ABC 10News wants you to start your day on the right foot with our updated microclimate weather forecasts, the latest news from overnight and this morning, and more to help get you out the door informed and ready to go.
Here's what you need to know in the Thursday, April 17, 2025, edition of the 10News Wake Up Call newsletter.
TODAY'S TOP STORY:
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Erik and Lyle Menendez could learn this week whether they'll get reduced sentences — and the chance for freedom — nearly 30 years after they were convicted of murdering their parents.
A Los Angeles judge will preside over the resentencing hearing expected to last two days starting Thursday. The judge could make a verbal decision during the hearing or rule later with a written decision. If he shortens their sentences, the brothers would still need approval from the state's parole board to get out of prison.
They were sentenced in 1996 to life in prison without the possibility of parole for murdering their entertainment executive father Jose Menendez and mother Kitty Menendez in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. The brothers were 18 and 21 at the time of the killings. While defense attorneys argued the brothers acted out of self-defense after years of sexual abuse by their father, prosecutors said the brothers killed their parents for a multimillion-dollar inheritance.
The resentencing hearing will center on whether the brothers have been rehabilitated in prison and deserve a lesser sentence of 50 years to life. That would make them eligible for parole under California's youthful offender law because they committed the crime under the age of 26.
Prosecutors have said the brothers have not admitted to lies told during their trial about why they killed their parents, or that they asked their friends to lie for them in court. Los Angeles County DA Nathan Hochman's office has also said it does not believe that the brothers were sexually abused by their father and that by speaking about their childhood abuse, they have not taken complete responsibility for the crime.
— JAIMIE DING, Associated Press
MICROCLIMATE FORECASTS:
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BREAKING OVERNIGHT:
(AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday said he has found probable cause to hold President Donald Trump’s administration in criminal contempt of court for violating his orders to turn around planes carrying deportees to El Salvador.
U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg warned he could refer the matter for prosecution if the administration does not “purge” its contempt.
Boasberg said the administration could do so by returning to U.S. custody those who were sent to the El Salvador prison in violation of his order so that they “might avail themselves of their right to challenge their removability.”
In response, the Trump administration appealed the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
CONSUMER:
With April being Financial Literacy Month, consumer reporter Marie Coronel focuses on a local organization that is helping community members better manage their money and plan for the future.
WE FOLLOW THROUGH:
The international border between the U.S. and Mexico serves as the frontlines for law enforcement, but San Diego's land and sea face an ongoing environmental crisis.
The Tijuana River has long carried sewage and chemical pollution into San Diego, affecting not only residents but also the first responders who work and train in the area.
Watch ABC 10News anchor Kimberly Hunt's report:
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