Canada wildfire smoke brings unhealthy air quality to over a dozen states in Midwest, Northeast: Latest

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) -- Dangerous smoke from hundreds of Canadian wildfires has seeped down to the U.S., impacting over 100 million Americans across more than a dozen states.

Air quality alerts on Friday stretch from the Midwest to the Great Lakes to the Northeast to the Mid-Atlantic, impacting major cities including Chicago, Detroit, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Canada has nearly 900 wildfires burning, with over 100 categorized as out of control. Almost 200 of the fires are in Ontario.

Heavy rain by the Minnesota/Canada border on Friday may 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 on Saturday and again on Tuesday. 

In the U.S., the smoke Friday spans from Duluth, Minnesota, to Richmond, Virginia, impacting states including Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware.

Philadelphia issued a "Code Purple Air Quality Emergency Day" Friday.

"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."

The worst air quality Friday afternoon is in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In Milwaukee, where the air is in the hazardous category, the Milwaukee Brewers are allowing ticket holders to exchange tickets for Friday night's game for another regular season home game. 

The air is expected to improve on Saturday in the Ohio Valley, Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic, when rain moves in. But parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes will continue to see dangerous air quality.

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.

Click here to read more on how to stay safe.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Hospital celebrates new births

Hospital celebrates new birthsTYLER – CHRISTUS Health Mount Pleasant celebrated the opening of its new Birthing Suite, a thoughtfully designed space created to enhance the childbirth experience for growing families across the region.

The new suite offers a welcoming, personalized and family-centered environment while maintaining the highest standards of obstetrical care.

“This new birthing suite reflects our commitment to providing exceptional patient-centered care in an environment designed to make families feel comfortable, supportive and at home,” said Nichole Quezada, labor and delivery director. “Welcoming a new child into the world is one of life’s most meaningful moments, and we are proud to offer families in our community an enhanced experience that combines compassionate care, privacy and peace of mind.” Continue reading Hospital celebrates new births

Mullin threatens to withhold aid from states that don’t comply with DHS election directives

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin speaks during a news conference in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 17, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin threatened on Friday to strip states of federal election-related aid, and to possibly seek criminal penalties against election officials, if they don't comply with the administration's voting roll probe ahead of the midterms.

Mullin told reporters that if states want to continue to receive federal reimbursement "to run federal elections," they must now cooperate with DHS's efforts to "scrub" their voter rolls and update the security of their election systems.

"We're saying that the machines had to be secure, and that your voter registration list needs to be scrubbed," Mullin said in a news conference.

It was not immediately clear what grants or funding could be in jeopardy for non-compliant states. DHS has previously threatened to withhold Federal Emergency Management Agency counterterrorism grants unless states complied with election security mandates.

"If states want the grant funding, to recap, they must secure the election," Mullin said.

Mullin's news conference came one day after President Donald Trump's primetime speech on elections, in which he announced he was declassifying a slew of documents he claims reveal vulnerabilities in America's elections systems and foreign interference, particularly by China.

Mullin, who was sworn in as DHS secretary on March 24, claimed America's adversaries have the "key to the back" of American voting machines, alleging that bad actors could change the registration of voters -- and even manipulate votes that have already been cast.

But Mullin offered no evidence that foreign vote manipulation has occurred, nor did he elaborate on how it is possible.

Mullin also argued, as Trump did on Thursday night, that America's elections are also vulnerable because of noncitizen voters being on the voter rolls.

A DHS report released overnight alleged more than 250,000 noncitizens are on voter rolls in four states.

Mullin did not provide more information on how DHS arrived at the claim that 250,000 noncitizens are registered to vote in California, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Nevada, saying only it was pulled from public voter records.

The Department of Justice attempted to compel states to turn over their voter files, and sued more than two dozen that refused to do so. But courts have thrown out those lawsuits across the board, saying the DOJ lacks a compelling reason for the data.

Mullin said it would be a "little bit tougher" to obtain data from those states.

He said DHS will continue to comb through voter rolls in search of noncitizens and others ineligible to vote, and threatened them with jail time and or financial penalties.

"We will scrub all election records, looking for illegal aliens and those who are ineligible to vote, including those that somehow voted, yet they were deceased," Mullin said.

"If you're illegal and attempted to vote, or you tried to vote illegally for someone else, we will find you, and we will charge you," Mullin continued. "Illegal voter restoration and illegal voting both carry penalties up to five years in prison and up to $250,000 in fines. We will pursue maximum pressure on this."

The secretary said election officials would be held "accountable" if they don't comply and that the penalties would be extended to them.

"If the election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections, and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time," he said.

Mullin said DHS will look into the integrity of both early voting and post-Election Day votes during this November's midterm elections.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

2017 murder suspect transferred

SMITH COUNTY – A man accused of capital murder in relation to the shooting of a Tyler man in 2017 has been transferred to the Smith County Jail. Quadaverine Allison, a Longview resident, is presently serving a 25-year prison term at the Allred Unit for aggravated robbery.

Allison and Jakysia Rodgers were indicted in April of this year for capital murder in the Tyler shooting that killed Joshua Alon McGee, 22, on August 11, 2017. According to police, a detective received fresh information that advanced the cold case and resulted in grand jury indictments.

Rodgers and Allison were both incarcerated at the time for unrelated offenses. According to jail records, Allison was transferred to the Smith County Jail on Tuesday in connection with the capital murder charge.

According to court records, Allison’s capital murder case has no scheduled hearings. Rodgers was given a 20-year prison sentence after entering a guilty plea to the lesser charge of murder in June. Prior to the capital murder indictment, he was already serving a 20-year sentence for an unrelated aggravated assault charge in 2024.

Officials close bridge over interstate

Officials close bridge over interstateVAN ZANDT COUNTY – Starting Friday, Van Zandt County’s County Road 4414 (Tank Farm Road) bridge over Interstate 20 is closed. The Tyler District of the Texas Department of Transportation announced the closure, citing the need for workers to examine and fix the bridge’s damage. Until further notice, the closure is in place. Traffic heading north is being diverted to the FM 16 underpass via the frontage roads. The frontage roads leading to the Oakland/Colfax overpass are being used by southbound traffic. It is advised that drivers prepare ahead of time and, if necessary, take a different route.

2 Florida deputies airlifted after shooting, suspect dead

A helicopter airlifts two deputies to the hospital after they were shot on July 16, 2026 in Ruskin, Fla. (Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

(RUSKIN, Fla.) -- Two deputies were airlifted to a Florida hospital Thursday after they were shot while approaching a suspect who was accused of holding a woman hostage overnight, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

The suspect, identified as 34-year-old Chris Dmuchowski, was shot by a third responding deputy and died after being transported to the hospital, the sheriff's office said.

Both deputies are receiving care and are expected to make a full recovery, according to an update from the sheriff on Friday.

Deputies arrived on the scene on West Shell Point Road in Ruskin, Florida, after a report that the suspect had taken his ex-girlfriend hostage overnight, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a press briefing Thursday.

The suspect allegedly restrained his ex-girlfriend at her residence and threatened to kill her, and then released her after she regained consciousness in the morning, Chronister said.

That morning, she went to a sheriff's office building to request an order of protection, after which authorities sent a drone to the scene upon identifying the suspect and learning of his criminal record, according to the sheriff.

An exchange of gunfire ensued in the parking lot outside of the residence after the suspect exited the building, the sheriff said.

"Our suspect ambushed our deputies from the moment they arrived on scene," Chronister said. "He was intent on taking the life of a deputy sheriff."

The suspect opened fire at two deputies, striking one in the face and another in the neck area, after which a third deputy approached and shot the suspect multiple times, Chronister said.

Chronister said on Friday that one of the deputies was preparing to go into surgery. He had multiple fractures on his hand and wrist and had gotten stitches on his face where the bullet struck, according to the sheriff.

The other deputy who was shot in the neck experienced no damage to vital arteries and hopes to be released Friday, Chronister said.

Dmuchowski was a one-time convicted felon on charges of tampering with physical evidence.

The sheriff's office said there is no threat to public safety at this time.

"Thank you to every single deputy who was on scene and responded to this scene today," Chronister said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Andy Burnham is declared leader of UK’s Labour Party, pledges to restore hope

Andy Burnham is declared leader of UK’s Labour Party, pledges to restore hopeLONDON (AP) — Andy Burnham was officially declared leader of Britain’s governing Labour Party on Friday, promising to bring hope to the British people and purpose to the floundering government as he cleared his final hurdle to take office as prime minister next week.

The former mayor of Greater Manchester was the only contender in the center-left party’s leadership contest to replace departing Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who was forced out by a rebellion within his party. Friday’s announcement was a foregone conclusion after Burnham secured nominations from 379 of the 403 Labour lawmakers in the House of Commons.

Burnham pledged to serve “people and places who have been waiting too long for politics to let them hope again.”

“We’re going to give them hope back,” he told an audience of lawmakers, party activists and trade union leaders in his first speech as leader. “I am ready.”

“I have a plan,” he added, in a bid to reassure a party that has seen its popularity nosedive since winning a landslide election victory two years ago. He pledged to end Labour’s factional disputes, saying “we won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions.”

The prime minister in waiting is about to take office

Burnham has been prime minister-in-waiting for weeks, since winning a special election for a seat in Parliament a month ago, but he has revealed little detail about his policy priorities. He will arrive in Number 10 Downing Street largely unknown to voters outside Manchester.

He sketched out some priorities in Friday’s speech, promising to deliver “hope in every heart” and “good growth in every post code,” in part by transferring power from central government in London to local leaders in cities and regions.

“We will take power back from Westminster and Whitehall and give it to the place you live,” he told the audience. “More power over life’s essentials so you can make them work better.”

Starmer announced last month that he would resign after two years in office marred by missteps and judgment errors that eroded his standing with his party and the public.

Labour regularly trails behind anti-immigration party Reform UK in opinion polls, and the governing party had catastrophic results in local elections in May, triggering pressure on Starmer to step down that he couldn’t resist.

Burnham deemed a better communicator than Starmer

Burnham brings a more relaxed style of leadership than the rather stern Starmer, and is regarded as one of the Labour Party’s best communicators. But he faces many of the same problems as his predecessor, including a sluggish economy, a cost-of-living squeeze fueled by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and overstretched public services.

And his promises of a new, less divisive politics are not too different to what Starmer pledged when he took office in 2024.

“I will work to build a new politics. The country is crying out for it,” Burnham said. “How can politicians point fingers when living standards are falling and politics as a whole isn’t working for them? It infuriates them and makes them switch off.”

He said he would have the “courage to fix the big things that politics has neglected,” such as tackling the patchy access to social care for those who need it because of age, illness or disability. It’s a pressing issue in a country with an aging population, and one that has foxed previous Labour and Conservative governments.

Burnham says he’ll reverse 40 years of bad decisions

He highlighted plans to focus on economic renewal, more public control of key sectors and creating new modern industrial jobs, arguing that Britain took “a series of wrong turns in the 1980s” when “political power was centralized and economic power privatized.”

That’s the decade when Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher oversaw policies of privatization, deindustrialization and political centralization that transformed the U.K. economy.

“Slowly, at times imperceptibly, over four decades, political and economic power drained away out of our communities in every region and nation of the U.K.,” Burnham said, calling Britain’s change of prime ministers — for the sixth time in a decade — “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years.”

Starmer will remain prime minister until Monday, when he formally tenders his resignation to King Charles III. The king will then ask Burnham to form a government.

Britain’s parliamentary democracy allows governing parties to change leaders, and thus prime ministers, without the need for a general election. The next national election doesn’t have to be held until 2029.

New prime ministers have come with increasing frequency in recent years. Burnham will be the U.K.’s seventh leader since 2016.

He faces strong and sometimes conflicting pressures.

Unions welcomed his focus on living standards but said the test would be whether he can deliver. Business group the Confederation of British Industry praised his emphasis on economic growth, but also aid that “the challenge is execution.”

Family sues New York City utility over woman’s fatal manhole fall

This screen grab from a video shows the manhole where the incident occured, on May 19, 2026, in New York. (WABC)

(NEW YORK) -- The family of a Westchester grandmother who died after falling into an open manhole in Midtown Manhattan filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the utility responsible for the manhole, alleging its workers failed to properly seal the cover.

Donike Goncaj, 56, fell into the manhole at 52nd Street and Fifth Avenue on May 18 and died of scald burns and thermal inhalation from the steam. The lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court on Thursday, says she suffered "severe, horrifying, and catastrophic injuries."

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner ruled Goncaj's death an accident.

The utility, Con Edison, concluded a truck ran over the manhole and dislodged the cover and noted in a statement in May that "while this is a rare occurrence, manhole covers can get displaced by heavy vehicles."

The lawsuit, filed by Goncaj's son on behalf of her estate, and her domestic partner, alleged ConEdison "should have known that dislodged and displaced manhole covers presented a recurring and foreseeable danger to pedestrians" and accused the utility of negligence, carelessness and reckless disregard for their mother's safety.

Someone falling to their death in a manhole "ordinarily does not occur in the absence of negligence," the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit contended that ConEd and its contractors "had a duty to maintain" the manhole "in reasonably safe conditions," including warning pedestrians and providing a ladder or staircase to exit it.

ConEd did not immediately comment on the suit. In May, it said it was investigating the situation and working with the city in its probe.

"Our thoughts remain with her family, and safety remains our top priority," ConEd said in a statement a day after the incident.

According to the lawsuit, Goncaj's domestic partner, Jashar Kameraj, witnessed her falling into the scalding hot manhole and tried to rescue her, to no avail.

Kameraj and Goncaj's son are seeking unspecified damages.

-ABC News' Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

‘Where is Roker?’ Man snuck into 30 Rock looking for ‘Today’ show host, police say

People walk by the Comcast building which houses NBC Studios in Manhattan on June 29, 2026 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) -- A man is facing charges, including menacing as a hate crime, after he allegedly snuck into an NBC building at New York City's Rockefeller Center looking for "Today" show weather anchor Al Roker, authorities said.

The suspect, Andrew Truelove, gained access to the "Today" studio on Thursday morning by entering the lobby and closely following an NBC employee who used an ID card to scan into the building, Rockefeller Center security personnel told authorities.

Truelove allegedly loitered at the bottom of a stairwell before calling out, "Where is Roker?" according to a criminal complaint.

He then allegedly took steps toward "Today" anchor Craig Melvin and repeatedly uttered a racial slur, the complaint said.

Truelove, 41, of Manhattan, was detained by an NYPD officer working a paid detail, police said.

He was charged with burglary as a hate crime, menacing as a hate crime, criminal trespass as a hate crime and harassment, according to police. He appeared in court on Friday, where a judge set bail at $10,000.

Police sources told ABC News Truelove is a Sandy Hook school shooting denier who has been arrested numerous times, including in his native Virginia, for allegedly stealing signs dedicated to Sandy Hook victims.

Melvin wrote on Instagram after Thursday's incident, "I'm doing just fine. Thanks for reaching out." He added on "Today" on Friday, "We are cooperating fully with the NYPD as they investigate the matter and we are just very happy that everyone is safe."

Roker wrote on Instagram Friday morning, "A really heartfelt thank you to all who reached out over the last 24 hours to check in on my brother, craigmelvinnbc. We are both okay. It's moments like these that serve to pull us together."

NBC News did not respond to ABC News' request for comment, but Melvin shared a statement from NBC News on Instagram, which said the person "entered an unauthorized area " and "approached anchor Craig Melvin, who alerted security."

"The individual was detained and taken into custody by law enforcement without further incident. There was no altercation, and no one was injured," NBC said.

NBC said it takes "the safety and security of our employees, talent, staff and guests extremely seriously. We are reviewing the incident and our security protocols and remain committed to providing a safe and secure environment for everyone who works at and visits our studios."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Crews scamble to more water rescues in Texas after days of punishing rains

UVALDE (AP) — More heavy rains in storm-weary Texas sent first responders rushing to people trapped in high waters Friday, widening the danger caused by floods that have killed at least two people and left hundreds more in need of rescue.

A relentless week of punishing downpours in Texas — dumping more than 2 feet (60 centimeters) in some areas — was expected to begin tapering off Friday. But another round of showers worsened already swollen rivers and flooded rural communities near the border with Mexico that had largely been spared major damage.

Near Ozona, a small town about 200 miles (322 kilometers) west of San Antonio, floodwaters spilled over Interstate 10. A section of a bridge also collapsed over the Nueces River in Uvalde County, where months worth of rain has fallen in a span of days.

Emergency personnel across a wide swath of southern and central Texas have rescued more than 200 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Gov. Greg Abbott said. In the Texas Hill Country, residents were begin cleaning up after floodwaters again barrelled down the Guadalupe River and through communities still reeling from deadly floods a year ago.

“The water’s up to the top of the banks,” Sutton County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Jon Gann said. “If we get any more, we’re going to be into homes.”

The Texas Department of Transportation said high waters closed a 50-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 57 and that parts of the roadway were not expected to reopen until Monday.

In all, the downpours put roughly 6 million residents across Texas under a flood watch at various points this week.

Residents in hard-hit Uvalde return to flooded homes

In Uvalde, one of the hardest-hit cities from flooding, waters were receding and officials said a major highway, Route 90, had reopened after floodwaters had overrun the city and cut off most outside routes.

Sandra Gomez was assessing the damage at her Uvalde home on Friday after having left it before the flooding. She said about 6 inches (15 centimeters) of water got inside and left mud throughout the house, where she’s lived since last year. She said she was luckier than other people she knows whose homes were under 5 or 6 feet (1.5 to 1.8 meters) of water.

“Well, really it’s very, very emotional,” she said. “Material things I can replace. It may take a while, but I can replace those but I cannot replace my family. So, my family’s safe and that’s all that really matters.”

One person who died was driving on a flooded road and was swept away near Uvalde, authorities said.

Another victim, 65-year-old John Mark Steward of Kerrville, died after his mobile home was swept into Goat Creek on the Guadalupe River, his wife said. The river is the same one wrecked by flash floods last year when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic. Authorities on Thursday said summer campers were safe.
Nearly 1 trillion gallons of rainfall

Authorities in Crockett County evacuated more than 50 people Friday morning from apartments and an RV park in the southern part of the county seat of Ozona, using seven rescue boat teams,. They were taken to the local civic center for shelter.

He said the area received 6 inches of rain after midnight, on top of nearly 10 inches of rain before that.

“We have more and more accidents on the interstate,” he said. “We have more and more water pouring into the neighborhoods where we’ve been pulling people out of.”

The scenes were similar to recues that have played out in Texas counties this week.

Nearly 1 trillion gallons of water fell on the three hardest-hit counties over three days — Uvalde County alone got more rain in that period than California has seen over the last month, according to Ryan Maue, former chief scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.

AI stocks keep falling, while oil prices keep climbing

AI stocks keep falling, while oil prices keep climbingNEW YORK (AP) — More swings for computer chip companies and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom are yanking stock markets lower Friday. Oil prices, meanwhile, continue to climb because of the war with Iran.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7% after dropping as much as 1.4% in the morning. It’s on track for its first losing week in the last three and only its third since March, just a couple days after it climbed within 0.5% of its all-time high.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 13 points, or less than 0.1%, as of 11:30 a.m. Eastern time, after veering between an early loss of 566 points and a modest gain. The Nasdaq composite fell 1.4%.

Chip stocks once again were at the center of the shakiness. They’ve been under pressure for weeks on worries that their prices shot too high and that voracious demand for computer memory and processors may be unsustainable if AI ends up producing less profit and productivity than promised.

Applied Materials sank 3.6% to trim its surge for the year so far below 108%. Micron Technology swung between a loss of 5.8% and a gain of 3.2% before adding 0.2%.

Earlier in the morning, tech sold off worldwide. Indexes tumbled 6.5% in Taipei, 4% in Tokyo and 3% in Shanghai as stocks like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. dropped 7.3%.

South Korea’s stock market was closed for a holiday, offering some respite, if only temporary. It’s been at the center of the AI swings because it’s dominated by two huge tech companies, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This past week alone, Seoul’s Kospi stock index had one day where it surged 6.2% and two others where it sank 6.4% and 8.9%.

News of a Chinese open-sourced AI model by startup Moonshot, Kimi K3, further shook markets. Similar to when China’s DeepSeek announced its AI model in early 2025, another low-cost rival to big Western AI models like ChatGPT and OpenAI could potentially hurt demand for computer chips and other components.

European stock indexes, which have less of an emphasis on AI and tech, had milder moves.

Adding to the pressure on Wall Street Friday were drops for several stocks following their latest earnings reports. It’s a departure from much of the rest of the week, when companies like Goldman Sachs and BlackRock jumped after delivering better profits for the spring than analysts expected.

Netflix sank 7.7% after its revenue for the latest quarter fell just short of analysts’ expectations, even though its profit was bigger than expected. Its forecasts for upcoming revenue and profit in the summer also fell below expectations.

Intuitive Surgical, a maker of robotic surgical systems, dropped 12.5% despite topping expectations for the latest quarter. Analysts pointed to worries about slowing procedure growth because of the expiration of enhanced tax credits that helped lower the cost of health insurance for many Affordable Care Act enrollees.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX fell 5.1% and touched its lowest level since its stock began trading on the Nasdaq just over a month ago. The owner of the xAI business has been swept up in the swings of AI stocks, and it had to abort a test flight of its mega Starship rocket Thursday within a second or so from blasting off.

More climbs for oil prices also pressured the stock market.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude, the international standard, rose 2.5% to $86.34, up from roughly $76 a week ago.

The United States expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early Friday by hitting more bridges and collapsing a tower at a key Iranian port. That raised further worries about whether oil tankers will be able to use the Strait of Hormuz to carry crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

High oil prices have sent Treasury yields upward in the bond market, which threaten to slow the economy and undercut prices for stocks and all kinds of other investments. Higher yields have already sent the average 30-year mortgage rate to its highest level in nearly a year.

But Treasury yields eased Friday. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.53% from 4.57% late Thursday.

A report suggested sentiment among U.S. consumers is improving more than economists expected, while expectations for upcoming inflation eased. That’s important for the Federal Reserve, which is considering hikes to interest rates to keep a lid on inflation. If expectations for inflation remain anchored, it could prevent a vicious cycle where people make moves in anticipation of higher inflation, which only worsen it.

The preliminary reading from the University of Michigan’s survey for U.S. consumer sentiment hit its highest reading since February. But much of the rise was due to recent drops for prices at gasoline pumps, according to Joanne Hsu, director of the survey. If gasoline prices rise again because of crude’s recent rally, the improvement could be under pressure.

Leon Black walked out of Epstein interview after refusing to answer questions about NDAs

Former CEO of Apollo Global Management Leon Black arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 26, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Private equity billionaire Leon Black walked out of his transcribed interview with the House Oversight Committee regarding his decades-long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein after refusing to answer questions about nondisclosure agreements allegedly related to the disgraced sex offender, according to a transcript of the June 26 interview released by the committee Friday.

While he said he would be willing to talk about three women involved in lawsuits against him, Black repeatedly declined to answer questions about how many nondisclosure agreements he was involved in, citing the advice of his attorneys. 

"I'm not here to talk about confidential NDAs," Black said, later adding. "I'm not here to talk about who has NDAs."

Black was issued two subpoenas after his refusals -- one compelling him to participate in a deposition and another to turn over any NDAs. A House Oversight Committee spokesperson said Black's attorney confirmed Black would appear for a deposition on Sept. 3, and he will turn over the NDAs sometime next week. 

Black, who maintained a social relationship with Epstein since the mid-1990s and eventually paid him more than $170 million for "tax and estate planning advice," according to the Senate Finance Committee, appeared before the Oversight panel as part of its ongoing probe into the government's investigation of the convicted sex offender.

Black acknowledged that he discussed at least one nondisclosure agreement with Epstein, though he denied he sought Epstein's advice on the matter. According to Black, he agreed to pay a woman with whom he had a six-year affair after she allegedly "blackmailed and extorted" him, ultimately agreeing to pay her more than $21 million over 15 years. Because Epstein was helping manage his finances, Black said he made Epstein aware of the agreement and payments. 

"I don't know whether he had any experience on NDAs. He was not my NDA adviser," Black said of Epstein, according to the transcript. 

Black was served the two subpoenas after he declined to answer broader questions about other alleged nondisclosure agreements. His lawyers argued that Black was not at liberty to discuss confidential agreements he was a party to, and called the subpoenas a stunt. 

"Mr. Black came here voluntarily to assist the committee. This was nothing more than a planned political stunt," said Black's attorney Aaron Cutler. "Mr. Epstein had no involvement with any NDAs, whether they exist or not."

Before the interview was cut short, Black faced questions about his decades-long relationship with Epstein, who he first began to see socially before hiring him to manage part of his estate. While Black acknowledged that he saw Epstein somewhat regularly -- about once a month -- he claimed they were not close friends. 

"Friendship is an amorphous term. This is somebody who knew intimately the goings on in my family tax and estate planning entities. It's also something where, as I mentioned, I'd go over and meet his friends. I know there are emails where he claims that we're best friends. We were never best friends," Black said, per the transcript. 

Lawmakers pushed back when Black sought to distance himself from Epstein, including by asking about a message Black wrote for a book that Maxwell, Epstein's longtime associate, created for Epstein's 50th birthday. According to the Wall Street Journal, Black wrote a two-line poem -- "Blonde, Red or Brunette, spread out geographically ... with this net of fish, Jeff's now 'The Old Man and The Sea'" -- which he signed "Love and kisses, Leon."

Asked to explain the note, Black said he was referencing how Epstein "seemed to know women all over the world," though he denied knowing any of the women were underage. 

"He enjoyed the company of good-looking women, and he was a bachelor," Black said, saying how Epstein's surrounding himself with "mostly good-looking women" was "a little bit out of like a James Bond movie." 

The interview was cut short after the topic transitioned to nondisclosure agreements, and Black was not asked about the more than $158 he paid Epstein for "tax and estate planning advice." During his opening remarks, Black claimed that he paid Epstein so much because he solved a "massive estate problem ... that would have destroyed enormous value." He denied that the money was related to any illegal activities. 

"I have never paid Epstein for access to women. I was never blackmailed by Epstein. I was not involved with, and had no knowledge of, any of Epstein's heinous conduct," Black said, according to the transcript. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Trump says documents show voting vulnerabilities, China meddling and fraud

U.S. President Donald Trump looks on during a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Iraq Ali al-Zaidi, in the Oval Office of the White House on July 14, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump, in a primetime address on Thursday, announced he has declassified a slew of documents he claims reveal vulnerabilities in America's elections systems, election fraud and interference in elections by China, and ordered the Department of Justice to prosecute those believed to be involved.

"America is back and doing really well, but we still have a major challenge that must be urgently addressed because no country can be great without fair and honest elections, you have to trust your country," Trump said. "Because if there can be no trust, there can be no greatness, and that's very simple: no trust, no greatness."

But throughout the more than 20-minute speech, the president did not provide specific evidence that the election outcome, or any votes, were altered in the 2020 election, despite his repeated claims that the election was "stolen" or "rigged."

Trump has long pushed debunked conspiracy theories to claim that his 2020 election loss was fraudulent.

The president's speech led to his main argument: he wants Congress to pass the SAVE America Act, his sweeping elections reform bill that Senate Majority Leader John Thune has repeatedly said does not have enough Republican votes to pass.  

In his remarks, the president said that he would immediately declassify the release of "critical intelligence, revealing shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure."

According to the president, the documents focus on what he said were a number of areas of concern, including claims that China "compromised" election data during the 2020 election, and attempts to downplay the extent of China's efforts.

Trump argued that the intelligence community suppressed information about China accessing 220 million voter files and trying to turn American opinion against him in the run-up to the 2020 election.

The president also accused the "deep-state" of keeping information about election meddling from him.

Trump claimed that U.S. intelligence agencies learned that tens of millions of voters' data in 18 states had been "bought, stolen, or hacked" by China, and that the intelligence community deliberately kept this information from him while he was president.

Trump's remarks asserting that the Chinese undertook a far more ambitious role in attempting to dictate the outcome of the 2020 election goes beyond what U.S. intelligence community has previously assessed.

In March 2021, two months into the Biden administration, a declassified "Intelligence Community Assessment" (ICA)  that was produced at the end of Trump's first term publicly acknowledged the belief among some intelligence officials that "China took at least some steps to undermine former President Trump's reelection chances." But the ICA said any such actions were "primarily through social media and official public statements and media," not through interference with "election processes."

Further, the ICA said that while China was "probably" trying "to gather information on U.S. voters and public opinion; political parties, candidates and their staffs; and senior government officials," the more reliable intelligence indicated that such efforts were not actually intended to undermine Trump but instead to "predict electoral outcomes and to inform its efforts to influence US policy toward China under either election outcome."

The heavily redacted documents released by the White House on Thursday do not appear to back up Trump's assertions, instead containing scattershot intelligence that descries efforts to obtain -- but not alter -- voter records and to conduct social media activity to sow social discord.

One heavily-redacted document titled "200M Voter Records Compromised. repeatedly references personally identifiable information being compromised. This information includes names, phone numbers and addresses -- which can also be found from many other sources.

In another series of near-completely redacted memos, words such as "state voter registration data" and "personal identifiable information" appear between large blocks of black redaction markings. It is impossible to surmise the meaning of these records without context, but they appear to point to some Chinese efforts to gather American voter data, much of which is publicly available.

Notably, these memos document Chinese activities ahead of both the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Trump alleged that former Justice Department officials slow-walked an investigation in Michigan that involved the submission of voter registration applications that had forged signatures and other indications of fraudulent applications. Trump called on FBI Director Kash Patel to look into whether any charges can still be brought.

Local media at the time said that a state-level investigation was halted so the FBI could continue with a related investigation. It's unclear why no federal charges were ever brought or if federal charges were warranted.

At the time, state officials said that the fact that the fraudulent applications were detected shows that the system worked.

The president also said the documents released Thursday include a Department of Homeland Security report he called "stunning," alleging approximately 278,000 non-citizens were included on voter rolls.

In the documents released by the White House, the DHS report that alleged 250,000 noncitizen voters on the rolls came from a review of "public voter files" that appear to have come from four states: California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Nevada. DHS did not provide any methodology about how it reached that number, nor does it specify what "public voter files" it reviewed.

DHS acknowledged it did not have access to those states' voter rolls, and alleges that in the 10 states that provided the federal government access to their rolls, the agency found 28,000 noncitizen voters.  

Findings from the conservative-leaning Heritage Foundation have found only around 100 verified instances of non-citizen voting going back two decades.

-ABC News' Lucien Bruggeman and Mike Levine contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

DMV online system down

SMITH COUNTY — The Texas Department of Motor Vehicles online system is down statewide, so the Smith County Tax Office cannot process auto registration renewals or title work at this time, according to the county’s Facebook page.

Smith County Tax-Assessor Collector Gary Barber said the system went down Thursday afternoon and it was still down when they came to work Friday morning. He is not sure when it will be back up but we will alert the public when that happens.

The Smith County Property Tax Department is open for normal business.

‘Beloved’ mom’s body recovered after boat capsized near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

An undated photo of Tondra Madruga who died when a boat capsized in San Francisco Bay on July 14, 2026. (Madruga Family)

(SAN FRANCISCO) -- The body of a 58-year-old woman has been recovered after a boat capsized and sank near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay, marking the second person confirmed dead from the incident.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office identified the second victim as Tondra Madruga. Two people remain missing.

Madruga's relatives said in a statement that they're "heartbroken by the loss of our beloved mother, daughter, sister, and aunt."

"Our hearts remain with every family impacted, and we sincerely appreciate your kindness and understanding," the family said. "We extend our heartfelt thanks to the U.S. Coast Guard, the San Francisco Fire Department, the San Francisco Police Department, all of the first responders, and the civilian boaters and community members who selflessly assisted in the search and rescue efforts. Your dedication and support mean more to our family than words can express."

Authorities said they believe 20 people were aboard the Volare, a 50-foot cabin cruiser based out of Stockton, California, when it was hit by a wave Tuesday evening, causing it to capsize.

One man who was aboard was taken to the shore severely injured and, despite CPR being administered, was pronounced dead, officials said. He was identified by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa.

A dog also died, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen said.

Three people were taken to the hospital and later released, Crispen said.

Crispen told reporters that authorities believe there was a memorial service that the 20 passengers, all adults and mostly comprised of family members, were taking part in on the vessel when it capsized. One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.

The Coast Guard announced Wednesday that it suspended search operations

Jarod Toczko, commander for U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, said the decision to suspend the search was not easy, but his teams swept through 950 square nautical miles and hadn't found the missing people or the boat.

Toczko said there was a "high possibility that individuals could have been trapped in the vessel."

Rescuer Justin Marceline told KGO that some passengers were "banging on the windows, trying to get out" of the boat.

"It was pretty wild, seeing that, honestly," Marceline said, adding that conditions in the water were "really bad."

"The people that were bobbing in the water, we pulled them out first," Marceline said. "The people in the water were elderly folks, they were conscious, but people were too tired and worn out."

Toczko praised those who jumped to save the passengers.

"No question, no doubt...those people saved lives," he said.

ABC News' Emily Shapiro and Jennifer Watts contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Ukraine’s deep strikes mean ‘significant change’ for war, former Russian PM says

Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov attends a march in memory of Russian opposition leader and former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov on March 1, 2015 in Moscow, Russia. (Sasha Mordovets/Getty Images)

(LONDON) -- Once one of the most powerful men in Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov now lives in exile in Latvia, his name on a list of "extremists and terrorists" that the Kremlin alleges are trying to overthrow the state.

Kasyanov first served as Russia's finance minister before being elevated to prime minister under President Vladimir Putin from May 2000 to February 2004 -- the early years of Putin's time in office when the future strongman was embedding his control and beginning to formulate his vision of a revitalized Russia.

Putin's decades-long project culminated in the February 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a gambit now in its fifth year. Kasyanov told ABC News last week that the campaign has achieved none of Putin's goals and could yet prove an existential challenge to the Kremlin regime.

In recent months, Kasyanov told ABC News on the sidelines of the Chatham House think tank conference in London, "the overall sentiment, overall attitude, to Putin started to change."

Among the factors applying more pressure to the Kremlin are expanding Ukrainian long-range drone strikes on Russia's oil production, refining and export facilities -- plus on the capital Moscow and the so-called "second capital" St. Petersburg -- apparent public concern about spreading fuel shortages, troubling macro-economic indicators and new restrictions on internet usage, Kasyanov said.

Putin, Kasyanov said, built his image around providing both stability and security. "There is nothing on this -- no stability and no security," he said, adding, "The situation now has started to change in the minds of people -- not only the ruling group, but also just the middle class, who in fact, could in any country be a driving force for any changes."

That middle class is a key constituency for the Kremlin. Concentrated in Russia's largest cities, analysts have watched keenly for any hint of dissent from this social strata.

Putin's continued refusal to order a general mobilization despite Russia's enormous battlefield losses and reported manpower strains have been interpreted by some analysts as a tacit acknowledgement that the Kremlin does not want to risk urban, middle class ire. "Putin is very much concerned about this," Kasyanov suggested.

In cities like Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg, Kasyanov said, it had until recently been possible to continue as if "nothing is happening."

"But, in the spring and now, of course, Ukraine changed their attitude. They have an advantage in long-range missiles and they have an advantage in drones," Kasyanov said.

"Gradually, they moved the war from being an 'accident' somewhere, an emergency case somewhere in the corner of Russia, to Russia -- even to Moscow. And that is quite a significant change."

'He needs pressure'

Kayanov said Western powers should seek to exploit the growing pressure on Putin and force him back to the negotiating table with genuine concessions, not the same maximalist demands the Kremlin has long made of Ukraine.

"It could happen by the end of the year if consistent pressure continues," Kasyanov said. Russia's growing budget deficit -- which as of last month reached 2.5% of GDP, according to preliminary Finance Ministry data -- could prove a particular pain point, he added.

So too might international sanctions on -- and long-range Ukrainian drone attacks on -- Russia's vital oil industry, Kasyanov added. "By the end of the year, he will face a big problem," Kasyanov said of Putin.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov this week acknowledged some economic strains, telling reporters that Russia's rate of growth is currently "insufficient." But Peskov said the problems facing the country were not critical, but rather a reflection of the "rather dire state" of the global economy.

On the diplomatic front, Kasyanov said Moscow has largely failed to convert apparent diplomatic openings with Washington -- for example its success at Putin's summit with President Donald Trump in Anchorage in August 2025.

"What Putin wanted was to divide the transatlantic unity, dreaming of what they call the 'Anchorage spirit,'" Kasyanov said, referring to the U.S.-Russian understanding that Moscow said was reached at the Alaska summit, which was widely interpreted as a diplomatic coup for the Kremlin.

Broadly, Kasyanov suggested that Washington had a "wrong understanding of the whole problem." He added, "All those years, it was a useless undertaking trying to give a carrot to Putin. Because they don't understand what the Putin regime is about."

The negotiations, Kasyanov suggested, were interpreted by the Kremlin "as a demonstration of weakness." Nonetheless, both Moscow and Kyiv have acknowledged that the current conflict can only end with a diplomatic settlement.

Trump has repeatedly said he is the only Western leader capable of pressuring Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to agree a deal to end the fighting. This week, Trump told Fox News he believes that Putin is "ready to make a deal," possibly "soon."

"I tell him the same thing all the time. I don't want to go into great detail, but I say: 'Vladimir, it's time for you to stop. It's time for this war to end,'" Trump said. "It takes two to tango. But I think he's ready to make a deal," Trump added.

Earlier this month, Trump told ABC News of a potential deal, "We're getting much closer than people realize, and President Putin wants it to end."

But for all the Russian maneuvers and White House criticism directed toward Kyiv, Western funds and weapons have continued to flow into Ukrainian hands.

Last week, during a warm face-to-face meeting with Zelenskyy, Trump said Ukraine would be allowed to produce key Patriot surface-to-air system interceptors.

"That is, I think, creating a shock in Moscow," Kasyanov said of the resolute Western backing of Ukraine.

Life after Putin

Putin dismissed Kasyanov and his cabinet in early 2004, weeks before that year's presidential election. In the years that followed, Kasyanov became a prominent opposition figure, faced fraud charges -- which he denied -- and was blocked from standing as a candidate in Russia's 2008 presidential election.

After Putin launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine In 2022, Kasyanov left Russia. He now leads the People's Freedom Party from Riga -- "temporarily," according to his business card.

Kasyanov, 68, said he has no concrete political ambitions in a post-Putin Russia. Rather, he suggested that the best case scenario would be a "long process" of political normalization and eventual democratization.

A years-long "gray period," he said, could see Putin's successors allow "imitation" or "quasi" elections and the return of a true political opposition, which Kasyanov hopes will eventually give way to a genuine vote that draws real legitimacy from the population.

"If Putin stays in power, it means there will be another period in which Russia will represent a threat and there will continue to be some kind of negotiations and preparations for some kind of revanche, as we saw in previous years," Kasyanov said.

For the time being, Kasyanov said he expects Putin to simultaneously seek to "destroy unity" within Europe and within the transatlantic system and seek negotiations.

On the domestic front, Putin will continue to keep a tight grip on the narrative, Kasyanov said, lionizing Russian achievements in the war like the retention of Crimea, further territorial gains in southern and eastern Ukraine and a supposed defeat of NATO.

In the long term, Kasyanov said he still hopes for Putin to leave the scene, one way or another. But he doubts Putin will be overthrown from the inside.

"I don't think there will be a coup, because there are no such people. All those people inside who were capable, with strength, disappeared," Kasyanov said. There are, he added, people in Russia who are "ready for changes, but they are not ready to fight, because they immediately will be in jail."

"When the situation starts to change, some of us could come back to participate in quasi-elections, which will happen not in two years after Putin, maybe in three years, maybe in four years. And at that time, real change could start," he said.

"I hope my country will be a normal European state," Kasyanov said. "We'll see."

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Not guilty plea to transporting immigrants

TYLER — Two men pleaded not guilty on Thursday after an ICE and FBI operation in June, after being accused of transporting illegal immigrants. Arturo Alcantar-Perez and Guillermo Limon-Sanchez pleaded not guilty today in federal court in Tyler to charges including conspiracy to transport illegal aliens, trafficking in false identification documents and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

According to our news partner KETK, the two men were arrested on June 2 during an FBI and ICE operation at Ximena’s Furniture Store in North Tyler.

The charges stem from an alleged conspiracy to harbor and transport undocumented immigrants that began in May 2023. Alcantar-Perez and Limon-Sanchez remain in the custody of U.S. Marshals following their court appearance.

Two women, Virginia Valdivia and Keyla Valdivia, were also charged in connection with the case, facing the same three charges as Alcantar-Perez and Limon-Sanchez. Continue reading Not guilty plea to transporting immigrants

Administrator resigns amid water issues

Administrator resigns amid water issuesTRINIDAD – Trinidad City Administrator Cynthia Dosier resigned from her position on Wednesday as the city continues to deal with their ongoing water system issues. Trinidad Mayor Dennis Haws announced both Dossier’s resignation and the resignation of city employee Sandra Rojas on Wednesday. In a social media post, Haws said that he’s contacted the Texas Municipal League (TML) for advice on how to work through these resignations.

“I want to make you aware that this will undoubtedly create some issues at City Hall as we transition through this and I apologize for any inconveniences,” Haws said on Thursday. “I have contacted TML this morning to get their guidance on working through this, we will seek interim staffing through organizations they are associated with so that we can have qualified individuals that can start working through issues immediately.”

Dosier’s and Rojas’s resignations came after the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality recently found that Trinidad’s public water system has three alleged violations, which were only found after multiple residents submitted complaints to the state because of unclean drinking water. Continue reading Administrator resigns amid water issues

Groundwater district takes no action

Groundwater district takes no actionANDERSON COUNTY – The Neches and Trinity Valleys Groundwater Conservation District took no action during a public hearing today on proposed rule changes to drilling permits. The proposed changes are being considered as Dallas investor Kyle Bass is suing the District for access to drill in Anderson County.

According to our news partner KETK, the District is considering six proposed rule changes, including potential updates to water permitting, emergency planning and overall groundwater use. The hearing also provided an opportunity for District board members to hear additional public comment.

State Sen. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville attended the hearing as she looks to clarify the current permitting rules. Bass applied last year to drill 21 high-capacity wells in Anderson County. These proposed wells could potentially extract 10 billion gallons of water per year from the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer.

Upshur votes to join water district

Upshur votes to join water districtUPSHUR COUNTY – The County Commissioners’ Court unanimously voted to join the future Northeast Texas Groundwater Conservation District on Wednesday, according to our news partner KETK. Upshur County Precinct 1 Commissioner Gene Dolle said they voted to join the planned district as part of a growing effort to conserve the area’s underground water resources.

Smith and Gregg County Commissioners have also voted to join the district recently. According to Dolle, the effort to create the district has been spearheaded in Upshur County by their recently elected County Judge L. Brandon Dodd. Dodd is working closely with State Rep. Jay Dean, a longtime champion of local water conservation.

The district will be comprised of anywhere between a dozen and 16 East Texas counties that sit over the Carrizo-Wilcox aquifer and aren’t yet a part of a groundwater conservation district. It would be led by its own board and the East Texas Council of Governments, and work with state lawmakers, and individual counties to help safeguard local water resources.

Texas flash floods leave at least 2 dead in region devastated a year ago

UVALDE (AP) — Catastrophic flash floods in Texas have killed two people and forced hundreds of rescues in areas still reeling from devastating floods a year ago, Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday.

Rescuers aboard boats and helicopters have saved more than 200 people, including stranded drivers and people trapped in homes, Abbott said.

The governor said the hardest-hit areas are expecting more rain into Friday and are not out of danger yet, with some rivers expected to reach historic levels.

After days of pounding rain, the National Weather Service said a large wave on Thursday barreled down the same river wrecked by flash floods last summer when two dozen children and counselors died at Camp Mystic.

Much like last year, the floods came in the middle of the night. But this time some residents in the Texas Hill Country said they received more warnings.

Forecasters urgently warned, “Move to higher ground now!” as rivers rose hour by hour, turning them into fast-moving seas of white water. Some spots of the Guadalupe River rose by more than 30 feet (9 meters).

The governor said more than 2,000 first responders had been deployed and some evacuations began before the worst of the flooding.

“What happened last year was a warning to people on or near rivers,” Abbott said. “No one can be complacent.”

As much as 28 inches (74 centimeters) of rain fell over the past three days in Uvalde County, which was spared from the worst flooding a year ago, the weather service said Thursday. Other areas saw roughly a foot of rain.

Victims in Texas floods were swept away

The governor said one of the victims was driving on a flooded road and was swept away near Uvalde while the other died in Kerr County.

Jennie Steward said the body of her husband, 65-year-old John Mark Steward, of Kerrville, was found Thursday.

She was visiting her parents when a neighbor called overnight, saying her husband was missing after water had risen to the door of their mobile home, which stood off the ground.

The entire home was swept off the platform and floated down Goat Creek on the Guadalupe, she said.

“It’s really hard that I wasn’t there with him,” she said. The two last spoke by phone Wednesday to celebrate their third anniversary.
Hill Country residents say they were better prepared

The unfolding crisis brought back haunting memories of last summer’s unimaginable Hill Country floods that killed more than 100 people over the July Fourth holiday.

“It’s crazy happening two times in one year,” said Josiah Rodriguez, who awoke to the sound of heavy rain around 2 a.m. Thursday in Kerrville. He navigated flooded roads to help evacuate relatives.

“Last year there was no warning of it,” he said. “It just kind of happened overnight and it took everyone by surprise. This year, a lot more alerts have gone into place, a lot more safety measures.”

Residents said they were caught off guard a year ago and didn’t receive any warning when floods overtopped the Guadalupe. Some local leaders were criticized for not acting quickly.

The storms and flooding this time threatened multiple counties close to the Mexico border and in the Hill Country near San Antonio. Roughly 6 million residents across Texas were under a flood watch this week, and many were expected to remain in effect into Friday.

Several agencies sent rescue helicopters to the flood zone, including Travis County in the state capital of Austin.

At a wild animal rescue, Katie Buck evacuated several dozen animals to higher ground in the dark Thursday as the normally dry Lazy Creek overflowed. She had to quickly grab a porcupine despite having no gloves.

She got all of the animals to safety, but flooding destroyed several enclosures at the Buck Wild Animal Rescue and Wildlife Rehab near Ingram in Kerr County.

“We were just starting to get back on our feet again,” Buck said. “To have to go through this again is just devastating.”

Residents at an RV park in Comfort moved their trailers as sirens sounded, said manager Duke Earwood.

Water rose over the hoods of vehicles parked near the river at the Comfort RV Resort. Markers showed the flooding already matched last July’s big flood.

“Too familiar for sure, and too soon,” Earwood said.
Uvalde residents isolated by floodwaters

Floodwaters also overran the city of Uvalde overnight, cutting off most outside routes. The Leona River, normally dry most of the year, filled streets with water.

“People really can’t get anywhere,” said Carmen Rodriguez, who nervously watched water engulf her neighborhood as a helicopter roared overhead. “We have a place to go, but all the streets are closed.”

Rodriguez said authorities seemed to be well prepared, ordering mandatory evacuations and notifying people directly.

Texas Game Wardens rescued close to 150 people by the afternoon, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson. Video released by the agency showed crews hoisting children from a house surrounded with water into a helicopter.

Flooding hasn’t reached last year’s deadly high
So far, the heavily swollen Guadalupe has remained below the record levels reached in 2025. Gauges showed it rose by more than 30 feet (9 meters) in some spots over just a few hours.

Close to Camp Mystic, which hasn’t reopened since last year’s tragedy, the Guadalupe near Hunt reached about 20.5 feet (6.3 meters), which is enough to cause flooding, according to U.S. Geological Survey and National Water Prediction Service data.

In Kerr County, where summer camps dot the river’s shores, the sheriff’s office said all campers were safe. Several camps said the children were staying inside, with one camp reporting normal flooding.
Towns still rebuilding are hit by new floods

While the water didn’t rise as high as a year ago in Ingram, Mayor Claud Jordan believes this round of flooding was more widespread in his city. “The rural part of Ingram, all the roads are just trashed,” he said.

“There are a bunch of businesses that haven’t reopened from last year,” Jordan said. “This doesn’t help.”

The Hill Country is especially prone to flash floods because the area’s signature limestone is covered by just a thin layer of soil. During heavy rains, water can quickly shoot downhill before filling the narrow river basins.

Democrats launch prebuttal to Trump’s primetime address: ‘He’s scared to death’ of the midterms

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaks to members of the media outside the U.S. Capitol on June 18, 2026, in Washington, DC. Sen. Schumer blasted President Trump's new agreement with Iran, calling it an "epic failure" that keeps Americans in the dark due to a lack of transparency while leaving the U.S. in a worse strategic and security position. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Democrats on Thursday offered their prebuttal to President Donald Trump's prime time address that they expect to focus on the 2020 election. 

Georgia Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff, whose home state has been the target of many of the administration's election challenges, told reporters Thursday, "If the president declares Georgia's elections illegitimate, or if the president declares Georgia's sitting United States senators illegitimate, he is declaring Georgia voters illegitimate. It's Donald Trump who tried to defraud Georgia voters in that election."

Ossoff is up for re-election in November and his seat is being targeted by Republicans as a possible pickup opportunity. He predicted that Trump would use his speech to rehash challenges to the 2020 election that failed in court.

"Here's what's going to happen tonight: the world's most famous sore loser will deliver a prime-time presidential sour grapes address to pursue his six-year-old grievances about the 2020 election, while his war in the Middle East spirals out of control and the cost of living continues to rise for Americans across the country," Ossoff said.

In a White House briefing Thursday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt was tight-lipped about what the president would say besides that he will discuss "protecting the integrity of our elections." 

When pressed by a reporter about concerns from some Republicans that the president was litigating past elections that could turn off some swing voters, Leavitt said that Trump would focus on secure elections as key to American democracy. 

"I've seen a lot of reporting and, frankly, misreporting about what the president will say. I think the American people will be relieved to hear what they are hearing from the president of the United States and his commitment to transparency and the focus on the integrity of our elections tonight," she said.

When later pressed by ABC News' Rachel Scott about the political concerns of some Republicans, Leavitt said only that people should wait until they've heard the speech.

Outgoing Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and John Cornyn and Rep. Thomas Massie said Trump looking back on the 2020 elections is not a productive message for the party as it heads into the upcoming midterm cycle.

Asked if he thought Trump focusing on the 2020 election going into the midterms was a good messages for Republicans, Tillis said, "No, not at all. Look, we can't re-prosecute that campaign. Anytime you're looking back, you're not looking ahead and I'm looking ahead to these elections, and the president should as well."

Massie said that the White House was "trying to convince the American people the problem is the elections" rather than other issues they are concerned about.

"The problem is not that we didn't win the elections. The problem is that we broke our promises when we got here ... So, it's a ruse because they're trying to convince the American people the problem is the elections. The problem is the people that they've elected."

Cornyn said that he wasn't pleased with Jay Clayton's answers on the 2020 election during his Senate Intelligence Committee confirmation hearing to be Trump's director of national intelligence on Tuesday when he refused to answer who won.

"I thought a lot of it was pretty silly," Cornyn said of Clayton's performance. "I don't know why we're still talking about the 2020 election on either side of the aisle. We got important work to do and I think the most important is coming up here in the midterms. "In the meantime, to continue to do the people's work, and when we're talking about what happened six years ago, I don't think we're doing them any favors."

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Trump's speech could influence how he votes on Clayton. 

"If Donald Trump does what I expect and makes outrageous claims and uses those claims as an attempt to interfere in the elections, boy oh boy, more than ever do you need somebody in that role that'll take truth to power," he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer  told reporters that Trump is "scared to death that he will lose in 2026" and is trying to change the subject. 

"The bottom line is, if Trump wants to win the American people over, instead of the bulls--- that he's peddling about 2020, he ought to focus on lowering people's costs, getting rid of the chaos in administration, getting rid of the corruption," Schumer said.

ABC News' Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Blanche must meet with Epstein victims to earn confirmation vote, Sen. Tillis says

Sen. Thom Tillis attends the confirmation hearing by the Senate Judiciary Committee for acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Capitol Hill, July 15, 2026, in Washington. Win McNamee/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) -- A key GOP member of the Senate Judiciary Committee whose vote is needed to secure acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation as the next attorney general said Thursday that he will require Blanche to sit down with victims of deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein before he can vote for him. 

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., announced the new condition during a hearing Thursday where one of the witnesses was Epstein victim Dani Bensky.

Facing a potentially rocky confirmation, Blanche made a brief attempt to meet with Epstein survivors on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. 

He and his team arrived at a Senate Judiciary Committee office where they sat for about half an hour, but no one joined them.

"I rearranged my schedule to try to meet with them," Blanche told ABC News after leaving the office. "I've been here waiting. It didn't work out, so we're going to see if there's a way we can meet either later today or sometime soon."

"There's nothing newsworthy about this fact because the Department of Justice will always meet with victims or their representatives, and if those victims or their representatives have evidence that anybody committed a crime, whether it has to do with Jeffrey Epstein, anybody else that was associated with Jeffrey Epstein, or anybody else, we will of course move forward and investigate and prosecute," Blanche said.

Bensky testified in Thursday's hearing that Blanche has never responded to repeated attempts to reach him to sit down and recount her story. 

"Blanche was willing to say that he would meet with [Epstein victims] and counsel -- I understand the restriction that counsel has to be present," Tillis said. "I expect that meeting to occur before I vote to vote out of this committee and I'm trying to get to yes. But this is a very important part of getting to yes."

"There should not be any reason why, based on what Mr. Blanche said yesterday, if he said that he would do it today, then he can certainly do it over the next two weeks," Tillis added.

Blanche told lawmakers during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he would be happy to meet with victims but initially said he couldn't meet with them personally if they were represented by legal counsel, before correcting himself later in the hearing. 

"I never said I can't meet with them. I said if they were represented, I had to meet through counsel," Blanche said. "But of course, I can meet with them. I'm the acting attorney general of the United States, so yes, I can."

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Seventh DWI gets life sentence

Seventh DWI gets life sentenceGREGG COUNTY – A man has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of his seventh DWI conviction on Wednesday. According to our news partner KETK, Jeffry Scott Web was found guilty of driving while intoxicated three or more times. The jury deliberated only 45 minutes on the sentence, according to the Gregg County District Attorney’s Office.

Officials said Wednesday’s conviction stems from a report to the Longview Police Department of a drunk driver at the Majestic Inn motel. Upon arriving to the scene, responding officers spoke to a witness that claimed a man drove around the parking lot, parked and stumbled out of his vehicle into a motel room.

Motel security footage was later shown to the officers, which confirmed what the witness had said. Continue reading Seventh DWI gets life sentence

Fed probe suggests Tesla’s self-driving feature wasn’t to blame in crash that killed a grandmother

NEW YORK (AP) — Federal safety investigators looking into a runaway Tesla that killed a grandmother in her home say the driver had pressed the accelerator to full speed, suggesting the vehicle’s self-driving software was not to blame.

The driver had told police that he had the self-driving software turned on, but a report from the National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday concluded that he had actually overridden that feature when he pushed hard on the pedal. Moments later the Tesla Model 3 raced down a residential street in Katy, Texas, at highway speeds, slammed into a brick home and killed a 76-year-old woman standing in the front room.

The crash last month drew national attention because Tesla CEO Elon Musk is seeking to reassure the public its self-driving feature is safe as he prepares to turn hundreds of thousands of Teslas already on the road into fully automatic vehicles and begin selling two-seated Cybercabs missing steering wheels and pedals.

The crash came two months after officials at a separate federal agency, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, announced it was elevating a 2024 investigation of the self-driving feature to new “engineering analysis” level, raising the possibility of a recall of 3.2 million Tesla vehicles.

That NHTSA probe was triggered by crashes where the self-driving feature failed to alert drivers to take control in fog and other poor visibility conditions.

The agency opened an investigation last year into 58 incidents in which Teslas reportedly violated traffic safety laws while using self-driving technology, leading to more than a dozen crashes and fires and nearly two dozen injuries.

Separate from the National Transportation Safety Board, NHTSA is also looking into the Tesla house crash in Texas, one of 46 “special crash” investigations of Tesla’s self-driving or driver-assistance technology in the past decade, according to the agency’s records. In more than a dozen of those crashes, at least one person — a driver, passenger or pedestrian — was killed.

Tesla had originally called its driver assistance software Full Self-Driving, or FSD, but auto experts and regulators complained it was misleading because drivers must always keep their eyes on the road and be ready to take over at any time.

The company has since changed the name to Full Self-Driving (Supervised).

Video of the Katy, Texas, accident shows the Tesla traveling at more than 70 mph (112.65 kilometers per hour), jumping a curb then tearing across a lawn before crushing through a brick wall of a home. A woman standing feet away, Martha Avila, was found amid piles of crumbling plaster, split beams and bits of furniture and rushed to a hospital but died.

Sales of Tesla cars still haven’t recovered fully from boycotts last year over Musk’s far-right political stands, but the stock is rising anyway as he has successfully shifted attention away from the sales figures. He says they matter less now that the company is on the cusp of major technological advances, such as turning Teslas into hands-free vehicles and having its Optimus robots take over for humans for tasks at home and work.

Tesla stock has risen 22% in the past year and is currently trading at 170 times expected annual earnings compared to 20 for the S&P 500.

For its second-quarter financial results out next week, financial analysts surveyed by FactSet expect earnings per share will barely budge — 32 cents versus 33 cents a year earlier — continuing a sixth quarter streak of flat or falling profits.

TxDox ‘Slow Down’ is on now

SMITH COUNTY – Beginning Saturday, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office will increase traffic enforcement along I-20 and Toll 49 in partnership with TxDOT for Operation Slow Down, which looks to keep roads safer. According to our news partner KETK, the sheriff’s office said increased stops will take place around portions of I-20 and Toll 49, to curb speeding, deter aggressive driving and to protect everyone on the road.

The initiative is focusing on decreasing the amount of speeding-related crashes and fatalities across the state. Last year, TxDOT reported that 1,247 people were killed in speed-related crashes.

“Excessive speed makes any crash more dangerous. Higher speeds mean less time to react and a much greater risk of serious injury or death. We’re asking Texans to slow down and drive with care,” TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said. Continue reading TxDox ‘Slow Down’ is on now

Lufkin PD is asking for your help

LUFKIN – Lufkin Police detectives are asking for the public’s assistance in solving the murder of Darrence Kindle, a case that has remained unsolved for nearly nine years, according to release from the City of Lufkin. Kindle was shot and killed during the commission of an aggravated robbery at approximately 10 p.m., November 3, 2017, at the Dollar General on Kurth Drive.

The only description detectives have at this time is that the man is approximately 6-feet 1-inches tall, African American, and he was wearing a mask from the movie Scream.The shoes the man was wearing have been identified as limited-edition Nike Zoom Kobe Venomenon 4. The shoes were identified by a forensics company in Arizona.

“We will continue to investigate this murder,” said Lt. James Cowan, LPD Criminal Investigations Division. “It has never been closed, and we remain committed to seeking justice for Kindle and his family.”

Detectives believe there are members of the public who may hold information — no matter how small it may seem — that could help solve this case. Anyone with information regarding this incident is urged to come forward.

If you have any information, please contact Lieutenant James Cowan, Criminal Investigation Division, at 936-633-0325 or email jcowan@lufkinpolice.com.