18-year-old in custody after allegedly gunning down 2 people in Kentucky bank robbery: Officials
Kentucky State Police released this image of the suspect in a bank robbery in Berea, Kentucky, on April 30, 2026. (Kentucky State Police)
(BEREA, Ky.) — An 18-year-old is in custody after he allegedly gunned down two people during a bank robbery, according to Kentucky authorities.
Braelin Weaver, wearing a black mask and black gloves, allegedly went into the U.S. Bank in Berea just before 2 p.m. Thursday, immediately shot and killed a male victim, and then shot and killed a bank teller, court documents said.
He then allegedly checked multiple drawers before fleeing the bank, according to the documents.
Surveillance footage linked the suspect to a silver BMW, court documents said, and investigators traced the car to a Facebook account under Weaver’s name.
At about 8 p.m. Thursday, Weaver posted an image to social media showing an alien holding a large amount of cash, according to the court documents.
On Thursday night, authorities zeroed in on Weaver’s car on Interstate 75 in Somerset, Kentucky, and he allegedly led police on a chase, driving over 100 mph, documents said. He eventually crashed the BMW and fled on foot, according to documents. A gun was found in the car, documents noted.
Weaver has since been arrested and is facing federal charges, according to prosecutors. He will make his first court appearance in Lexington on Monday, authorities said.
“Our hearts go out to the families of the victims, our colleagues and the entire Berea community,” U.S. Bank said in a statement. “We are committed to supporting the victims’ families and our colleagues. And we will continue to work closely with law enforcement on this active investigation.”
Berea, a city of more than 16,000 people, is roughly 40 miles south of Lexington.
Boats descend lower into a desert canyon at Antelope Point Marina, requiring construction of alternative boat ramps, as Lake Powell continues to shrink on September 3, 2022, near Page, Arizona. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — It has been a tale of two winters on the opposing U.S. coasts this season.
While the East has been slammed with frigid temperatures and punishing winter storms, the West is experiencing a snow drought amid warmer-than-normal temperatures.
Prolonged drought across much of the West has been worsened this winter by below‑average snowfall and persistent warmth, fueling a widespread and intensifying snow drought. With sharply reduced mountain snowpack, the region’s water supplies and winter tourism are facing mounting challenges, experts told ABC News.
“This winter, we’ve just had an extreme lack of storm activity, and the storms that we have had have either brought very small amounts of snowfall or have brought rain,” Jon Meyer, assistant Utah state climatologist, told ABC News.
Warm temperatures have prevented snow from accumulating
Much of the western United States entered winter already grappling with a lack of rain. Widespread moderate to severe drought conditions stretched from New Mexico to Washington, including much of the Colorado River Basin, leaving soil moisture low and reservoir levels depleted heading into the season.
More than one-third of the West is currently facing some form of drought condition, with much of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico experiencing a moderate drought or worse, according to the U.S. Drought Mitigation Center’s U.S. Drought Monitor.
Utah is facing the worst drought conditions among western states, with more than 94% of the state experiencing what the USDM categorizes as a Moderate Drought and more than 40% of the state experiencing Severe Drought.
Salt Lake City has only received a tenth of an inch of snow so far this season – the lowest to date since records began in 1874, according to the National Weather Service. Their lowest seasonal snowfall was 14.3 inches during the winter of 1933-34. By comparison, parts of the Southeast, which typically don’t see much snowfall, have seen more snow than Salt Lake City this season.
“Just totally uncharted territory for the amount of low-elevation and mid-elevation snowfall Utah has seen, and that’s a pattern that’s played out across much of the Western U.S.,” Meyer said.
While many western states received average or above-average precipitation in the fall and early winter, warmer temperatures caused much of it to fall as rain rather than snow, leading to unusually low snowpack and a rapidly developing snow drought.
“If you look at most of the West, it’s at or above average, with regards to precipitation to date,” Eric Sproles, an associate professor of earth sciences at Montana State University, told ABC News. “But if you look at the the amount of water that’s stored in the snow pack is, it’s pretty bleak.”
Meteorological winter, which begins in the U.S. on December 1, kicked off with record warmth across much of the West. December 2025 was the warmest December on record for cities including Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; Salt Lake City, Utah; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Portland, Oregon and Boise, Idaho, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Nine western states – Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming – recorded their warmest December on record. For the winter season to date, Colorado is currently experiencing its warmest winter since 1934, while Utah is experiencing its warmest winter on record, according to NOAA.
The snow drought is threatening water supplies
Drought on its own already stresses water supplies, agriculture and ecosystems. But when winter fails to deliver significant mountain snow, the resulting snow drought – a period of abnormally little snowpack for the time of year – can intensify those impacts, according to NOAA.
The snowpack typically acts as a natural water reservoir. However, without an adequate snowpack to slowly release water through the spring and summer snow melt, rivers run lower, soils dry out earlier, and drought conditions can deepen and linger.
Melting snow provides a slow release of the water into reservoirs and dams but also recharges ground water as well, Sproles said: “That slow, steady release is important. The snowpack is kind of like a savings account.”
In Utah, the snow water equivalent – meaning how much water is in the snowpack – is currently at only 55% of its median, which is the lowest snow water equivalent to date. Moreover, only a quarter of the state has seen a ground snow cover depth of at least 1 inch.
Colorado and Oregon are also reporting their lowest snow water equivalents to date, with Montana approaching its lowest snow water equivalent to date.
In much of the West, snowmelt provides a large percentage of the water used by communities, agriculture, and ecosystems; in some states, up to about 75 percent of the water supply can come from melting snow, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. As such, the snow water equivalent is a vital measure of the region’s water resources.
According to NOAA, a persistent snow drought can trigger a cascade of hydrologic changes. Low snowpack and early snowmelt can affect vegetation, reduce surface and subsurface water storage and alter streamflow, all of which directly impact water management and planning across the West.
While soil moisture in not currently a concern, it could dry out over the next couple of months, according to Meyer.
“We’ve become critically reliant on soil moisture observations for drought monitoring and predictions,” Meyer said.
The reservoirs along the Colorado River are especially threatened, the experts said. Major reservoirs in the Colorado River Basin remain well below average, according to latest figures from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). As of early February, Lake Powell, in southern Utah and northern Arizona, was about 26 % full, while Lake Mead – the nation’s largest reservoir by volume, located in Arizona and Nevada – was about 34% full.
Total storage in the Colorado River system, which provides water for more than 40 million people and fuels hydropower resources in seven western states, was roughly 37% of capacity, down from about 42% at the same time last year, according to the USBR, which has flagged 13 reservoirs, the majority located in the West, for having the lowest observed water storage levels for the current time period.
The Colorado River system also serves as a vital resource for 30 tribal nations, sustaining 5.5 million acres of farmland and agricultural communities throughout the West, while also supporting critical ecosystems and protecting endangered species, the USBR said.
Winter sports have been impacted by lack of snow
The snow drought is also impacting local economies that rely on winter sports, an industry that contributes $20 billion annually to the U.S. economy, according to The Climate Reality Project.
“The resort winter tourism is a huge economic backbone for many of these mountain resort communities,” Marcene Mitchell, senior vice president for climate change for the World Wildlife Fund, told ABC News. “And so as they lose their snowfall, they also lose these revenue.”
Vail Resorts, a Colorado-based company that owns and operates some of the largest ski resorts in North America, reported in January that skier visits to its North American resorts were down about 20% through Jan. 4, compared to the same period last year. The company issued the update as a mid-season report on skier visits and revenue, citing a lack of early-season snowfall as a major factor in the decline.
Season-to-date total lift revenue, including an allocated portion of season pass revenue, was down 1.8% from the same period last year, said the tourism company, which operates dozens of resorts across North America, including Vail Mountain and Breckenridge in Colorado and Park City Mountain in Utah.
“We experienced one of the worst early season snowfalls in the western U.S. in over 30 years, which limited our ability to open terrain and negatively impacted visitation and ancillary spending for both local and destination guests during the period,” Chief Executive Officer Rob Katz said in a statement.
Vail’s Tahoe-area resorts in California also had a slow start through mid-December, but holiday-period snowstorms allowed the company to open more terrain, Katz said.
February and March typically can bring significant amounts of snow to the region, and odds favor above-average precipitation for much of the region over the next few weeks, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center, with persistent unusually warm conditions less likely. However, NOAA notes, snowfall in the coming months may not be able to make up for existing deficits.
Forecasters further caution that this pattern may not last for the rest of the month, with overall warmer and drier-than-average conditions still favored for the month as a whole.
Columbia University. (Sergi Reboredo/VW Pics/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A Columbia University student who was detained by Department of Homeland Security agents Thursday morning after the school claimed agents allegedly made “misrepresentations” to enter a dorm was released later in the day after New York City’s mayor spoke with the president.Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Thursday afternoon that President Donald Trump informed him that the student, Elaina Aghayeva, would be “released immediately” after the mayor said he spoke with the president.
Previously, following the Mamdani’s meeting, Claire Shipman, the school’s acting president, sent a letter to the school community informing them that the DHS agents entered an unspecified dorm on the campus around 6:30 a.m. and detained the student.
“Our understanding at this time is that the federal agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building to search for a ‘missing person.’ We are working to gather more details,” she said.
A statement from a DHS official identified Aghayeva as an Azerbajani native, and alleged her “student visa was terminated in 2016 under the Obama administration for failing to attend classes.”
“The building manager and her roommate let officers into the apartment. She has no pending appeals or applications with DHS,” the statement further said.
The statement did not address the allegations that DHS agents made misrepresentations to gain entry to the building.
Mamdani, who met with Trump at the White House Thursday, posted a statement on social media in the afternoon in which he said he spoke with the president about the incident.
“In our meeting earlier, I shared my concerns about Columbia student Elaina Aghayeva, who was detained by ICE this morning. He has just informed me that she will be released imminently,” Mamdani said.
Aghayeva made a story on her Instagram page shortly after Mamdani’s announcement, in which she expressed gratitude for the support.
“I just got out a little while ago. I am safe and okay. In an uber (on the way) back home,” she said. “I am so sorry, but I am in complete shock over what happened.”
Aghayeva was seen by ABC News exiting a vehicle and entering building. She did not give a statement.
An attorney representing Aghayeva filed a petition in federal court Thursday asking a judge to order her release.
Carl Hurvich said in court documents that the student was unlawfully detained and was being held “without justification.”
The habeas petition said agents “represented they were searching for a missing person to gain entry” and did not have a warrant for Aghayeva’s arrest. Hurvich requested a temporary restraining order barring the Trump administration from transferring Aghayeva outside of New York.
Aghayeva is described in court documents as an undergrad student at Columbia’s School of General Studies pursuing a degree in neuroscience and political science. She entered the U.S. around 2016 on a visa, the filing says.
Protests took place on the school’s campus on Thursday following the news of the student’s detention, but there were no reported incidents or arrests.
The school was “working to reach the family, and providing legal support,” the Shipman said in her letter.
“It is important to reiterate that all law enforcement agents must have a judicial warrant or judicial subpoena to access non-public areas of the University, including housing, classrooms, and areas requiring CUID swipe access,” the letter said.
“If law enforcement agents seek entry to non-public areas of the University, ask the agents to wait to enter any non-public areas until contacting Public Safety,” Shipman wrote. “Public Safety will contact the Office of the General Counsel to coordinate the University’s response. Do not allow them to enter or accept service of a warrant or subpoena.”
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul released a statement condemning the federal agents’ alleged actions.
“Let’s be clear about what happened: ICE agents didn’t have the proper warrant, so they lied to gain access to a student’s private residence,” she said.
U.S. Rep. Jerry Nadler echoed the governor’s statement.
“Law enforcement agents should not, under no circumstance, misrepresent their identity to gain entrance into a residence. These actions do not keep us safe, they only sow distrust and fear into our community. ICE is terrorizing our neighbors and ripping students from their homes,” Nadler said in a statement, in part. “We are doing everything in our power to help bring the student home.”
Thursday’s incident is not the first encounter between the Trump administration and Columbia.
Last year, pro-Palestinian activist and Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil was arrested and held for 104 days on immigration charges.
U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz issued an order on June 20 granting Khalil’s release on bail after determining that he presented neither a danger nor a flight risk and that extraordinary circumstances justified his temporary release while his habeas case proceeded.
The federal government has been appealing its case against Kahlil, a green card holder.
Columbia also reached a $200 million agreement with the Trump administration last July, after it threatened to remove federal funding over what it called Columbia’s “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
In this June 2, 2019, file photo, a sign marking the spot of the Stonewall National monument is shown in Greenwich Village neighborhood of New York. (Epics via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration on Monday agreed to fly the rainbow pride flag on federal grounds at the Stonewall National Monument in New York City after the National Park Service’s removal of the flag was challenged in a federal lawsuit filed by a coalition of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups.
The Department of the Interior, which oversees NPS, agreed to fly the flag at the site as part of a resolution to the lawsuit filed on Feb. 17 by the Gilbert Baker Foundation, Village Preservation and Equality New York.
The site became the first federal monument dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights in 2016. The pride flag was permanently installed at the site during the Biden administration in 2021, but was removed by NPS in early February.
The move drew sharp criticism from a group of local lawmakers, officials and LGBTQ+ advocates, who rallied at the site on Feb. 12 and installed their own pride flag there to replace the one removed by the government. As the lawsuit moved forward, NPS did not remove the flag that was installed by advocates.
According to court documents, NPS agreed that the pride flag will fly at the site alongside the American flag and the NPS flag.
The Gilbert Baker Foundation, which is named after the artist who created the pride flag in 1978, celebrated the lawsuit’s resolution and the government’s agreement to fly the flag at the monument.
“The Rainbow Flag is more than a symbol — it is a global emblem of hope, visibility, and the ongoing struggle for equality,” Charles Beal, president of the Gilbert Baker Foundation, said in a statement announcing the agreement. “Its presence at Stonewall, the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement, is both historically and culturally indispensable. Restoring the flag affirms the truth of our history and the legitimacy of our continued fight for dignity and inclusion.”
ABC News reached out to the Interior Department and NPS for comment.
The NPS communications office confirmed the removal of the rainbow flag in a statement to ABC News in February. It said that, under federal guidance, “only the U.S. flag and other congressionally or departmentally authorized flags are flown on NPS-managed flagpoles, with limited exceptions.”
“Any changes to flag displays are made to ensure consistency with that guidance. Stonewall National Monument continues to preserve and interpret the site’s historic significance through exhibits and programs,” the statement continued.
The monument is located near the Stonewall Inn, a historic gay bar in the neighborhood that was a safe haven for many in the LGBTQ+ community in the 1960s. The bar was raided by the NYPD in 1969, leading to riots that became known as the Stonewall Uprising, which is credited with kickstarting the modern LGBTQ+ movement. The NYPD publicly apologized for the raid in 2019.
