(MANHEIM TOWNSHIP, PA) — A Beechcraft Bonanza crashed in Pennsylvania on Sunday afternoon with five people aboard, according to the Federal Aviation Authority.
The small aircraft went down near a retirement village south of Lancaster Airport, the Manheim Borough Police Department told ABC News.
The plane had just departed from the airport shortly before it crashed, authorities said during a briefing on Sunday evening, adding that the plane might have skidded about 100 feet after it first made contact with the ground.
No one was hurt on the ground, officials confirmed.
All five passengers were transported to Lancaster General Hospital, where trauma and emergency teams were at the ready to provide care, according to hospital spokesperson.
Two of the patients were later transported to Lehigh Valley Health Network’s burn center by PennSTAR flight crews, the spokesperson said, and one patient was transported there by ground ambulance. Two patients remain hospitalized at Lancaster General as of Sunday night, they added.
The plane crash occurred around 3 p.m., according to the FAA, which said it will investigate. The National Transportation Safety Board is also monitoring the situation
According to audio from Air Traffic Control, the pilot told the Lancaster Airport control tower that his plane “has an open door we need to return for landing.”
ATC then cleared the plane to return, but a few seconds later the controller told the plane to “pull up,” the audio revealed.
Images taken by witnesses and shared with ABC News showed flames and smoke billowing from the crash site in Lititz, Manheim Township.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro posted a statement on X.com saying, “Our team at @PAStatePolice is on the ground assisting local first responders following the small private plane crash near Lancaster Airport in Manheim Township. All Commonwealth resources are available as the response continues, and more information will be provided as it becomes available.”
Information will be released as it becomes available, the NTSB said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sent a survey on March 6 asking some federally funded researchers to assess how their work aligns with the priorities of President Donald Trump’s administration, according to documents obtained by ABC News.
CDC-funded researchers were asked whether their research would help combat “Christian persecution,” defend women and children against “gender ideology extremism” or help curb illegal immigration.
They were also surveyed about whether their research included any diversity or climate change initiatives — among other questions that roughly align with recent executive orders.
On Friday, the agency clarified that the survey was only applicable to CDC partners doing work outside the United States.
It’s not clear how many researchers received the email, which was sent by the CDC’s Global Health Center.
“Receiving this survey was deeply unsettling. It’s hard not to see it as an attempt to inject politics into scientific research, forcing us to align with ideological priorities rather than urgent public health needs,” said one researcher who received the survey.
Researchers who received the survey also told ABC News that they were concerned their answers would be used to jeopardize ongoing research or could be used to justify further cuts, especially to research conducted abroad.
“I worry about how these responses might be used to justify funding cuts, especially for critical public health initiatives,” one researcher said.
Earlier this week, a similar survey was sent to foreign aid programs supported by the United States Agency for International Development, according to reporting by The New York Times.
The survey comes amid federal firings, budget cuts and grant cuts to federally funded research, though some of those actions have been blocked in court.
Several hundred people gathered in the nation’s capital on March 7 for the Stand Up for Science rally, and there are similar rallies planned in more than 30 other cities.
In 2023, the federal government funded roughly $60 billion in scientific research, according to the Association of American Universities. Prior government-funded research has led to technologies such as MRIs and GPS.
(NEW YORK) — Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil — a leader in Columbia University’s encampment movement — on Saturday night, claiming that his student visa had been revoked, according to attorney Amy Greer in a statement to ABC News.
However, Khalil is in the United States on a green card and not on a student visa, Greer said Sunday.
Despite informing agents about his legal status, ICE detained him, she said.
At one point during a phone call with agents, they hung up on Greer, a representative of her law firm told ABC News.
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin addressed Khalil’s arrest on Sunday night, saying, “On March 9, 2025, in support of President Trump’s executive orders prohibiting anti-Semitism, and in coordination with the Department of State, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University graduate student. Khalil led activities aligned to Hamas, a designated terrorist organization.”
“ICE and the Department of State are committed to enforcing President Trump’s executive orders and to protecting U.S. national security,” she added.
Secretary of State Marc Rubio also shared an article about Khalil on Sunday night and posted on X, “We will be revoking the visas and/or green cards of Hamas supporters in America so they can be deported.”
Greer is challenging Khalil’s arrest but has been unable to locate where he is being held, she said.
“Overnight we filed a habeas corpus petition on Mahmoud’s behalf challenging the validity of his arrest and detention,” she said. “Currently we do not know Mahmoud’s precise whereabouts.”
Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant and a U.S. citizen, was unable to find him at an ICE facility in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where he was purportedly transferred, Greer said — adding that he might have been transferred to Louisiana.
“ICE’s arrest and detention of Mahmoud follows the U.S. government’s open repression of student activism and political speech, specifically targeting students at Columbia University for criticism of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” she said. “The U.S. government has made clear that they will use immigration enforcement as a tool to suppress that speech.”
The arrest occurred just days after President Donald Trump took to social media threatening to defund universities that allowed “illegal protests” and claiming “agitators” will be sent back to their home countries.
“All Federal Funding will STOP for any College, School, or University that allows illegal protests. Agitators will be imprisoned/or permanently sent back to the country from which they came. American students will be permanently expelled or, depending on on the crime, arrested. NO MASKS! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” Trump posted on Truth Social on March 4.
Columbia released the following statement on Sunday: “There have been reports of ICE around campus. Columbia has and will continue to follow the law. Consistent with our longstanding practice and the practice of cities and institutions throughout the country, law enforcement must have a judicial warrant to enter non-public University areas, including University buildings.”
“Columbia is committed to complying with all legal obligations and supporting our student body and campus community,” the statement continued.
(SANTO DOMINGO, DOMINCAN REPUBLIC) — A University of Pittsburgh student who was reported missing after traveling to the Dominican Republic last week is believed to have died by drowning, officials confirmed to ABC News on Sunday.
The student has been identified as Sudiksha Konanki, a legal permanent resident of the United States and an Indian citizen. She was one of six female students traveling in Punta Cana, according to the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office.
Konanki and one of the other students were Loudoun County, Virginia, residents, the sheriff’s office said.
Three Dominican officials involved in the investigation told ABC News that Konanki was walking on the beach with six people on March 5 before she is believed to have drowned in the ocean.
At some point, most of the group went back to the hotel during the night, but one person stayed with her on the beach, according to a Dominican Republic investigative police report.
She and this person went for a swim and were caught by a big wave, the police report said.
The last time Konanki was seen on the beach on security camera footage was around 4:15 a.m. on March 6, the Dominican Republic Public Ministry told ABC News.
The Public Ministry was first contacted by the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic the next day, on March 7, the Ministry said.
Officials said the missing student’s friends with her close to the time of her disappearance have been questioned by police and have not been charged with anything.
Kim Jae-Hwan/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(SEOUL and LONDON) — North Korea fired “multiple” ballistic missiles on Monday, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, as U.S.-South Korea war games began nearby.
The missiles, which were “unidentified,” were fired from the North’s Hwanghae Province at about 1:50 p.m. local time, the South Korean military said. They were aimed inland, toward the West Sea.
The South Korean military “has increased surveillance and maintaining readiness posture in close cooperation with the U.S.,” the Joint Chiefs said.
The annual U.S.-South Korea joint exercises, which are known as “Freedom Shield,” were scheduled to begin Monday and run through March 21, according to the U.S. Army.
The training alongside South Korean soldiers will include urban combat, field hospital operations, field artillery exercises, air assault training and air defenses, the Army said in a statement on Monday. The U.S. Marine Corps is also expected to take part in a joint assault exercise.
North Korea’s Foreign Ministry described the planned exercises as “aggressive,” with officials telling state media on Sunday that the “U.S. random exercise of strength will result in aggravated security crisis.”
“This is a dangerous provocative act of leading the acute situation on the Korean peninsula, which may spark off a physical conflict between the two sides by means of an accidental single shot, to the extreme point,” the ministry said in a statement to the Korean Central New Agency on Sunday.
ABC News’ Somayeh Malekian contributed to this report.
(LONDON) — The U.S. is “just about” ready to lift its freeze on intelligence sharing with Ukraine, President Donald Trump said Sunday, as American and Ukrainian negotiators prepare for bilateral talks in Saudi Arabia intended to move toward a peace deal to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion.
“Well, we just about have,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked if he would consider resuming intelligence sharing. “We want to do anything we can to get Ukraine serious about getting something done,” he added.
Trump’s administration has embarked on a dramatic pivot away from the “ironclad” backing of Ukraine practiced by former President Joe Biden’s administration.
Trump has falsely blamed Ukraine for starting the war, tried to undermine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s legitimacy, sought to strong-arm Kyiv into a controversial minerals sharing deal and froze military aid and intelligence support in a bid to force Ukraine into making concessions to Russia.
Tuesday’s talks in Riyadh are intended to revitalize bilateral relations following weeks of tense exchanges between Washington, D.C., and Kyiv, which culminated in an explosive Oval Office confrontation between Trump, Zelenskyy and Vice President JD Vance.
The U.S. delegation in Saudi Arabia will include Secretary of State Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz. The Ukrainian team will be led by Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskyy’s presidential office. The U.S. side is expecting Ukraine to show willingness to make peace, Trump suggested on Sunday.
“We’ll be looking at a lot of things,” he said. “We have big meetings coming up. As you know, it’s Saudi Arabia that’s going to include Russia. It’ll be Ukraine. We’ll see if we can get something done.”
“I think everybody wants to see it get done,” the president added. “We’re going to make a lot of progress.”
“I think they will sign the minerals deal,” Trump said when asked about progress on the controversial agreement. “I want them to want peace.” Trump claimed that Ukraine has not yet shown that willingness.
Trump avoided answering whether he would place sanctions or tariffs on Russia and pointed to White House officials’ upcoming meetings in Saudi Arabia. The president also avoided giving a definitive answer when asked if the U.S. would resume aid to Ukraine if the minerals deal is signed.
Zelenskyy will travel to Saudi Arabia on Monday to meet with the kingdom’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman.
“Tomorrow, we will continue working to bring peace closer — there will be my visit to Saudi Arabia,” the Ukrainian president wrote on social media Sunday. “Also, today, the meeting of our teams — Ukraine and the United States — in Saudi Arabia has been further prepared. We hope for results — both in bringing peace closer and in continuing support.”
On Monday morning, Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram, “Ukraine has been seeking peace since the very first second of the war and we have always said that the only reason the war continues is Russia.”
The public U.S.-Ukraine break has prompted concern among European leaders, with leaders both rallying around Zelenskyy and urging him to repair his fraying relations with Trump. Officials in Russia appeared jubilant, openly suggesting that the Trump administration had aligned its views with the Kremlin’s.
Trump and his top officials have said that both Ukraine and Russia will be expected to make concessions in pursuit of a peace deal to end Moscow’s invasion, which itself is only the latest chapter in more than a decade of cross-border aggression.
Trump last week suggested in a post to Truth Social that he was “strongly considering large-scale sanctions” and tariffs on Russia until a deal is reached, adding that Moscow “is absolutely ‘pounding’ Ukraine on the battlefield right now.” Trump also told a joint session of Congress he had received “strong signals” that Russia is ready to make peace.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week that the U.S.-Ukraine talks in Saudi Arabia are a “positive” development, though stressed there are unresolved “nuances.”
“The question is who to negotiate with?” Peskov told reporters. Russia has repeatedly framed Zelenskyy as an illegitimate president, citing the delay to planned 2024 presidential elections in Ukraine necessitated by the imposition of martial law.
The Kremlin has also cited a September 2022 Ukrainian decree in which Zelenskyy declared negotiations with Putin “impossible,” after Moscow claimed to have annexed four partially-occupied Ukrainian regions.
Meanwhile, both Russia and Ukraine are continuing their long-range missile and drone strike campaigns. Deadly weekend strikes by Russia prompted condemnation from several European nations.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, for example, wrote on X, “This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more victims.”
Sunday night saw Russia launch 176 attack drones into Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian air force, of which 130 were shot down and 42 lost in flight without causing damage. The air force reported impacts in Kharkiv, Poltava and Kyiv regions.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said it shot down nine Ukrainian drones overnight.
ABC News’ Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Democrats want to force President Donald Trump’s administration to rehire veterans who were laid off as part of large-scale efforts by Trump and Elon Musk to reshape the federal government and its workforce, according to information exclusive to ABC News.
Sens. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois and Andy Kim of New Jersey plan to introduce the Protect Veteran Jobs Act in the Senate on Monday. The bill would compel the Trump administration to reinstate veterans impacted by recent mass layoffs, according to a copy of the proposal obtained by ABC News.
It would also require the Trump administration to provide a quarterly report to Congress on the number of veterans removed from the federal workforce — and the justification for their firing.
“Veterans who choose to continue their service to our country in the federal workforce deserve our utmost gratitude, but instead this Administration has kicked thousands of our heroes to the curb and left them without a paycheck,” Duckworth said in a statement. “The message of our bill is simple: Give our heroes their jobs back. If Republicans really care about our Veterans, they should stop enabling Trump and Musk’s chaos and support our legislation.”
In the coming weeks of floor activity and ahead of government funding votes, Democrats hope to get Republicans on the record over layoffs impacting a reliably Republican — and Trump-supporting — group of voters.
The party also attempted to draw attention to the firings by inviting veterans who lost their government jobs to Trump’s joint address to Congress on March 3.
Veterans make up roughly 30% of the federal workforce of more than 2 million civilian government employees, according to September data from the Office of Personnel Management.
Roughly 75,000 federal workers have accepted offers for deferred buyouts, and another roughly 20,000 government employees have been fired in the first months of Trump’s second term.
The Trump administration has not said how many veterans have been impacted by the cuts, though Democrats have estimated that several thousand veterans have been fired across the administration.
OPM has since directed some agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to rehire veteran workers and to exempt veterans and military spouses from other workforce policy changes.
But many veterans have still lost their jobs in recent weeks.
“You spend 10 years trying to defend your country in terms of honesty, integrity and justice, and then you come back and get copy-and-pasted the same email as 10,000 other people about your performance,” Andrew Lennox, a fired Department of Veterans Affairs worker who served as a Marine in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, told ABC News.
Lennox was one of the veterans who attended Trump’s joint address to Congress last week. He was a guest of Sen. Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, who delivered the Democratic rebuttal to the speech.
The Department of Veterans Affairs also plans to cut up to 80,000 workers from the agency, which has drawn some criticism from both Republicans and Democrats.
Democratic Rep. Derek Tran of California has introduced similar legislation in the House.
Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said on Sunday that he took issue with the Democratic response in the chamber to President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging address to Congress last week.
“I think the lack of a coordinated response in the State of the Union was a mistake, and frankly, it took the focus off of where it should have been, which is on the fact that the president spoke for an hour and 40 minutes and had nothing to say about what he would do to bring down costs for American families that were watching that lengthy address sitting at the kitchen table, hoping that he would offer something to help them afford a new home or pay the rent to afford health care or child care,” Schiff said on “This Week.”
Democratic lawmakers participated in various protests during Trump’s speech. Some female members of Congress wore hot pink to show resistance. Other Democratic members held signs that called out Elon Musk. Some decided to boycott the speech or leave early.
Schiff refuted Democratic strategist James Carville’s recent proposal in a New York Times op-ed that Democrats should “roll over and play dead” and wait for Republicans “to crumble beneath their own weight,” with the California senator instead saying that the right approach is focusing on “the economic well-being of Americans.”
“We need to have our own broad, bold agenda … to answer really the central question which is, if you’re working hard in America, can you still earn a good living?” said Schiff. “We need to be advancing policies and making the arguments about what we have to offer, not simply standing back and letting them collapse of our own corrupt weight. We need to effectively use litigation as we are. We need to effectively use communication to talk to new people in new ways as we are.”
Schiff also expressed frustration and disapproval of Trump’s whiplash tariff agenda.
Trump on Tuesday imposed a 25% tariff on goods coming from Canada or Mexico. The following day, he issued a one-month delay for auto parts. By Friday, Trump signed an executive order that extended the delay to all products under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, USMCA, which is a free trade agreement signed during Trump’s first term. Roughly half of Mexican imports fall under USMCA and about 38% of imports from Canada fall under the agreement.
Schiff said that Democrats have to start responding to Trump’s tariffs and economic policies more effectively.
“This is deeply destructive, what they’re doing,” he said. “We need to make that case to the American people, because they’re going to feel it. But, you know, taking our eye off the ball, I think, is very dangerous, and so let’s be focused on what matters most to Americans. Let’s point out all the destructive harms they’re doing with you know, the cutting of services, the slashing of Medicaid, and what that’s going to mean for increased health costs and less access for people.”
(FORT MYERS, Fla.) — A man who escaped a Puerto Rican prison nearly 40 years ago was taken into custody in Florida, according to the Lee County Sheriff’s Office.
Jorge Milla-Valdes escaped from a Puerto Rican prison in 1987. The Puerto Rico Department of Justice believed he was living under the name Luis Aguirre.
His criminal history included robbery and aggravated battery with a deadly weapon in Florida’s Monroe County, according to the sheriff’s office.
The LCSO Fugitive Warrants Unit searched for Milla-Valdes and obtained the original 1986 fingerprints from Puerto Rico, and a set from his criminal history in Monroe County.
“Latent Fingerprints Supervisor Tina Carver expedited the fingerprint comparison. 15-minutes later -and using finger prints that were taken over 40 years ago- Supervisor Carver was able to match the prints, and confirm that Aguirre and Milla-Valdes was the same individual who had escaped,” the sheriff’s office said.
The fugitives unit was informed of the match and Milla-Valdes was taken into custody two hours later in Ft. Myers Shores, according to the sheriff’s office.
“They don’t want me. They told me about two times,” Milla-Valdes told officers as he was taken into custody, police bodycam footage shows.
“Now they do. They changed their mind,” an arresting officer responded.
The sheriff applauded his unit’s fast response.
“My team’s skill is unmatched at every level; even if your crimes don’t start here in Lee County, I promise, they WILL end here,” Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno said in a statement.
(NEW YORK) –At least 20 people have died and 55 are injured as the casualties continue to rise Saturday following an overnight blitz by Russia near Donetsk in Ukraine, officials said.
“Last night, the Russian army fired two ballistic missiles at the center of Dobropillya in the Donetsk region,” according to a translated statement on Telegram from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Saturday morning. “After our services arrived at the scene, they launched another strike, deliberately targeting rescuers. A vile and inhumane tactic for intimidation that the Russians often resort to.
Zelenskyy confirmed that several children were among those injured, while a total of eight five-story buildings were damaged.
“I thank all emergency services, police, the State Emergency Service, and doctors who, despite the threat of repeated strikes, are not afraid and are saving people from this terror. To everyone who protects life, risking their own,” Zelenskyy said. “Such strikes show that Russia’s goals are unchanged. Therefore, it is very important to continue to do everything to protect life, strengthen our air defense, and tighten sanctions against Russia. Everything that helps Putin finance the war must break down.”
These latest strikes come just over 24 hours after the United States paused intelligence sharing with Ukraine. This means Ukrainian forces have now lost access to Maxar satellite imagery, a Ukrainian military source told ABC News as Russia continued to carry out attacks on the country this week.
Ukrainian access to U.S. government-purchased commercial satellite imagery, which includes Maxar, was suspended, a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) spokesperson told ABC News.
“In accordance with the Administration’s directive on support to Ukraine, NGA has temporarily suspended access to the Global Enhanced GEOINT Delivery system, or GEGD, which is the primary portal for access to U.S. government-purchased commercial imagery,” an NGA spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.
Starlink remains operational, and Ukraine continues to use the company’s satellite systems, a U.S. official told ABC News.
Ukraine’s European allies had harsh words for Russia and President Donald Trump’s stance on the war following the night of deadly strikes.
“This is what happens when someone appeases barbarians. More bombs, more aggression, more victims. Another tragic night in Ukraine,” Polish President Donald Tusk posted to X.
The European Union’s high representative for foreign affairs, Kaja Kallas, said, “Russian missiles keep relentlessly falling on Ukraine, bringing more death and more destruction. Once again, Putin shows he has no interest in peace. We must step up our military support – otherwise, even more Ukrainian civilians will pay the highest price.”
Russia has dramatically increased the number of drones launched against Ukrainian cities in recent months.
It now appears likely that Russia will try to increase these attacks at a critical time as the end of U.S. intelligence sharing and supplies of anti-aircraft missiles could weaken Ukraine’s ability to defend against them.
With Russian missiles and drone attacks a nightly occurrence in Ukraine, the country has become largely reliant on Western anti-air weapons to defeat incoming projectiles.
U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine had allowed Kyiv to give warnings to targeted areas ahead of Russian drone and missile strikes, tracking Russian aircraft taking off, drones being launched and missiles being fired.
Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — blamed Ukraine for starting the war with Russia while seeking to undermine Zelenskyy’s legitimacy as president. The White House is pushing Kyiv to accept a deal to end the fighting and to sign an agreement giving the U.S. access to Ukrainian mineral resources.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
