRS after a government contractor pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing the tax information of Trump and other wealthy Americans and leaking it to media outlets in 2019 and 2020.

With Judge Williams scrutinizing the case, sources said that DOJ officials formulated the proposal to create a compensation fund on the condition that Trump drops the lawsuit as well as two civil claims for $230 million related to the Russia collusion investigation he faced during his first term in office and the 2022 search of his Mar-a-Lago estate.

Trump himself would not be eligible for payment from the fund for those three dropped claims, though entities associated with the president are not barred from filing claims, the sources said.

Sources said the “President Donald J. Trump Truth and Justice Commission” would include five commissioners — four of whom are appointed by the attorney general — that Trump would have the right to remove without cause. The commission would also be under no obligation to disclose the process for awarding the nearly $2 billion.

It is unclear how Judge Williams might respond to the proposed settlement — which has yet been disclosed to the court — though DOJ lawyers believe the settlement would not require any approval from the court.

Democratic lawmakers have already raised concerns about the reported settlement and called on Congress to pass legislation to restrict the use of taxpayer dollars for the proposed compensation fund.

“It’s outright corruption. What we’re seeing here is outright corruption,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Friday. “We’re looking at a billion dollars for a ballroom; $1.7 billion for a slush fund for the president’s friends.”

Across the aisle, Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick suggested the matter could end up before the Supreme Court.

“I don’t even know how that’s allowable to happen,” Fitzpatrick told ABC News regarding the compensation fund. “It sounds like a question our colleagues across the street are going to have to resolve pretty quickly.”

Hantavirus doesn’t linger, requires close contact: Officials

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Health experts tell ABC News that the current science behind the hantavirus that circulated throughout the MV Hondius does not show the same levels of transmission as with COVID-19, while acknowledging that the scenario may seem similar to the beginning of the 2020 pandemic.

“Our current understanding is that person-to-person transmission of Andes virus is relatively rare and generally associated with prolonged close contact,” the current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention public health assessment said. “There is also no documented evidence of presymptomatic transmission.”

Officials around the globe have taken major steps to prevent the spread of the hantavirus, and an American doctor who was onboard noted how conditions on the cruise ship may have helped the virus propagate.

In the U.S., the boat’s 18 American passengers have been put in quarantine in Nebraska, while more than 40 people with exposure to the sick are being monitored to see if they develop the illness.

“In the vast majority of cases it happens when people breathe in mouse secretions,” Dr. Emily Abdoler, a clinical associate professor of medicine at the University of Michigan, who specializes in infectious diseases, told ABC News.

“The Andes strain found in Chile and Argentina has the possibility of human-to-human transmission, but that’s really more really close contact. It’s not sharing the same household,” she added. “It’s more like sharing the same bed.”

Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, an American oncologist who became the ship’s de facto doctor after the Hondius’ physician contracted the virus, initially received inconclusive results with samples taken from the ship but later tested negative.

Speaking to ABC News from his quarantine on Thursday, Kornfeld noted that conditions on the ship — including ventilation and the size of rooms — could have created a “complicated” situation for transmission while observing some social casual contact.

“If you do have casual contact, you’re doing it repetitively,” he said. “There were three rooms that we would gather in many times a day, often for an hour or an hour and a half, for lectures and discussions and meals. And I can just envision lots of frequent casual contacts, and perhaps over time that adds up to something more than just a single casual contact.”

Abdoler, who helped diagnose a case of hantavirus in Michigan in 2021 — the type we have in the U.S. that does not spread between people –said the benefit that medical professionals and agencies, such as the World Health Organization, have now is that the hantavirus has been researched for over 30 years. It is not a new virus.

While the data around the Andes strain believed to have been on the boat is still limited given the rare number of cases outside of South America, Abdoler said there does not appear to be any indication that the transmission methods have changed for the Andes strain.

ABC News medical contributor and epidemiologist Dr. John Brownstein concurred, saying that previous research suggests the hantavirus is a respiratory illness. That means germs can be coughed up, he noted, but it is not an aerosol-based virus.

“It’s not like COVID or measles where it could linger in the air for some time,” he said.

Brownstein added that the incubation period for the virus is long, and despite the lower risk for person-to-person transmission, it is critical that health officials stick to their policies to isolate and monitor anyone connected to the Hondius. Isolation can then be initiated if they become a positive case.

“Incubation can be anywhere from one to eight weeks,” he noted.

During a news briefing Friday, WHO officials stressed that said there is no evidence so far that the virus has changed to become more transmissible or more severe.

Officials said transmission is believed to be based on several factors, including how infectious the patient is, the environment and whether protection and PPE was used.

On Friday, acting Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director Jay Bhattacharya told reporters no cases of hantavirus have been reported in the U.S.

There are now at least 10 cases that have been linked to the ship’s outbreak. Two passengers died from the virus and a third death has been deemed probable by WHO.

Sixteen Hondius passengers, including Kornfeld, initially were flown to the quarantine center at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and had not shown any symptoms as of early Friday. Kornfeld had been placed in a biocontainment unit at the facility.

Two other American passengers were flown to Atlanta for “assessment and care,” according to officials. They were later transferred to the quarantine unit in Nebraska on Friday.

The remainder of the passengers are in quarantine at home and are being monitored.

WHO warned more positive cases could still appear during quarantine because the virus’ incubation period is long, but said that would not necessarily mean the outbreak is growing.

Abdoler noted that the fact that there have not been as many positive cases from the ship and their contacts shows that the data about the Andes transmission is holding up and there are no signs that the virus can spread as easily as other pathogens.

She noted that he is glad that the risk is being taken seriously and that those that have been exposed are being monitored.

“My sense is that there is no really need to panic, but [WHO] is taking a very conservative approach to the outbreak and asking everyone to isolate during the intubation period,” she said.

“I think it is good they are taking a conservative approach because there are unknowns, but I am not personally altering my personal practices of travel or how I go out,” she added.

– ABC News’ Dragana Jovanovic contributed to this report.

5 dead in scuba diving accident in deep underwater cave in the Maldives: Officials

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(MALDIVES) Five Italian nationals, including a mother and her daughter, died while scuba diving in a deep underwater cave in the Maldives, according to Italian and Maldivian officials, as a risky search effort attempts to recover the remaining missing divers.

The divers went missing Thursday while exploring a cave in Vaavu Atoll, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

The body of one of the divers has since been recovered in a cave about 200 feet deep, authorities said. The remaining four divers are believed to be inside the 200-foot-long cave, according to the Maldives National Defense Force.

Additional divers and special equipment were being sent to the area Friday for the “very dangerous, high-risk operation,” it said. The search was suspended Friday due to bad weather and the recovery operation is expected to resume on Saturday, The Associated Press reported.

Maldivian presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef extended his “deepest condolences” to the people of Italy following the “tragic diving incident” in a statement on Friday. He said the search for the four remaining divers “remains our highest priority.”

Italy’s Foreign Ministry said the five Italian nationals died in a scuba diving accident. They were reported to have died “while attempting to explore caves at a depth of 50 meters,” it said.

“The reconstruction of the incident is still underway by the Maldivian authorities,” the ministry said.

The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology and the University of Genoa (UniGe) identified the deceased divers as Monica Montefalcone, a marine scientist and associate professor at UniGe; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal, a UniGe biomedical engineering student; Muriel Oddenino, a UniGe research fellow; and marine biologist Federico Gualtieril, a recent UniGe graduate in marine biology and ecology.

The institute also identified one of the victims as diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti.

Montefalcone had won multiple awards for her work to study and protect the marine environment, the institute said.

The Italian ambassador from the embassy in Colombo arrived in the Maldives on Friday to meet with Maldives National Defence Force Coast Guard officials, the ministry said.

The Italian Embassy in Colombo is in contact with the victims’ families and is providing assistance to 20 other Italian nationals aboard the Duke of Yoke who participated in the expedition, the ministry said.

“The vessel is awaiting an improvement in weather conditions in order to return to Malé,” the ministry said Friday.

3 found dead in murder-suicide at Indiana home

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(HARRISON COUNTY, Ind.) — Three people were found dead in a murder-suicide after the shooter expressed suicidal thoughts to a family member, according to authorities.

Harrison County deputies responded to a welfare check on Wednesday at a residence in southern Indiana after a Mississippi man reported that his brother expressed suicidal thoughts to him in a phone call earlier in the day, according to the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department.

Deputies found a dead man on the front porch, identified as 36-year-old Brett Dixon, the sheriff’s department said.

Inside the residence, two additional people were found dead, Melissa Cochran Dixon, 54, and Paul Dixon, 61, according to the sheriff’s office.

Brett Dixon was shot twice — in the chest and head — Melissa Cochran Dixon suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and Paul Dixon sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, according to the sheriff’s office.

The sheriff’s office said it believes Paul Dixon is responsible for the shootings and said there is no threat to the community and no suspect at large.

“This incident is a tragic loss, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family, extended family, and friends of those involved,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Iraqi national charged with coordinating at least 20 terror attacks that aimed to stop Iran war

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — An Iraqi national carried out 20 reported terrorist attacks in Europe and Canada against U.S. and Israeli interests, including the stabbing of a Jewish-American citizen, in retaliation for the war in Iran and in an effort to halt the conflict, a federal criminal complaint alleges.

Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi allegedly firebombed a Bank of New York Mellon building in Amsterdam, tried to detonate improvised explosives at the Bank of America building in Paris, coordinated an attack against Jewish institutions in the United States and stabbed two people in London, the complaint alleges.

The defendant made an initial appearance Friday in Manhattan federal court on charges he conspired to provide material support to terrorist groups, conspiracy to bomb a place of public use and other offenses.

Al-Saadi was apprehended in Turkey and passed to American authorities. His lawyer, Andrew Dalack, a federal defender, said he was unaware of any extradition proceedings.

“This is a bit of an unusual case,” Dalack said.

During his appearance, Al-Saadi spoke quietly, but animatedly, to his lawyer to make sure the lawyer understood his connection to the late Iranian Gen. Qasem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in Iraq, and referred to himself as a prisoner of war and political prisoner.

Al-Saadi was ordered detained. He is next in court May 29.

Federal prosecutors said in addition to the terror attacks in Europe and Canada, al-Saadi also allegedly spoke to an FBI undercover — and paid $3,000 — to plan attacks in California, Arizona and a synagogue in Manhattan.

Al-Saadi is a high-level member of the Kata’ib Hizballah paramilitary group and has ties to the Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah, according to federal prosecutors.

Since the onset of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran, Al-Saadi “has directed and urged others to attack U.S. and Israeli interests, including by killing Americans and Jews, in retaliation for the Iranian Military Conflict and to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC,” the criminal complaint alleges.

The complaint adds, “Al-Saadi and his associates have planned, coordinated, and claimed responsibility for at least 18 terrorist attacks in Europe as well as two additional attacks in Canada, in the name of Harakat Ashab al-Yamin al-Islamiya, a component of Kata’ib Hizballah.”

The defendant allegedly pledged thousands of dollars to someone he thought would carry out an attack against a synagogue in New York, according to prosecutors. The individual turned out to be an undercover law enforcement officer.

At least one associate of al-Saadi is expected to be brought back to the U.S. and charged, the complaint says.

“This case puts into stark relief the global threats posed by the Iranian regime and its proxies like Kata’ib Hizballah — Foreign Terrorist Organizations that have repeatedly targeted Jewish communities across Europe and the United States since the war began,” said New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch. “Working with our law enforcement partners, we disrupted a plan to attack a Manhattan synagogue, and in partnership with the synagogue’s leadership, ensured its security when the threat was elevated.”

Transgender University of Washington student stabbed over 40 times: Court documents

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(SEATTLE)– The transgender University of Washington student who was killed in a student housing building suffered over 40 stab wounds to the head, neck, shoulder, arms and hands, according to the probable cause statement.

Juniper Blessing, 19, was found covered in blood in the laundry room of the Nordheim Court building on Sunday night, according to court documents.

The suspect, 31-year-old Christopher Leahy, surrendered to police on Wednesday and was booked for first-degree murder, documents said.

“Our family has been shattered,” Blessing’s family said in a statement released by the Human Rights Alliance. “Juniper was simply the most amazing human being we have ever known — highly intelligent, extremely talented, and deeply sensitive to the needs of others. Juniper’s loss not only devastates us but diminishes the world.”

“A gifted singer with a transcendent voice, Juniper was admitted to New Mexico School for the Arts, where they studied from 2020 until 2024,” the family said. “Weather was a love of Juniper’s since early childhood, and at the University of Washington they intended to study Atmospheric Science while continuing to study voice and pursuing minors in Music and Philosophy. They loved Seattle and Santa Fe, where they worked as an usher during summers at the Santa Fe Opera.”

“Juniper was courageously living their life as who they were until it was cut tragically short,” the family said.

According to court documents, another Nordeim Court resident told police that shortly before 10 p.m. Sunday, a man followed her when she used her card to access the building and laundry room.

She said the man told her he was waiting for his laundry. Surveillance video shows them in the laundry room and the suspect “appears to be visually searching the room for cameras,” court documents said, before he left the room.

A video from 10 p.m. shows Blessing in the laundry room, and the suspect “comes back into the laundry room and stares directly into the camera,” documents said.

The suspect “appears to follow the path of the cord with his eyes and head from the camera around the wall above the doorway,” documents said. “He then turns to exit the laundry room, something clatters to the ground and he pauses. He continues out of the laundry room at 10:00:27 p.m.”

“Blessing is seen cleaning the lint tray, appears to add more time to the dryer, then stands up and deposits the lint into the garbage at the end of the bank of dryers. … The video stops at 10:01:01 p.m.,” documents said.

Seattle police released the images of the suspect in the laundry room, documents said. A man named Patrick Leahy contacted police saying the suspect in the image was “without a doubt” his brother, Christopher Leahy, according to the documents, and a friend also reached out to police identifying Christopher Leahy as the man in the photo.

Christopher Leahy’s attorney called the Bellevue Police Department on Wednesday night to say he was turning himself in, documents said. Christopher Leahy came to the department with his parents and was taken into custody, the documents said.

Christopher Leahy made his first court appearance on Thursday and is due back in court on Monday, according to ABC Seattle affiliate KOMO. He has not entered a plea.

‘Chud the Builder’ held on $1.25M bond after shooting outside courthouse

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

‘Chud the Builder’ held on .25M bond after shooting outside courthouse

‘Chud the Builder’ held on $1.25M bond after shooting outside courthouse — In this handout photo provided by the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, Dalton Eatherly poses for a police booking photo in Nashville, Tenn. (Metropolitan Nashville Police Department via Getty Images, FILE)

(CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.) — Rage-baiting livestreamer Dalton Eatherly, known online as “Chud the Builder,” is being held on $1.25 million bond after being charged with attempted murder in connection with a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.

Eatherly, 28, and another man sustained gunshot wounds during the shooting incident Wednesday outside the Montgomery County Courthouse in Clarksville, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

There was a “physical altercation that escalated to gunfire,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.

Following an investigation into the shooting, Eatherly was arrested later that day and charged with attempted murder, as well as employing a firearm during a dangerous felony, aggravated assault and reckless endangerment with a deadly weapon, according to the sheriff’s office.

During his arraignment on the charges Friday, Judge Reid Poland III noted the need to “protect the public interest and public safety” due to the seriousness of the charges and the public location of the shooting, while setting the bond at $1.25 million.

The prosecutor asked for the bond to be addressed at a later hearing so the court could review all factors, including a pending case Eatherly has in Davidson County, and “make an informed decision.”

Eatherly’s next bond hearing has been scheduled for May 21, and a preliminary hearing for May 26. ABC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.

Online court records show Eatherly had a civil debt appearance scheduled Wednesday morning at the Montgomery County courthouse, though it’s unclear if he attended the hearing.

He was involved in a “confrontation” with another man outside the courthouse, District Attorney General Robert Nash, whose district covers Montgomery County, said in a statement.

“The confrontation resulted in gunfire, and both men were taken for medical treatment,” Nash said.

Both men were transported to area hospitals in stable condition, according to the sheriff’s office. Authorities have not publicly identified the other man involved in the incident.

Eatherly has made a social media presence by recording and livestreaming his racist confrontations with Black people and others while touting his constitutionally protected right to do so.

The shooting incident came days after he was arrested in a separate incident in Nashville and charged with theft, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, according to court records.

He was arrested over the weekend for allegedly refusing to pay for $371.55 in food and drink from a restaurant at the Omni Hotel where he had been livestreaming, according to court records.

When restaurant staff asked him to stop livestreaming during the incident on Saturday, “he became disruptive and started making racial statements, yelling, screaming and otherwise creating a scene at the location,” an affidavit filed in Davidson County Court stated.

Online court records do not list any attorney for Eatherly in that case.

ABC News’ Jack Date contributed to this report.

Wife of US Army sergeant released after month in ICE custody

May 15, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(EL PASO, Texas) — The wife of an active-duty U.S. Army sergeant with 27 years of service was released from immigration custody on Thursday.

Deisy Fidelina Rivera Ortega was taken into custody on April 14 in El Paso, Texas, while attending a routine immigration interview related to a “Parole in Place” application — a program designed to allow undocumented family members of military personnel to remain in the U.S. legally.

She was released after being in federal custody for one month, her attorney told ABC News.

Rivera Ortega is married to Sgt. 1st Class Jose Serrano, a U.S. Army sergeant stationed at Fort Bliss who has been deployed to Afghanistan three times. He told ABC News last month that he and his wife had been “doing everything by the book.”

“She goes to work or to church,” Serrano said. “That’s the life of my wife, Deisy.”

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth said she personally called Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin to request Rivera Ortega’s release.

“I’m thankful to Secretary Mullin for heeding my personal call to release Deisy, but she — and so many others — should never have been in this situation to begin with,” Duckworth said in a statement to ABC News.

“Deisy was doing everything ‘the right way’: attending her Military Parole in Place interview, when she was detained by ICE with no warrant and no explanation,” said Duckworth, a Army veteran. “There is no higher betrayal to our heroes than having one of their family members deported by the same nation they sacrificed to defend.”

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

Rivera Ortega — who currently works for IHG Army Hotels at Fort Bliss — has a valid work permit through 2030 and was previously granted withholding of removal from her home country, El Salvador, according to documents reviewed by ABC News.

After being detained in April, she was facing deportation to a third country.

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