New York City ties its record for longest stretch without a homicide
The sun sets on midtown Manhattan in New York City, Nov. 28, 2025. (Gary Hershorn/ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — New York City has tied its record for the longest stretch without a homicide in recorded history.
The city went 12 calendar days — Nov. 25 to Dec. 7 — without a homicide, according to New York Police Department data.
That stretch — which ties a record set in 2015 — was ended when a 38-year-old man was shot and killed in the stairwell of a city-run apartment building in the Bronx on Sunday night.
During the first 11 months of the year, New York City saw its lowest number of shooting incidents (652) and shooting victims (812) in recorded history, according to NYPD data.
For the month of November, murders were also at the lowest level ever, with 16 murders, tying the previous record set in 2018.
“Right strategy. Great execution. That’s how you set record after record,” NYPD Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said in a statement. “Thank you to the members of the NYPD who have sacrificed so much this year to drive down violent crime to record lows.”
The record-tying milestone comes after the Trump administration considered sending members of the National Guard to New York City streets.
U.S. President Donald Trump delivers remarks during a meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani in the Oval Office of the White House on November 21, 2025, in Washington, DC. Trump congratulated Mamdani on his election win as the two political opponents met to discuss policies for New York City, including affordability, public safety, and immigration enforcement. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump is urging the federal judge who dismissed his criminal indictment for allegedly mishandling classified documents to continue blocking the public release of former special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on his investigation, according to a court filing Tuesday.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who dismissed Trump’s indictment on the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention on the grounds that Smith’s appointment as a special counsel was unlawful, had previously granted a last-ditch request from from lawyers for Trump’s co-defendants to block the Biden Justice Department from making public the volume of Smith’s report that detailed Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Two separate watchdog groups had filed legal challenges requesting that Cannon lift her order, and last month an appeals court panel urged Cannon to issue some kind of ruling on the requests after months of silence.
In Tuesday’s filing, an attorney representing Trump in his private capacity urged Judge Cannon to extend her order delaying the Smith report’s release, arguing it would “perpetuate Jack Smith’s unlawful criminal investigations and proceedings.”
It’s not immediately clear when Cannon might issue her ruling on the requests, though the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals gave her a 60-day deadline on Nov. 3 to issue her response to the requests from American Oversight and Columbia University’s Knight First Amendment Institute.
Trump pleaded not guilty in June 2023 to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House in 2021, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the Biden Justice Department’s efforts to get the documents back.
Top political appointees at the Justice Department, including Trump’s former defense attorney-turned-deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, have previously said they would oppose making that volume of Smith’s final report public.
Waters of Monterey Bay, Monterey, California, August 5, 2025. (Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
(MONTEREY, Calif) — A body has been discovered near where a swimmer who may have been attacked by a shark went missing last week, officials in California said in an update on Sunday.
The woman’s body was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Beach, according to the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office.
Due to the close proximity to the recent shark attack victim in Monterey County, the agency said it is working closely with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Office and the Pacific Grove Police Department regarding the recovery.
The swimmer — who was identified by officials as 55-year-old Erica Fox — was reported missing just after noon on Dec. 21 at Lovers Point in Pacific Grove in Monterey Bay, according to a joint statement from the Coast Guard and the cities of Pacific Grove and Monterey.
Fox’s father confirmed to ABC’s Santa Cruz affiliate KSBW on Sunday that family members identified the body as Fox, based on the clothing she was wearing.
Fox was wearing a shark deterrent anklet when she disappeared, family members said, according to KSBW.
After her disappearance, two witnesses said the swimmer “may have encountered a shark,” the statement said. One person reported seeing a shark with a body in its mouth before it submerged, a Coast Guard official said.
A decision to suspend the search last week was made following a total of more than 15 hours of search operations covering an area of more than 84 square nautical miles, according to officials.
Lovers Point Beach in Pacific Grove and McAbee Beach and San Carlos Beach in Monterey were closed through Tuesday, the officials said.
ABC News’ Tristan Maglunog and Amanda Morris contributed to this report.
Badwater Basin, the site of Lake Manly, is viewed from Dante’s View showing the lake receding due to evaporation on April 21, 2024, near Furnace Creek, California. (George Rose/Getty)
(DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif.) — An ancient lake that once existed at Death Valley National Park has reemerged after record rainfall in the region.
Several inches of water have formed in Badwater Basin, which lies at 282 feet below sea level, the lowest point in North America, according to a press release from the National Park Service.
During the Ice Ages, the basin — colloquially known as Lake Manly — was once a lake with depths of up to 700 feet.
Ice covered the Sierra Nevada between 128,000 and 186,000 years ago, allowing rivers to flow into a long valley that fed into Lake Manly, according to NASA. At the time, the lake measured nearly 100 miles long.
In modern times, the basin typically lies bare, without any significant moisture.
Death Valley just experienced its wettest fall on record, according to the National Weather Service. Between September and November, 2.41 inches of rain fell — more than what typically falls in the desert landscape in one year. November alone recorded 1.76 inches — breaking the record set in 1923 at 1.7 inches.
The lake is much more shallow than the one that formed in 2024 in the aftermath of Hurricane Hilary — an event that prompted the first tropical storm watch in California’s history.
On Aug. 20, 2024, alone, more than 2 inches of rain fell in Death Valley, according to the NPS.
This year’s rainfall will allow those who missed the last emergence of Lake Manly to see the rare phenomenon once again.
The water can’t drain out, since the basin is contained and at such a low elevation, said Andrew Heltzel, chief commercial officer of the Xanterra Travel Collection, an operator of lodges, restaurants and excursions at several of the most iconic national parks in the U.S., including Death Valley, Yellowstone and Grand Canyon.
“It’s almost impenetrable,” Heltzel told ABC News, describing the outskirts of the basin as “like a seal.”
The only way for the water to escape is through evaporation, which could take months.
When the water is present, it creates a stunning reflection of the surrounding mountain peaks.
“My advice would be to, if you are interested in seeing this, not to delay to get there,” Heltzel said. “It is getting smaller through evaporation every day.”
The “most exciting” aspect of the way the rain fell this time is that it could spark a superbloom of wildflowers in the spring, Heltzel said.
The pace and amount of rain that fell made for the “perfect ingredients” for a significant display of wildflowers to emerge, Heltzel said.
In 2024, too much rain fell too fast, and the soil was unable to absorb the moisture, Heltzel said.
“With the November rains, they came in gently enough that it was able to get into the ground and potentially give us those flowers as well as a second chance to see Lake Manly,” he said.
The last time a superbloom occurred was in 2016, according to the NPS.
The recent storms caused numerous road closures across the parks, with several paved roads covered in flood debris, according to the NPS. However, many of the park’s most popular sites remain open, including Zabriskie Point, Dantes View, Badwater Basin, and Mesquite Sand Dunes.
The National Park Service advised visitors to be aware that unpaved roads may be impassable due to storm damage and to be prepared for self-rescue when traveling on backcountry roads.
In February, Death Valley National Park will host the Dark Sky Festival, which can give visitors opportunities to sky gaze while also seeing Lake Manly, Heltzel said.
Death Valley has been designated as a Gold Tier Dark Sky Park, which signifies the highest rating of darkness, according to the NPS.
“The stargazing opportunities in Death Valley are second to none,” Heltzel said.
