(COPAKE, N.Y.) — The 2022 recipient of the prestigious NCAA woman of the year award, a former soccer player at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was one of the six victims killed in a plane crash in upstate New York on Saturday, according to a statement from her family.
Karenna Groff, a medical student at NYU Langone in the department of neurosurgery and a former soccer star at MIT, died when a twin-engine turboprop plane crashed 10 miles from the Columbia County Airport near the town of Copake, New York, on Saturday afternoon.
Five others — including Groff’s partner, James Santoro — died in the crash, the family said.
“He was most looking forward to proposing to his love, Karenna, this summer,” the family said in a statement provided to ABC News.
Only one woman each year is chosen as the NCAA woman of the year, with three finalists each chosen from Divisions I, II and III. The honor has been given since 1991 and includes winners such as Basketball Hall of Famer Rebecca Lobo (1995), Olympic gold medal swimmer Kimberly Black (2001) and three-time Olympian triple jumper Keturah Orji (2018).
The passengers who died were all members of Groff’s family, including Groff’s parents, Joy Saini and Michael Groff; her brother, Jared Groff; and his partner, Alexia Couyutas Duarte, the family said.
Joy Saini was a pelvic surgeon and Michael Groff was a neurosurgeon, as their daughter was training to be, according to the family.
“We will remember them as the six brilliant, dynamic and loving people that they were,” the family said. “The families ask for privacy during this difficult time.”
The family said information regarding funerals and memorials will be forthcoming.
During a press briefing on Sunday, the National Transportation Safety Board said the pilot reported a “missed approach” and “requested vectors for another approach.” Officials said as the pilot was coming back around, “the radar indicated a low altitude alert.”
An air traffic controller attempted to “relay this low altitude alert” and tried to contact him three additional times, but was unsuccessful, according to the NTSB’s lead investigator for this incident, Albert Nixon.
“There was no response from the pilot and there was no distress call,” Nixon said.
The aircraft, which had departed from the Westchester County Airport bound for the Columbia County Airport, crashed “at a high rate of descent” in a “flat agricultural field,” the NTSB said.
Authorities would not say who was flying the plane, but the family statement noted Michael Groff was “an experienced pilot, who fell in love with flying after being taught by his father at the age of sixteen.”
The NTSB said it will provide more information on the plane crash on Monday afternoon.
Groff was a captain for MIT’s Division III soccer team and finished her career second all-time in goals and points at the school. She was a third-team All-American in her final season.
ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Emme Marchese contributed to this report
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday is hosting El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, the self-described “world’s coolest dictator” who has become a key ally in the administration’s controversial migrant deportations.
The two men will greet each other at the White House around 11 a.m. ET for a bilateral meeting in the Oval Office.
There, they will likely face reporter questions on the use of El Salvador’s notorious mega-prison CECOT to house migrants removed from the U.S. and the ongoing legal dispute regarding the wrongful deportation Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of Abrego Garcia. The Justice Department, though, in a court filing on Sunday that the courts had “no authority” to direct how the executive branch engages in foreign relations and argued the administration could not interfere with El Salvador’s sovereignty. Another hearing is set in the case for Tuesday.
Asked about Monday’s meeting, President Trump said he thought Bukele was “doing a fantastic job” and “taking care of a lot of problems that we have that we really wouldn’t be able to take care of from a cost standpoint.”
“We have some very bad people in that prison, people that should have never been allowed into our country, people that murder drug dealers, some of the worst people on Earth are in that prison and he’s able to do that,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Sunday.
When pressed further about the alleged human rights abuses reported at CECOT, President Trump said, “I don’t see it. I don’t see that happening.”
The Trump administration has deported hundreds of migrants they allege to be Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador, though have done so with seemingly little due process.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in a social media post over the weekend, said the efforts continued with another 10 alleged criminals associated with MS-13 and Tren de Aragua deported to El Salvador.
Rubio wrote that the “alliance” between Trump and Bukele “has become an example for security and prosperity in our hemisphere.”
Plus, Trump and several officials have floated sending U.S. citizens convicted of violent crimes to the infamous El Salvador prison — something legal experts have said would violate the Constitution.
“The president has discussed this idea quite a few times publicly. He’s also discussed it privately,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week.
“These would be heinous, violent criminals who have broken our nation’s laws repeatedly. And these are violent repeat offenders in American streets,” Leavitt continued.
“The president has said if it’s legal, right, if there is a legal pathway to do that, he’s not sure. We are not sure if there is. It’s an idea that he has simply floated and has discussed, very publicly, as in the effort of transparency,” she said.
The relatives are slamming the Los Angeles County Attorney’s Office for their “cruel” presentation in court on Friday and said they’re taking formal action to demand DA Nathan Hochman’s office be removed from the case.
Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars. Over 20 of their relatives are pushing for their release, arguing they endured horrific abuse, have admitted guilt and apologized, and have used their decades in custody to help others.
Baralt, who is Jose Menendez’s sister, is battling colon cancer. But she traveled from her home in New Jersey to Los Angeles to support her nephews at their hearing, where the family said she was forced to — without warning — witness grisly images, including her brother’s body.
“No physical pain has ever kept her from being there for her nephews,” the family said in a statement on Sunday. “But the display put on by the DA’s office pushed her past the brink.”
Baralt was found unresponsive on Sunday morning and was hospitalized in critical condition, the family said.
“We are devastated,” the family said.
“Terry may not recover from what was done to her — and to all of us — in that courtroom,” the family said. “We deserve better. We firmly believe that if the DA’s office had shown even an announce of consideration for us, as victims, we would not be hoping for one more day with Terry right now.”
The family said the graphic display violated Marsy’s Law — California’s bill of rights for victims — specifically noting it states that a victim is entitled “to be treated with fairness and respect” and be “free from intimidation, harassment, and abuse.”
“Being tough on crime is important, it’s good,” Menendez family attorney Bryan Freedman said. “But that’s tough on crime — not creating fear and pain and trauma in family members.”
The DA’s office apologized “for not giving prior warning,” saying in a statement Sunday, “We never intend to cause distress or pain to individuals who attend a court hearing.”
“However, by design, these hearings are intended to be a place where the truth, no matter how painful, is brought to light,” the DA’s office added. “That truth starts with the abject brutality and premeditation of the murders themselves. … There has never been an objection to describing this highly brutal, murderous conduct in words, nor did anyone object to this office when such crime scene images were recently shown on a Netflix documentary.”
“We caution anyone attending a hearing in person to be prepared for some of the difficult details and images surrounding these tragic circumstances,” prosecutors added.
“[The prosecutors] have shown again and again that they are incapable of handling this process with the fairness, care, or neutrality required by law,” the family said Sunday.
Friday’s hourslong hearing was regarding Hochman’s motion to withdraw the brothers’ resentencing petition — submitted under the previous district attorney, George Gascón, who supported the brothers’ release. Hochman, who defeated Gascón in the November election, has argued Lyle and Erik Menendez haven’t taken responsibility for their actions and he called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.”
The judge on Friday denied Hochman’s motion and said the brothers’ official resentencing hearing will proceed as planned on April 17 and 18, bringing them one step closer to potential freedom.
ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Lisa Sivertsen contributed to this report.
Thomas Fuller/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(VAN HORN, Texas) — Blue Origin’s all-female crew, which includes pop star Katy Perry, completed their trip into space Monday morning.
It marks the first all-female spaceflight since 1963, according to the company.
The window for the latest New Shepard rocket launch opened on Monday morning at about 8:30 a.m. CDT, according to Blue Origin.
“I’ve dreamt of going to space for 15 years and tomorrow that dream becomes a reality,” Perry said on social media on Sunday.
The 11th crewed New Shepard flight, which is officially called NS-31, took off from the company’s Launch Site One in western Texas.
The flight lasted around 11 minutes and traveled more than 60 miles above Earth, according to Blue Origin, passing the Kármán line, which at 62 miles above sea level is considered to be the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space.
Along with Perry, the crew included Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos’ journalist fiancée, Lauren Sanchez, who is also a helicopter pilot.
Journalist Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist and civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen and filmmaker Kerianne Flynn round out the flight crew, according to Blue Origin.
The most-recent all-female spaceflight was Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova’s solo spaceflight in 1963, Blue Origin said.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — A new legislative push led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Rep. Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., is seeking to bar special government employees like tech billionaire and senior Trump adviser Elon Musk from communicating with government agencies that interface with their companies, and would require federal employees like Musk to meet new ethics requirements.
Warren and Stansbury introduced a bill this week in the Senate and House, respectively, that would prevent special government employees (SGEs) like Musk – who lead companies worth $1 billion or more – from interacting with federal agencies that interface with his companies.
SpaceX and Tesla together have received billions of dollars in government contracts over the past ten years.
While the legislation introduced by Warren and Stansbury does not mention Musk or his companies by name, Musk’s proximity to Trump in the early days of Trump’s second term has made him a clear target of Democrats who have been outspoken about their opposition to Musk’s key role in orchestrating massive cuts to the federal government, with little input from lawmakers.
The bill, titled the SGE Ethics Enforcement & Reform (SEER) Act of 2025, would create what the lawmakers are calling a “bright-line rule” that makes new provisions explicitly applicable to owners of a “large company,” which the bill defines as any for-profit company making over $1 billion.
Democrats, including Warren, have also raised concerns that Musk’s companies could be unfairly benefitting from Musk’s influence over Trump’s policies.
Since 2015, Musk’s companies SpaceX and Tesla have been awarded at least $24 billion in federal contracts, according to government spending data and public announcements. SpaceX has won nearly $23 million worth of contracts, which includes nearly $6 million that the Space Force recently awarded SpaceX for launch missions.
“No special Government employee, as defined in section 202 of title 18, United States 23 Code, who is not on an advisory committee or a chair or vice chair on an advisory committee may have direct or indirect communications in their official capacity with an agency or office that contracts with, regulates, or has a pending enforcement action against a large company – (1) that the special Government employee owns; or (2) for which the special Government employee serves as a senior executive or director,” the bill reads.
The new bill would also implement a new requirement for government employees designated as “special government employees” to resolve conflicts of interest between their private-sector and governmental work during their service.
Unlike other cabinet and high-level positions that are subject to congressional scrutiny via the Senate confirmation process, Musk, in his advisory role, is designated a “special government employee,” a status Congress created in 1962 for temporary executive branch hires to perform limited duties for no more than 130 days.
“Unelected billionaire Elon Musk should not be acting as co-president of the United States and making $8 million a day from government contracts while he’s at it. My new bill would crack down on conflicts of interest and create stronger ethics rules for Elon Musk and all Special Government Employees. Government should work for the American people, not billionaires lining their own pockets,” Sen. Warren said in a statement provided to ABC News.
Those working for the government as special government employees are not paid by the federal government and can continue to collect payment from outside entities while performing their work for the government, which Warren and Stansbury say runs the risk of creating possible conflicts of interest.
The legislation aims to address those concerns by applying the same standard ethics rules that apply to regular federal employees to special government employees after they render 60 days of government service. These rules guide federal employees to avoid using their office for personal gain, to steer clear of conflicting financial interest, to maintain impartiality, to avoid outside activity or employment that could raise conflict of interest questions, and more.
The new legislation would also apply tougher scrutiny to the process of acquiring a conflict of interest waiver for this kind of work.
Musk has appeared alongside Trump as recently as Thursday, when he was present at a Cabinet meeting at the White House.
ABC News has previously reported that Musk could be taking a step back from his current role in the administration. His term would be up around the end of May but it had been widely rumored that the White House could take steps to keep him on or extend his employment status in some way.
“Elon has done a fantastic job. Look, he’s sitting here, and I don’t care. I don’t need Elon for anything other than I happen to like him,” Trump told reporters during the meeting.
Trump has acknowledged that Musk will eventually need to return to Tesla to run the company. However, when reports that Musk could depart the White House in May surfaced, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refuted them.
“Elon Musk and President Trump have both publicly stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at [the Department of Government Efficiency] is complete,” Leavitt said earlier this month.
The bill introduced by Warren and Stansbury faces an uncertain future on Capitol Hill. It does not currently have a Republican co-sponsor and it’s unlikely to get the GOP support it would need to move through either chamber of the Republican-controlled Congress. Many Republicans have praised Musk’s efforts to slash federal spending and have remained hesitant to criticize Musk’s work at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Still, the bill comes as Democrats are looking to demonstrate that they are fighting against the Trump agenda on all fronts. Warren has been particularly focused on the Musk-led effort to dismantle federal agencies, including the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that she was instrumental in creating.
(NEW YORK) — Major stock markets in Asia and Europe rose in Monday trading following the U.S. announcement that key consumer electronics would be temporarily exempted from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index led the regional gains, closing 2.4% up with the Hang Seng Tech Index up more than 2%.
On the mainland, Shanghai’s Composite Index rose 0.76% and Shenzen’s Component Index rose 0.51%.
In Japan, the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo rose 1.18% while the broader Topix index rose nearly 0.9%.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi index grew 0.95% and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 closed 1.34% higher. Taiwan’s Taeix index slipped by 0.08%.
Tech stocks performed particularly well. Tokyo Electron grew 2%, Advantest — a testing equipment maker — rose 5.4% and South Korea’s Samsung Electronics gained 1.4%.
In Europe, the pan-continental STOXX 600 rose 1.8% on opening. Germany’s DAX index rose more than 2%, France’s CAC 40 rose 1.9% and Britain’s FTSE 100 rose 1.95%.
U.S. futures were also trending up. Dow Jones futures were up 0.71% as of Monday morning, S&P 500 futures were up 1.19% and Nasdaq futures up 1.57%.
Smartphones, computers, flat panel TV displays, memory chips, semiconductor-based storage devices and other electronics are among the items excluded from the Trump administration’s reciprocal tariffs, according to a bulletin from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection published Friday night.
The news suggested possible relief for tech companies concerned by Trump’s 145% tariffs on all goods from China. But the president and his economic advisers stressed over the weekend that any reprieve would be temporary, with specific tariffs to be imposed on goods put under a new national security classification.
Trump posted to Truth Social on Sunday saying there was “was no Tariff ‘exemption’ announced on Friday” and that semiconductor tariffs will “just be moving to a different Tariff ‘bucket.'”
“NOBODY is getting ‘off the hook’ for the unfair Trade Balances, and Non Monetary Tariff Barriers, that other Countries have used against us, especially not China which, by far, treats us the worst!” Trump wrote.
“We are taking a look at Semiconductors and the WHOLE ELECTRONICS SUPPLY CHAIN in the upcoming National Security Tariff Investigations,” Trump added.
Trump did not push back Saturday night when a reporter asked for details on “exemptions.”
“I’ll give you that answer on Monday. We’ll be very specific on Monday,” Trump said. “We’re taking in a lot of money. As a country, we’re taking in a lot of money.”
ABC News’ Selina Wang, Fritz Farrow and Joe Simonetti contributed to this report.
(COPENHAGEN) — Two college students, both United States citizens, were detained while visiting Denmark on their spring break, according to officials and an attorney representing the family of one of the young men.
Owen Ray, a 19-year-old studying at the University of Miami in Ohio, and his unnamed friend were detained at Copenhagen Airport on April 1 over an alleged dispute with an Uber driver the night prior, Jordan Finfer, a U.S.-based attorney for Ray’s family, told ABC News.
In an account relayed to Finfer, who then shared the details with ABC News, Ray said he and a friend were in an Uber on March 31 when they realized they had entered the wrong address for their destination — and the driver allegedly refused to take them anywhere else.
All parties — Ray, the friend and the Uber driver — eventually got out of the car, and an altercation then allegedly occurred, Finfer said, based on Ray’s account.
Finfer says Ray told him that the driver kicked Ray in the groin, and in response, Ray pushed him away and the driver fell, the attorney recounted, adding that Ray and his friend then ran away.
The two students were detained at Copenhagen Airport the next day while trying to return home, Finfer told ABC News. Local police detained them after deeming them “flight risks,” claiming they were planning to run from the incident, he said.
“On the evening of March 31, 2025, Owen Ray and a friend were the victims of an unprovoked verbal and physical assault by an Uber driver in Denmark,” Andy and Sara Buchen-Ray, the parents of Owen Ray, said in a statement to ABC News. “They did nothing to instigate the attack. We urge the Danish authorities to recognize Owen’s innocence and release him immediately. Our family is heartbroken, and we want our son home to celebrate Easter with us this week.”
“The safety of everyone who uses the Uber app is a top priority, and we take reports of violence very seriously,” an Uber spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News on Sunday.
“Any additional questions about the investigation should be directed to the Danish police,” the statement added.
Ray’s Denmark-based attorney, Eigil Strand, confirmed to ABC News that as of 10:50 p.m. Thursday Danish time, both of the young men are still being detained, while Danish police say neither student has been charged.
A Copenhagen police spokesperson told ABC News, “The Copenhagen Police can confirm, that on March 31, two American citizens were arrested in Copenhagen, and on March 31 they were brought before the court charged with common assault. They were sentenced to 10 days pre-trial detention. This verdict has since extended until April 24.”
The U.S. State Department provided a statement on Sunday saying, “We are aware of media reports of two U.S. citizens detained in Denmark. Staff at our embassy in Copenhagen are providing consular assistance,” according to Chicago-based ABC affiliate WLS.
“The Department has no higher priority than the safety and security of U.S. citizens abroad,” it continued. “Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”
ABC News’ Benjamin Siu contributed to this report.
LONDON — A Russian ballistic missile strike on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed at least 21 people on Sunday morning, the city’s acting mayor and local emergency services said, as many there celebrated Palm Sunday.
“The enemy struck the civilian population again,” acting Mayor Artem Kobzar wrote on Telegram. At least 21 people were confirmed killed, Kobzar said. At least another 20 people were injured. The Sumy City Council said the strike hit multiple buildings, including residential ones.
“On this bright day of Palm Sunday, our community suffered a terrible tragedy,” Kobzar wrote.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, wrote, “The Russians hit the city of Sumy with missiles, killing civilians.”
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Telegram that the “terrible strike” hit “an ordinary city street, ordinary life: houses, educational institutions, cars on the street.”
“And this is on a day when people go to church: Palm Sunday, the feast of the lord’s entry into Jerusalem,” he added. “Only a scoundrel can act like this. Taking the lives of ordinary people. My condolences to the relatives and friends. A rescue operation is underway now. All necessary services are working.”
“A tough reaction from the world is needed,” Zelenskyy wrote. “The United States, Europe, everyone in the world who wants an end to this war and murders. Russia wants exactly this kind of terror and is dragging out this war. Without pressure on the aggressor, peace is impossible.”
“Talks have never stopped ballistic missiles and air bombs,” Zelenskyy said. “We need the kind of attitude towards Russia that a terrorist deserves.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
ABC News’ Natalia Popova, Natalia Kushnir and Victoria Beaule contributed to this report.
As divers continue to use “side-scanning sonar” to search the Hudson River for wreckage from the helicopter crash that killed six people, the National Transportation Safety Board said the aircraft was not equipped with any flight recorders.
“No onboard video recorders or camera recorders have been recovered and none of the helicopter avionics onboard recorded information that could be used for the investigation,” the agency said in an investigation update Saturday evening.
According to the NTSB, the helicopter had its last major inspection on March 1. On the day of the crash, the helicopter had performed seven tour flights, and was on its eighth flight when the accident occurred, per the NTSB.
The main fuselage, including the cockpit and cabin, the forward portion of the tail boom, the horizontal stabilizer finlets and the vertical fin have all been recovered, according to the agency.
Some of these will be sent to the NTSB lab in Washington, D.C., for further inspection, the agency said.
Divers on Saturday were still working to recover more pieces of the helicopter, including the main rotor, main gearbox, tail rotor and a large portion of the tail boom.
Recovery operations in the river will continue on Sunday, the NTSB said.
The family on board was Siemens executive Agustin Escobar, 49; his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, 39; and their children, ages 4, 8 and 10, officials said.
The family came to New York City to join Escobar, who was in the U.S. for a business trip, according to Jersey City Mayor Fulop.
The family died one day before the 8-year-old’s birthday, according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams.
Also killed was the pilot, 36-year-old Seankese “Sam” Johnson, officials said.Johnson, who had served in the military, accumulated 788 hours of total flight time, the NTSB said.
Johnson was “an amazing man,” said Matt Klier, his friend from the Navy and a fellow helicopter pilot.
Thursday’s deadly crash occurred at 3:17 p.m., just over 15 minutes into the flight, officials said. The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge before turning south and crashing, officials said.
ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff, Sam Sweeney and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.
Six people were on board a small plane that crashed into a field in upstate New York on Saturday afternoon.
The plane, a twin-engine turboprop Mitsubishi MU-2B, crashed near the town of Copake around 12:15 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The plane was headed to Columbia County Airport in Hudson, New York.
Copake is located about 50 miles south of Albany, near the border with Massachusetts.
The Columbia County Sheriff’s Office has not released any details on the number of fatalities or the identity of anyone aboard the plane, according to ABC affiliate WTEN.
Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore told reporters that muddy conditions in the field where the plane crashed has made accessing the scene difficult, according to WTEN.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it was launching a go-team to investigate the crash and would hold a media briefing on Sunday.
