Giant pandas Bao Li and Qing Bao make public debut at National Zoo

(HOUSTON) — Passengers on a United Airlines flight from Houston to New York were evacuated before takeoff on Sunday due to engine issues, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

No injuries were reported, according to the Houston Fire Department, which was assisting at the scene.

The FAA said takeoff was “safely aborted” due to a “reported engine issue.”

“Passengers deplaned on the runway and were bused to the terminal,” the FAA said in a statement.

United Airlines confirmed the incident, saying passengers evacuated the aircraft “via a combination of slides and stairs.”

In one video taken by a passenger, smoke could be seen coming out of the plane.

In another video, passengers were seen deplaning via the aircraft’s evacuation slide.

One passenger, Kelcie Davis, called it a “terrifying experience” in a post she shared on TikTok.

“Engine blew out right as our wheels were leaving the ground,” Davis said. “Plane lost control on the runway for a few seconds, but thank god our pilot was able to get the plane back under control. Only one slide was working for the entire plane to evacuate.”

ABC News’ Ayesha Ali and Camilla Alcini contributed to this report.

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(LAS CRUCES, N.M.) — Three people were killed and 15 were injured in a shooting at a park in Las Cruces, New Mexico, on Friday night, according to police.

The deceased are two 19-year-old men and one 16-year-old boy. The injured range in age from 16 years to 36 years, according to a police statement to ABC News on Saturday.

Police were dispatched to the shooting shortly after 10 p.m. Friday at Young Park, the Las Cruces Police Department said.

“Officers arrived and learned of multiple gunshot victims. Most were transported to local hospitals. Some were taken to University Medical Center of El Paso,” police said.

The names of the dead and injured will not be released at this time, the police department said.

At a press conference Saturday morning, Las Cruces officials said an unsanctioned car show was being held at the park prior to the shooting. There was an altercation between two groups of people that led to an exchange of gunfire.

Police said they have not made any arrests, but are actively following leads.

“Las Cruces police is receiving assistance on this investigation from the FBI, ATF, New Mexico State Police and the Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Office,” authorities said.

Young Park and all roadways leading to the park are temporarily closed while investigators conduct their work.

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

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(NEW YORK) — Despite the deadly storms over the weekend, one of the core government facilities tracking severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, is listed on the website of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency as one with a planned office closure.

The Storm Prediction Center — one of several entities housed at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma — issues severe weather forecasts across the nation and identifies threat zones where dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes could move through days in advance.

A spokesperson with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration — the federal agency that studies and reports on the oceans, atmosphere and coasts as well as oversees the Storm Prediction Center as well as the National Weather Service — confirmed that the “building lease issue is in flux.”

With this latest storm, the Storm Prediction Center began alerting about a potential significant severe weather event across parts of the Midwest and South several days ahead of the first tornadoes. The center also tracks which parts of the country could face critical to extreme fire weather conditions — as Oklahoma, where the center is located, remains under alert for fire danger after being devastated by deadly blazes over the weekend.

At least 40 people were killed amid more than 970 severe storm reports across more than two dozen states over the weekend. A three-day tornado outbreak tore through at least nine states.

Republican Rep. Tom Cole claims that he intervened and that the center in Norman will not lose its lease.

“I am so proud to have advocated for them. As the Representative for Oklahoma’s Fourth District, I will always fight for Oklahomans and my constituents!” Cole wrote in a release last week.

But the building is still listed, along with hundreds of others, as a target of DOGE’s cuts.

The White House said that the General Services Administration is “reviewing all options to optimize our footprint and building utilization.”

“A component of our space consolidation plan will be the termination of many soft term leases. To the extent these terminations affect public facing facilities and/or existing tenants, we are working with our agency partners to secure suitable alternative space. In many cases this will allow us to increase space utilization and obtain improved terms,” a White House spokesperson said.

When the GSA briefly listed office leases it planned to terminate a few weeks ago, the NOAA locations sent shockwaves through the scientific community especially with tornado season (and hurricane season) coming up.

The Norman facility has, according to local outlets, been impacted by some staffing cuts.

Online the center boasts of some 500 scientists, engineers, meteorologists and climatologists from NOAA, the University of Oklahoma and state agencies. It specializes in storm prediction and advancing radar technology.

“We serve as a national resource for severe weather research and work collaboratively with the National Weather Service to ensure that their forecasters have the knowledge, capabilities, and technologies to remain world leaders in effectively communicating accurate, timely, and actionable forecasts and warnings of extreme weather to the public and commerce,” their mission statement reads.

ABC News has reached out to local Oklahoma lawmakers for comment, but hasn’t heard back by the time of publication.

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