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Last churches in Gaza City say they will not evacuate despite Israeli incursion

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The last remaining churches in Gaza will not evacuate amid Israel’s ramped-up military action and threats to destroy Gaza City, saying the clergy and nuns have decided they will “remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds,” the churches said in a joint statement to the Israel Defense Forces.

Hundreds of civilians — including women, children and elderly — have been seeking refuge in the Greek Orthodox compound of Saint Porphyrius and the Holy Family compound since the outbreak of the war and the Latin compound has been hosting people with disabilities who have been under the care of the Sisters Missionaries of Charity for many years, the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said in a statement Tuesday.

“Like other residents of Gaza City, the refugees living in the facilities will have to decide according to their conscience what they will do. Among those who have sought shelter within the walls of the compounds, many are weakened and malnourished due to the hardships of the last months. Leaving Gaza City and trying to flee to the south would be nothing less than a death sentence. For this reason, the clergy and nuns have decided to remain and continue to care for all those who will be in the compounds,” the churches said.

Last week, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz warned that Gaza City could “turn into Rafah and Beit Hanoun,” areas that were destroyed earlier in the war, unless Hamas agrees to Israel’s terms for a ceasefire.

This came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would approve the IDF’s plan to seize Gaza City.

The churches criticized Israel’s plans surrounding its decision to take control of Gaza City, saying, “There can be no future based on captivity, displacement of Palestinians or revenge.”

“We echo what Pope Leo XIV said a few days ago: ‘All peoples, even the smallest and weakest, must be respected by the powerful in their identity and rights, especially the right to live in their own lands; and no one can force them into exile,'” the churches said.

The churches called for an end to the war and the “spiral of violence.”

“There has been enough devastation, in the territories and in people’s lives. There is no reason to justify keeping civilians as prisoners and hostages in dramatic conditions. It is now time for the healing of the long-suffering families on all sides,” the churches said.

Israel began the first stages of its attack on Gaza City last week, calling up 50,000 to 60,000 reservists for the operation to occupy the city, according to IDF spokesman Eddie Defrin and an Israeli military official.

Mass protests against the military action on Gaza were seen across Israel on Tuesday, with protesters demanding the Israeli government get a ceasefire deal in Gaza that would secure the release of the remaining hostage held there.

Israel is also facing criticism for Monday’s attack on a hospital in Khan Younis that killed five journalists and 15 medical workers, according to their media organizations and the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.

Netanyahu called the attack a “tragic mishap.”

The IDF released an initial report on Tuesday, which concludes that “six of the individuals killed were terrorists, one of whom took part in the infiltration into Israeli territory on October 7th.”

Trump’s effort to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook likely headed for Supreme Court

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s attempted removal of Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors – an unprecedented assertion of executive power – sets the stage for a consequential legal battle likely bound for the U.S. Supreme Court.

In creating the nation’s central bank, Congress explicitly sought to insulate the Fed from political interference by mandating 14-year terms for board members appointed by a president and confirmed by the Senate.

Federal law says members can only be fired “for cause,” which has been interpreted to mean inefficiency, neglect, or malfeasance while in office.

No president has ever tried to terminate a member of the Federal Reserve for cause, and no court has ever been asked to weigh in on such an action.

The administration accuses Cook, who was appointed by President Biden in 2022, of “gross negligence” based on unproven allegations that she had engaged in mortgage fraud before taking office. Cook denies any wrongdoing.

Legal experts say her continued tenure at the bank could turn on whether courts find sufficient evidence exist of alleged “malfeasance” and how much discretion the president may have to decide whether the standard has been met.

The showdown is expected to play out over the next few weeks with at least a preliminary decision by the Supreme Court possible before the end of the year.

“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis,” Cook’s attorney Abbe Lowell said in a statement Tuesday. “We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action.”

While the Supreme Court has recently endorsed broad presidential power to remove members of independent agencies that exercise executive power – like the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), National Labor Relations Board (NRLB), and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) – the conservative majority of justices has also made clear that the Fed is different.

“The Federal Reserve is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity that follows in the distinct historical tradition of the First and Second Banks of the United States,” the court wrote in an unsigned May opinion that allowed Trump to terminate Democratically-appointed members of the MSPB and NLRB.

The court emphasized that its ruling for Trump did not implicate the legality of for-cause removal protections at the Fed. By implication, the Court suggested that members of the Fed do not exercise power on behalf of the president.

The ultimate outcome of the landmark dispute is far from clear, however.

As Justice Elena Kagan noted in May – dissenting from her conservative colleagues in the case of Trump’s firings at the MSPB and NLRB – “[I] do not doubt the the majority’s intention to avoid imperiling the Fed. But then, today’s order poses a puzzle. For the Federal Reserve’s independence rests on the same constitutional and analytic foundations” as that of the other independent government agencies Congress has created.

Painting stolen by Nazis during WWII believed discovered in Argentine real estate listing

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — An 18th-century portrait stolen by the Nazis during WWII is believed to have resurfaced in the most unexpected place: hanging above a sofa in a coastal Argentinian home and discovered not by law enforcement or a museum, but spotted in a photo on a real estate website.

The painting, “Portrait of a Lady” by Italian baroque artist Giuseppe Vittore Ghislandi, belonged to Jacques Goudstikker, a prominent Dutch-Jewish art dealer whose collection of more than 1,100 works was seized after the Nazi invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. Senior Nazi officials, including Hermann Göring, acquired hundreds of pieces, according to the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (RCE).

The potential discovery is the result of years of work by Dutch daily newspaper Algemeen Dagblad (AD) investigative journalists Cyril Rosman, Paul Post and Peter Schouten, who have been pursuing the case for nearly a decade.

Rosman said the team began tracing Friedrich Kadgien, Göring’s financial adviser and close confidant, several years ago.

“Kadgien escaped to South America at the end of the war,” Rosman told ABC News. “We knew from archival documents that he brought diamonds, jewelry, and two stolen paintings with him. We’ve spent years trying to piece together his life here and where those paintings ended up.”

Kadgien died in Buenos Aires in 1978. His two daughters inherited properties in Mar del Plata, where the investigation eventually led the AD journalists.

After years of dead ends, the AD team resolved to make one final attempt. They sent Peter Schouten, AD’s correspondent in Argentina, to visit the property.

“I rang the bell. Nobody answered but we saw movement inside,” Schouten recalled. “Then we noticed a ‘For Sale’ sign in the garden.”

Back at his hotel, Schouten looked up the property listing together with his husband, a producer for international media who often assists in his investigations.

“We were scrolling through the photos when my husband suddenly said, ‘Look, isn’t that the painting?’” Schouten said. “I told him, ‘No, that can’t be true. The Dutch government has been looking for this painting for 80 years … it can’t just be hanging above a sofa in Mar del Plata.’ But there it was.”

Rosman, reviewing the same images from the Netherlands, had the same reaction.

“I was scrolling through the listing, looking for photos of the father or maybe some old documents,” Rosman said. “I didn’t expect to find one of the paintings we’d been searching for just sitting there in the living room. It was surreal.”

AD immediately sent the images to the RCE, which maintains official records of Nazi-looted art. Annalies Kool, a provenance researcher at RCE, told ABC News that the agency is “almost certain” the painting is the missing “Portrait of a Lady” but cannot 100% confirm it without examining the work in person.

“According to post-war declaration forms, we know that Kadgien possessed this painting,” Kool said. “Given that he fled to Argentina after the war and we now see it hanging in the living room of his daughters, we assume it has remained within the family for the past 80 years.”

Kool explained that the RCE cross-referenced the photo with the original wartime records. “The measurements match, the composition matches, and visually it aligns with the archival images,” she said. “But we would need to examine the back of the painting to confirm. There could be labels or marks proving it came from the Goudstikker collection.”

However, AD didn’t rely solely on the real estate listing photos to identify the painting. “We obtained additional images from inside the house from a separate source,” Schouten confirmed. “That gave us the second verification we needed before publishing.”

AD said they repeatedly attempted to speak with Kadgien’s daughters via email, Instagram, and WhatsApp. “After weeks, one of them finally responded,” Schouten said. “She asked what we wanted, said she was busy, and then blocked us.”

Shortly afterward, the listing real estate agency, Robles Casas y Campos, removed the photos showing the painting, as well as the entire listing itself.

Goudstikker’s heirs are represented by U.S. attorneys Yael Friedman and Amelia Cuneo of Friedman, Norman & Friedland, LLP. Friedman confirmed to ABC News that their client, Marei von Saher, Goudstikker’s 81-year-old daughter-in-law and sole heir, intends to pursue a formal restitution claim for “Portrait of a Lady.”

“Our client does intend to make a claim,” Friedman said. “She is the sole heir of Jacques Goudstikker’s estate and her goal is to recover the artworks that were looted by the Nazis from her father-in-law.”

Kool also said that a second missing painting – a 17th-century floral still life by Dutch artist Abraham Mignon – was listed in Kadgien’s possession in post-war declarations. Investigators believe it appears in a 2012 Facebook photo posted by one of Kadgien’s daughters, though its ownership and provenance remain unclear.

Friedman clarified that their claim will only target the Ghislandi portrait, not the second Mignon painting, because that work was not part of the Goudstikker collection.

“I have been on this quest since the late 1990s. My family’s goal is to locate and recover each and every artwork looted from Jacques Goudstikker’s collection and restore his legacy, von Saher told ABC News in a statement provided through her lawyers.

“This is the kind of case you dream of,” said Arthur Brand, the Dutch art detective often called “the Indiana Jones of the art world.” “A painting stolen in WWII, thought lost for decades, suddenly pops up on a real estate website in Argentina, hanging above a sofa,” Brand said. “You can’t write a better script.”

Brand added that the discovery highlights the unpredictable nature of recovering looted art: “You can find them anywhere – auction catalogues, archives, attics, even real estate listings.”

Rosman believes this case is only the beginning. “Hundreds, maybe thousands, of Nazi fugitives fled to Argentina after the war,” he said. “Who knows how many more looted artworks ended up here, quietly passed down through families?”

Brand agreed: “This case shows something important,” he said. “Thousands of Nazi-looted works are still out there, hanging in living rooms, passed down quietly through families. Argentina was a haven for many who fled Europe after the war – who knows how many masterpieces are still hidden here?”

Milwaukee judge fails in bid to dismiss case over allegedly helping undocumented man evade arrest

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(MILWAUKEE) — A federal judge in Wisconsin has denied Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan’s motion to dismiss federal charges alleging that she concealed an undocumented immigrant to prevent his arrest by immigration authorities.

In the decision, issued Tuesday, the judge did not agree with Dugan’s argument of judicial immunity.

“There is no basis for granting immunity simply because some of the allegations in the indictment describe conduct that could be considered ‘part of a judge’s job,'” Judge Lynn Adelman wrote.

The order follows an earlier magistrate judge’s recommendation to have the case continue.

Dugan was arrested in April and charged in a two-count federal indictment alleging she knowingly concealed a person sought for arrest by immigration authorities and for obstruction of official Department of Homeland Security removal proceedings. She has pleaded not guilty.

Her criminal case will go forward with a scheduling hearing set for Sept. 3.

Lawyers for Dugan, in part citing the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in President Donald Trump’s immunity case, had argued she has judicial immunity for official acts and her prosecution is unconstitutional. Prosecutors, meanwhile, had contended in court filings that her motion to dismiss the charges ignored “well-established law that has long permitted judges to be prosecuted for crimes they commit.”

According to federal prosecutors, Dugan encountered federal agents who were at Milwaukee County Circuit Court on April 18 to arrest an undocumented man appearing in her courtroom on a battery charge.

Prosecutors say that after speaking to the agents, Dugan directed them to the chief judge’s office down the hall and then sent the man and his attorney out a non-public door in an alleged attempt, authorities claim, to help him evade arrest on immigration violations.

The man was later arrested.

Dugan was arrested and charged a week following the incident.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan in the wake of her arrest, stating in an order that it found it was “in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties.”

Gov. Wes Moore rejects Trump’s claims he called him the ‘greatest president of my lifetime’

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After a weekend of tit-for-tat jabs on social media and television, President Donald Trump and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore are continuing their feud — with Trump claiming the governor called him the “greatest president of my lifetime,” but Moore referring to this as an “imaginary conversation.”

While signing executive orders in the Oval Office Monday afternoon, Trump continued his ongoing criticism of Moore and the city of Baltimore for being a “deathbed” with “tremendous crime,” before flashing back to an interaction that he described fondly.

“I met him at the Army-Navy game. They said, ‘Oh there’s Gov. Moore. He’d love to see you.’ He came over to me, hugged me, shook my hand, you were there. He said, ‘Sir, you’re the greatest president of my lifetime,'” Trump said, adding that Moore had told him he was doing a “fantastic job.”

“I said, ‘That’s really nice that you say that. I’d love you to say that publicly, but I don’t think you can do that so it’s OK,'” the president continued.

But the governor denied that such a conversation ever happened, calling it “imaginary.”

“I’m a person who takes my integrity very seriously and I spent the past six months before that election campaigning as to why I did not think that he should be the next president of the United States, so when I say that that conversation never happened — that imaginary conversation never happened — I mean, that conversation never happened,” Moore told WBAL Radio.

Moore also turned to X Monday evening, writing, “Keep telling yourself that, Mr. President” in response to a clip of Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office.

A video clip from the Army-Navy game aired on Fox News Monday night, showing the two smiling and shaking hands, with Moore saying “it’s great to see you … it’s great to have you back here.” However, there was no mention of Moore calling Trump the “greatest president” of his lifetime.

“We are very, very anxious to be able to work closely with you,” Moore told the president, emphasizing federal funding to repair Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge as a focal point for the state of Maryland. A cargo ship struck the historic bridge last year, causing a partial structural collapse and plunging multiple vehicles from the bridge into the water.

“We’ll help you out,” Trump said after the two conversed some more.

Moore’s office told ABC News that the governor and the president did not have any other interaction at the Army-Navy game apart from what was seen in the video clip.

Yet the White House continues to double down on Trump’s remarks, telling ABC News that Moore’s flattering commentary took place “behind the scenes.”

“Governor Wes Moore heaped praise upon President Trump behind the scenes after the President’s landslide victory on November 5th,” White House spokeswoman Liz Huston said in a statement. “The only reason lightweight Wes Moore is attacking President Trump now is because he’s desperate for attention and delusional enough to think he has a chance at becoming the next President.”

In the Oval Office Tuesday, Trump once again denounced the city of Baltimore’s crime rate, calling it a “hell hole.”

“Wes Moore was telling me … ‘I want to walk with the president.’ Well, I said, ‘I want to work with you, too, someday. But first you’ve got to clean up your crime because I’m not walking.'”

Last week, Moore formally invited the president to join Baltimore officials on a public safety walk. In a letter, Moore highlighted the action Maryland has taken to combat crime while also underscoring the federal cuts made by the Trump administration that have impacted the state.

“Governor Wes Moore of Maryland has asked, in a rather nasty and provocative tone, that I ‘walk the streets of Maryland’ with him. I assume he is talking about out of control, Crime ridden, Baltimore?,” Trump wrote on his social media platform in response, saying he “will send in the ‘troops,’ which is being done in nearby DC, and quickly clean up the Crime,” if the governor “needs help.”

The president’s concern with the city’s crime rate comes as the mayor of Baltimore announced “historic reductions in violent crime” last month for the first half of 2025, in addition to citing the lowest homicide rate in 50 years.

ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.

Officer killed during police pursuit after suspect intentionally strikes him: Police

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(KANSAS CITY, Kan.) — A 26-year-old Kansas police officer was killed when police say a suspect intentionally plowed into him while fleeing authorities during a pursuit.

Kansas City, Kansas, Police Officer Hunter Simoncic was deploying stop sticks in response to the pursuit early Tuesday when the suspect drove toward him and struck him, then continued to flee the area, police said.

Simoncic was transported to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

The suspect — Dennis Mitchell III, 31, of Kansas City — was taken into custody after crashing the vehicle and was arrested on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

“This was an intentional act, a willful act, to evade custody by striking the officer,” Kansas City Police Chief Karl Oakman said during a press briefing Tuesday, calling the death of the officer “devastating.”

“It’s just difficult. It makes no sense,” he said. “I have no words for it.”

The incident unfolded shortly around 12:30 a.m., when officers with the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department were dispatched to a call of shots fired, according to the KBI. Officers shortly found Mitchell unconscious in the driver’s seat of a truck, the KBI said.

“As officers approached the driver, he woke up and fled the scene,” the KBI said in a release.

Mitchell abandoned the vehicle for another truck that was “stashed in the woods” and continued fleeing from officers, Oakman said.

During the pursuit, Simoncic exited his vehicle to stage stop sticks, in an attempt to safely puncture and deflate the tires on the fleeing vehicle, police said.

“The suspect continued through the stop sticks and veered his vehicle directly at Officer Simoncic, striking him at the scene,” Oakman said.

Shortly before 1 a.m., Mitchell crashed the truck, KBI said. He was taken into custody and treated at an area hospital before being booked into the Wyandotte County Jail, according to the KBI.

He also faces charges of vehicular homicide, fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer, theft, criminal possession of a firearm, and aggravated failure to appear, the KBI said. Formal charges are pending, police said. It is unclear if he has an attorney at this time.

Police later learned that both trucks driven by the suspect had been reported stolen, according to the KBI.

Oakman said the suspect has several outstanding warrants, but did not go into detail amid the investigation, which is being conducted by the KBI.

Simoncic was following protocol in deploying the stage sticks, the police chief said.

“This was a situation that we do across the metro thousands of times a year, deploying stop sticks, and this individual felt the need to run Hunter down and kill him,” Oakman said. “That is not a vehicle accident. This was an intentional act of homicide on a police officer.”

Simoncic, who was from Galesburg, Kansas, graduated from the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department Police Academy in 2023. He is survived by his mother, father and brother, Oakman said.

Kansas City, Kansas, Mayor Tyrone Garner condemned the “shameful acts of violence” in the community.

“I went to the hospital — what words do you say to a family, a brother, a mother and a father, grieving, knowing that that life has been snuffed out and it didn’t have to be?” Garner said during the press briefing.

Simoncic volunteered to read and mentor children in local schools, the mayor said, adding, “That says a lot about the type of individual he was.”

“My heart hurts for this police department, for our chief, for his command staff, for all the men and women of the Kansas City, Kansas, Police Department, for all our public safety professionals, for our community,” Garner said. “I just don’t have a lot of words to say to comfort this community. And sometimes, saying, ‘Thoughts and prayers,’ just isn’t enough. It’s just going to take a lot more than that.”

14 arrested in largest Home Depot theft ring ever, officials say

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(VENTURA COUNTY, Calif.) — Authorities in Southern California announced Tuesday the arrest of 14 people accused of running what they called the largest organized retail theft operation targeting Home Depot in the company’s history, with nine facing felony charges.

The suspects are allegedly linked to 600 thefts at 71 different Home Depots, with losses exceeding $10 million across multiple Southern California counties, officials said.

“They basically had been able to pull off over 600 different thefts from Home Depots in the surrounding counties,” Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said. “They must have thought life was grand. They’ve been making millions of dollars, didn’t look like anyone was going to stop them.”

Police say David Ahl, who a ran a storefront called ARIA Wholesale in Tarzana, was at the center of the operation. Ahl faces 48 felony counts including conspiracy, organized retail theft, grand theft, receiving stolen property, and money laundering, authorities said.

He remains in custody at Ventura County jail with bail set at $500,000 and faces up to 32 years in prison if convicted. Attorney information for Ahl was not immediately available.

Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff said Ahl’s “boosters” would systematically steal expensive electrical components like breakers, dimmers, and switches, sometimes hitting every Home Depot in Ventura County in a single day. The stolen goods were then allegedly delivered to Ahl’s business or home in trash bags or Home Depot boxes.

The investigation also led to the arrest of Ahl’s brother-in-law, who allegedly sold stolen merchandise through eBay. Ahl’s ex-wife and her boyfriend were accused of running a “nearly identical” fencing operation.

During searches, investigators seized an estimated $3.7 million in Home Depot property and $800,000 in what they described as “dirty money” from alleged money laundering operations.

Surveillance footage shown by officials captured suspects in action, including one who allegedly climbed around security measures when Home Depot placed high-value items behind cages and on higher shelves.

“This wasn’t shoplifting. It was a criminal enterprise that allegedly stole millions of dollars, and it was finally stopped here in Ventura County,” Erik Nasarenko, the county’s district attorney, said in a press conference Tuesday.

Home Depot Regional Asset Protection Manager Darlene Hermosillo emphasized that organized retail crime affects more than just profits.

“It’s about protecting the well-being and safety of our customers, our associates and the communities in which we serve,” she said in a press conference Tuesday.

The investigation was funded through a state grant program targeting organized retail theft. All defendants remain in custody with bail set between $250,000 and $500,000.

ABC News’ Alyssa Pone contributed to this report.

University of Georgia pauses pledging for Sigma Chi fraternity amid investigation into alleged hazing

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(ATHENS, Ga.) — The University of Georgia has paused pledging for one of its fraternities amid an investigation into alleged hazing off-campus.

The university said it is conducting a review of the Sigma Chi fraternity “following a third-party complaint.” The Athens-Clarke County Police Department said it is also investigating the reported incident.

The university received an email complaint from an Athens-based professional on Aug. 12 that reported “‘gross student misconduct and abuse’ in reference to ‘hazing by male Greek Life leaders,'” a University of Georgia Police Department complaint stated.

The complainant reported that “incoming freshmen were punched and forced to drink copious amounts of alcohol beyond their capacity” from Aug. 9 to Aug. 10, the complaint stated.

One of two fraternities cited in the complaint has been allowed to resume activities following a “thorough review,” university spokesperson Rod Guajardo said.

A review into the other fraternity, Sigma Chi, is ongoing, with all potential new member activity currently paused, Guajardo said.

“Pausing all potential new member activity for an individual organization while a review is conducted is standard operating procedure,” Guajardo said in a statement.

The complaint was referred to the Athens-Clarke County Police Department because the fraternity is located off-campus, the school said.

A spokesperson for the Athens-Clarke County Police Department confirmed to ABC News it is investigating the incident, but that no further details are available at this time.

ABC News has reached out to the Sigma Chi headquarters for comment and has not yet received a response.

Hazing is against federal law. Georgia also has an anti-hazing law that deems hazing a misdemeanor of a high or aggravated nature that is punishable by up to one year in jail.

“Students and organizations are prohibited from participating in, condoning, encouraging, requiring, or allowing opportunity for hazing,” UGA states on its website.

New Mexico man diagnosed with plague in state’s 1st human case this year: Officials

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(VALENCIA COUNTY, N.M.) — A New Mexico man has been diagnosed with plague, marking the state’s first human case this year, according to local health officials.

The patient, a 43-year-old man from Valencia County — located just southwest of Albuquerque — was hospitalized with the condition but has since been discharged, the New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said on Monday.

Recently, the patient had been camping in Rio Arriba County, which borders Colorado, where health officials believe he may have been exposed.

No other identifying information about the man was available, including his name or race/ethnicity.

“This case reminds us of the severe threat that can be posed by this ancient disease,” Dr. Erin Phipps, state public health veterinarian for NMDOH, said in a press release. “It also emphasizes the need for heightened community awareness and for taking measures to prevent further spread.”

Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It naturally occurs in areas of the western U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

It typically affects wild rodents including wood rats, rock squirrels, ground squirrels, mice, prairie dogs and chipmunks, the CDC said.

Humans can contract the disease after being bitten by an infected flea, coming into contact with contaminated fluid or tissue from an infected animal or by inhaling infected droplets in the air.

The CDC notes that person-to-person spread of plague has not been documented in the U.S. since 1924.

In recent decades, an average of seven human plague cases have been reported each year, according to the CDC.

Plague is a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis. It naturally occurs in areas of the western U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),

It typically affects wild rodents including wood rats, rock squirrels, ground squirrels, mice, prairie dogs and chipmunks, the CDC said.

Humans can contract the disease after being bitten by an infected flea, coming into contact with contaminated fluid or tissue from an infected animal or by inhaling infected droplets in the air.

The CDC notes that person-to-person spread of plague has not been documented in the U.S. since 1924.

In recent decades, an average of seven human plague cases have been reported each year, according to the CDC.

There are three types of plague: bubonic plague, which is associated with enlarged lymph nodes called buboes; septicemic plague, which occurs when the bacteria enter the bloodstream; and pneumonic plague, which is when the infection enters the lungs.

Common symptoms of all three include headache, fever and weakness, according to the CDC.

Plague is treatable with commonly available antibiotics and the chances of full recovery are higher if a patient seeks medical care early, the CDC says.

To reduce the risk of plague, the NMDOH recommends avoiding sick or dead rodents and rabbits; cleaning up areas near the home where rodents could live; using insect repellent when outdoors; and keeping hay and wood as far away from the house as possible.

Additionally, the NMDOH recommends having a sick pet examined immediately by a veterinarian.

Although this is the first human case of plague recorded in New Mexico this year, it is not the first in the U.S.

Last week, a California resident tested positive for plague after likely being bitten by an infected flea while camping, according to local health officials in the state. In a separate incident last month, a person in Arizona died from plague.

What’s next for Lyle and Erik Menendez after they were both denied parole?

August 26, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Lyle and Erik Menendez have been behind bars for 35 years, and when both brothers were denied parole last week, their case reached another barricade.

But the brothers still have three potential paths to freedom:

Parole

The brothers were initially sentenced to life without parole for the 1989 shotgun killings of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez. Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, said they committed the murders in self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father.

This May, a judge resentenced them to 50 years to life in prison, making them immediately eligible for parole under youth offender parole laws. The judge said he was moved by the supportive letters from prison guards and was amazed by the work the brothers had accomplished to better the lives of their fellow inmates.

At their first parole hearings last week, both Lyle and Erik Menendez were denied release.

In separate hearings, commissioners stressed how the brothers repeatedly broke rules in prison, like illegal cellphone use.

“While cellphones may seem like something innocuous,” ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire said, the parole commissioners focused on “the criminality that allowed those cellphones to get into the prison,” like smuggling and bribes. “The money that was associated with trying to get those cellphones in oftentimes go to gangs within the prison,” Buckmire explained.

The brothers can apply for parole again in three years. With good behavior in prison, that wait can potentially be shortened to 18 months.

Clemency

A second possible path to release is clemency, which California Gov. Gavin Newsom can grant at any time.

“He can provide clemency in the form of commutation, further reducing the sentence of the brothers, making them eligible for release even today,” Buckmire said. “Or, a pardon, giving them a full forgiveness of the crime.”

“That has some political undertones,” Buckmire continued, “and no one knows just yet what information the governor will take from this parole hearing to use to either grant clemency or not.”

Bid for a new trial

The third path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they submitted in 2023 to try to get another trial based on new evidence not originally presented in court.

The petition presents two pieces of new evidence. One is allegations from a former member of the boy band Menudo, who revealed in the 2023 docuseries “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed” that he was raped by Jose Menendez. The second is a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse; the cousin testified about the alleged abuse at trial, but the letter — which would have corroborated the cousin’s testimony — wasn’t unearthed until several years ago, according to the brothers’ attorney.

Defense attorneys argue that the “newfound information … would have resulted in a lesser penalty at trial,” Buckmire said.

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman, who is firmly opposed to the brothers’ release, filed a response to the habeas corpus petition this month, stating that he “concluded that this petition does not come close to meeting the factual or legal standard to warrant a new trial.”

“The central defense of the Menendez brothers at trial has always been self-defense, not sexual abuse. The jury rejected this self-defense defense in finding them guilty of the horrific murders they perpetrated; five different appellate state and federal courts have affirmed those convictions, and nothing in the so-called ‘new’ evidence challenges any of those determinations,” Hochman said in a statement. “Our opposition to this ‘Hail Mary’ effort to obtain a new trial over 30 years later makes clear that justice, the facts, and the law demand the convictions stand.”

The petition is pending. The final decision will be made by a judge.

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