9-year-old Texas girl dies in hot car while mother was at work: Police
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(GALENA PARK, Texas) — A 9-year-old girl has died in after she was intentionally left alone in a hot car while her mom was at work, according to Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Ed Gonzalez.
The girl’s 36-year-old mother left the child unattended in a white Toyota Camry on Tuesday from approximately 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. while she worked at a manufacturing plant in Galena Park, Texas, near Houston, the sheriff’s office said during a press conference.
The mother left the child with some water, partially rolled down the windows of the vehicle and then “proceeded to go to work for the day,” officials said.
“There’s never an excuse to leave a child unattended,” Gonzalez said during the press conference.
Upon returning to the vehicle later in the afternoon when her shift ended, the mother found her daughter unresponsive. Law enforcement was contacted at approximately 2:06 p.m. and detained the mother, officials said. Temperatures in the Houston area reached around 93 degrees Fahrenheit on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service.
The child was transported to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, officials said.
Detectives continue to speak with the mother to gain more insight on why the child was kept in the car and the exact timeline of how long she was alone in the vehicle, the sheriff said. Officials are also waiting to receive the child’s autopsy results before deciding whether to press any charges.
Gonzalez said the incident, “which could have been prevented,” is a “unique” situation, since most hot car deaths are typically an accident.
“Maybe she has to make ends meet and keep food on the table and work. But the risk of death or harm — there’s just no reconciling that in my mind. You got to make other arrangements. It’s not worth it to put a child at risk like this, for any particular reason,” Gonzalez said.
He went on to say that nothing at this point shows that the mother “thought this would be the outcome.”
This tragedy marks the third hot car death to occur in Texas in the last four days and at least the 13th child to die in a hot car nationwide this year, according to Kids and Car Safety, an organization focused on “saving the lives of children and pets in and around vehicles.”
(NEW YORK) — The latest summer season outlook by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) shows hotter-than-average temperatures are predicted across much of the country this summer, with the greatest likelihood of extreme heat hitting swaths of the East Coast, southern Plains and West.
The outlook from NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center forecasts whether the seasonal average temperature for a particular area will end up above, below or near average during the three-month period of the meteorological summer.
However, the outlook focuses on a seasonal average temperature and does not detail temperature variations that occur over the course of days, weeks or even one out of the three months included in the forecast.
June in a particular region could feature rather typical summer conditions, however, July and August could end up well above average, tipping the 3-month average to above for the entire season.
What this means for a local area depends greatly on the typical climate of a certain location.
For example, average high temperatures in Phoenix, Arizona, this summer range from 104 to 106 degrees Fahrenheit. This is already hot, as it is typically expected to be.
Contrast this with Caribou, Maine, where average high temperatures during the summer months range from 72 to 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Some people may consider this warm, but not hot.
Both locations are shaded red on NOAA’s forecast map, indicating that temperatures are expected to average above the typical summer range. However, “above average” could mean just one degree higher — or several.
And for places like Caribou, above average doesn’t necessarily mean hot. These forecasts also consider overnight lows, so in some areas, warmer-than-average temperatures might come from milder nights rather than scorching afternoons.
While the seasonal outlook highlights where above-average warmth is likely, it doesn’t tell us how hot or long-lasting any extreme heat might be.
When do summer’s hottest temperatures typically occur?
The hottest temperatures of the summer typically occur much later in the season, with different regions of the country experiencing their warmest average temperatures at varying times.
For the contiguous United States, on average, July is the hottest month of the year.
However, some regions of the country typically don’t experience their warmest average temperatures until August or even September.
A majority of the country, including much of the Northeast, Midwest and West, experiences the hottest temperatures of the year on average, during the second half of July and first half of August.
Much of the South typically experiences its peak average temperatures during the second half of August. However, along much of the West Coast, the warmest temperatures of the year usually don’t occur until September.
What previous summers have taught us For the past two summers in a row, the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere ranked as the warmest on record with extreme heat bringing persistent, dangerously hot conditions across several continents, according to a 2024 report by Copernicus, the European Union’s Climate Change Service.
Summer 2024 (June through August) was the warmest summer on record for the Northern Hemisphere, beating the previous record set in 2023 by .66 degrees Celsius, or 1.19 degrees Fahrenheit, the report found. The Northern Hemisphere’s top 10 warmest summers on record have all occurred within the past 10 years, according to Copernicus.
“The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, said in a statement at the time.
The last time Earth recorded a cooler-than-average year was in 1976, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
While it is unlikely that summer 2025 will surpass last year’s record, this forecast shows that scorching temperatures could be on the way for much of the U.S. this season.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Boston Thursday will consider pumping the brakes on a controversial Trump administration policy of removing migrants to countries where they have no prior connection without allowing them to raise concerns about their safety.
A group of noncitizens with final removal orders filed a federal lawsuit challenging the policy last month, arguing that being removed to countries like El Salvador, Honduras or Panama — despite having no connection to those countries — risks their safety and violates their rights.
U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy, a Biden appointee who temporarily blocked the policy last month, will consider extending his order and certifying a class of noncitizens who would be protected from removal to a so-called third country.
“The need for preliminary injunctive relief in this case is vital,” lawyers representing the men argued in a recent court filing. “Indeed, it may be the difference between safety and torture, life and death, for many noncitizens, including ones who have been living and working in this country for decades.”
The hearing also comes as the Trump administration faces new allegations that they violated Judge Murphy’s order by removing more than a dozen migrants to El Salvador last month despite the judge’s order barring such transfers.
The plaintiffs who brought the lawsuit argue that the Department of Homeland Security’s policy results in the removal of migrants to third countries without providing them a chance to raise concerns about potentially being persecuted, tortured, or killed. In one instance, they allege that the Trump administration removed a Guatemalan man to Mexico without giving him the chance to raise concerns that he was previously raped there and now fears prosecution in that country.
“Defendants have resorted to violating noncitizens’ clear statutory rights to apply for protection from removal to countries where they face persecution or torture,” the lawyers wrote.
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have argued that Judge Murphy lacks the jurisdiction to intervene in DHS’ policies after a final order of removal has been issued by an immigration judge.
They have also argued that a preliminary injunction is no longer necessary because DHS implemented a new policy of getting “diplomatic assurances that aliens removed from the United States will not be persecuted or tortured,” or screening noncitizens for their eligibility for protections under the United Nations’ Convention Against Torture.
“As this Court indicated during the hearing on Plaintiffs’ motion, Defendants are entitled to issue guidance to satisfy any potential due process concerns. Defendants have now done so,” they argued.
But lawyers for the men who brought the lawsuit have argued that those measures are “woefully inadequate” and pointed to two recent examples where they allege that DHS potentially violated the court’s temporary order.
Two days after Judge Murphy blocked the deportations, the Trump administration announced that it had removed 17 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and MS-13 to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison. According to the plaintiffs, at least two of the men on those flights had final orders of removal to Venezuela and were never given the right to challenge their removal to El Salvador.
According to the plaintiff’s lawyers, one of those men is Maiker Espinoza Escalona, who entered the United States last year with his partner Yorely Bernal Inciarte and their one-year-old baby.
After the three turned themselves in to immigration authorities, they were separated, their family told ABC News. Inciarte has been detained at a detention center in El Paso, Texas, their baby has been in government custody, and Escalona is detained at CECOT in El Salvador, according to Inciarte’s mother.
The Trump administration alleged that Escalona is a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, an accusation his family denies.
“They are liars,” said Inciarte’s mother Raida of the Trump administration. “I cannot believe that half of Venezuela is Tren de Aragua. That can’t be.”
“For them to be sent [to El Salvador] you have to investigate and prove they are what they are being accused of,” Raida said. “We’re distraught, I don’t wish this on anyone.”
(NEW YORK) — A former assistant to Sean “Diddy” Combs concluded three days on the witness stand, with attorneys for the music mogul grilling her so intensely that a prosecutor asked the judge to stop the cross-examination, calling it “humiliating” and “harassing.”
The witness, testifying under the pseudonym “Mia,” told jurors last week that Combs tormented and sexually assaulted her during her time working as his personal assistant.
Defense attorneys tried to assail her credibility over her last two days appearing on the stand, pressing her about dozens of text messages and social media posts she authored about Combs that were playful, respectful and even adoring.
Combs’ lawyers argued Mia misrepresented how Combs treated her and fabricated part of her story. Mia largely stood by her testimony, telling jurors that she was “brainwashed” by Combs and explained that she now wants to speak truthfully about the years of harassment and abuse she endured.
“It’s the worst thing I ever had to talk about in my life,” Mia told the jury about her reluctance to talk about how Combs sexually assaulted her.
Mia’s testimony marked the beginning of the fourth week of testimony in Combs’ sex-trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial. Prosecutors charge that Combs used his wealth and influence to run a criminal enterprise that served to protect his reputation and coerce women into sex.
If convicted on all counts, the music mogul could spend the rest of his life behind bars. Combs has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers argue that, while he might have been violent towards romantic partners and abused illicit drugs, he did not commit the crimes alleged by the Department of Justice.
Defense attorneys stress Mia’s loving messages to Combs
Continuing his cross-examination from last week, defense attorney Brian Steel returned to Mia’s social media posts and text messages to challenge the woman and the version of events she shared with the jury.
“Life is f—— insane and supposedly it all happens for a reason in order to elevate us in our human experience, but it’s rough,” Mia wrote Combs in 2020, more than three years after she stopped working for him. “I love you with all of my heart and I’m here for you forever.”
Steel also showed the jury other text messages from the 2019-2022 time frame in which Mia expressed love and admiration to Combs.
“Hey. Saw our doc on Netflix top 10. Congrats I miss you,” read one text from July 2022.
Combs responded, “Love, love, love, love.” Mia wrote back, “And I love, love, love you.”
“Everything is positive and loving from you to Mr. Combs, would you agree with that?” Steel asked.
“Yes, of course,” Mia answered. She quickly explained to the jury she was still “brainwashed” by Combs from her years working for him.
Once the lengthy and contentious cross-examination of Mia concluded, federal prosecutors tried to minimize any damage that might have been done to her credibility.
“Did you post on social media as part of your job?” prosecutor Madison Smyser asked on re-direct examination.
“Yes,” Mia answered, adding that posting about Ciroc, Diddy Door, the Bad Boy reunion, and Combs himself were part of her job. She described her Instagram posts “like the highlight reel” of Combs and not meant for posts about the downside of working for him.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs slamming Cassie’s head into a bed frame?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs throwing a computer at your head?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
“Is that why you didn’t post about Mr. Combs sexually assaulting you?” Smyser asked. “Yes,” Mia answered.
Steel tries to cast doubt on Mia by asking why she didn’t document abuse Throughout his searing cross-examination, defense attorney Steel tried to poke holes in Mia’s testimony by highlighting how she did not document the abuse she said she suffered from Combs, even as she documented the upside.
“Do you have any recording of Mr. Combs berating you?” asked Steel, who highlighted that part of Mia’s job was to carry a small camera to document Combs’ life. “No, I would not have been allowed to record that,” Mia responded.
“Because it’s not true, is it, Mia” Steel accused. “Your statements that you were the victim at the hands of Mr. Combs of brutality isn’t true?”
Mia fired back, testifying, “Everything I’ve said in this courtroom is true.”
Steel also questioned Mia’s account of escaping Combs with Ventura in Turks and Caicos by paddleboarding out to sea. Steel asked whether there were any text messages, emails or photographs documenting those allegations.
“Was that just made up by you?” Steel pointedly asked. “No,” Mia testified.
Steel’s next question — “How is it that all these events have no photograph or text message or email from you?” — was stopped by the judge after an objection.
At one point, prosecutors asked the judge overseeing the case to intervene, arguing the “humiliating” cross-examination borders on harassment and could deter other crime victims from coming forward in other cases.
“Eyes are on this trial. Victims in other cases are going to see how victims are treated,” Comey said in a clear nod to the global headlines being created by the Combs trial. “Our concern is that if this victim is not protected from further harassment, it will deter other victims in other cases.”
Judge Arun Subramanian said he heard no yelling and saw no improper treatment, but he did caution Steel about the form of his questions.
Steel suggests Mia fabricated her story after Ventura’s lawsuit
Steel suggested Mia timed her disclosure of alleged sexual assault by Combs with the filing of a civil lawsuit by the singer Cassie Ventura, Combs’ former longtime girlfriend. Ventura is the prosecution’s star witness, and she has alleged that Combs abused her for a decade. Her lawsuit, the starting point for the federal investigation that culminated with the current prosecution, was settled after a day for $20 million, Ventura testified. There was no admission of wrongdoing.
Steel questioned why Mia did not tell federal prosecutors about her claim that Combs sexually assaulted her until June 2024, six months after she began meeting with the authorities and seven months after Ventura’s civil lawsuit. The defense emphasized to the jury that Mia met with federal prosecutors a total of 28 times.
“Do you remember the first time you ever made a claim Mr. Combs ever sexually assaulted you was on June 18, 2024?” Steel asked.
“I don’t remember the dates, but I do remember that horrible conversation,” Mia answered.
On redirect examination, Smyser asked Mia to clarify why she met so often with federal prosecutors. “I met with the government so much in order to understand my story and because I was so terrified and I was learning at the same time,” she testified, and, using Combs’ earlier street name, said she was “terrified of Puff.” She said she has never been able to talk about her claim that Combs sexually assaulted her without looking down.
“It’s the worst thing I ever had to talk about in my life,” she explained.
Latest witness tells jury about damage to Combs’ hotel room
Prosecutors concluded the day by calling Susan Oken, manager of the Beverly Hills Hotel, to testify about the times when Combs was a guest of her establishment.
She said Combs checked into the Beverly Hills Hotel under aliases like “Frank Black” or “Phillip Pines” and Cassie Ventura was listed under Combs’ profile as a guest.
Oken testified that Combs once incurred an extra $300 charge to clean the drapes and another $500 charge to clean “oil damage.” Oken said the charge reflected something “beyond the scope of what we’d normally clean.” The prosecution’s questioning was a callback to earlier testimony about the so-called “freak-off” orgies that Combs would allegedly host and, according to testimony, featured gallons of baby oil.
Court is set to resume on Tuesday with Eddie Garcia, an employee of the InterContinental Hotel in Century City, CA., the scene of Combs’ caught-on-camera attack on Ventura that has created perhaps the most enduring images to come from the high-profile criminal trial.
