National

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images(NATIONAL HARBOR, Md.) -- Karthik Nemmani called it a “dream come true” to win this year’s Scripps National Spelling Bee.“It felt really good, and it was a dream come true,” he said on Good Morning America. “I was just really, really happy that I could win.”Karthik beat out 516 spellers this year -- the highest number of competitors in the bee's decadeslong history -- after correctly spelling the […]

ABC News(NEW YORK) -- More than 300 damaging storm reports were made Thursday from the Rockies into the Midwest, including 11 reported tornadoes. Lots of damage was reported in the Ohio Valley from Louisville, Kentucky, to Cincinnati, Ohio, leaving thousands without power.More storms are expected in the Plains and Midwest on Friday.A new storm system with a cold front will be moving into the Plains and parts of the Midwest […]

iStock/Thinkstock(ST. PAUL, Minn.) -- The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis has reached a $210 million settlement to be dispersed among 450 survivors of alleged clergy abuse as part of its bankruptcy reorganization, an archbishop said.The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in 2015, two years after the Minnesota Legislature opened a three-year window that allowed people who said they had been sexually abused in the past to sue for damages, according […]

iStock/Thinkstock(SPRINGFIELD, Mass.) -- Three bodies have been found at a Massachusetts home associated with a kidnapping suspect.The investigation is active and ongoing, according to Hampden District Attorney Anthony Gulluni. The bodies were found in and around the Springfield home, he added.Police have not yet named a suspect in the deaths, citing an active investigation, but confirmed they are suspicious.The home is a property associated with a man named Steward Weldon, […]

Wildwood Police(WILDWOOD, N.J.) -- The attorney for a 20-year-old woman who was punched multiple times by police on a New Jersey beach insisted on Thursday that officers reacted excessively."What they did to her was just an overreaction," defense attorney Stephen Dicht told ABC affiliate WPVI-TV in a phone interview."They asked her to give a breathalyzer; she did it not once, but twice," Dicht said. "She was very cooperative, but for […]

McDonough County Jail(MACOMB, Ill.) -- An Illinois pet store owner was arrested and charged with felony animal cruelty this week after 41 dead rabbits, hamsters, snakes and mice were discovered in her store, authorities said.An additional 56 animals were found alive inside the store, as well, and taken to foster homes.Police in the western Illinois town of Macomb received multiple complaints about a strong odor coming from the Macomb Pet […]

WCAV-TV(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) -- Three people are missing after heavy rain hit Virginia overnight, causing dangerous and overwhelming flash flooding near Charlottesville and nearby Madison County.By 2 a.m., 7 to 9 inches of rain fell just west of Charlottesville. Crews worked throughout the night to respond to several water rescue calls in Madison County and Albemarle County, which encompasses Charlottesville.Crews searched overnight on Wednesday for a woman in Madison County, but […]

Dickson County Sheriff's Office(DICKSON, Tenn.) -- As an intense manhunt continues for a suspected cop killer in Tennessee, a community is left mourning the Dickson County sergeant who was shot and killed after 10 years on the job.Sgt. Daniel Baker, who was also a U.S. Marine Corps Reserve, was fatally shot after responding to a call Wednesday morning. He is survived by his wife and daughter.Here is what we know […]

KTRK-TV(HOUSTON) -- The man accused of killing a teenage girl in a car accident in Houston had previously been deported from the United States three times, federal records show.Edy Lopez-Hernandez, 27, was arrested after crashing into another vehicle and fleeing the scene Sunday.He was later determined to be under the influence of unspecified narcotics when he was driving "at a high rate of speed" and crashed into the rear of […]