Talk of the Town
(BALTIMORE) — The federal government indicted two foreign companies Tuesday in connection with the cargo ship crash that collapsed Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in 2024.
A shoreside superintendent of the M/V Dali, the vessel involved in the crash, was also charged by federal prosecutors.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(WASHINGTON) — The father of a sailor deployed aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier was released by immigration authorities Tuesday — days after his son posted about the ordeal on Facebook, an account not disputed by the Department of Homeland Security.
Joshua Aviles, the sailor, posted on Facebook on behalf of the family that his dad, Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, had been released.
“Luis has been released back to our family,” the Aviles family posted on the sailor’s Facebook page. “We are grateful for all of the support for both Luis and Josh throughout this situation. At this moment, our family is taking time to be together. While we await the return of our proud Navy sailor, we kindly ask for your understanding and respect.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the release.
Over the weekend, Joshua Aviles detailed his father’s ordeal while he was deployed in a war zone.
“I just got a call that my dad was taken by ICE. If you know my dad, you know he is a hardworking, humble man who is always willing to help anyone if he can. My dad has his driver’s license, Social Security card, and work permit,” according to a post from Joshua Aviles on Saturday. “We have done everything through immigration to get his green card approved, and we are just waiting.”
He said it is “heartbreaking.”
“I don’t know how I can mentally continue working 12+ hour days knowing that my dad is somewhere, possibly being treated like a criminal. My dad’s only ‘crime’ was coming to this country to give my siblings and me a better life.”
Aviles is one of a number of active-duty military whose family members have been detained by immigration agents under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
In a statement after the sailor’s initial Facebook post, DHS did not dispute the account from Aviles.
“On August 22, Border Patrol arrested Luis Manuel Aviles Roa, an illegal alien from Nicaragua, after conducting a vehicle stop in Key West, Florida. He entered the country illegally on an unknown date and location. He will remain in ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” according to a DHS spokesperson.
“Having a family member in the military is not a free pass to violate our nation’s laws. Military service by an immediate relative does not automatically grant parole, lawful status, or immunity from immigration enforcement,” the spokesperson said. “We are simply enforcing the laws passed by Congress. This Administration does not pick and choose which laws to enforce.”
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(PHILADELPHIA) — The Philadelphia Police Department said it’s obtained arrest warrants for two 16-year-old boys in the fatal shooting of a Penn State University student.
Kaiseem Smith and Azzubair Outen-Fleming are wanted for murder and related offenses for the June 6 slaying of 22-year-old William “Billy” Schmidt, police announced on Tuesday.
Billy Schmidt had been watching the NBA Finals with his friends at a bar and was walking home when he was shot in the chest in an apparent robbery, according to police and his family.
Schmidt was studying digital journalism and media at Penn State World Campus, the university said.
He was set to graduate in December and hoped to work in sports broadcasting, his sister, Anna Schmidt, told ABC News.
She said her brother “was one of the nicest, most genuine and honestly, goofiest, people there is.”
Police ask anyone with information on the suspects’ whereabouts to call the department’s tip line at 215-686-TIPS (8477).
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
(NEW YORK) — The detection of New World screwworm in cattle does not pose a risk to beef consumers, and humans are unlikely to become infected by the parasite themselves, experts told ABC News.
There have been a total of six cases of New World screwworm (NWS) detected among animals in the U.S. since the beginning of the month — in four cattle, one goat and a dog, according to the latest update from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The goat was newly confirmed as the latest case to be infested with New World screwworm, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a press conference Monday.
The screwworm likely migrated from Mexico and Central America, Ben Weinheimer, president and CEO of the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, told ABC News. The U.S. closed the border to Mexican cattle coming into the country in 2024 as a result of the screwworm outbreak in the region, Derrell Peele, a livestock marketing specialist at Oklahoma State University, told ABC News.
Officials continue to investigate the case of the dog that they believe likely may have been infected in Mexico, Rollins said. The screwworm typically spreads by transport of either livestock or pets, Peele said.
The screwworm does not currently present a food safety issue, Rollins said, adding that there is “no need to panic.” A screwworm infection does not affect the meat, Peele said.
“These developments obviously represent a serious threat to our livestock and wildlife, but they haven’t caught us off guard,” Rollins said. “We have been tracking this pest for a long time, and we have fought before, and we will do so again.”
Americans can continue to feel confident about consuming beef safely, Dustin Pendell, a professor of agricultural economics at Kansas State University and director of the Collaborating Center for the Economics of Animal Health, told ABC News.
The outbreak marks the first time the screwworm has been detected in the U.S. in decades. The USDA officially declared the screwworm eradicated from the U.S. in 1966 and successfully eliminated a small outbreak in the Florida Keys in 2017, which occurred primarily among endangered Key deer.
Screwworms infestations begin when a female fly lays eggs on open wounds or other parts of the body in live-warm-blooded animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The screwworm is “very treatable” if caught early, which allows the animals to be minimally impacted, Weinheimer said.
The USDA uses the sterile insect technique to treat for screwworm. The highly effective treatment involves sterilizing screwworm pupae — the immobile stage of the screwworm before metamorphosis — by exposing them to gamma radiation and then releasing them into the wild to mate with fertile females. The females then lay unfertilized eggs that never hatch, ending the reproductive cycle.
Millions of sterile flies have already been released in the affected area, USDA officials said.
State officials also apply containment protocols, including establishing quarantine zones, in order to contain infestations, Weinheimer said.
“You’ve seen this huge surge in response by the federal and state officials to stay on top of it as much as possible,” Weinheimer said.
Construction of a new sterile fly production facility is underway at Moore Air Base in Texas and is expected to be completed by November 2027, Rollins said. Once completed, along with other facilities, an estimated 500 million sterile flies will be released on a weekly basis.
Screwworms are actually a fly larva that burrows into and eats living flesh, unlike regular maggots that only feed on dead and decaying matter, according to the CDC.
Symptoms in animals could include a wound that has not healed or a wound that smells foul, Ann Hohenhaus, senior veterinarian and director of pet health information at Schwarzman Animal Medical Center, told ABC News last week. White larva may also be visible within the skin lesions, Hohenhaus said.
Infected cattle may not feel well and may stop producing milk and gaining weight, Hohenhaus said. The parasite can also infect a herd quickly if treatment does not begin early enough, she added.
Infection in humans is not common, Hohenhaus said.
People who have open wounds or small breaks in the skin — such as a scratch, insect bite or recent surgery scar — could be at increased risk of screwworm infection if they are in areas where the flies are present, according to the CDC.
Those who have open or unhealed wounds should see a physician should they believe they were exposed to the parasite, Hohenhaus said.
The outbreak is not expected to cause beef prices — which are already at an all-time high — to increase, the experts said.
The current drought conditions in the U.S. is making it difficult to expand herds because there isn’t enough grass available to feed on, Pendell said, adding that hay and other supplemental feeds increase costs even more.
In addition, geopolitical issues, such as the war in Iran, are causing fertilizer and fuel costs to increase, William Secor, a livestock economist at the University of Georgia, told ABC News.
“Cattle prices are going to continue to be high for quite a while because of these issues,” Pendell said.
However, the costs from the screwworm will be absorbed by producers, and consumers will likely not see any further price increases from the outbreak alone, Secor said.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.