Amtrak fire suspends Penn Station service for NJ Transit commuters
An Amtrak passenger waits for his train at Penn Station April 2, 2004 in New York City. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A fire erupted on Amtrak work trains in a Hudson River tunnel between New York and New Jersey early Friday, suspending Penn Station service for NJ Transit and Long Island Rail Road commuters.
LIRR service has since resumed, but the NJ Transit suspension into Penn Station is ongoing.
Two Amtrak work trains collided in the Hudson River tunnel at about 1:25 a.m., impacting the electrical system and igniting a fire, said Janno Lieber, head of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
One NJ Transit passenger called the experience “frightening,” telling ABC News, “Someone yelled there was a fire on the track … there was a very loud explosion that shook the train and caused the lights to go out. We didn’t move for maybe 8 to 10 minutes.”
“I rely on NJ Transit to get to work, so I am now deeply concerned about how I will commute safely moving forward,” the New Jersey resident said.
Amtrak service is also impacted. Amtrak said trains south of Penn Station are suspended until at least noon while “lengthy delays” are expected north of Penn Station.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in front of the American flag to the press as he departs the White House on May 12, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals panel is set to hear arguments Thursday over the Trump administration’s bid to reinstate executive orders that sought punishing sanctions against four elite law firms over their past representation or employment of perceived political foes of President Donald Trump.
Four separate district court judges had previously granted permanent restraining orders sought by the four law firms — Perkins Coie, Susman Godfrey, Wilmer Hale and Jenner & Block — after determining the EOs were unconstitutional.
Some of the judges derided the White House’s efforts to punish the firms in particularly blistering terms, likening the pressure campaign mounted last year by the Trump administration against ‘Big Law’ as akin to McCarthyism and the ‘Red Scare’ era in American history.
Staring down similar prospects of facing executive orders that sought to virtually eliminate their interactions with the government, at least nine other elite firms entered into controversial settlements with the Trump administration in exchange for providing pro bono legal services for causes supported by the White House.
Those settlements, which in sum totaled nearly $1 billion by the White House’s calculation, led to an exodus of high-profile attorneys at several of the firms who said the agreements amounted to capitulation in response to an unlawful intimidation campaign by the Trump administration.
In March, the Justice Department appeared inclined to drop their appeal of the injunctions and even notified attorneys and the circuit court that it was withdrawing the case.
Less than 24 hours later, however, the department abruptly reversed course and said it would continue arguing the appeal after multiple news articles described the move as a major victory for the firms that mounted the legal battle.
It’s unclear whether that back-and-forth will surface in oral arguments Thursday as the law firms seek to convince a three-judge panel to uphold the injunctions — which barred the Trump administration from implementing sanctions that included barring firm attorneys from accessing some federal properties and restricting their security clearances. Several of the firms described in detailed filings how the orders, if implemented, would effectively bankrupt them.
The administration, however, argued the orders were well within President Trump’s power to issue, and described the district courts’ orders as an impermissible intrusion on the executive branch.
“This appeal of those sweeping decisions is not about the sanctity of the American law firm; it is about lower courts encroaching on the constitutional power of the President to discuss and address invidious racial discrimination, national security risks, and other problems with certain law firms,” DOJ attorneys said in a court filing in March.
The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A partial lockdown at the Pentagon implemented in response to a potential air quality issue has been lifted after no hazards were found, according to the Pentagon’s chief spokesman.
Portions of the Pentagon had gone into a shelter-in-place earlier Thursday, after officials locked down multiple floors and hallways in response to a potential air hazard situation, according to three officials.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement earlier that building monitoring systems detected an air-quality issue, prompting precautionary measures while officials work to determine the source and extent of the problem.
In an update Thursday, Parnell said subsequent testing “confirmed no hazard exists, and normal operations have resumed.”
Sources told ABC News earlier that authorities were investigating what caused a sensor to alert for a potential hazardous air quality issue at the Pentagon. Additional testing occurred to verify whether there was any hazard or if the sensor was faulty, multiple sources said.
In a message sent to Pentagon employees earlier Thursday, employees in certain corridors on select floors were urged to remain in place while awaiting testing results, which it noted could take one to two hours.
The Arlington County Fire Department said its hazardous materials team had responded to the Pentagon in support of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Hazmat Team “during a hazardous materials incident.”
These undated Federal Bureau of Investigation handout photos of al Qaeda commander Khalid Sheikh Mohammed were marked with the word “Located” after Mohammed’s arrest March 1, 2003, in Pakistan. (FBI/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The alleged self-proclaimed “mastermind” of the 9/11 attacks will stand trial in June 2028, a military judge ruled Wednesday, nearly 25 years after the attacks.
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was captured in 2003 and has been held at Guantanamo Bay since 2006.
“Trial on the merits shall begin on Monday, 5 June 2028,” Lt. Col. Michael Schrama decided.
Prosecutors sought a trial in 2027 but the judge said that was too soon.
The trial date comes after a yearslong legal saga that includes a controversial plea agreement that was later revoked.
In July 2024, Mohammed and two other 9/11 defendants held at Guantanamo Bay reached a plea agreement with military prosecutors under which they would plead guilty to all charges, including the murder of 2,976 people, in exchange for the death penalty being taken off the table.
Under the deal, Mohammed would have served a life sentence at Guantanamo.
The agreement drew criticism from some 9/11 families and just a few days later then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked the deal.
“I have determined that, in light of the significance of the decision to enter into pre-trial agreements with the accused in the above-referenced case, responsibility for such a decision should rest with me as the superior convening authority under the Military Commissions Act of 2009,” Austin wrote.
After attorneys for the defendants objected, the Biden administration later took the matter to federal court in an attempt to continue to block the plea deal.
Last July, a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled 2-1 that Austin had acted within his authority to revoke the deal.
The prosecution of Mohammed and other alleged 9/11 plotters detained at Guantanamo has been delayed by more than a decade over concerns about the admissibility of evidence gathered through torture when they were previously detained at the CIA’s “black sites.”
On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, two hijacked passenger jets flew into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, marking the start of a series of coordinated attacks that day against the United States by the Afghanistan-based terrorist group al-Qaeda. Nearly 3,000 people were killed that day and thousands more were injured.
