2 students dead at University of Wisconsin-Platteville after ‘incident’ in residence hall
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(PLATTEVILLE, Wis.) — Two students died in a residence hall at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on Monday after an “isolated” incident, according to university officials.
Kelsie Martin, 22, of Beloit, Wisconsin, and Hallie Helms, 22, of Baraboo, Wisconsin, died on Monday, according to the chancellor’s office.
“This incident was a targeted and isolated event between the two individuals. Families of the students have been notified,” the chancellor’s office said in a statement.
Just before 4 p.m. on Monday, a 911 call was received indicating a situation at Wilgus Hall, a residence hall on campus, Joe Hallman, chief of police with UW-Platteville Police Department, said at a press conference.
Investigators determined it was not an active threat and emergency personnel responded immediately. At least one person was transported to the hospital, according to Hallman.
The campus was alerted to shelter in place immediately. The shelter in place order was cleared after 5 p.m.
“Our concern is for our students and their safety,” Hallman said.
The investigation into the incident remains active and ongoing.
Residents are not allowed to keep weapons in their residence halls, according to Hallman, but they can keep them at the police department for activities like shooting club.
Hallman would not say whether weapons were involved in the death of the two students.
Final exams have been canceled for the remainder of the week. Triage counseling is being offered through Friday and a toll free emotional support line is available at 844-602-6680 or 720-272-0004.
“Our biggest concern at this point, first and foremost, is the safety and well-being of our students,” Chancellor Tammy Evetovich said at a press conference Monday.
(CORNELIUS, Ore.) — An Oregon community is “shaken to its core” after a mother and her three young children were found dead in an apparent isolated incident, authorities said.
Deputies responded to a home in Cornelius, about 25 miles outside of Portland, around 3 p.m. Tuesday after a 911 caller reported finding four people dead, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office-Cornelius Police.
In a building attached to the home, officers discovered the bodies of a 37-year-old woman and her three children, ages 2, 5 and 7, authorities said.
No arrests have been made, sheriff’s office spokesperson Deputy David Huey told reporters.
Authorities said the deaths appear to be an isolated incident and they don’t believe there is a danger to the public.
Huey was visibly emotional at a media briefing, telling reporters, “This is pretty hard to talk about.”
“Our community has been shaken to its core,” Cornelius Police Chief Mitch Coley said in a statement, calling the deaths “an unthinkable tragedy.”
“While the investigation is still ongoing and details are limited, I want to acknowledge the heartbreak this brings to the families involved and our entire city,” Coley said. “This is a deeply emotional time for everyone: neighbors, friends, and the first responders who were called to the scene. I ask that we all come together with compassion and care.”
John Prevost, brother of newly elected Pope Leo XIV, Robert Prevost, speaks with ABC News in New Lenox, Illinois, May 8, 2025. Image via ABC News.
(CHICAGO) — When Robert Prevost was in the first grade, his neighbor told him he would be the first American pope, his brother told ABC News.
On Thursday, that prophecy came true, when Prevost, a 69-year-old cardinal, was elected to be the 267th pontiff — and the first from the United States.
Before he was Pope Leo XIV, Prevost grew up the youngest of three brothers in the South Chicago suburb of Dolton.
He always wanted to be a priest, his older brother, John Prevost, told ABC News outside his home in Illinois on Thursday.
“He knew right away. I don’t think he’s ever questioned it. I don’t think he’s ever thought of anything else,” John Prevost said.
As a child, Pope Leo XIV “played priest,” John Prevost said. “The ironing board was the altar.”
The pope is a White Sox fan, his brother confirmed. “He’s a regular, run-of-the-mill person,” he said.
Leo started to emerge as a frontrunner for the papacy in the days before the conclave began, according to the Rev. James Martin, a papal contributor to ABC News.
John Prevost said he spoke to his brother on Tuesday, before the cardinals went into the secretive conclave, and told his younger brother that he also believed he could be the first American pope. At the time, his younger brother called it “nonsense” and “just talk,” saying, “‘They’re not going to pick an American pope,” John Prevost said.
“He just didn’t believe it, or didn’t want to believe it,” John Prevost said.
John Prevost said he expects his brother will follow in the late Pope Francis’ footsteps as a voice for the disenfranchised and poor.
“I think they were two of a kind,” John Prevost said. “I think because they both were in South America at the same time — in Peru and in Argentina — they had the same experiences in working with missions and working with the downtrodden. So I think that’s the experience that they’re both coming from.”
Louis Prevost, the eldest of the three Prevost brothers, was feeling under the weather and lying in bed at his home in Florida when the big moment came.
“My wife called to tell me there’s white smoke from the chapel,” he said.
Louis Prevost said he tuned in to the live broadcast of the Vatican announcement.
“They started reading his name, and when he went, ‘blah, blah, blah, Roberto,’ immediately I knew — that’s Rob,” he said. “I was just thankful I was still in bed lying down, because I might have fallen down.”
Louis Prevost said he got out of bed and started “dancing around like an idiot.”
“It’s just incredible,” he said. “I’m suddenly wide awake and feeling wonderful.”
He described his brother as “down to earth,” someone who has a good sense of humor and is “smart as a whip.” He loved his work as a missionary in Peru and being with the people, and through his work with the Vatican has traveled the world, Louis Prevost said.
“I thought I had done traveling in the Navy, but, my God, he blew me away,” he said.
His brother surmised that global experience may have stood out to the other cardinals in electing him pope.
Louis Prevost said his brother seemed to always know his calling, and that as young as 4 or 5, the family knew he was destined for great things in the Catholic Church. When his brothers were playing cops and robbers, Leo would “play priest” and distribute Holy Communion with Necco wafers, Louis Prevost said.
“We used to tease him all the time — you’re going to be the pope one day,” he said. “Neighbors said the same thing. Sixty-some years later, here we are.”
(NEW YORK) — Over half of Puerto Rico had their electricity restored by Thursday evening following an island-wide blackout that left 1.4 million customers in the dark and disrupted service at hospitals, its international airport and hotels, according to the Associated Press.
The outage, which began Wednesday afternoon, also left more than 400,000 residents without water. By Thursday evening, power had been restored to 57% of customers, while water service resumed for 83% of the affected population, the AP reported.
The cause of the blackout remains under investigation as of Thursday.
LUMA Energy, the private company responsible for power transmission on the island, said in a statement that the massive outage appears to have been caused by a combination of factors, including a “failure in the protection system as initial trigger” and vegetation on a transmission line along the island’s northern coast.
“This sequence of failures triggered a chain of events that resulted in an island-wide outage,” LUMA said in the statement.
In a Wednesday X post, LUMA Energy said it could take two to three days to restore service to 90% of customers. It noted that the priority was restoring power to critical facilities like Centro Médico hospital in the capital San Juan.
Earlier in the day, LUMA Energy said the Palo Seco plant, just outside San Juan, came back online around 3 p.m., “which represents a key step toward system recovery.”Rep. Ritchie Torres criticized the ongoing power crisis in an Instagram post.
“The three million American citizens of Puerto Rico have long been denied affordable and reliable electricity — despite paying some of the highest utility rates in the United States,” Torres said. “Access to dependable power — a basic right most Americans take for granted — remains out of reach for millions on the island. As we speak, more than 400,000 Puerto Ricans are without electricity in the wealthiest nation on Earth. That is a national disgrace.”
The blackout is the latest in a series of significant power disruptions that have plagued the island in recent years, following the devastation of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which destroyed much of the power grid. The island’s aging power infrastructure has been a persistent source of frustration for residents, who face frequent outages and some of the highest electricity rates in the U.S.
In December, Puerto Rico experienced an island-wide blackout on New Year’s Eve when an underground power line failure plunged the island into darkness for two days.
Power outages have become so common in Puerto Rico that many residents have installed solar panels and batteries in their homes and businesses. The ongoing instability of the power grid has also led to protests, with many criticizing LUMA, which took over power transmission and distribution in 2021.
