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US designates 2 new Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The U.S. government has designated two new Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations.

They are the Juárez Cartel, on the border with Texas, and Los Viagras, a criminal group from the western state of Michoacán. The Federal Register, the U.S. government’s gazette, published the designation on Thursday.

They joined six other Mexican criminal organizations that the U.S. considers terrorist groups, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel. Gangs in other Latin American countries, including Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and El Salvador, also have been designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump began to extend the terrorist label to Latin American cartels in February 2025 to allow U.S. authorities to take more aggressive action against them or against anyone who the U.S. sees as aiding the groups.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that both criminal groups either have committed terrorist acts or pose a serious risk of committing acts that threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security, foreign policy, or economy of the United States.

The measure represents a further increase in pressure on Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration following the indictment of 10 current and former officials from the state of Sinaloa for alleged ties to the Sinaloa Cartel, as well as the controversies about U.S. operations in Mexico.
Higher pressure on the Texas border

Juarez Cartel is one of Mexico’s oldest drug trafficking organizations, which for decades has controlled a key crossing point in the central part of the Mexico-U.S. border: Ciudad Juárez, across from El Paso, Texas.

Both its founder, Amado Carrillo Fuentes — known as “El Señor de los Cielos” for smuggling massive drug shipments by light aircraft in the 1990s — and the brothers and sons who succeeded him, turned the trafficking of tons of drugs into a multimillion-dollar business. Despite the arrests of many of its leaders, the cartel and its allied gangs maintained control of a vast infrastructure for smuggling illegal shipments into the U.S..

According to Mexican analyst David Saucedo, the designation is key to enabling the United States to take more decisive action along the border, where two other groups both located at the eastern end of the border with Texas — the Gulf Cartel and the Northeast Cartel — were declared terrorist organizations in February 2025.

The US again targets Michoacan

Los Viagras is a local cartel in the western state of Michoacan, which is already home to two other criminal groups designated as terrorist organizations: Cárteles Unidos and La Nueva Familia Michoacana.

Los Viagras emerged following the 2013–2014 armed uprising led by farmers who succeeded in driving out many of the old cartels, only to see them replaced by new ones.

The cartel is led by Nicolás Sierra Santana, who faces a formal indictment in the District of Columbia for conspiracy to traffic drugs, filed in June 2025. The State Department is offering a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.

The group has shifted its loyalties and alliances to consolidate its regional control of the territory through extortion. It also produces synthetic drugs, which sells to other cartels that traffic them into the United States.

Brandy, Rita Ora reunite for new ‘Descendants’ movie, tease duet

Brandy Norwood and Rita Ora attend the premiere of Disney Channel Original Movie 'Descendants: Wicked Wonderland' on July 14, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Brandy and Rita Ora are returning to the world of Descendants.

The actresses reprise their roles as Cinderella and the Queen of Hearts in Descendants: Wicked Wonderland, the next chapter following the success of Descendants: The Rise of Red.

Speaking with ABC News entertainment contributor Kelley Carter in an interview aired on Good Morning America Thursday, the stars shared how the new film reimagines familiar Disney characters while bringing their own friendship to the screen.

Ora said she was drawn to the complexity of playing her role.

"I did love the idea of the Queen of Hearts, you never really know if she's pretending or if it's real," Ora said. "You've got obviously Cinderella, who is always that anchor within the movies."

Meanwhile, Brandy added, "I did have my villain pants on ... that's new for Cinderella."

The pair also teased a new duet, which they said is one of the moments they're most excited for fans to see.

"It was magical. The song is called 'The Girl I Used to Be.' I think people are gonna love it," Brandy said.

Ora agreed, saying, "It was my dream to be not only on a song with her, but also just in anything with her because I've been looking up to her since I can remember."

Their collaboration was years in the making.

"What people don't really know is that I met Rita when she got her start," Brandy said. "I saw this beautiful light in her then and I see it now. And when we got a chance to do this movie together, I mean, our chemistry was just unmatched."

Descendants: Wicked Wonderland premieres Wednesday on Disney Channel and begins streaming Friday on Disney+.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Disney Channel.

David Rancken’s App of the Day 07/16/26 – American Red Cross Blood Donor!

Giving the gift of life is as simple as rolling up your sleeve. To make it easier, find David Rancken’s App Of The Day. It’s called American Red Cross Blood Donor. You can find American Red Cross Blood Donor in the Apple Store and Google Play below.

AI stocks slump again worldwide, while oil prices tick higher

NEW YORK (AP) — Computer chipmakers and other winners of the artificial-intelligence boom are slumping again Thursday and weighing on stock markets worldwide. They’re drowning out strength for most of the rest of Wall Street, leaving U.S. stock indexes close to flat.

The S&P 500 was virtually unchanged, a day after it pulled within 0.5% of its all-time high set last month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 81 points, or 0.2% as of 10:30 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.5% lower.

The majority of stocks on Wall Street rose after several of the country’s biggest companies reported better profits for the latest quarter than analysts expected.

Abbott jumped 11.8% after the healthcare company delivered a fatter profit than expected and raised its forecast for earnings over the full year. UnitedHealth Group climbed 4.4% after likewise reporting better results than Wall Street expected.

But a 1% move for Nvidia’s stock packs more punch on the S&P 500 than a 1% move for any other company because it’s the largest on Wall Street by value.

And Nvidia fell 1.7%, making it the heaviest weight on the index. Other AI winners also sank, giving back some of their stellar gains for the year so far.

Micron Technology fell 4.1% to shave its gain for the year so far to 204%. Sandisk fell 7.4% but is still up 530% for the year so far. Western Digital sank 5.7% but is still up 181% for the year so far.

Such stocks have been under pressure for weeks because of worries that their prices shot too high and that voracious demand for computer memory and processors may not be sustainable if AI ends up not producing as much profit and productivity as promised.

The losses came even though Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., a bellwether of the chip industry, reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its stock in Taiwan rose 1.2%, but its stock that trades in the United States fell 1.5%.

In South Korea, drops for AI winners like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix dragged the Kospi index down 6.4%. It’s been among the world’s shakiest markets in recent weeks because of how dominant the two AI winners are in it.

The day before, the Kospi jumped 6.2%, but it’s also had drops of 8.9%, 7.8% and 5.3% in the last two weeks.
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A hike to interest rates by the Bank of Korea also weighed on stocks in Seoul, the first by the bank since 2023.

Higher interest rates can keep a lid on inflation, but they also slow the economy and hurt prices for all kinds of investments. And worries are rising that the Federal Reserve and other central banks around the world may have to raise rates to rein in the effects of expensive oil.

The price for a barrel of Brent crude rose another 0.6% to $85.43 Thursday and is near a one-month high. The Strait of Hormuz is at the center of fighting between the United States and Iran, and the worry is that oil tankers won’t be able to use it to carry crude from the Persian Gulf to customers worldwide.

That rise in oil prices helped the 10-year Treasury yield climb to 4.58% from 4.55% late Wednesday and just 3.97% before the war with Iran began.

Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed, which added to the eddies swirling through the bond market. One report said shoppers spent less at U.S. retailers last month than economists expected. But underlying trends were perhaps more encouraging. After ignoring sales at gasoline stations, U.S. consumers remain resilient.

A separate report said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week, an indication of a solid job market, while a third report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region is better than economists expected.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia, including drops of 1.8% in Shanghai and 2.8% in Tokyo.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was an outlier and rose 1.3%. Alibaba rose after China’s cyberspace regulator said Wednesday it had approved the Apple Intelligence AI tool for use in China. An Alibaba spokesperson said its Qwen model will be integrated into Apple Intelligence.

Driver in deadly Tesla crash pressed accelerator to 100% before hitting house: NTSB

This image released by the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office shows the damage to a home after a Tesla crashed into it, in Katy, Texas, on June 19, 2026. (Harris County Precinct 5 Constable's Office)

(KATY, Texas) -- The driver in a deadly Tesla crash in Texas pressed the accelerator to 100% before colliding into a house, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.

On June 19, the driver, Michael Butler, was behind the wheel of a 2025 Tesla Model 3 electric car when it went off the road and crashed into a home in Katy, killing 76-year-old resident Marta Avila, officials said.

Butler, who said the car was in self-driving mode, was arrested for manslaughter on July 1. He's not entered a plea and is set to be arraigned next month.

The NTSB said on Wednesday that, at the time of the collision, "the driver had engaged Tesla's Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Full Self Driving (FSD) (Supervised)."

But data shows that before the crash, Butler "manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%," the NTSB noted.

The Tesla was driving over 70 mph when it struck the house, the NTSB said, noting that the speed limit on Avila's residential road is 30 mph.

"All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes," the NTSB said in a statement.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating, the NTSB said.

Butler's attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Democrats urge DHS to shut down Dilley immigration detention center

Texas State Troopers arrive in a Dilley I.S.D. school bus before dispersing a crowd protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement at the South Texas Family Residential Center on January 28, 2026 in Dilley, Texas. (Joel Angel Juarez/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- Rep. Joaquin Castro, along with more than 110 Democratic members of Congress, has sent a letter to Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin urging the shutdown of the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.

The facility, which is the only family detention center in the country, was closed during the Biden administration but was reopened last year as part of the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown.

In the letter, which was first obtained by ABC News, they write, "There is no humane way to imprison a child and their family. It is nothing more than a trailer prison that detains families. In fact, the Dilley facility is the only place in the United States dedicated to detaining families with children who have not been charged with a crime."

"Former and current detained families describe horrific conditions perpetuated by CoreCivic and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that are meant to strip them of their dignity and make them feel hopeless," the letter says.

The letter outlines how parents have described "horrendous conditions at Dilley," including allegations of food "contaminated with worms and mold," drinking water that leaves detainees feeling sick, lights that stay on through the night and inadequate education and medical care that has led to "severe depression, hopelessness and suicidal ideation amongst their children," according to the letter.

Medical care "is delayed, denied, and in many cases outright dismissed, even when children are suffering life threatening medical emergencies," the letter says, describing an alleged incident in which a young boy was not taken to the hospital until after several days of "severe stomach pain," after which he was diagnosed with appendicitis and required surgery.

Immigrant advocates, medical professionals and lawmakers have previously raised concerns about conditions at the South Texas facility.

ABC News in February interviewed a couple who said their 1-year-old daughter contracted COVID-19 and RSV during their 60-day detention. The family alleged that medical staff at Dilley dismissed their daughter's symptoms.

Rep. Castro raised his own concerns about a 2-month old he encountered while visiting another family at the facility in February.

At the time, the top medical official at the Department of Homeland Security, which operates the nation's migrant detention centers, disputed any suggestion that detainees are being denied proper care.

"These allegations of illegal aliens being denied proper medical care in ICE custody are FALSE," DHS Chief Medical Officer Dr. Sean Conley told ABC News in a statement. "It is both policy and longstanding practice for aliens to receive timely and appropriate medical care from the moment they enter ICE custody. This includes medical, dental, women's health, mental health services, any needed follow up medical appointments, as well as 24-hour emergency care."

"This is better, more responsive health care than many aliens have ever received in their entire lives," Conley's statement said.

"These representatives remain quiet about the humanitarian crisis that was manufactured by the Biden Administration's open border policies over the last four years and the scores of children exploited, trafficked and missing," a DHS spokesperson said. "Do they plan to mention the psychiatric impact on the tens of thousands of children who were smuggled across the border -- many by human and sex traffickers?"

"We've jumpstarted our efforts to rescue children who were victims of sex and labor trafficking by working with our state and local law enforcement partners to locate these children. President Trump and DHS are laser-focused on protecting children and will continue to work with federal, state, and local law enforcement to reunite children with their families," the spokesperson said.

The Democrats' letter also claims that children are held at the Dilley facility beyond the general 20-day limit established under the Flores Settlement Agreement, a legal settlement from the 1990s that outlines appropriate protections and conditions for detaining minors.

"Families at Dilley report being held well beyond that limit with no clear timeline or explanation," the letter says. "In February and March 2026, the government has stated that children's average time in custody at Dilley was approximately 57 days, and the median time in custody was approximately 44 days, with 92 children being detained for 61-90 days, and 80 children detained for more than 91 days."

A DHS spokesperson, responding to a February ABC News report about the extended custody times, said, "For years, the Flores consent decree has been a tool of the left to promote an open borders agenda. It is long overdue for a single district in California to stop managing the Executive Branch's immigration functions. The Trump administration is committed to restoring common sense to our immigration system."

"No child should be in a place like the Dilley Trailer Prison," Castro said in a statement. "Under Trump, ICE is ripping children away from their families, school, and lives. They should be treated like kids -- not criminals. I am grateful that over 100 of my colleagues in Congress are joining the fight to shut down the Dilley Trailer Prison."

In addition to shuttering Dilley, the letter demands that DHS terminates the contract it has with CoreCivic, the private prison contractor that operates the Dilley facility. The letter alleges that "CoreCivic is prioritizing profits over humane treatment of its detainees."

"No child and family should be imprisoned for seeking safety by legitimately following United States immigration laws," the letter says. "The United States has the tools, the resources, and the legal framework to process these families without detention."

White House teleprompter operator made more than $100K betting on Trump’s speeches: Sources

A teleprompter is in front of U.S. President Donald Trump as he speaks during a campaign rally at the Grand Sierra Resort on October 11, 2024 in Reno, Nevada. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

(WASHINGTON) -- President Donald Trump's longtime teleprompter operator is believed to have made tens of thousands of dollars by placing bets on more than a dozen of Trump's speeches on the prediction market Kalshi, federal investigators with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission found, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

Gabriel Perez, a technical assistant to the president who has been operating Trump's teleprompter since 2016, is in talks with federal regulators to settle allegations he used his inside knowledge of the president's speeches to win more than $100,000, the sources said.

According to the sources, Kalshi alerted its regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), to the suspicious activity on its "Mentions" market, where users can bet on whether specific words, phrases or topics are uttered during a public speech.

"Our surveillance team promptly flagged and referred these trades to the CFTC, and we are cooperating and assisting regulators," Kalshi's lead lawyer, Bobby DeNault, said in a statement provided to ABC News.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday afternoon, following ABC News' report, that Perez has been put on unpaid administrative leave. Leavitt said she spoke with President Trump about it, and he thought it was a "disgrace" and made the decision himself to put Perez on unpaid leave.

Leavitt said she was unaware of any other White House staffers who have made such trades.

"The White House has strict ethics guidelines that we expect all staffers and officials to follow," said White House spokesperson Davis Ingle when contacted by ABC News.

A spokesperson for the CFTC declined to comment.

In addition to February's State of the Union address, sources said CFTC investigators discovered that Perez placed bets on more than a dozen Trump speeches over a three-month period, including a December primetime address, a January speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and Trump's remarks in March during a Medal of Honor ceremony.

Later in March, the White House issued an internal memo warning staff against using nonpublic information to place bets on prediction markets, sources previously confirmed to ABC News.

Perez continues to serve as one of Trump's teleprompter operators -- a role he has served since Trump's first presidential campaign.

Of all Trump's closest aides, sources say Perez typically has the final eyes on nearly all of the president's prepared remarks -- and is often known to take last-minute edits from Trump himself. He previously came under scrutiny by congressional and federal investigators over the edits that were made prior to the delivery of Trump's remarks surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Trump is known to frequently deviate from his prepared remarks, as he himself often acknowledges.

"You know, when you go up here, you take a big chance, especially me because I go off teleprompter about 80% of the time," Trump said during remarks in January to the Detroit Economic Club, another speech federal investigators believe was among those Perez betted on.

In certain instances, investigators uncovered times when Perez would back out of certain bets mid-speech when Trump skipped over a portion of the speech that included a word he had previously bet would be mentioned, the sources said.

According to sources familiar with the investigation, Perez sat for an interview with regulators in recent months and acknowledged some of the trades. At some point during the investigation, the sources said the CFTC alerted federal prosecutors in Manhattan, who declined to open a criminal investigation.

Regulators at the CFTC have expressed a willingness to settle with Perez, and have discussed terms with him that would require Perez to give back his profits and refrain from making similar trades, according to sources familiar with the ongoing discussions.

Kalshi has a policy against users placing bets based on information obtained as part of their jobs.

Last month, the company updated its policies to require users to disclose their place of employment.

"If you have information by virtue of your job or your employment, something that you have a legal duty surrounding, and you have an obligation not to take that, misappropriate it for yourself," DeNault told ABC News in May.

The Department of Justice in recent months brought the two first cases of insider trading on prediction markets, involving a special forces soldier who allegedly bet on the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, and, separately, a Google employee who allegedly bet on user searches using internal company data. Both pleaded not guilty.

President Trump has occasionally criticized prediction markets, but said in April that he supports them because the United States could be "left out in the cold" if the country does not allow companies like Kalshi and Polymarket to operate.

"Well the whole world, unfortunately, has become somewhat of a casino, and you look at what's going on all over the world in Europe and every place they're doing these betting things. I was never much in favor of it. I don't like it conceptually, but it is what it is," Trump told reporters.

Last October, Trump's social media company, Trump Media and Technology Group, announced it was looking into launching its own prediction market offering.

2026 ESPYs: The best moments from sports’ biggest night

New York Knicks win best team at the 34th annual ESPY Awards. (Disney/Frank Micelotta)

(NEW YORK) -- It was a night to remember for some of the sports world's biggest stars at the 34th annual ESPY Awards on Wednesday.

The best sports moments, winning plays, and superstar players were celebrated at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City.

Olympian Simone Biles presented the ESPY Award for best team to the New York Knicks, one month after the NBA team secured this year's championship title in five games against the San Antonio Spurs.

"I hope this trophy, especially here in New York, getting this trophy shows the word love. The love of each other and this team is what got us through the humps in December when we were not playing our best basketball. The love of the fans is what got us back [when we were] down 29 at home," Knicks center-forward Karl-Anthony Towns said in a speech, as the team accepted the award.

Knicks guard Jose Alvarado added, "We've got the best fans in the world."

Knicks captain Jalen Brunson also won multiple ESPYs on Wednesday, including best championship performance and best athlete - men's sports.

"I'm at a loss of words. It has been a hell of a run to say the least," Brunson said.

Brunson's teammate OG Anunoby also took home the ESPY for best play for his now-famous tip-in that cemented the Knicks' eventual win of game 4 during the NBA Finals.

"I think it's pretty exciting for everyone," Anunoby said of his ESPYs experience last night. "I mean I grew up watching this award show, so full circle, crazy to be here."

The ESPYs also honored athletes on the rise, including 24-year-old Olympic gold medalist figure skater Alysa Liu, who earned the ESPY for best breakthrough athlete.

"The past six months have been really crazy, but I've been enjoying it," Liu said. "And once it's all kind of slowing down, I'm gonna journal about it, so I can remember everything."

"Good Morning America" co-anchor Robin Roberts delivered the Arthur Ashe Courage Award honoring late NBA trailblazer Jason Collins, the first openly gay player in league history.

Collins died of a brain tumor in May, so Roberts presented the award to his twin brother Jarron Collins, who accepted it on his behalf.

"It really does make all the difference in the world. Representation matters," Jaron Collins said.

"When you see someone of the LGBTQ community following their passions, following their dreams, living their life, being their authentic self -- it inspires other people," he added. "So, my brother, being a professional NBA basketball player and being openly gay, lived his life, lived his dream, lived his truth."

Sam Neill died from pneumonia, representative for ‘Jurassic Park’ actor says

In this Oct. 11, 2019, file photo, actor Sam Neill attends a press conference at the Sitges Fantastic Film Festival in Sitges, Spain. (Borja B. Hojas/Getty Images, FILE)

Sam Neill, known for his roles in the Jurassic Park films, died from pneumonia, a representative for the actor said in a statement on Wednesday.

Neill died Monday at 78.

"Sam passed away from pneumonia," the statement from manager Philip Grenz said. "Prior to becoming sick, Sam had valiantly fought and beaten lymphoma through a new treatment called CAR-T therapy."

A statement earlier this week announcing his death said: "Sam was surrounded by family and passed with the dignity that has characterised his whole life. The loss was sudden and unexpected but blessed by the fact that Sam remained cancer free."

The representative said Neill, who was also known for his role on Peaky Blinders, had filmed four projects in the past year, all of which would be released in the coming months.

Neill revealed he was being treated for stage 3 blood cancer while promoting his memoir, Did I Ever Tell You This?, in March 2023.

In 2022, Neill was diagnosed with angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma, "a rare, often but not always, aggressive (fast-growing) form of peripheral T-cell lymphoma," according to the Lymphoma Research Foundation.

The statement Wednesday said the family would hold a private memorial.

"As Sam was an intensely private man who loathed a fuss, his family will honor him with a private family memorial at his farm in New Zealand at a still-undetermined later date," the statement said.

Americans in DRC will no longer be able to fly directly to US amid Ebola outbreak

Illustration of the Ebola virus, a deadly pathogen that causes severe hemorrhagic fever. )RUSLANAS BARANAUSKAS/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) -- Americans will no longer be able to fly directly home from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) under a new process outlined by U.S. officials amid the ongoing Ebola outbreak

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Department of Homeland Security are working together on a "Do Not Board" process for Americans in the DRC, the CDC said in a social media post Wednesday.

"The Do Not Board list prevents a person from obtaining a boarding pass for any flight into, out of, or within the United States,” the CDC website reads.

Previously, only non-citizens had been barred from traveling back to the U.S. from the Ebola outbreak regions, and American travelers were being screened at select airports for any signs of the virus.

Now, under the new measure, Americans departing from the DRC will only be able to return to the U.S. 21 days after leaving that country.

The moves comes as the DRC has seen over 2,000 cases and 750 deaths from Ebola, making it the third largest outbreak on record.

Earlier this week, the CDC announced a second American infected with Ebola in the DR had been transferred to Germany for care. The CDC said the unnamed patient works for a humanitarian aid organization.

The first American infected with Ebola was a doctor who contracted the disease while treating patients in the DRC. Dr. Peter Stafford was evacuated to Germany at the time to receive specialty care.

Stafford was discharged from the hospital in June, and the family has since returned to the United States.

Programming Note: President Trump Addresses the Nation

Programming Note: President Trump addresses the nation tonight at 8pm. Fox News Radio will provide live coverage of the address. Fox’s Jessica Rosenthal will anchor, with reporting from Jared Halpern at the White House. You can listen live on both KTBB 97.5 FM and 600 AM, as well as through the app or our Listen Live page.

1 dead in Texas Hill Country flash flood emergency, governor says

This ABC News graphic shows flood warnings in Texas as of July 16, 2026. (ABC News)

(NEW YORK) -- At least one person has died as a result of the flash flooding emergency currently ongoing in Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott confirmed on Thursday.

The death was reported overnight between Kerrville and Comfort, Texas, Abbott said. More than 70 people have been rescued so far, he added.

Rescue operations are underway for people stranded in homes and potentially larger facilities, with 1,300 emergency personnel responding, according to the governor.

For the third day in a row, torrential rain prompted flash flood emergency warnings for Texas Hill Country as water levels in creeks and rivers rose rapidly.

Three flash flood emergencies were issued Thursday across Texas Hill Country.

As of early Thursday morning, there were two flash flood emergencies, impacting Kerrville -- the city where the deadly Camp Mystic flooding occurred in July 2025 -- Hunt, Uvalde and Knippa.

Evacuations and water rescues were reported in all four areas, with warnings of life-threatening flash flooding and reports of water entering buildings.

The Guadalupe River at Hunt rose from 9 to 19 feet between 3 a.m. and 4 a.m. CT, cutting off access to some roads and bridges. Just before 6 a.m., the Guadalupe River gauge measured 37 feet at Hunt, and more rise is possible, according to the Kerr County Sheriff's Office.

No camps along the river had sustained any damage as of Thursday afternoon, Abbott said. Warning sirens were activated and functioned properly.

The National Weather Service issued another flash flood emergency later Thursday morning along the Pedernales River, located just north of the Guadalupe River.

A large and deadly wave was moving down the Pedernales River -- with the gauge at Fredericksburg rising to more than 31 feet and counting, according to the NWS.

Engineers assessed the bridge over the Guadalupe River on Highway 87 into Comfort, Texas, due to fears that the force of the water may have made it unstable, Kendall County Judge Shane Stolarcyz told ABC News. The engineers concluded that the bridge is structurally sound for now, ABC News has learned.

The fast-moving water below the bridge could be seen carrying debris within the current. The water is starting to recede, but authorities anticipate there could be a second wave later Thursday. They do not believe it will be anywhere near the level seen in the morning.

A "large and deadly flood wave" that began along the Guadalupe River around Kerrville moved downstream through Center Point onto Comfort and Waring, Sisterdale, Crown and Bergheim.

The river gauge at Center Point rose 32 feet in four hours and was expected to reach a crest similar to the catastrophic July 4, 2025, river flood.

A rainfall rate of 2 to 4 inches per hour was forecast for the region. Up to 20 inches of rain had fallen in the Uvalde area over the previous 48 hours -- more than six months' worth of rain for this area -- with 8 inches falling in 2 hours.

On Wednesday afternoon, the NWS issued a flash flood emergency warning for Boerne, located in Texas Hill Country about 55 miles southeast of Camp Mystic, urging residents to relocate to higher elevations immediately.

A rain gauge near Boerne measured 3.5 inches of rain within one hour Wednesday morning, according to the NWS. The Cibolo Creek rose 10 feet in just 90 minutes and measured at a record-high level of more than 22 feet.

A flash flood emergency was also issued Wednesday for D'Hanis, Texas, about 60 miles southwest of Boerne. The Seco Creek was rapidly rising, prompting local officials to advise those in flood-prone areas to move to higher ground without delay.

Intense rainfall began in parts of Texas Hill Country on Tuesday, where some areas received between 6 inches and 16 inches of rainfall in 24 hours.

The NWS had previously issued a high risk for flash flooding -- a level 4 out of 4 -- for the same region on Wednesday due to a forecast of an additional 6 to 12 inches of rain.

A "high risk" is a rare occurrence. It's only issued about 4% of days, but accounts for around one-third of all flood-related fatalities and 80% of all flood-related damages, according to the National Weather Service.

When will the heavy rain, flooding risk end

The flood watch across Texas Hill Country remains in effect through Thursday.

The same area faces a level 4 of 4 risk for flash flooding on Thursday, with the heaviest rain expected between 2 a.m. and 2 p.m. Another round of heavy rain could occur Thursday night.

Isolated additional rain totals of more than a foot are possible through Thursday, forecasts show.

There is the potential for life-threatening flash flooding through Thursday night, with an additional 4 to 8 inches of rain possible on top of what has already fallen.

By Friday, the heaviest rain will start moving north of Texas Hill Country. The region will finally see drier conditions from Friday, lasting into next week.

Why Texas Hill Country is prone to flash flooding

Texas Hill Country is often referred to as "Flash Flood Alley," one of the most flood-prone regions in the U.S., because the weather and landscape in the south-central Texas allow for rapid flood events, according to the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI).

The "alley," which stretches from Dallas to San Antonio and encompasses the Colorado and Guadalupe River basins, is highly susceptible to dangerous flood events due to its steep terrain, shallow soil and repeated high rainfall events.

Much of the region is situated on a floodplain between tall hills, funneling any rainfall into rivers and creeks, causing them to rapidly rise. In addition, the clay soil does not easily absorb water and triggers high water runoff once wet, the TWRI said.

Major floods have occurred over nearly all sections of the Guadalupe River Basin, according to U.S. Geological river streamflow records dating back to the 1800s.

High rainfall intensities are a common occurrence because the Gulf provides an infinite source of moist air, as does the Pacific, which produces monsoonal moisture as well as cool air masses from the north that converge to produce extreme rainfall events.

Last year, more than 100 people died, including 25 girls at Camp Mystic, as a result of catastrophic flooding along the Guadalupe River during the Fourth of July weekend.

The torrential rain that turned the river into a raging wall of water was fueled by unique atmospheric conditions, meteorologists and climate scientists told ABC News last year.

Heavy rain combined with slow-moving thunderstorms caused the Guadalupe River to rise 26 feet in less than an hour, officials said.

ABC News' Melissa Griffin and Faith Abubey contributed to this report.

Texas flooding surges from huge rainstorms as rescuers pull people from rising waters

UVALDE (AP) — Dangerous flooding in Texas has intensified after days of pounding rain, sending emergency crews scrambling to rescue people from high water before sunrise Thursday and setting off urgent warnings from forecasters: “Move to higher ground now!”

The National Weather Service in San Antonio said a “large and deadly flood wave” was barreling down the same river devastated by floods a year ago when two dozen children and counselors were killed at Camp Mystic.

The storms threatened multiple counties close to the border with Mexico and in the Texas Hill Country, where city officials in Kerrville urged people to shelter at the highest levels of their homes.

The Uvalde County Office of Emergency Management issued its own shelter-in-place message. “All major highways and many city streets are closed due to flooding and water over the roadway,” it said.

There was no immediate word of any deaths or injuries from the flooding. Several tornado warnings were also issued.

Texas Game Wardens have participated in rescues of more than 40 people so far from the flooding, mostly in the Uvalde County area, according to a Texas Parks and Wildlife Department spokesperson.

Another test for the Texas Hill Country after the Camp Mystic disaster

The weather service said 10 to 20 inches of rain (25 to 50 centimeters) had fallen in the past two days, with 8 inches (20 centimeters) in just two hours early Thursday.

One gauge less than 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Kerrville showed the river had risen 32 feet (9.7 meters) in four hours. It was expected to reach a crest similar to the July 4, 2025, catastrophic river flood, the weather service said.

Forecasters had warned that already dangerous conditions were likely to worsen in some hard-hit communities. The deluge dumped nearly a foot of rain in some counties and put people in multiple counties under flood watches. That included parts of the Texas Hill Country where last summer’s devastating floods killed more than 100 people.

Some of the flood watches were expected to remain in effect through Friday evening.

Families rush to get to higher ground

By Wednesday, Uvalde police had ordered mandatory evacuations for some parts, with first responders notifying people affected directly, the department said on Facebook. Others were asked to stay vigilant in case more evacuations are needed.

Some people walked out of their homes into the street to see the water growing closer every hour, their faces worried. People living along the Leona River scrambled to pack up their cars and head out, although many did not yet know where they should go. One man threw two kayaks into his truck bed, just in case.

Lightning flashed as clouds darkened the landscape, and brown water created large rapids in the typically calm river, which was pushing up against the town’s high bridge and into neighborhoods by Wednesday afternoon.

The Texas flood watches affect 6 million people

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has issued disaster declarations for dozens of counties.

As of Wednesday evening, just over six million Texas residents in 57 counties were under a National Weather Service flood watch that was scheduled to continue through early Thursday night. Watches for 34 of those counties were scheduled to expire Friday evening.

Some of the highest rainfall totals so far have been in Uvalde County, where officials conducted dozens of rescues and said more people needed help as river levels rose. Highways and roads were closed across the region because of high water.

The county normally gets about 23 inches (58 centimeters) of rain a year, according to the Uvalde County Extension Office.

In brief: ‘My Life with the Walter Boys’ season 3 official trailer and more

It seems Jessica Alba has joined the upcoming Netflix reboot of 13 Going on 30. Deadline reports the actress is set to star alongside Emily Bader, Logan Lerman and Adeline Rudolph in the upcoming rom-com. Alba's role and the new film's logline are being kept under wraps for the time being. The original film's star, Jennifer Garner, serves as an executive producer on the project, which is currently in production in LA ...

The official trailer for My Life with the Walter Boys season 3 has arrived. The Netflix series will debut its third season on Aug. 6. It finds Jackie navigating her messy relationships and new personal ambitions after the love triangle and a family crisis rocket the Walter family. Nikki Rodriguez stars alongside Noah LaLonde and Ashby Gentry in the romance series ...

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 18 has a release date. The new season of the comedy series premieres on Aug. 17. The gang of Rob Mac, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito will be back in brand-new episodes of TV's longest-running live-action comedy series ...

‘Trees vanished in seconds’: Canadian wildfires spread as smoke prompts air quality alerts in 18 states

An ABC News graphic shows the forecast for Thursday, July 16, 2026. (ABC News)

(NEW YORK) -- Air quality alerts are in place on Thursday across at least 18 states, from Minnesota to New Hampshire to Virginia, as dangerous smoke continues to waft into the U.S. from Canadian wildfires, including more than 100 blazes burning out of control.

Smoke from at least 850 active wildfires in Canada is traveling more than a thousand miles to reach U.S. locations including New York City. At least another nine large fires are burning in northern Minnesota.

On Thursday afternoon, Minneapolis surpassed Detroit for having the worst measured air quality in the world among major cities, according to the air quality monitoring website IQAir.

Earlier Thursday, Detroit, which dropped to second on the list, reached an air quality index, or AQI, of nearly 570. IQAir rates the most dangerous air quality index, described as "hazardous," as 301 or above.

Chicago was third on the IQAir's AQI scale for the worst air quality on the planet while Toronto, Ontario, was sixth on Thursday afternoon. Toronto is more than 1,100 miles from where some 180 wildfires are burning in sparsely populated areas of Ontario province.

Meanwhile, all of New York State, including New York City, and parts of New Jersey are under an Air Quality Advisory on Thursday due to the wildfire smoke.

The extreme smoke will continue through Thursday evening in the Upper Midwest, including northern Wisconsin, northern Michigan, the New York City area and across the Northeast. Heavy smoke will also stretch from Chicago to Detroit and from Philadelphia to Boston.

New York City could see orange skies on Thursday afternoon as dense plumes of hazardous smoke continues pour into the area.

According to the Canadian Wildland Fire Information System, 859 active wildfires are burning as of late Thursday afternoon, including 37 new fires that ignited Thursday. At least 109 of the wildfires were burning out of control Thursday afternoon, according to the agency.

So far this year, according to the agency, Canada has had 3,549 wildfires that have burned a total of 2.3 million hectares, or more than 93,000 square miles, which is roughly the size of the United Kingdom.

The smoke and ash from the Canadian wildfires was even affecting commercial air traffic. On Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said it was slowing arriving flights into the Philadelphia International Airport due to low visibility from wildfires smoke.

An American Airlines pilot told Philadelphia air traffic controllers on Thursday that ash was sticking the windshield of his aircraft, according to a recording of the communications provided by ATC.com.

"I've never seen it stick to the windshield like this," the pilot was heard telling air traffic controllers.

American Steve Ventling of Montana told ABC News that he witnessed the Canadian wildfires up close this week when a blaze began while he was on a fishing trip in Northern Ontario. Ventling shared photos with ABC News of billowing smoke and flames quickly spreading through a lakeside forest.

"I've seen plenty of fires in my lifetime. Nothing prepared me for this. The flames exploded through the treetops. Entire trees vanished in seconds," said Ventling, adding that he and others he was fishing with evacuated the area in a boat.

On Wednesday, the wildfire smoke cast a yellowish haze over New York City, leaving a strong stench of smoke in the air.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani warned that "a combination of dangerous heat and unhealthy air" will continue to be a serious threat to the health of New Yorkers on Thursday.

"This is very serious," Mamdani said at a news conference on Thursday morning. "We are reaching into a level of air quality that is dangerous for every single New Yorker."

In a social media post on Wednesday night, Mamdani advised New Yorkers to "stay somewhere cool with air conditioning, limit your time outdoors, drink plenty of water, and check on your neighbors – especially older New Yorkers and anyone with a health condition."

The mayor said the city is providing free masks to help people cope with the smoke.

By Thursday noon, air quality was rated as "unhealthy" in New York City, with air quality in the Long Island and Lower Hudson Valley regions forecast to also become unhealthy before the end of the day, according to the air monitoring site AirNow.

Air quality in the Central and Western New York regions and the Eastern Lake Ontario region of New York state were rated as "very unhealthy," according to AirNow.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said smoke will be thick on Thursday and spread across the rest of the state throughout the day.

“Distant wildfires have impacted New York State in recent years, and this week unfortunately will be no different with expected hazy skies and poor air quality," Hochul said in a statement on Wednesday. "We are now closely tracking these conditions and I strongly encourage New Yorkers to stay informed and take appropriate precautions to stay safe. Sensitive groups should take particular caution."

By Friday morning, the smoke is expected to push farther south, affecting areas through Ohio and Virginia, including Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, throughout the day.

Ukraine targets Moscow with 200 drones in large-scale attack, mayor says

This handout photograph taken and released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine on July 16, 2026, shows Ukrainian firefighters working to extinguish a fire at the site of a Russian air attack in Kyiv. (Handout/State Emergency Service of Ukrai)

(LONDON) -- At least 200 Ukrainian drones were launched toward Moscow overnight into Thursday morning, the city's Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said, as Kyiv continued its nightly long-range strike campaign deep into Russia.

From Wednesday evening until 9 a.m. local time on Thursday, "More than 200 drones were flying towards the Moscow region. Most of them were neutralized by air defense systems at a distance," Sobyanin wrote in a post to Telegram. Ten drones "were destroyed as they approached Moscow," the mayor said.

Russia's Defense Ministry said its forces downed at least 375 Ukrainian drones overnight. The ministry said in a post to Telegram that drones were intercepted over 18 Russian regions -- including Moscow -- as well as Crimea, the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Ukraine has been significantly expanding its drone campaign -- referred to in Kyiv as "long-range sanctions" -- in recent months, targeting major Russian cities, Russian oil infrastructure, military and logistics targets.

The Russian Defense Ministry publishes only the number of Ukrainian drones and other projectiles it claims to have intercepted. Sobyanin releases real time statements when Ukrainian drones are reported shot down while heading toward the capital.

ABC News cannot independently verify the figures from either the ministry or the mayor. But the increasing scale and rate of such reports could be seen as indicative of Ukraine's growing ability and willingness to target sites within Russia.

So far this year, Sobyanin has reported the downing of 1,420 Ukrainian drones on approach to Moscow, according to his Telegram posts, collated and analyzed by ABC News. Across all of 2025, Sobyanin only reported the downing of 734 Ukrainian drones near the city.

More than four years after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made clear Kyiv's intentions to return the war back to Russian soil. Key targets have included Moscow and the so-called "second capital" St. Petersburg.

"Our responses to Russia's prolonging of the war and strikes on our cities and communities are completely fair," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram in May. "The Moscow region has Russia's densest concentration of air defenses. But we are getting through," he added.

Ukraine's Wednesday night attacks also reportedly targeted the Engels-2 airbase in Saratov -- a key hub for Russian long-range aviation, including strategic bombers. Andriy Kovalenko, the head of the Counter-Disinformation Center operating as part of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said in a post to Telegram, "Engels is on fire."

Russia's federal air transport agency, Rosaviatsiya, meanwhile, announced that temporary flight restrictions were introduced at Saratov airport during the overnight attacks. Restrictions were also put in place at airports in Nizhny Novgorod, Penza, Samara, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, Cherepovets and Gelendzhik.

Flights operating from all four of Moscow's international airports were also put under temporary flight restrictions overnight, Rosaviatsiya said.

Russia continued its own long-range strike campaign against Ukraine. Ukraine's air force said in a post to Telegram that Russia launched 18 missiles and 146 drones into the country overnight into Thursday morning, of which 12 missiles and 129 drones were intercepted, suppressed or failed to reach their targets.

Six missiles and 16 drones impacted across 15 locations, the air force said.

Zelenskyy said in a post to Telegram that at least two people were killed by a Russian missile strike in Kyiv, with five other people injured. Other targeted regions included Kharkiv, Sumy, Zaporizhzhia, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Mykolaiv and Donetsk, Zelenskyy said.

"Moscow is relying on terror through ballistic missiles and continues its attacks," Zelenskyy wrote.

Coast Guard suspends search for 3 missing passengers after boat sank near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay

Authorities responded after a boat sank near Alcatraz Island in San Francisco on Tuesday, prompting a search-and-rescue mission. (KGO)

(SAN FRANCISCO) -- The Coast Guard said it has suspended search operations for the three people unaccounted for after a boat capsized and sank in San Francisco Bay near Alcatraz Island.

Jarod Toczko, the commander for U.S. Coast Guard Sector San Francisco, told reporters earlier that 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.

"We have completely saturated the search area," he said.

"We always hold out hope," he later added.

Overall, crews spent a total of 54 combined hours searching for the missing people, the Coast Guard said in a statement late Wednesday announcing the search had been suspended.

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 on Wednesday by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner as 79-year-old Clifford Joseph Boisa.

A dog was also killed in the incident, San Francisco Fire Chief Dean Crispen told reporters Wednesday.

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

Crispen told reporters that authorities believe that 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.

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

One survivor said it was a memorial for her sister, ABC San Francisco station KGO reported.

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 the work of the Good Samaritans who jumped to save the passengers.

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

The San Francisco Fire Department said it initially received a call for a fire on the boat at 3:30 p.m. local time. However, authorities said they haven't yet seen evidence that there was a fire on board.

Earlier, authorities said they believed there were 19 people aboard and that they were looking for two missing passengers.

Netflix celebrates 10 years of ‘Stranger Things’

Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Gaten Matarazzo and Finn Wolfhard on set of 'Stranger Things' season 5. (Netflix)

It's been a decade since audiences were introduced to the Upside Down.

Netflix is celebrating the 10-year anniversary of the debut of Stranger Things season 1. The sci-fi series premiered to the small screen on July 15, 2016. Its creators, Matt Duffer and Ross Duffer, as well as director Shawn Levy, reflected on what it means for the show to reach this milestone.

“We’re feeling so many emotions today. Nostalgic, proud, and, yeah, a little sad too, that the decade-long journey of making Stranger Things has come to an end," the Duffer brothers said in a statement. "But above all, we feel grateful — for our amazing cast, who we watched grow into wonderful human beings; for the hundreds of brilliant artists who devoted so much of themselves bringing the story to life; and for you, the fans, whose dedication, patience, and passion fueled all of us throughout the years."

Levy said it's hard to believe it's been 10 years since Stranger Things "turned our world upside down."

"What began as a brilliant script by the Duffer Brothers, a story about four kids in a basement playing Dungeons & Dragons, became something far bigger than any of us ever imagined," Levy continued. "One of the greatest joys of this past decade has been watching these characters, and our incredible cast, grow up alongside the fans who have made Hawkins a place they return to again and again."

Additionally, Netflix has released a special VHS version of the first season that gives viewers the chance to experience the show as if it was on a VHS rented in 1983. Netflix has also released a 26-minute video featuring all of the show's main cast looking back on 10 years of memories with the series.

NYC’s Rikers Island jail hosts World Cup watch party for inmates

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City’s official World Cup guide lists no less than 100 free places to take in soccer’s biggest tournament on big screens. One place that isn’t listed? The city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex, better known for its overcrowding and violence than for hosting social events.

But more than 100 inmates were rewarded with a special viewing of the World Cup semifinal match Wednesday between England and Argentina because of their model behavior behind bars.

The inmates, dressed in tan uniforms, took seats at tables facing a large projection screen set up in a gymnasium. The jail has hosted about 90 such watch parties since the tournament kicked off last month, with about 4,500 of the roughly 6,600 inmates incarcerated on the 400-acre island participating, correction officials said.

“Programs like this equal safety in our jail,” said Stanley Richards, the city’s correction commissioner and a former Rikers inmate. “What we say to them is that your humanity is seen, heard and valued.”

Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who briefly stopped by, added: “The World Cup has been a magical moment for the entire city. These are New Yorkers, and they will be New Yorkers when they get out of Rikers.”

The scene Wednesday was in sharp contrast to complaints about Rikers Island that have been so bad in recent years that a federal judge appointed an outside manager to help improve the facility.

On Tuesday, that federal overseer, former Vermont Department of Corrections head Nicholas Deml, submitted a plan for reforms that underscored the continued dysfunction at the facility, which opened in 1935.

The report described one instance when inspectors arrived at a housing unit to find it filled with smoke from fires set by prisoners, blaring alarms and people pounding on their cell doors. In another incident, prisoners streamed through an unsecured door and brawled after a guard abandoned his post.

“Violence remains pervasive, basic correctional practices remain unreliable, and unconstitutional conditions persist,” the report said.

Mamdani has vowed to honor a 2019 city law mandating the closure of Rikers, but also conceded the 2027 deadline is likely unrealistic after years of delays.

With his white shirt sleeves rolled up, the Democrat went table-by-table chatting up inmates.

One told the mayor he expected Argentina to prevail over England and go on to face Spain, which had defeated France the day earlier.

“You never know,” said Mamdani, a professed Morocco fan.

At another table, an inmate told the mayor he was going home later in the day. “That’s amazing,” Mamdani said, patting his back.

The jailhouse crowd erupted in a mix of groans and cheers as England struck first with a goal early in the second half.

Ralph Veal was among the minority of England fans who raised his arms in celebration. The 53-year-old Mount Vernon resident, who has been incarcerated since November, said the watch party made him reflect on how he might better approach life after jail.

“I could be doing this with my family, you know?” he said. “My son, he’s a big soccer fan, so this would be great for me and him to have that relationship and that bond.”

Others simply relished the chance for a rare treat: a freshly catered meal of salad, salmon, penne alla vodka and chicken parmesan, along with Snapple drinks.

“I’ve been locked up 21 months,” said Thomas McCoy, 52, of Brooklyn. “It’s been a long time since I had real food like that.”

When the final whistle blew and Argentina earned a spot against Spain in the final Sunday, Victor Caldas was overcome with emotions.

The 39-year-old, who has been incarcerated for four months, has been rooting for Argentina since his home country of Ecuador was knocked out of the tournament.

“It reminds me of when I was a kid, playing soccer. It’s all about love. Soccer brings a lot of love,” he said, still staring at the final score as others started cleaning up the gym.

“It don’t matter from where you are in the world, you know. It’s about bonding with another culture, other people.”

ACC revamps tiebreakers for conference title game after 5-loss Duke team got in over No. 10 Miami

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference is revamping the tiebreaker format for its football championship game following a controversial finish last season that allowed a five-loss Duke team to get in over then-No. 10-ranked Miami — a situation that put the Hurricanes at risk of missing the expanded College Football Playoff.

Miami, which had been the ACC’s most dominant team during the regular season, wound up being selected for the playoff and went on to reach the national title game, where it fell short to No. 1 Indiana 27-21.

Duke beat No. 20 Virginia in the ACC championship game last year for its first outright ACC title since 1962 but was not selected for the CFP, much to the dismay of Blue Devils coach Manny Diaz.

The new football championship tiebreaker policy will take effect beginning with the 2026 season, reflecting the league’s transition to a nine-game conference schedule and ensuring a fair and equitable process for determining participants in the ACC championship game, the league said.

The updated tiebreaking procedure is built on three guiding principles:

— Head-to-head results always will matter most.

— No team will be overly rewarded or penalized based on the number of conference games it played.

— When head-to-head competition cannot separate tied teams, the team with the strongest overall body of work will earn the opportunity to compete for the ACC championship and the conference’s automatic qualifier to the College Football Playoff.

“Our game will feature the two most deserving teams,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said at ACC Kickoff on Wednesday in Charlotte.

Phillips said the third tier of that tiebreaker will be based on a SportSource Analytics metric used by the CFP.

The updated policy was developed to reward head-to-head results and account for the league’s teams playing an alternate number of conference games while also identifying the two most deserving teams to compete for the ACC championship and the conference’s automatic berth into the CFP.

The conference said the evaluation included more than 10,000 simulated season outcomes to ensure the model fairly addressed a wide range of championship scenarios.

The revised policy was approved following a comprehensive review by the ACC’s athletics directors.

In December, the ACC announced that 12 of its 17 football-playing members would be playing a nine-game football schedule beginning in 2026 while five teams would play eight games. That made the head-to-head tiebreakers even more complicated than in the past.

The policy will operate as a bridge to accommodate conference games already on the books, with the plan to have 16 of 17 teams playing nine football games regularly by 2027.

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AP college football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football

Kylian Mbappé-led France falls flat in World Cup loss to Spain when hopes for a title were high

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kylian Mbappé had France poised for another run to the World Cup final with a team that seemingly had the offensive firepower to solve Spain’s stout defense.

Instead, Les Bleus had no answers in a 2-0 semifinal loss at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys on Tuesday in what is presumably coach Didier Deschamps’ final appearance on soccer’s biggest stage.

Deschamps, who has said this would be his last World Cup, won a title as a player in 1998 and again as a coach eight years ago in Russia before leading France to the final in 2022 in Qatar. Argentina won that championship in a penalty shootout.

“I’ve been lucky as a player to enjoy happy moments,” Deschamps said through a translator, while also saying it wasn’t yet time to discuss his future. “Today is not such a moment. But I think we must accept it without forgetting everything that we’ve experienced so far. But today’s feeling is that I am not happy.”

The disappointment reverberated from Texas across the Atlantic Ocean. A number of clashes reportedly broke out in Paris, with incidents between law enforcement and young people also reported in Lyon.

French media lamented that their team had been unable to reproduce the exhilarating performances it had delivered while never trailing in its first six World Cup matches.

L’Équipe, France’s leading sports newspaper, noted that Deschamps’ players had been outplayed in every aspect of the game, “unable to live up to their dreams and to the hope they had inspired.”

Those players didn’t disagree, although Mbappé was quick to defend his coach, and said he would play hard for Deschamps in the third-place match against the Argentina-England loser on Saturday in Miami Gardens, Florida.

“Nothing changed about what Didier means to us as a French people. As a manager, as a player, he wrote an amazing story,” said the France captain, who got a quick hug from his coach on the sideline after the final whistle. “There’s one game left for him, so we’re going to try to play the best game for him because he deserves it, and also the fans deserve to have a win and finish third in this World Cup.”

The dangerous playmaking of Mbappé, Ousmane Dembele and Michael Olise never showed up in what ended up being Spain’s sixth clean sheet in seven World Cup appearances this year.

Mbappé’s best chance came in the 67th minute when his shot deflected off Spain defender Marc Cucurella and went just wide. La Roja already had a two-goal lead at that point.

The 27-year-old Mbappé, who entered the day level with Argentina superstar Lionel Messi for the tournament lead in goals with eight, showed some frustration with a yellow card in the 86th minute. He rushed toward Unai Simón just as the Spain goalkeeper was bending over to pick up the ball. The two collided, sending Simón to the grass.

“In so many ways, France was missing everything today,” Rayan Cherki said through a translator. “We’ll be back in four years, and we won’t make the same mistakes.”

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Associated Press writer Samuel Petrequin in Paris contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

Brewers bolster rotation by getting Lance McCullers Jr. and Colton Gordon in a deal with the Astros

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The Milwaukee Brewers acquired right-handed pitcher Lance McCullers Jr. and left-hander Colton Gordon from the Houston Astros on Wednesday for outfield prospect Jadyn Fielder.

Houston agreed to pay Milwaukee $4,227,273 to offset most of McCullers’ remaining salary, leaving his cost to the Brewers at $2.5 million. Astros general manager Dana Brown said they created flexibility in payroll and the roster for a team currently three games back of Texas in the AL West.

“Make no mistakes, we are still trying to improve this team,” Brown said. “We are still actively talking about acquiring a left-hand bat.”

Milwaukee cleared space on the 40-man roster by placing left-hander Rob Zastryzny to the 60-day injured list.

Milwaukee went into the All-Star break with a five-game lead in the NL Central and trailed the defending World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers for best record in the NL. The Brewers’ 3.48 ERA ranks second in the majors behind only the New York Yankees but injuries to their starting rotation left them seeking depth.

Two-time All-Star Brandon Woodruff is on the 60-day injured list after an MRI exam revealed a new injury to the anterior capsule in his shoulder, which was surgically repaired after the 2023 season. Left-hander Kyle Harrison was placed on the 15-day injured list Saturday with tightness in his throwing forearm.

McCullers, 32, is son of former big league reliever Lance McCullers. He helped Houston win the World Series in 2017 and 2022, and has spent his entire career with the Astros.

McCullers Jr. is 53-40 with a 3.85 ERA over 154 games. He was an All-Star in 2017, had Tommy John surgery in November 2018 and missed the 2019 season. Surgery in June 2023 kept him out through the 2024 season, and Brown said McCullers was an inspiration for grinding through the injuries.

“He was battling to come back,” Brown said. “I think Milwaukee having a few injuries right now made sense that he can get some opportunity there.”

He has $6,727,273 remaining of his $17 million salary in the final season of an $85 million, five-year contract. The Astros will pay Milwaukee $914,005 on July 31, $1,770,885 on Aug, 31 and $1,542,383 on Sept. 30.

McCullers, is 2-3 with a 6.86 ERA in eight starts. Inflammation in his right shoulder landed him on the 15-day IL on May 19, and he has been on a rehab assignment at Triple-A Sugar Land.

Gordon, 27, made his major league debut in 2025. He went 6-4 with a 5.34 ERA and a save in 20 games. Gordon has started one of his four appearances with Houston this season.

Fielder, 21, the son of former Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder and grandson of Cecil Fielder, made his professional debut in 2025. He was in Class A before the trade. Brown called Fielder a true professional and patient hitter with good plate discipline.

“Most likely will play the outfield, although he’s played some first base and second base. But you know good bloodlines, of course,” Brown said. “And you know just the opportunity to acquire a young bat”

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Running back Alvin Kamara has a new deal with the Saints for 2026

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans Saints running back Alvin Kamara agreed on Wednesday to restructure his contract for the coming season.

“His goal is to remain with the Saints,” Kamara’s agent, Bradley Cicala, told The Associated Press after confirming the agreement.

Kamara’s future with New Orleans became cloudy in March, when New Orleans signed free-agent running back Travis Etienne to a four-year $52 million contract. Kamara, who’ll be 31 this season, was entering the final season of a two-year, $24.5 million extension he’d signed before the 2024 season.

Cicala and Saints general manager Mickey Loomis did not disclose specific financial terms of the new agreement. But Loomis had foreshadowed some sort of pay cut when he stated in May that there was a “resource management element” to Kamara fitting in on this season’s roster.

While the new deal is expected to reduce the burden of Kamara’s contract under the 2026 salary cap, it does not preclude the Saints from trading him.

Struggling through a knee injury last season, Kamara posted career lows in games played (11), yards and touchdowns rushing (471 and one), and yards and touchdowns receiving (186 and zero).

That was a far cry from the start of Kamara’s career in 2017, when he was named the AP Offensive Rookie of the Year in what was the first of four straight playoff campaigns for the Saints under coach Sean Payton and Hall of Fame quarterback Drew Brees.

But the Saints haven’t made the playoffs since Brees retired after the 2020 season and are on their second coach since then. Kellen Moore was hired after winning a Super Bowl as Philadelphia’s offensive coordinator during the 2024 season.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

US airstrikes hit northern Iran as it disables ship trying to run the blockade

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The United States intensified its strikes targeting Iran early Thursday, hitting targets further north as American forces also fired into a ship it accused of trying to break its naval blockade on the Islamic Republic. Iran retaliated with missile and drone fire targeting Bahrain and Kuwait before dawn.

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the Strait of Hormuz — have shredded the interim deal to end the Iran war and could tip the region back into all-out war. Already, Iranian officials say U.S. strikes have killed more than 35 people and wounded more than 300 others. Strikes also reached into areas around Iran’s capital, Tehran, for the first time of this latest round of violence.

When the U.S. and Israel launched the war on Iran on Feb. 28, Tehran effectively closed the strait to shipping traffic — a move that sent the price of oil, fertilizer and many other goods soaring far beyond the region and gave Iran major leverage in negotiations.

US and Iran trade threats as attacks intensify

Those rising prices pose a particular challenge to U.S. President Donald Trump and his Republican Party, which hopes to retain control of Congress in elections in November. But Washington has struggled to successfully reopen the waterway, leading to Trump reimposing the naval blockade Wednesday.

Iran’s parliament speaker and lead negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said Iran was prepared for a fuller military confrontation if the U.S. does not live up to the terms of the interim deal, and Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened to halt all energy exports from the Middle East over the blockade.

“The export of oil and gas from the region will be either for everyone or for no one,” the Guard said.

Trump again insisted Iran was ready to strike a peace deal, but he did not elaborate.

“They don’t like what we’re doing, and they do want to settle. We’ll find out whether or not we settle with them, or we just finish it off,” he said Wednesday at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania.

Trump separately said on social media that Tehran made a goodwill gesture by releasing an American citizen wrongly detained in Iran since 2024. He didn’t release further details. Human rights lawyer Jared Genser released a statement identifying the detainee as his client Dena Karari, a U.S.-Iranian citizen who runs a nonprofit and was charged with espionage.

Iran did not immediately acknowledge the release and her case hadn’t been publicly known, which sometimes happens with detentions in the Islamic Republic.
Both the US and Iran launch attacks as the blockade is reimposed

The U.S. strikes early Thursday hit around Tehran, state media reported. It also reported American attacks targeted Semnan province, home to Iran’s ballistic missile production and space program.

On Wednesday, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight — further showing the increasing tempo of the attacks. Its attack on Greater Tunb Island, a strategic point in the Strait of Hormuz — targeted Iranian defense and missile sites, Central Command said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. military said it opened fire on the Curacao-flagged oil tanker Belma sailing toward Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export terminal in the Persian Gulf. After the ship “ignored multiple warnings,” a U.S. aircraft disabled the merchant vessel by firing a missile into the ship’s smokestack.

Another American strike Wednesday targeted a barracks for Iran’s 388th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, which operates tanks and armored vehicles, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, Iranian state television reported. The report said Americans fired at least 13 missiles in the attack and the seven dead included conscripts and career soldiers. A number of troops were wounded.

The Strait of Hormuz remains at the heart of the fighting

The latest round of fighting is focused on the Strait of Hormuz. How to reopen the strait has bedeviled the U.S. since Iran choked it off in the early days of the war.

During the interim deal, some ships began moving through the passage using a route near Oman overseen by the U.S. military that is outside Tehran’s control.

In recent days, Iran attacked ships using that route — and back-and-forth attacks ensued. The U.S. has threatened to reopen the strait by force — but experts say that would require a much bigger armada if not tens of thousands of ground troops. Imposing the blockade is another way to put pressure on Iran.

But in the meantime, oil prices are rising. The price for Brent crude oil, the international standard, traded above $85 a barrel on Thursday — more than 15% higher than the price before the war, but still well below the nearly $120 reached at the height of the conflict.

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Associated Press writers Michelle Price, Konstantin Toropin, Will Weissert, Collin Binkley and Fatima Hussein in Washington, Christopher Weber in Los Angeles, and Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

More than 500 feared dead as officials investigate reports of boats capsizing with Rohingya refugees

SYDNEY (AP) — More than 500 people are feared dead after reports that two boats carrying members of Myanmar’s persecuted Rohingya minority have capsized in the Bay of Bengal, officials said Thursday.

According to preliminary information, the two boats left Myanmar’s western state of Rakhine in late June carrying mostly Rohingya passengers, including some who had traveled from refugee camps across the border in Bangladesh, according to a statement from the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

One boat, believed to have been carrying around 250 people, lost contact shortly after departure. A second boat, reportedly carrying 280 people, is believed to have sunk off Myanmar’s Ayeyarwady coast on July 8.

?While the incidents and casualty figures have yet to be officially confirmed, UNHCR and IOM are gravely concerned by the potentially devastating loss of life,” the agencies said.

Acting police Brig. Gen. Soe Lin Aung, the spokesperson for Myanmar’s Ministry of Home Affairs, declined to comment. Spokespeople for Myanmar’s president and the Ayeyarwady region’s government did not respond to requests for comment.

The Rohingya, who have in recent years fled both Myanmar and Bangladesh’s squalid refugee camps by the thousands, typically avoid such boat journeys at this time of year, when monsoons are frequent and conditions at sea are particularly dangerous. The UNHCR and IOM noted this in their statement, saying that recent torrential rain and flooding across the region would have made such journeys especially risky.

Around 1.2 million stateless, predominantly Muslim Rohingya remain trapped in overcrowded refugee camps in Bangladesh after fleeing waves of violence by Myanmar’s security forces.

The refugees have no way to safely return to Myanmar, where the military that killed thousands of Rohingya in 2017 during what the United States declared a genocide remains in charge of their homeland. The Rohingya still living in Myanmar face severe restrictions and many are confined to internment camps.

Steep cuts to foreign aid by the U.S. and other countries have led to ration cuts in Bangladesh’s refugee camps, while the ruling military and an ethnic armed organization in Rakhine have fought for control of the region.

The unrest has led to an increasing number of Rohingya attempting to make the dangerous ocean crossing to Malaysia on rickety boats. Thousands have died in the process, including babies, children and pregnant women. Local maritime authorities have frequently abandoned the Rohingya at sea, often ignoring reports of boats in distress.

The IOM and UNHCR said on Thursday that the latest potential tragedy at sea underscores the continued lack of sustainable solutions for the Rohingya, and urged the international community to support those trapped in Bangladesh’s camps.

“Stronger regional and international efforts are needed to prevent further loss of life along one of the world’s deadliest maritime routes, including through enhanced search and rescue efforts, access to asylum and protection, and actions against smuggling and trafficking networks,” the agencies said.

More than 6,500 Rohingya fled and nearly 900 were reported dead or missing in 2025, the deadliest year for Rohingya who tried to leave by boat. The figure represents the highest mortality rate of any major route for refugee and migrant sea journeys in the world, the UNHCR said.

Shooting inside Texas Kroger leaves two in critical condition

HOUSTON – Two people were in critical condition after shots were fired inside a Kroger supermarket outside Houston, Texas on Wednesday afternoon, the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office said.

The incident took place at the Cypresswood Drive location in the Cypress around 2:50 p.m. CT., Capt. Juan Flores of the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable’s Office told reporters.
Law enforcement on the scene of a shooting at a Kroger store in Cypress, Texas, July 15, 2026.

Officers discovered two men shot at the scene, Flores said. Investigators are looking into reports that one of the victims was the shooter, according to the constable’s office.

One of the people shot walked out of the store with injuries and was transported to the hospital, according to Flores.

The other person was found inside the store with multiple gunshot wounds and was transported to the hospital, Flores said.

Both were listed in critical condition Wednesday evening.

No other bystanders were hurt during the incident, Flores said.

The scene was closed off as investigators searched searched the area.

In a statement, Kroger said it was “deeply saddened,” by the incident and the store would remain closed while the police investigation continues.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Sentencing in roommate murder case

ATHENS — A man could be facing up to 50 years in prison after entering an open plea on Wednesday to the murder of his roommate at a sober living home in February. According to an arrest affidavit, the family members of Derris Reynolds reported him missing in February after last being seen at a sober living residence and asked the property owners to review security footage.

The security footage found that 38-year-old Nicki Lee Gibby, who was also a resident of the home, had entered Reynolds’ bedroom and had a verbal altercation. Later on, the affidavit details that Gibby walked in and out of the bedroom with a mop, bucket and folded towels. Investigators said the video captured Gibby dragging a long, heavy object that appeared to be a human body wrapped in what appeared to be a tarp. The object was dragged down a hallway and out a side door of the home, according to our news partner KETK.

After obtaining a warrant, the Athens Police Department arrested Gibby for murder on March 4. On Wednesday, Henderson County court records say Gibby entered an open plea agreement, with his sentencing hearing set for Oct. 8. He could face up to 50 years in prison if found guilty.

First Monday businesses have to vacate

CANTON – Water has been shut off to The Old Mill Marketplace and business owners have 30 days to leave. The land where the businesses operate has new ownership and on July 8th, their water was shut off by the city as the land transferred hands. Business owners said the new owner tried to reconnect the service, but told our news partner KETK there were several violations that had to be fixed before water could be restored.

“He said it’s too expensive. They want him to redo the entire infrastructure,” Buffalo Girls Hotel, Susan Matasse said.

For thirty years, Matasse has run the Buffalo Girls hotel. She now has to tell her loyal customers that they will no longer have a place to stay.

KETK spoke with the new owner on the phone. He did not confirm whether he tried to reconnect the water but said he bought the land as an investment and plans to sell. Continue reading First Monday businesses have to vacate

Groundwater conservation district gets new county

GREGG COUNTY — All across East Texas, counties are being asked to consider joining a possible groundwater conservation district in hopes of securing the rights for concerned residents by the next legislative session. On Tuesday, Gregg County Commissioners Court unanimously agreed to become a part of the district, if and when it’s formed. The decision to join came after a proposal by Brian Sledge, of Sledgelaw Group, who detailed the benefits of being a part of the district as others look to put a stake in East Texas water.

In Texas, there are over 100 groundwater conservation districts, which Sledge says are the only way, under state law, that water drilling and wells can be regulated. Sledge presented a color-coded map of the districts in the state, but East Texas’s top right corner is glaringly white and empty.

Without a district to protect the area, a large part of the Carrizo-Wilcox Aquifer stands without protection from companies and people looking for water resources. Sledge says it’s probably the biggest area in the state with a substantial water resource without a conservation district. Continue reading Groundwater conservation district gets new county

String of overnight car burglaries hits East Texas neighborhoods — What to do to stay safe

CROCKETT (KETK) — A car is stolen or broken into every 23 seconds, according to FBI crime statistics, with an experienced car thief taking less than a minute to steal the average vehicle.

In Texas, more than 65,000 cars and trucks are stolen and almost 200,000 are burglarized every year. On Monday night, the Kilgore Police Department reported that they received 8 calls regarding car burglaries, an unusual uptick for the city with a population of less than 14,000.

The police department is advising residents to stay alert and take proactive measures to protect themselves from becoming victims.

Anyone who may have security video footage or any information regarding the incident is asked to call Detective Torres at 903-983-1559.

Vehicle Theft Prevention

Ensure all windows are closed and your car doors are locked. Always take your keys with you.
Choose to park in well-lit areas for added safety.
Store packages and valuables out of sight; it’s best not to leave them in your vehicle at all. Always make sure to lock your trunk.
Keep your license and registration in your wallet or purse to prevent identity theft; thieves could use them to impersonate you and sell your car.
If you have a garage, remember to lock both your car and the garage door for extra security.

Drone used to capture a suspected car thief in Crockett

Over in Deep East Texas, the Crockett Police Department said that on Tuesday at around 2:30 p.m., law enforcement responded to a vehicle burglary at the J.H. Wotters Crockett Library. The caller said that someone was going through her vehicle before leaving the scene.
Second of three wanted suspects arrested in East Texas car burglary case

When officers arrived, they began a search of the area and deployed a drone to use thermal imaging. They located the suspect attempting to hide between a bush and a nearby church.

As the drone moved overhead, police said the suspect attempted to flee again, but was surrounded by law enforcement and taken into custody. Police were able to recover the victim’s stolen wallet from the suspect’s pocket.

The suspect, identified as Trent Omar Shedd of Crockett, was then taken into the Houston County Jail and charged with burglary of vehicles and evading arrest.

Mugshot of Trent Omar Shedd, courtesy of the Crockett Police Department.

Sentencing for burglarizing a vehicle

For a first-time criminal offense of vehicle burglary, a person can be charged with up to one year in county jail. However, if evidence of prior burglaries is presented, the offense can be punishable by a term in prison no less than 180 days but not more than two years, along with a fine of up to $10,000.

If the suspect stole a firearm or a controlled substance, they may face a third-degree felony, which carries a sentence of two to ten years in prison.