Gerard Bottino/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Another Navy fighter jet sank to the bottom of the Red Sea on Tuesday following the second such mishap aboard the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in just over a week, a U.S. official told ABC News.
The F/A-18 F fighter jet was attempting a nighttime landing onto the deck of the carrier when the crew was unable to stop it in time before going off the side, according to the official. When the “failed arrestment” of the aircraft became apparent, the two pilots ejected.
Both of the pilots were recovered and early indications are that they suffered minor injuries, the official said. No other injuries were reported.
The incident happened at 8:45 p.m. local time in the Red Sea, according to the official. It was not immediately unclear what led to the failed arrestment during the landing.
The incident is the fourth major mishap involving the carrier since it deployed last year, including when another F/A-18 jet fell off the side of the Truman just eight days ago. That jet was being towed in the hangar bay when the crew lost control of the aircraft, which then tumbled off the side along with the tow truck.
An investigation into the April 28 incident remains underway. F/A-18 jets cost some $70 million each.
In February, the Truman collided with a large merchant vessel in the vicinity of Port Said, Egypt, in the Mediterranean Sea. That incident followed an accidental shootdown of another F/A-18 late last year by one of the surface ships belonging to the Truman strike group.
The Truman has been operating in the Red Sea since last year when it was deployed to help protect commercial ships against near-constant attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The carrier was slated to come home last month, but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended its deployment while ordering another carrier — the USS Carl Vinson — to the region to bolster military power.
President Donald Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. would stop bombing the Houthis because the rebel group had agreed to stand down. A senior Houthi official said the group was not immediately agreeing to a U.S.-proposed ceasefire, saying they had to evaluate it first.
Angelika Warmuth/picture alliance via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Temperatures are beginning to warm up, indicating the arrival of spring — and of allergy season for millions of Americans.
Research shows that allergy seasons may be hitting people harder by starting earlier, lasting longer and creating more pollen.
Growing seasons — the time of year that conditions allow plants to grow — start earlier and last longer than they did 30 years ago, according to a report from the Allergy and Asthma Foundation of America.
Additionally, pollen concentrations have increased up to 21% across North America over the last three decades, data from the USA National Phenology Network shows.
Allergists told ABC News a mix of climate change and more carbon emissions has led to plants in many areas having longer growing seasons and higher pollen counts.
“Research has definitely shown that the seasons are indeed expanding,” Dr. William Reisacher, an otolaryngic allergist at Weill Cornell Medicine and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, told ABC News. “We’re seeing longer pollinating seasons. We’re seeing higher levels of pollen.”
What causes seasonal allergies?
Allergies occur when the immune system views food, medicine, plants or something else as a harmful substance and overreacts.
Some seasonal allergies, also known as allergic rhinitis or hay fever, occur due to pollen, which are tiny grains that are dispersed from certain flowering plants.
“Allergies are essentially your immune system overreacting to things that you’re exposed to in your environment,” Dr. Thanai Pongdee, a consultant allergist-immunologist at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, told ABC News. “So, for example, if you have hay fever and are allergic to tree pollen or grass pollen this time of year, when you breathe that pollen in, your immune system recognizes it and causes a cascade of events where various chemicals get released — one of the main ones being histamine, and these chemicals cause the symptoms that many experience.”
This leads to symptoms including runny nose, sneezing, congestion and itchy, watery eyes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Reactions can range from mildly annoying symptoms to life-threatening reactions including anaphylactic shock, which can cause multiple organs to fail.
As of 2021, an estimated 25.7% of U.S. adults and 18.9% of U.S. children have seasonal allergies, according to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Why are allergy seasons getting longer?
Allergy season typically begins in the spring, around March, and typically ends in the fall, lasting as late as November.
“When we refer to seasonal allergic rhinitis, we are usually referring to allergic symptoms that occupy a certain time of the year,” Reisacher said.
“So, springtime, at least in the northeast, is typically when the trees are pollinating whereas in the summertime, we see the grass is pollinating, and then in the fall, it’s all about the weeds,” he continued. “Ragweed is the most common pollen present at that time of the year.”
However, research has suggested that allergy seasons are getting longer and worse.
“Allergy season is getting longer — in fact it is an average of 13 days longer compared with 20 years ago,” Dr. Purvi Parikh, an allergist and immunologist at NYU Langone Health, told ABC News.
A 2022 study from the University of Michigan found that, by the end of the century, pollen emissions could begin 40 days earlier in the spring than occurred between 1995 and 2014, meaning there could be an additional 19 days of high pollen counts.
Allergists say climate change is one of the biggest reasons why allergy seasons are getting longer.
A 2021 study found human-caused climate change is worsening North American pollen season, causing them to lengthen by 20 days on average between 1990 and 2018.
Reisacher said that as the globe experiences warmer temperatures each year, more storms are occurring, which kicks up more pollen.
“It travels for many more miles on the wind, and it makes it more allergenic, so it gets deeper into our body, into our lungs and even through the tissues that protect our body,” he said.
The warming planet also means that it’s taking longer to see the first frost, which usually occurs in the fall and hold pollen underground, he said. A longer time to get to the first frost means pollen has a longer time to stay in the air.
Reisacher said greenhouse gases are another reason for the longer allergy season. He said more carbon dioxide has been released into the air due to fossil fuels. Plants feed off carbon dioxide, and this has released more pollen into the air.
“There has been a direct correlation between the levels of [carbon dioxide] in the atmosphere and the amount of pollen that plants, including ragweed, are producing,” he said. “So, it’s hard to deny that that is a factor.”
Reisacher and Parikh say this means there will likely be more people who experience seasonal allergies over the next several years.
How to treat seasonal allergies Allergists said there are a number of over-the-counter medications that people can try as well as nasal sprays and rinses.
Some are tailored to relieve symptoms while others are used to prevent symptoms. Additionally, only certain medications work for certain symptoms.
“Start with 24-hour antihistamines. They last longer with fewer side effects,” Parikh said. “[You] can also add nasal steroid or antihistamine sprays as well as eye drops. However, if you aren’t improving, please see an allergist.”
Pongdee said allergy shots may be effective for those who are looking for long-term solutions and are not relief from daily medication.
Reisacher recommends starting medications a few weeks before allergy season starts because they need time to take effect.
He said there are also steps people can take to at home to prevent pollen from coming indoors including keeping windows closed in the early morning when pollination is higher, using air conditioner filters. separating indoor and outdoor clothing and showeing to get pollen off skin and out of hair.
“You want to create a safe haven, and that’s your bedroom,” Reisacher said. “You want to create a pollen-free environment in your bedroom so that at least you have seven or eight hours that your immune system can rest without having to react to pollen.”
(WASHINGTON) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement allegedly conducted raids targeting businesses in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.
A coalition of activists had warned delivery drivers and restaurants of the planned enforcement one day prior.
“I have heard those reports, I’ve been getting them all morning. I am disturbed by them,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters Tuesday. “It appears that ICE is at restaurants or even in neighborhoods, and it doesn’t look like they’re targeting criminals. It is disrupting.”
She also emphasized that the Metropolitan Police Department was not involved.
George Escobar, chief of programs and services at CASA, an organization geared toward improving quality of life for working-class Americans, told ABC News by phone on Tuesday that the organization regularly receives tips about planned raids — but this one was different.
“This one, to be honest, alarmed us a little bit, because it was really specific,” Escobar told ABC News.
The organization has run a 24-hour tip hotline since the first Trump administration.
“We’re experienced. We don’t get alarmed by, like, you know, any old threat, because, you know, they’re frequent, right? And they come in all different, all different types of forms,” he said.
However, in this instance, CASA was warned that ICE would be using President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at the “beautification” of the U.S. capital to justify the raids, Escobar said.
“We received notice about a specific kind of operation on how they were going to be conducted: what the pretense of maybe entering some of these small businesses were going to be, the fact that they were looking specifically at food businesses and possibly delivery workers,” he explained.
ABC News reached out to the Department of Homeland Security and ICE for comment but has not yet received a response.
“If ICE wants to snatch up every single immigrant working in food service and delivery, then the entire industry will collapse,” Amy Fischer, a core organizer with Migrant Solidarity Mutual Aid, which supports migrants arriving in the capital, said in a statement.
The Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington — which represents the more than 60,000 restaurant workers in the area — said in a statement shared with ABC News that it was “deeply concerned” by the reports of ICE raids and drop-ins across Washington, D.C.
RAMW said it urges “policymakers on a local and federal level to consider the real-world impact on local businesses and communities.”
“Immigrants make up a significant portion of our workforce at all levels. From dishwashers to executive chefs to restaurant owners, immigrants are irreplaceable contributors to our most celebrated restaurants and beloved neighborhood establishments,” the statement said. “The immigrant workforce has been essential to sustaining and growing our local restaurant industry and has been a major contributor to our local economy.”
“At a time when our economy is already fragile, losing even one staff member at a single establishment has a profound impact on the operations of a restaurant and its ability to serve patrons, RAMW added. “Disrupting restaurant staffing across the industry can create a damaging ripple effect felt immediately throughout the entire local economy.”
(SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, OHIO) — A woman has been arrested after a raccoon named Chewy was found holding a meth pipe in the driver’s seat of her car in what police are calling a “strange encounter on patrol” in Ohio.
The incident occurred on Monday at approximately 7:15 p.m. when Springfield Township police officer Austin Branham decided to conduct a traffic stop on South Arlington Road after identifying a vehicle whose registered owner had an active warrant and a suspended driver’s license, according to a statement from the Springfield Township Police Department released on Tuesday.
When Officer Branham approached the car, he found 55-year-old Victoria Vidal of Akron, Ohio, and was able to detain her without incident, authorities said.
“However, things took an unusual turn,” according to the police statement, “As Officer Branham returned to the vehicle, he observed a raccoon named “Chewy” sitting in the driver’s seat with a meth pipe in its mouth. Chewy had somehow gotten hold of a glass methamphetamine pipe, leading officers to further inspect the vehicle.”
Police did confirm that Chewy was a pet raccoon and that he was not a wild animal after Vidal had the appropriate paperwork and documentation to own him.
However, a subsequent search revealed that Vidal’s car contained a bulk amount of methamphetamine, crack cocaine and three used glass methamphetamine pipes, police said.
Vidal was charged with F3 possession of drugs, three counts of possession of drug paraphernalia and was cited for driving under suspension, authorities said.
She was also subsequently turned over to Cuyahoga Falls Police on her active warrant where additional charges related to crack cocaine possession will be presented at a grand jury pending lab results.
“Thankfully, Chewy the raccoon was unharmed, and notification was made to the proper authorities to determine that she has the proper paperwork and documentation to own the racoon,” police said. “While our officers are trained to expect the unexpected, finding a raccoon holding a meth pipe is a first!”
“No raccoons were hurt or injured in this incident,” authorities confirmed. “As always, we remain committed to keeping our community safe — no matter what surprises may come our way.”
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois has announced his bid to run for Senate in 2026, confirming speculations that he would join the quickly expanding field of primary competitors looking to win the safe Democratic seat left open by Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who is retiring at the end of his term.
In an interview with ABC News, the five-term congressman said he’s running on a record of confronting “bullies” like Donald Trump and is keenly focused on opposing agencies such as the Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk.
“I have a track record of standing up to Donald Trump in Congress. I voted for impeaching him twice, but I also … played a big role in the first impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill,” said Krishnamoorthi, who entered the House in 2016, now serves as the top Democrat on the House’s China select committee on the Chinese Communist Party and is a senior member of the Intelligence and Oversight committees.
“But I have a track record of standing up to lots of bullies, whether it’s the e-cigarette companies that prey on our youth and try to hook them on vapes or it’s Purdue pharmaceuticals that try to hook a generation to Oxycontin. I’ve gone after all of them. They put a target on my back, but I got results, and now we need results with Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE,” he added.
Krishnamoorthi added that he is running to fight for the economic prosperity of Illinoisans who are “suffering under the economic chaos unleashed by Donald Trump, Elon Musk and DOGE.”
“We need to focus like a laser on their economic problems right now, even at the same time that we’re standing up to Donald Trump,” he told ABC News.
Krishnamoorthi’s bid will kick off with three campaign stops on Friday as he “vows to ‘stand up and fight back’ against Trump’s agenda. The congressman, who represents much of Chicago’s northwestern suburbs, will make stops in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, and in Schaumburg, Illinois, where he currently lives.
“My roots are in Peoria. I represent the suburbs. I’ve worked in the city for many years. So I want to try to trace that journey that I’ve had in Illinois but also speak to as many people as possible across Illinois,” he told ABC News.
In an announcement video released on Wednesday, Krishnamoorthi called the actions occurring within the White House “insanity” and suggested that he is a Democrat who can “fight back” against the Trump administration. The Democratic Party is grappling with questions over its political direction following the startling loss of all three branches of government during the 2024 elections.
“People want to know, at this moment, in this time, where is the power to fight back? What does it look like?” Krishnamoorthi said in the video. “Well, I’ll tell you: It looks like you and you and you, all of us ready to stand up and fight back. I spent my life standing up to bullies, fighting for everyday people. So I’ll never be quiet while billionaires like Elon Musk and a convicted felon deny the dreams of the next generation for their own egos and personal profit. That’s why I’m running for the United States Senate.”
The Harvard University-educated lawyer who received his undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Princeton University was born in central Illinois to Indian immigrants.
Ahead of his election to Congress, Krishnamoorthi served in a number of state roles and as a policy director in the Obama administration. In his announcement video released on Wednesday, the congressman referred to himself as “Raja” and referenced the fact that former President Barack Obama, too, had an ethnically ambiguous sounding name, saying, “I worked on a friend’s campaign who showed that Illinois will give you a shot even if you have a funny name. And inspired by Barack’s example, I was elected to Congress.”
“Yes, I know the name is long, so like always, just call me Raja,” he concluded the video.
Krishnamoorthi, one of the front-runners in the already hotly contested race, has amassed over a $19 million war chest ahead of his launch, with a stunning $3 million raised in just the first three months of 2025.
His bid comes after Durbin announced in April that he would not seek a sixth term. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton jumped in the race less than 48 hours after Durbin’s announcement and quickly earned the endorsements of billionaire Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Illinois’ other senator, Tammy Duckworth.
“At the end of the day, the most important thing is I get the endorsement from the people of Illinois,” Krishnamoorthi told ABC News when asked about his posture among the already crowded primary field.
“They need to have their say. … We need to make sure that the process plays out, unfolds, that they are able to kick the tires and assess who they want to hire to represent them in the U.S. Senate, and I’m going to do everything in my power to earn their support,” he added.
Krishnamoorthi’s announcement also comes just a day after his colleague, Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., declared her own bid for the seat. In an announcement video posted on Tuesday, Kelly brought up how in Congress, she does not stand up during moments of silence to mark mass shootings because, she said, “moments of silence in Congress just aren’t going to cut it anymore.”
Kelly is also the former Illinois Democratic Party chairwoman and a member of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ leadership team. It’s reported that Rep. Lauren Underwood, who is also a member of Jeffries’ leadership circle, is still exploring a run for the seat.
Krishnamoorthi told ABC News that his record, paired with his ability to “stand up” to Trump distinctly, makes him uniquely positioned for the role.
“I think that your track record matters. I think that the diversity of your experiences, plus … where you come from, I think that matters,” he said. “I think that most of all, who is going to be the most effective at standing up to Donald Trump but also delivering for constituents?”
Durbin said he doesn’t plan on endorsing any particular candidate but is not ruling out the possibility in an “extreme case.”
“I hope I do not have to,” Durbin said.
Still, Krishnamoorthi linked himself to Durbin as he launched his bid for Senate on Wednesday, lauding him as a “titan” who was a “fellow son of downstate.”
“Senator Dick Durbin is a titan who will go down as one of the most effective and dedicated public servants in Illinois history. I am deeply humbled by the encouragement I have received from friends, family members, and community leaders encouraging me, a fellow son of downstate, to run for the U.S. Senate,” Krishnamoorthi said in a statement announcing his candidacy.
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday is set to announce its first decision on the level of interest rates since President Donald Trump last month intensified calls for lower borrowing costs and voiced eagerness about the potential “termination” of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
In recent days, Trump has dialed back his attacks on Powell, saying he will not fire Powell before the end of the top central banker’s term next year. Trump has reiterated his displeasure with the level of interest rates, however, urging the central bank to lower them.
Despite pressure from the White House, Powell is widely expected to hold interest rates steady, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment. The central bank’s benchmark interest rate currently stands at an elevated level of between 4.25% and 4.5%.
The rate decision arrives days after fresh data showed robust job growth in April, defying some fears of a hiring slowdown in the aftermath of Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement early last month.
Despite flagging consumer sentiment and market turmoil, the labor market has provided a bright spot since Trump took office. Meanwhile, inflation cooled in March, the most recent month for which data is available.
Last month, Powell raised the possibility that Trump’s tariffs may cause what economists call “stagflation,” which is when inflation rises and the economy slows.
If the Fed raises interest rates as a means of protecting against tariff-induced inflation under such a scenario, it risks stifling borrowing and slowing the economy further. On the other hand, if the Fed lowers rates to stimulate the economy in the face of a potential slowdown, it threatens to boost spending and worsen inflation.
Still, Powell pointed to solid economic performance as reason to take a patient approach as policymakers await the impact of tariffs.
“For the time being, we are well positioned to wait for greater clarity,” Powell told an audience at the Economic Club of Chicago. “Life moves pretty fast.”
Recession fears are mounting on Wall Street as Trump’s tariffs threaten to upend global trade. Goldman Sachs earlier this month hiked its odds of a recession from 35% to 45%. JPMorgan pegged the probability of a recession this year at 60%.
A government report last week showed the U.S. economy shrank over the first three months of 2025, much of which took place as Trump’s flurry of tariff proposals stoked uncertainty among businesses and consumers.
U.S. gross domestic product, or GDP, declined at a 0.3% annualized rate over three months ending in March, according to government data released on Wednesday. The figure marked a sharp dropoff from 2.4% annualized growth over the final three months of 2024.
The rate decision on Wednesday also marks the first adjustment of borrowing costs since Trump’s closely watched “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2, which triggered the biggest single-day stock market drop since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Days later, Trump suspended a major swathe of the tariffs, sending the market to one of its largest ever single-day increases. A simultaneous escalation of tariffs on Chinese goods kept the effective tariff rate at its highest level in more than a century, the Yale Budget Lab found.
The White House is seeking to strike trade agreements with dozens of U.S. trade partners before the 90-day suspension of so-called “reciprocal tariffs” expires in July.
“As we gain a better understanding of the policy changes, we will have a better sense of the implications for the economy,” Powell said last month.
(VATICAN CITY) — The papal conclave, the secretive election process to elect the next leader of the Roman Catholic Church, commences on Wednesday, bringing cardinals from all over the world to select the 267th pope.
Since the death of Pope Francis on April 21, a total of 220 cardinals — the church’s highest-ranking clergy — have gathered in Rome to mourn the loss of the former pontiff and begin the secret conclave.
Overall, 133 cardinals will be voting during the conclave, the most electors ever, with 108 of them appointed by Pope Francis. All cardinals under the age of 80 are eligible to participate in the election process.
The majority of the cardinals are coming from Europe, including 17 electors from Italy, five from Spain and five from France. There are 16 cardinal electors from North America, including 10 from the United States. Additionally, there are four from Central America, 17 from South America, 18 from Africa, 23 from Asia and four from Oceania. Argentina, the home country of Francis, has four cardinal electors.
All 220 cardinals are expected to attend a mass at St. Peter’s Basilica on Wednesday morning at approximately 10 a.m. local time. The voting cardinals will then proceed to the Pauline Chapel and then process to the Sistine Chapel at approximately 4:30 p.m. local time, where the voting will take place.
All of the cardinal electors will take an oath of secrecy before beginning to vote twice daily, two times in the morning and two times in the evening. Voting will commence when the Master of Ceremony says “extra omnes” — or “everyone out” — at approximately 5 p.m. local time. The voting will continue until two-thirds of the cardinals have agreed on a pope.
The ballots are burned after each vote and the smoke will emanate from the chimney that was built on top of the Sistine Chapel. Black smoke signifies a decision has not been reached and the voting will continue, whereas white smoke will mean a new holy leader of the church has been confirmed.
A pope could be elected as soon as the first ballot, or the process could continue for days. Since 1831, no conclave has lasted for more than four days.
Up to four rounds of voting typically take place in a day. If no clear choice has emerged after three days, balloting is suspended for 24 hours to allow cardinal electors time to reflect. Another seven rounds of balloting then takes place, followed by another break, and so on.
If no pope is elected after 33 or 34 votes — generally about 13 days — then a new rule introduced by Pope Benedict XVI decrees the two leading candidates as determined by previous ballots will engage in a runoff vote. If the candidates are members of the conclave, they cannot vote in the runoff but are present for it. Whichever candidate receives the necessary two-thirds majority of the votes is the new pope.
Cardinal Jean-Paul Vesco, the archbishop of Algiers, told ABC News it would be “unexpected” if the conclave goes past Friday.
Similarly, the cardinal of Baghdad, Louis Raphael Sako, reportedly told journalists at the Vatican last week that he expects a “short conclave.”
“It will be a short conclave, two, three days,” Sako said, as quoted by Italy’s ANSA news agency.
When asked if he had an idea of who he would vote for to become the new pope, Sako replied, “I have a very clear idea but I cannot say it.”
Names of cardinals who appear to be front-runners for the papacy have been swirling since the death of Francis.
Any baptized Catholic male is eligible to take Francis’ place, but experts said Pietro Parolin, the cardinal secretary of state, and Luis Tagle, the archbishop of Manila in the Philippines, are the top contenders.
An American cardinal, Robert Prevost, has also started to emerge as a front-runner, according to Father James Martin, a papal contributor for ABC.
Overall, Martin said cardinals will be looking for “someone who is holy, someone who is a good evangelizer who can proclaim the gospel and someone who is a good manager.”
“Those three things are tough to find in one person,” Martin said Monday on ABC News Live.
During the conclave, recording technology of any kind is forbidden, with technicians checking to ensure there are no secretly installed bugs or other like devices inside the Sistine Chapel or adjacent areas. The cardinals’ cellphones will be taken away at the start of the conclave and will be returned to them after the election of the new pope.
ABC News’ Christopher Watson and Phoebe Natanson contributed to this report.
Kat Cisar and her six-year-old twins, who attend a Milwaukee school that was found to have hazardous lead in the building. (ABC News)
(MILWAUKEE) — Kat Cisar, a mother of 6-year-old twins, found out in late February that her kids were potentially being exposed to harmful lead paint and dust at their Milwaukee school. By May, their school was on a growing list of eight others across the city, found to have degrading, chipping interiors that were putting children at risk.
Several schools have had to temporarily close for remediation efforts, including the one Cisar’s kids attend.
“We put a lot of faith in our institutions, in our schools, and it’s just so disheartening when those systems fail,” Cisar said.
Milwaukee’s lead crisis began late last year, when a young student’s high blood lead levels were traced back to the student’s school.
Since then, health officials have been combing through other Milwaukee schools to find deteriorated conditions that could harm more children. The plan now is to inspect roughly half of the district’s 106 schools built before 1978 — when lead paint was banned — in time for school to return in the fall. They plan to inspect the other half before the end of the year.
In the last few months, tests have turned up elevated blood lead levels in at least three more students, and the health department expects that number to grow as it continues to offer free testing clinics around the city.
Lead exposure — especially harmful for young children — can cause growth delays, attention disorders and even brain damage, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Cisar’s own children’s tests for lead levels showed no acute poisoning, but Cisar said they’ll have to keep monitoring it. Her children attended the school for three years.
“When you have little kids who are 3, 4, 5, 6 years old in a classroom like that, that’s worrisome,” she said.
The local impacts of federal cuts
Despite public health officials’ requests, federal help is not coming to Milwaukee — for now. The CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health was gutted on April 1, as part of the Trump administration’s effort to lay off 10,000 employees at the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), which oversees agencies like FDA and CDC.
The cuts included lead exposure experts who were planning to fly to Milwaukee later that month to help the city respond to the situation.
That has complicated the on-the-ground response, Milwaukee Commissioner of Health Mike Totaraitis told ABC News.
“We rely on the federal government for that expertise,” Totoraitis said. “So to see that eliminated overnight was hard to describe, to say the least.”
Erik Svendsen, division director of the CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health before it was eliminated, said the layoffs have left Milwaukee on its own.
“Without us, there is no other unit at the federal level that is here to support them in doing what they need to do,” Svendsen told ABC News.
And not just when it comes to this lead crisis, Svendsen said. Milwaukee — and other cities — won’t have CDC assistance for other environmental threats that affect the buildings people use, the air people breathe and the water they drink, he said.
“States and local public health departments are on their own now as we prepare for the heat, wildfire, algal bloom, tornado, flood and hurricane seasons,” Svendsen said.
An HHS spokesperson told ABC News the CDC’s lead prevention work will be consolidated under a new division under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — though Svendsen said he and his team have not been rehired.
Without the experts, Svendsen said the future of the work is still in limbo.
For his part, Totoraitis, the Milwaukee health commissioner, said he empathizes with the frustration expressed by parents — some of whom argue that the issue began at a local level and should be solved there.
“Putting my feet in the parents’ shoes… thinking, ‘Hey, I’m sending my kid to school, it should be safe, it should be free of lead hazards’ — and unfortunately, that’s not what we found,” Totoraitis said.
“We found that systemic issues of poor maintenance and poor cleaning had left countless hazards across multiple schools that really put students at danger,” he said.
But the extent of the problem, Totoraitis said, only furthered his department’s reliance on the experts at the CDC, with whom he said they’d been constantly in contact with for the last few months.
Funding crunch: Hire more teachers or paint a wall?
Buildings in the U.S. built before 1978 can be properly maintained by locking the old paint under layers of fresh new paint. But budget constraints in Milwaukee delayed that upkeep, officials said.
“Underfunding in schools for many, many years has really put districts at a very difficult choice of whether they should have teachers in the classroom and lower class sizes or have a paraprofessional to support — or whether they paint a wall,” said Brenda Cassillius, who started as Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent one month ago.
“And so I think now we are learning and growing,” Cassillius said, to “make sure that we have the resources in place to deal with these really serious infrastructure issues.”
Cisar, whose twins are back at their school after cleanup efforts, said she still feels like there’s lots of blame to go around.
The lack of CDC resources, she said, has only compounded a longstanding issue in Milwaukee. But she said the lack of federal support has been disheartening, nonetheless.
“Maybe that would have just been a little bit of help — but it really sends the message of, ‘You don’t matter,'” she said.
(LONDON and DELHI) — More than 26 people were killed and dozens more were injured overnight in Pakistan by Indian aerial attacks, Pakistani officials said.
The Pakistani military said the assault amounted to a “blatant act of aggression,” a characterization disputed by an Indian official, who said it was a “measured, non-escalatory, proportionate and responsible.”
The strike, which followed Tuesday’s missile assault, came amid rising tension as India continued to blame Pakistan for a deadly attack in April in the disputed Kashmir region, a claim that Pakistan denies. That militant attack, known as the Pahalgam incident, left 26 people dead in Indian-held Kashmir.
Pakistani military officials on Tuesday had vowed to respond from the “air and ground.” Officials this morning repeated that warning, saying it “reserves the right to respond, in self-defense, at a time, place, and manner of its choosing.” A statement released by the Pakistan National Security Commitee after a meeting of the committee says “the Armed Forces of Pakistan have duly been authorized to undertake corresponding actions in this regard.”
The Indian Army confirmed New Delhi’s latest strikes on Wednesday, saying in a statement that its forces were “responding appropriately in a calibrated manner.”
Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said India’s strikes overnight amounted to a preemptive action, saying Pakistan did not take sufficient steps against “terrorist infrastructure on its territory or on territory under its control.”
Two military officials also described the attack, which they said involved nine locations and lasted about 25 minutes. The officials claim the targets were destroyed and that the Indian military is prepared to respond to what she characterizes as “Pakistani misadventures” that would “escalate the situation.”
Pakistan said the airstrikes hit numerous locations in Pakistan, not just in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Pakistan also claimed that India hit a hydroelectric dam in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.
At least 46 people were injured in Pakistan, military spokesperson Lt. Gen. Ahmed Sharif Chaudhry said in a press conference on Wednesday. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had summoned India’s top diplomat in Pakistan.
The attack “constitutes a clear violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement, adding, “The Indian side was warned that such reckless behavior poses a serious threat to regional peace and stability.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(PAKISTAN) — India fired several missiles into Pakistan overnight on Tuesday, according to the Pakistani army, which said it has responded from the “air and ground.”
The attacks, labeled Operation Sindoor, targeted nine sites of “terrorist infrastructure” in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir, according to the Indian Defense Ministry.
The Pakistani army said India attacked Kotli, Muzaffaabad and Bahawalpur. Three people were killed and 12 injured, the Pakistani army said.
Following the strikes, the Indian army said, “Justice is served.”
India has blamed Pakistan for a deadly attack in the disputed Kashmir region that occurred in April. The militant attack, known as the Pahalgam incident, left 26 people dead in Indian-held Kashmir.
Pakistan said in late April it had credible evidence India intended to carry out military action against Pakistan in the coming days, according to Pakistani Information Minister Attaullah Tarar.
ABC News’ Habibullah Khan contributed to this report.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
