Multiple passengers and crew injured after Avianca flight experiences severe turbulence
An Avianca airline plane sits on the tarmac at El Dorado International Airport on Aug. 31, 2020, in Bogota, Colombia. (Guillermo Legaria/Getty Images)
Multiple passengers and crew members were injured when an Avianca flight headed to New York City experienced “unexpected turbulence” and diverted to Miami, the Colombian airline said.
Avianca Flight 42 landed safely at Miami International Airport around 3:25 a.m. Friday, “after the crew reported severe turbulence,” according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Six passengers and three crew members were “affected by the turbulence,” Avianca said in a statement. Ultimately, eight people were transported to the hospital, according to the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department, including one person with a trauma injury.
The flight had departed from Medellin and was bound for John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Avianca said it diverted the flight to Miami “as a precaution and in accordance with the airline’s safety protocols” and is now assisting passengers in continuing on to New York.
“Avianca remains in contact with the affected passengers and crew members as it continues to respond to the situation,” the airline said. “The safety of our customers and employees is, and will remain, the foundation of our operations.”
A protester speaks to the police using a megaphone near the Delaney Hall detention center on May 31, 2026 in Newark, New Jersey. Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark has ordered a mandatory curfew surrounding Delaney Hall from 9 PM Saturday until 6 AM Sunday. (Photo by Andres Kudacki/Getty Images)
(NEWARK, N.J.) — Newark Mayor Ras Baraka on Tuesday called for the immediate closure of Delaney Hall, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facility that he and activists allege is housing detainees in poor living conditions and without adequate medical care, and threatened to file suit if the facility remains open.
There is already a lawsuit against the GEO Group, the private company contracted by ICE to run the facility. However, the mayor and city leaders said that they will expand their litigation to call for the facility’s closure if state health inspectors aren’t given full access to the detention center.
Protests and an alleged hunger strike have been ongoing since May 22 after reports alleged the 300 inmates inside the ICE detention center have been poorly fed, are not receiving proper medical care and are being held in poor conditions.
Baraka said there was a report that alleged one of the inmates suffered a miscarriage and was not given proper care.
“It’s troubling, which forces us to expand our lawsuit against Delaney Hall” Baraka said at a news conference outside Delaney Hall.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin has previously said that the reports of the poor conditions are untrue.
The federal government and the GEO Group did not have an immediate comment about Baraka’s announcement.
Several elected officials have visited the facility since the protests began and claimed they have seen the poor conditions first hand.
Federal and state law enforcement agents have clashed with protesters on numerous days, with federal officers in some instances firing tear gas and using batons.
Gov. Mikie Sherrill and other New Jersey Democrats have criticized the federal government for their response and actions against the protesters and have called on everyone to turn down the temperature.
A curfew was enforced outside the facility starting Sunday night.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (not pictured) on the sidelines of a visit to Zhongnanhai Garden on May 15, 2026, in Beijing, China. Trump and other U.S. officials are finishing up a visit intended to address the Iran conflict, trade imbalances, and the Taiwan situation while establishing new bilateral boards for economic and AI oversight. (Photo by Evan Vucci-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration’s $1.8 billion compensation fund to pay those who claim they were targeted by the Biden administration is now at the center of three federal lawsuits.
The nonprofit watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington on Friday asked a federal judge to halt the creation of the fund, calling it “a jaw-dropping act of presidential corruption.”
Earlier Friday, a coalition of nonprofits and individuals, including a former Jan. 6 prosecutor, filed a complaint in the Eastern District of Virginia, alleging that the creation of the fund bypassed Congress’ authority over federal spending and violated the 14th Amendment’s prohibition on using federal funds “in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States.”
“Created following a collusive agreement between the President and his own administration, this Fund has no congressional authorization, no basis in law, and no accountability,” the lawsuit said.
The CREW lawsuit attempts to establish legal standing by focusing on the purported secrecy of the fund, which it says is in “defiance of federal records preservation and access laws.”
The new suit comes two days after former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn and Metropolitan Police Department Officer Daniel Hodges, who both defended the U.S. Capitol in 2021 during the Jan. 6 attack, filed a similar lawsuit in D.C. asking a judge to halt the creation and funding of the controversial fund.
The lawsuit filed early Friday was brought by a former federal prosecutor who brought Jan. 6 cases, a law professor who was acquitted after being charged for his actions during an immigration raid, the National Abortion Federation, the nonprofit Common Cause, and the City of New Haven, Connecticut.
“Since its inception, this fund has been on a collision course with the United States Constitution,” the lawsuit said.
The Department of Justice’s launch of the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” — in exchange for President dropping his $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS and two other civil claims — has sparked accusations of “collusive litigation” and a bipartisan uproar over the possible use of taxpayer money to pay rioters who attacked the Capitol on Jan. 6.
While Trump previously said he was not involved in the creation of the fund, he took to social media on Friday to defend the use of taxpayer money in that manner.
“I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti-Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others, who were so badly abused by an evil, corrupt, and weaponized Biden Administration, receive, at long last, JUSTICE!” Trump wrote.
Friday’s lawsuit is also alleging that the use of the federal Judgment Fund — an unlimited appropriation used by the federal government to pay court judgments and settlements — to create the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” is an unlawful end-run around Congress’ authority to appropriate money.
The lawsuits precede the establishment of the fund itself, which, according to the settlement agreement between Trump and the DOJ, is to be created by Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche within 30 days. As part of the arrangement, Blanche is to appoint a five-commissioner committee to oversee claims.
Some legal experts have raised concerns about the viability of the lawsuits and if the plaintiffs bringing the cases — including officers who defended the Capitol and a broad coalition of affected parties — will be able to establish legal standing for the case to proceed.
ABC News Legal Contributor James Sample noted that the case filed earlier this week might struggle to establish that the two officers have been directly injured by the proposed creation of the fund.
“There’s no question that they’ve been subjected to threats and harassment, and who knows what else from a security perspective, for the manner in which they’ve spoken out about Jan. 6 since then,” Sample said — but added that “all of those are past injuries that are not fairly traceable to the judgment fund.”
An ABC News graphic shows the forecast for Wednesday, July 15, 2026. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — More than 830 wildfires were burning on Wednesday in Canada, along with more than a dozen in northern Minnesota, near the border, growing with little or no containment and forcing mandatory evacuations.
Some of the largest wildfires are burning in west-central Ontario, and those fires are burning through thick forests, releasing an incredible amount of smoke.
The wind is now directing that very heavy smoke into America, creating dangerous air quality for millions across the upper Midwest and Northeast on Wednesday and through the end of the week
Rain on Friday over the upper Midwest and on Saturday for the Northeast should help disperse smoke.
Very heavy smoke is over Duluth, Minnesota, and Marquette, Michigan, on Wednesday morning, and extreme smoke is over northern Wisconsin.
Some heavy smoke will move over New York State and New England by mid-morning, potentially reaching New York City to Boston by 2 p.m. ET.
By sunset on Wednesday, very heavy smoke may reach from Buffalo to New York City and Philadelphia — streaming through Green Bay, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, Detroit and Toronto.
Conditions in New York City are not expected to be as intense as they were in June 2023.
Hazy skies are expected and air quality will likely become unhealthy.
Conditions could, however, be that bad — Mars-like and smelling like a campfire — and some of the worst air quality in the world, on Thursday from Duluth to Green Bay and Marquette through much of northern Michigan.
Cleveland, Columbus, Baltimore and D.C. will likely see heavy smoke on Thursday.
The smoke will be serious for millions and may reach a dangerous level for everyone — not just those with respiratory issues.
Air quality alerts are in place from Minnesota to New York City, including the entire states of Wisconsin and Michigan.
