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.
Wildfire smoke from Canada shrouds the sun as it rises behind the Chrysler Building in New York City, July 17, 2026. (Gary Hershorn/ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — Philadelphia issued a “Code Purple Air Quality Emergency Day” on Friday as smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires seeps down to more than a dozen states in the Midwest and the Northeast.
“Everyone may experience negative health effects from particulate matter in the air,” Philadelphia officials warned. “Members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.”
Canada has nearly 900 wildfires burning, with over 100 categorized as out of control. Almost 200 of the fires are in Ontario.
Heavy rain moving over the Minnesota/Canada border Friday morning should help with some fires, but the storms could also bring strong winds and lightning, which can spark new fires and create more erratic fire activity.
Passing showers and thunderstorms are also possible in Ontario Friday, but that rain won’t be enough to put the wildfires out, and the winds may make conditions worse and lightning could spark new wildfires. There are more chances for rain over Ontario Sunday through Tuesday.
The smoke from Canada has moved south and is at dangerous levels Friday from Duluth, Minnesota, to Richmond, Virginia, impacting states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.
By Friday afternoon, the worst air quality is expected from Detroit to Cleveland to Pittsburgh to Washington, D.C.
Saturday morning will bring a welcome reprieve from smoke in Detroit and Chicago, but heavy smoke will continue from Buffalo, New York, to Boston, to Washington, D.C.
By Saturday evening, the smoke will be over New England and returning to the Great Lakes.
Smoke is probable over New York City on Sunday when Spain plays Argentina in the FIFA World Cup Final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, though it is still too early to know exactly where the smoke will be. Sources familiar with the situation told ABC News that “all involved authorities are monitoring.”
Smoke contains fine particles that can travel deep into the lungs. For those who need to work outdoors, are more sensitive to smoke or are in a high-risk group, Kai Chen, an associate professor of epidemiology at Yale School of Public Health, told ABC News that the best type of mask to wear is an N95, which is designed to filter at least 95% of airborne particles.
In New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said free KN95 masks are available at hundreds of locations.
A composite posted to the Department of Justice’s X account, June 4, 2026. (Department of Justice)
(WASHINGTON) — Senior Justice Department leaders on Thursday announced a number of cases against those who they say perpetrated fraud in Ohio.
Four people, including two state of Ohio employees, were charged with a $30 million fraud scheme targeting the state’s behavioral health department.
Two of the defendants owned businesses which claimed to provide behavioral health services for young adults that attend summer camps, church groups and recreational programs, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department alleges the two businesses submitted fraudulent claims for services that were never rendered. After the claims were not submitted because one of the behavioral health organizations’ accreditation was invalid, the two allegedly conspired with another individual to submit claims.
The funds were used to fund a lavish lifestyle, according to DOJ, including purchasing 14 vehicles worth $800,000.
“The days of the brazen theft that we’ve seen of taxpayer dollars, abusing the generosity of the American taxpayer is over,” acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said at a press conference in Columbus, Ohio. “Our message to fraudsters is simple: With our state and local partners, the Department of Justice will be working day and night to identify you, arrest you and imprison you.”
Blanche and other federal leaders, including FBI Director Kash Patel and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz, were in Ohio to not only announce charges against alleged fraudsters, but to also announce a Top 10 fraudsters list and tout the cooperation between Ohio authorities and the federal government on fraud issues.
“Our best form of information is the American public,” Patel said. “Take a look at this Top 10 most wanted. Let us know any information. There is no bad piece of information. The only bad piece of information is the one you don’t give us.”
Earlier this week, the Justice Department charged five individuals with scamming older Americans in romance fraud schemes totaling $15 million. The five — mostly from Ghana — allegedly used AI to create false stories and indicate to people they were interested in them romantically to get them to send them money.
“Once they establish trust, they use false pretenses and stories about vast inheritances of money, gold, or diamonds, and then convince these elderly Americans to help finance bogus legal proceedings in the nation of Ghana,” U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio David M. Toepfer said at the press conference.
The scheme allegedly went on for almost two years and impacted more than 100 people.
“They then use this stolen money to buy a mansion in Ghana. Diamond-encrusted jewelry, a Lamborghini and other high-end luxury vehicles. All of those assets have now been seized and are going through the forfeiture proceedings so that they will not profit from their fraudulent efforts,” Toepfer said.
Views of a memorial in remembrance of the victims in the mass shooting at Rob Elementary School, in downtown Uvalde, Texas, on Aug. 21, 2022. (Kat Caulderwood/ABC News)
(UVALDE, Texas) — Former Uvalde school police chief Pete Arredondo is set to return to a Texas courtroom on Friday, as the judge overseeing his criminal trial weighs moving the case out of Uvalde and whether the whole thing might have to wait because US Customs and Border Protection has refused to cooperate.
Arredondo in 2024 was charged with 10 counts of endangering students by failing to quickly respond to the 2022 mass shooting. The criminal case has stalled due to two ongoing civil lawsuits that seek to force agents with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Border Patrol Tactical Unit — involved in taking down the gunman — to testify in the case.
Nineteen students and two of their teachers were killed when Robb Elementary School was attacked by a former student on the last day of school, May 24, 2022.
Arredondo led the response to the 2022 shooting rampage, and prosecutors allege that he ignored his training by waiting some 77 minutes before agents stormed a classroom and killed the gunman. Earlier this year, a jury acquitted former school police officer Adrian Gonzales on similar charges after a three-week trial.
Families of the victims responded to that verdict with outrage and some are looking to Arredondo’s trial as another opportunity for justice.
“We had a little hope, but it wasn’t enough,” Jacinto Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter Jackie died in the shooting, said after Gonzales’ acquittal in January. “Again, we are failed. I don’t even know what to say.”
Arredondo has pleaded not guilty, arguing he followed his training and saying he did not consider himself as the incident commander that day, though investigators said he was just that. Arredondo’s attorney Paul Looney told ABC News that he believes the case against Arredondo is weaker than the failed prosecution of Gonzales.
“They tried the one they thought that they had the best shot at, but now they’re going to put everything they’ve got into doing this one, because they do want to win at least something,” Looney said.
Friday’s status conference comes as Judge Sid Harle weighs the future of the case. The judge has said he wants to determine how the trial against Arredondo can proceed amid the ongoing litigation with CBP and whether — as in the case of Gonzales — the trial ought to be moved out of Uvalde.
Both Uvalde District Attorney Christina Mitchell and Arredondo filed federal lawsuits to compel the federal agents to cooperate with investigators and potentially testify at trial.
“The three border patrol agents whose cooperation is now being sought by District Attorney Mitchell — two of whom participated in the actual killing of the gunman and the third who was present in the hallway during most of the incident — are essential to the pending Texas criminal prosecution,” Mitchell wrote in her lawsuit.
CBP attorneys have argued that the request for testimony is unreasonable, unnecessary and “negatively impacts CBP operations and national security” by taking up resources and potentially disclosing sensitive information.
Attorneys have argued that CBP revealed enough information through the investigative summaries prepared by the Texas Rangers and a report released by CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
“It is unclear from your request how testimony from the identified CBP employees is genuinely necessary to the proceedings,” an attorney for CBP said in a court filing.
Earlier this year, a new judge was assigned to the lawsuit filed by Mitchell, and this week she filed a motion to schedule a status conference in that case. Looney, who filed a separate lawsuit largely mirroring the District Attorney’s, said he anticipates the litigation will take another eight months to a year.
Friday’s hearing will be held in Uvalde, though the trial of Gonzales was held in Corpus Christi to find an impartial jury, due to the widespread impact of the shooting on the Uvalde community.
Arredondo’s lawyer said he expects Harle to grant his motion for a venue change, though he claimed there is “no sense of urgency” to resolve the venue issue while the case remains stalled by the ongoing civil litigation.
