(DENVER) — An American Airlines plane caught fire at Denver International Airport in Colorado on Thursday, sending passengers down emergency slides and onto the wing of the aircraft. Twelve were people being taken to the hospital with minor injuries, airport officials said.
The Boeing 737-800 plane was diverted to Denver shortly after departing from Colorado Springs, Colorado. While the plane was taxiing to the gate, the engine caught fire, and its passengers evacuated.
The incident, which sent smoke billowing across the tarmac, took place at approximately 5:15 p.m., local time.
There were 172 passengers and six crew members aboard AA Flight 1006.
All passengers were able to exit the plane.
American Airlines told ABC News that passengers evacuated the plane through emergency slides, the overwing exit and some onto the jet bridge.
A statement from Denver International Airport said 12 people were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
The plane was traveling from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Dallas, Texas, when it was diverted to Denver after the “crew reported engine vibrations,” according to the Federal Aviation Authority.
The plane diverted after about 20 minutes into the flight and was in the air for about an hour before it landed.
In an earlier statement to ABC News, American Airlines said, “We thank our crew members, DEN team and first responders for their quick and decisive action with the safety of everyone on board and on the ground as the priority.”
The airline also said that it was arranging for a replacement aircraft to take passengers the rest of the way to the intended destination, Dallas Fort-Worth.
(NEW YORK) — Alaska’s Mount Spurr, an active volcano near the most populated region in the state, is getting even closer to an eruption, according to volcanologists.
Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory measured “significantly elevated” emissions of volcanic gas coming from Mount Spurr, located in the Aleutian Arc in southern Alaska about 75 miles west of Anchorage, according to a statement released Wednesday.
In addition, elevated earthquake activity, ground deformations and newly activated fumaroles — or gas vents — at the volcano’s Crater Peak have been recorded, indicating that the probability of eruption has increased, researchers at the observatory said.
Small earthquakes have been occurring above ground at Mount Spurr since April, Matthew Haney, scientist in charge of the Alaska Volcano Observatory in Anchorage, told ABC News last month.
An overflight on March 7 measured about 450 metric tons per day of sulfur dioxide from Mount Spurr’s summit vent — an increase from less than 50 metric tons in December, according to the observatory.
Over the last month, more than 100 earthquakes per week have been occurring at the site as well. Ground deformation and collapse of snow and ice into the summit crater lake that formed during the unrest also continues, scientists said.
An increase in gas emissions confirms that new magma has entered the Earth’s crust beneath the volcano, indicating that an eruption is likely in the next weeks or months, according to the observatory.
While an eruption is “not certain,” it is the most likely outcome of the current unrest, according to the observatory. If the magma stalls and does not reach the surface, the unrest could instead decrease over the next weeks and months, similar to events from 2004 to 2006, researchers said.
Eruptions that occurred in 1953 and 1992 were explosive — lasting a few hours and producing ash clouds that were carried downwind for hundreds of miles, according to the observatory. The August 1992 eruption caused the Anchorage airport to close for 20 hours due to the wind and ash event that accompanied the eruption.
There is little geological evidence to suggest other past eruptions in the last 5,000 years, according to the observatory.
The volcano alert level for Mount Spurr as of Thursday was at “yellow” or “advisory,” indicating that the volcano is exhibiting signs of elevated unrest above known background level
Mount Spurr is monitored constantly due to its proximity to Anchorage, the most populated city in Alaska, Haney said. There are 11 remote seismic stations situated around Mount Spurr.
Primary hazards to south-central Alaska communities during eruptions at Mount Spurr include far-traveled airborne ash clouds and ashfall, according to the observatory.
Volcanologists will be monitoring for further increases in seismic activity, gas emissions and surface heating to indicate that an eruption is imminent, according to the observatory. The detection of volcanic tremor — a continuous shaking that can last for several minutes rather than short, small earthquakes — would like prompt the level to raise, Haney said.
Should monitoring data suggest that an eruption is likely within hours or days, the observatory will raise its alert level to orange or red.
(NEW YORK) — A multiday severe weather outbreak is set to bring tornadoes, flash flooding and damaging winds from the Midwest to the South and the East Coast.
The severe weather begins in the Midwest on Friday night. Residents from Peoria, Illinois, to St. Louis, Missouri, to Paducah, Kentucky are in the bull’s-eye for damaging winds and potential tornadoes. This region is labeled level 4 out 5 for severe weather.
On Saturday afternoon and evening, the highest threat for tornadoes moves to the Deep South, focusing on Mississippi and Alabama.
A level 4 out 5 severe risk is in effect for New Orleans; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; and Birmingham, Alabama, where strong/significant tornadoes and destructive winds are expected.
A level 3 out of 5 severe risk has been issued from Nashville, Tennessee, to Atlanta to the Florida Panhandle.
Severe storms could even stretch as far north as the Ohio Valley on Saturday.
On Sunday, the severe storms will be weaker as they target the East Coast from Florida to Pennsylvania.
Damaging winds, large hail and brief tornadoes will be possible for the Southeast on Sunday afternoon, while heavy rain and damaging winds will hit the Northeast on Sunday night.
(NEW YORK) — The detaining of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and Palestinian activist who possessed a green card, has raised questions about the deportation risks faced by lawful permanent residents amid the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on immigration.
President Donald Trump’s administration, which has alleged that Khalil was a supporter of Hamas, has said it has the authority to deport Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Secretary [Marco] Rubio reserves the right to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference this week.
Khalil, whose detention has sparked protests this week, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Under the Immigration Nationality Act, which experts say is rarely invoked, the government can charge a green card holder as being deportable without being convicted of a crime if there are reasonable grounds to believe they engaged in certain criminal or terrorist activities.
But experts and immigration attorneys ABC News spoke with said the statute does not give the secretary of state the power to deport green card holders like Khalil without going through a procedure.
“The way the statute is constructed, it doesn’t mean that Secretary Rubio can just say, ‘Oh, I determined this, and therefore we’re just going to deport you out of the country,'” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “You would still need to go through a process.”
After the federal government invokes the statute, individuals like Khalil are entitled to argue their case before an immigration judge. Khalil is set to appear before an immigration judge later this month in Louisiana.
“There are some due process and protective procedures that the person is entitled to,” Chen said, “including being given a notice of the charges, and an opportunity to confront that evidence and to bring his or her own evidence in response.”
Chen told ABC News that typically it can take months or even years for immigration cases to “go from start to finish” — but because of Khalil’s “unique circumstances,” a judge can prioritize a case and expedite the process.
Experts told ABC News there are a number of reasons why an individual could lose their green card, including marriage fraud, immigration fraud, violent crimes and other offenses.
Andrew Nietor, an immigration attorney, told ABC News said that while there are cases where the government invokes the Immigration and Nationality Act for certain green card holders with criminal convictions, he said he has never seen a case like Khalil’s.
“I’ve never seen this ground of deportation invoked,” Nietor said. “It’s almost always a green card holder who is almost always in deportation proceedings because of some type of criminal conviction.”
(LOS ANGELES) — Authorities are searching for the man who broke into a Los Angeles-area house and gunned down a father while his wife and son were home, officials said.
The 61-year-old victim was attacked at about 6:26 p.m. Tuesday at his home in Arcadia, about 8 miles east of Pasadena, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Office said.
The 13-year-old son and his mother were pulling into their driveway when the intruder “approached them and forced them into the home” where there was a “confrontation” between the intruder and the father, sheriff’s Lt. Steven De Jong told Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
It’s not clear if the boy and his mom witnessed the shooting, but De Jong called it a “very frightening situation for the entire family.”
The 13-year-old son called 911 to report that his dad was shot by an intruder, De Jong said.
A motive is not known, but De Jong said “it appears that this is possibly personally motivated, from my preliminary inspection of the crime scene.”
“This individual that made entry into the house engaged the male victim,” he explained. “So it appears that maybe he was the intended target.”
A “couple” weapons were recovered at the house, but it’s not clear if they belonged to the suspect or the family, he said.
It’s possible the dad “armed himself and attempted to defend himself,” De Jong said.
No arrests have been made, according to the sheriff’s office.
Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s homicide bureau at 323-890-5500.
Alex Segre/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — At least 98 people were arrested Thursday at a protest in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan that called for the immediate release of Mahmoud Khalil — the pro-Palestinian activist and green card holder arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement this week.
Protesters are facing charges of trespass and resisting arrest, according to the New York Police Department.
Hundreds of Jewish protesters wearing “Not in Our Name” t-shirts staged a sit-in in the lobby of Trump Tower in Manhattan. Protesters entered the lobby in two groups, including many who entered the public lobby area in civilian clothes hiding their protest gear underneath, according to police.
The NYPD said it is familiar with this protest group and its tactics. As in other Trump Tower incidents, police were only called to the public lobby area once Trump’s security deemed it necessary
The protesters carried banners in support of Khalil, who was a leader of protests against the war in Gaza at Columbia University, that said “Jews say Free Mahmoud & Free Palestine” and “Fight Nazis Not Students.”
“As Jews of conscience, we know our history and we know where this leads. This is what fascists do as they cement control. This moment requires all people of conscience to take bold action to resist state violence and repression. Free Mahmoud now,” Jane Hirschmann, a Jewish New Yorker whose grandfather and uncle were abducted by the Nazis during Hitler’s rise to power, said in a statement.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations also announced it is filing a federal lawsuit on behalf of Khalil and other students against Columbia University and the U.S. House Committee on Education and Workforce over the committee’s request to disclose thousands of student records.
Khalil, who has not been charged with a crime, is currently being held in Louisiana after being detained in New York earlier this week.
His wife, who is 8 months pregnant, said the couple have been preparing for the arrival of their baby.
“Mahmoud has been ripped away from me for no reason at all. I am pleading with the world to continue to speak up against his unjust and horrific detention by the Trump administration,” she said in a statement to ABC News on Wednesday.
President Donald Trump’s administration has alleged that Khalil — who was a leader of the pro-Palestinian encampment protests on Columbia’s campus — was a supporter of Hamas. Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“Setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
The administration has not provided any evidence showing Khalil’s alleged support for the militant group.
Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The sister of Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett was recently targeted with a bomb threat, the Charleston, South Carolina, Police Department said on Wednesday.
Over the weekend, an executive assistant at the Charleston County Sheriff’s Department received an email just before midnight on March 8 with “a threat of a potential explosive device in a mailbox” at the home of Amanda Coney Williams, the sheriff’s department said in a statement to ABC News.
The employee only works during the week, so she did not see the email until Monday morning, the sheriff’s department said. After discovering the email, she notified Sheriff Carl Ritchie “within five minutes of arriving to work,” to which Ritchie forwarded the email to the Charleston Police Department.
“Using a 1×8-inch threaded galvanized pipe, end caps, a kitchen timer, some wires, metal clips and homemade black powder, I’ve constructed a pipe bomb which I recently placed in Amy Coney Barrett’s sister’s mailbox at her home,” according to the email obtained by the Charleston Police Department.
The email also said the “device’s detonation will be triggered as soon as the mailbox is next opened,” with the suspect signing off the email with “Free Palestine,” police said.
Officers arrived at the residence at approximately 9:30 a.m. on Monday and inspected the mailbox, police said.
CPD’s Explosive Device Team along with local fire and emergency medical services crews were also on the scene, according to police.
The incident was determined to be a false alarm, police said.
Investigators spoke to David Williams, the husband of Amanda Coney Williams, who said he was not sure who would target their residence, but stated “an unknown person possibly related to the sender of the email had attempted pizza deliveries to some households related to Amy Coney Barrett, sometime over the weekend,” police said on Wednesday.
The investigation is still active, police said.
Justice Barrett was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 2020 during President Donald Trump’s first term. She is a devout Catholic, mother of seven children and was the youngest Supreme Court nominee since Clarence Thomas in 1991.
Robert Knopes/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — A group of 21 Democratic attorneys general are suing the Trump administration to block the dismantling of the Department of Education, alleging the firing of 50% of its employees “incapacitates” the department’s ability to compete its legally-required functions.
The lawsuit – filed in Massachusetts federal court – asks a judge to immediately pause the Trump administration’s mass firings and declare that the dismantling of the Department of Education is unlawful.
“This massive reduction in force is equivalent to incapacitating key, statutorily mandated functions of the Department, causing immense damage to Plaintiff States and their educational systems,” the lawsuit said. “Far from being just a ‘first step,’ the layoffs are an effective dismantling of the Department.”
The attorneys general allege that the twenty states and District of Columbia who brought the case would suffer irreparable harm from the dismantling of the Department, arguing the federal government is ” deeply intertwined” with their education systems through funding for low-income children, support for students with disabilities, federal student aid, and laws that prevent discrimination in education.
According to the lawsuit, the reduction in force would prevent the department from completing its legally mandated functions, and that neither President Donald Trump nor Education Secretary Linda McMahon have the authority to break down a department created by Congress.
“This massive RIF is not supported by any actual reasoning or specific determinations about how to eliminate purported waste in the Department—rather, the RIF is part and parcel of President Trump’s and Secretary McMahon’s opposition to the Department of Education’s entire existence,” the lawsuit said.
The DOE began sending “reduction in force” notifications on Tuesday night, impacting about 1,315 employees so far. The agency said it will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Wisconsin State Capitol; Jordan McAlister/Getty Images
(MILWAUKEE) — Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates Brad Schimel and Susan Crawford sparred over how the court might impact abortion law in the state, as well as the involvement of Elon Musk in the high-profile race, during a Wisconsin Supreme Court election debate on Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin hosted by ABC affiliate WISN.
Wisconsin is holding a Supreme Court election on April 1, as part of its spring elections, with what is technically a nonpartisan race to replace retiring justice Ann Walsh Bradley.
Whoever wins the seat will help determine the ideological bent of the court — which currently leans liberal — and will join the bench as the court grapples with hot-button issues such as abortion access and redistricting.
Outside groups have poured millions into ads and get-out-the-vote efforts. Conservative groups affiliated with Musk have spent millions in the race supporting Schimel, while liberal billionaire George Soros donated to the Wisconsin Democratic Party, and the state party has donated $2 million to Crawford.
Crawford, the Democratic-backed candidate and a Dane County Circuit judge, is a former private attorney.
“I think a lot is at stake. The future of our state, for our kids and our grandkids, and the fundamental rights and freedoms of everyone in Wisconsin,” Crawford said.
Schimel, the candidate backed by Republicans, is a former state attorney general who is currently a circuit court judge in Waukesha County.
“I’ve never been involved in anything where the stakes were bigger than this,” he said. “And if you told me five years ago, the Wisconsin Supreme Court would be going through a political agenda, I would have said, ‘you’re crazy’ … Justice is no longer blind on the Wisconsin Supreme Court; that’s what’s at stake. We have to restore objectivity.”
It took little time for one of the race’s key issues — abortion access — to come up, given ongoing and pending court cases surrounding whether an 1849 Wisconsin law that bans almost all abortions is valid or constitutional. The law is currently not enforced.
Crawford seized upon Schimel’s remark about objectivity to claim that Schimel was paying “good lip service” to objectivity, but that while campaigning he had opined about pending cases such as those dealing with the 1849 law.
“He has openly said, when he’s in front of audiences of his political allies, that there is nothing wrong with that law and it should be enforced. That is not the kind of open-mindedness that we expect from judges. It is prejudicial to the parties in that case,” Crawford said, referencing audio that had leaked from an event Schimel spoke at where he asked if there were any flaws with the law.
“And Brad Schimel is making those pronouncements not based on the law in that case or the facts or the arguments of the attorneys, but based on political consideration.”
Schimel — interjecting “I can’t let that go” — countered that his remarks had been taken out of context and that he was referring to the validity of the way the law was passed.
“I was asked if the 1849 [law] was a valid law … And the answer is, my answer was, it was passed by two houses of the legislature and signed by the governor. That means it’s a valid law. But what I said next was that there’s a real question as to whether that law reflects the will of the people of Wisconsin now and today,” Schimel said.
Pressed on if he thinks the law is valid today, Schimel added, “I don’t believe that it reflects the will of the people of Wisconsin today.”
Crawford later accused Schimel of trying to “backpedal” his position on the law, while Schimel later said he thinks the current Wisconsin Supreme Court is “playing politics” by not ruling on one of the cases surrounding the 1849 law yet.
The sheer amount of money in the race also became a major flashpoint during the debate.
Asked if he embraced the support of Musk, Schimel framed investments from Musk-related groups as beyond his control.
“I got in this race over 15 months ago. I have campaigned in all 72 counties; I’ve gone to every corner of this state. I’m looking for the endorsement of the Wisconsin voters on April 1. Outside help that comes is not something I control,” Schimel said.
He also criticized Crawford for allegedly getting support from Soros. When asked if she embraces that endorsement, Crawford responded, “I have had generous contributions that have gone to the Democratic Party of Wisconsin. The Democratic Party of Wisconsin has endorsed me and supported my candidacy. But let’s talk about Elon Musk. Talk about somebody who’s been dangerous,” she said, mentioning some examples of cuts Musk has overseen in the federal government.
Crawford suggested that Musk is interested in the race because of a lawsuit brought by his company, Tesla, in the state.
Tesla has a lawsuit against the state over not being allowed to open dealerships in the state. Wisconsin law largely prohibits manufacturers from opening dealerships. Some have speculated that Musk’s interest in the race stems from this suit; Musk and Tesla have not confirmed this.
Later, during another back-and-forth about donors in the race, Crawford referenced “Elon Schimel.”
“I have support from all over the country, and it is because Elon Schimel is trying to buy this race. And people are very upset about that, and they are disturbed about that,” Crawford said.
Schimel, asked if the mailers from outside groups that say he would enforce President Donald Trump’s agenda in the state are true, countered again that he cannot control what outside groups say.
“I will enforce the law,” he added. “I will apply the law the way the legislature has written it. If President Trump or anyone defies Wisconsin law, and I end up with a case in front of me, I’ll hold them accountable as I would anybody in my courtroom.”
Later, when asked about the 2020 Wisconsin Supreme Court decision where the court blocked an attempt by the Trump campaign to invalidate around 220,000 absentee ballots, Schimel was similarly blunt over how he would act if Trump brought a case.
“If President Trump violates the law or President Trump brings a lawsuit that he’s wrong on the law — of course I would. I don’t have any personal loyalty to him that supersedes the oath I take as a judge.”
He declined to weigh in on whether a justice who recused himself from that case made the right decision, saying he’d have to review the case.
Crawford sidestepped when asked if she would recuse herself from cases involving the Democratic Party of Wisconsin, while Schimel sidestepped similarly over if he would recuse himself from the Tesla case.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice is preparing for Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to begin working with the agency to identify “cost-cutting” measures, with Attorney General Pam Bondi this week establishing an internal DOJ team to help facilitate the review of the nation’s top law enforcement divisions, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
In an email to DOJ division leaders on Wednesday, Assistant Attorney General Jolene Ann Lauria announced the formation of a “JUST DOGE” team, which will work with White House officials and “DOGE counterparts” to identify “savings and cost-cutting measures” within the department, according to a copy of the email reviewed by ABC News.
The “JUST DOGE” team, formed earlier this week by the attorney general, is solely made up of senior DOJ officials, including “co-leads” AAG Lauria, Associate Deputy Attorney General James McHenry, Counselor to the Attorney General Sean Day and Counsel to the Deputy Attorney General Vetan Kapoor.
According to the email, the new team will oversee the internal budget reviews and identify potential efficiencies at the Justice Department — efforts that Musk’s own DOGE personnel have spearheaded at other federal agencies.
“The JUST-DOGE team will lead directed reviews and identify cost savings and other potential efficiencies in DOJ’s budget,” the email read.
A Justice Department spokesperson told ABC News, “President Trump and Elon Musk are doing historic work to identify and eliminate wasteful spending on behalf of American taxpayers, and JUST DOGE will advance this mission at the DOJ in order to ensure the Department’s resources are best utilized to Make America Safe Again.”
Besides leadership, key roles on the “JUST DOGE” team include Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael J. Williams, who will oversee human resources; DAAG William N. Taylor II, who will be responsible for management and procurement; DAAG Christopher C. Alvarez, who will lead financial management and budgeting; and DAAG Meunda Rogers, who will head data and IT, according to the email.
The formation of the team has stirred unease among some DOJ officials who worry that Musk’s DOGE operatives could move aggressively to slash department personnel and programs, sources told ABC News. Meanwhile, others see the creation of the “JUST DOGE” team, which is composed entirely of current DOJ staff, as an attempt by department leadership to maintain control over the review process and create a buffer against Musk’s team, which has been granted broad access and power at other agencies.
Several of Musk’s DOGE representatives have been seen inside Justice Department offices in recent days, heightening concerns that the DOJ — the agency responsible for enforcing federal law — could become the next major target of Musk’s cost-cutting push.
Musk, who sources tell ABC News has been in direct contact with Bondi since joining the administration, previously joked in an interview with podcaster Joe Rogan about Biondi’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files in February, when she ruffled feathers in the White House by trumpeting the release of a binder of materials that contained almost no new information. Musk, who at times in the interview defended Bondi, also called the move by the attorney general “disappointing.”
