(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.
(GEORGIA) — A man who has been detained for more than six weeks after being accused of attempting to kidnap a 2-year-old boy at a Walmart in Georgia was granted bond on Tuesday in a case that prosecutors called “unusual.”
Mahendra Patel, 57, of Kennesaw, was arrested and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on attempted kidnapping, battery and assault charges stemming from an incident reported at a Walmart in Acworth on March 18. The case has garnered local and national attention after his defense attorney, Ashleigh Merchant, released surveillance footage that she said proves his innocence.
During a bond hearing on Tuesday, Merchant said Patel was looking for Tylenol for his mother when he approached the mother of the toddler, Caroline Miller, for help. Miller was riding in a motorized cart with her two young children at the time, though Merchant noted she is not physically disabled.
While showing an edited compilation of the surveillance footage showing Patel and Miller in the store, Merchant argued that Patel was offering to hold the toddler while Miller pointed out where the medicine was.
“The video couldn’t be clearer,” Merchant told the judge. “Mr. Patel did not try to kidnap this child.”
She said that after leaning in to reach for the child, Patel “immediately backs up” and puts his hands in his pockets when Miller leans back. She said he went by her several more times before paying for the Tylenol and leaving the store. She said he interacted with other Walmart employees, including one who referred to him as a “friendly older gentleman.”
In asking for a $10,000 bond, she argued that Patel wasn’t a flight risk and had strong ties to the community. She also said that over 250 people, including family members and neighbors, had come to the courthouse that day in support of his release.
“He had a birthday two weeks ago in the Cobb County Jail,” she said. “We just ask that you release him on bond.”
Prosecutor Jesse Evans requested that Patel remain held on bond while citing the defendant’s alleged admissions and his prior criminal history.
Evans showed a clip from the surveillance footage that he said shows Patel grabbing the two-year-old boy’s leg while he’s in his mother’s lap and “tugging the child … away from the mom” and Miller trying to pull the child back to her lap.
“I know there’s a narrated, edited version that was presented by the defense,” Evans told the judge. “The state would say, if you don’t take a closer look, it might cause concerns. But when you do take a closer look, you can see him tugging on this child.”
Miller spoke out following the incident in March, telling Atlanta ABC affiliate WSB she and Patel were “tug-of-warring” over her child. Evans said Miller was on the Zoom call for the hearing and has been “deferential to the state” in the case.
“She is of the belief that the defendant needs treatment,” he told the judge. “I, too, am of the belief that this defendant has got some serious issues that we’ve got to talk about.”
Patel was initially arrested on a kidnapping charge. Evans said the state believes attempted kidnapping is the more appropriate charge, which is why they had “some urgency” to get it to a grand jury, which ultimately indicted him on attempted kidnapping.
“I think the general public thinks about kidnapping, has this visual image of white vans just snatching kids off the street,” Evans said. “And the court knows and state knows, the defense knows, legal experts know, that’s not the legal definition of kidnapping. It’s the slight asportation of a person against their will.”
Evans said the state is “not oblivious to the fact that this is a very bizarre set of circumstances,” but argued that the defendant “encroached on the space of this mother and her two children.”
He said there was a witness in the next aisle who was “unnerved by what he had seen.”
The prosecutor also argued that Patel made “a number of admissions” to police following his arrest on March 21 that were “telling where his mindset is.”
“He admitted that he grabbed the child, he admitted that he upset the mom,” Evans said. “To quote him, ‘She thought I was going to take her kid. I said, No, no, no.'”
Evans said that when Patel saw Miller on the phone before he left the store, he allegedly “pleaded with her” and said he was “not going to take your kid.”
“At the tail end of his interview, he said he wanted to apologize to her for what he had done,” Evans said.
Evans also noted that Patel is a convicted felon, saying the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a federal case in 2006 and served six months in federal prison. Merchant, who also addressed the defendant’s criminal history, said Patel was additionally previously convicted of reckless driving and has a pending DUI less safe case for which he was out on bond at the time of his arrest in March.
“This is his fourth arrest,” Evans said, saying the state does not consider Patel a good candidate for bond “based on the history we have here.”
He also alleged Patel may have been intoxicated at the time of the March 18 incident in Walmart, which Merchant countered there was “absolutely no evidence of.”
Judge Gregory Poole granted Patel $10,000 bond, saying that he’s “entitled to a bond,” citing his ties to the community and education.
“He’s got all he needs to show me he’s a member of our community,” Poole said.
The judge said he didn’t find anything in the defendant’s criminal history that made him believe Patel posed a risk to the community, and that based on the video, he saw no flight risk.
There was a large applause in the courtroom following the hearing.
Patel posted bond and could be seen leaving the Cobb County Jail later Tuesday, WSB reported.
(WASHINGTON) — Escalating an ongoing clash between President Donald Trump’s administration and Harvard University, the Department of Education announced Harvard is ineligible for new research grants unless it agrees with compliance criteria.
“Harvard is not eligible for any new grants from the federal government until they demonstrate responsible management of the university,” a senior official from the Department of Education said on a call with reporters on Monday.
The pause extends to medical research funding, according to the senior official, but does not impact federal student aid.
The official said public confidence in the university is at an all-time low — and that Harvard has failed to combat antisemitism and discrimination on its campus.
It has also abandoned the rigor of academic excellence and has become a leftist institution with “zero viewpoint diversity,” according to the official, who said that only 3% of Harvard’s faculty identifies as conservative.
“Today, we received another letter from the administration doubling down on demands that would impose unprecedented and improper control over Harvard University and would have chilling implications for higher education,” Harvard said in a statement to ABC News.
The statement called the move retaliatory and implied that its efforts are illegal.
“Harvard will continue to comply with the law, promote and encourage respect for viewpoint diversity, and combat antisemitism in our community,” it said, adding that the school would “continue to defend against illegal government overreach.
The weeks-long feud between Trump and Harvard stems from several investigations by federal agencies, including the Department of Education and the Health and Human Services Department. They are probing into accusations ranging from failure to disclose foreign gifts to discrimination on the basis of race within the Harvard Law Review.
The administration launched a wide-reaching antisemitism task force review, which froze 2.2 billion dollars in funding for the institution last month.
But the university has refused to comply with demands, with Harvard President Alan Garber claiming that Trump has exceeded his executive authority.
“No government—regardless of which party is in power—should dictate what private universities can teach, whom they can admit and hire, and which areas of study and inquiry they can pursue,” Garber wrote in a statement to the Harvard community in April.
In order for Harvard to return to compliance under federal law, the university would have to come into agreement with the administration, according to the senior official.
There was no announcement about the university’s tax-exempt status, which Trump threatened to take away on May 2.
The president can’t unilaterally revoke a school’s tax-exempt status under federal law, but sources told ABC News that the Internal Revenue Service is considering revoking the school’s status.
A Harvard spokesperson told ABC News last week that there’s no “legal basis” to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status and that it would endanger the school’s ability to carry out its mission.
“The tax exemption means that more of every dollar can go toward scholarships for students, lifesaving and life-enhancing medical research, and technological advancements that drive economic growth,” the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.
The move would not only lead to “lost opportunities for innovation” for Harvard itself, the spokesperson said.
“The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America,” they explained.
Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to reflect that the Education Department did not announce an immediate pause on Harvard’s grant funding — that there is no freeze on any additional existing grants beyond the previously announced $2.2 billion.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump made a surprise announcement on Tuesday that the United States would stop bombing the Houthis in Yemen, insisting that the rebel group had agreed to stop attacking U.S. ships in the Red Sea.
“They’ve announced to us at least that they don’t want to fight anymore,” Trump said during an Oval Office photo-op with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. “They just don’t want to fight, and we will honor that.”
“And, they have capitulated,” he added. “But more importantly, they — we will take their word. They say they will not be blowing up ships anymore.”
The move caps off weeks of costly attacks and threats delivered by the Trump administration, which led to a major shakeup of the president’s national security team.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry of Oman confirmed the announcement in an X post on Tuesday.
“Following recent discussions and contacts conducted by the Sultanate of Oman with the United States and the relevant authorities in Sana’a, in the Republic of Yemen, with the aim of de-escalation, efforts have resulted in a ceasefire agreement between the two sides,” the Foreign Ministry of Oman said in the statement.
“In the future, neither side will target the other, including American vessels, in the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab Strait, ensuring freedom of navigation and the smooth flow of international commercial shipping,” it added.
However, Mohammed Ali al Houthi, a member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council, said the Houthis are not immediately agreeing to the U.S.-proposed ceasefire.
The Houthis will “evaluate” the U.S. ceasefire proposal “on the ground first,” he posted on X Tuesday afternoon.
When asked by ABC News for more details on the announcement, U.S. Central Command deferred to the White House.
Trump was pressed by reporters for more details about how the deal with the Houthis came together, but he quickly said the announcement isn’t a deal.
“They’ve said, ‘Please don’t bomb us anymore, and we’re not going to attack your ships,'” he said.
When asked who told the U.S. that the Houthi attacks on U.S. ships would stop, Trump demurred, saying it “doesn’t matter” and then adding that it was from a “very, very good source.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance laughed and said they agreed with him.
“They don’t want to be bombed anymore,” Trump repeated.
Rubio added that “this was always a freedom of navigation mission.”
“These guys, these are, you know, a band of individuals with advanced weaponry that were threatening global shipping,” he said. “And the job was to get that to stop.”
The U.S. began airstrikes in Yemen against Houthi targets starting March 15 and has conducted over 800 strikes, according to the U.S. military.
On April 18, an American strike on the Ras Isa fuel port killed at least 74 people and wounded 171 others in the deadliest known attack of the American campaign.
However, the U.S. military has taken some hits as well.
The U.S. military has lost seven Reaper drones since March 15, each drone costing $30 million, and an F/A-18E fighter jet rolled off the side of the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier and sank to the bottom of the Red Sea two weeks ago. No one was killed in that incident.
The USS Harry S. Truman possibly made a sudden movement due to Houthi fire, ultimately causing the fighter jet to roll off it, according to a U.S. official, who cited initial field reports. The incident is still under investigation, but the aircraft carrier has previously been targeted by the Houthis.
Israeli forces have also conducted strikes on Yemen for the past two days, striking its main port on the Red Sea, two cement factories and the Sanaa airport.
The Israeli government said these strikes were in response to Houthi strikes on Israel on Sunday, and the Israel Defense Forces said it targeted Houthi infrastructure in Yemen in the strikes.
While Trump claimed the U.S. mission against the Houthis has been a “freedom of navigation” mission from the beginning, the conflict in the Red Sea between the Houthis and U.S.- and British-flagged vessels has been occurring since Oct. 8, 2023.
The Houthis said they would attack vessels connected to Israel’s allies in support of the Palestinian people in Gaza after Israel launched a military operation against Gaza following the Hamas terrorist attack on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, the Houthis have been targeting vessels they say are connected to Israel’s allies in the Red Sea to various degrees of severity over the past 19 months. The U.S. ratcheted up the conflict three days before Israel ended the temporary ceasefire with Hamas, resuming military operations in Gaza on March 18. The U.S. launched its first strike against the Houthis on March 5.
The Trump administration has spent weeks trying to save face over its own planning of attacks in Yemen after it was revealed that top national security members, including then-national security adviser Mike Waltz and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, communicated plans about the impending attacks on Signal.
The Atlantic Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally invited to one of the Signal group chats and saw details about the planning.
Last week, Trump announced Waltz would be leaving his Cabinet position and would be nominated as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
ABC News’ Ahmed Baider contributed to this report.
