Newly discovered asteroid will make a close, but safe, encounter with Earth
The NASA logo is displayed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory on October 15, 2025 in La Canada Flintridge, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A newly discovered asteroid will pass within about 56,000 miles of Earth on Monday, significantly closer than the distance between Earth and the moon.
There is no need to worry or cancel any plans, however. Current calculations show no evidence that the object will hit Earth.
The asteroid was identified several days ago by astronomers at five observatories, including Farpoint Observatory in Wabaunsee County, Kansas, and Mount Lemmon Observatory in Arizona’s Santa Catalina Mountains.
The asteroid, designated 2026 JH2, is likely between 50 and 100 feet across, according to estimates from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. That estimate is based on how bright the object appears and how much light scientists think its surface reflects.
Astronomers are still working to better understand the asteroid’s orbit and physical characteristics. So far, the object has been tracked only 24 times over several days. While its trajectory is still being refined, current calculations show no impact risk.
The asteroid is considered an Apollo-class near-Earth object.
“These asteroids have an orbit that is larger than Earth’s orbit around the Sun and their path crosses Earth’s orbit,” according to NASA.
The Virtual Telescope Project plans to stream the encounter live beginning at 5:45 p.m. ET on Monday.
In these photos released by the University of South Florida Police Department, Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy are shown. (University of South Florida Police Department)
(TAMPA, Fla.) — A person who investigators said was linked to the disappearance of two University of Southern Florida doctoral students was taken into custody Friday, police said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said they responded to a “barricaded subject connected” to the probe into the whereabouts of Zamil Limon and Nahida Bristy, who went missing on April 16.
“The situation has been resolved. One individual is in custody,” the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post Friday afternoon, without giving more details.
Limon and Britsy, both 27, were last seen at separate locations in the Tampa area on April 16, according to the USF Police Department.
Officials received new information to warrant upgrading their status from missing to endangered, which indicates they are at risk of physical injury or death, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday.
The sheriff did not provide any more details about the investigation or search efforts.
Limon and Bristy are friends, and a mutual acquaintance reported them missing, campus police said.
Limon, who is pursuing a degree in geography, environmental science and policy, was last seen at his Tampa residence at approximately 9 a.m. on April 16, according to police.
Bristy, who is studying chemical engineering, was last seen at the USF Tampa campus at the Natural & Environmental Sciences Building at approximately 10 a.m. that day, police said.
Both students have been entered into state and national missing persons’ databases.
Anyone with information on their whereabouts is urged to call the University of South Florida Police Department at 813-974-2628.
-ABC News’ Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
Booking photo of Tiger Woods released by the Martin County Sheriff’s Office after he was involved in a rollover car crash in Jupiter Island, Fla., March 27, 2026. (Martin County Sheriff’s Office)
(JUPITER ISLAND, Fla.) — Tiger Woods told authorities that he was looking down at his phone and changing the radio station and didn’t realize the truck in front of him had slowed down before his rollover crash in Jupiter Island, Florida, according to the probable cause affidavit.
No one was injured in the Friday afternoon crash, authorities said. The golfer was arrested and charged with driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test, according to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office.
Two hydrocodone pills were found in Woods’ pants pocket, the probable cause affidavit said.
Hydrocodone is a prescription medication intended to treat severe, chronic pain and common side effects include dizziness and drowsiness.
A deputy noticed that Woods was “sweating profusely” and his movement was “lethargic and slow,” the document said.
Woods was also “extremely alert and talkative” and had “hiccups during the entire investigation,” the document said.
When a deputy asked Woods to remove his sunglasses, it revealed the golfer’s “bloodshot and glassy” eyes and “extremely dilated” pupils, the probable cause affidavit said.
Woods told authorities he’d had no alcohol that day, the document said. Asked if he’d had any prescription medication, the golfer replied, “I take a few,” and he noted he took that medicine earlier in the morning, the document said.
Woods said he hadn’t consumed any illegal substances, the document said.
A deputy walked Woods through a series of field sobriety tests, and the deputy said, “I believed that Woods normal faculties were impaired, and he was unable to safely operate the motor vehicle,” according to the document.
Woods did tell the deputy he has “a limp and his ankle seizes while walking,” and the golfer noted that “he’s had seven back surgeries and over twenty operations on his leg,” the document said.
The accident unfolded when a truck pulling a small pressure-cleaning trailer was slowing to turn into a driveway, and Woods approached from behind at a high rate of speed, authorities said.
Woods tried to pass the truck but he clipped the back of the trailer, and the impact caused the golfer’s SUV to tip onto the driver’s side and slide along the road before coming to a stop, authorities said. Woods was able to get out of the car through the passenger side, authorities said.
The narrow, two-lane road has a 30 mph speed limit and little room for drivers to move aside, authorities said, noting that the accident could have been far more serious if there was oncoming traffic.
The breathalyzer showed no alcohol in his system, but Woods refused to take a urine test, which is used to detect drugs or medication, authorities said.
In 2021, Woods suffered serious injuries to his leg in a rollover crash in Los Angeles County, California. Authorities said the golfer was speeding when his car hit the center median, crossed into the opposite lane, hit a curb and a tree, and then rolled over several times. He showed no signs of impairment, authorities said.
ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.
Ed Martin, former Interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, departs following a meeting at the White House on January 9, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Al Drago/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Washington, D.C., Bar initiated disciplinary proceedings against Justice Department pardon attorney Ed Martin over allegations he improperly threatened to withhold federal funding from Georgetown University’s law school and then attempted to sideline an investigation into his conduct while serving as D.C.’s top federal prosecutor last year, according to a disciplinary petition.
In a two-count petition filed last week with the D.C. Court of Appeals Board of Professional Responsibility, attorneys with the D.C. Bar’s Office of Disciplinary Counsel alleged that Martin engaged in “conduct that seriously interferes with the administration of justice,” including by allegedly demanding that a judge suspend the attorney investigating his actions.
“Mr. Martin knew or should have known that, as a government official, his conduct violated the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States,” the disciplinary petition said.
According to the complaint, Martin – while serving as the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia last year – threatened to withhold federal funding and freeze hirings from Georgetown University Law Center over allegations that the school was promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) measures.
After sending letters to the dean of Georgetown’s law school about DEI programming last year, Martin allegedly told the school’s interim president that their answers about DEI would “bear directly on Georgetown University’s status as a 501(c) nonprofit and its receipt of nearly $1 billion of federal tax money.”
“He demanded that Georgetown Law relinquish its free speech and religious rights in order to continue to obtain a benefit, employment opportunities for its students,” the petition said. “His demand did not provide Georgetown Law fair notice of what is allegedly prohibited because he did not define ‘DEI,’ cited no authority for his demand, and did not describe what actions, and what timetable, might satisfy his demand.”
After a retired judge reported Martin’s conduct to the Office of Disciplinary Counsel, Martin allegedly attempted to sideline the investigation by sending a letter directly to the chief judge and senior judges on the D.C. Court of Appeals, according to the complaint.
“In that letter, he stated that he would not be responding to Disciplinary Counsel’s inquiry, complained about Disciplinary Counsel’s ‘uneven behavior,’ and requested a ‘face-to-face meeting with all of you to discuss this matter and find a way forward.’ He copied the White House Counsel ‘for informational purposes because of the importance of getting this issue addressed,'” the complaint said.
The complaint alleges that Martin – after being told to not directly communicate with judges – sent another letter to the chief judge demanding that the court suspend the investigator probing his conduct and dismiss the case against him.
With the charges filed, D.C.’s Board on Professional Responsibility is expected to refer the petition to a hearing committee.
Martin’s interactions are just one among a series of controversies from his brief tenure as Washington’s top federal prosecutor from January to May 2025 before his temporary appointment to the position lapsed and he failed to gain enough support from Republican senators for his confirmation to the post.
He was then appointed to four separate senior positions in the Justice Department before sources said he was effectively demoted earlier this year after multiple other incidents where he faced admonishment from leadership for his conduct.
Martin remains in his role as pardon attorney, according to the DOJ, and has used the post to float controversial clemency recommendations to the White House while frequently citing the phrase, “No MAGA left behind.”
The ethics complaint was filed the same week that the DOJ proposed new regulations that would seek to give Attorney General Pam Bondi the authority to suspend state bar investigations, arguing the policy is necessary to combat the “weaponization” of the complaint process. It’s not immediately clear what legal basis the department would have to intervene in state-level proceedings, however.
Martin and a DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint.
Georgetown Law’s then-Dean William Treanor previously responded to Martin’s letter, affirming the school’s speech protections under the First Amendment. He accused Martin of mounting “an attack on the University’s mission as a Jesuit and Catholic institution.”
