ABC News President Kim Godwin stepped down Sunday night, months after a corporate restructuring that effectively stripped away much of her management autonomy.

“I have decided to retire from broadcast journalism,” Godwin said in the email sent to staff Sunday night.

“Anyone who’s passionate about what we do knows there’s no other business like it, so this was not an easy or quick decision. But after considerable reflection, I’m certain it’s the right one for me as I look to the future and prioritize what’s most important for me and my family.”

No successor has been named for Godwin, who was named president of the division in 2021.

Godwin’s retirement comes after a restructuring in February that gave her a new boss in Debra OConnell, who serves as president of parent Disney’s news group.

OConnell is a company veteran who is familiar with ABC News, having scrutinized operations across Disney’s networks as part of a corporate review.

When Godwin joined ABC News from CBS, she had her work cut out for her.

Though the news division was a ratings leader, many in the news division said it was suffering from a cutthroat and toxic culture.

She instead became a polarizing figure inside the network.

Detractors say she and her inner circle stifled discussion and dissent while failing to rise up to challenges facing the unit—including a decline in ratings at “Good Morning America.”

Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Michael Whatley called for party unity as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) continues to threaten to force an ouster vote against Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).

“We need to flip the Senate, and we need to expand our majority in the House. We’re not going to do that if we’re not unified,” Whatley told NBC News in an interview.

“We need to make sure that all of the Republicans understand the gravity of this election cycle, and they do, and we need to make sure that we are on the same page as we’re moving forward,” he added in the interview.

Greene said she would force a vote this coming week on her looming motion to vacate resolution against Johnson, sparking concerns among some in the party who worry such a move would throw the chamber into chaos and make Republicans appear incapable of governing just months before an election.

Greene introduced her motion to remove Johnson from power more than a month ago, but her latest move is a sharp escalation of that effort, compelling the House to consider the measure within two legislative days after she activates her motion this coming week.

Greene has sharply criticized Johnson for cutting a number of deals with Democrats on critical legislation, including funding the government, approving billions of dollars in aid for Ukraine and reauthorizing the U.S.’s warrantless surveillance powers.

She accused Johnson of “betraying” his conservative roots — and GOP voters more broadly — and warned that keeping him in power would discourage Republicans from going to the polls in November and ensure that Democrats will control the House next year.

Rep. Bob Good (R-Va.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, railed against Greene in an interview Sunday, saying, “She’s not acting in the best interests of President Trump. I don’t think this is a good move six months before an election. She’s always been about herself primarily.”

Israel is preparing to launch what is expected to be a massive ground operation inside Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where some 1.5 million Palestinians have taken shelter. The Israeli army has begun ordering tens of thousands of Palestinians living in the city to evacuate.

On Monday, Israel’s Defense Forces ordered an evacuation of Rafah, signaling that a long-promised ground operation could be imminent. The Israeli army has described Rafah as the last significant Hamas stronghold after seven months of war, and its leaders have repeatedly said clearing Rafah is necessary to defeat the Islamic militant group.

Overnight, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin that Israel was left with no choice but to act in Rafah after Hamas terrorists carried out a deadly rocket attack from Rafah earlier in the day that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

A potential ground operation comes as last-ditch efforts by international mediators, including the CIA, to broker a cease-fire have failed to produce a deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to carry out a military operation in Rafah. According to Israel’s army, forces are beginning with a “limited scope operation.”

Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani, an army spokesman, said some 100,000 people were being ordered to move to a nearby Israel-declared humanitarian zone called Muwasi. He said Israel published a map of the evacuation area.

These orders have been issued through air-dropped leaflets, text messages and radio broadcasts so that Palestinians could get the information.

“Anyone found near (militant) organizations endangers themselves and their family members. For your safety, the (army) urges you to evacuate immediately to the expanded humanitarian area,” one flyer read.

He said Israel has expanded humanitarian aid into Muwasi, including field hospitals, tents, food and water.

Israel’s army said on the social media platform X that it would act with “extreme force” against Hamas terrorists, and urged the population to evacuate immediately for their safety.

The move also comes as the Biden administration reportedly put a hold on a shipment of U.S.-manufactured ammunition to Israel for the first time since the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack.

Two Israeli officials told Axios that the weapons shipment was stopped last week, leaving officials within the Israeli government scrambling to understand why.

About 1.5 million Palestinians – more than half of Gaza’s population – are sheltering in Rafah, as they have been forced to evacuate other areas in the Gaza Strip, amid Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas.

Four IDF soldiers were killed and at least three others were seriously wounded after Hamas fired ten rockets toward the Kerem Shalom area along the Israel-Gaza border on Sunday afternoon.

The four slain soldiers were identified as St.-Sgt. Ruben Marc Mordechai Assouline, 19, from Ra’anana; St.-Sgt. Ido Testa, 19, from Jerusalem; St.-Sgt. Tal Shavit, 21, from Kfar Giladi; and Sgt. Michael Ruzal, 18, from Rishon Lezion. Assouline and Testa served in the Shaked Battalion in the Givati Brigade. Shavit and Ruzal served in the 931st Battalion in the Nahal Brigade.

Soroka Medical Center stated that it received 10 people wounded in the attack, including three in serious condition, two in moderate condition, and five in light condition.

Shortly after the attack, the IDF closed the Kerem Shalom crossing located in the area, halting the entry of humanitarian aid trucks through the crossing which serves as the main entry point for aid.

Several people received medical treatment on the spot for injuries sustained from the rocket fire, and were evacuated to hospitals for immediate medical care.

The Eshkol Regional Council announced that one of the people wounded was a resident of the Eshkol Regional Council.

Hamas fired the rockets toward Kerem Shalom from right near the Rafah humanitarian crossing, with the IDF striking the launch site in response. Ten people have been reported wounded by the Hamas rocket fire. pic.twitter.com/tds3zXSheC

— Tzvi Joffre (@TzviJoffre) May 5, 2024

Additionally, a home in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom was hit and damaged, according to the Eshkol Regional Council. No injuries were reported in the impact in Kibbutz Kerem Shalom.

Hamas took responsibility for the rocket fire, saying their Al-Qassam Brigades targeted the Kerem Shalom area with 114 mm short-range “Rajoum” rockets.

The rockets were fired from only a couple hundred meters from the Rafah humanitarian crossing, one of the few areas where IDF soldiers still have not entered since the October 27 invasion of Gaza. The IDF said it had some generic intelligence warnings about intent to launch such attacks on IDF soldiers and that there was some kind of rocket alert warning in real-time.

Responding to the rocket attacks, the air force increased its attacks on Hamas command centers and other sites in Rafah, as well as against the locations of the rocket attacks themselves, which it appears came from underground attack platforms.

IDF strikes Rafah area in response

Shortly after the attack, Palestinian media reported a series of Israeli airstrikes in the Rafah area.

.

Over the last few days, in separate incidents:

Hamas shot mortars at the corridor for humanitarian purposes
Hamas disrupted aid from…

— Dr. Arnold Clevs b2839 #HowArnoldSurvived (@Israel) May 5, 2024

“Hamas is intentionally preventing aid from reaching the people of Gaza,” wrote the Foreign Ministry on X, pointing to the rocket fire toward Kerem Shalom, disruptions of the movement of aid from southern to northern Gaza, and the firing of mortars at a corridor used for humanitarian purposes.

President Isaac Herzog responded to the Hamas attack on Sunday afternoon, posting on X: “Hamas attack humanitarian aid because they don’t care for humanity. The world must act to release the hostages and free the people of Gaza from Hamas’s vicious rule.”

Unclear what effects Hamas’s attack will have on Rafah plans

It was unclear what impact Hamas’s latest attack would have on Israeli plans to invade Rafah.

More specifically, whether Israel would move forward sooner to invade Rafah or would still give ongoing hostage negotiations a chance to resolve before taking broader action.

It was also unclear whether if no ceasefire is reached, how prepared IDF soldiers in Gaza, and especially near humanitarian aid centers, would be for additional similar Hamas rocket attacks.

There were questions as well about whether Israeli civilians returning to the Kerem Shalom area in July as scheduled would be impacted and delayed by the current incident.

An attorney who represented the two Boeing whistleblowers who died in recent months said that the men were “heroes.”

Brian Knowles told The New York Post: “These men were heroes. So are all the whistleblowers. They loved the company and wanted to help the company do better. They didn’t speak out to be aggravating or for fame. They’re raising concerns because people’s lives are at stake.”

Joshua Dean, a former quality auditor at Boeing supplier Spirit AeroSystems turned whistleblower, died last week after contracting a sudden illness, his family said. His death came less than two months after a second Boeing whistleblower, John Barnett, was found dead with a gunshot wound that authorities said appeared to be self-inflicted.

Suspicions were exacerbated when a self-described family friend of Barnett’s claimed in a media interview that he had said: “If anything happens to me it’s not suicide.”

Knowles, who was Barnett and Dean’s attorney, told The Post that he was unsure what to make of Barnett’s death.

“I knew John Barnett for seven years and never saw anything that would indicate he would take his own life,” Knowles said. “Then again, I’ve never dealt with someone who did (commit suicide.) So maybe you don’t see the signs. I don’t know.”

The Post noted that attorneys for the men hope that their deaths won’t scare away 10 other Boeing whistleblowers.

Knowles noted that the Charleston, South Carolina, police are still finishing the investigation into Barnett’s death and that testing will soon reveal more information about Dean’s death.

Company Under Pressure

Boeing has been under pressure following a series of safety incidents with its aircraft earlier this year. Its CEO, Dave Calhoun, announced in March that he will step down at the end of the year following the crisis.

The company came under increased scrutiny last month when several witnesses, including two whistleblowers, testified before the Senate about the company’s practices.

Boeing is today due to launch its long-awaited first crewed flight of its Starliner spacecraft, which will take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida with two NASA astronauts on board.

Liftoff is scheduled to be at 10:34 p.m. local time and comes at a tense moment for the aviation company.

A church service in North Braddock, Pennsylvania was upended Sunday when a man pulled a gun on the pastor in the middle of his sermon.

Pennsylvania State Police have charged 26-year-old Bernard Polite of Braddock and say he entered and attempted to shoot pastor Glenn Germany while the pastor was delivering a sermon at Jesus’ Dwelling Place Church on Sunday just after 1 p.m.

Video taken by the church’s deacon, and posted online by the Pastor Glenn Germany, shows the moment the pastor suddenly found himself staring down the barrel of a gun.

“I was like, this is not happening,” Pastor Germany said.

Yet somehow, it was, but no shot was fired.

“I thank God because only God stopped and jammed this gun,” Germany said.

As the pastor ducked out of the way, church Deacon Clarence McCallister leaps in front of the camera, tackling the man with the gun to the ground.

McCallister told us it was just how his mind reacted.

“There’s something that needs to be done and I jumped up and handled my business,” McCallister said.

“He’s a hero,” Germany said of McCallister.

McCallister and Germany were able to keep Polite subdued until police arrived and then he was taken into custody.

While in police custody, Germany spoke to Polite.

“This guy was just dealing with spirits he said, and he came in and wanted to shoot somebody,” Germany said, adding Polite said their were voices in his mind.

It was apparent to Germany that Polite faces a form of mental illness, he said.

“He said you ducked a taco today, that’s what he told me, and I guess that’s slang for you ducked a bullet.

Polite apologized to Germany, he said. Germany forgave him, but says he hasn’t processed what happened.

“The thing that hurts me the most and brings tears to my eyes because I couldn’t watch my daughter break down.”

His 14-year-old daughter was sitting among the pews during the service.

“I still had to be strong, because I had to be strong for her, but I couldn’t take it, and just seeing her, that’s the part that’s hard for me to digest,” Germany said.

Before the attempted shooting, Germany said Polite smiled at him.

Germany is hoping to use the story and stress to his parishioners that mental illness is real. The man had walked in and out of the room several times, Germany said.

Polite now faces multiple charges, including aggravated assault and attempted homicide.

Bail was denied for Polite and he is set to face a preliminary hearing on the charges next week.

Police investigating deadly shooting at home of suspect

Allegheny County Police are investigating after a man was found shot to death inside the home where Bernard Polite lives.

Police say that officers from the Eastern Regional Mon Valley Police Department were called about a shooting along Stokes Avenue around 8 p.m.

When police arrived at the scene, they found a man shot to death inside the home.

Detectives from the Allegheny County Police Department’s homicide unit were called and are now handling the investigation.

The victim inside the home has been identified as 56-year-old Derek Polite.

A neighbor told KDKA they heard a gunshot earlier in the day, but weren’t sure where it had come from.

The pro-Palestinian, antisemitic protests on university campuses across the nation are funded by President Joe Biden’s own political donors — which could explain why he hesitates to condemn them and won’t investigate them.

Biden equivocated last month when asked to react to the protests, saying that he condemned the antisemitism but also condemned those “who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians,” which puzzled observers.

Research by NGO Monitor and others into the donors behind the protests has turned up familiar names from the Democratic Party bankroll — including George Soros’ Open Society Foundations and other liberal philanthropies.

Biden’s Department of Justice has notably refused to investigate the civil rights abuses being committed by the “encampments” — against Jews, journalists, and others — and has also refused to consider RICO conspiracy charges.

The reason may be that he does not want to subject his own political donors to investigation or embarrasment.

Politico reported Sunday:

Two of the main organizers behind protests at Columbia University and on other campuses are Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Both are supported by the Tides Foundation, which is seeded by Democratic megadonor George Soros as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and it in turn supports numerous small nonprofits that work for social change.

Several other groups involved in pro-Palestinian protests are backed by a foundation funded by Susan and Nick Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel empire — and supporters of Biden and numerous Democratic campaigns, including $6,600 to the Biden Victory Fund a few months ago and more than $300,000 during the 2020 campaign.

The fact that Democratic Party mega-donors are behind the antisemitic protests may also spur Jewish voters — roughly 70% of whom vote Democratic — to consider changing their votes in 2024.

As Caroline Glick notes at the Jewish News Syndicate, Biden has been obsessing over losing Arab- and Muslim-American votes in Michigan — but there may be more Jewish votes to lose in key swing states like Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and others.

According to the statistics, the three big wins racked up in the women’s Division III track & field events by college transgender runner Sadie Schreiner would have placed Schreiner at the bottom of the heap in the men’s divisions.

Running for the Rochester Institute of Technology on Saturday, Schreiner won the 400 meters with a 55.07 and the 200 meters at 24.14, Fox News reported.

Schreiner was also awarded a school record in the women’s category with the 200-meter time, now a Liberty League conference women’s record. It is also a record-beating Schreiner’s past 24.50 sent this season.

However, both finals would have left Schreiner in last place in the men’s categories during the weekend’s events, Fox added.

Schreiner was born Camden Schreiner in New Jersey and competed as a boy at Hillsborough High School. There, he earned the 20th-best 100-meter time (11.72) for boys. That time, though, would have made him the leader in the girls category.

Despite these results, Schreiner insists that he has no “automatic advantage” despite his biology.

“Out of all the hate that’s been shared of me, ‘cheater’ is the most common word used… In my eyes, the discussion of trans inclusion in athletics shouldn’t even be a debate…” Schreiner wrote on social media, Fox News reported. “As more research is done the more evident this becomes. There’s a reason I’m only as fast as I was in middle school, and the only variable that’s changed over my 9 years of running is my medication.”

“Even as Olympic studies prove the disadvantages of trans athletes, it’s not enough,” he insisted. “Policies are being changed before research is done, and the only way to stay educated in this process is to talk to the few trans athletes that are competing and hear their stories, bring them into the conversation. The only way to make an educated decision on a small handful of athletes is to hear their voice, not speak for them.”

His proclamations, though, do not take into account a growing number of studies that show that transgender therapies are not enough to take away advantages of a male body over a female body.

Most of the rules put in place by sports organizations govern testosterone levels, but testosterone alone is far from the only difference between men and women where it affects sports.

For instance, researchers Emma N. Hilton and Tommy R. Lundberg published a study in Sports Medicine that found “current evidence shows the biological advantage, most notably in terms of muscle mass and strength, conferred by male puberty and thus enjoyed by most transgender women is only minimally reduced when testosterone is suppressed as per current sporting guidelines for transgender athletes.”

The authors of that study go on to say that transgender “women” have between a 10 and 50 percent advantage over women in sports, regardless of testosterone levels.

A similar study by Timothy A Roberts, Joshua Smalley, and Dale Ahrendt, published by the British Journal of Sports Medicine, found that men who transition to women maintain some of their physical advantages over women despite all the medical tomfoolery of their “transition.”

Yet another study finds that muscle strength, size, and composition are still stronger in transgender women for at least a year after gender-affirming treatment.

Women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines blasted the NCAA for Schreiner’s success as a female track & field star.

“Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process,” Gaines wrote, adding, “He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds.”

Sadie Schreiner, male competing with the women, won the women’s 200 & 400m today at the Liberty League championship meet. He broke the 400m women’s record in the process

He would’ve finished last amongst the other boys by 2 full seconds

This is exactly why we’re suing the @NCAA pic.twitter.com/1FIv1DMmib

— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) May 4, 2024

The Biden administration last week halted a shipment of US-made ammo that was slated to go to Israel — a decision that reportedly sent members of the Israeli government into a tizzy as they tried to figure out why the delivery has been withheld.

The move marks the first time since Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 terrorist attack that the United States has hit the brakes on a weapons shipment to its longtime Middle East ally, according to Axios, which learned of the decision from two Israeli officials.

When questioned, a White House National Security Council spokesperson told Fox News that the administration has supported Israel since Hamas’ assault, which left 1,200 Israelis dead.

“The United States has surged billions of dollars in security assistance to Israel since the October 7 attacks, passed the largest ever supplemental appropriation for emergency assistance to Israel, led an unprecedented coalition to defend Israel against Iranian attacks, and will continue to do what is necessary to ensure Israel can defend itself from the threats it faces,” the statement said.

Neither the Pentagon, the state department nor the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office immediately responded to questions from Axios, the outlet said.

The Biden administration’s choice comes as US officials are increasingly worried that Israel will invade Rafah, a city in southern Gaza that has absorbed more than 1.5 million Palestinian refugees since the war began.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to move into the city, which has become one of Hamas’ last remaining strongholds, according to Fox.

Netanyahu has also said he plans to invade regardless of whether Israel and Hamas reach a ceasefire deal, or Hamas agrees to release the remaining hostages the terrorist group seized during its October assault.

But Western officials – including Biden – worry that a ground assault would kill many civilians and send an already dreadful humanitarian crisis spiraling out of control, Fox added.

Last Wednesday U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel and had a “tough” conversation with Netanyahu regarding a possible Israeli operation in Rafah, two sources briefed on the meeting said.

Blinken told Netanyahu during their meeting that “a major military operation” in Rafah would lead to the U.S. publicly opposing it and would negatively impact U.S.-Israel relations.

A day later White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters that Israeli leaders understand that President Biden “is sincere” when he talks about the possibility of changes to U.S. policy regarding the Gaza war “should they move ahead with some sort of ground operation in Rafah that doesn’t take into account the refugees.”

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said at a Financial Times conference in Washington on Saturday that the Biden administration made clear to Israel that the way it will conduct an operation in Rafah will influence U.S. policy towards the Gaza war.

Meanwhile, Biden has faced intense blowback from college students throughout the nation, many of whom have held sit-ins and established encampments to protest the United States’ role in the war.

More than 100,000 illegal immigrants protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program will soon become eligible to receive federal health care coverage for the first time since DACA was implemented over a decade ago.

The Biden administration will announce a new federal rule Friday allowing DACA recipients to enroll in a qualified health plan through the Affordable Care Act insurance marketplace or become eligible for coverage through a basic health program.

An estimated 580,000 young adults who lack legal immigration status and have lived in the U.S. since they were children are currently working or studying without fear of deportation under DACA. An overwhelming majority of DACA recipients were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

Even though the program has helped them access better-paying jobs and educational opportunities since it was first implemented in 2012, DACA beneficiaries had been barred from accessing federally funded health insurance despite contributing billions in federal taxes, pouring funds into the nation’s federal health insurance system for years.

While many DACA recipients get health insurance through their jobs, more than a quarter are estimated to currently be uninsured.

By implementing a federal rule expanding the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, they are “no longer excluded from receiving coverage from a quality health plan and financial assistance as well,” Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters in a press call Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services estimates that over 100,000 illegal immigrants who lack health insurance will now have a shot at accessing affordable health care.

“DACA recipients are currently three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population, and individuals without health insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings. They delay necessary medical care, and they incur higher costs and debts when they do finally see care,” Becerra said, adding the new expansion “will improve their health and will strengthen the health and well-being of our nation.”

The new federal rule does not make DACA recipients eligible for the Medicaid program, according to senior administration officials, but gives them coverage through the Affordable Care Act and its marketplaces and financial assistance programs.

The announced rule is expected to go into effect Nov. 1, which coincides with the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment period for 2025 health insurance plans, allowing newly eligible DACA recipients to have access to federal health care as early as December, according to HHS.

Friday’s announcement comes about a year after President Joe Biden first announced his administration’s plan to expand health care coverage to DACA recipients. The administration’s original plan aimed to implement the federal rule by November 2023.

Senior administration officials declined to comment this week on why the implementation of the rule was delayed.

However, White House domestic policy adviser Neera Tanden stressed that “the president will continue to fight” for DACA recipients, adding that “only Congress can provide them permanent status and a pathway to citizenship.”

While the program has been around for a decade, it faced legal challenges during the Trump administration and from Republican-led states. DACA has been closed to new registrants since July 2021 as lawsuits challenging the program continue making their way through the courts.

Former President Donald Trump surrounded himself with potential running mates and other allies on Saturday during the Republican National Committee (RNC) spring retreat at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

Among those who joined Trump on stage in the Grand Ballroom for a lunch event were Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tim Scott (R-SC), entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, all former 2024 presidential rivals now considered to be in the running for vice president, according to a post to X from his campaign.

House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), and Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Wesley Hunt (R-TX), who have all been mentioned as part of the Veepstakes this election cycle, also attended.

Other Republicans who were present included House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), Reps. Jim Banks (R-IN), who is running for Senate; Michael Waltz (R-FL); Pennsylvania Senate candidate Dave McCormick; and Ohio Senate candidate Bernie Moreno.

During the event, Trump recognized the RNC’s fundraising efforts and “enthusiasm” for his “Make America Great Again” movement, per his campaign.

He spoke for around 90 minutes about the presidential race, election integrity, the economy, the border, and protests taking place on university campuses. He also touted Johnson’s work as a speaker and advocated for party unity.

Trump recently suggested that he may select a running mate in the next couple of months before the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to take place in Milwaukee in mid-July. “We’ll be making that decision I think closer to Wisconsin time,” Trump told FOX6 News Milwaukee last week. He added, “It’s very early right now.”

In the 2016 and 2020 elections, Trump ran with former Vice President Mike Pence, a former governor of Indiana.

Pence led his own presidential campaign in the 2024 election cycle but dropped out in late October before the start of the GOP primary contests.

Trump recently met with one of his other former 2024 Republican primary rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Both indicated they had a productive conversation and made plans to defeat President Joe Biden in the November election.

Only months after taking the job, Republican National Committee chief counsel Charlie Spies has resigned from the role.

“Working full time at the RNC wasn’t the right fit with my law firm-client commitments, but I will remain focused on getting President Trump and Republicans at all levels elected in November,” Spies said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.

RNC spokeswoman Danielle Alvarez also cited “potential time commitment conflicts” as a reason for Spies’s departure in a statement to NBC News published earlier on Sunday.

“Charlie approached RNC Chief of Staff, Chris LaCivita, about potential time commitment conflicts and it was agreed that, while we appreciate and value Charlie’s expertise and professionalism, he cannot do this role full time and still maintain the obligations to his law firm that he has spent years successfully building,” Alvarez told the outlet in a statement.

However, according to the NBC News report, which cites an anonymous source, alleges Spies was “pushed out” of the job.

Spies was hired earlier this year while RNC leadership changed over to former President Donald Trump’s preferred picks of chairman Michael Whatley and co-chair Lara Trump.

He was part of a bevy of new hires made as the RNC was staffed for more Trump-aligned actions, including readying potential legal challenges in swing states. Reports suggested that Spies was skeptical of Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen.

Democratic National Committee spokesman Alex Floyd bashed the move as an example of how Trump is allegedly purging the RNC of those who dissent from him.

“Donald Trump’s MAGA takeover of the RNC has already led to mass staff firings and an election denier litmus test for new hires — and now the committee’s top lawyer is the latest GOP official purged for disagreeing with Trump’s dangerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 election,” Floyd said in a statement.

“Trump continues to push the Big Lie along with the rest of his extreme MAGA agenda while trying to bend the Republican Party to his will.”

“His own staff don’t believe his unhinged conspiracy theories, and neither do the American people, who are ready to reject Trump and his attacks on our democracy once again this November,” he added.

Former President Trump was greeted with cheers and applause on Sunday afternoon as the former president arrived at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.

Photos from the event showed the GOP presidential candidate walking around the paddock, visiting the McLaren team garage and waving at passersby.

🚨 Trump arrives at the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix

pic.twitter.com/QNZolJwpMA

— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) May 5, 2024

https://twitter.com/ULTRA_MAJESTY/status/1787195082594046393

Trump backer Steve Witkoff reportedly planned a fundraiser from one of the event’s suites, but the plans were shut down by race organizer and Miami Dolphins CEO Tom Garfinkel.

“Political campaigning has its place, and it is not at our race. We welcome you and your guests to attend our event and enjoy your suite.”

“However, we respectfully request it be done in compliance with our very clear license agreement,” race organizers wrote Witkoff in a letter, first reported by radio host Andy Slater.

Trump was in Florida over the weekend for the Republican National Committee’s spring meeting, largely seen as an audition for potential 2024 running mates.

The guest list included many of those who are rumored to be on the list of finalists, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R), Ohio Sen. JD Vance (R), House GOP conference Chair Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) and Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.).

A Wyoming man has made it his life’s mission to help rescue girls in Colombia who have fallen victim to sex trafficking.

Tyler Schwab was first introduced to sex trafficking while on a two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Dominican Republic.

He started to notice a lot of young girls with older men but didn’t think much of it until he took a human trafficking seminar at Utah State University.

‘It was an injustice I couldn’t ignore,’ Schwab told Cowboy State Daily.

In 2014 he started the non-profit Libertas International, which has gone on to save more than 3,000 girls from tourist pedophiles in Colombia.

‘Colombia is a very beautiful country for tourists, but over the span of time, we’ve had an influx of sex tourism, especially after the pandemic,’ Schwab said.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Libertas International (@libertasinternational)

‘There were kids, especially young girls reporting that they had been abused by American tourists.’

Maj. Johan Aldana from the Colombian National Police, told Cowboy State Daily that sex tourism has been on the rise in cities like Medellin, Cali, Cartagena and the county’s capital, Bogotá.

In 2023, there were 1,259 possible sexual exploitation cases of minors in Bogotá, Colombia, 60 percent higher than the previous year, the Associated Press reported.

Around 1.4million tourists visited the country last year as crime and violence has dropped down following the leadership of the notorious Pablo Escobar.

Many of those tourists were Americans, and though Escobar has been dead for more than three decades, the prostitution culture that he normalized has lingered in the country.

In January, a 19-month-old girl was rescued by Schwab and his team after former NYPD officer, Agmad Beharry, 46, sexually exploited her.

The little girl is the youngest survivor that the non-profit has saved.

‘We are committed to supporting this survivor as she grows, learns to speak, etc,’ Libertas International said in a Facebook post.

Beharry was also charged, along with his accomplice, Gisainet Cristina Chirinos Viloria, with sexually exploiting photographs of a nine-year-old girl, the US Attorney’s Office said.

Following his arrest, Beharry, who was assigned to the NYPD’s terrorism unit, was suspended without pay and was charged in the US attorney’s office in Manhattan with one count of sexual exploitation of a child and one count of possession of child pornography.

On April 3, Federico Gutiérrez, the Mayor of Medellín, implemented a temporary prostitution ban after an American man was found with two Colombian teens, ages 12 and 13.

The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has also been involved in trying to decrease prostitution in the country.

One girl, who goes by the name Milagros, was recently caught up in a sex trafficking string, and through the help of Schwab and his non-profit, she was able to get the help she needed.

A police officer gave her Schwab’s information on a written note after she and three other women were violently abused by an American man.

With his support, Milagros testified at her abuser’s trial in US Federal court in May 2023.

She is now in school studying to be a social worker and runs a small business from home. She dreams of working for the non-profit one day.

Michael Roberts, 41, a Texas teacher who worked at an all-girls school, was then charged with illicit sexual abuse of minors and was sentenced to seven years in US federal prison.

Last year, Operation Archangel was launched, as Liberates International, Colombian law enforcement and the US Department of Homeland Security worked together to bring down more American sex tourists.

Since the operation started, more than a dozen men have been arrested and there are 30 open cases still pending.

Just last week, a pharmacist from Miami was arrested at an airport as he tried to board a flight to Bogotá to have sex with minors, aged 10 and 12.

In exchange for $300,000 in Colombian pesos, around $77 American dollars, the man abused children and promised them iPhones if they ‘didn’t cry.’

Another predator, MMA fighter Jaymes Schulte, was also caught and indicted in November on suspicion of sex trafficking and distributing illegal videos that involved victims as young as 13.

To make matters worse, a lot of the girls are being exploited by family members in exchange for money, Aldana said.

‘From a professional standpoint, I’ve worked organized crime and drugs, but sexual exploitation is such a different animal because they’re real people,’ he said.

‘They’re girls that have had these horrific lives and they’re blameless victims who are being exploited.’

He and Schwab both agreed that a lot of the offenders are white-collar professionals with no criminal records.

‘They come out here with their money and their white skin and believe that they can find the most vulnerable girls in the country and use them as sexual object,’ Aldana said.

Schwab referred to the tourists as ‘hidden monsters.’

‘Many of these people are professional law enforcement, teachers, taxi drivers, pharmacists, ex-military, bankers, etc. They have no criminal background here in the U.S., but when they travel, they turn into the worst kind of monsters who inflict true horror on vulnerable kids around the world,’ Schwab said.

Despite the alarming amount of sex trafficking, both Schwab and Aldana are confident that their work will continue to make a difference.

‘We will find you. It’s only a matter of time, and now, we have strategic partners in place,’ Aldana said.

In addition to them, Libertas International has a large team of people who help rescue helpless girls, including a ‘Survivor Board.’

Schwab said that once a girl is rescued, they receive ongoing help and care from Libertas International.

He was recently awarded the prestigious ‘Shield of DIPRO,’ the highest honor an American can receive, by the Colombian government for his tremendous work.

More than three quarters of rapes on the streets of Paris last year were committed by foreign nationals, according to shocking data from French authorities.

97 rapes were recorded in public spaces in France’s capital in 2023 – fewer than a third of which have been solved, local outlet Europe 1 reported.

Of the 97, 36 were arrested, 28 of whom were of foreign nationality – a staggering 77 per cent of those accused – while 30 cases were solved by the authorities.

Stats from Paris police headquarters said the crimes were largely committed at night, in tourist hotspots, and near “points de deal” – places where drug deals happened.

More shocking figures revealed that 20 rapists had already been known to the police, while four others had been on authorities’ radar for other sex offences.

Europe 1 said the crimes had been “mainly” committed by men, most of whom were addicted to drugs, homeless, or unemployed.

The number of crimes had risen by two per cent since 2022 – a near-constant rate of increase since 2018.

Reacting to the figures, Grégory Joron, the general secretary of police union Unite SGP Police-Force Ouvriere, said: “It’s still a rape every three days on Parisian soil and in public spaces.

“This poses a real question since it has been stable since almost 2018 and overall, we can clearly see that it is a phenomenon that we cannot extinguish.”

Joron drew attention to crime worries ahead of this year’s Olympic Games in the city; he said: “These are supposed to be places with a zero per cent crime rate, since we are expecting to welcome millions of tourists for the Olympic Games.

“But, for now, these are still places where, unfortunately, there are still a huge number of problems.

“After a certain hour, at night, there is unfortunately still a risk that a woman will be walking alone on her way home from an evening out or even from work.”

Authorities are attempting a large-scale crack-down ahead of the Olympics – last month, police introduced their “Place Nette XXL” operation, which, though mainly drug-focused, has much wider security implications.

The French Interior Minister, Gérald Darmanin had said at the time that “the fight against drugs is not only a fight for security; it is a fight for society”.

Alongside drugs, France has made moves to curb terrorist efforts over the last few months; in the wake of the Crocus City Hall attack in Moscow, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced an increase of his country’s terror threat level to “attack emergency”.

With such concerns in mind, the Olympics’ opening ceremony, slated to take place on the city’s River Seine, has already scaled back for security reasons.

A senior French interior ministry official said French President Emmanuel Macron had demanded halving the number of spectators from 600,000 following crowd control and security concerns, according to Politico.

The official said the “main threat” to the Games was “Islamist terrorism” – but conceded French intelligence had not yet identified specific plots, and groups like Isis and Al-Qaeda did not have the financial capacity to carry out attacks in France.

Madonna put on a free concert on Copacabana beach Saturday night, turning Rio de Janeiro’s vast stretch of sand into an enormous dance floor teeming with a multitude of her fans.

Her performance was laced with nudity and sexually explicit acts.

65 year old Madonna performs vulgar explicit act on stage during her Rio de Janeiro concert, attended by 1.6 million people- including children. pic.twitter.com/sZjgtHjnaL

— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) May 5, 2024

Muita gente tentando cancelar a Madonna por causa do show. Galera, a igreja católica já tentou 3 vezes, não vai ser a turma do sofá que vai conseguir. Superem!
https://t.co/onHDr0Mm1x

— Ball-N (@BauenyBarroco) May 5, 2024

It was the last show of The Celebration Tour, her first retrospective, which kicked off in October in London.

The “Queen of Pop” began the show with her 1998 hit “Nothing Really Matters.”

Huge cheers rose from the buzzing, tightly packed crowd, pressed up against the barriers.

Others held house parties in brightly lighted apartments and hotels overlooking the beachfront.

Helicopters and drones flew overhead, and motorboats and sailboats anchored off the beach filled the bay.

“Here we are in the most beautiful place in the world,” Madonna, 65, told the crowd. Pointing out the ocean view, the mountains and the Christ the Redeemer statue overlooking the city, she added: “This place is magic.”

Madonna performed her classic hits, including “Like A Virgin” and “Hung Up.” For the introduction to “Like A Prayer,” her head was completely covered in a black cape, a rosary gripped in her hands.

The star paid an emotional tribute to “all the bright lights” lost to AIDS as she sang “Live to Tell,” with black and white photos of people who died from the illness flashing behind her.

Later, she was joined on stage by Brazilian artists Anitta and Pabllo Vittar.

Rio spent the last few days readying itself for the performance.

An estimated 1.6 million people attended the show, G1 reported, citing Rio City Hall’s tourism agency.

That is more than 10 times Madonna’s record attendance of 130,000 at Paris’ Parc des Sceaux in 1987.

Madonna’s official website hyped the show as the biggest ever in her four-decade career.

In recent days, the buzz was palpable. Fans milled outside the stately, beachfront Copacabana Palace hotel, where Madonna is staying, hoping to catch a glimpse of the pop star.

During the sound check on the stage set up in front of the hotel, they danced on the sand.

By midday Saturday, fans crowded in front of the hotel. A white-bearded man carried a sign saying, “Welcome Madonna you are the best I love you.”

Flags with “Madonna” printed against a background of Copacabana’s iconic black and white waved sidewalk pattern hung from balconies.

The area was packed with street vendors and concert attendees kitted out in themed T-shirts, sweating under a baking sun.

“Since Madonna arrived here, I’ve been coming every day with this outfit to welcome my idol, my diva, my pop queen,” said Rosemary de Oliveira Bohrer, 69, who sported a gold-colored cone bra and a black cap.

“It’s going to be an unforgettable show here in Copacabana,” said Oliveira Bohrer, a retired civil servant who lives in the area.

Eighteen sound towers were spread along the beach to ensure that all attendees can hear the hits. Her two-hour show started at 10:37 p.m. local time, nearly 50 minutes behind schedule.

City Hall produced a report in April estimating that the concert would inject $57 million into the local economy.

Hotel capacity was expected to reach 98% in Copacabana, according to Rio’s hotel association.

Fans hailing from across Brazil and even Argentina and France sought out Airbnbs for the weekend, the platform said in a statement.

Rio’s international airport had forecast an extra 170 flights during May 1-6, from 27 destinations, City Hall said in a statement.

A crash happened Saturday evening outside the White House, leaving one person dead, according to police.

The Metropolitan Police Department responded at about 10:45 p.m. Saturday night to reports that a vehicle traveling at a high rate of speed collided with an outer perimeter gate on the White House complex.

Security protocols were implemented, but the driver was pronounced dead at the scene, according to a statement released by the Secret Service.

“Security protocols were implemented as officers cleared the vehicle and attempted to render aid to the driver who was discovered deceased,” according to the Secret Service.

There is no threat to the White House.

The fatal crash portion of this will be turned over to the Washington Metropolitan Police Department Crash Investigation Unit and the Secret Service investigation continues.

Twenty-five people were arrested Saturday for trespassing at the University of Virginia after police clashed with pro-Palestinian protesters who refused to remove tents from campus, and demonstrators at the University of Michigan chanted anti-war messages and waved flags during commencement ceremonies.

In Virginia, student demonstrators began their protest on a lawn outside the school chapel Tuesday. On Saturday, video from WVAW-TV showed police wearing heavy gear and holding shields lined up on the campus in Charlottesville. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine,” and university police said on the social platform X that an “unlawful assembly” had been declared in the area.

As police moved in, students were pushed to the ground, pulled by their arms and sprayed with a chemical irritant, Laura Goldblatt, an assistant professor of English and global studies who has been helping student demonstrators, told The Washington Post.

“Our concern since this began has been the safety of our students. Students are not safe right now,” Goldblatt said.

The university administration said in a statement that the demonstrators were told the tents and canopies they erected were prohibited under school policy and were asked to remove them. Virginia State Police were asked to help with enforcement, the university said.

It was the latest clash in several tense and sometimes violent weeks at colleges and universities around the country that have seen dozens of protests and hundreds of arrests at demonstrations over the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.

Tent encampments of protesters calling on universities to stop doing business with Israel or companies they say support the war in Gaza have spread across campuses nationwide in a student movement unlike any other this century. Some schools have reached agreements with protesters to end the demonstrations and reduce the possibility of disrupting final exams and commencements.

The Associated Press has recorded at least 61 incidents since April 18 in which arrests were made at protests, with more than 2,400 people being arrested on 47 campuses. The figures are based on AP reporting and statements from universities and law enforcement agencies.

Many encampments have been dismantled.

Michigan was among the schools bracing for protests during commencement this weekend, including Indiana University, Ohio State University and Northeastern University in Boston. Many more are slated in the coming weeks.

State police prevented the demonstrators from reaching the stage and university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said public safety personnel escorted the protesters to the rear of the stadium, where they remained through the conclusion of the event.

“Peaceful protests like this have taken place at U-M commencement ceremonies for decades,” she added.

The university has allowed protesters to set up an encampment on campus, but police assisted in breaking up a large gathering at a graduation-related event Friday night, and one person was arrested.

At Indiana, protesters were urging supporters to wear their kaffiyehs and walk out during remarks by President Pamela Whitten on Saturday evening. The Bloomington campus designated a protest zone outside Memorial Stadium, the arena for the ceremony.

At Princeton, in New Jersey, 18 students launched a hunger strike in an effort to push the university to divest from companies tied to Israel.

In Ann Arbor, the protest happened at the beginning of the event at Michigan Stadium. About 75 people, many wearing traditional Arabic kaffiyehs along with their graduation caps, marched up the main aisle toward the graduation stage.

They chanted “Regents, regents, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!” while holding signs, including one that read: “No universities left in Gaza.”

Overhead, planes flew banners with competing messages. “Divest from Israel now! Free Palestine!” and “We stand with Israel. Jewish lives matter.”

Officials said no one was arrested, and the protest didn’t seriously interrupt the nearly two-hour event, which was attended by tens of thousands of people, some of them waving Israeli flags.

One of them, senior David Chmielewski said in an email that the strike started Friday morning with participants consuming water only, and it will continue until administrators meet with students about demands including amnesty from criminal and disciplinary charges for protesters.

Other demonstrators are participating in “solidarity fasts” lasting 24 hours, Chmielewski said.

Princeton students set up a protest encampment and some held a sit-in at an administrative building this week, leading to about 15 arrests.

Students at other colleges, including Brown and Yale, launched similar hunger strikes earlier this year before the more recent wave of encampments.

Meanwhile in Medford, Massachusetts, students at Tufts University peacefully took down their encampment without police intervention Friday night.

School officials said they were pleased with the development, which wasn’t the result of any agreement. Protest organizers said in a statement that they were “deeply angered and disappointed” that negotiations with the university had failed.

The protests stem from the conflict that started Oct. 7 when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostages.

Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel launched an offensive in Gaza that has killed more than 34,500 Palestinians, around two-thirds of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. Israeli strikes have devastated the enclave and displaced most of its inhabitants.

The shooter killed by police at a Wisconsin middle school was a 14-year student obsessed with the Columbine school massacre who wanted his classmates to experience ‘true fear’.

Damian Haglund died in a flurry of gunfire at Mount Horeb Middle School on Wednesday morning leaving behind a chilling manifesto naming some of the schoolchildren he wanted dead.

Haglund ran a series of anonymized social media accounts, and ominously posted ‘My last morning’, in his final tweet just two hours before his attack.

Weeks earlier he revealed how his obsession with school massacres had ‘screwed up’ his life.

‘Not just Columbine, Sandy Hook, Ecole Polytech, Kerch, All the School Movies. No one gets ‘Columbiners’, very few even know what it is.

‘There’s porn addiction helplines, there’s helplines for suicidal people, drunks, pedos, rapists, BUT NO ONE CAN HELP ME ON EARTH.’

Witnesses reported seeing him shooting into a cafeteria after trying to break a window with the butt of a ‘long gun’ during eighth-grade lunchtime at about 11.15am before he was tackled by a school resource officer from Mount Horeb Police Department.

‘People my age are really the real enemy,’ he wrote. ‘They pose the most hate to me, if you don’t play the game, if you don’t feed the machine, you’re an outcast.’

The entire school district was placed in hard lockdown with some students not released to the parents until early evening as police tried to establish whether the shooter was operating alone.

Jeanne Keller heard about five gunshots ring out from her shop The Quilting Jeanne, yards away on the same block.

‘It was maybe like pow-pow-pow-pow. I thought it was fireworks. I went outside and saw all the children running, I probably saw 200 children.’

Max Kelly, 12, was among a class of students practicing in-line skating in the school gym when the gunfire rang out.

He said their teacher told them to flee and they dashed, still in their skates, into the street.

Photos showed a ditch full of skates hastily discarded by the students before they ran to nearby convenience stores and a gas station where they hid in bathrooms.

The class was still shoeless when they were reunited with their terrified parents outside the school.

‘I don’t think anywhere is safe anymore,’ said Max’s mom, Alison Kelly,32.

In his blog Haglund singled out one schoolmate he hated, and fantasized about seeing her hit by a truck.

‘Like how her Skull’d fricking pop from the pressure when the wheels crush the cranium, the scream.

‘And some kids are just so stupid, I hope they experience true fear in their lives somehow.’

He detailed ‘Diversity, Feminists’ among his ‘hates’, and wrote of how he feared women.

‘I don’t mean to be all wolf-like, but I have a way different side than people at school see me as,’ he added.

He spoke of visiting Weston High School in Cazenovia north of Madison where principal John Klang was fatally gunned down in a 2006 school shooting.

‘When I went there the energy was powerful,’ he claimed.

‘I went outside and touched the walls of the school, but I didn’t want to get arrested or something.’

He wrote that ‘Ever since a kid I’ve wanted to be famous’, and pictures on his family’s Facebook pages show a smiling Haglund seemingly enjoying family trips to Canada and to see last month’s eclipse.

But his posts spoke too of his own suicidal thoughts.

‘You need to understand the huge wall I have been backed into. What therapist can help me? I face worse criminal punishments than those that are suicidal,’ he wrote.

‘I hate my existence because I fear everything, I AM TIRED OF THIS.

‘My family thinks I actually have a plan after High School, no, I don’t, and if my parents ever look back, they might just see they knew NOTHING about me, and I don’t blame them.’

Days before his death he updated his blog, warning that ‘Looks like time is kind of running out for me, no going back for whatever I do.

‘I’m sure my town being ‘Mt Horeb’ will bring a lot of interesting connections.’

In a tweet he night before his death he wrote: ‘I want to continue to indulge in media, night core, videogames, but when you continue living, these simple things become so mundane. I’m going to miss you.’

The investigation is being led by the Wisconsin Department of Justice and at a press conference on Wednesday night Attorney General Josh Kaul said he did not believe there was an ongoing threat.

In a statement on Sunday his office revealed that the ‘long gun’ Haglund was carrying had been a Ruger .1777 caliber pellet rifle.

‘Officers directed the subject to drop the weapon, but the subject did not comply,’ he added.

‘The subject pointed the weapon at the officers, after which law enforcement discharged their firearms, striking the subject. Lifesaving measures were deployed but the subject died at the scene.’

‘No law enforcement officers or witnesses were physically injured during the incident.’

He confirmed on Thursday that more than one officer had fired on Haglund amid reports that as many as 12 shots were fired.

Mount Horeb chief of police Doug Vierck pleaded with the public not to spread ‘rumors’ about the case, insisting the authorities are ‘working as quickly as we can to move forward so we can come to a closure’.

‘Before sharing information ask yourself, ‘Is it true?’ ‘Can I absolutely know that it’s true?’ he demanded.

‘If either answer is no, please do not share the information. For the sake of everyone involved, please do not spread rumors.’

‘The show of support from businesses, other agencies, and the community at large has been beyond humbling.’

But his department were directing calls for information to the DoJ who were not responding to inquiries on Thursday.

High waters flooded neighborhoods around Houston on Saturday following heavy rains that have already resulted in crews rescuing more than 400 people from homes, rooftops and roads engulfed in murky water. Others prepared to evacuate their property.

A wide region was swamped from Houston to rural East Texas, where game wardens rode airboats through waist-high waters rescuing both people and pets who did not evacuate in time. One crew brought a family and three dogs aboard as rising waters surrounded their cars and home.

A flood watch was in effect through Sunday afternoon, as forecasters predicted additional rainfall Saturday night and the likelihood of major flooding.

“It’s going to keep rising this way,” said Miguel Flores Jr., of the northeast Houston neighborhood of Kingwood. “We don’t know how much more. We’re just preparing for the worst.”

Husband and wife Aron Brown, 45, and Jamie Brown, 41, were two of the many residents who drove or walked to watch the rising waters near a flooded intersection close to the San Jacinto River. Nearby restaurants and a gas station were beginning to flood.

Water could be seen flowing into parts of the couple’s subdivision, but Aron Brown said he wasn’t worried because their home is at a higher elevation than others in the neighborhood.

Brown, who had driven from his home in a golf cart, said the flooding wasn’t as bad as Hurricane Harvey in 2017. He pointed to nearby power lines and said that flooding during Harvey had reached the top of the lines.

Residents in Low-Lying Areas Asked to Evacuate

Friday’s fierce storms forced numerous high-water rescues, including some from the rooftops of flooded homes. Officials redoubled urgent instructions for residents in low-lying areas to evacuate, warning the worst was still to come.

“A lull in heavy rain is expected through (Saturday) evening,” according to the National Weather Service. “The next round of heavy rainfall is expected late (Saturday) into Sunday.”

Up to 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) of additional rain was expected, with up to 5 inches (12.7 centimeters) possible in isolated areas.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said more rain was expected Sunday, and if it’s a lot, it could be problematic. Hidalgo is the top elected official in the nation’s third-largest county.

Ongoing Rain Has Left Parts of Texas Drenched, Residents Trapped

Most weekends Flores’ father, Miguel Flores Sr., is mowing his huge backyard on a 2.5-acre (1-hectare) lot behind his home in Kingwood. But on Saturday, he and his family were loading several vehicles with clothes, small appliances and other items.

Water from the San Jacinto River had already swallowed his backyard and was continuing to rise — what was about 1 foot (30 centimeters) high in the yard Friday measured about 4 feet (1.2 meters) the following day.

“It’s sad, but what can I do,” Flores said. He added that he has flood insurance.

For weeks, drenching rains in Texas and parts of Louisiana have filled reservoirs and saturated the ground. Floodwaters partially submerged cars and roads this week across parts of southeastern Texas, north of Houston, reaching the roofs of some homes.

More than 21 inches (53 centimeters) fell over a five-day period through Friday in Liberty County near the city of Splendora, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Houston, according to the National Weather Service.

Hidalgo said Saturday that 178 people and 122 pets have been rescued so far in the county. Scores of rescues took place in neighboring Montgomery County. In Polk County, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Houston, officials said they have done over 100 water rescues in the past few days.

Houston Is One of The Most Flood-Prone Metro Areas in The Us

Authorities in Houston have not reported any deaths or injuries. The city of more than 2 million people is one of the most flood-prone metro areas in the country and has long experience dealing with devastating weather.

Hurricane Harvey in 2017 dumped historic rainfall that flooded thousands of homes and resulted in more than 60,000 rescues by government rescue personnel across Harris County.

Of particular concern was an area along the San Jacinto River, which was expected to continue rising as more rain falls and officials release water from a full reservoir. Hidalgo issued a mandatory evacuation order on Thursday for people living along portions of the river.

The weather service reported that the river was at nearly 74 feet (22.6 meters) late Saturday morning after reaching nearly 78 feet (23.7 meters). The rapidly changing forecast said the river was expected to fall to near flood stage of 58 feet (17.6 meters) by Thursday.

Most of Houston’s city limits were not heavily impacted by the weather. Officials said the area received about four months’ worth of rain in about a week’s time.

The greater Houston area covers about 10,000 square miles (25,900 square kilometers) — a footprint slightly bigger than New Jersey. It is crisscrossed by about 1,700 miles (2,700 kilometers) of channels, creeks and bayous that drain into the Gulf of Mexico, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of downtown.

The system of bayous and reservoirs was built to drain heavy rains, but the engineering initially designed nearly 100 years ago has struggled to keep up with the city’s growth and bigger storms.