Reporting from Dallas, Texas, Mireya Villarreal has the latest on the damaging storm stretching from Texas to New York that’s left more than 500,000 without power and killed at least four people in Pennsylvania, and Lee Goldberg tracks the system; amid tariff turmoil, Mary Bruce has details on the U.S. economy shrinking for the first time in three years and Pres. Trump blaming the decline on former Pres. Biden; after authorities near Syracuse, NY, issued a 48-hour ultimatum urging Westhill High School students they say were involved in an alleged hazing incident to surrender, Whit Johnson reports on the 11 students – many on the boys' varsity lacrosse team – who turned themselves in; and more on tonight’s broadcast of World News Tonight with David Muir.
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00:00Tonight, the breaking news as we come on the air, the deadly storm sweeping right into the east at this hour from Texas all the way up to New York.
00:07The home set on fire by lightning, a mother and her children inside, drivers trapped under power lines.
00:12Also tonight, the horrific accident reportedly involving NFL legend John Elway and his friend who was killed.
00:19And breaking news right now involving Ukraine and a possible deal with the U.S.
00:23First tonight, the massive storm system from Texas to New York, at least four people have been killed in powerful straight line winds gusting up to 100 miles per hour.
00:33Lightning setting that home on fire, the family inside, those drivers trapped in their cars under power lines.
00:39And tonight, more than 50 million Americans in the path of new storms coming this evening.
00:43Also tonight, for the first time in three years, the American economy shrinking.
00:48The new numbers in tonight, before President Trump took office, 33 straight months of economic growth.
00:55But tonight, President Trump is blaming Joe Biden, not his own tariffs and the uncertainty now in the markets of the U.S. economy.
01:02And what President Trump said today about store shelves and toys, how many dolls might be available for children.
01:08Tonight, the horrific accident involving NFL legend John Elway, the Hall of Famer reportedly driving his golf cart when his longtime friend and agent was killed in a tragic accident,
01:18falling from the cart, hitting his head at what police are now saying.
01:21Tonight, the chilling high school hazing scandal allegedly resembling an armed kidnapping.
01:26Eleven students, most of them members of the boys' varsity lacrosse team, tonight surrendering to police.
01:32After other players were taken into the woods, they thought they were being kidnapped at gunpoint.
01:37Tonight, dramatic testimony in the Karen Reed murder trial in Boston.
01:41Today, the key witness on the stand and what she said Karen Reed told police that night.
01:46Meantime, Karen Reed outside the courthouse late today and what she's now saying about that witness.
01:52Tonight, the NFL fining a team and the coach $350,000 after a prank call from the coach's son to college football star Shadur Sanders during the NFL draft,
02:02giving him false hope.
02:04Tonight, you'll see the video of that prank call.
02:07Tonight, singer Michael Bolton breaking his silence about his battle with brain cancer, what he's now saying.
02:12And Barbra Streisand making news tonight after some of the most popular duets of all time.
02:23At 83, her big announcement tonight.
02:26Who's joining her now?
02:30From ABC News World Headquarters in New York, this is World News Tonight with David Muir.
02:38Good evening, and it's great to have you with us here at a very busy Wednesday night.
02:41We do begin tonight with these deadly storms sweeping east from Texas to Pennsylvania to New York at this hour.
02:47More than 50 million Americans on alert right now.
02:49A home set on fire by lightning, drivers trapped under downed lines.
02:53In North Texas, dark clouds from a tornadic supercell inhale the size of baseballs.
02:58The straight-line winds have been ferocious with this.
03:01Upwards of 100 miles an hour, tossing structures and causing accidents.
03:04In Oklahoma City, lightning sparking a fire, destroying this home.
03:08A mother and her two children inside.
03:10They did get out.
03:11They're okay tonight.
03:13And in Pennsylvania, state of emergency near Pittsburgh.
03:16Severe storms moving through.
03:17Trees crashing down on power lines.
03:19One person killed by a tree coming down.
03:21Two more electrocuted by downed lines.
03:24Video tonight from AccuWeather showing a driver trapped under lines that had come down right there.
03:28And tonight, a new line of storms again stretching from Texas right to upstate New York.
03:32Lee Goldberg times this out.
03:34And ABC's Maria Villarreal leading us off here with the images already coming in.
03:39Tonight, powerful storms pummeling the plains for a third night in a row.
03:44Record rain inundating drivers navigating rivers during their morning commute in Norman, Oklahoma.
03:51Lightning sending this home up in flames in Oklahoma City.
03:54A mother and two children inside at the time escaping with minor injuries.
03:59South of their families urged to evacuate from flooded neighborhoods in Lexington.
04:04Overnight, 100-mile-an-hour straight-line winds and baseball-sized hail slamming communities southwest of Wichita Falls, Texas.
04:13Part of the same system striking Pennsylvania, knocking out power to hundreds of thousands.
04:19The Pittsburgh area hit hard.
04:21Authorities in at least one borough declaring a state of emergency.
04:24AccuWeather's Monica Danielle in State College with a driver trapped under power lines.
04:30A firefighter came by and told me it's going to be a while.
04:35But he told me to stay in the car.
04:36He said, like, you're safe in there.
04:38Stay in the car.
04:39That driver is OK, but at least four are dead in Pennsylvania, including at least two people who were electrocuted.
04:49David, back here in Texas, travelers are scrambling with more than 850 flights canceled so far nationwide.
04:55A majority of those cancellations happening right here at Dallas area airports.
05:01David.
05:01And I know you still have watches in effect primarily east of Dallas there tonight.
05:04Maria, thank you for leading us off.
05:05Let's get right to Chief Meteorologist Lee Goldberg from our New York station, WABC, who's tracking this all the way up to upstate New York tonight.
05:12Lee.
05:14David, it's a dual threat tonight.
05:15We have active severe thunderstorm warnings and flash flood warnings in the Little Rock area.
05:19A heavy line of storms down to Shreveport.
05:21It's a threat of damaging winds and hail and then the flooding threat as well.
05:25And this area is just going to creep eastward during the overnight.
05:27It means extensive flash flooding.
05:29A lot of these areas, Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, we've seen up to a half foot of rain.
05:33And we have the wettest month of April all time across the state of Oklahoma.
05:37That significant risk from Waco up to about Fort Smith.
05:40The severe weather will expand all the way to the Ohio Valley tomorrow from Pittsburgh to Cincinnati and down once again to Texas.
05:46David.
05:47All right.
05:47Lee Goldberg back with us tonight.
05:48Lee, thank you.
05:49As always, we turn now to the U.S. economy tonight and the new numbers just in showing the American economy shrinking since President Trump took office.
05:56After 33 straight months of growth before he took office, the nation's output of goods and services, the GDP, decreased at an annual rate of 0.3 percent from January to March.
06:07President Trump tonight blaming President Biden, not his own tariffs and the uncertainty it's causing across the economy and the markets.
06:13And what President Trump said today about store shelves and toys, how many dolls might be available for children.
06:20Mary Bruce at the White House tonight.
06:23Tonight, the new numbers tell a sober story.
06:26As President Trump ramped up his trade war, the American economy shrinking.
06:30The gross domestic product declining 0.3 percent in the first three months of this year.
06:35The president fully aware of how the markets have reacted to his tariffs.
06:40Today, instead, blaming his predecessor.
06:42You probably saw some numbers today.
06:44And I have to start off by saying that's Biden.
06:47That's not Trump.
06:48The president urging Americans to be patient while insisting the downturn has nothing to do with tariffs.
06:54But before Trump took office, there had been 33 straight months of growth.
06:58Now economists say Trump's tariffs have created new uncertainty.
07:02Wall Street seeing its worst start to a presidential term since Nixon in 1974.
07:0724 hours before today's economic report are Terry Moran asking the president about fears his trade policy will fuel inflation.
07:15There is a lot of concern out there.
07:18People are worried.
07:19Even some people who voted for you saying, I didn't sign up for this.
07:23So how do you answer those concerns?
07:26Well, they did sign up for it, actually.
07:28And this is what I campaigned on.
07:29Trade with China hit with 145 percent tariffs, dramatically slowing.
07:34The number of cargo ships coming into the port of Los Angeles next week, down 36 percent from this time last year.
07:41Sources tell us Target and Walmart have warned the president that consumers could soon be seeing empty shelves.
07:48Trump today seeming to acknowledge that, but brushing it off when talking about dolls for children.
07:53You know, somebody said, oh, the shelves are going to be open.
07:56Well, maybe the children will have two dolls instead of $30, you know.
08:00And maybe the two dolls will cost a couple of bucks more than they would normally.
08:04But we're not talking about something that we have to go out of our way.
08:09The president on the U.S. economy and the shrinking GDP report today, Mary Bruce, live at the White House.
08:13Because, Mary, I know you have other breaking developments.
08:16Where the U.S. and Ukraine have just signed a key deal for those rare earth minerals?
08:20Tell us.
08:21They have.
08:22And, David, this deal comes just days after President Trump met with Ukrainian President Zelensky at the Pope's funeral.
08:28It gives the U.S. access to some of Ukraine's mineral resources and also builds goodwill between the two countries that have been at odds for several months now.
08:37The Treasury Secretary tonight saying this deal, quote, signals clearly to Russia that the Trump administration is committed to a peace process.
08:44David.
08:45All right.
08:45Mary Bruce on it all at the White House tonight.
08:47Mary, thank you.
08:47We turn now to the horrific accident reportedly involving NFL legend John Elway.
08:51The Hall of Famer reportedly driving a golf cart when his longtime friend and agent fell off the cart, hit his head, and died.
08:59What police are saying about this tonight?
09:00And here's Kena Whitworth.
09:01Tonight, authorities investigating a tragic accident reportedly involving Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway that left his longtime friend and agent dead.
09:11According to TMZ, Elway was allegedly driving a golf cart after a party Saturday in the gated community of La Quinta, California, when suddenly Jeff Spurbeck fell off the back of the cart, hit his head, and suffered a traumatic brain injury.
09:25Witnesses describing a chaotic scene.
09:28It was so scary.
09:29I mean, it, like, it was nothing like we've ever seen.
09:33You just don't think you're going to ever witness anything like that.
09:36But his wife was, like, hysterical.
09:39She says Elway was calling for help.
09:41He was on the phone trying to call 911, call anyone.
09:46The 62-year-old Spurbeck rushed to the hospital where he died this morning.
09:50Spurbeck was his agent for a time, and the two eventually became business partners.
09:54In a statement tonight, Elway saying in part, there are no words to truly express the profound sadness I feel with the sudden loss of someone who has meant so much to me.
10:06And, David, according to TMZ, there is no indication that anyone was driving negligently at the time.
10:12David.
10:13Kena Whitworth reporting tonight.
10:14Kena, thank you.
10:15We turn now to Syracuse in the Chilling High School hazing scandal.
10:18Authorities describing an incident that resembled an armed kidnapping.
10:21Eleven students, most of them members of the boys' varsity lacrosse team, tonight surrendering to police.
10:26After other players were taken into the woods, there was a gun and a knife, and authorities say they thought they were being kidnapped at gunpoint.
10:33The DA tonight calling it hazing on steroids.
10:36Here's Whit Johnson.
10:38Tonight, eleven high school students have now turned themselves in over an alleged prank near Syracuse, New York, that the district attorney says went way beyond hazing.
10:46This after authorities issued a 48-hour ultimatum urging them to surrender.
10:52And this is hazing on steroids, okay?
10:54This could have resulted in such a tragedy.
10:57Many of those students on the West Hill High School varsity boys' lacrosse team, accused of taking underclassmen to a lacrosse game last week and then driving them to a remote wooded area pretending to be lost.
11:09People came out of the woods, all dressed in black. They were armed with what appeared to be at least one handgun and at least one knife.
11:18Authorities say at least four students ran away, but one left behind, his hands tied, placed in the trunk of a car with a hood over his head by students posing as kidnappers.
11:29Then, after the incident, taking that victim home.
11:32The school district now canceling the remainder of the varsity boys' lacrosse season.
11:36And, David, because the students have all turned themselves in before that Friday morning deadline, they will each get a ticket for misdemeanor unlawful imprisonment, but no criminal record.
11:47David.
11:47All right, Whit Johnson with us tonight. Whit, thank you.
11:49Now to Boston and to dramatic testimony in the Karen Reed murder trial today.
11:53The key witness on the stand and what she said Karen Reed told police that night.
11:58Karen Reed then outside the courthouse afterward and what she's now saying about that witness.
12:03Matt Guttman following the trial.
12:04Tonight, Karen Reed's lawyers presenting to the jury the defense theory that has turned this case into a national sensation, that the murder of Boston police officer John O'Keefe was covered up.
12:16On the stand for two days, Jennifer McCabe, a star witness for the prosecution who was with Reed when Reed discovered her boyfriend O'Keefe dying of blunt force trauma and hypothermia in the snow.
12:27Reed's been charged with second-degree murder accused of deliberately hitting him with her SUV, but Reed maintaining she's innocent.
12:33That's Jennifer McCabe you hear on this 911 call.
12:37There's a man unresponsive in the snow. I don't know if he's breathing. I think he's passed away.
12:45You can hear Reed screaming in the background, McCabe describing her as hysterical.
12:49Did you hear or do you remember the defendant saying anything to the first responder?
12:53Yes.
12:54What did she say?
12:54She told the first responder, I hit him, I hit him, I hit him.
13:00The prosecution telling the jury that is an admission of guilt.
13:03But in cross-examination, the defense tried to show that the star witness teamed up with others to make sure they all told the same story.
13:11McCabe pushing back.
13:12We just give each other the heads up, hey, somebody's coming.
13:15Because we're just like normal moms, we're not used to this.
13:18And that's helpful in making sure that the stories she tells are consistent with the stories you tell to different law enforcement agencies, correct?
13:29No, we are not telling stories.
13:32And late today after court, Karen Reed calling her one-time friend a liar.
13:36Inconsistencies, every statement's different, under oath, not under oath, the cops are all wrong.
13:43This is very similar to what we saw a year ago.
13:45Why is she so inconsistent?
13:47Because she's lying.
13:48David, Jen McCabe is one of the prosecution's star witnesses.
13:52But the defense has been trying to portray her as an unreliable witness,
13:55saying that over the years, she has changed her story multiple times.
14:00Now, Jen McCabe will be back on the stand Friday when court resumes.
14:04David.
14:04Matt Guppin on this case again tonight, Matt.
14:07Next tonight here, the NFL is now fining the Atlanta Falcons and one of their coaches $350,000
14:12after that prank call from the coach's son to college football star Shadur Sanders during the NFL draft,
14:18giving him false hope earlier in the draft.
14:21Tonight here, the video of that prank call and what the coach is now saying about the prank and his son.
14:26Here's ABC's Ike Ciaci.
14:29Tonight, the NFL fining the Atlanta Falcons and their defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich $350,000.
14:36After Ulbrich's son admitted to a prank call on a college football star during the draft.
14:42Going forward, I promise my son and I will work hard to demonstrate we are better than this.
14:49Colorado quarterback Shadur Sanders, son of NFL legend Deion Sanders, anxiously waiting for his name to be called in the second round, hopeful when the phone rang.
14:58This is Mickey Loomis here, GM of the Saints.
15:01But it wasn't the Saints on the phone.
15:03Video posted online shows 21-year-old Jax Ulbrich and a friend making the call.
15:08We're going to take you with our next speaker here, man.
15:10Sanders, live-streaming on Twitch during the draft, skeptical.
15:14Nobody got this number, though.
15:16The Falcons say Ulbrich got Sanders' number from his father's unlocked iPad.
15:21And tonight, the NFL fining the Falcons $250,000 and Ulbrich $100,000 for failing to prevent the disclosure of confidential information.
15:31David, Jax Ulbrich apologized to Sanders, who was eventually drafted by the Cleveland Browns in the fifth round.
15:38David?
15:39All right, Mike, thanks so much.
15:40Tonight, a federal judge has released a Columbia University student activist after two weeks in jail.
15:47Mohsen Madawi, a legal permanent resident, was arrested during an interview to finalize his U.S. citizenship.
15:53The Trump administration claims they can deport anyone they believe threatens foreign policy.
15:58Madawi's attorneys say he is being punished for legally protected speech and that they expect the government to try to appeal his release now.
16:05When we come back here tonight, singer Michael Bolton breaking his silence about his battle with brain cancer and what he's saying tonight.
16:11Also, Barbara Streisand in the news tonight.
16:12Her big announcement here.
16:14But first, the chilling news coming in from authorities.
16:16Take a look tonight.
16:17They are saying they have no doubt stopped a mass shooting.
16:20The stockpile of weapons, ammunition, police equipment that they say they found inside a home.
16:24Where they found this and the alleged planned targets in a moment here.
16:29Tonight, the sheriff in Palm Beach County, Florida, saying he has no doubt authorities there have stopped a mass shooting.
16:34Police arresting Damian Allen following a tip from the FBI.
16:37Authorities say they recovered an arsenal of weapons from his home, including 18 firearms, 12,000 rounds of ammunition, a taser, law enforcement uniforms and equipment as well.
16:46They believe he had multiple targets planned, including police departments and churches.
16:50When we come back here tonight, Michael Bolton breaking his silence about his battle with brain cancer.
16:55And then there's the big news involving Barbara Streisand tonight as well.
16:59To the index of other news, singer Michael Bolton on his battle with glioblastoma, a rare form of brain cancer.
17:04Diagnosed in 2023, two brain surgeries.
17:07He tells People magazine he finished radiation and chemotherapy.
17:10It's affected his short-term memory and mobility.
17:12Bolton asking doctors not to give him a prognosis, he says, so he can stay positive.
17:16We wish him the best.
17:17King Charles tonight sharing a heartfelt message about his battle with cancer.
17:21Diagnosed with cancer more than a year ago at a reception at Buckingham Palace with fellow cancer patients and survivors.
17:26He calls cancer frightening, but says it also shows the best of humanity.
17:31When we come back here tonight, Barbara Streisand, most famous duets.
17:34You'll hear them here tonight.
17:35And the big announcement, who's joining her now?
17:39Finally tonight here, Barbara Streisand and her famous duets.
17:42And she's about to release new ones.
17:43Barbara Streisand and her singular voice.
17:54During her four-decade career as an actor, director, singer and songwriter, Barbara Streisand and her duets have been so loved, too.
18:02Happy days are here again with Judy Garland.
18:09Happy days are here again with Judy Garland.
18:11And we got nothing to begin to be on.
18:15Our love would climb any mountain.
18:19Guilty with Barry Gid.
18:21We are.
18:22And we never let it end.
18:26You don't bring me flowers with Neil Diamond.
18:28So you think I could learn how to tell you goodbye.
18:40And Evergreen with Kris Kristofferson.
18:43You and I will make each night a first.
18:50From A Star is Born in 1976.
18:52Tonight, at 83 years old, Barbara Streisand announcing she plans to release a new set of duets with performers you'll know.
19:04Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mariah Carey and Ariana Grande.
19:09Tonight, Barbara Streisand set to deliver a whole new set of duets with friends you'll know.
19:14You don't bring me flowers any more.
19:36Now those duets really take you back, don't they?
19:38Looking forward to the new ones.
19:40I'm David Muir.
19:40Thanks for being here.
19:41I'll see you tomorrow night.
19:42Good night.
19:42Thank you for making World News Tonight with David Muir, America's most watched newscast.