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Sean Grayson sentenced to 20 years in prison for fatal shooting of Sonya Massey

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(SPRINGFIELD, Ill.) — Sean Grayson, the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy, was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in prison after he was convicted in October 2025 of second-degree murder for the July 2024 fatal shooting of Sonya Massey, a Black woman who called 911 to report a possible intruder at her home in Springfield, Illinois.

Judge Ryan Cadagin said that Grayson will also have a two-year mandatory supervised release and will receive credit for time served, according to Springfield ABC affiliate WICS, which was in the courtroom. He had been facing to four to 20 years in prison or probation, according to prosecutors.

Grayson spoke ahead of his hearing and apologized to Massey’s family, WICS reported.

“I wish there was something I could do to bring her back. I wish this didn’t happen. I wish they [Massey’s family] didn’t have to go through this experience. I am very sorry,” he said, according to WICS.

Addressing the judge, Grayson acknowledged that “made a lot of mistakes” on the night Massey died, WICS reported.

“There were points when I should’ve acted, and I didn’t — I froze. I made terrible decisions that night. I’m sorry,” he reportedly said.

Massey’s mother, Donna Massey, and children delivered victim impact statements ahead of the sentencing, WICS noted.

“Today, I’m afraid to call the police in fear that I might end up like Sonya,” Donna Massey said, according to WICS.

She addressed Grayson with the same words that Sonya Massey said to the former deputy before she was fatally shot, WICS reported: “Sean Grayson, I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”

Massey’s children, Malachi and Summer, also spoke.

“I had to step up at 17. I had nowhere to go or nothing. I was just lost. I’m figuring it out a little bit now, but I still need my mom … It’s like a part of me is dead,” Malachi Massey said during Thursday’s hearing, WICS reported.

Summer Massey was 15 when her mother died.

“Since her death, I have not been the same person,” she said in her victim impact statement on Thursday, according to WICS.

Sontae Massey, Massey’s cousin, told WICS in an interview that aired ahead of the sentencing on Wednesday that her death “shattered” her family.

Family representatives for the Massey family told ABC News on Wednesday that the family will hold a press conference after Grayson’s sentencing hearing.

Ahead of sentencing Grayson, the judge denied on Thursday morning Grayson’s request for a new trial.

Grayson’s attorneys filed a motion for a new trial on Dec. 2, 2025, arguing that “several erroneous rulings” “resulted in prejudice to the defendant.”

The motion, which was reviewed by ABC News, cited alleged “errors” that include “incorrectly” focusing on Grayson’s “obligations as a police officer” when determining not to release him pre-trial, as opposed to “the danger he posed as a private citizen.”

Grayson’s attorneys also argued in the motion that the judge should not have admitted into evidence the body camera video that showed Grayson’s “statements and actions” after he fatally shot Massey.

Grayson’s attorneys did not respond to ABC News’ requests for comment.

Sangamon County State’s Attorney John Milhiser, who prosecuted Grayson, told ABC News on Thursday that his office filed a motion asking the judge to deny Grayson’s request for a new trial.

Body camera footage of the July 6, 2024 incident shows Grayson, who was inside Massey’s home, pointing to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “Walk away from your hot steaming water.”

Massey then appears to pour the water into the sink and repeats the deputy’s phrase before saying, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus,” according to the video.

Grayson threatens to shoot her and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt, the video shows. As she briefly rises, Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.

During Grayson’s testimony, he told the jury he believed Massey was going to throw the scalding water on him and was scared.

The assistant state attorney said that Massey’s final words before being shot with her hands up were, “I’m sorry,” according to WICS.

Grayson was initially charged with three counts in connection to Massey’s death — first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct. He pleaded not guilty to all counts.

Following the seven-day trial in October 2025, the jury was given the option of considering second-degree murder instead of first-degree murder.

ABC News’ Mariama Jalloh and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.

Everything to know about Nipah virus amid cases being detected in India

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Several countries, including Thailand and Nepal, have increased their surveillance after cases of the deadly Nipah virus were detected in India.

So far, just two cases have been confirmed among 25-year-old nurses, a woman and a man, in West Bengal, according to the World Health Organization.

A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News earlier this week that Indian health authorities have deployed an outbreak response team and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is in contact with local officials. The CDC said it is “monitoring” the situation.

Despite the virus’s high fatality rate, experts have said it’s very unlikely it will lead to a global emergency.

Here’s what you need to know about the virus, including signs and symptoms, how the virus is transmitted and what treatments are available.

What is Nipah virus?

Nipah virus is a type of zoonotic disease, meaning it’s primarily found in animals and can spread between animals and people.

It was first discovered in 1999 after a disease affected both pigs and people in Malaysia and Singapore, according to the CDC.

The virus is most often spread by fruit bats, and can spread through direct or indirect contact.

The virus can also spread from person to person by being in close contact or coming into contact with the bodily fluids of an infected person.

What are the symptoms?

Symptoms typically occur between four and 14 days after exposure. The most common symptom is fever followed by headache, cough, sore throat, difficulty breathing and vomiting.

Diagnosing the virus in the early stages is often difficult because the symptoms resemble many other illnesses, the CDC has said.

The virus can lead to severe symptoms, including disorientation, drowsiness, seizures or encephalitis, which is inflammation of the brain. These can progress to a coma within 24 to 48 hours, according to the CDC.

Deaths range anywhere between 40% and 75% among all cases, the federal health agency said. Some permanent changes among survivors have been noted, including persistent convulsions.

What are the treatments available?

Currently there are no specific treatments available for Nipah virus other than managing symptoms with supportive care, including rest and fluids.

Experts said there are treatments currently under development. One is a monoclonal antibody, a treatment that uses immune system proteins manufactured in a lab. They mimic the antibodies the body naturally creates when fighting the virus.

Dr. Diana Finkel, an associate professor of medicine in the division of infectious disease at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, previously told ABC News that the drug has already completed phase I clinical trials and is currently being used on a compassionate basis.

Researchers are also studying the potential benefit of remdesivir — the intravenous medication used to treat COVID-19 — which has been shown to work well in nonhuman primates with Nipah virus.

What is the likelihood of Nipah virus spreading?

Experts said that while anything is possible, it’s very unlikely that cases in India will lead to global spread.

“The world is small, but the likelihood that somebody’s infected, or an infected fruit bat with Nipah virus would be here, right now, is very unlikely,” Finkel previously told ABC News.

She said when people are exposed in health care settings, it’s often because proper standard precautions were not followed, such as not wearing gloves or masks.

Experts have said Nipah virus cases are also a reminder of the potentially devastating effects of habitat destruction and climate change, possibly leading to more interaction between infected animals and humans.

“You have to think about why are fruit bats that harbor this Nipah virus, why are they coming into contact with people?” Dr. Peter Rabinowitz, director of the University of Washington Center for One Health Research, previously told ABC News. “What is changing in terms of the movement of the bat populations? Are they leaving [a] habitat where there were not very many people? Are they now spending more time close to people?”

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.

Signs of progress to avert partial government shutdown after DHS funding spat

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — There are signs of progress with negotiations over funding for the Department of Homeland Security ahead of a partial government shutdown that would begin at midnight Friday.

Talks are intensifying in the final hours between the White House and Senate Democrats to reach an agreement over how to advance a package of bills necessary to fund the government — including Democrats’ request to separate the bill that funds DHS.

Democrats want DHS removed from a package that includes five other government funding bills so that changes to the DHS bill aimed at reining in Immigration and Customs Enforcement can be made without affecting the other agencies that still need to be funded.

There were Democratic calls to separate the DHS funding following the deaths of Renee Good, a mother of three who was fatally shot by an immigration enforcement officer in Minneapolis earlier this month, and became more urgent after the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, who was killed in a shooting by federal agents over the weekend.

As of now, there is no firm deal yet, and there is plenty of time for things to fall apart.

Negotiations are centered around that request from Democrats, sources told ABC News. This would allow the military and critical programs like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Head Start — a federal program run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that provides early childhood education, health, nutrition and family support services to low-income children and families — to be funded through September.

A deal would temporarily extend funding for DHS through a short-term bill, which would give Democrats and the White House more time to discuss any possible policy changes.

Coming into the negotiations, Senate Democrats laid out a list of demands including: ending roving patrols, ensuring federal agents are held to the same use of force policies that apply to state and local law enforcement, preventing agents from wearing masks and requiring body cameras.

Republicans need the support of at least seven Democrats in the Senate to avert a partial shutdown.

The White House has not yet commented on the ongoing negotiations.

While sources indicate Democratic leadership is optimistic that things are headed in their direction, that same level of optimism has not been shared from the White House, sources told ABC News.

It is likely that even if a deal is reached, there will still be a short partial shutdown. Any changes to the government funding bill passed in the Senate would have to go back to the House.

The Senate is still slated to take a test vote on the larger package to fund the government (without any of the Democratic demands) Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Democrats have said they intend to block this vote unless modifications are made to meet their demands.

2 dead in shooting in northern Canada, no active threat: Officials

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two people are dead from a shooting in the Cree First Nation community of Mistissini in northern Quebec, Canada, officials said, adding that it is not considered an active shooter situation.

Two men in their 30s who live in the Mistissini community were found fatally shot in a car overnight, according to Hugues Beaulieu, a spokesperson for Quebec’s provincial police, the Sureté du Québec.

Although no arrest has been made, there is no active threat to the general population, Beaulieu told ABC News, explaining that police are working under the theory that the murders were related to organized crime and drug trade.

The community’s chief, Michael Petawabano, said earlier that all schools and community buildings were closed and residents were advised to remain in their homes.

The remote town has a population of roughly 4,000 people.

“Our hearts are heavy with grief for the lives lost and the families affected by this tragedy,” Petawabano said in a statement. “We ask all community members to remain calm, stay indoors, and cooperate fully with police as they conduct their investigation.”

“The lockdown will remain in effect until law enforcement confirms it is safe to resume normal activities,” Petawabano said.

2 dead in shooting in northern Canada, no active threat: Officials

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

The community’s chief, Michael Petawabano, said earlier that all schools and community buildings were closed and residents were advised to remain in their homes.

The remote town has a population of roughly 4,000 people.

“The lockdown will remain in effect until law enforcement confirms it is safe to resume normal activities,” Petawabano said.

How NIH ending funding for human fetal tissue research could affect studies

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Last week, the Trump administration announced it was banning the use of human fetal tissue from some abortions in federally funded medical research.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) said the policy would go into effect immediately and advance “science by investing in breakthrough technologies more capable of modeling human health and disease,” NIH director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.

Scientists told ABC News that research using human fetal tissue has contributed to understanding diseases better, such as HIV and Ebola, and helped in the development of some vaccines and drugs.

Some scientists worry the ban could prevent groundbreaking discoveries about the behaviors of certain diseases and stop the development of life-saving therapies.

“It’s not a scientific decision,” Dr. Lawrence Goldstein, a professor emeritus of cellular and molecular medicine at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. “It’s a moral decision that places the rights of fetal tissue that would be discarded above the rights of sick people who will benefit from that research.”

How human fetal tissue has been used

Human fetal tissue has been used to study serious diseases and disorders, including AIDS, cancer, Parkinson’s disease, dengue, Ebola, hepatitis C, diabetes and spinal cord injuries.

Cell lines have been created from human fetal tissue that have led to the development of vaccines for rubella, rabies, chickenpox, shingles and hepatitis A. Research has also led to the development of drugs to treat HIV, hemophilia and sepsis.

President Donald Trump himself benefited from the research: the experimental antibody treatment he took to treat COVID-19 was developed using cells derived from human fetal tissue. At the time, Trump praised the treatment as a “cure.”

The tissue has been also used in reproductive medicine research to study fertility issues, pregnancy issues, and pregnancy conditions such as pre-eclampsia.

Goldstein said that human fetal tissue research also helps create humanized mouse models to study human immune systems.

“Using fetal tissue, you can make mice that have human blood-forming and immune systems,” Goldstein said. “And that’s valuable because a lot of the viruses that trouble human health don’t grow properly in mice. But if you can make mice with human blood and immune systems, those viruses will frequently grow, and you can learn how to make therapies to block them.”

There are very strict guidelines that researchers have to follow when using human fetal tissue, ensuring they are in compliance with federal and sometimes state requirements.

Additionally, the research must be reviewed and approved by the NIH’s Institutional Review Board (IRB), which specifically assesses federally funded research that uses human subjects.

The IRB assures that donation and reception of human fetal tissue were done with consent and not coercion and that there were no enticements provided to the participant, the clinic or the research team.

A researcher with knowledge of the matter, who asked that their name not be used due to fears of retribution, told ABC News that federal law states that donation cannot be even brought up to a pregnant individual deciding to terminate their pregnancy before the decision to terminate.

“These are extremely important guardrails that are in place to ensure that everything is handled properly,” the researcher with knowledge of the matter said.

Impacts of ending NIH funding

The Trump administration first instituted a ban ending all human fetal tissue research at NIH in 2019, but it was reversed by the Biden administration in 2021.

The current ban stops NIH funds from supporting all “grants, cooperative agreements, other transaction awards and research and development contracts,” the agency said in a statement.

Some groups praised the Trump administration’s new policy, including the Independent Medical Alliance, a group that promoted unproven treatments during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no ethical justification for performing experiments on tissue derived from aborted human beings,” Dr. Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, said in a statement. “The fact this practice continued for years within federally funded research institutions shows just how far removed parts of HHS had become from foundational medical ethics. This correction is long overdue.”

However, some scientists say the ban will affect ongoing and future work.

Dr. Anita Bhattacharyya, an associate professor of cell and regenerative biology in the school of medicine and public health at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said she was hoping to apply for a future NIH grant to study human fetal tissue research and will now not be able to do so.

Bhattacharyya explained she currently uses human-induced pluripotent stem cells, which are reprogrammed cells that are similar to embryonic stem cells, in her work. However, the loss of NIH funding for human fetal tissue research could affect future work.

“My reaction was, ‘How are we going to do some of our research if we can no longer use human fetal tissue?'” she recalled to ABC News. “In particular, my lab studies Down syndrome and so we know that in Down syndrome, the brain develops differently to lead to the intellectual disability that people with Down syndrome have.”

Bhattacharyya said human fetal tissue is valuable when studying Down syndrome or neuropsychiatric disorders because it can recapitulate what’s happening in brain development.

“And so that’s where the human fetal tissue really provides us with a benchmark or the ground truth so that we can validate our models,” she said.

Finding alternative methods of funding is another issue, scientists told ABC News. The NIH was the largest funder of research involving human fetal tissue, and no longer financially supporting such research may leave scientists scrambling to find other donors.

Goldstein said there are private disease foundations that will sometimes fund human fetal tissue research, such as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine, which funds stem-cell-related research in California.

However, experts say the hole left behind by the lack of NIH funding cannot be made up through private donations.

“There’s really nothing adequate to substitute for the federal effort,” Goldstein said. “It is the largest funder of medical research in the United States. It has systems in place to regulate quality and ensure that ethics and scientific principles are being adhered to. We really can’t move ahead as efficiently as we would like with the absence of the NIH.”

Although the NIH said tissue from spontaneous abortions will still be available, the researcher with knowledge of the matter said this tissue is very often not suitable for research purposes.

“The reason is because, most often, spontaneous abortion happens as a result of some sort of genetic abnormality or some injury, infection, some kind of damage to the fetus itself, that renders that tissue completely unusable for scientific research,” they said.

“Additionally, because spontaneous abortions are just that, they’re spontaneous and therefore completely unpredictable,” the researcher continued. “We have to be very careful in the way that we handle that tissue. It makes those studies intractable. And so, for that reason, spontaneous abortions are not a suitable replacement for fetal tissue research that we would normally obtain.”

Potential blizzard headed to Southeast this weekend: Latest forecast

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A potential blizzard is headed to the Southeast this weekend, impacting the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee.

The storm will begin Friday evening with snow over Appalachia, along the Tennessee/North Carolina border and western Virginia.

On Saturday, the snow is forecast to spread east into eastern Georgia and much of South Carolina, North Carolina and southern Virginia.

The storm could bring powerful winds, which may lead to blizzard conditions. Visibility could be reduced to less than a quarter-mile.

While it is still too early to predict exact snow totals, it appears that much of northern South Carolina, nearly all of North Carolina and southern Virginia will get 3 to 8 inches of snow between Friday night and Sunday morning. Some areas could even near 1 foot of snow, especially along the North Carolina coast where the heavy snow may last longer.

Along with a full moon causing naturally higher tides, large waves produced by the storm may lead to destructive beach erosion and coastal flooding, with 2 to 4 feet water inundation possible from the South Carolina coast to the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the coasts of Virginia and Maryland.

The Northeast coast may escape this storm mostly unscathed.

Those along the Interstate 95 corridor from Washington, D.C. to New York City should see little to no snow accumulation, but they will see gusty winds up to 40 mph on Sunday morning.

A few inches of snow is possible on the coasts of Delaware, Maryland and New Jersey, as well as New York’s Long Island and Massachusetts’ Cape Cod.

But if the storm moves slightly west, 3 to 6 inches of snow and blizzard conditions could strike the I-95 corridor from Connecticut to Boston to Maine.

Meanwhile, the deep freeze is ongoing.

On Friday, the the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to hit minus 13 degrees in Minneapolis. On Saturday, the wind chill is forecast to drop to 2 degrees in Atlanta and minus 1 in New York City.

That cold is also spreading south to Florida. Record lows are possible across the Sunshine State on Sunday, including 20 degrees in Tallahassee, 23 degrees in Jacksonville and 25 in Orlando.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar announces run for Minnesota governor amid immigration turmoil

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK)– Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced on Thursday her candidacy for governor of Minnesota, saying her home state was in need of a leader who could “fix things in our state” and who would “stand up and not be rubber stamps” to the Trump administration.

“I believe we must stand up for what’s right and fix what’s wrong,” Klobuchar said in a video message announcing her run. “That’s why today, I am announcing my candidacy for governor of the state of Minnesota.”

“I like my job in the Senate,” she added. “But I love our state more than any job.”

The announcement arrived at a turbulent time in Minnesota, where thousands of federal agents have been carrying out Operation Metro Surge, a Trump administration operation with the stated goal of detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants.

Federal agents have been involved this month the fatal shootings of two protesters in Minneapolis, incidents that have spurred further protests in the state and around the country.

That ongoing operation has been decried by local leaders, including Tim Walz, the current governor, who on Jan. 5 ended his bid for reelection.

Walz, who served as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in 2024, said as he bowed out that he would not be able to give a campaign all of his attention as he worked to defend Minnesota against allegations of fraud and right-wing attacks — including from President Donald Trump.

Prior to his announcement, Walz came under fire amid allegations of fraud by child-care centers in Minnesota. The governor had said the state was investigating alleged fraud and he slammed rhetoric targeting the state’s Somali community, saying those allegations could put people at risk.

Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement entered Minnesota to begin their operation in December, prior to Walz’ campaign departure. Hundreds more agents arrived in the first weeks of the year, federal officials said. Minnesota officials filed on Jan. 12 a federal lawsuit calling for an end to the surge.

Klobuchar has been outspoken throughout the past year against what she has framed as the overreach of the Trump administration and throughout turmoil in Minnesota, including amidst the recent shootings of protesters Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis.

“We cannot sugarcoat how hard this is, but in these moments of enormous difficulty, we find strength in our Minnesota values of hard work, freedom, and simple decency and good will,” Klobuchar said in the video message released on Thursday.

She added, “These times call for leaders who can stand up and not be rubber stamps of this administration. But who are also willing to find common ground and fix things in our state.”

Klobuchar, who is also seen as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, was first elected to the Senate in 2006 as the first female U.S. senator elected from Minnesota. She is the ranking member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, and is a key member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The senator had filed paperwork to create a campaign committee to run for governor last week. Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Klobuchar had previously met with Walz about a possible bid for governor, according to two sources familiar with the meeting.

She told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that ICE, one of the federal agencies operating in Minnesota, is “making us less safe, and they need to get out of our state.”

Iranian ‘fingers on triggers’ amid US military buildup, Trump threats, Tehran says

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Iranian military forces are prepared to “immediately” retaliate against any U.S. attack, Tehran’s top diplomat warned on Wednesday, as more American military assets arrived in the region and U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to launch a new attack on the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said in a post to X on Wednesday that Iran’s “brave Armed Forces are prepared — with their fingers on the trigger — to immediately and powerfully respond to ANY aggression against our beloved land, air and sea.”

“Valuable lessons learned” during the 12-day conflict with Israel and the U.S. in June “have enabled us to respond even more strongly, rapidly and profoundly,” Araghchi wrote.

“At the same time, Iran has always welcomed a mutually beneficial, fair and equitable NUCLEAR DEAL — on equal footing, and free from coercion, threats, and intimidation — which ensures Iran’s rights to PEACEFUL nuclear technology, and guarantees NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS,” the foreign minister added.

“Such weapons have no place in our security calculations and we have NEVER sought to acquire them,” he wrote.

Araghchi issued the warning after Trump touted what he called a “massive armada” heading toward Iran, which he said was “ready, willing, and able to rapidly fulfill its mission, with speed and violence, if necessary.”

Trump urged Iran to make “a fair and equitable deal” regarding its nuclear program, key facilities and personnel of which were among the targets attacked by Israel and the U.S. in June.

“Hopefully Iran will quickly ‘Come to the Table’ and negotiate a fair and equitable deal — NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS — one that is good for all parties. Time is running out, it is truly of the essence!,” Trump said a social media post.

Trump referred to the strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites last summer. “As I told Iran once before, MAKE A DEAL! They didn’t, and there was ‘Operation Midnight Hammer,’ a major destruction of Iran. The next attack will be far worse! Don’t make that happen again,” Trump added.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by three destroyers, arrived in the Middle East earlier this week, bolstering the U.S. military presence in the region.

The carrier is carrying a complement of strike aircraft, while the accompanying destroyers are armed with Tomahawk missiles.

The naval buildup adds some 5,000 American troops to the region, swelling an already robust American military footprint spread across multiple bases across the Middle East, such as Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar.

In total, more than 30,000 U.S. troops are deployed across the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln is the first U.S. aircraft carrier to operate in the region since last summer.

Araghchi on Wednesday denied any request for new talks Tehran and Washington, D.C., though said Iran was in touch with “various intermediaries.”

“Our position is clear. Negotiations cannot take place under threats, and any talks must be conducted in conditions where threats and excessive demands are set aside,” Araghchi said.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said on Thursday that Iran is “ready for sincere and genuine negotiations with America,” as quoted by the state-aligned Tasnim News Agency. Ghalibaf warned that though Trump “may be able to start a war,” he cannot foresee how it will end.

Trump’s latest threats focused on Iran’s nuclear program, which — alongside Tehran’s ballistic missile arsenal and its use of regional proxy forces — has been a key and longstanding concern for the U.S., Israel and their regional partners.

Trump’s Wednesday social media post did not mention Tehran’s bloody suppression of nationwide anti-government protests over the past month. The demonstrations began in late December in response to the collapsing value of the national currency — the rial — before morphing into a wider anti-regime movement which drew backing from dissidents abroad and Western governments.

Trump lent his support to protesters in mid-January, urging them to “KEEP PROTESTING — TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” He added, “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.”

The president then appeared to back off the prospect of imminent U.S. strikes on Iran, saying Tehran had informed him that the killing of protesters and executions of those arrested had stopped.

The major security crackdown appears to have suppressed the massed demonstrations. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) — which relies on a network of activists in Iran for its reporting and has been accurate during previous unrest — said Wednesday that at least 6,373 people had been killed in the protests.

The dead included 5,993 protesters, 113 people under the age of 18, 214 government-affiliated personnel and 53 non-protesting civilians, HRANA said. The organization said it is still reviewing 17,091 reports of other deaths.

A total of 42,486 people have been arrested in the demonstrations since they began on Dec. 28, including 11,018 injured protesters with serious wounds, according to HRANA.

ABC News cannot independently verify HRANA’s numbers.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a Senate hearing on Wednesday that the U.S. regional buildup represents a “baseline” for defense.

“We have to have enough force and power in the region just on a baseline to defend against that possibility that at some point, as a result of something, the Iranian regime decides to strike at our troop presence in the region,” Rubio said.

Rubio also said that it was an “open question” and “no one knows” who would fill a leadership void in Iran if Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was removed from power.

Rubio asserted that protests across Iran due to a free-falling economy show “that [the] regime is probably weaker than it has ever been.”

If the regime were to fall, he said the U.S. could “hope” for a “transition” like the one it is attempting to facilitate in Venezuela.

But Rubio added that he “would imagine it would be far more complex … because you’re talking about a regime that’s been in place for a very long time.”

Protesters clash with law enforcement outside Texas facility where detained 5-year-old is held

January 29, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(HOUSTON) — Law enforcement deployed tear gas during a clash with protesters outside a Texas detention facility on Wednesday, where a 5-year-old boy and his father are being held.

At least two protesters were detained, according to ABC News’ San Antonio affiliate KSAT.

Both U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers were on the scene during the protest, according to KSAT.

Video of the encounter showed troopers pushing back protesters as tear gas was deployed.

Ahead of the protest, community organizers said in a press release they were gathering at the facility to hold “a vigil to amplify the voices and protests of children and families held in detention against their will.”

The facility in Dilley, Texas, is located about 85 miles southwest of San Antonio.

The protest took place on the same day that Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, met with 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father, Adrian Alexander, at the center.

Castro said he was able to meet with him and his father for 30 minutes in the facility’s courtroom.

The lawmaker told reporters that he was told by the father that the 5-year-old has “been depressed and has not been eating well” since being detained.

“His father said that Liam has been sleeping a lot, that he’s been asking about his family, his mom, and his classmates, and saying that he wants to go back to school.”

Castro added that there are other children at the detention center, including several under the age of five and a two-month-old baby.

The father and son were detained on Jan. 20 as part of the federal government’s ongoing immigration crackdown in Minnesota.

Images from the young boy’s detainment garnered international attention when he was apprehended by immigration officials shortly after arriving home from preschool while his father was in their driveway, school officials said last week.

The Department of Homeland Security said at the time that “ICE conducted a targeted operation to arrest Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, an illegal alien from Ecuador who was RELEASED into the U.S. by the Biden administration.”

“As agents approached the driver, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, fled on foot — abandoning his child. For the child’s safety, one of our ICE officers remained with the child while the other officers apprehended Conejo Arias.”

DHS’ account differed from what the family’s attorney and school officials said occurred.

“Another adult living in the home was outside and begged the agents to let them take care of the small child, but was refused,” officials from Conejo Ramos’ school said.

A federal judge in Texas on Monday temporarily blocked the removal of Alexander and Ramos, saying that the father and son cannot be removed from the district in Texas pending the habeas case challenging their detention.

At the time of their detention, they had a pending asylum case but no order of deportation directing that they be removed from the United States.

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