Pentagon lifts lockdown after air quality scare proves to be false alarm
The Pentagon is seen from a flight taking off from Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on November 29, 2022 in Arlington, Virginia. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — A partial lockdown at the Pentagon implemented in response to a potential air quality issue has been lifted after no hazards were found, according to the Pentagon’s chief spokesman.
Portions of the Pentagon had gone into a shelter-in-place earlier Thursday, after officials locked down multiple floors and hallways in response to a potential air hazard situation, according to three officials.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement earlier that building monitoring systems detected an air-quality issue, prompting precautionary measures while officials work to determine the source and extent of the problem.
In an update Thursday, Parnell said subsequent testing “confirmed no hazard exists, and normal operations have resumed.”
Sources told ABC News earlier that authorities were investigating what caused a sensor to alert for a potential hazardous air quality issue at the Pentagon. Additional testing occurred to verify whether there was any hazard or if the sensor was faulty, multiple sources said.
In a message sent to Pentagon employees earlier Thursday, employees in certain corridors on select floors were urged to remain in place while awaiting testing results, which it noted could take one to two hours.
The Arlington County Fire Department said its hazardous materials team had responded to the Pentagon in support of the Pentagon Force Protection Agency’s Hazmat Team “during a hazardous materials incident.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House on April 16, 2026, in Washington, DC. President Donald Trump is traveling to Las Vegas, Nevada to promote the tax cuts he signed into law in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” ahead of the midterm election. Tomorrow he will deliver remarks at a Turning Point USA event in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Attorneys for President Donald Trump say they are “in discussions” with the Department of Justice to potentially resolve a $10 billion lawsuit that Trump, two of his sons, and his company filed against the Internal Revenue Service earlier this year.
According to a court filing on Friday, lawyers for the Trumps requested a deadline extension so they can “engage in discussions designed to resolve this matter and to avoid protracted litigation.”
President Trump, his sons Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., and the Trump Organization filed a lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service and Treasury Department in January related to the unauthorized disclosure of tax information during Trump’s first term.
A government contractor with the IRS pleaded guilty in 2023 to stealing the tax information of Donald Trump and other wealthy Americans and leaking it to media outlets in 2019 and 2020.
“Defendants have caused Plaintiffs reputational and financial harm, public embarrassment, unfairly tarnished their business reputations, portrayed them in a false light, and negatively affected President Trump, and the other Plaintiffs’ public standing,” the Trumps said in their lawsuit, which requested $10 billion in damages.
“The Parties are engaging in discussions and need time to work through how to ensure those discussions can take place productively to avoid protracted litigation,” the attorneys said in Friday’s filing with the consent of the DOJ lawyers. “This brief period will allow the Parties to initiate and structure those discussions in a manner that best serves the interests of all Parties and the Court.”
The Department of Justice had not yet responded to the lawsuit and faced an impending deadline this month. Friday’s filing said both sides agreed to the 90-day extension.
A group of former government officials last month filed an amicus brief with the court to raise concerns about the ethics of the president suing his own government for billions.
“This case is extraordinary because the President controls both sides of the litigation, which raises the prospect of collusive litigation tactics,” the amicus filing said. “To treat this case like business as usual would threaten the integrity of the justice system and the important taxpayer and privacy protections at the heart of this case.”
The Trumps, in the suit, argued that the IRS and Treasury Department should have had “appropriate technical, employee screening, security, and monitoring” to prevent the theft of tax information.
Record March heat continues in the West. (ABC News)
(PHOENIX) — Record-shattering temperatures are expected to continue on Sunday as a rare and strong early-season heat dome has resulted in triple-digit highs in some parts of the Western U.S.
As the temperatures soared to 105 degrees on Saturday in Phoenix, Ariz., the third-straight day the weather has topped the 100-degree mark, more than 400 people attending an airshow in nearby Glendale were treated for heat-related illnesses, authorities said.
At least 25 people attending the Luke Days Airshow at Luke Air Force Base were overcome by the sweltering weather and had to be hospitalized for various heat-related illnesses, U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. David Berkland said at a news conference on Saturday, according to ABC affiliate station KNXV in Phoenix.
Berkland said the majority of the people treated were under the age of 12 or over the age of 60, and many also had “pre-existing medical conditions like heart disease, diabetes or pregnancy.”
Dozens of locations across the West have broken high-temperature records since Thursday, and some areas in the Plains have also seen records fall.
The temperature in Phoenix reached 105 degrees for the third straight day on Saturday, tying a record for March. In Tucson, temperatures soared to 102 on Saturday. Las Vegas, Nev., hit 96 on Saturday, the second-highest temperature there for March behind the 97-degree record set on Friday.
Elsewhere in the West, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Denver, Colo., set new highs for March when they hit 84 and 86 degrees, respectively, on Saturday,
Hot weather also stretched across the Midwest and Great Plains. Omaha, Neb., recorded 96 degrees on Saturday, while Wichita, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., each reached 93.
Extreme heat warnings remain in effect for parts of southern California, Nevada and Arizona on Sunday, including Las Vegas, Phoenix, Tucson and Lake Havasu, Ariz.
Phoenix is likely to surpass the 100-degree mark again on Sunday, the fourth-straight day the city is expected to surpass that temperature. Las Vegas and Salt Lake City could also see additional daily records heading into Monday.
Hot weather is forecast to continue to move into the South and the Ohio Valley, where dozens of daily records could be broken from interior California to Texas and the Carolinas, including the cities of Sacramento, Las Vegas, Albuquerque, Dallas, Oklahoma City, Memphis, New Orleans, Cincinnati and Raleigh.
Severe weather in store for southern Indiana and Pennsylvania Some severe storms are possible for southern Indiana and most of Pennsylvania later Sunday and into Sunday night and could include damaging winds and large hail. Isolated tornadoes are also possible for a sliver of Ohio, the northern panhandle of West Virginia and southwest Pennsylvania.
By late Sunday night, a line of scattered storms will likely stretch from Evansville, Ind., to Columbus, Ohio, and into State College, Pa.
New York City could also see a couple of thunderstorms, some strong enough to produce gusty winds and possibly small hail.
Critical fire weather threat in the Plains
Millions of people across the Plains are under red flag fire warnings on Sunday due to low humidity, warm temperatures, gusty winds and dry vegetation. The fire danger is expected to continue Sunday before improving a bit into Monday.
Meanwhile, several wildfires are still burning further north in Nebraska and South Dakota.
Fire crews in Nebraska have made significant progress in battling the Morrill Fire, largest wildfire in state history. The blaze, which has burned more than 640,000 acres across multiple counties in western Nebraska, was 98% contained as of Saturday night, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
Another large Nebraska wildfire, the Cottonwood Fire in the south-central part of the state, has burned nearly 130,000 acres and was 94% contained on Saturday night, according to the Nebraska Emergency Management Agency.
More damaging floods in Hawaii
After a damaging flood event more than one week ago during which parts of Hawaii recorded rainfall by feet, more rain has brought damaging and impactful flooding across parts of the island.
A flash-flood warning was in effect Saturday for potentially life-threatening flooding on Oahu and the potential for the Wahiawa Dam to fail. There were several reports of damage, water rescues and road closures due to flooding.
The threat of the Wahiawa Dam failing has subsided as water levels gradually subside, but any heavy pockets of rain could cause rapid water rises and reinvigorate the threat.
The heaviest rain has shifted eastward, with the island of Molokai under a flash-flood warning on Sunday.
All Hawaiian islands except Kauai remain under a flood watch through Sunday for more heavy rain. The heaviest rain is expected mostly on the Big Island and the island of Maui, but the other islands will see some rain showers and perhaps some isolated heavy pockets of rain.
Thunderstorms will be possible at times, which may include damaging winds.
Savannah Guthrie and mother Nancy Guthrie, June 15, 2023. (Nathan Congleton/NBC via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — An emotional Savannah Guthrie spoke out on Tuesday following new reports that a ransom note said her mother, Nancy Guthrie, died shortly after she was abducted.
The “Today” show host’s 84-year-old mother was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1 and remains missing, according to authorities.
Various ransom notes were sent to the media in the days after Nancy Guthrie’s disappearance. The second ransom note received by a Tucson television station, days after Nancy Guthrie’s abduction, said she died shortly after she was taken and was buried in nature, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Savannah Guthrie wiped away tears as she addressed the news on “Today,” saying, “I’m not involved in our coverage, but I can’t pretend I’m not here.”
“And so, since I am, I wanted to just take the opportunity to ask people — to really, to beg people — to come forward,” she said. “Somebody knows something.”
“This is a news story today that is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live, every day. And we are in agony,” Savannah Guthrie said through tears.
“Please do the right thing. … We love our mom, and we’ll never stop looking for her, ever,” she said.
Images from Nancy Guthrie’s doorbell camera showing a masked man at her house were released by authorities early on in the investigation, but the 84-year-old’s whereabouts remain unknown, and the suspect remains unidentified.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff’s Department at 520-351-4900.
