(HENRY’s LAKE, Idaho) — Seven people were killed in a crash between a van and a pickup truck on an eastern Idaho highway near Yellowstone National Park, officials said.
The Mercedes passenger van — which was operating as a tour vehicle — collided with the Dodge Ram pickup around 7:15 p.m. Thursday on U.S. Highway 20 near Henry’s Lake, the Idaho State Police said.
Fourteen people were in the van and one was in the pickup. Six people in the van and the truck driver died in the crash, police said.
The cause remains under investigation, police said.
Henry’s Lake is about 17 miles from West Yellowstone, Montana, which is a gateway to Yellowstone National Park.
U.S. Highway 20 closed for nearly seven hours after the crash and has since reopened, police said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Measles cases in the U.S. have surpassed 900 as outbreaks continue to spread across the county, according to new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data published Friday.
A total of 935 cases have been confirmed in 29 states including Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and Washington.
At least six states including Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio and Texas are reporting outbreaks, meaning three or more related cases.
The CDC says 13% of measles patients in the U.S. this year have been hospitalized, the majority of whom are under age 19.
Among the nationally confirmed cases, CDC says about 96% are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown.
Meanwhile, 2% are among those who have received just one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.
Dr. Conrad Fischer, chief of infectious diseases at One Brooklyn Health in New York City, told ABC News he is concerned about the growing number of cases in the U.S.
“This is a disease that was at the level of complete eradication; this should not be happening,” he said. “It’s very sad to have an enormously safe vaccine that has been used in billions of people and to have a sort of cultural societal amnesia about what these illnesses were like in the past.”
In the decade before the measles vaccine became available, the CDC estimates that 3 to 4 million in the U.S. were sickened by measles every year, about 48,000 were hospitalized and about 400 to 500 people died. About 1,000 people suffered encephalitis, which is swelling of the brain.
Measles was declared eliminated from the U.S. in 2000 due to a highly effective vaccination program, according to the CDC. But vaccination rates have been lagging in recent years, leading to an increase in cases.
In Texas, where an outbreak has been spreading in the western part of the state, at least 663 cases have been confirmed as of Tuesday, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services.
Meanwhile, officials in Denton County — in the eastern part of the state outside Dallas and Fort Worth — reported its first measles case this week in a patient who attended a Texas Rangers game.
The infected individual, an adult with unknown vaccination status, visited Globe Life Field and a handful of restaurants and other locations, Denton officials said.
Additionally, Chicago reported its first measles cases this week, one in a suburban Cook County resident with unknown vaccination status and another in an adult Chicago resident who traveled internationally and received one dose of the MMR vaccine, according to the Chicago Department of Public Health and Cook County Department of Public Health.
It comes as a WHO report this week found that cases in the Americas are 11 times higher this year than they were at the same time last year.
Six countries, including the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Belize and Brazil, have reported a total of 2,318 cases so far this year. Last year had 205 cases at the same time.
Fischer said measles is not a benign virus and can cause serious complications, especially among vulnerable individuals such as young children and immunocompromised people.
“Measles has a chance to literally destroy your brain, to cause pneumonia, ear infections and, although it is only fatal in a relatively small number of people, it spreads so amazingly easily that even if it’s only a few percentages, it’s something extremely dangerous,” he said.
Fischer emphasized that measles is the most contagious infectious disease known to humans, even compared to other dangerous diseases like tuberculosis.
“For instance, tuberculosis will spread only to two or 3% of the people exposed,” he said. “But if you are not vaccinated and you’re exposed to someone with measles, you have a 90% chance of getting that infection.”
Dr. Whitney Harrington, a physician in the division of infectious diseases at Seattle Children’s Hospital, told ABC News the U.S. is at risk of measles becoming endemic again unless vaccination rates increase.
The CDC currently recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective against measles, the CDC says.
“We really know that vaccines are the single most important public health intervention for preventing infectious disease,” Harrington said. “And we know that they’ve dramatically decreased really the number of cases and the severity of cases of many infections, including measles.”
She encouraged parents who have not vaccinated their children yet to speak with a doctor or a health care provider about vaccination and the benefits of vaccination.
ABC News Youri’ Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — A man is accused of intentionally plowing into a 10-year-old, a 12-year-old and a teacher in a hit-and-run outside a school at a church on Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, officials said.
Justin Collin Adams, who was taken into custody on Thursday following an hourslong manhunt, is charged with three counts of attempted murder and first-degree assault and battery, according to online records. He was held without bond at a Friday court appearance.
Adams is accused of intentionally targeting children Thursday afternoon at the Sunrise Presbyterian Church on Sullivan’s Island, a beach town just outside of Charleston, authorities said.
Adams allegedly first drove onto the playground and struck a 12-year-old, who suffered minor injuries, an officer said in court Friday.
He then allegedly sped toward where kids were seeking protection and hit a teacher who “flew over the hood and onto the roof and onto the ground,” the officer said.
Adams allegedly then drove onto the sidewalk and struck a 10-year-old, pinning him under the car, the officer said.
A federal criminal investigator — who is a member of the church and spoke on behalf of the families at Friday’s court appearance — said about 40 students witnessed the attack.
The teacher remains in the hospital with serious injuries, the church member said.
One child was treated at the scene and released, police said, and the second child was admitted to a hospital and later discharged, according to a hospital spokesperson.
The 10-year-old had 4.6 inches of ground clearance under the car, the church member said, calling his survival a “miracle.”
The 10-year-old’s mom gave an emotional statement in court Friday, saying, “I hope that no other mother had to get this phone call that I had to endure yesterday.”
“By the grace of God, they were saved,” she said, adding, “I am here to hopefully get justice for all of the children.”
Adams, 36, allegedly ditched his sedan after the crash and fled on foot, possibly armed with a knife, according to Isle of Palms police Sgt. Matt Storen.
Authorities launched a massive manhunt, which included grid searches of houses, drones scanning the sky and checkpoints at the entryway to Sullivan’s Island, police said.
A sergeant in a Charleston County aviation unit helicopter ended up spotting the suspect, who was found in a boat at a dock across the street from the church, officials said.
Adams’ attorney said in court that two weeks ago Adams voluntarily checked himself in to a hospital psychiatric unit. He was diagnosed with depression and prescribed Lexapro, which is used to treat anxiety and depression, his lawyer said.
(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Friday released President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which calls for $163 billion in cuts to federal spending.
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, in a letter to Congress alongside the proposal, said the cuts to discretionary funding would lead to “significant savings.”
“The President is proposing base non-defense discretionary budget authority $163 billion — 22.6 percent below — current-year spending, while still protecting funding for homeland security, veterans, seniors, law enforcement, and infrastructure,” Vought wrote.
While budget proposals are essentially wish-list for the administration, they serve to illustrate the president’s priorities and what the White House hopes is a jumping off point for negotiations with Congress.
The cuts proposed would come from the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Human Services, USAID and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.
However, Trump is proposing a 13% increase to defense spending, which would bring it to $1.01 trillion for the next fiscal year.
The administration’s also proposing $175 billion to go toward the southern border.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia speaks with a Tennessee state trooper on the side of I-40 in 2022. Tennessee Highway Patrol
(NEW YORK) — Newly released video shows the moments when Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man wrongfully deported from the United States to a prison in El Salvador, was pulled over by state troopers in Tennessee in 2022.
The video, which was obtained by ABC News through a public records request, shows members of the Tennessee Highway Patrol questioning Abrego Garcia on the side of Interstate 40 after nightfall.
Abrego Garcia was not charged or arrested during the traffic stop, which lasted for more than an hour. This stop is separate from the stop in March by federal agents in Maryland that led to Abrego Garcia being taken into custody and ultimately deported to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native who has been living with his wife and children in Maryland, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution — after the Trump administration claimed he was a member of the criminal gang MS-13. His wife and attorneys deny that he is an MS-13 member.
The 2022 traffic stop was disclosed in April in a press release issued by the Department of Homeland Security, which said it had a “bombshell investigative report” regarding the stop alleging that Abrego Garcia was a suspected human trafficker. The release included a screengrab of the body camera video.
“The encountering officer decided not to cite the subject for driving infractions but gave him a warning citation for driving with an expired driver’s license,” the release added.
“Kilmar worked in construction and sometimes transported groups of workers between job sites, so it’s entirely plausible he would have been pulled over while driving with others in the vehicle,” Jennifer Vasquez, Abrego Garcia’s wife, said in a statement after the release was issued.
The DHS press release said that the 2022 traffic stop occurred on Dec. 1, but an incident report released by the Tennessee Highway Patrol indicated that the stop took place on Nov. 30.
The traffic stop occurred in the Cookeville area, roughly 80 miles east of Nashville.
The trooper who pulled Abrego Garcia over told him that he was driving 75 miles per hour in a 65 mph zone. Abrego Garcia told the trooper that his license was suspended because he was waiting for an immigration paper, adding that he lives in Maryland and that the car he was driving belonged to his boss.
“You got a bunch of people in here, don’t you,” a trooper said after approaching the Chevrolet Suburban that Abrego Garcia was driving, according to the body camera video.
After going to his police car and returning, the trooper asks Abrego Garcia about how many rows of seats were in the car.
“I’ve never seen one with that many seats in it,” the trooper says.
“Oh, really?” Abrego Garcia responds.
The trooper then asks Abrego Garcia if there is anything illegal in the car.
“Nothing sir,” Abrego Garcia replies.
Abrego Garcia is asked to step out of the car and tells the trooper that he was traveling from St. Louis, Missouri, where he had a work project.
“Right now, I’m going back to home,” Abrego Garcia says before the trooper has a K-9 sniff the exterior of the vehicle. It appears that the police dog did not locate anything suspicious.
Troopers later allowed Abrego Garcia to sit in the back of a patrol car to escape the cold temperatures while they spoke among themselves and questioned his passengers, but no one at the scene was taken into custody.
“Thank you, bro,” Abrego Garcia says. “Thank you so much.”
Abrego Garcia was ultimately allowed to drive off, smiling at the trooper who stopped him as he exited the patrol car and returned to the Chevrolet.
The Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security blurred license plates and redacted part of the audio of the traffic stop.
A federal judge ruled last month that the Trump administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States, and the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously affirmed that ruling, “with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”
The Trump administration, while acknowledging that Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador in error, has said that his alleged MS-13 affiliation makes him ineligible to return to the United States. Several members of the administration, including Attorney General Pam Bondi and White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, have suggested that the matter is up to El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
(OCEAN COUNTY, N.J.) — A second teenager has been arrested for arson in connection with a massive New Jersey wildfire that destroyed a commercial building, shut down a major highway and forced thousands of people to flee, prosecutors said.
The second suspect — an unidentified 17-year-old boy — was taken into custody on Thursday and charged with arson and aggravated arson for allegedly helping set wooden pallets on fire and leaving the area when the fire wasn’t fully extinguished, Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer said.
The 17-year-old was also charged with hindering apprehension for allegedly giving “misinformation to law enforcement about how the fire started,” Billhimer said in a statement.
The first suspect, 19-year-old Joseph Kling, was arrested on April 23 in connection with the Jones Road Wildfire, which ignited in Ocean Township on April 22, prosecutors said.
The fire was caused by “an improperly extinguished bonfire,” Billhimer said. Kling allegedly set wooden pallets on fire and then left when the fire wasn’t fully put out, Billhimer said.
As of Monday, the Jones Road Wildfire had burned about 15,300 acres, Billhimer said. The blaze was 75% contained as of Thursday, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service said.
On April 23, Kling was charged with arson and aggravated arson. On Thursday, he was charged with hindering apprehension for also allegedly giving false information to law enforcement, prosecutors said.
Kling is in custody at the Ocean County Jail and is due at a detention hearing on Friday.
The 17-year-old is being held at the Ocean County Juvenile Detention Center, prosecutors said.
ABC News’ Alexandra Faul contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday renewed his threat to take away Harvard’s tax-exempt status.
“We are going to be taking away Harvard’s Tax Exempt Status. It’s what they deserve,” Trump wrote in a post to his conservative social media platform. He first floated the idea in mid-April.
Any attempt to do so, though, would likely face legal challenges.
A Harvard spokesperson told ABC News there’s no “legal basis” to rescind the university’s tax-exempt status and said it would endanger the school’s ability to carry out its mission.
“Such an unprecedented action would endanger our ability to carry out our educational mission,” the spokesperson said. “It would result in diminished financial aid for students, abandonment of critical medical research programs, and lost opportunities for innovation. The unlawful use of this instrument more broadly would have grave consequences for the future of higher education in America.”
Trump has taken aim at the university after it said it would not comply with the administration’s series of demands, including actions on antisemitism and the use of DEI on campus.
The Trump administration has already frozen more than $2.2 billion in federal grants to Harvard, as well as $60 million in multi-year contract value to the institution. Harvard sued the administration in response, alleging the freeze violates the First Amendment and federal law.
Taking away the school’s tax-exempt status would be the latest escalation.
Federal law bars the president from directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to conduct or terminate an audit or investigation.
Sources previously told ABC News that the IRS was considering revoking Harvard’s tax-exempt status. The White House said in a statement to ABC News in mid-April that any investigation by the IRS into Harvard began before President Trump began posting on his social media account that the school should lose its tax-exempt status.
Many major public and private colleges in the U.S. are exempt from federal income under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code because of their educational mission, research and public service.
“The government has long exempted universities from taxes in order to support their educational mission,” the Harvard spokesperson said. “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.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie, Katherine Faulders, Arthur Jones and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — President Donald Trump’s administration is set to begin collecting defaulted student loan payments next week — which could harm the credit scores of millions of borrowers.
Roughly 5 million borrowers will have their university and college loans sent for collections beginning May 5, the Department of Education said last month.
When that happens, the borrowers’ credit scores could be impacted, since ratings agencies are often alerted when collections ensue, experts told ABC News.
Here’s what to know about the collections and what it could mean for borrowers’ credit scores:
Why are the credit scores of some student loan borrowers at risk?
Student loan borrowers are considered delinquent if they fail to make a loan payment for 90 days. When late payment stretches on for a total of 270 days, then the borrower falls into default. When a federal student loan enters default, the government can send it for collections, garnishing wages or even taking money from Social Security payments or tax refunds.
The risk to borrowers’ credit scores dates back to policy decisions made when former President Joe Biden’s administration resumed federal student loan payments after a period of relief that had been enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic.
When the Biden administration lifted the pause in the fall of 2023, the White House set in motion a 12-month moratorium. The administration did not count late payments toward delinquency. That moratorium ended in October — meaning borrowers could be considered delinquent if they didn’t make payments for more than 90 days, returning to the way the process worked pre-pandemic.
More than 9 million student loan borrowers will face “significant drops” in their credit score when delinquencies resume over the first half of 2025, the New York Federal Reserve found in March.
“These credit score effects show up with delinquencies – that’s when the credit score takes the hit,” Judith Scott-Clayton, a professor of economics and education at Teachers College, Columbia University, told ABC News.
Similarly, the Biden administration in 2023 initiated a one-year moratorium during which it would not report loan defaults to credit bureaus. That pause expired on Jan. 1.
Now, the Trump administration is set to begin collections on defaulted loans, causing further potential damage to credit scores, some experts told ABC News.
“The longer you remain delinquent, that will compound,” Kate Wood, a writer and spokesperson at NerdWallet, told ABC News.
How much do late college loan payments hurt a borrower’s credit score?
Late payments on a college loan can significantly hurt a borrower’s credit score, studies show.
The New York Federal Reserve found student loan delinquency causes a borrower with a credit score of 760 points or higher to lose 171 points on average, according to a study of loan data between 2016 and 2019.
Subprime borrowers with credit scores at or below 620 lose on average 87 points in the event of a student loan delinquency, the study said.
“The consequences are worse for those starting out with good credit scores,” Scott-Clayton said.
VantageScore, a credit-scoring system, said in February that late college loan payments can result in a credit score loss of up to 129 points. Student loan borrowers who make payments on time could see credit score increases of up to 8 points, VantageScore said.
What does a damaged credit score mean for borrowers’ finances?
Borrowers with lowered credit scores will face greater difficulty making big-ticket purchases like homes, cars or even refrigerators for which they may need to take out a loan, experts told ABC News.
When consumers with reduced credit scores seek a loan, they face higher interest rates as banks determine that the borrower risks an inability to repay.
“We’re talking about a chunk of the population who won’t be able to buy a car because they won’t be able to get access to a car loan or it will be prohibitively expensive,” Kirabo Jackson, a professor of education and social policy at Northwestern University, told ABC News.
A lower credit score can even jeopardize an individual’s job prospects, since some employers check an applicant’s credit, Jackson said.
Some states restrict an employer’s ability to check an applicant’s credit, including California.
The damage to borrower’s credit scores may cause a hiccup in the overall economy, since some individuals may forgo big purchases, Jackson said.
“It’s not a huge effect for the economy but it certainly won’t be helpful,” Jackson said. “And when you talk about the impact for the individuals, it will be quite considerable.”
(PITTSBURGH) — The baseball fan critically hurt in a 20-foot fall at PNC Park in Pittsburgh has been identified as Kavan Markwood.
Markwood fell from the bleachers onto the field during the seventh inning of the Pirates-Cubs game on Wednesday night, officials said. The game was briefly halted as emergency crews responded.
The Pittsburgh Department of Public Safety said the “incident is being treated as accidental.”
As of Thursday, Markwood remained in critical condition, according to the department of public safety.
Markwood previously attended Walsh University in Ohio.
“The Walsh University community was deeply saddened to learn about the tragic accident involving former student Kavan Markwood,” the university said in a statement. “Our thoughts and heartfelt prayers are with him, his family, and friends during this very difficult time. We are hoping and praying for a full recovery.”
After attending Walsh, Markwood transferred to Wheeling University in West Virginia, where he was a member of the football team in 2023.
“The Wheeling University Community is heartbroken,” the university said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Kavan, his family, friends, and all his loved ones. The Cardinal family is praying for a full and speedy recovery.”
Pirates manager Derek Shelton said he saw the fall as it happened.
“The fact of how it went down. And then laying motionless, while a play is going on … it’s extremely unfortunate. I mean, that’s an understatement,” he told reporters after the game.
Shelton said he wanted to ask “everybody to keep him in their prayers.”
ABC News’ Matthew Holroyd and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Hiring slowed but remained robust in April following President Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff announcement early last month, fresh data on Friday showed. The reading exceeded economists’ expectations.
The U.S. added 177,000 jobs in April, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That figure marked solid growth but a slowdown from 228,000 jobs added in the previous month. The unemployment rate stood unchanged at 4.2%, a historically low figure.
In a post on social media, President Donald Trump applauded the jobs data and touted his tariff policy.
“We’re only in a TRANSITION STAGE, just getting started!!!” Trump said.
Trump called on the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, criticizing the central bank weeks after saying he would welcome the “termination” of Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
The move marked the latest example of Trump exerting pressure on the Fed, despite a longstanding norm of political independence at the central bank. Last month, Powell pointed to solid economic performance as reason to take a patient approach as policymakers await the impact of tariffs.
The closely watched tariff announcement on April 2 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 jobs data arrives days after a government report 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.
Despite flagging consumer sentiment and market turmoil, the labor market has provided a bright spot since Trump took office. The U.S. has added a robust average of 170,000 jobs each month this year, while the unemployment rate has remained low.
Meanwhile, inflation cooled in March, putting price increases well below a peak attained in 2022, data showed.
Still, 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%.
Speaking at the Economic Club of Chicago earlier this month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the “solid condition” of the U.S. economy, but he cautioned about signals of a potential slowdown.
“Life moves pretty fast,” Powell said.
For its part, the Trump administration has largely refused to rule out the possibility of a recession. Trump has vowed to strike new agreements with many U.S. trade partners, predicting the U.S economy may suffer short-term pain but will ultimately flourish under a more favorable set of international rules.
“We have been ripped off by every country in the world practically. And friend and foe,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office last month. “We’re not doing that anymore.”
