Mississippi tornadoes leave more than a dozen injured and trail of destruction
Tornado ( Jeremy Woodhouse/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — At least three tornadoes hit Mississippi overnight with at least 17 injuries reported, officials said.
Some of the hardest-hit population centers in Mississippi are Purvis and Brookhaven, as well as a mobile home park in Bogue Chitto, authorities said. Baseball-sized hail was also reported in parts of the state as well as Alabama.
Flooding was also reported in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, especially in and around Montgomery, where the State Capitol Building was evacuated during a special session debate on redistricting.
A tornado watch is in effect until 10 a.m. ET on Thursday for the Florida Panhandle and southwest Georgia.
Mississippi has seen 62 tornadoes so far this year before Wednesday, all of them EF0 or EF1 strength.
As a cold front slowly sinks into the region, there is a chance that some storms could produce more damaging wind and tornadoes.
Over the next few days, widespread rounds of rain are expected to bring 1 to 4 inches throughout the South, which is dealing with a serious drought.
The National Weather Service Office in Jackson, Mississippi, will be conducting surveys on Thursday to confirm tornadoes along a major tornado path in Franklin, Lincoln and Lawrence counties as well as from Purvis to south of Hattiesburg, where there are several damage reports.
Colin Gray, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, sits in the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on September 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. (Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)
(ATLANTA) — A Georgia jury found Colin Gray guilty Tuesday on charges including second-degree murder and manslaughter, stemming from a 2024 mass shooting allegedly committed by his teenage son with a rifle he gifted him as a Christmas present.
The jury found the 55-year-old Gray guilty of 27 counts. Two other counts were dropped. The jury deliberated fewer than two hours before returning its verdicts.
Gray is the first parent in the United States convicted of murder due to the alleged acts of their child after prosecutors in various U.S. states in recent years have attempted to hold parents criminally liable in connection to their children’s deadly actions.
Colin Gray was charged with multiple counts of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment and cruelty to children. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gray’s son, Colt Gray, now 16, allegedly killed two students and two teachers and injured eight students in a Sept. 4, 2024, mass shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, about 50 miles northeast of Atlanta.
Colt Gray has been charged as an adult and is awaiting a separate trial on multiple counts of felony murder and aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
During the two-week trial, Barrow County prosecutors presented evidence that Colin Gray had been warned that his son had an affinity for mass shooters and was aware that Colt kept a shrine in his bedroom dedicated to the shooter in the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.
Instead of getting his son psychological help, Colin Gray allegedly gave the boy an AR-15-style weapon as a Christmas present that he ultimately used to carry out the mass shooting at Apalachee High School, prosecutors alleged.
On Friday, Colin Gray took the witness stand in his own defense and broke down while being questioned about whether he noticed any “red flags” that would have led him to believe the boy was capable of committing a mass shooting.
“I struggle with it every day,” Colin Gray testified. “He’s a good kid, you know? He wasn’t perfect, but to do something, uh, that heinous, like I don’t, I don’t know if anybody would see that type of evil.”
During his testimony, Gray confirmed that he gave his son the AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present, telling jurors the gift came with rules.
“This is a weapon that I want you to shoot when we go to the range, and if you keep doing really good in school, going to school and doing all the things you should, you graduate and you’re 18, this will be your gun,” Colin Gray said he told his son.
The landmark guilty verdict comes after several parents across the country have been charged and convicted in connection with mass shootings carried out by their children.
In December 2023, Robert Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven counts of misdemeanor reckless conduct – one count for each person killed by his son, Robert Crimo III – during a mass shooting at a Fourth of July Parade in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park. As part of a plea deal, Crimo Jr. was sentenced to 60 days in jail and two years of probation.
Crimo’s son, who was 19 at the time of the shooting, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in April 2025 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
In 2021, Jennifer and James Crumbley became the first parents convicted in the United States of charges stemming from a mass school shooting committed by their child. Ethan Crumbley, then 16, pleaded guilty in October 2022 to charges he murdered four students and injured several others in a November 2021 shooting at Oxford High School in Oxford Township, Michigan, and was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Jennifer and James Crumbley were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in separate trials after prosecutors presented evidence of an unsecured gun at their home and their indifference toward their son’s mental health. They were each sentenced to 10 to 15 years in prison.
CLEAR with TSA PreCheck security line at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, Georgia. (Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security has abruptly reversed a decision to temporarily suspend the Transportation Security Administration’s PreCheck and Global Entry programs due to what the agency described as lapse in funding.
Less than a day after the suspension order was announced by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, the TSA said that PreCheck at the nation’s airports will remain open.
“At this time, TSA PreCheck remains operational with no change for the traveling public. As staffing constraints arise, TSA will evaluate on a case by case basis and adjust operations accordingly,” a TSA spokesperson said in a statement to ABC.
The TSA added that courtesy escorts for members of Congress have been suspended and that those resources “can be directed towards keeping the flying public safe.”
For a few hours on Sunday morning, several airports, including Los Angeles International Airport and St. Louis Lambert International Airport, reported TSA precheck closures.
Sources familiar with the issue told ABC News that airports are now being advised by the TSA that they can keep their precheck lanes open if they have enough staffing.
Earlier Sunday, Noem released a statement saying that the precheck service was being temporarily suspended.
“TSA and CBP are prioritizing the general traveling population at our airports and ports of entry and suspending courtesy and special privilege escorts,” Noem said in a statement.
The two programs, which allow expedited clearance processes for pre-vetted domestic and international travelers, were expected to be suspended starting at 6 a.m. ET Sunday, according to a DHS official.
The initial plan called for DHS personnel assigned to these programs to be redirected to assist the broader traveling public, as travelers braced for longer lines to clear security.
The decision to suspend the programs came as an anticipated winter storm had already prompted the cancelation of more than 7,000 flights across the country. The decision and its quick reversal also comes just weeks before the spring break travel rush.
In addition, Noem also announced that the Federal Emergency Management Agency will also halt “all non-disaster related response to prioritize disasters,” underscoring the impact of the upcoming winter storm.
Before the decision to suspend the PreCheck program was reversed, a ranking member on the House Homeland Security Committee, Democratic Rep. Bennie Thompson, immediately blasted the move.
“This is Trump and Kristi Noem purposely punishing the American people and using them as pawns for their sadistic political games,” Thompson said in a statement. “TSA PreCheck and Global Entry REDUCE airport lines and ease the burden on DHS staff who are working without pay because of Trump’s abuse of the Department and killing of American citizens,” he said.
“Trump and Kristi are making your lives harder — and your travel less safe — all on purpose because they know you don’t trust them. They pulled these games with FEMA disaster response last week, now this madness. They would rather force Americans to miss their travel waiting in long lines at the airport than stop Trump’s secret police from shooting our neighbors.”
U.S. Travel, a non-profit organization that represents the nation’s travel industry also expressed its “disappointment” and criticized the move in a post on X writing, “Travelers should be prioritized, not leveraged. Travel is the gateway to the American economy and Americans should not have their mobility, security or travel experience diminished because elected leaders fail to resolve their differences.”
The temporary suspension was first reported by the Washington Post.
FBI Director Kash Patel released a surveillance photo, Feb. 10, 2026 showing a potential subject in investigation of the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie in Tucson, AZ. (@FBIDirectorKash/X)
(PHOENIX, Ariz.) — More information is coming to light about the unidentified person who kidnapped Nancy Guthrie, the mother of “Today” show host Savannah Guthrie.
The 84-year-old was taken from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Sunday, Feb. 1. The first images of the suspect were released by the FBI this week, showing an armed person in a mask in front of Nancy Guthrie’s house, appearing to tamper with a security camera.
Although the suspect’s name remains unknown, the FBI announced Thursday that analysis of the video determined he is a man with an average build who stands at about 5 feet 9 inches to 5 feet 10 inches tall.
The FBI said the suspect was wearing a black, 25-liter Ozark Trail Hiker Pack backpack.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department said on Thursday that “several items of evidence” have been recovered, including gloves. It’s not clear if the gloves seen on the surveillance camera were the same gloves recovered.
The FBI is offering a $100,000 reward.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911 or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
