The scene of a deadly medical transport plane crash near the Chinle Airport in Arizona, Aug. 5, 2025. Navajo Police Department
(APACHE COUNTY, Ariz.) — Four people were killed when a medical transport plane crashed and caught fire in Arizona, authorities said.
The Beechcraft 300 crashed Tuesday afternoon while landing at the Chinle Municipal Airport, in the Navajo Nation, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
The aircraft was en route to pick up a patient from a nearby hospital at the time, according to the Navajo Police Department.
All four people on board the plane died, police said.
The cause of the crash is unknown at this time, police said.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating.
The dual-propellor medical transport plane was owned by CSI Aviation, based in Albuquerque, New Mexico, police said.
“This is a tragic loss to the families of those onboard and to medical air and first responder community,” the Navajo Police Department said in a statement.
All access to the airport is currently closed due to the investigation, police said.
Smoke from the Rosa Fire rises in Riverside County, California, Aug. 4, 2025. Cal Fire
(SOLVANG, Calif.) — The Gifford Fire, a wildfire burning in Central California that has destroyed over 83,000 acres in five days, continues to rage and is now accompanied by two additional fires emerging nearby, according to officials.
Since it started on Friday afternoon, the Gifford Fire — which is situated within the Los Padres National Forest in Solvang, California — has burned 83,933 acres and has only reached 9% containment, prompting evacuation orders for those in the Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, officials said.
While the flames have been centered around thick brush and rugged terrain, officials said over 800 structures are threatened by this wildfire.
Nearly 2,000 personnel have been dispatched to help fight the flames, with “great progress made on the west, north and east flanks of the fire” on Monday, according to Los Padres National Forest officials. Winds could potentially reach 20 mph on Tuesday, which could “test lines already constructed,” officials said.
Warmer weather on Thursday and Friday could increase the “fire behavior” and pose a threat to the already raging flames, officials said.
On Tuesday, officials said they will deploy helicopters to “deliver very significant water drops” and will establish two new base camps to allow personnel to “more efficiently access the fire perimeter.”
An air quality alert in Cuyama, California, and an air quality watch for the rest of Santa Barbara County continues to remain in place “until conditions improve,” according to the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District.
The fire is also impacting those outside of California, with smoke from the flames filtering into the Las Vegas Valley, “reducing visibility and air quality,” according to the National Weather Service Las Vegas.
Officials expect smoky conditions in the Las Vegas area “for at least another couple of days.”
Along with the Gifford Fire, firefighters are now also battling two additional flames in Central California that began on Monday — the Rosa Fire and the Gold Fire, according to Cal Fire.
The Rosa Fire, which is situated within Riverside County, has prompted evacuation orders and has destroyed 1,200 acres as of Tuesday, according to Cal Fire. The Gold Fire, which is located in San Bernardino County, is centered around “steep, rugged terrain in the northern area of the Mountaintop Ranger District” and has burned 348 acres, Cal Fire said.
As of Tuesday, the Rosa Fire is 5% contained and the Gold Fire is 0% contained, officials said.
The cause of all three fires remains under investigation, officials said.
(JACKSON, Tenn.) — A manhunt for the suspect in the Tennessee killings of four people and the kidnapping of a baby ended Tuesday when he was taken into custody, police said.
Austin Robert Drummond, 28, was taken into custody in Jackson by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation after a weeklong manhunt, according to the Jackson, Tennessee, Police Department.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said Drummond was captured after multiple community residents spotted him and called 911.
“This is a perfect example of police and community cooperation,” David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Drummond, who had been considered armed and dangerous, is the prime suspect in the July 29 killings of 38-year-old Cortney Rose; Rose’s children, 20-year-old Adrianna Williams and 15-year-old Braydon Williams; and Adrianna Williams’ boyfriend, 21-year-old James “Michael” Wilson, according to authorities and family.
The victims were found along a road in Lake County, in northwest Tennessee, authorities said. The same day, Wilson and Williams’ baby was left in a car seat in a “random individual’s front yard” in nearby Dyer County, according to the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities said Drummond knew the victims through his girlfriend, who was the daughter of Rose and sister of Adrianna and Braydon Williams.
A motive for the killings remain under investigation.
During a news conference Tuesday afternoon, law enforcement officials said Drummond was captured after multiple community residents spotted him in Jackson around 8 a.m. and called 911.
“This is a perfect example of police and community cooperation,” said David Rausch, director of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
Jackson Police Chief Thom Corley said residents spotted Drummond around 8 a.m. Tuesday near a vacant building investigators believe the suspect had been hiding in. He said officers rushed to the area as more 911 calls came in, including one at 8:57 a.m. that helped officers pinpoint Drummond’s location in the woods near the vacant building.
Corley said officers surrounded the area and took Drummond into custody at 9:05 a.m.
“Today we find some peace in knowing that the suspect is no longer a threat,” Corley said.
Corley introduced the three officers at the news conference who captured Drummond, saying, “They were at the right spot and acted immediately and apprehended Drummond.”
“It was really the community that really broke this for us,” Rausch said.
Rausch said Drummond was unarmed at the time of his arrest, but police have since recovered several firearms. Rausch said police will analyze the guns to determine if they were used in the homicides.
Drummond was captured in a wooded area of Jackson just a day after police released an image of him taken Sunday by a home security camera, police said.
At the time he was taken into custody, a reward of up to $30,000 was being offered for information leading to Drummond’s arrest.
Rausch said the reward money will likely be shared by those whose 911 calls led to Drummond’s capture.
Drummond is facing four counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated kidnapping, four counts of felon in possession of a firearm and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a dangerous felony, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.
During the search for Drummond, police arrested four people accused of being accessories after the fact to the homicides.
Tom Brenner For The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department is set to seek hate crime charges and the death penalty against the alleged gunman who fatally shot two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, D.C., two sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News Wednesday.
Prosecutors are poised to request that a grand jury indict Elias Rodriguez, as soon as this week, sources said.
He has remained in custody since the fatal shooting of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim outside the Capitol Jewish Museum on May 21.
Rodriguez was charged via criminal complaint with first-degree murder, murdering foreign officials and using a firearm to commit murder and a crime of violence, a day after the shooting. Interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro emphasized at the time that the charges were only initial in nature.
“A young couple at the beginning of their life’s journey, about to be engaged in another country, had their bodies removed in the cold of the night in a foreign city in a body bag. We are not going to tolerate that anymore,” Pirro said during a press briefing on May 22. “Antisemitism will not be tolerated, especially in the nation’s capital.”
Early last month, prosecutors in Rodriguez’s case sought an extension for time to return an indictment against him, noting the complex and unusual nature of the charges he was facing.
Rodriguez was seen in videos shouting “Free, Free Palestine!” inside the museum just minutes after he allegedly shot Lischinsky and Milgrim dozens of times, and later allegedly told police upon his arrest, “I did it for Palestine.”
But to secure an indictment on the new charge that Rodriguez’s acts amounted to a hate crime, prosecutors would need to have evidence that his alleged actions were motivated by antisemitism and not just hatred toward Israel and the war in Gaza.
Rodriguez has not yet entered a plea in his case. A public defender representing him did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The complaint alleges that Rodriguez shot the couple in the back and then fired again at Milgrim as she tried to crawl away.
Lischinsky, 30, was a researcher in the political department of the Israeli Embassy, while Milgrim, 26, organized U.S. missions to Israel.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a new campaign on Tuesday aimed at tackling mental health and substance use among teens ahead of the upcoming school year.
The federal campaign, entitled Free Mind, aims to provide teens and their parents or caregivers with “resources and information about substance use, mental health and the connection between the two.”
The efforts revolve around the messaging that “drugs and mental health don’t mix” according to the landing page of the new campaign on the CDC’s website.
“When you deal with lots of emotions, you might be tempted to turn to drugs and alcohol or cope by misusing medications that are not prescribed to you,” the website states.
Substance use, however, can cause or worsen anxiety, sadness, anger and depression, according to the CDC. It can also affect a patient’s memory or mood.
The CDC describes that drug overdose crisis as “constantly evolving” and “an important public health issue.”
More than 80,000 Americans died from a drug overdose last year, according to CDC data. In the last four years, 75% of overdose deaths among pre-teens and teenagers ages 10 to 19 involved illegally made fentanyl.
The number of teens reporting poor mental health has increased in the past decade, with 40% of high school students stopping regular activities because of persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness in 2023. One in five students have seriously considered attempting suicide, according to the CDC.
“Teens may use alcohol and other substances to help them cope with stress, anxiety, and depression,” said Dr. Allison Arwady, director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, in a press release.
The agency said it spoke with adolescents. about their perceptions surrounding substance use in order to develop the messaging and branding for the new campaign. The initiative “seeks to resonate with this age group by addressing the connections between substance use and mental health, risk factors that contribute to drug use, and strategies to keep them safe,” according to the CDC.
Resources were also created for parents and caregivers around youth substance use and mental health challenges.
“Talking openly about mental health and substance use, and knowing when to get professional help, is critical to helping teens stay healthy,” Arwady said. “That’s why this campaign supports youth, parents, and caregivers in having those conversations early, before an issue arises.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide – free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988.
(WASHINGTON) — Ever the developer-in-chief, President Donald Trump made a surprise appearance on the White House roof above the briefing room in an apparent effort to inspect future construction.
The press, which had been pushed significantly down the driveway, attempted to figure out what was going on.
“Mr. President, what are you doing up there?”
“Just taking a little walk,” he shouted back.
“What are you building?”
“It goes with the ballroom, which is on the other side,” he said.
Pressed again by reporters, Trump said “Something beautiful,” while pantomiming with his hands.
Trump said it was “Just more ways to spend my money,” adding “Just more ways to spend my money for the country.”
“Anything I do is financed by me,” he stressed.
Asked if he was considering an addition or a second story, Trump wouldn’t say.
The president was accompanied by a small group of aides and Secret Service. The group included architect Jim McCrery, who has been commissioned to add Trump’s ballroom to the White House. The two men appeared engaged in intense conversation as they surveyed the grounds with lots of animated pointing.
Trump then went out of camera range for several minutes, presumably to look out toward the South Lawn.
When he returned, reporters again tried to get more information.
“What are you trying to build?” one reporter shouted.
“Missiles,” Trump responded, presumably joking. “Nuclear missiles,” he repeated while making the gesture of a rocket launching.
Trump then ignored a question on Gaza and walked back inside.
(NEW YORK) — A search operation is underway in Norway for an award-winning American climate journalist, Alec Luhn, who went missing in bad weather while on a solo hike in the remote Folgefonna National Park.
Luhn, 38, who has worked for The Guardian, The New York Times and The Atlantic, was reported missing on Monday to the Norwegian authorities after he did not appear for a scheduled flight from Bergen to England.
Luhn had been on vacation with his family in the days before he set out on the hike. In England, Luhn lives with his wife, Veronika Silchenko, an Emmy-winning television journalist, who posted on social media urging anyone who may have seen Alec to get in touch.
He set out alone on the hike five days ago, on July 31, from the town of Odda on the northeast edge of the Folgefonna, a wilderness park in western Norway that is home to the country’s third-largest glacier.
Local police told Norway’s public broadcaster NRK that a volunteer search and rescue team, as well as the police, sniffer dogs and drones had renewed the search for Luhn on Tuesday before being called off due to weather conditions.
Bad weather the night before had forced the search with a helicopter to be suspended overnight, local police said.
“The weather started to get really bad around midnight. At that time, it was not reasonable to continue the search up in the mountains,” Tatjana Knappen, an operations manager at Western Police District, told NRK. Knappen said a strong gale was forecast to continue on Tuesday, but it was hoped there would be a possible window for the helicopter to operate.
The search will continue again on Wednesday, police said, according to NRK.
The Norwegian Red Cross said search operations had been ongoing throughout Tuesday. Seven Red Cross volunteers were taking part, it said, noting the search teams were local and familiar with the terrain, describing it as “particularly challenging due to difficult conditions and demanding weather.”
Silchenko said she had last heard from her husband on Thursday afternoon. Luhn sent a photo of himself and said that he was going to try to head towards a hiker’s hut at Holmaskjer on the edge of the glacier, she said. Luhn said he had planned to walk from Holmaskjer to another hut at Breidablikk, and then to Bondhusbreen, during the four-day hike, Silchenko said. But she said it was possible his plans could have changed. It was unclear if he would have attempted to cross the glacier.
Raised in the Midwest, Luhn graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2010 and worked as a foreign correspondent in Moscow for around a decade, primarily for The Guardian and The Telegraph newspapers. He later switched to focus on covering the effects of climate change. Luhn is a Pulitzer Center reporting fellow and currently writes for the Scientific American magazine. Along with a number of awards, Luhn also has two Emmy nominations.
Luhn is an experienced hiker who regularly travels to remote and challenging environments as a reporter, also often spending his vacations seeking out wildernesses, his friends and family said. He has trekked as part of a scientific expedition deep in the wilderness in Alaska and visited the Arctic in both Canada and Russia. He has also worked in conflict zones, including in Ukraine and Somalia.
Stock image of police lights. Douglas Sacha/Getty Images
(SHEARON HARRIS LAKE, N.C.) — A 10-year-old girl is dead and a woman suffered “critical injury” after a drunken boater struck swimmers in a North Carolina lake over the weekend, according to officials.
Quinten Gregory Kight, 40, has been charged with felony operating a motor vessel while under the influence, unintentionally causing serious injury to another person, in the incident on Shearon Harris Lake.
Kight was also charged with operating his motor boat on the lake negligently, endangering the life of Jennifer Ann Stahle by not looking forward in the direction of travel and being under the influence, according to court documents.
“This was a heartbreaking accident, but one that was preventable. Alcohol was a factor, and the decision to operate a boat while impaired had devastating consequences,” Chatham County Sheriff Mike Roberson said in a statement on Monday. “We urge everyone to think twice before mixing alcohol with watercraft operation. It only takes a moment for lives to be changed forever.”
Kight was arrested on Monday.
While his bond was initially set at $500,000, Kight has posted an amended bond of $250,000, according to court documents. He is not allowed to operate a motor vehicle of any kind and is subject to cam monitoring, court documents said.
Kight has been appointed a public defender but the identity of his attorney was not immediately clear from court records.
North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy. Howard Schnapp/Newsday RM via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Nuclear power on the moon is critical to the United States’ space exploration and national security goals, and the U.S. government should “move quickly” to build reactors there before its terrestrial rivals, according to a directive issued by Transportation Secretary and acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy, which was obtained by ABC News.
One full “day” on the moon is two weeks of light followed by approximately two weeks of darkness (in Earth time). Nuclear energy, referred to as fission surface power, or FSP, in the directive, is a “sustainable” and “high-powered” energy source that can survive through the lunar night and be deployed on other celestial bodies, like Mars, according to Duffy.
“We’re in a race to the moon, in a race with China to the moon,” Duffy said at a press conference on Tuesday. “And to have a base on the moon, we need energy. And some of the key locations on the moon, we’re going to get solar power. But this vision technology is critically important, and so we’ve spent hundreds of millions of dollars studying.”
“Can we do it? We are now going to move beyond studying, and we are going,” Duffy continued. “We have given direction to go. Let’s start to deploy our technology, to move to actually make this a reality.”
When reached for comment by ABC News, NASA said, “We’ll let these directives speak for themselves.”
The directive, dated July 31, calls for a “Fission Surface Power Program Executive” to be named within 30 days, who will implement and oversee the project and will report directly to the NASA administrator. It does not say what exactly the nuclear reactors would power on the moon.
“Since March 2024, China and Russia have announced on at least three occasions a joint effort to place a reactor on the Moon by the mid-2030s,” Duffy said in the directive. “The first country to do so could potentially declare a keep-out zone which would significantly inhibit the United States from establishing a planned Artemis presence if not there first.”
Politico was the first to report on this directive.
A second directive, issued on the same day by Duffy, aims to speed up the development of replacements for the International Space Station, which is set to retire by 2030.
While NASA has never used a fission nuclear reactor in space, it has been using nuclear material to power spacecraft since the 1960s. Known as radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, these systems use the heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238, a nuclear element, to create electricity for powering spacecraft and rovers. Currently, NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is using an RTG system for its power.
In recent years, billions of dollars have been spent developing a new kind of nuclear reactor called Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). These reactors produce less power than traditional reactors, but are significantly smaller in size. SMRs are still being developed in the U.S. and there are no units currently in operation.
“There’s a certain part of the moon that everyone knows is the best. We have ice there, we have sunlight there. We want to get there first and claim that for America,” Duffy said Tuesday.
Jessica Leslie, 34, pleaded guilty in a Boston federal court on Monday to a charge of criminal contempt that accused her of willfully disobeying court rules against disclosure of grand jury information, the DOJ said.
Leslie had served on the grand jury as part of the investigation into Read, who was ultimately acquitted of murder in the 2022 death of her boyfriend.
Federal prosecutors said that between Aug. 11, 2022, and March 4, 2024, Leslie disclosed “sealed information to unauthorized individuals, including the names of various witnesses appearing before a federal grand jury, the substance of witness testimony and other evidence presented to the grand jury.”
Leslie agreed to a sentence of incarceration for one day, deemed served, and 24 months of supervised release, court records said. Her sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 26.
While the charging document did not specify that Leslie was a grand juror in the Read case, sources confirmed the case to ABC News.
Federal prosecutors did not say how they learned Leslie had disclosed secret grand jury information, but sources said authorities had been monitoring social media accounts and other communications during a case that received widespread attention.
Read was originally indicted by a Boston grand jury in June 2022 in the death of her police officer boyfriend John O’Keefe. Prosecutors alleged Read hit O’Keefe with her car outside the home of a fellow police officer after a night of heavy drinking in January 2022 and then left him to die there during a major blizzard.
The first trial ended in a mistrial last year after the jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict.
In a second trial that ended in June, Read was found not guilty of the most serious charges against her — murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident. She was convicted of operating under the influence of liquor and sentenced to one year of probation.
