The Aurora Borealis lights up the night sky over Monroe, Wisconsin, on Nov. 11, 2025. (Ross Harried/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
It’s been a busy week for the sun, and aurora watchers in some northern and upper Midwest states looking for a glimpse of the famed colorful sky could benefit from enhanced solar activity Thursday night into Friday morning, Oct. 9.
On Tuesday, a coronal mass ejection (CME), a massive burst of charged particles embedded in a magnetic field, departed the sun bound for Earth.
The ejection is associated with a moderate solar flare.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) has issued a moderate Geomagnetic Storm Watch beginning Thursday evening into Friday, as a result of the CME.
According to NOAA, a geomagnetic storm is “a major disturbance of Earth’s magnetosphere that occurs when there is a very efficient exchange of energy from the solar wind into the space environment surrounding Earth.”
While the agency says much of the activity will be minor, there could be periods of moderate storm activity. The UK Met Office says there’s even a slight chance of strong G3 levels.
The SWPC says the solar activity could create minor impacts to our technological infrastructure, but it’s “mainly manageable.”
On the bright side, the aurora borealis, which appears in the night sky when electrically charged particles from the sun hit Earth’s atmosphere, could be visible in areas that don’t normally experience it.
“Aurora may be seen as low as New York to Wisconsin to Washington state,” SWPC said in its alert.
Another CME linked to a smaller solar flare is also headed toward Earth but is only expected to deliver a “glancing blow” over the weekend, according to the UK Met Office.
All this solar weather will keep conditions unsettled to active over the next few days. But whether you’ll be able to see the auroras depends on exactly when the CME arrives, the cloud cover and the magnetic orientation of the CME’s magnetic field.
When geomagnetic activity becomes stronger, the aurora can sometimes be seen farther south than usual.
Nicolas Maduro is seen in handcuffs after landing at a Manhattan helipad, escorted by heavily armed Federal agents as they make their way into an armored car en route to a Federal courthouse in Manhattan, January 5, 2026 in New York City. (XNY/Star Max/GC Images via Getty Images)
Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday unsealed new charges against ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro that accuse him of conspiring with his wife to torture individuals who were held in Venezuelan prisons.
The new indictment, unsealed in Manhattan federal court, specifically accused his government of torturing Americans because Maduro “assigned blame to the United States for the instability in Venezuela.”
Federal prosecutors alleged Maduro “presided over this system of repression and torture” and his wife, Cilia Flores, is accused of helping him develop it.
“When Maduro became President of Venezuela in or about 2013, he authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, military detention, and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition,” the new indictment alleged.
Maduro was charged by superseding indictment with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and Flores was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of narcoterrorism.
“As alleged in the indictment, the Maduro regime subjected over a dozen American citizens to torture while held in custody of the Venezuelan government — including drugs, electrocution, sexual assault, and more,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. “They will now answer for their crimes.”
While leader of Venezuela, Maduro allegedly conspired to torture one American for no reason other than he could be “useful in a prisoner exchange with the United States,” according to the new indictment.
An American citizen identified in the indictment as Victim-8 had been in Venezuela visiting family when “officers attacked Victim-8 from behind, severely injuring Victim-8’s back such that Victim-8 required a lengthy hospital stay,” the superseding indictment alleged. Venezuelan officers allegedly “electrocuted Victim-8’s testicles and put a pressure device on his ankles, causing him to faint several times” during transport from the hospital to prison, according to the indictment.
Once in prison, the torture continued, prosecutors alleged. On one occasion, one of Victim-8’s torturers told him the only reason he was alive was because he was a United States citizen and, therefore, “Victim-8 could be useful in a prisoner exchange with the United States,” according to the indictment.
In 2024, after Maduro declared victory following what the United States called a sham election, Venezuelan authorities allegedly beat an American citizen identified as Victim-9, according to the indictment, which alleged, “For two days they beat him with their fists to the face, head, and stomach approximately every half an hour. The beatings caused permanent injury to Victim-9’s eye.”
After about a year in custody, Victim-9 was released on Jan. 15, 2026, two weeks after Maduro’s ouster, according to the indictment. Still, Victim-9 and other Americans were warned “they were not allowed to say the Venezuelan government had hurt them or had otherwise subjected them to abuse,” the indictment said.
In January 2002, an American citizen identified as Victim-7 was detained in Venezuela on charges alleging participation in a conspiracy to assassinate Maduro. Victim-7 was taken to a concrete house where officials “tortured him over the course of two or three days,” the indictment stated. “Among other things, the officers punched him in the face and abdomen, covered his face and poured a noxious liquid over his face that caused him to vomit, which the officer then forced him to eat.”
From there, Victim-7 was transferred to Boleita Norte prison where, the indictment alleged, his torture continued and “included electric shock to Victim-7’s arms, legs and genitals; asphyxiation; beatings; deprivation of food and water; and forced injections of a substance that caused Victim-7 to experience seizures.”
Maduro did not appear in court Thursday. Flores appeared on a related matter and the federal judge presiding over the case denied her pretrial release on bail.
“Jail is not a nice place to be, but these are serious allegations,” Judge Alvin Hellerstein said. “I don’t think the conditions are there to release her.”
Defense attorney Mark Donnelly said Flores needs a medical procedure and cannot recuperate in a jail cell. He proposed placing Flores under house arrest with a private security detail.
“The conditions that the defense proposes address all the risk of flight concerns that the government may have,” Donnelly said.
Federal prosecutors opposed her release. They accused Flores of “horrific acts” and said “witnesses who were in the room” would testify about the torture she allegedly conspired with her husband to carry out.
Maduro and his wife will be arraigned on the new charges at a later date.
Both previously pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges and maintained their innocence during their first court appearance in January, following their capture by U.S. forces in a military operation in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas.
Maduro’s lawyer argued in a court filing last month that the former president is immune from prosecution because he was the leader of a sovereign nation.
USA, New York, Finger Lakes Region, Ithaca, Cornell University, elevated view of McFaddin Hall, summer (Walter Bibikow/Getty Images)
One of the men accused in a “gang rape” at Cornell University is pushing to have New York Attorney General Letitia James thrown off the case, arguing that she “demonstrated a bias and presumption of guilt” through a past social media post.
An attorney for student Gillio Lopes asked an Albany court to void Gov. Kathy Hochul’s appointment of James as special prosecutor in the case, as well as force the appointment of a new prosecutor “who is free from actual or perceived conflicts of interest or bias.”
Lopes’ attorney also pushed back on the details of the accusations made by the Jane Doe, saying her story “changed significantly” over time. Doe’s lawyer has in turn said those arguments are self-serving.
Hochul appointed James to investigate the case last week after saying she lost confidence in the Cornell University Police Department and the Tompkins County District Attorney, who had previously declined to bring charges in the case
The legal push to remove James from the case centers on a social media post from last month when James signaled her solidarity with Jane Doe.
“What this young woman has been forced to endure is horrific and unacceptable. I’m holding her in my heart and in my prayers. To her, and to all survivors: you’re not alone. We stand with you,” James said on social media on Sept. 28 commenting on a news article about the case.
James declined to comment on the post during a press conference last week.
“I will not comment on a Facebook post,” she told reporters. She has not otherwise commented.
But Hochul defended the decision to appoint her.
“I have every confidence in our attorney general to do what she has always done. Look at the facts, examine the record, and draw the proper conclusions. That’s exactly what’s going to happen in this case,” Hochul said.
Attorney Andrew Miltenberg, who’s representing Lopes, argued in the court filing that James’ social media statement about Jane Doe was enough to justify voiding the appointment.
“Through this official public statement, Attorney General James has made clear that she has formed an opinion about the case, that she believes the allegations made by Jane Doe, and that she has already reached the conclusion that Petitioner and the other named Defendants are guilty,” he wrote.
Thomas Giuffra, the attorney representing Jane Doe, said she was in no condition to consent.
“She was not. Think about it. They were loading her up with ketamine. They were loading her up with — she was drunk before she walked in the door,” Giuffra told ABC News.
Lopes was suspended for one year after being found responsible for participating in the sexual activity when Doe was “incapable of conveying consent,” according to Miltenberg.
Lopes was also ordered to take “an educational restorative class” and submit an essay. He has since continued his education at Cornell.
In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Miltenberg argued that James’ past statement as well as the current public attention on the case makes it impossible for his client to be treated fairly.
“By saying what she said, posting what she posted several days later, you could reasonably read that as her, Letitia James, having accepted the factual premise of the allegations,” he said.
In the interview with ABC News, Miltenberg pushed back on what he described as “a nonstop barrage” of misleading information about his client.
“I think that his life and the lives of the other young men has already been destroyed in the court of public opinion,” said Miltenberg. “I don’t know how he ever overcomes this. He has been absolutely condemned by public opinion on social media, and that’s a significant issue.”
Miltenberg pointed to a now-viral exchange when Lopes was accosted on Cornell’s campus earlier this month.
“Are you like not embarrassed to be here?” a woman asked Lopes in the video. “You’re a disgusting person. Everyone at Cornell is ashamed of you.”
The case has rocked the university and started conversations about treatment of alleged sexual assault on college campuses.
The woman at the center of the Cornell case, a former student identified only as Jane Doe, originally made a complaint to campus police in November 2024, three weeks after the incident occurred.
The Tompkins County district attorney, Matthew Van Houten, reviewed a summary of the woman’s statement that same month and decided based on that information that although the conduct in the case was “morally disturbing,” it did not constitute a crime.
Van Houten reopened the case on Sept. 27 after speaking with Jane Doe and her lawyer in the wake of a civil suit being filed alleging that she had been drugged and raped. The men have denied all wrongdoing.
Jane Doe has alleged that Lopes sexually assaulted her and later snorted ketamine from her body. Miltenberg denied the ketamine use and argued that the sexual activity was consensual.
Miltenberg argued that Jane Doe’s account has “morphed almost dramatically” since she first told police about the incident.
“There is a lot that is in the file that didn’t make its way into the civil complaint, which tells a very different story,” he said. “I think that the most respectful way for me to say it is that Jane Doe’s story has changed significantly since the complaint.”
Kouri Richins listens to statements written by her children during her sentencing in 3rd District Court, May 13, 2026, in Park City, Utah. (Trent Nelson/Pool/Getty Images)
A current sheriff and a former sheriff of two Utah counties have been charged with obstruction of justice in connection with the Kouri Richins murder case, according to court filings related to heavily redacted, newly unsealed indictments.
Kouri Richins was found guilty of murdering her husband in March. The high-profile weekslong trial in Summit County followed a yearslong investigation that garnered national attention.
A former Summit County sheriff and the sheriff of neighboring Wasatch County face charges related to Kouri Richins’ prosecution, according to defense motions seeking that the indictments be redacted upon release due to the highly publicized murder trial.
Wasatch County Sheriff Jared Rigby was charged with one count of obstruction of justice in a criminal proceeding, a second-degree felony, and one count of making a written false statement, a misdemeanor. The indictment alleges that he made, presented or used a knowingly false item in January “with intent to hinder” a prosecution.
David Edmunds, who served as the sheriff of Summit County from 2003 to 2014, was charged with one count of obstruction of justice in a criminal investigation, a third-degree felony, according to the indictment. The indictment alleges that he provided false information “with intent to hinder” an investigation on March 13.
Both indictments, which were filed last month, were unsealed Wednesday with significant redactions.
According to Rigby’s motion, the charges against him “allege interference” in the Kouri Richins case over an anonymous letter postmarked Jan. 10, 2026. The filing does not detail the contents of the letter, who wrote it or to whom it was addressed.
According to Edmunds’ motion, the language in his indictment “names the Richins prosecution and connects the anonymous letter to alleged misconduct by a Summit County sheriff’s deputy.” The indictment accuses Edmunds of making a false statement “intended to hinder identification of the letter’s author,” the filing states.
ABC News has reached out to their attorneys and the Wasatch County Sheriff’s Office for comment but did not immediately receive a response. Rigby has previously said he acted lawfully.
$55 million in damages
A Summit County jury found Kouri Richins guilty of fatally poisoning her husband, Eric Richins, with fentanyl in March. Judge Richard Mrazik, who presided over the murder trial, sentenced her to life without parole.
The 36-year-old mother of three, who self-published a children’s book on grieving following her husband’s death in 2022, is currently seeking a new criminal trial. Her request is under consideration by the Utah Court of Appeals.
This week, Judge Mrazik ordered that she pay more than $55 million in damages to the estate and family members of her late husband in a wrongful death claim.
In his order, Mrazik noted that Kouri Richins did not dispute any of the factual statements in the motion for judgment, which sought an order concluding that she “wrongfully caused” her husband’s death.
The judge stated in his order that he concluded from the guilty verdict and the “undisputed record evidence” that Kouri Richins caused her husband’s death by poisoning him.
The order includes $10,780,129 in economic damages and $3 million in non-economic damages — $1 million for each Richins child — that “seek to compensate wrongful death victims for loss of society, love, companionship, protection, guidance, and affection.”
“Eric shared deep, emotional connections with his three minor children, who are the Estate’s only heirs,” the order stated. “His death has caused them severe trauma, and it will have permanent effects on each. In addition, by killing Eric, which resulted in her imprisonment, Kouri deprived the minor children of being with their father or their mother.”
The order also included $41,340,387 in punitive damages, which were determined by multiplying the economic and non-economic damages by three.
Hundreds of Cornell students participate in a rally against the university’s actions after a student was sexually assaulted at a campus fraternity in 2024, October 5, 2026 in Ithaca, New York. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
More than seven months after the former Cornell University student known as Jane Doe reported being raped at the school’s Chi Phi fraternity house, she gave a university hearing panel a detailed account of the October 2024 incident, saying she was “raped and tormented.”
And she pleaded with the panel to “make Cornell a better and safer place” by removing from campus the men she alleged attacked her, according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
“I was prostituted, and I was held up like bait for a gaggle of men, and I didn’t even know it was happening,” Jane Doe testified via teleconference on May 29, 2025, regarding allegations that she had been raped by eight to 10 fraternity brothers.
Some of the men in the hearing maintained that the sexual encounter, which is now the subject of a criminal investigation, was consensual, but a friend of hers said that she felt that way initially because she was in “shock.”
The case has now rocked the university and started conversations about treatment of alleged sexual assault on college campuses across the country.
The Cornell Title IX investigation took place behind closed doors, and the results were not shared with prosecutors in Tompkins County, New York, who had declined to bring charges months earlier. Cornell Police did offer the results of their own investigation, but the local district attorney’s office declined to review them, according to police records reviewed by ABC News.
ABC News has reviewed transcripts of the 12-day hearing that shed light on the school’s lengthy investigation into the incident, as Jane Doe and the men she accused offered drastically different accounts of that evening. The seven men accused in the incident have denied all wrongdoing.
Jane Doe told the panel that she was barely “halfway through the process of understanding what happened” to her — but knew enough about the evening to ask the panel to take action against the fraternity members.
“I remember being coerced into using ketamine. I remember several respondents running a train on me, many different times. And I remember a dark room with shadows of men in and out constantly, and I remember feeling like there was a joke and I was not in on it,” said Jane Doe, who told police she was intoxicated that evening from a prior event, but alleges that she was pressured to drink and consume ketamine at the house.
The men she accused offered a different account of the evening, arguing that the incident was either consensual, or distancing themselves from the encounter.
“The truth is that [Jane] may have regrets about that night, as do I, but those regrets do not amount to sexual assault or sexual exploitation,” said one of the men.
Some of the men argued they only walked into the room without engaging in the drug use or sexual acts. One Chi Phi brother said, “I was in the room where it happened that night, but not when it happened.”
During her statement to the panel, Doe acknowledged the gaps in her memory — “I will never know everything that happened to me, and I know I’ve said that a lot,” she said — and sought to explain why some of her initial communications with the men after the incident appeared friendly.
“I’m open-minded, and thoughtful, and empathetic,” she said, according to the records. “But for two or three weeks following the event, those qualities protected the [men]. I didn’t want to believe something terrible could happen to me.”
One of Jane Doe’s friends told the panel that Jane Doe’s initial reaction that the incident may have been consensual was because “she was in a little bit of shock at the beginning,” according to school records reviewed by ABC News.
“I believe personally that she was such in shock that she was just trying to make everything okay and maybe kind of a people pleaser at that point,” the friend testified. “But I knew she was uncomfortable as soon as I saw her on that Monday and that she wasn’t okay with what happened and maybe embarrassed.”
Some of the fraternity brothers pushed back on Jane Doe’s assessment of the evening, arguing that she consented to the activity and only changed her account after rumors of the incident spread across Cornell’s campus.
“The complainant’s words and actions demonstrated affirmative consent to each action we engaged in,” one brother said. “What is highly possible here is that the complainant initiated this [investigation] … due to the public perception of the event and rumors that arose after the issuance of the crime alert.”
Some of the brothers who alleged they did not participate in the sex acts — but were briefly present in the room — argued they were being unfairly punished.
“It is clear [Jane Doe ] was upset and felt wronged, and some or even all of her frustration may be valid. But instead of being born from facts and truths, [Jane Doe’s] statements show both a desire and need to hold all members accountable, regardless of their specific actions,” said one brother.
At the end of the 12-day hearing, Jane Doe told the panel that the incident ultimately changed her view of Cornell, from what was once her dream school to the place where she was “raped and tormented,” according to the records.
“I ask the panel to please make it safer for those that I love and the community at large, and to remove those boys from the campus,” she said. “I will not be there to see the change, but removing these respondents will make Cornell a better and safer place.”
The panel issued their decision about the incident three months later, expelling two of the students allegedly involved in the incident and suspending two other students.
Jane Doe withdrew from Cornell due to the incident, according to her attorney, and has filed a civil suit in the case. None of the men named in the suit have responded in court, although each has denied wrongdoing to investigators, in public statements, or through their lawyers.
New York Attorney General Letitia James is conducting an investigation into the incident, and on Tuesday, Cornell’s board of trustees announced it had tapped the law firm King & Spalding to conduct an independent probe, led by former acting U.S. attorney general Sally Yates.
A Tennessee judge granted a motion to preserve relevant evidence in the botched execution of Christa Pike.
The lone woman on Tennessee’s death row survived being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital and remains hospitalized following the failed Sept. 30 execution in Nashville, her attorneys said.
Pike was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer. Her attempted execution by lethal injection came after a series of last-minute legal challenges.
Pike’s attorneys had filed an emergency motion in Davidson County Chancery Court last week seeking an order requiring the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) to protect and preserve “any and all evidence related” related to the execution attempt, which they allege was “cruel and unusual punishment.”
“In light of the manifest violation of Ms. Pike’s constitutional rights, the actionable nature of that violation, and the reasonable foreseeability of litigation, the Defendants have an affirmative duty to preserve all relevant physical, written, and electronic evidence,” the filing stated.
Following arguments from Pike’s attorney and the state, Chancellor I’Ashea Myles granted the motion.
“This case is unique, to say the least,” she said. “In light of the evolving situation, the court will pen and grant its own order, granting the motion to preserve relevant evidence.”
The evidence ordered preserved and maintained includes all photographs, video recordings, audio recordings and surveillance footage of the execution; all drugs, syringes, IV lines and tubing that are in the state’s possession; and all handwritten notes and logs, checklists, timelines, incident report and witness accounts.
She also included all communications regarding the execution and “anything concerning the deviation” from protocol and “anything concerning any complications, delays, equipment issues, anything in regards to the ability to access veins — just the administration of this particular execution. It needs to all be maintained.”
Wednesday’s hearing came a day after Pike’s attorneys said she regained consciousness after the failed execution left her critically injured and temporarily on a ventilator. During the hearing, one of Pike’s attorneys, Luke Ihnen with the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee, told the court that she is “speaking limitedly.”
During arguments on preserving evidence from the botched execution, Ihnen told the court, “We don’t know what they have because they won’t tell us, and so the preservation order seeks the broadest possible preservation of evidence.”
“Everything they have in their possession should be preserved,” he said.
“Before yesterday, we didn’t know if Miss Pike was ever going to regain consciousness or speak. She has, and so we’ve come to this court,” Ihnen said. “We didn’t have a reason to visit our client until yesterday, and so you know, it’s evolving for all of us, and TDOC has continued to put up these barriers to access.”
Assistant Attorney General for the State of Tennessee Will Ayers told the court that the state is working with Pike’s counsel to ensure that she is able to “get the evidence that they believe they’re entitled to” and that TDOC has already been instructed to preserve evidence that is covered under a federal case involving another Tennessee death row inmate.
“TDOC has advised us that evidence, physical evidence, was collected from the execution chamber on the night of September 30th, and has been logged into a preservation room,” Ayers told the court. “Among the things collected are logbooks, observation logs, medical waste and products, EKG readouts.”
Ayers said there are some items that may not be in TDOC’s possession, such as portions of the IV lines.
“There may be portions of those IV lines that could have been still attached to Miss Pike when she was transported to the hospital,” he said.
In issuing her order, Myles said she will not rely on the federal case cited by the state.
“To any extent that any information or any evidence has already been discarded, deleted, destroyed or no longer exists, I want TDOC to take an affirmative step to try to claw back that information and put in policies and procedures while this litigation is pending to ensure that no information is discarded and/or destroyed,” she said.
According to the motion filed by Pike’s attorneys, Pike “could be heard crying, whimpering, and breathing loudly” while being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital, at one point stating that her arm “feels like it’s about to burst open.” At least seven needles were used to gain IV access, with one “bent in a 90-degree angle when it was removed,” the motion stated.
The motion described pentobarbital, a sedating medication, as being “caustic and highly alkaline” and that it “burns upon contact.” Both of Pike’s arms were “swollen, burned, and blistered” when she arrived at a Nashville-area hospital, the motion stated.
Pike had raised concerns about a lethal injection in a complaint filed months prior to her scheduled execution, arguing that her “thrombocytosis, post-traumatic stress disorder and small veins ‘make it sure or very likely that there is a substantial risk that she will experience unnecessary and superadded pain and suffering, terror, and disgrace,'” the motion stated.
Ihnen said during Wednesday’s hearing that “based on what we know about Miss Pike’s current condition, these allegations that were made in the complaint certainly appear to be at least related to the botched execution.”
Asked directly by Chancellor Myles at one point if he can answer whether Pike’s execution will be rescheduled, Ayers said he is not in a position to answer that.
In an update Tuesday, Pike’s attorneys said she was conscious and speaking, alling her recovery “medically unprecedented.”
“Her prognosis remains unclear but, at a minimum, we expect a long recovery,” her attorneys — Ihnen, as well as Randy Spivey and Kelly Gleason from the Tennessee Office of the Post Conviction Defender and Stephen Ferrell from the Federal Defender Services of Eastern Tennessee — said in a statement.
TDOC confirmed Tuesday that Pike remains hospitalized but said it could not provide details of her medical condition due to federal privacy laws.
In the wake of the botched execution, TDOC said that it “followed every step of the State’s lawful, established execution protocol approved by the Attorney General’s Office.”
“The lethal injection chemical in the protocol has consistently been effective, and the protocol does not allow for additional procedures beyond what was carried out [that] evening,” the statement continued.
Pike’s attorneys said Tuesday they continue to ask Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee to commute her sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
She is the first person reported to have survived lethal injection after being given medications, according to the Death Penalty Information Center, whose executive director referred to the failed attempt as “the worst we’ve ever seen and unlike any other botched execution in the modern era.”
In the wake of the botched execution, Gov. Lee ordered a temporary halt to scheduled executions in the state and TDOC Commissioner Frank Strada resigned.
The governor’s office said in a statement that it has also appointed former U.S. Attorney Ed Stanton to conduct an independent review of TDOC’s execution attempt that “will seek to determine whether the protocol was followed and consider whether additional recommendations are necessary to ensure the State’s protocol continues to be lawful and effective.”
“The State previously retained Stanton in 2022 to conduct an independent review of Tennessee’s lethal injection protocol. His work prompted the State and Attorney General’s Office to substantially rewrite the protocol before executions resumed,” the statement further said.
The botched execution comes after Tennessee’s planned execution of Tony Carruthers in May had to be halted after authorities were unable to find a suitable vein to place an IV to administer the injection after trying for over an hour, his attorneys said at the time. Gov. Lee granted Carruthers a one-year reprieve.
A general view of the Mall of America on Jan. 4, 2024, in Bloomington, Minnesota. (Aaronp/bauer-griffin/GC Images/Getty Images)
Federal authorities have arrested a man accused of planning to carry out an ISIS-inspired mass shooting at the Mall of America in Minnesota, according to newly unsealed court records.
Sheikhdoon Mohamud was taken into custody Tuesday after allegedly purchasing an AK-47 and 200 rounds of ammunition from a confidential source for the FBI that prosecutors say he planned to use to attack a festival taking place at the Mall of America.
Mohamud has been under investigation by the FBI since December 2024 when a confidential source with the FBI began exchanging messages with him about either traveling to Somalia to fight on behalf of al-Shabaab or carrying out a mass casualty attack on U.S. soil, court documents show.
Prosecutors detail scores of communications between Mohamud and the FBI source where he allegedly detailed his hopes of martyrdom, including one where he discussed just getting a “gun here and just start killing a bunch of white ppl.”
By December 2025, Mohamud expressed interest in providing support to ISIS and the two regularly continued communicating as Mohamud shifted away from plans to travel overseas and instead indicated he was more intent on carrying out an attack in the U.S, the court documents allege. Throughout their communications, Mohamud allegedly suggested he had inspiration in his planned attacks from both the New Orleans New Years Eve attacker and Omar Mateen, the Pulse Nightclub shooter.
Prosecutors said Mohamud told the source he wanted to attack the Mall of America “because its owned by jewish” people, adding, “so if I kill even 30 people noone would go there anymore.”
By August, Mohamud allegedly began planning a meetup with the source to purchase an AK-47 and ammunition, and Mohamud sent the following pictures of himself so the source could recognize him, prosecutors said.
Mohamud later allegedly settled on a meetup of Oct. 6 with the source to purchase the weapons and suggested he would plan to carry an attack on Oct. 24 targeting the Hmong Arts Celebration at the Mall of America, according to court documents.
During their meetup the undercover agent handed Mohamud a large duffel bag containing an AK-47 rifle and four magazines as well as a container with 200 rounds of ammunition, according to prosecutors.
The agent told Mohamud he was a member of ISIS and when he asked him about his attack plans, Mohamud again allegedly expressed intent to carry out a shooting at a festival at the Mall, and said part of his motivation was that he believed it was owned by Jews and that he was “angry at the bad treatment of Muslims” in the wake of the May attack on an Islamic Center in San Diego.
Upon exiting the vehicle, Mohamud was taken into custody at gunpoint by FBI agents, the affidavit says.
“The American people and the citizens of Minnesota should know from yesterday’s arrest — which was the culmination of an outstanding law enforcement and intelligence operation — that federal law enforcement is standing up to their calling to protect us,” U.S. attorney for Minnesota Dan Rosen said Wednesday. “Here, because of their vigilance and diligence, they were able to detect the threat and disrupt it before the defendant carried out his intention to kill, in his words, ‘maybe 30 to 60 people,’ as we allege in far greater detail in the complaint.”
Rosen and FBI special agent Christopher Dodson detailed the extensive communications between Mohamud and an FBI confidential source that they said showed he was “100% committed” to carrying out an attack.
“The messages this defendant allegedly sent to others were chilling,” Dodson said. “They show the idolization of ideologically motivated violence, a callous disregard for the sanctity of human life, a blind hatred of people of other faiths, and a cold commitment to carrying out his vision of violence in our community.”
Mohamud is believed to be an American citizen born in the United States, Rosen told reporters, though in the criminal complaint he refers to Somalia as the homeland of his parents.
Rosen noted that in 2025 after being alerted to his sharing of extremist material online, the FBI actually went to Mohamud’s house to attempt to speak to his parents but were rebuffed.
“I just would say to parents all over Minnesota — for that matter, all over America: If you get the indication, especially if you hear from federal law enforcement that your son or daughter is being radicalized to the point where federal law law enforcement wants to come and give you that warning, those are warnings that ought to be heeded,” Rosen said.
Haverford College Campus. (John Greim/LightRocket via Getty Images)
A Haverford College professor was arrestedand charged with online harassment and intimidation, the school’s president said in a statement Tuesday.
The professor, Guangtian Ha, has been placed on administrative leave and is “barred from campus while the criminal process moves forward,” according to the message from Haverford College President Wendy Raymond.
The president said representatives from the school, which is located in Haverford, Pennsylvania, have contacted those targeted “by these heinous online attacks, which were antisemitic in nature.”
An indictment filed Sept. 30 in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania district court alleges that between around Oct. 9, 2025, and May 20, 2026, Ha sent around 50 messages to a victim “using at least four different X accounts.”
Several examples of messages included in the indictment involve threatening, antisemitic language, the indictment said.
Ha, a professor of religion at the school, was on sabbatical leave and not teaching this year, according to the president’s message.
“I am deeply distressed by these allegations and want to state in the plainest of terms that any form of harassment or discrimination based on identity is unacceptable, antithetical to our values, and has no place at Haverford,” Raymond said in the statement.
Raymond added, “This disturbing news is made even more harmful for many given its proximity to both the Jewish High Holidays and the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks.”
The president ended her message offering resources of support and encouraging “anyone who experiences bias” to report it.
ABC News has not yet identified an attorney for Ha.
A Utah health care company announced Monday that it has received state authorization for a pilot program allowing artificial intelligence to issue initial prescriptions, including acne treatment.
Nolla Health introduced the program in a blog post announcing the “AI-powered prescriptions,” its acne treatment prescription process, which will roll out in three stages.
The company said the pilot is the first in the U.S. authorized by a state regulator to allow AI to issue initial prescriptions, and that it was authorized after working with the Utah Office of Artificial Intelligence Policy.
The company says the program is designed to close “the access gap” to healthcare, in this case, by avoiding the appointment wait times and costs associated with visiting a dermatologist.
The company said the Nolla Derm application “will prescribe effective acne treatment from $4.99 a month” and require “no office visit.”
The post said Utah residents 18 and older can download the app and begin the process at a discounted rate of $4.99 per month.
After verifying their identity, providing informed consent and filling out an intake questionnaire, patients take a “quick five-angle face scan.”
“In about 10–15 minutes, this generates a personalized treatment plan and, if appropriate, an initial prescription,” the post said.
The pilot will roll out in three stages with physician involvement in each, according to the company.
In the first stage, which includes the first 100 patients, “two licensed physicians independently review and approve every AI-generated prescription before it reaches the patient.”
In the second stage, which will include up to 500 patients, “Nolla Derm issues prescriptions directly, and a physician reviews every case after the fact, at least weekly.”
In the third stage of the pilot, a 10% sample of prescriptions each month will be reviewed by a physician. A physician will also review “every case involving an escalation or a side effect.”
The company said stages one and two would last at least four and eight weeks, respectively.
“Moving to the next stage requires meeting safety targets, including 95% agreement with physicians and zero serious adverse events, and written approval from the state,” the post said.
The post continued, “Patients can message a licensed physician through the app at any time, at no extra cost.”
The company said acne treatment was a viable starting point for the technology because it is “well understood, low risk, and backed by decades of clinical evidence.”
Dilan Ashar is seen in this undated image. (University of Maryland Police Department)
University of Maryland student Dilan Shaan Ashar, who had been missing since Oct. 2, was found “disoriented” and “dehydrated” in the woods on Wednesday by campus police six days after he went missing.
University of Maryland Chief of Police David Mitchell said during a press conference on Thursday that the 22-year-old was located as they canvassed a wooded area in the surrounding College Park community at about 7:30 pm local time.
“Dilan came in from the cold,” he said. “He was dehydrated. He was disoriented. We know he was very hungry, and you can imagine after six days in the woods, what this young man went through.”
Mitchell said that law enforcement called for “immediate medical attention,” and first responders treated Ashar for dehydration and then transported him to a nearby hospital.
“We were able to reunify Dilan with his parents. And as I stood at the ambulance and I saw his mother and father and brother, and I was standing with [UMD] President Pines when Dilan saw his mother and his family, it’s hard to put into words how touched he was, and how touched that family was.”
His mother, Binita Ashar, shared an update on her personal Facebook page, celebrating her son’s return home.
“Elated to report that we have been reunited with Dilan! Heartfelt gratitude for all of your texts, posts, calls, prayers, well wishes and overwhelming support. Feeling very fortunate and thankful,” she wrote on Wednesday night.
University of Maryland President Darryll Pines thanked law enforcement, students, faculty and staff for their support in the search for Ashar.
“I want to thank our students and the entire University of Maryland community for their compassion, and their understanding in demonstrating their care,” he said.
Pines added that students proposed a plan to display a large sign on campus, saying “Welcome home Dilan,” which he has approved.
Ashar was found one day after his mother issued an emotional plea to the community for help as campus police searched for her son.
“Dilan is a kind, thoughtful young man who cares deeply about people. He loves sports and he loves to cook,” Binita Ashar, who was joined by his father and brother, said in the recorded message, which was released on the UMD police’s YouTube page on Tuesday.
Officials previously said that Ashar was last seen on Friday, Oct. 2, at about 2:30 am local time at the Terrapin Trail Garage near the Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland.
Police released two photos of Ashar, including one that was captured through surveillance footage of him leaving his residence at approximately 2 a.m. on the day he was last seen.
Police said several searches were been conducted around Terrapin Trail Garage, using drones, K-9 units, cadaver dogs and dozens of first responders, according to police. The searches covered surrounding areas like the university golf course, parking garages, wood lines, Lake Artemesia and nearby parks, officials said.
