Category: National

(NEW YORK) — A spring storm system will move east over the next three days, bringing a variety of dangerous and life-threatening weather, including tornados and large hail, from the Heartland to the East Coast.

From late Saturday evening into Saturday night, severe storms will take shape from Oklahoma City to Kansas City, according to the forecast. The biggest threat with these storms will be damaging winds and large hail, but a tornado cannot be ruled out.

On Sunday, the storm will move into the Midwest and the South with severe weather expected from near Dallas all the way to Erie, Pennsylvania. The highest threat for strong tornadoes will be from east of Little Rock, Arkansas, to Tupelo, Mississippi; Memphis, Tennessee; Nashville, Tennessee; and Evansville, Indiana.

Damaging winds and hail are also possible in Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Cleveland.

On Monday, the severe weather moves to the East Coast and I-95 corridor from Upstate New York all the way south to Tallahassee, and New Orleans. Damaging winds will be the biggest threat for northern cities but a few tornadoes cannot be ruled out across the southern areas.

On the north side of this storm, snow and ice is forecast from Dakotas all the way to New England Saturday into Sunday.

Ice storm warnings have been issued for Wisconsin and Michigan, where up to a half an inch of icy glaze will cover streets, roads, trees and sidewalks.

Additionally, periods of rain and thunderstorms will move into the Carolinas and Asheville Saturday night into Sunday morning. The area has experienced wildfires over the last week due to the dry conditions.

On Saturday, seven states from New York to North Carolina are under Elevated Fire Danger.

The thunderstorms with heavy rain will be on and off into Monday.

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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge in Boston ruled that Tufts doctoral student Rumeysa Ozturk cannot be deported until she decides whether she has jurisdiction to rule if Ozturk was lawfully taken into custody.

Judge Denise Casper said Friday that Ozturk “shall not be removed from the United States until further Order of this Court.”

The government revoked Ozturk’s visa due to her pro-Palestinian activism, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who added the State Department may have revoked more than 300 student visas since the beginning of the second Trump administration.

“It might be more than 300 at this point. We do it every day. Every time I find one of these lunatics, I take away their visa,” Rubio said during a press conference in Guyana on Thursday.

Ozturk, a Turkish national, was arrested by immigration authorities as she was headed to meet her friends and break her fast during Ramadan on Tuesday.

She is listed in the ICE database as “in custody” and appears to be held at an ICE processing center in Louisiana.

Rubio plainly said Ozturk’s visa was revoked by the government.

“If you apply for a visa to enter the United States and be a student, and you tell us the reason you are coming to the United States is not just because you want to write op-eds, but because you want to participate in movements that are involved in doing things like vandalizing universities, harassing students, taking over buildings, creating a ruckus — we’re not going to give you a visa,” he said.

“If you lie to us and get a visa and then enter the United States, and with that visa, participate in that sort of activity, we’re going to take away your visa. And once you’ve lost your visa, you’re no longer legally in the United States. And we have a right, like every country in the world has a right, to remove you from our country. So it’s just that simple,” Rubio said.

Last year, Ozturk was the co-author of an opinion piece in the Tufts Daily newspaper, demanding the university administration “acknowledge the Palestinian genocide” and disclose and divest from companies with direct or indirect ties to Israel.

She made no mention of Hamas in the op-ed, though a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said she “engaged in activities in support of Hamas, a foreign terrorist organization that relishes the killing of Americans.”

“She’s softspoken, she doesn’t want to hurt you when she’s talking,” her friend, Reyyan Bilge, an assistant teaching professor in Northeastern University’s psychology department, told ABC News. “She makes sure that she doesn’t offend anyone, let alone possibly incite violence. I’ve never heard her swearing, believe me, this is the kind of person we’re talking about.”

The secretary said it was “crazy” and “stupid” for any country to issue visas to any individual who intends to be disruptive on college campuses.

“If you invite me into your home because you say, I want to come to your house for dinner and I go to your house and I start putting mud on your couch and spray painting your kitchen, I bet you you’re going to kick me out,” he said. “Well, we’re going to do the same thing if you come into the United States as a visitor and create a ruckus for us.”

“We don’t want it. We don’t want it in our country. Go back and do it in your country, but you’re not going to do it in our country,” he said.

The mayor of Somerville, Massachusetts, where Ozturk was approached and detained, said it appears the Tufts doctoral student was detained over the exercise of free speech.

“I am deeply concerned to see a student with legal status detained for what appears to be the exercise of free speech. Rumeysa Ozturk has a First Amendment right to free speech and a right to due process and that must be upheld, just as all immigration detainees have rights that must be respected without exception,” Mayor Katjana Ballantyne said in a statement.

“Our rights are being threatened in a variety of ways right now and Somerville will make use of the law and our voices to defend them. My administration recently filed a joint lawsuit with Chelsea against federal officials to do just that. We cannot sit by idly,” the mayor said.

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(TEXAS) — At least three people have died after heavy rain brought record-breaking flooding to South Texas, according to officials.

The deaths occurred in Hidalgo County, where officials issued a disaster declaration as a result of the flooding. The county, which includes the city of McAllen, saw some of the heaviest rain accumulations over the last 24 hours.

There was no further information about the three deaths immediately available, but officials said they would release more details later.

A large part of South Texas is still reeling from the life-threatening flooding that began overnight and continued into Friday morning.

Thunderstorms began Wednesday, with another round of heavy rainfall on Thursday afternoon and evening. The rain continued through Friday afternoon.

The National Weather Service issued flash flooding emergency warnings multiple times on Thursday and overnight for South McAllen and Harlingen — both located in the Rio Grande Valley in the southernmost parts of Texas.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation,” the NWS said in a statement issued Thursday night, urging people to avoid travel unless fleeing a region subject to flooding or are under an evacuation order.

The region received between 6 inches and a foot of rain or more in some areas, according to the NWS. McAllen got more than 6 inches of rain, while more than 14 inches was recorded at the Valley International Airport in Harlingen.

The NWS received reports for several vehicles stranded on Interstate 2 in waist-deep water, according to the agency. Dozens of water rescues took place as a result of the flash flooding.

Video shows first responders in inflatable boats rescuing people stranded on roadways. The South Texas Health System hospital in McAllen experienced minor flooding on its first floor.

Several school districts in the region canceled classes on Friday, as did the South Texas College in McAllen.

Flooding continued into Friday morning, with rivers nearly overflowing. A flood watch is in effect for parts of South Texas and southern Louisiana.

Water levels at the Arroyo Colorado River at Harlingen are nearing a record-breaking 30 feet. There is no precedent for the kind of damage a 30-foot water level in the Arroyo Colorado River could do, according to the NWS. The previous record water levels measured at the Arroyo Colorado River was 24 feet.

The flooding stemmed from a stationary boundary — a front between warm and cold air masses that moves very slowly or not at all. A band of significantly heavy storms was forming over the same hard-hit areas on Friday morning. A storm with 3-inch rain rates was forming over Harlingen on Friday morning.

The system also conjured up a tornado, with a twister reported near Edcouch, Texas, about 25 miles northeast of McAllen, that damaged several structures.

The potential for showers and thunderstorms in this region is expected to continue through the afternoon, with the threat ending Friday evening, forecasts show.

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(FIFE, Wa) — A man was charged for posing as an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Washington state, according to police.

Ilya Kukhar, 26, was charged on Thursday for impersonating an ICE officer after he allegedly drove a vehicle that “displayed prominent emblems with large letters spelling ‘I.C.E’ along with a pseudo-seal of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security,” the Fife Police Department said in a statement on Thursday.

At approximately 5 p.m. on March 16, police responded to a 911 call of a “suspicious vehicle at the Emish Market,” a Ukrainian grocery store in Fife, Washington, officials said.

The vehicle, which had no license plates, was identified as a black 2019 Ford SUV and was later confirmed to be a former patrol car for the Tukwila Police Department, officials said.

The presence of the vehicle “appeared intentional, targeting a Ukrainian grocery store” which indicated a “deliberate effort to intimidate and draw attention to itself,” police said.

Witnesses told officials that the “occupant(s)” of the vehicle were “recording employees and customers on video, causing alarm and concern,” police said.

Once police arrived on the scene, the vehicle left, officials said.

The Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that the vehicle was not an official DHS unit, leading the police — in coordination with the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations Seattle field offices — to look into this incident, officials said.

In response to a bulletin posted by the Fife Police Department, officials in Tukwila “identified the vehicle as one of their former patrol cars,” officials said.

Previously, it had been “removed from their fleet after being involved in a collision,” officials said. Once it was no longer in service with the City of Tukwila, an insurance company sold it to a private buyer, police said.

After “numerous tips” and the assistance of Tukwila Police, the “primary suspect in this case” was identified as Kukhar, officials said. Police have not said if there are other suspects involved.

Kukhar, who is “not employed by any federal law enforcement agency,” has been charged with one count of Criminal Impersonation in the Second Degree.

He is currently not in police custody and his initial arraignment is scheduled for April 11, officials said.

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(TEXAS) — A large part of South Texas is reeling from life-threatening flooding that began overnight and continued into Friday morning.

Thunderstorms began Wednesday, with another round of heavy rainfall on Thursday afternoon and evening. The rain is expected to continue through Friday afternoon, forecasts show.

The National Weather Service issued flash flooding emergency warnings multiple times on Thursday and overnight for South McAllen and Harlingen — both located in the Rio Grande Valley in the southernmost parts of Texas.

“This is a particularly dangerous situation,” the NWS said in a statement issued Thursday night, urging people to avoid travel unless fleeing a region subject to flooding or are under an evacuation order.

The region received between 6 inches and a foot of rain or more in some areas, according to the NWS. McAllen got more than 6 inches of rain, while more than 14 inches was recorded at the Valley International Airport in Harlingen.

The NWS received reports for several vehicles stranded on Interstate 2 in waist-deep water, according to the agency. Dozens of water rescues took place as a result of the flash flooding.

Video shows first responders in inflatable boats rescuing people stranded on roadways. The South Texas Health System hospital in McAllen experienced minor flooding on its first floor.

Several school districts in the region canceled classes on Friday, as did the South Texas College in McAllen.

Flooding continued into Friday morning, with rivers nearly overflowing. A flood watch is in effect for parts of South Texas and southern Louisiana.

Water levels at the Arroyo Colorado River at Harlingen are nearing a record-breaking 30 feet. There is no precedent for the kind of damage a 30-foot water level in the Arroyo Colorado River could do, according to the NWS. The previous record water levels measured at the Arroyo Colorado River was 24 feet.

The flooding stemmed from a stationary boundary — a front between warm and cold air masses that moves very slowly or not at all. A band of significantly heavy storms was forming over the same hard-hit areas on Friday morning. A storm with 3-inch rain rates was forming over Harlingen on Friday morning.

The system also conjured up a tornado, with a twister reported near Edcouch, Texas, about 25 miles northeast of McAllen, that damaged several structures.

The potential for showers and thunderstorms in this region is expected to continue through the afternoon, with the threat ending Friday evening, forecasts show.

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(NEW YORK) — The number of measles cases associated with an outbreak in western Texas has grown to 400, with 73 cases reported over the last three days, according to new data released Friday.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). At least 41 people have been hospitalized so far.

Children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases at 164, followed by children ages 4 and under comprising 131 cases, according to the data.

It comes as the CDC has so far confirmed 483 measles cases this year in at least 19 states: Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington

This is likely an undercount due to delays in states reporting cases to the federal health agency.

Meanwhile, reports have emerged that some unvaccinated children hospitalized with measles in Texas are showing signs of vitamin A toxicity.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other vaccine skeptics have promoted vitamin A amid the measles outbreak. During an interview on Fox News with Sean Hannity earlier this month, Kennedy said that HHS was currently providing vitamin A to measles patients for treatment, claiming vitamin A can “dramatically” reduce measles deaths.

Vitamin A can be used as part of supportive treatment for those who are already sick, with the World Health Organization recommending two doses of vitamin A in children and adults with measles to restore low vitamin A levels, which can help prevent eye damage and blindness.

However, vitamin A does not prevent measles infections, experts previously told ABC News, nor does it directly fight the virus when used as a treatment.

Covenant Children’s Hospital, which has treated dozens of measles patients in Texas amid the outbreak, told ABC News in a statement that some parents appear to have given their unvaccinated children vitamin A for “treatment and prevention.” Some of those children now show signs of vitamin A toxicity.

Fewer than 10 children have come in with abnormal liver function in routine lab tests, indicating possible vitamin A toxicity, according to Covenant Children’s.

Vitamin A toxicity occurs when someone consumes too much vitamin A, and can result in severe complications iincluding liver and kidney damage.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says vaccination is the most effective way to prevent measles.

The CDC currently recommends that people receive two vaccine doses, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster.

State health data shows that Gaines County, which is the epicenter of the Texas outbreak, has seen its number of vaccine exemptions grow dramatically in the last dozen years.

In 2013, roughly 7.5% of kindergartners in the county had parents or guardians who filed for an exemption for at least one vaccine. Ten years later, that number rose to more than 17.5% — one of the highest in all of Texas, according to state health data.

Among the nationally confirmed cases by the CDC, about 95%, are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the agency said.

Of those cases, 3% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.

ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Police in New York are searching for two individuals who were caught on video surveillance vandalizing a Tesla Cybertruck in Brooklyn.

At approximately 1 a.m. on Thursday, two unidentified suspects “carved the word ‘Nazis’ and a swastika on the doors of a parked unoccupied Tesla,” the New York Police Department said. The incident, which occurred in front of 730 Monroe Street in Brooklyn, was captured on video surveillance.

After vandalizing the vehicle, the suspects “fled on foot in an unknown direction,” police said.

The incident is being investigated by the NYPD’s Hate Crime Task Force, police said. Officials said anyone with more information regarding the vandalism is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-8477.

Recent attacks aimed at Tesla dealerships, vehicles and charging stations have been reported in Seattle; Kansas City, Missouri; and Charleston, South Carolina, as well as other cities across the United States since Tesla CEO Elon Musk began his role with the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.

A man was arrested this week for allegedly setting Tesla vehicles on fire in Las Vegas earlier this month and is facing federal charges in the alleged Molotov cocktail attack.

On Monday, the FBI announced the establishment of a task force to address the incidents targeting Teslas.

“The FBI will be relentless in its mission to protect the American people. Acts of violence, vandalism, and domestic terrorism — like the recent Tesla attacks — will be pursued with the full force of the law,” the FBI said in a statement to ABC News.

Lone offenders appear to be the ones carrying out these attacks, according to an FBI and Department of Homeland Security assessment obtained by ABC News on March 21.

“While they may perceive these attacks as victimless property crimes, these tactics can cause accidental or intentional bodily harm,” the assessment said. “Some individuals with political or social goals are likely to view the publicity surrounding these past incidents as validation that these tactics are successful in drawing public attention, and they may be galvanized to engage in similar violence.”

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

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(ASHEVILLE, N.C.) — Strong winds and low humidity could create significant problems for firefighters in the Carolinas on Friday, as wildfires continue to rage throughout both states, officials said.

Red flag warnings are in place for the western Carolinas on Friday with wind gusts reaching 30 mph and a relative humidity as low as 20%, officials said.

“We’ve never had a fire quite like this,” South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster said during a press conference from the site of the Table Rock Complex Fire on Friday. “You’ve seen the movie ‘The Perfect Storm,’ well this might be the perfect fire.”

The high winds come as fires are already raging across both states.

In North Carolina, the Black Cove Complex Fire, located about 30 miles southeast of Asheville, is the highest priority fire in the United States, burning nearly 7,000 acres, according to the North Carolina Department of Agriculture.

As of Thursday, the Deep Woods Fire, located 5 miles northwest of Columbus, North Carolina, has burned 3,373 acres and is 30% contained, officials said.

Several other fires continue to blaze in North Carolina, including the Alarka Fire in Swain County, which has burned 911 acres and is only 5% contained, and the Rattlesnake Branch Fire, which has torched 629 acres and is 5% contained, officials said. Additionally, the Freedom Farm Fire has burned 130 acres and is 60% contained, according to the Leicester Fire Department.

“The concern is, until they are contained, we have to be on alert,” North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said Thursday.

In South Carolina, the Table Rock Complex Fire — located on the South-Carolina-North Carolina border — spread significantly on Thursday, burning 8,769 acres with a perimeter of 34.8 miles, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

Officials said weather conditions on Friday are a “concern for increased fire activity.” As of Friday, the Table Rock Complex Fire is zero percent contained, with more than 1,400 homes and businesses evacuated, the forestry commission said.

The Table Rock Complex Fire also includes the Permission Ridge Fire, located in the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area, which itself has grown to 1,992 acres and is zero percent contained as of Friday, officials said.

“Containment will be very difficult to achieve,” Scott Phillips, head of the South Carolina Forestry Commission, said during a press conference Friday.

The South Carolina National Guard has dropped 612,000 gallons of water to help put out these flames, officials said.

A statewide ban on outdoor burning remains in effect in North Carolina and South Carolina, officials said.

These fires are located in steep terrain that has been covered with downed trees and dried vegetation left over from Hurricane Helene, which devastated communities and killed over 230 people back in September.

On Friday, firefighters “hope to complete burnouts of existing unburned areas and focus on improving and holding existing firebreaks,” the forestry commission said.

An elevated fire risk is also in place for most of Georgia, Virginia and eastern Tennessee, officials said.

There have not been any reported injuries from any of the wildfires.

Rain will move in on Sunday and Monday, which could alleviate firefighters and help diminish the flames, officials said.

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(WASHINGTON) — If allowed to go into effect, the Trump administration’s new policy on transgender soldiers would be a “de facto blanket prohibition” that seeks “to eradicate transgender service,” a federal judge wrote Thursday in issuing a preliminary injunction against the policy.

In a 65-page opinion issued late Thursday, U.S. District Judge Benjamin Settle became the second federal judge to block the policy, which he described as discriminatory and disconnected from the goals of “military readiness, unit cohesion, lethality, or any of the other touchstone phrases long used to exclude various groups from service.”

The Justice Department filed notice Friday that it would appeal the judge’s decision.

While the Trump administration had argued that the judiciary should defer to military leadership, Judge Settle — who was nominated to the bench by President George W. Bush near the height of the War on Terror — said he is unable to condone a “unsupported, dramatic and facially unfair exclusionary policy.”

“The government falls well short of its burden to show that banning transgender service is substantially related to achieving unit cohesion, good order, or discipline. Although the Court gives deference to military decision making, it would be an abdication to ignore the government’s flat failure to address plaintiffs’ uncontroverted evidence that years of open transgender service promoted these objectives,” he wrote.

The group of seven active-duty service members who brought the lawsuit argued that the policy “purposefully discriminates” against soldiers based on their gender identity — an argument that Justice Department lawyers attempted to rebut by reframing the question as a medical issue, impacting only people who suffer gender dysphoria. Judge Settle was unconvinced, writing that the policy “uses gender dysphoria as a proxy to ban all transgender service members.”

“The government’s arguments are not persuasive, and it is not an especially close question on this record,” he wrote, finding that each of the plaintiffs would be irreparably harmed by the policy, which would curtail their military service.

Judge Settle also called out the Trump administration for seemingly disregarding the service history of the transgender soldiers who brought the case, such as the Commander Emily Shilling, a naval aviator with 19 years of service who flew 60 combat missions before becoming a Navy test pilot.

“There is no claim and no evidence that she is now, or ever was, a detriment to her unit’s cohesion, or to the military’s lethality or readiness, or that she is mentally or physically unable to continue her service,” Settle wrote.

“There is no claim and no evidence that Shilling herself is dishonest or selfish, or that she lacks humility or integrity. Yet absent an injunction, she will be promptly discharged solely because she is transgender,” wrote the judge.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has asked the U.S. Supreme Court a second time to urgently lift U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s temporary restraining order blocking the deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members under the Alien Enemies Act.

“Only this Court can stop rule-by-TRO from further upending the separation of powers — the sooner, the better,” Acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in an emergency application to the court.

The appeal follows Wednesday’s 2-1 ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding Boasberg’s order and defending his jurisdiction in the matter.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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