Severe weather heading to the South after killing 5, knocking out power in Midwest
Members of the Chicago White Sox grounds crew struggle to deploy the rain tarp in the bottom of the seventh inning as hail and rain delay a game against the Los Angeles Angels at Rate Field on March 30, 2025 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Matt Dirksen/Getty Images)
(CHICAGO) — Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power across the Midwest on Monday after deadly, severe weather battered the region on Sunday.
More than 310,000 customers are without power in Michigan Monday morning. Another 55,000 are without power in Wisconsin and 48,000 are in the dark in Indiana.
The National Weather Service said it recorded more than 200 wind damage reports and at least four tornadoes were reported across Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky.
Five fatalities have been attributed to the storm.
Three children — a 2-year-old girl, her 4-year-old brother and their 11-year-old cousin — were killed when the car they were in was hit by a tree in Michigan, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said. Weather appeared to be the main contributing factor, the sheriff’s office said.
In Valparaiso, Indiana, one person was killed when “severe crosswinds” blew a tractor and a trailer onto their sides, according to local authorities.
The National Weather Service said a second person was killed north of Millersburg, Indiana, when wind from a thunderstorm blew over an Amish buggy.
The severe weather threat continues Monday, with both tornado and severe thunderstorm watches in effect across multiple states in the South.
Some storms could bring hailstones the size of tennis balls and damaging winds of up to 60 mph.
The storms are expected to reach New Orleans and Atlanta in the morning. The severe weather will hit Jacksonville, Florida; Charleston, South Carolina; and Charlotte, North Carolina, by the afternoon.
The Southeast region is where the strongest of the storms are expected, with damaging wind, large hail and tornadoes possible.
Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York could see storms by the evening rush hour.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds and Jessica Gorman contributed to this report.
(LOS ANGELES) — Two people from Oregon were arrested for posing as firefighters in the Pacific Palisades area, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
A Los Angeles Police Department unit was patrolling through the evacuation zones on Saturday, when they discovered a fire truck that “did not appear to be legitimate,” according to the sheriff’s department. They approached the vehicle and questioned the two people inside, Dustin Nehl, 31, and Jennifer Nehl, 44, the sheriff’s department said.
The two wore fire gear, with Cal Fire shirts underneath, along with helmets and radios, according to the sheriff. When the LAPD unit questioned where the two came from, they said they were with the “Roaring River Fire Department” in Oregon, authorities said in a statement.
The deputies conducted research and found that the fire department did not exist, and that the fire truck was bought at an auction, the sheriff’s department said.
The vehicle was impounded and the suspects were arrested for impersonating firefighters and entering an evacuation zone.
Dustin Nehl has a previous criminal record of criminal mischief and arson, authorities said. The two will be charged on Tuesday, when the case is presented to LA District Attorney Nathan Hochman.
Other threats of looting and burglary loom over Los Angeles County, after disastrous fires have devastated communities. With 200,000 people initially under mandatory evacuations, homes were empty, allowing criminals the opportunity to steal valuables.
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration is standing its ground in the ongoing dispute about whether it willfully violated a court order last week, arguing in a court filing late Tuesday that a federal judge’s directive to turn around two deportation flights was not a binding order.
In a 14-page filing, lawyers with the Department of Justice argued that U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s oral directive was “not enforceable as an injunction” when the judge ordered that the government turn around two deportation flights on their way to El Salvador after the Trump administration invoked the Alien Enemies Act to deport more than 200 alleged Venezuelan gang members without due process.
The government failed to turn the flights around, and an official subsequently acknowledged that “many” of the detainees did not have criminal records in the United States.
“[A]ny any order that restrained the invocation of the Proclamation could not have thereby compelled the President to return foreign terrorists from outside the United States — and any governmental refusal to do so was thus not a violation of the Court’s orders,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign wrote in Tuesday’s filing.
At no point in the filing did the Trump administration argue it complied with the court’s oral directive to return the two flights of Venezuelan migrants, which was issued from the bench at approximately 6:45 p.m. ET last Saturday; instead, the DOJ lawyers attacked the authority of the bench ruling while insisting they complied with the court’s written order that was issued later that evening.
“It is well-settled that an oral directive is not enforceable as an injunction,” Ensign wrote. “There are powerful, common-sense reasons why only written injunctions are binding.”
Because Judge Boasberg did not mention the return of the flights in his written order — issued at approximately 7:25 p.m. ET on Saturday — Ensign argued that the Trump administration may have believed the judge changed his mind.
“When the written order did not include that command, the Government could reasonably have understood that as reflecting the Court’s more considered view in a quickly evolving situation,” the filing said.
According to DOJ lawyers, the flights carrying the alleged members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua were outside of U.S. airspace when the judge issued his written order, meaning Judge Boasberg lacked the authority to turn the flights around.
“Here, any members of the putative class aboard the referenced flights had already left the United States when the minute order was entered, and thus had already been removed. No court has the power to compel the President to return them, and there is no sound basis to read the Court’s minute order as requiring that unprecedented step,” Ensign wrote.
DOJ lawyers also slammed Judge Boasberg’s authority to redirect the flights, arguing the directive is an “astonishingly ultra vires exercise of judicial power” that conflicts with “basic constitutional principles.”
“The President’s ultimate direction of the flights at issue here — especially once they had departed from U.S. airspace — implicated military matters, national security, and foreign affairs outside of our Nation’s borders. As such, it was beyond the courts’ authority to adjudicate,” the filing said.
On Monday, a federal appeals court heard arguments from the Trump administration seeking to overturn Boasberg’s block on the use of the Alien Enemies Act for deportations. The appeals court did not issue an immediate ruling.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s attempt to ban transgender people from military service continues an unfortunate history of the armed services excluding marginalized people from the “privilege of serving,” a federal judge wrote Tuesday night.
In a 79-page decision, U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes blocked the Trump administration from enacting the policy and offered a scathing rebuke of the Pentagon’s development of the policy.
“The Court’s opinion is long, but its premise is simple. In the self-evident truth that all people are created equal, all means all. Nothing more. And certainly nothing less,” Judge Reyes wrote.
The ruling came as part of Talbott vs. Trump, a lawsuit filed on Jan. 28 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by LGBTQ+ advocacy groups Glad Law and the National Center for Lesbian Rights on behalf of six active duty transgender service members.
2nd Lt. Nicholas Talbott and Maj. Erica Vandal, both plaintiffs in the lawsuit, expressed relief during a press conference on Wednesday morning and said they look forward to continuing to serve their country.
“[This preliminary injunction] has provided immense relief for myself and my family, personally, along with the numerous others impacted,” Vandal said. “It’s a massive burden lifted knowing that I can continue to provide for my wife and two children, while continuing my career and lifelong passion as a field artillery officer.”
Lt. Talbott, a platoon leader in the U.S. Army Reserve, said that the ruling is a “tremendous step forward” and a “breath of fresh air.”
“Transgender service members are just as qualified, competent and dedicated as any other military member, and we are thrilled to be able to continue to put on our uniforms and perform the jobs we have worked so hard for in service of our country,” Talbott said.
A Defense Department memo last month said the Pentagon will be required to form a procedure to identify transgender troops by March 26 and separate them from the military by June 25, unless they receive an exemption. This includes service members receiving some form of treatment or hormones for that diagnosis of gender dysphoria, as well as those who have gone through a gender-affirming surgery.
According to Reyes, the Trump administration failed to justify the policy by articulating its impact on military readiness, harmed thousands of transgender service members, and likely violated the United States Constitution.
“The President has the power—indeed the obligation—to ensure military readiness. At times, however, leaders have used concern for military readiness to deny marginalized persons the privilege of serving,” Reyes wrote.
“[Fill in the blank] is not fully capable and will hinder combat effectiveness; [fill in the blank] will disrupt unit cohesion and so diminish military effectiveness; allowing [fill in the blank] to serve will undermine training, make it impossible to recruit successfully, and disrupt military order,” she added. “First minorities, then women in combat, then gays filled in that blank. Today, however, our military is stronger and our Nation is safer for the millions of such blanks (and all other persons) who serve.”
While the judge acknowledged that the judiciary should generally defer to military leadership, she said that permitting the policy to be enforced would be her following the Pentagon “blindly” after it justified the policy with “pure conjecture” during multiple court hearings.
Anticipating the Trump administration’s appeal, Reyes delayed her decision from taking effect until Friday so the Department of Justice could ask a higher court to stay her order.
“The Court knows that this opinion will lead to heated public debate and appeals. In a healthy democracy, both are positive outcomes. We should all agree, however, that every person who has answered the call to serve deserves our gratitude and respect. For, as Elmer Davis observed, ‘[t]his nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.’ The Court extends its appreciation to every current servicemember and veteran. Thank you,” the judge concluded her opinion.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller said on X in response to the judge’s order, “District court judges have now decided they are in command of the Armed Forces…is there no end to this madness?”
Jennifer Levi and Shannon Minter, attorneys representing the plaintiffs in Talbott. vs Trump, welcomed the preliminary injunction during the press conference on Wednesday.
Minter said he is hopeful that as the case moves forward, it will result in a “permanent injunction,” because the “legal basis of the decision is so strong.”
Levi said that while the Trump administration could seek an emergency stay, she is “hopeful” that the judge would deny it.
“We anticipate that [the Trump administration] may appeal this, they may seek an emergency stay to try to get emergency relief. I think I’m hopeful that that won’t happen,” Levi said. “But I think the easier course, really, for the military at this point, is to continue to preserve these people in active service and let them continue to do their jobs.”
Meanwhile, Talbott and Vandal acknowledged that the fight is not over.
“Ultimately, the relief I feel at this time is tempered by the knowledge that this fight is far from over,” Vandal said.
“We are ready, and we are going to continue to show up every single day, put on our uniforms and do the absolute best that we can,” Talbott added.
There are currently 4,240 active-duty, National Guard and Reserve service members who have been diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a defense official previously told ABC News.
