A federal judge on Monday dismissed a false statements case against two former senior FBI agents accused of lying to Congress about past investigations of Hunter Biden.

In dismissing the case, Magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui delivered a scathing rebuke from the bench of current FBI and DOJ leadership, who he accused of seeking to impact the midterm elections.

"What has transpired here cannot be described as anything other than weaponization," the judge said in tossing the case against former FBI officials Nikki Floris and Bradley Benavides. 

The dismissal follows days of testimony in a series of rare public hearings Faruqui convened to determine whether the government's case against Floris and Benavides met the low bar of probable cause. 

Testimony from an FBI agent who led the case revealed it was initiated only after President Donald Trump held a July address in which he alleged there was widespread election fraud and corruption by the FBI under the Biden administration, and that the case was ordered directly by FBI Director Kash Patel. 

Prosecutors accused Floris and Benavides of lying to Congress when they were asked about federal investigations of Hunter Biden and the veracity of information allegedly found on his laptop -- but the case fell apart under scrutiny, with Judge Faruqui saying "there is simply nothing" that shows either agent intended to make false statements about the probes. 

"Without motive, without direct evidence, I have nothing," Faruqui said. 

Faruqui also faulted Patel, Attorney General Todd Blanche and D.C. U.S. attorney Jeanine Pirro for their public statements maligning both Floris and Benavides despite the lack of evidence, and accused the DOJ of rushing to bring charges in advance of the midterms, in apparent violation of a longstanding department practice that limits taking overt investigative steps in politically sensitive investigations within 60 days of an election. 

"I will not bury my head in the sand and pretend I cannot read a calendar," the judge said. "I will not lobotomize myself that way." 

A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Faruqui said it was the first time in his history on the bench that he had ever made a finding that the government failed to reach the relatively low burden of establishing probable cause to bring charges -- which he said adds to mounting evidence that the Trump administration is unwilling to bring some of its more controversial prosecutions before grand juries. 

In what he described as a "slapdash job" by the government in seeking to bring charges against decorated former agents like Floris and Benavides, Faruqui said the flawed attempt to prosecute them and the messaging by top administration officials would likely deter qualified investigators from wanting to join the FBI -- and also potentially threatened Congress' ability to get valuable testimony from future witnesses. 

"This case is marketing material to discourage people from joining the FBI," Faruqui said, before questioning "what person in their right mind" would want to join the bureau after seeing what happened to Floris and Benavides. 

It's not immediately clear whether the government will seek to appeal Faruqui's ruling or if it will attempt to charge Floris and Benavides through other means, such as filing an amended complaint or seeking to indict them in D.C. or another district. 

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Lindsay Clancy is set to appear in a Massachusetts courtroom on Monday for a pivotal hearing that could determine the future of her triple murder case in the deaths of her children.

Two months after a deadlocked jury ended a lengthy trial this summer in a mistrial, the judge overseeing the case told prosecutors and defense lawyers he plans to discuss a future trial date during Monday’s hearing. 

“That’s my goal -- to get this thing tried to as soon as proper without sacrificing anyone's rights, anyone's position. But I don't want this thing to then just start to kind of get kicked down the road, punted, and go forward,” Judge William Sullivan said during September’s hearing. 

Neither side has firmly committed to retrying the case, saying they want to see how the judge rules on some post-trial motions before they decide their plans. Judge Sullivan plans to hear arguments on some of those issues during Monday's hearing, including Clancy's motion to dismiss the case and a request for a gag order ahead of a potential second trial.

Below are the three main issues set to come up during Monday's hearing.

Motion to dismiss 

Clancy's attorneys are asking Judge Sullivan to dismiss the case, arguing that he failed to fully investigate whether the holdout juror who forced the mistrial properly followed the court's instructions on the law. 

Attorneys Martin Weinberg and Kevin Reddington argue there was no need to declare a mistrial at that point, and that retrying the case after improperly ending the first trial would amount to double jeopardy. 

Prosecutors argued that Judge Sullivan "properly declared a mistrial" after the jury reported being deadlocked twice, and that investigating the holdout further "would have surely led to judicial coercion of that juror and the impermissible intrusion into the substance of the jury's private deliberations."

“The Court's decision to conduct a limited individual inquiry of each juror and then instruct the collective jury on reasonable doubt - made after carefully considering counsels' proposed alternatives -- was a proper exercise of the Court's discretion,” prosecutors wrote. 

Attorneys with the Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office also argued the foreperson’s notes about the deadlock did not allege a “personal issue, bias, or extraneous influence attributable to the dissenting juror.” 

The holdout juror -- who identified himself as Michael Péguy Desronvil -- said in statements and an interview following the trial that he had no doubts about her guilt. 

“How methodical I thought Lindsey was in the execution of the children, so that was really big for me,” he told Fox News. “The thought process that goes behind and to fulfill the commitment of doing that. I thought it was um, it was um, it was uh logical.”

Judge Sullivan will also hear arguments Monday about the defense’s request to further investigate the holdout juror, including by reviewing court documents and his cell phone records. Last month, Judge Sullivan denied a request to hold an evidentiary hearing about the holdout. 

“This Court concludes that any further judicial inquiry is inappropriate, given the mandate that the court must not delve into a juror's subjective reasoning, thought process, view of the case, or relationship to the other jurors, and must not inquire into the jury's deliberative content, collective thought process, or any disagreement among the jury,” Judge Sullivan wrote. 

Request for a gag order 

Judge Sullivan will also hear arguments about a request by prosecutors to impose a gag order, which they argue is necessary to "prevent the carnival atmosphere" from the first trial. 

“Restraints on any further extrajudicial statements are necessary in this case to protect the integrity and fairness of the judicial system,” they wrote. 

Ahead of a potential second trial, prosecutors said the gag order would “prevent any further pollution of any potential jury venire as well as subsequent witness testimony.”

Defense lawyers pushed back on the request and argued that the concerns raised by prosecutors were speculative. 

“It offers no evidence that any prospective juror has been exposed to, or affected by, anything counsel has said. Invoking an important interest is not enough to justify such an order. And if a future venire were already ‘inevitably tainted,’ silencing counsel now could not cure it,” wrote defense attorney Laura McConnell. “The harm the government fears is purely speculative. There is no venire, no jury, and no trial date.”

While gag orders are sometimes imposed during high-profile trials, the defense argued that prosecutors did not meet the high legal bar needed to justify the request. 

“The government bears a heavy burden to justify such an order. It offers no evidence. There is no jury, and it is unknown whether one will ever be impaneled. There is no trial date. The Motion should be denied,” McConnell wrote. 

Future trial date 

Judge Sullivan concluded Clancy's last appearance in court by telling both sides to "be prepared to talk about picking a trial date" during Monday's hearing. 

“I think it's important that this case move forward if it has to move forward,” Sullivan said during the Sept. 29 hearing. “Why don't we just pick a trial date that will get this case moving?” 

In a rare moment of agreement, both Reddington and prosecutors told the judge that they would rather wait until he resolves the post-trial motions before they agree to a new date. 

“We'd rather defer until you make your rulings and then any appellate arguments are presented, rather than pick a trial date,” Reddington said. 

Following the hearing, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy Cruz said outside court that his office is still evaluating whether to retry the case. 

“We're doing a very thorough review right now, and we're going to continue to do our job to make sure that we do what's best for the interests of justice and the interests of those three children,” he said. 

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Four people were killed in three apparently unrelated shootings across the Deep Ellum neighborhood in Dallas late on Halloween night, police said, adding that a suspect had been taken into custody and at least one other was being sought.

"The detectives and officers are still trying to put everything together to understand exactly what happened on each scene and to see if anything is related," Dallas Police Chief Daniel C. Comeaux said during a press conference on Sunday. "At this time, we have no information that they are related, but we're still doing an investigation to try to figure that out at this time."

Comeaux said at least 15 people had been injured in the shootings, but that number could rise as some people had transported themselves to nearby hospitals.

The first shooting began at about 12:20 a.m. near the 2600 block of Elm Street, followed less than an hour later at about 1:05 a.m. by a shooting on the 2600 block of Main Street, police said. The third began at about 1:35 a.m. on the 200 block of S. Crowdus Street.

Dallas Police sources told ABC News' Dallas–Fort Worth affiliate WFAA that at one location a man allegedly said he was going to "start shooting." At least three people were killed at that location, the source said.

Such violence "is always unacceptable in our city," Dallas Mayor Eric L. Johnson said in a statement.

"Public safety must always remain our top priority and we must continue to explore strategies to ensure that Deep Ellum can be a safe gathering place in our city," Johnson added.

Johnson and Dallas City Manager Kimberly Bizor Tolbert both said the victims and their families would be in their thoughts.

"Dallas Police officers were on the ground and able to respond immediately. Dallas Police will continue to investigate this incident and work to bring those responsible to justice," Tolbert said in a statement. "We will share additional information as it becomes available."

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A Learjet believed to be carrying nine people crashed on Sunday afternoon in Palm Beach County, Florida, after making a rapid dive of about 350 feet per second, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The plane, a 22-year-old twin-engine Learjet 60, crashed after taking off from Austin, Texas, and was headed to North Eleuthera in the Bahamas, according to the FAA.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the crash, the FAA said.

Photos and videos online showed a jet hitting the ground nose-first and bursting into a fireball. The impact of the crash left a crater near a shopping center.

The jet crashed near Military Trail, between Cresthaven Boulevard and 10th Avenue, in the Greenacres community of Palm Beach County, authorities said.

There was no immediate word from authorities on deaths and injuries.

The plane went from 35,250 feet to 8,750 feet in a little over a minute, or roughly 350 feet per second, before it slammed into the ground, according to the FAA.

"Obviously, this was a cataclysmic plane crash," Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a press briefing on Sunday. "It looked like a missile going down. It left a big crater on the side of the road."

"I think people will recognize this as a major tragedy," he said.

According to records, the plane belongs to a private company and has been used as a rental in the past.

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

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As parts of the Southwest are expected to endure another day of heavy rain and flash flooding on Sunday, a developing cross-country storm could produce a soggy Election Day across the central United States.

Flood watches remain in effect on Sunday across much of Arizona, portions of southern Utah, southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico and southern Nevada.

Over the weekend, parts of the Southwest have received 1 to 2 inches of rain, ramping up a flash-flooding threat.

A level 3 of 4 risk for flash flooding is forecast on Sunday across the region, including the cities of Flagstaff, Ariz., Cedar City, Utah, Durango, Colo., and Farmington, N.M. The Grand Canyon, Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks are also at risk of flash flooding.

Cross-country storm track

The renewed flash-flood threat across the West and Southwest -- including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah -- is expected to be exacerbated by a cross-country storm system that will begin hitting the West on Sunday.

The town of Pagosa Springs, Colo., was being evacuated on Sunday ahead of potentially historic flooding of the San Juan River, according to the Archuleta County Sheriff's Office. Mandatory evacuation orders were in effect Sunday afternoon, about a week after the San Juan River spilled its banks and caused flooding in Pagosa Springs.

"The river is rising faster than originally anticipated and is now expected to crest higher than previously forecast," the sheriff's office said in a social media statement on Sunday.

The river, according to the sheriff's office, could crest as soon as 6 p.m. local time on Sunday.

"Even if you are not currently in a mandatory evacuation area, we strongly encourage anyone who does not feel safe where they are to move to higher ground NOW. Do not wait until conditions worsen," the sheriff's office said.

Colorado Emergency Management officials said in a social media statement on Sunday that the San Juan River is expected to rise to historic levels.

"To put the forecast into perspective, during the devastating 1911 flood that wiped out most of what existed as the town of Pagosa at that time, the San Juan River crested at approximately 17.8 feet. The current forecast calls for the river to rise nearly 2 feet above that historic level."

Across Arizona, flash flooding and numerous road closures were being reported Sunday afternoon. Evacuation orders were also issued for parts of Sedona and Cedar Creek, Ariz., due to the rapidly rising floodwaters, including along Oak Creek in the area.

Sedona Fire posted an alert on their Facebook page, saying they were "calling in extra personnel to assist with an excessive amount of rescue operations in the area." The post included a video of homes being flooded and vehicles getting stuck in the rapidly rising waters.

White Mountain Apache Tribe, a federally recognized sovereign nation of about 15,000 members in east-central Arizona, also issued evacuation orders on Sunday afternoon.

Besides heavy rain, mountain snow is possible over the next few days across the higher elevations of the southern Sierra Nevada to central Rockies. However, it remains too early to tell how the cross-country storm will affect other parts of the country as it moves east.

The system is expected to sweep across the center of the country on Monday, bringing rainy weather to parts of the Plains and upper Midwest.

On Monday, scattered severe thunderstorms may develop across portions of the central and southern Plains by the late afternoon and evening hours. Wichita Falls, Texas, Wichita, Kan., and Oklahoma are expected to be in the threat zone.

Severe thunderstorms moving across the Plains and upper Midwest could also be accompanied by potentially damaging wind gusts, large hail and tornadoes.

Early forecast for Election Day

On Tuesday, Election Day, unsettled weather will be focused over the center of the country and parts of the Gulf Coast. The East and West coasts will be mostly dry for Election Day.

Rain showers on Tuesday are expected to become widespread across portions of the central Plains and Midwest, with strong thunderstorms possible from East Texas into the lower Mississippi Valley.

Rain showers will become more widespread across portions of the central Plains and Midwest,

The cross-country storm could reach the East by Wednesday and Thursday as a weakened system, with possible scattered showers and thunderstorms across the area.

Separate system impacting parts of Florida

A separate system is expected to bring an elevated flash-flood risk to eastern Florida on Sunday and Monday.

Flash flooding could develop across parts of the Florida peninsula as rounds of heavy rain sweep across the region. Flood Watches have been issued from Miami to Cape Canaveral through Monday afternoon.

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The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally striking a man in Houston earlier this month is expected to surrender on Monday morning, his attorney, David Lindenmuth told ABC News. 

Mario Alberto Morales was indicted by a grand jury in Houston on a charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Lindenmuth said Morales did not intend to strike Miguel Parra Hernandez when he was pursuing him and another person who were attempting to flee on foot on Oct. 10.

“It was an accident. It was nothing more than accident, but the DA to score political points right before elections decided to bring charges,” Lindenmuth said. 

At a press briefing on Friday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare alleged that Morales' body-camera footage shows the officer "aggressively steered his vehicle" into Parra Hernandez.

The district attorney played graphic video from the officer's body-worn camera alongside surveillance footage of the incident during a press briefing.

The body-camera footage appears to show Morales behind the wheel, pursuing Parra Hernandez and another individual who are fleeing on foot. 

"Got a runner, got a runner," the officer can be heard saying. "On foot. Both of them."

Seconds later, the body camera footage shows the officer appearing to turn his steering wheel toward the left. Authorities say that’s when the vehicle struck Parra Hernandez and then came to a stop.

Morales is then seen approaching Parra Hernandez, who is lying on the ground crying in agony, and moving his leg.

When asked about the video, Lindenmuth said Morales had two detainees in the back seat and was trying to avoid striking a vehicle and did not intend to hit him. 

“Clearly there is contact but the contact wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t knowingly,” Lindenmuth said. “It was in reaction to him trying not to strike a vehicle.” 

Lindenmuth said Morales served in the army, was a paratrooper, and is a Christian pastor who does missionary work overseas. 

He said he believes the charges against his client are politically motivated.

“This is a good man, so why are you attacking his character and his background? You know why? When you don’t have evidence, you have to vilify somebody,” he said. “So he has to make him the boogeyman, a monster, because he knows he cannot prove intent because there was none.” 

Speaking at the press briefing, the DA told reporters: "I've reviewed hundreds of cases, some very similar to this. The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any that I've ever prosecuted or investigated."

Attorney Kim Bruno, who's representing Parra Hernandez, her client suffered fractures and nerve damage and underwent surgery following the incident.

“All he wants is accountability,” Bruno said. “He wants assurance that this will not happen to anybody else. He is so sympathetic, and all he cares about are the other people. But he is the one in the bed suffering.”

Parra Hernandez is currently detained and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility.

According to Lindenmuth, Morales is a former corrections officer who enlisted in the Army. 

Morales also worked as a detention and processing officer at the Port Isabel Detention Center and worked with DHS as an ICE contractor, Lindenmuth said. 

He joined ICE as a federal immigration officer in August 2025, Lindenmuth said. 

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A federal judge on Friday did not immediately rule on a request from attorneys for former FBI Director James Comey to throw out criminal allegations put forward by the Justice Department accusing him of allegedly mishandling classified information more than a decade ago. 

It's the third known effort by federal prosecutors to attempt to bring charges against Comey in the span of 13 months, after President Donald Trump issued a public demand for the Justice Department to act "now" to bring prosecutions against Comey and other perceived political foes.

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden heard arguments for nearly two hours over whether the government improperly sought to extend the statute of limitations so they could charge Comey by filing a "criminal information" rather than an indictment, which requires sign-off from a grand jury. 

At one point in the arguments, the judge addressed the Justice Department's recent difficulties in convincing grand juries to approve charges in a growing number of cases, despite that previously being extraordinarily rare. 

"Turns out ham sandwiches are harder to indict these days," Judge McFadden said, referring to New York Judge Sol Wachtler's famous 1985 quote regarding how easy indictments are to attain.

It was unclear by the conclusion of the hearing whether McFadden would issue a ruling by next Thursday, which would technically be the last day for the government to seek a grand jury indictment against Comey, until the criminal information is dismissed under the Speedy Trial Act. 

But DOJ attorney Dustin Farahnak said that, as part of the government's active investigation, it has since uncovered evidence that could be included in the case as recently as April of 2017 -- which, if true, would extend the government's ability to potentially charge Comey for another six months. 

Before concluding the hearing McFadden cautioned to the government, saying he "will be extremely frustrated if there is some dawn raid" to arrest Comey, prompting Farahnak to assure him "that won't happen."

Earlier in the hearing, Comey's attorneys said there have been several recent instances where FBI agents have been parked outside Comey's home for unexplained reasons, raising the suggestion that he could face arrest at any moment. 

The latest allegations against Comey were revealed Monday after McFadden ordered details of the behind-the-scenes legal fight to be unsealed at the request of Comey's legal team.

According to unsealed court records, prosecutors allege that Comey broke the law by directing FBI staff to leak information to a New York Times reporter for an article published on Oct. 5, 2016, titled "Yahoo Said to Have Aided U.S. Email Surveillance by Adapting Spam Filter."

"The United States' investigation has uncovered evidence that former FBI Director, James B. Comey, sought to correct misinformation which had appeared in the press by way of Reuters the day before," prosecutors wrote in their response to Comey's motion to dismiss the case earlier this month. "Mr. Comey directed staff to speak to [the New York Times reporter] about specific accuracy concerns related to the Reuters article, and thereby illegally transferred classified information."

The article in question centered on whether the Department of Justice sought a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to force Yahoo to search for communications between members of a foreign terrorist organization.

According to court filings, Comey sought to correct claims in a Reuters story published the previous day that Yahoo "secretly built a custom software program to search all of its customers' incoming emails for specific information provided by U.S. intelligence officials."

Comey was indicted in North Carolina on April 28 over a controversial Instagram post from last year that prosecutors say was a threat against the president. In the post, Comey shared a picture showing the numbers "86 47" -- interpreted to mean "get rid of" Trump -- written in seashells on the beach, with the caption, "Cool shell formation on my beach walk."

Comey removed the post soon after making it, saying, "I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down." His next court appearance in that case is scheduled for January.

The former FBI director was previously indicted in September 2025 on charges of making a false statement and obstruction related to his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2020.

Comey pleaded not guilty at his arraignment and the case was ultimately dismissed on the grounds that the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney who brought the case was improperly appointed.

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Dozens of Afghan immigrants, possibly including relatives of Afghans who worked alongside the U.S. military, are expected to be deported this week, according to lawyers, advocacy groups, and families of those detained.

A court filing for one Afghan immigrant reviewed by ABC News shows that the destination of a deportation flight expected to take place this week is Pakistan, with further transport to Afghanistan. 

Advocates and families previously told ABC News that, as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, hundreds of Afghan immigrants are currently being held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in Louisiana, from where many international deportation flights depart. 

Charlotte Moyal told ABC News that her husband, who has been in immigration detention for more than a year, was recently transferred from a facility in Pennsylvania to one in Louisiana. Moyal said her husband was notified he could be deported from the U.S. as early as next week. 

Shawn VanDiver, founder and president of AfghanEvac, a nonprofit group that supports Afghans who were evacuated from their home country as part of the United States' military withdrawal, previously told ABC News that families of those detained are "terrified."

If removed to Afghanistan, some of the families fear those removed will face torture or persecution from the Taliban.

"Anybody from Afghanistan is in danger if they get sent back," VanDiver said.

A State Department spokesman told ABC News earlier this week that the department reaffirmed its position that "all countries must be able to manage their borders and immigration processes in a manner that ensures the safety, security, and prosperity of their citizens."

In a statement, Taliban officials said they have "deep concern over reports indicating that the United States intends to transfer a number of Afghan refugees to Pakistan," and that they are "ready to engage constructively in this matter."

"When even the Taliban say they have 'serious concern' about your deportation plan, it is time to stop and ask what you are doing," VanDiver said in response to the statement. "Pakistan and the Taliban are at each other's throats, the border between them is nearly shut, and this administration wants to drop the families of America's allies in the middle of it."

"That is not immigration enforcement. It is abandonment with a boarding pass," VanDiver said. "These families stood with our troops. Stop the flight."

A senior official at the Afghan Refugees Commissionerate told ABC News that because Afghanistan does not have a formal agreement with the U.S., Pakistan handles the transit process for Afghan detainees.

The official said that Afghan immigrant detainees transferred to Pakistan are transported to the Afghan border in bulletproof buses.

"Afghans who stood with American troops, and their families, are being quietly loaded onto a plane to Pakistan, where they will very likely be pushed to the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan," Democratic Rep. Scott Peters, a longtime supporter of Afghan refugees, said in a statement. "If this administration has its way, we would be throwing our vulnerable allies into the jaws of mortal danger. This is absolute cruelty and it is not who we are. This decision needs to be reversed."

ABC News' Luke Barr, Aleem Agha and Habibullah Khan contributed to this report.

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Nvidia, a top chipmaker, is denying a report that its CEO, Jensen Huang, was allegedly targeted in a Chinese spy plot.

According to a New York Times report published Thursday, U.S. intelligence officials allegedly determined that a top executive at a Singapore-based data center company who developed a "close relationship" with Huang was funneling information to Chinese officials in Beijing.

The executive was identified by the Times as Alice Huang, who was pictured together with the Nvidia CEO in 2024.

Nvidia denied the report in a statement to ABC News, saying Jensen Huang "talks with thousands of customer executives every year."

"Jensen's interactions with Ms. Huang are not unusual or unexpected," the statement read. "Meetings with customers are part of a CEO's job."

A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry also denied the report.

“The reports are baseless and purely slanderous smears against China,” spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Friday at his daily press briefing.

Neither Alice Huang nor her employer, Megaspeed International, responded to ABC News' request for comment.

According to the Times, President Donald Trump was briefed on U.S. intelligence officials' findings but did not take any action.

The White House has not yet responded to ABC News' request for comment.

Trump is a close ally of Jensen Huang, who has advised the president amid an artificial intelligence race with China. Jensen Huang was a guest at a White House state dinner in September, where Trump hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping.

That same month, the CEO attended a luncheon for AI and tech industry leaders hosted by Trump at the White House.

Earlier this year, in January, Huang convinced the president to clear the way for advance chip sales to China, in a deal that gave the U.S. government 25% of the profits.

Trump also personally owns shares in Nvidia, the world's most publicly traded company.

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Christa Pike said in a statement released by her attorneys on Friday that she is "recovering" but had been "deeply hurt by the incompetence" after her botched execution in Tennessee last month.

"My body hurts. My arms hurt. My hands hurt. My throat hurts. I still struggle to speak. And the pain isn't just physical. There is pain in my mind and in my soul," she said.

Pike dictated her message to her legal team, the statement said.

The statement, her first public comments since the failed execution, comes one month after her execution date.

Pike touched on the day she was scheduled to be executed, the moments after she awoke and the toll the failed execution took on her in the statement.

Pike is currently in the infirmary at the Debra K. Johnson Rehabilitation Center in Nashville, Tennessee, the statement said.

"I walked into the execution chamber at Riverbend men's prison prepared to die. I had made my peace," she said. "I had told the people who loved me, supported me and stood by me through the years I was grateful for them. I had also told the people in the room and who were there to witness my execution that I was leaving them in loving kindness."

Pike said days after her survival, she awoke "confused and in pain."

She said she had "not contemplated life beyond that night" and was "deeply hurt by the incompetence that has put so many people in this terrible position."

According to Pike, she has been "largely isolated in the prison's medical ward," which has brought about "its own kind of pain."

She compared her current isolation to the 28 years she spent in solitary confinement, saying this is "a repeat of that condition."

Pike also acknowledged the "love and support" she has received, saying, "To know that so many people care about me, that they see me as a human being whose life matters, is something I cannot fully put into words."

"I don't know why I survived that night. I don't know what comes next. Some days, finding hope is harder than others," Pike said. "I am trying to heal, one day at a time. And I am holding on to the love and kindness of so many people who have reminded me that I am not alone."

Pike, 50, was sentenced to death after being convicted of the 1995 murder of 19-year-old Colleen Slemmer.

"I continue to think about my victim's family and the terrible pain and loss they have endured," Pike said.

Slemmer's mother, May Martinez -- who had traveled from her home in Orange Park, Florida, to Nashville with her husband for the execution -- told ABC Jacksonville affiliate WJXX that she believes that the state failed her family.

"All I wanted was justice," Martinez told WJXX.

Witnesses to the Sept. 30 execution said that authorities appeared to administer two rounds of lethal pentobarbital but that Pike appeared to still be breathing an hour later when witnesses were escorted out of the chamber.

Pike reportedly asked, "Where am I?" after regaining consciousness in a hospital nearly a week after the botched execution left her critically injured and temporarily on a ventilator, according to one of her attorneys.

Pike is the first person reported to have survived lethal injection after being given medications, according to the Death Penalty Information Center.

In the wake of the botched execution, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee ordered a temporary halt to scheduled executions in the state, and Tennessee Department of Correction Commissioner Frank Strada resigned.

Speaking to reporters this week, Lee said he expected her sentence would remain unchanged, despite the circumstances.

"As it relates to a particular individual like Christa Pike and her crime, she is still incarcerated under the laws of the state of Tennessee. And I suspect her sentence will be the same as it was before, unless determined otherwise by the courts," Lee said.

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It was a dire warning, delivered on the biggest stage: Some 278,000 noncitizens were improperly registered to vote in federal elections and were poised to tilt the scales of the election in November, President Donald Trump warned in a primetime address to the nation in July.

"The real number is actually much higher," he added.

The president's bold claim set off a series of events that culminated in recent weeks with an unprecedented bid by the federal government to impose itself on state-run elections.

The Trump administration has sued the state of California and threatened other states over the issue of noncitizen voting, a longtime concern of the president and his administration despite experts saying it is already illegal and "vanishingly rare." Federal officials have demanded action after presenting to states what they say are lists of noncitizens who are registered to vote, gathered using a combination of federal immigration data and commercially available state voter registration rolls.

But in the final weeks of the campaign, as the administration implores state and local officials, both in and out of court, to investigate those individuals, the lists -- and the grandiose numbers Trump and his allies publicly trumpeted -- appear to be buckling under the scrutiny of state and local election officials.

In California, Washington and Nevada -- and beyond -- state and local officials say the lists provided by the Justice Department appear grossly inaccurate and justify the states' reluctance to purge individuals from registration lists so close to the election.

'Lack of credibility'

The Trump administration initially accused California of harboring over 190,000 noncitizen voters on its rolls over the summer. That sum was whittled down to 20,000 by the time the Justice Department filed its lawsuit against the state last week.

It's not clear why the administration reduced the figure so dramatically. But even the smaller figure seems inflated, according to state and local officials.

In court filings, officials in Los Angeles County said a preliminary review of 200 individuals on the list showed that nearly 40% "indicate that they were born in the United States, which is strong evidence of citizenship; and 71.2% of the records have no voting history."

Judge David Carter, the federal judge assigned to the case, rejected the Justice Department's push for an emergency intervention based in part on what he called the administration's "unreliability" and "lack of credibility."

Late last week, separate from its litigation against the state, the DOJ sent letters to every California county asking local elections officials to help identify potential voters who may be in the U.S. illegally, according to a letter described to ABC News.

"Within 48 hours, we ask that you commit to working with DOJ and DHS to identify who on the accompanying list is a citizen and who is not," according to the letter sent by Justice Department officials.

Since then, county election officials have been sifting through the lists. According to some county officials, the results so far seem to confirm their skepticism of the Trump administration's claims.

In Butte County, situated just north of the Sacramento Valley, officials received a list of 47 names from federal prosecutors late Friday. The county's top election official, Keaton Denlay, told ABC News that he personally reviewed what he called the Justice Department's "poorly formatted excel spreadsheet with missing and jumbled information."

Denlay found that 32 of the 47 individuals "are not on Butte county's active voter rolls," and another seven "did not have sufficient information for me to match to our voter list with confidence."

Officials in Nevada County received a list of just 10 names. Their review "found no evidence of non-citizen voting in the November 3, 2026 Election," an official said.

Of the 33 names sent to officials in San Benito County, officials there said, "a preliminary review ... indicated that not all listed individuals were currently registered to vote in San Benito County," without specifying how many.

Other county officials contacted by ABC News said they were either still reviewing the list or analyzing their legal obligation to cooperate with the Justice Department.

A Justice Department official told ABC News that, as of Thursday, the DOJ under Trump had charged roughly 200 individuals across the country with either illegal voting or unlawful voter registration-related offenses. 

'Tip of the iceberg'?

Federal prosecutors in Washington state convened the media on Monday for a press conference where they accused state leaders of knowingly allowing some 400 noncitizens to vote this fall, calling that figure just "the tip of the iceberg."

The top election official in Washington state issued a blistering response on Wednesday, claiming that a preliminary review of the Justice Department's list found a number of U.S. citizens, as well as "several" other individuals who are not registered to vote.

"The information you provided contains several glaring deficiencies," wrote Steve Hobbs, the Washington secretary of state in response the DOJ. "You provide no information about how the information was collected or what sources were used. Nor do you provide any backup documentation supporting your assertions."

Hobbs said this close to an election, the risk of removing individuals from registration lists or sequestering their ballots would risk disenfranchising eligible voters, a sentiment shared by election officials around the country and the judge overseeing the Justice Department's case in California. 

"It is almost certain more people named on this list are also United States citizens; those already identified may just be the 'tip of the iceberg' of individuals that would be wrongfully disenfranchised by the actions you request," Hobbs told the DOJ.

'There is no trust'

In August, federal officials alerted Nevada state leaders, including Nevada Secretary of State Francisco Aguilar, that there could be as many as 15,903 noncitizens registered to vote in the state. The two parties met on a video conference to discuss the figure.

According to a recording of the video conference obtained by ABC News, the meeting was not overtly hostile -- but there appeared to be palpable tension and some awkward exchanges, as Nevada officials seemed deeply skeptical of the claims made by Department of Homeland Security officials.

"So what you're saying is the 15,000 number has not been vetted?" a Nevada official asked, according to the recording.

"I probably wouldn't use the sentence, 'It hasn't been vetted,'" a DHS representative responded, adding that each individual has not "had a full manual review."

"So it went from 16,000, and then to the 185, and then down to zero from our perspective," Aguilar said.

"There's no trust in that relationship," Aguilar later told ABC News. "In order to have a working relationship, there has to be trust, and the fact that they continue to tear that trust apart and spread the misinformation and the lies that they are about our elections is wrong."

In response to a request by ABC News for comment earlier this month, DHS stood by its work, which it called "a service to Nevada's citizens," and accused Nevada officials of knowingly harboring illegal voters on its lists.

"Nevada knows the 185 names they keep waving around were never the full list of illegal voters," a Homeland Security spokesperson said in an email. "They were only the files [that immigration officials] had finished reviewing at the moment of the call. Since then, [immigration officials] have manually confirmed about 2,000 more aliens from the same list."

They concluded: "The review is just beginning."

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DoorDash is acquiring grocery delivery company Instacart in a deal valued at around $17 billion, the company announced on Thursday.

A release shared by both parties noted that DoorDash is purchasing the company at $65.00 per Instacart share, "a 26% premium to Instacart's closing price on October 22, 2026, the last trading day before media reports about a possible transaction. "

The company said the acquisition would give consumers a wider variety of store choices and "faster delivery options."

The release listed potential benefits for consumers, including 50,000 more stores for Instacart customers, one membership fee for DashPass and Instacart+ and more orders for local businesses.

"The combined company will offer grocers and retailers of every size DoorDash's delivery network and Instacart's grocery and fulfillment technology, in both apps and on stores' own websites, along with the advertising and AI tools each company has built," according to the release.

The companies said DoorDash is expected to keep Instacart mainstays, including the brand and app.

"Together, we could give stores of every size more of those tools and unlock the potential of grocery delivery," DoorDash CEO Tony Xu said in a statement.

Instacart CEO Chris Rogers said the deal would "offer an even better experience for customers and shoppers."

The release added the deal "is expected to close in the end of 2027 or the first half of 2028."

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A 10-year-old girl who was reported kidnapped from her apartment overnight was found safe, police in Oregon said.

Violet Hay was located at a residence in Oregon City at 2:45 p.m. Wednesday local time, over 12 hours after she was reported abducted from her home in Canby, officials said.

"I have great news. We found her safe and alive," Canby Police Chief Jose Gonzalez said during a news conference on Wednesday, getting emotional.

A SWAT team surrounded the residence and took a suspect into custody, he said.

Officers had responded earlier Wednesday, at approximately 1:47 a.m., to an apartment complex in Canby for the reported kidnapping, the Canby Police Department said.

"Investigators learned that at approximately 1:39 a.m., an unknown male reportedly entered an apartment, assaulted a 12-year-old child, and abducted 10-year-old Violet Hay," the police department said in a press release Wednesday.

Violet was "taken by force," and her 12-year-old sister was "viciously assaulted," Chris Owen, Clackamas County chief deputy district attorney, said during the briefing.

The 12-year-old girl was transported to a local hospital and is still receiving treatment, Canby Police Capt. James Murphy said during Wednesday's press briefing.

Murphy described the day's developments as "very dynamic" and said police are still investigating.

"We would like to learn more obviously about these circumstances involved in the case," he said.

Owen said the results of the investigation will be submitted to the district attorney's office Thursday morning and "we will make a charging decision concerning any suspect or suspects."

Police did not take any questions, citing the ongoing investigation.

Amid the search, police said investigators were interviewing family members and were working to collect any surveillance footage and develop a suspect and/or vehicle description.

The girl's mother and father are continuing to cooperate in the investigation, police said.

The search involves local and state authorities, as well as the FBI, according to Canby police. The police chief thanked all those involved in the search for Violet, saying, "Without their help, it would have been impossible for us to find her well and alive today."

"As a parent, I was anxious and I wanted to get it resolved, and I'm so glad that we found her alive and well," he said.

The Canby School District said there would be an increased police presence at Carus Elementary School, where Violet is a student, at dismissal on Wednesday "out of an abundance of caution."

"We recognize that news like this is deeply concerning and may cause fear and uncertainty for our families," the Canby School District said in a message to the school community. "During this difficult time, the most important things we can do are remain calm, stay close and connected with our children, and immediately report any information that could help investigators."

Anyone with tips is urged to contact Oregon State Police at 1-800-442-0776 and reference the Canby Police Department case No. 26-021300.

Canby is located about 25 miles south of downtown Portland.

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Two Colorado hikers remain missing after a search team found a tent, collapsed by snow, with items inside, the Chaffee County Sheriff's Office announced in a social media post on Tuesday.

Kaden Matsuda, 19, and Jackson Donlon, 20, left Colorado Mountain College Leadville's campus for a hike on Friday and did not return, according to the sheriff's office.

Authorities said they received a call about the missing hikers from staff at the college on Monday.

"Family and friends were interviewed, and it was learned that Kaden and Jackson planned on hiking Ice Mountain on the far north end of Chaffee County," authorities said.

Ice Mountain is located southeast of Aspen, in Colorado's Rocky Mountains.

"According to friends, Kaden and Jackson planned on returning from the hike on Saturday if they didn't feel safe. If they continued to Ice Mountain, they would return on Sunday," the sheriff's office noted.

Those close to the hikers also described them as "experienced hikers" and added they "should have had appropriate clothing," the sheriff's office said.

Matsuda's car was found at the trailhead with "about eight inches of snow on the ground but none under the vehicle," the sheriff's office said.

Authorities said it was raining in the area on Friday, and began snowing on Saturday afternoon.

The sheriff's office said search and rescue teams began a search mission for Matsuda and Donlon.

Forensic examinations on the hikers' phones indicated that they had not been used in 48 hours, authorities said.

"The service in the area would be almost nonexistent, and they certainly could have turned the phones off to preserve the batteries, which makes the 48 hours less concerning," the sheriff's office said.

On Tuesday, authorities said a helicopter spotted an object near Lake Ann.

"A search team was sent in on foot to this area and discovered that the object was the hiker's tent that had collapsed under the weight of the snow," the sheriff's office said.

The post continued, "There was no snow under the tent and there were no visible footprints in the snow, which suggested, again, this was all in place before the snow came in. Their sleeping bags, a stove and some clothing were inside the tent, but Kaden and Jackson were not located."

The sheriff's office said Ice Mountain "is a very technical climb, and it is recommended that hikers be very experienced when trying to tackle it. That is when it is dry."

Authorities said the mountain received one to two feet of snow, with three to four feet in some areas due to "sluffing and drifting."

Chaffee County Sheriff Andy Rohrich said authorities are "still optimistic" that the missing hikers "are hunkered down somewhere waiting to be rescued."

"Our window of opportunity is closing as poor weather is expected again later this week, so we are putting all our available resources in the field. We are also considering other potential destinations they may have been headed to other than Ice Mountain," Rohrich said in a statement.

Rohrich said both hikers are "strong" and added, "hope is not lost."

ABC News has reached out to Colorado Mountain College for more information.

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Labor icon Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers, has died at 96, her family said.

"We are deeply saddened to announce that our beloved mother, Dolores Huerta, has passed away today at the age of 96," her family said in a statement on her official Instagram account. "As you can imagine, this is an incredibly difficult time for us, and we ask for privacy as we grieve this incredible loss to our family. We know that many of you around the world share in our mourning, and we will be following up on plans to recognize and celebrate her incredible life and legacy."

A spokesperson for Huerta's family confirmed her cause of death was cancer.

Huerta co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with fellow activists Cesar Chavez and Gilbert Padilla, which would eventually become the United Farm Workers of America. The union's work led to the first farmworker union contracts in U.S. history.

The union highlighted Huerta's coining of the popular labor motto "Si, Se Puede" ("Yes, we can") and her advocacy for farmworkers, women, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and "all marginalized people."

"Her life's work was to empower her community to face and overcome injustices, and she has left farm workers and the entire Latino community stronger and more organized than she found it," said UFW President Teresa Romero. 

Huerta was born on April 10, 1930, in Dawson, a small mining town in northern New Mexico to Mexican parents involved in union activism. She grew up in Stockton, California, and became active in community and labor organizations as an adult.

Huerta became a teacher in rural California in the 1950s and said life wasn’t always easy for Mexican-Americans, witnessing mistreatment, extreme poverty and starving children.

"We still have that racism that exists that I had to confront when I was a teenager growing up," Huerta told "Good Morning America" in 2020.

She began seeing how horrendous life was for farm workers in California.

"They were only earning like 50 cents an hour," Huerta said. "They had no unemployment insurance, farmworkers, because they migrated from, you know, from county to county. They weren't even able to have any kind of access to the food banks ... no bathrooms in the field, especially for the women. That was really horrible."

She said she knew it was her calling to fight discrimination and help improve the lives of farmworkers. First, she joined a grassroots group called the Community Service Organization. That’s when she met Chavez and her mentor, Fred Ross Sr., who she calls the godfather of the farmworkers' movement.

She founded the Agricultural Workers Association in 1960 before joining Chavez and Padilla to form the NFWA two years later.

Huerta played a pivotal role in the Delano grape strike of 1965 and led the subsequent national boycott of table grapes, which successfully pressured growers to improve wages and working conditions.

Huerta founded the Dolores Huerta Foundation in 2002, a civic advocacy organization supporting marginalized, low-income and immigrant communities

She was also a strong advocate for women, campaigning for reproductive rights and serving as an honorary co-chair of the 2017 Women's March in Washington, D.C.

In 2012, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her decades of advocacy in civil rights and women's equality.

Allegations against Chavez and continuing work

In 2026, Huerta spoke exclusively to ABC's John Quiñones in response to a New York Times article detailing allegations that Chavez abused women and minors. Chavez died in 1993.

Huerta said that she was "manipulated and pressured into having sex" with Chavez She detailed two separate sexual encounters with him in the 1960s -- one in which she said she was pressured to have sex with him, and another in which she said she was forced against her will.

"And to think that somebody that we looked at as our hero and our leader -- you know, it's pretty horrible," Huerta said.

Huerta said both encounters she had with Chavez led to pregnancies that she kept secret, later arranging for the children to be raised by other families.

"I thought that abortion was a sin," Huerta told Quiñones. "I have since changed my mind on those issues because I now realize that women have to have a right to abortion. And by the way, abortion was also illegal at that time."

She said that one of the children was raised by her brother and the other was raised by a family friend.

Huerta said at the time that she remained committed to her work, focusing on current threats to labor rights and the treatment of immigrants in detention centers.

"My intention is just to do the work, make lives better for women, make lives better for working people," Huerta said. "We know that the job isn't finished yet."

"At my age, 96, as long as God gives me strength and the little energy that I have left, I want to just continue doing the work to make life better for women, for children, and of course, for farmworkers and workers in general," she said. 

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Two right-wing provocateurs, James O'Keefe and Cam Higby, are facing election-related charges in Minnesota after posting videos of an undercover stunt intended to expose alleged deficiencies in election security. 

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said each man faces a count of unlawful voting and identity theft. 

"Elections are the bedrock of democracy and their protection is one of our highest priorities," Moriarty said in a statement. "Individuals engaging in unlawful conduct related to our elections will be held accountable." 

O'Keefe, a self-proclaimed "guerilla journalist" infamous for his undercover videos, and Higby, a social media influencer, posted the video at the heart of the charges in August. It shows the two men approaching election judges at multiple voting precincts in Minneapolis wearing burqas, speaking in fake accents, and allegedly misrepresenting their identities, in an effort to expose what O'Keefe and Higby say are gaps in the rules that allow residents to vouch for the identity of other voters. 

The video, which remains pinned on Higby's X account, is called "I Wore Burqa To EXPOSE Election FRAUD In Minneapolis." 

No ballots were cast in the course of their efforts.

Prosecutors said Wednesday that O'Keefe and Higby deceived the election judges by using the identities of real Minnesota voters "without those voters' knowledge or permission" in violation of state law. Each count carries up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. Neither man is in custody, according to charging documents. 

In a statement shared on X, Higby said, "No laws were broken. They want me in PRISON for exposing election vulnerabilities in their state." O'Keefe did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

Steve Simon, the state's top election official, said in a statement that "any attempt to disrupt or deceive our election workers will not be tolerated." 

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Attorneys for two former FBI agents charged with lying to Congress about past probes of Hunter Biden are back in court Wednesday seeking to convince a magistrate judge to immediately dismiss their case, citing a lack of evidence and alleged prosecutorial misconduct.

In a marathon hearing Tuesday, magistrate Judge Zia Faruqui lambasted the conduct of federal prosecutors, striking from the record a superseding complaint they attempted to file in the case because it lacked proper signoff from a judge.

Faruqui said the growing record of "inappropriate" actions by the government was "throwing enormous amounts of gasoline onto this fire," which supported arguments from lawyers for former agents Nikki Floris and Brian Benavides that the charges against them were politically motivated.

"And so everything you're doing just is making me more and more concerned that there's something to that," Faruqui told DOJ prosecutors.

The Justice Department on Friday charged Floris and Bradley with allegedly making false statements to Congress stemming from a probe into whether investigators in the lead-up to the 2020 election sought to suppress or discredit the veracity of material on the laptop of former President Joe Biden's son that included embarrassing photos and videos.

Under cross-examination by attorneys for Floris and Benavides, FBI agent Bryan Witt, who was tasked with investigating their clients, disclosed that the genesis for the entire case was President Donald Trump's July speech that centered around unverified claims of fraud in past U.S. elections.

Witt said that following the speech, FBI Director Kash Patel personally assigned the investigation of a list of former agents, including Floris and Benavides, to the FBI's Kansas City field office.

Witt, who conceded that the sequence of events was unusual, further testified that the office received regular check-ins from FBI leadership on the status of their probe.

At the start of Wednesday's hearing, a DOJ attorney sought to object to a line of questioning related to Trump and Patel's personal involvement in initiating the investigation.

Faruqui seemed skeptical of the objection, saying that the testimony appeared to be directly relevant to his eventual determination of whether there is sufficient probable cause for the charges.

"It's not typical that the president of the United States says go investigate people," Faruqui said. "So that seems to squarely fit within an investigation to the reasonableness of the basis for the charge."

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Lawyers representing Meta and Snap will be back in court this week in the latest trial over claims their apps were designed to get teens and children hooked.

Jury selection begins Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court in the next potential bellwether case involving two teenage girls who say addictive features like "Snapstreaks," push notifications and view counts worsened their mental health.

In the complaint, an18-year-old from Mississippi who goes by "K.D.B." claims her compulsive use of Snapchat and Instagram, which is owned by Meta, contributed to depression, anxiety, self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

"To this day, the addictive qualities of Defendants’ products and their harmful algorithms are not fully known or understood by minor users or their parents," the plantiffs' lawyers wrote in the complaint.

In a statement to ABC News, a Snap spokesperson said the allegations "misrepresent" the plantiffs' experiences on the app.

"From the beginning, Snapchat was built differently from traditional social media: it opens to a camera, not a feed, not a ranking of what other people post or other social comparison metrics. We have built safeguards into the platform, introduced safety tools and educational resources, and we believe the evidence will support that we have put our community first, and that these allegations fundamentally misrepresent the plaintiffs' experiences on Snapchat and how our platform was designed,” the Snap spokesperson said.

Meta has previously pushed back on allegations it does not protect young users on its platforms, pointing to features like Teen Accounts.

A Meta spokesperson responded to the latest lawsuit, telling ABC News: "We disagree with these allegations and will defend ourselves in court. A young person's mental health is shaped by many factors, as the evidence in this trial will show. The plaintiff used TikTok far more than Instagram or Facebook, and her personal circumstances were a substantial factor in her struggles," adding, "We've spent more than a decade building protections for teens, and our agreement with 52 bipartisan attorneys general goes even further with strict time limits, no access at night, and no notifications during school hours. We hope the rest of our industry joins us in setting this new standard."

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel and Instagram's top executive Adam Mosseri are expected to testify in November.

A similar landmark trial in the same courtroom against Meta and YouTube in March saw a jury side with the plaintiff "K.G.M." and award her $6 million in damages. The companies are appealing. Snap and TikTok settled before the trial.

Meta has faced a slew of high-stakes legal battles this year as states, school districts and individuals try to use the courts to force tech companies to pay penalties and make changes to their products.

In a historic settlement with 48 states in August, Meta agreed to pay up to $18 billion and make significant changes to its apps for young users including setting time limits, disabling some filters and hiding like counts. Meta did not admit wrongdoing.

The tech giant is calling for other companies including TikTok, YouTube and Snap to make similar changes to their apps in order to implement a "new industry standard" toward safety.

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Loved ones of Cody Birchfield, the murder victim of escaped Tennessee inmate Jacob Morley, are speaking out amid the manhunt for the 28-year-old fugitive as authorities upped the reward for information leading to his arrest.

Birchfield's sister and friends discussed the pain imposed by Morley's escape in separate statements to ABC News.

Carrie Norman, Birchfield's sister, said she was "reliving this horrible tragedy all over again."

Authorities announced on Wednesday the reward for information leading to Morley's arrest has reached a combined $15,000.

According to ABC News Tennessee affiliate WJHL, Morley was found guilty of murder in 2022. He was sentenced to life in prison for the murder of Birchfield, a previously missing man whose body was discovered buried underneath Morley's home, according to the outlet.

Norman added, "I find myself asking the public for help to find my brother's murderer when he should be in prison locked away."

"He was a kind man that would help anyone by basically giving them the shirt of his back if they needed it," Norman said in a statement on Tuesday.

Diana Reid, a friend of Birchfield, said she was "horrified" that the convicted murderer could escape.

"Just knowing his killer is now on the run is terrifying. This news has made it difficult to even sleep or think clearly. How can you when you're being forced to relive the emotions of losing someone to murder, all while knowing the person responsible is out there somewhere?" she said.

Reid remembered her friend as a "good man with a heart for helping others."

She shared her concern for "public safety," adding, "We don't know what he may be willing to do to avoid being captured, and that's what scares me most."

Morley, who is serving a life sentence, escaped from the Northwest Correctional Complex in Tiptonville, the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) announced Monday.

"At approximately 11:30 p.m. on October 25, 2026, staff at NWCX confirmed Morley was unaccounted for and immediately conducted an emergency count and search of the facility," the agency said.

Security cameras "confirmed Morley breached the perimeter fence and exited the facility in his TDOC uniform," officials said.

On Monday, authorities released a photo of a stolen truck sought in connection with the inmate. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) said newly obtained footage "shows Morley stealing a white 2008 Ford F-350, Tennessee tag 138BBQV" at approximately 1 a.m. Monday from the 400 block of Keystone Drive.

On Tuesday, the TBI announced that authorities located the truck in Marion, Illinois, but Morley's location remained unknown.

ABC News' Madeline Wheeler contributed to this report.

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When the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, then-President Barack Obama said, "This agreement represents the best chance we've had to save the one planet that we've got.”

But a decade later, a new report, led by University College London in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), finds that while progress has been made, many detrimental health indicators linked to climate change are moving in the wrong direction. The report's authors are also warning that problems aren't just increasing -- they're accelerating.

"A decade after the Paris Agreement, our findings are unambiguous: the health harms of climate change are growing faster than the world's response to them, and in many cases even accelerating," said Marina Romanello, a professor at University College London and the executive director of the Lancet Countdown in a statement.

The 2026 report of The Lancet Countdown on health and climate change includes findings from 146 researchers at more than 100 institutions in more than 30 countries. Researchers found evidence that heat was linked, on average, to more than 540,000 estimated deaths per year from 2016, when the Paris Agreement went into effect, through 2023, the latest year with available data. The researchers attribute 68% of those fatalities to climate change.

"These numbers point to a clear emergency," Romanello said in a statement. "The rate of increase in many climate-related health threats is accelerating, while heat deaths linked to climate change have reached a record-high, and the economic toll is battering vulnerable sectors and communities the hardest."

The past 11 years have been the 11 hottest on record. In 2023, heat could be linked to 710,000 estimated deaths, with more than 71% attributable to climate change, the report said. That number exceeded the loss of life from malaria or HIV, according to the researchers. For the entire period of 2016 to 2023, the report found that nearly 3 million deaths could be connected to climate change.

According to the report, heat is also taking a toll on the global economy. Because of reduced productivity, the researchers estimated that the world lost more than a trillion dollars in potential income in 2025. They say it's the third consecutive year that losses topped the trillion-dollar mark.

"The threats to people's health and people's survival have reached unprecedented levels, with many of these threats and impacts even accelerating in the last decade with respect to the previous one," Romanello said.

The researchers also found the pace at which land is being hit by extreme drought accelerated by about 700% between 2016 and 2025 compared with the decade before the Paris Agreement. In 2025, more than half of the world's land experienced extreme drought for at least a month. In other cases, climate change brought too much precipitation, which can result in flash flooding. The report found that the share of land hit by very extreme rainfall rose from 14.8% between 2006 to 2015 to 17.2% from 2016 to 2025.

"The risks become even more profound when you consider how different hazards interact and compound. At the same time, drought is spreading, and the world is swinging to water extremes, some drying out, while others are flooding. This isn't a gradual worsening; it's a step change that must be recognized as the global health emergency it is," Romanello said.

But it's not all bad news. The report noted that global investment in clean energy grew by more than 7% in 2025, reaching a record $2.1 trillion. That's 82% more than was invested in fossil fuel energy sources, according to the researchers. The report said new investment helped renewables grow from 5.5% of global electricity generation in 2016 to 13.5% in 2023. As a result, the report found that cleaner air prevented an estimated 323,000 deaths a year in dozens of countries, though increases elsewhere offset those gains globally.

Still, despite the growth of renewable energy, fossil fuels accounted for over 80% of global energy supply, the report found, and the authors say the resulting air pollution is responsible for about 2.7 million deaths worldwide each year.

Based on their findings, the report's authors say climate change should now be treated as a "global health emergency" and they laid out six priorities for a "health-centered response" to the warming planet.

For one, they say the WHO and United Nations should use their existing resources to respond to the challenges, and they recommend that the WHO create a new way to formally recognize climate change as a health emergency and coordinate a global response. They also suggest making health and well-being core objectives and measures of success in all climate action.

The authors say countries and global institutions need to make climate and health a top priority and they call for cutting greenhouse gas emissions quickly and fairly to protect people's health. In addition, the researchers recommend creating a shared pool of climate and health data that everyone can use and having wealthier countries provide more grants and low-interest loans.

"We have not really managed to tackle climate change 10 years after the Paris Agreement, and we're seeing these escalating health harms that have made climate change now a very severe, very grave global health emergency that requires an urgent emergency response to be adequately addressed," Romanello said.

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