U.S. President Donald Trump at a Cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat, on July 31, 2026 in Camp David, Maryland. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Friday blamed Minnesota’s Democratic governor for cyberattacks on the state’s water systems even though U.S. officials previously told ABC News authorities are investigating whether Iran or hackers associated with the country could be behind them.
“We heard in Minnesota there was a cyberattack and they blame it on Iran. I don’t think so. I think, I blame it on Minnesota because they’re grossly incompetent,” Trump said a Cabinet meeting at Camp David.
Walz pushed back against Trump’s comments in statements on social media Friday.
“Trump knows exactly who is responsible for this attack, and knows that other states were hit too. This is what modern warfare looks like, and it further illustrates there’s no plan to win a war with Iran,” Walz wrote in a social media post.
The governor also noted federal cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) weakened cybersecurity.
“DOGE took an axe to CISA and left the U.S. exposed to cyber attacks. Thankfully, our experts in Minnesota were able to identify the vulnerability quickly and work with local communities to stop it,” Walz wrote.
More than 30 water systems in Minnesota were targeted in a cyberattack Sunday and Monday, according to Minnesota IT Services (MNIT).
MNIT said the attackers targeted systems to remotely monitor and control equipment, including the programmable logic controllers (PLCs), which are used for remote access.
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) said in an alert Thursday that cyber threat actors are targeting PLCs and modifying passwords to “to lock out operators” from U.S. water systems.
MNIT said there are no active requests from Minnesota localities for residents to change their water use and that it is working with federal investigators in the probe. The agency said it has not determined who was responsible.
Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar said in a statement Friday that she spoke with U.S. National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross about the attacks and said the director “confirmed that at this point there are no effects on services.”
“Director Cairncross and I discussed updated technology, recognizing that resources are an issue for so many communities, not just in Minnesota but across the country,” the senator wrote.
Klobuchar added that the FBI and Environmental Protection Agency have issued warnings to water utilities across the country about potential cyberattacks.
Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez has been charged with manslaughter with a firearm, months after he allegedly shot and killed neighbor. (Collier County Sheriff’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — A man has been charged with manslaughter months after he allegedly shot and killed his neighbor, mistaking him for a bear, according to an arrest affidavit.
Ariel Gonzalez Rodriguez, 25, was charged on Tuesday for the March killing of his neighbor Jason Sheffield in Naples, Florida.
Rodriguez’s wife, Katherin Hidalgo, told investigators that she heard a noise around midnight and was worried a wild animal was attacking the farm animals she has in her backyard, so she woke her husband up to investigate, according to the affidavit.
After leaving the house with a smaller caliber rifle, Rodriguez — who was 24 at the time — returned to tell his wife he believed it may have been a bear, before retrieving a larger caliber rifle, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez told investigators he fired a single round from the larger rifle to the ground. Rodriguez then alleged he believed the noise was walking closer and that he was about to be attacked, prompting him to shoot a round in the direction of his neighbor’s property at about waist level, according to the affidavit.
Hidalgo told investigators she heard at least two gunshots before her husband returned to the residence, according to the affidavit.
Hidalgo told investigators that Rodriguez told her whatever was making the noise — which he believed might have been a bear — began approaching him, so he shot off a “couple of warning shots,” according to the affidavit.
“According to Katherin, Ariel did not further investigate because he feared he might have wounded the bear and did not want to risk getting attacked. He told Katherin he would go check in the morning,” the affidavit said.
Around 8 a.m. the next day, Rodriguez explored his property but did not see anything. He then proceeded to explore his neighbor’s property, where he discovered his neighbor lying face down with blood on his body, according to the affidavit.
In the morning, Rodriguez told his wife he had shot someone before dialing 911, according to the affidavit.
Rodriguez dialed 911 and stayed on the phone with dispatchers until deputies arrived. Rodriguez was brought in on the charge of manslaughter with a firearm, according to the affidavit.
“Ariel was frantic as he informed the dispatcher that he shot off a gun yesterday at a noise he believed to be a bear, but now believed he accidentally shot his neighbor,” investigators wrote in an arrest affidavit.
When officers responded to the scene, Rodriguez and his wife were handcuffed, detained and placed in the back of separate patrol vehicles, according to the affidavit.
Investigators found the neighbor dead, lying face down in an overgrown patch of vegetation behind a chicken coop. He appeared to have blood on the back of his shirt, according to the affidavit.
(WASHINGTON) — Sean Grayson, the former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who was convicted of second-degree murder in the fatal 2024 shooting of Sonya Massey, was on Friday denied early release by a prisoner review board.
“I am writing to confirm that the Board voted 3-0 to deny Sean Grayson’s medical release application,” an Illinois Prisoner Review Board spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. “He will remain in custody.”
Grayson had asked for an early release because he has cancer. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison in January, after his conviction last October.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
In this photo illustration, a Kalshi logo is seen displayed on a smartphone on the top of a laptop. (Photo Illustration by Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York sued Kalshi on Friday, alleging its prediction market is nothing more than illegal, unlicensed gambling, in large part because outcomes depend more on chance than skill.
The lawsuit does not seek to close down Kalshi, but, if successful, it could dent its ability to operate.
Kalshi insists its event contracts are federally regulated derivatives outside the scope of state gaming laws but New York Attorney General Letitia James’ lawsuit said Kalshi is merely seeking “to avoid the legal and financial consequences of New York’s close regulation of gambling by offering what is quintessentially wagering.”
“It’s sad to see this type of political theater from the leadership in our own state. States can’t just shut down a federally licensed exchange,” Elisabeth Diana, Kalshi’s Head of Communications told ABC News. “This would also hurt New Yorkers, who would be driven offshore. We love New York, we love New Yorkers, and New Yorkers love our product.”
The lawsuit alleged Kalshi violates state laws prohibiting wagering on games involving New York college teams and all sports betting for those under 21.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which has said prediction markets are its exclusive purview, filed for a temporary restraining order to halt the state’s lawsuit.
“New York’s gambling laws protect children from underage betting and help combat gambling addiction,” James said in a statement. “No matter what they call themselves, prediction makers like Kalshi are gambling platforms, plain and simple.”
The lawsuit sought a court order demanding Kalshi submit to state regulators and taxes, to forfeit illegal profits and pay restitution to users nationwide, a possible penalty that could cost Kalshi an estimated $36 billion, according to a statement of facts accompanying the lawsuit.
“Kalshi has chosen to ignore New York’s gambling laws, which exist to protect consumers, prevent problematic gambling, deliver funding for critical public services and ensure that every company plays by the same rules,” Governor Kathy Hochul said.
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Testing on hair found at the home of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie’s mother in the Tucson, Arizona, area is complete and does not point to a suspect in the 84-year-old’s abduction, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos told ABC News on Thursday.
“The hair was done … and there was nothing,” Nanos said in an interview.
That leaves a mixed sample of DNA retrieved from Nancy Guthrie’s home as the only known piece of biological evidence, and one that has so far not been affirmatively linked to a suspect.
The sample is a mix of as many as four people, the sheriff revealed. It’s not clear the technology even exists yet to untangle it, though the sheriff said multiple labs across the country are trying, including the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, and labs in Kansas, Florida, California and Arizona.
“My understanding is there are at least five, maybe six, labs across the country that are working on all of this,” Nanos said. “We have some of the brightest minds in the nation, if not the world, working on this.”
Investigators believe Guthrie was taken from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by a masked man captured on her doorbell camera. But six months later, Nanos is unable to say whether that masked man was working alone.
“I don’t think anybody’s here ready to say it’s one guy, it’s 10 guys,” Nanos said. “Did he have help? Could have.”
“My understanding is there are at least five, maybe six, labs across the country that are working on all of this,” Nanos said. “We have some of the brightest minds in the nation, if not the world, working on this.”
Investigators believe Guthrie was taken from her home in the early hours of Feb. 1 by a masked man captured on her doorbell camera. But six months later, Nanos is unable to say whether that masked man was working alone.
“I don’t think anybody’s here ready to say it’s one guy, it’s 10 guys,” Nanos said. “Did he have help? Could have.”
In an undated stock photo, a computer hacker is seen typing on a laptop. (STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Federal and state authorities are investigating a series of coordinated cyberattacks at more than 30 water plants in Minnesota earlier this week. Authorities are looking into whether Iran or hackers associated with the country could be behind the attacks, multiple U.S. officials told ABC News Thursday.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance on Sept. 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Photo by Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The father of a Georgia teenager who carried out a deadly mass shooting at his high school was sentenced to 15 years in prison for second-degree murder and other charges after a jury found him criminally culpable for the attack.
Colin Gray, 55, admitted to providing the assault rifle used by his then-14-year-old son in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School, which killed two students and two teachers.
His son, 16-year-old Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to all 55 counts against him, including murder and aggravated assault. Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced him to life in prison without parole on Tuesday.
The teen’s father appeared in the Barrow County Courthouse before the same judge on Thursday to learn his fate. He faced more than 100 years in prison after being found guilty of 27 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children in the second degree, and reckless conduct. The jury deliberated for fewer than two hours before returning the guilty verdicts in March.
Colin Gray is the latest parent to be charged and convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their child. Judge Primm noted the novelty of the school shooting case, saying it’s the first of its kind in Georgia and the second he’s aware of in the nation.
“What we’re really referencing is this new phenomenon of parents being charged in conjunction with crimes that their children are committing,” Primm said. “It’s a divisive case.”
Primm said the father was convicted because “the warning lights were flashing brighter and brighter” and he didn’t get his son help or remove his access to guns.
“No parent thinks that their child is going to be the next school shooter, but it became more and more obvious that something bad was going to happen,” Primm said.
The judge told Colin Gray that if he had used gun locks or removed the ammunition from his house, “you wouldn’t be here today.”
Primm sentenced the father to 15 years confinement for each second-degree murder count. Those and lesser sentences on his other counts will run concurrent with one another, for a total 15-year prison sentence, the judge said.
“You didn’t intend to commit these crimes that you’ve been convicted of, but the loss here is profound,” Primm said while handing down the sentence. “But I still have to distinguish your acts from the malignant heart and the acts that Colt Gray committed upon the Apalachee school.”
The defense asked for 10 years in prison in what attorney Chris Hobbs called the first case of its kind tried in Georgia, arguing that Colin Gray knew his son was struggling but misjudged the warning signs.
“We understand the gravity of this situation. Four people are gone, and nothing the court can do today can change that. But the question today is narrower, and in some ways harder — what does justice require when a father’s negligence and a son’s concealed intent meet on a single morning?” Hobbs said.
Prosecutors asked the judge that Colin Gray be sentenced to 80 years in prison, saying that he gave Colt Gray a gun months after law enforcement asked him to restrict his son’s access to guns, and that the risk was “staring him in the face every day” in the form of a shrine to the shooter in the Parkland high school massacre in his son’s bedroom.
“This was the risk he was ignoring, that there would be a mass shooting of children at a school, and he gave his son the exact tool he would need to accomplish this,” Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said during the sentencing hearing Thursday. “He is the reason four people are dead, seven are injured and countless others traumatized. And he is the reason a 16-year-old boy was sentenced two days ago to the rest of his life in prison.”
Several of the family members of those killed in the school shooting addressed the court on Thursday, speaking to the pain they continue to endure.
Colin Gray declined to address the court prior to his sentence.
During the two-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Colin Gray had been warned that his son had an affinity for mass shooters and was aware that the teen kept a shrine on his bedroom wall dedicated to the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Instead of getting his son psychological help, Colin Gray gave the boy an AR-15-style weapon as a Christmas present that the teen ultimately used to carry out the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, prosecutors said.
Colin Gray testified in his own defense during the trial, breaking down while being questioned about whether he noticed any “red flags” that would have led him to believe the boy was capable of committing a mass shooting.
“I struggle with it every day,” Colin Gray testified. “He’s a good kid, you know? He wasn’t perfect, but to do something, uh, that heinous, like I don’t, I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
During his testimony, Colin Gray confirmed that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, telling jurors the gift came with rules.
“This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you’re 18, this will be your gun,” Colin Gray said he told his son.
Following the verdict, Smith said that evidence showed that there were “multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time.”
“You just had to do one thing — take that rifle away — and this would have been prevented,” Smith told reporters.
Several other parents have been convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their children.
In 2024, Jennifer and James Crumbley were convicted of charges stemming from a deadly mass shooting at a Michigan high school committed by their then-15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley. The parents were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separatetrials after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at their home and their indifference toward their son’s mental health. They were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Their son pleaded guilty in October 2022 to murdering four students and injuring several others in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct — one count for each person killed by his son, Robert Crimo III, during a mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July Parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. As part of a plea deal, Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
His son, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In an ongoing case, the father of a 15-year-old girl who shot and killed a student and teacher at a Wisconsin school in 2024 faces charges alleging he allowed his daughter access to guns used in the deadly shooting.
The father, Jeffrey Rupnow, was charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. His case is set to go to trial next year.
ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
A job seeker fills out an application during the HIRE360 Diversity Hiring Expo on April 28, 2026, in Inglewood, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The United States economy slowed more than expected as an inflation surge took hold over the early months of the Iran war, a government report on Thursday showed.
The economy grew at an annualized rate of 1.5% over three months ending in June, marking a slight slowdown from 2.1% growth recorded in the previous quarter. The figure came in lower than economists’ expected.
Still, the latest data outperformed 0.5% annualized gross domestic product (GDP) recorded over final three months of 2025.
The period covered by the data release followed a historic global oil shock set off by the Middle East conflict.
The national average price for a gallon of gasoline soared to a price as high as $4.56 a gallon in May, AAA data showed, before easing somewhat after a preliminary peace agreement last month.
Annual inflation has climbed to 3.5%, putting it more than 1 percentage point higher than the Federal Reserve’s target rate of 2%.
Still, hiring has proven more resilient than many economists feared, despite elevated costs for businesses and shoppers.
In recent quarters, a burst of investment in artificial intelligence has accounted for a large share of the nation’s economic growth.
A surge of AI spending accounted for roughly two-thirds of gross domestic product growth over the first half of 2025, JPMorgan Asset Management found, outpacing the contribution made by hundreds of millions of U.S. consumers. Many of the nation’s largest companies have poured funds into the chips and data centers necessary to operate AI.
The combination of elevated inflation and a resilient labor market, meanwhile, has raised the chances of an interest rate hike, futures markets show. The prospect of a rate increase poses the risk of a slowdown in economic activity over the coming months as corporations face the prospect of higher borrowing costs.
The benchmark rate stands at a level between 3.5% and 3.75%. That figure marks a significant drop from a recent peak attained in 2023, but borrowing costs remain well above a 0% rate established at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Fed Chair Kevin Warsh, who took the helm of the central bank this summer, has vowed to dial back inflation.
“Persistently high prices are a burden for the American people,” Warsh told reporters in Washington, D.C., last month. “This committee will deliver price stability.”
A sign greets people at the entrance to Howard University on June 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — After gaining national attention for unenrolling more than 500 incoming first-year students over missed tuition and financial-aid deadlines, Howard University has reinstated over 200 incoming students, according to the university’s interim president.
In an interview with Stephanie Ramos on ABC News Live on Wednesday, interim President Wayne A.I. Frederick offered new insight into the university’s perspective amid intense backlash from students.
“We looked at students who were able to give us the documentation we were asking for in the first place, such as evidence of an external scholarship, and also students were able to remit payment, and so we took that into consideration despite the fact that it was late,” Frederick said of the decision to re-enroll students.
“Having said that, we have now reviewed all 502 students, and so most of the decisions, if not all of them, have been made,” he continued.
Asked if overenrollment was a contributing factor in the university’s decision-making, Frederick told ABC News that all students who were unenrolled previously had housing assigned to them and that this was not a matter of “bed capacity.”
He said the reason for holding students to the payment deadline is that the university wants to avoid putting students in financial situations that would prevent them from finishing their degree, citing Howard’s four-year graduation rate at under 70%.
“We really are trying to do our best to make sure that when students start, they can finish. And this is part of what we must do on the front end because I think having them leave without a degree and with debt is not the right thing as well,” Frederick explained.
Multiple students who said they were unenrolled spoke with ABC News, saying they do not believe the university communicated with them effectively.
Dwayne Irvin, a 19-year-old from Missouri, told ABC News that he was blindsided by Howard’s decision to unenroll him. He said he had been communicating with the university’s financial aid office about pending outside scholarships and plans to enroll in a payment plan.
“They told me to wait to enroll into that payment plan until that scholarship has been deposited into my account, so my monthly payments could be cheaper. I said, OK, that makes sense. So I went with that route…A week later, I get the email saying I was out,” Irvin said.
Frederick expressed a willingness to improve the university’s communications but defended Howard’s actions.
“Over 2,200 students, families did exactly what we expected them to do and followed the policies and procedures and met the deadline, which means that I feel that our communication was pretty comprehensive,” Frederick said, adding, “We certainly need to recognize that we have to enhance our communications and really support our students even more.”
Nikiyah Clark, a 17-year-old from Ohio who was set to enroll at Howard as a first-year this fall, said she was told by the university that she was not permitted to re-enroll this year. She said she had missed a tuition payment deadline, but told ABC News that she had only received notice of the deadline the day it was due.
“I tried to hold back tears as I walked out of the building. I tried to compose myself, but I couldn’t. I was so sad. I was very hurt,” Clark said, adding “It was a very disheartening situation, considering the fact that I worked so incredibly hard to get to earn my place at the university.”
Frederick told ABC News that the university will hold enrollment space in next year’s class, and transfer and deferral opportunities for unenrolled students.
“We will still make every attempt to keep those students within the Howard family,” he said.
Those new enrollment processes have not yet been publicly detailed by Howard.
Irvin said he had been told about these options, but will not be re-enrolling. However, the family of Mason Farmer, another student who was unenrolled, told ABC News that the university had told them there was no more space for him to enroll this fall.
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on September 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Photo by Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — The father of a Georgia teenager who carried out a deadly mass shooting at his high school is set to be sentenced on more than two dozen charges, including second-degree murder, after a jury found him criminally culpable for the attack.
Colin Gray, 56, admitted to providing the assault rifle used by his then-14-year-old son in the September 2024 shooting at Apalachee High School, which killed two students and two teachers.
His son, 16-year-old Colt Gray, pleaded guilty to all 55 counts against him, including murder and aggravated assault. Judge Nicholas Primm sentenced him to life in prison without parole on Tuesday.
The teen’s father will appear in the Barrow County Courthouse before the same judge on Thursday to learn his fate. He faces more than 100 years in prison after being found guilty of 27 counts, including second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children in the second degree, and reckless conduct. The jury deliberated for fewer than two hours before returning the guilty verdicts in March.
Colin Gray marks the latest parent charged and convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by his child.
During the two-week trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Colin Gray had been warned that his son had an affinity for mass shooters and was aware that the teen kept a shrine in his bedroom dedicated to the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Instead of getting his son psychological help, Colin Gray gave the boy an AR-15-style weapon as a Christmas present that the teen ultimately used to carry out the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, prosecutors said.
Colin Gray testified in his own defense during the trial, breaking down while being questioned about whether he noticed any “red flags” that would have led him to believe the boy was capable of committing a mass shooting.
“I struggle with it every day,” Colin Gray testified. “He’s a good kid, you know? He wasn’t perfect, but to do something, uh, that heinous, like I don’t, I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
During his testimony, Colin Gray confirmed that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, telling jurors the gift came with rules.
“This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you’re 18, this will be your gun,” Colin Gray said he told his son.
Following the verdict, Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith said that evidence showed that there were “multiple warnings over a lengthy period of time.”
“You just had to do one thing — take that rifle away — and this would have been prevented,” Smith told reporters.
Several other parents have been convicted in the U.S. in connection with a mass shooting carried out by their children.
In 2024, Jennifer and James Crumbley were convicted of charges stemming from a deadly mass shooting at a Michigan high school committed by their then-15-year-old son, Ethan Crumbley. The parents were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at their home and their indifference toward their son’s mental health. They were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
Their son pleaded guilty in October 2022 to murdering four students and injuring several others in the November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct — one count for each person killed by his son, Robert Crimo III, during a mass shooting at a 2022 Fourth of July Parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. As part of a plea deal, Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
His son, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder last year and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In an ongoing case, the father of a 15-year-old girl who shot and killed a student and teacher at a Wisconsin school in 2024 faces charges alleging he allowed his daughter access to guns used in the deadly shooting.
The father, Jeffrey Rupnow, was charged with two counts of intentionally giving a dangerous weapon to a minor and one count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor in connection with the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. His case is set to go to trial next year.
