2 US Navy ships collide in Caribbean, minor injuries reported
The Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun departs Naval Station Norfolk, Feb. 3, 2026. (Petty Officer 2nd Class Derek Co/US Navy)
(NEW YORK) — A rare collision at sea between two U.S. Navy ships occurred in the Caribbean on Wednesday, leaving two personnel with minor injuries, according to U.S. Southern Command.
“Yesterday afternoon, the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer USS Truxtun (DDG103) and the Supply-class fast combat support ship USNS Supply (T-AOE-6) collided during a replenishment-at-sea,” Col. Emmanuel Ortiz, a U.S. Southern Command spokesman, said in a statement.
He added that “two personnel reported minor injuries and are in stable condition.”
“Both ships have reported sailing safely. The incident is currently under investigation,” Ortiz said.
It is unclear if the two injured were aboard the destroyer, the supply ship or both ships.
During a replenishment at sea, two ships sail side-by-side at a close distance and supplies are transferred to the receiving ships via a cable fired from one ship to the other.
The Wall Street Journal was first to report that a collision had occurred between the two ships.
Collisions at sea are very rare for U.S. Navy ships with the most recent one before Wednesday’s incident taking place on Feb. 12, 2025, in the Mediterranean Sea when the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman collided with a merchant ship off of Port Said, Egypt. The collision caused enough damage to the carrier that it had to make a port of call to receive repairs.
While no injuries occurred in that collision, a subsequent Navy investigation determined that a slight adjustment in the course of either ship could have led to a mass-casualty event.
A damage assessment for the Wednesday collision is being made that will help determine whether the ships will proceed with their deployments or will return to port, according to a U.S. official.
The Truxtun had just left its homeport of Norfolk, Virginia, on Feb. 6 to begin its deployment to the Caribbean as part of the large U.S. Naval presence built up over the last couple of months and that has remained in place following the seizure of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
There are currently 11 U.S. Navy ships operating in the Caribbean including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, speaks during a news conference, at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026. Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — As the partial government shutdown continues, Democrats have sent their counteroffer to Republicans and the White House — outlining their demands to fund the Department of Homeland Security and reform the embattled agency.
The specifics of the proposal, sent late Monday, remain unclear. ABC News has reached out to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office for more details, though the New York senator has been reticent to negotiate openly through the press.
President Donald Trump has said he will sit down with Democrats to negotiate.
“I will,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida on Monday, though he didn’t give any timeline. “But you know, we have to protect our law enforcement. They’ve done a great job.”
The shutdown, now in its fourth day, is affecting DHS agencies like the Transportation Security Administration, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Secret Service — as Democrats demand reforms to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
A majority of DHS employees are expected to work during the shutdown, though without pay — the second time in recent months after the record-long, 43-day government shutdown last fall.
Meanwhile, Capitol Hill remains nearly empty with lawmakers on recess. They’ve been told to prepare to return to Washington on 48-hours notice if a deal comes together. If not, lawmakers aren’t scheduled to return until next week.
Democrats have asked for a range of new restrictions on immigration enforcement, including a mandate for body cameras, judicial warrants before agents can enter private property — rather than administrative warrants — and a ban on ICE agents wearing face masks. They also want stricter use-of-force policy and new training standards for agents.
Republicans have objected to many of those demands, with the exception of some openness to body cameras.
On Air Force One late Monday, Trump said, “I don’t like some of the things they’re asking for. We’re going to protect law enforcement. We are going to protect ICE.”
ICE is continuing operations because of a $75 billion infusion provided in Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” that was passed by Congress last summer. More than 93% of ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are expected to continue working during the shutdown.
The DHS funding fight erupted after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, by federal agents in Minneapolis on Jan. 24 — just weeks after the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a mother of three, by an ICE agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7.
White House “border czar” Tom Homan, who last week announced an end to the Minneapolis surge, said that the current partial government shutdown has had no impact on the administration’s immigration enforcement operations.
“ICE has continued to enforce the law across the country. They’re already funded,” Homan said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday. “Now the ICE officers won’t be getting paid. But they’re getting used to that, it seems like. So, no, the immigration mission, the reason why President Trump was elected to be president, continues.”
Schumer, on Sunday, continued to argue for reforms to ICE.
“These are common-sense proposals,” Schumer said on CNN. He added, “ICE is rogue, out of control.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, appearing on “Face the Nation” on CBS on Sunday, declined to say if there were any points Democrats were willing to concede in the fight over DHS funding.
“Well, we’re willing to have a good-faith conversation about everything, but, fundamentally, we need change that is dramatic, that is bold, that is meaningful and that is transformational,” Jeffries said.
ABC News’ Nicholas Kerr and Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
Exterior of the Kennedy Center on the Potomac River, Washington, D.C., undated. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s attempt to remake the Kennedy Center faces a critical legal test on Tuesday morning.
A federal Judge in Washington, D.C., is set to hear arguments about an attempt by Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, to block the renaming, planned closure and renovation of the performing arts center.
Beatty, an ex officio trustee of the Kennedy Center, initially brought her lawsuit last year to challenge its renaming to the Trump-Kennedy Center, an action she described as “more reminiscent of authoritarian regimes than the American republic.”
“This is a flagrant violation of the rule of law, and it flies in the face of our constitutional order. Congress intended the Center to be a living memorial to President Kennedy—and a crown jewel of the arts for all Americans, irrespective of party,” her lawsuit said.
In the months since her lawsuit was filed, the board of the Kennedy Center – handpicked by Trump, who serves as the chairman of the board – voted to shutter the famed institution for a two-year renovation project.
Beatty’s lawsuit has grown to cover both the renaming and the closure of the center, arguing the moves were unlawful and violated the duties of the organization’s board.
“Turning the Kennedy Center into a lifeless husk for two years would also constitute a fundamental breach of Defendants’ most basic fiduciary obligations as trustees,” lawyers for Beatty argued in a court filing.
Lawyers for the Trump administration pushed back on the lawsuit and argued that the renovation is in the best interest of the Kennedy Center.
“Renewal will affirmatively fulfill the Board’s responsibilities to repair and improve the Center in a manner consistent with ‘high quality operations’ while minimizing costs to taxpayers and reducing safety risks that result from conducting renovations during public operations,” lawyers with the Department of Justice argued.
Judge Christopher Cooper handed Beatty a win last month when he ruled that she is entitled to a “meaningful opportunity to provide input” and should not be “categorically barred” from speaking during board meetings. However, Judge Cooper stopped short of ruling on the weightier questions of Beatty’s ability to vote during board meetings or the legality of the changes to the Kennedy Center.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi talks to reporters after meeting with some of Jeffrey Epstein’s accusers at the Capitol, Sept. 2, 2025. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Democratic voters in Illinois are heading to the polls on Tuesday for a slate of midterm election primaries where incumbents aren’t on the ballot, including a marquee Senate race animated by the prospect of generational change and House races dogged by major outside spending.
Six Democratic-favoring seats are opening up in Illinois’ congressional delegation, including the U.S. Senate seat currently held by the retiring Sen. Dick Durbin, and five House seats that are being vacated either due to retirements (in the 4th, 7th, and 9th districts) or because their incumbents are running for Senate (in the 2nd and 8th).
Illinoisans are also voting in primaries for governor, although incumbent Gov. JB Pritzker has no Democratic primary challengers, and other state offices.
‘An opportunity for generational turnover’
In the Senate race, the state’s voters “have an opportunity for generational turnover — where a boomer senator is stepping down, and you’ve got three Gen-Xers, who’ve been around on the scene for quite some time, trying to get the seat,” Northwestern University political science professor and Democratic strategist Alvin Tillery told ABC News. While Tillery is currently working for active campaigns, he is not involved in any races in Illinois.
“It could be another 20 or 30 years before we have a Senate race this competitive in Illinois,” he added.
A few Republican candidates are vying to become the GOP nominee for the U.S. Senate election, including attorney Jeannie Evans and former Illinois GOP chair Don Tracy. The Cook Political Report rates the race as solidly Democrat.
Among the frontrunners in the Democratic Senate primary, U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, who represents Illinois’ 8th District in Congress, has led the pack in fundraising, having raised over $30 million, according to campaign finance filings.
“I’m the only one with the background of standing up to bullies and bad actors, and successfully doing so, and now I have to stand up to Donald Trump,” Krishnamoorthi told ABC News in an interview on Sunday.
He also argued that his fundraising gives him “a certain amount of independence that perhaps nobody else has in this race.”
Pritzker’s endorsement in Senate race Illinois’ lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, entered the race with Pritzker’s quick endorsement. Her campaign made some waves when it unveiled a campaign television ad where voters and Illinois’ other senator Tammy Duckworth curse out President Donald Trump, while Stratton says, “They said it, not me.”
“I think that there is something that’s sort of a common theme that I’m hearing, no matter which corner of the state of Illinois that you live in, and that is that people are fed up with what’s happening in D.C.,” Stratton told ABC News in an interview. “They’re tired of the status quo.”
Pritzker — a rumored 2028 presidential hopeful — has campaigned with her and donated $5 million in December to an outside group supporting her bid, according to a filing with the Federal Election Commission.
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly is running for the seat with the argument that over a decade of experience in the House has set her up to be successful in Congress’ upper chamber.
“I have a track record that they cannot touch,” Kelly told ABC station WLS-TV on Tuesday in Chicago. “And I think a lot of people know that.”
Kelly has the endorsement of the political arm of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC); longtime CBC member Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., campaigned with Kelly on Tuesday, telling WLS-TV she is “our go-to person on health care issues.”
Some members of the caucus have criticized Pritzker’s support of Stratton, who is Illinois’ first Black female lieutenant governor, and feel her presence in the race risks splitting the Black vote in the primary to benefit Krishnamoorthi.
Stratton told ABC News, “I have the best path in the nation to elect another Black woman to the United States Senate.” Krishnamoorthi, if elected, would only be the second-ever Indian-American senator in the Senate.
On the trail, the candidates have all harshly criticized Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) — particularly in the wake of Operation Midway Blitz in 2025 — but only Stratton has outright called to “abolish” the agency.
Krishnamoorthi, however, has framed his position as “abolish Trump’s ICE,” and Kelly has presented a broader position of “dismantling” the whole Department of Homeland Security.
Outside groups’ spending criticized
Opposition to ICE has also become a campaign wedge: Stratton and Krishnamoorthi have criticized each for how they or groups supporting them have previously been supported by companies or donors with ties to the agency.
Outside groups, including some linked to cryptocurrency or artificial intelligence companies, have also spent millions in the Senate primary and House races in Illinois. Over $55 million has been spent on ads by Senate candidates or groups supporting them, according to an analysis by AdImpact, while over $37 million has been spent by House candidates or groups supporting them.
And the conversation around the House races has been dominated by that and other spending, including money from groups directly or allegedly linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), both before and after the Feb. 28 U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran brought the Middle East back to the forefront.
AIPAC’s affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project (UDP) has spent directly in some House races in Illinois, but candidates have alleged that other outside groups are also linked to it.
In the race for Illinois’ 9th District, for example, a slate of progressives including Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and former journalist Kat Abughazaleh are running to replace retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky. Biss and Abughazaleh have excoriated super PAC spending allegedly linked to AIPAC to support state Sen. Laura Fine’s bid. Fine has also criticized the sheer spending in the race. AIPAC has not confirmed being involved.
And Schakowsky had initially endorsed Cook County Commissioner Donna Miller in the race for the 2nd District, currently represented by Krishnamoorthi. But she withdrew her endorsement after a Washington Post report that an independent group, Affordable Chicago Now, that has spent over $4 million in favor of Miller, appears to use one of the same vendors as AIPAC or UDP.
UDP, which has not spent money directly to support Miller, according to current campaign finance filings, did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.
“Illinois deserves leaders who put voters first, not AIPAC or out-of-state Trump donors. I cannot support any candidate running for Congress who is funded by these outside interests,” Schakowsky wrote in a statement to ABC News.
A spokesperson for Miller’s campaign told ABC News, “Rep. Schakowsky and Commissioner Miller have been friends for over 20 years. Donna’s support reflects the broad base behind her campaign, coming from a diverse coalition of people who believe in her vision for change.”
