The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S., the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month and that he and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.

Tawhedi, who arrived in the U.S. in 2021, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family’s assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan.

An FBI affidavit does not reveal precisely how Tawhedi came onto investigators’ radar, but cites what it says is evidence from recent months showing his determination in planning an attack.

Officials say Tawhedi consumed Islamic State propaganda, contributed to a charity that functions as a front for the militant group and communicated with a person who the FBI determined from a prior investigation was involved in recruitment and indoctrination. He also viewed webcams for the White House and the Washington Monument in July.

Tawhedi’s alleged co-conspirator was not identified by the Justice Department, which described him only as a juvenile, a fellow Afghan national and the brother of Tawhedi’s wife.

After the two advertised the sale of personal property on Facebook last month, the FBI enlisted an informant to respond to the offer and strike up a relationship. The informant later invited them to a gun range, where they ordered weapons from an undercover FBI official.

Tawhedi was arrested Monday after taking possession of two AK-47 rifles and ammunition, officials said. The unidentified co-conspirator was also arrested but the Justice Department did not provide details.

After he was arrested, the Justice Department said, Tawhedi told investigators he had planned an attack for Election Day that would target large gatherings of people.

Tawhedi was charged with conspiring and attempting to provide material support to the Islamic State, which is designated by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization. The charge is punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

It was not immediately clear if he had a lawyer who could speak on his behalf. A message was left with the federal public defender’s office in Oklahoma City and no telephone numbers were listed for Tawhedi or his relatives in public records.

Third of high schoolers identify as transgender

About 3.3% of high school students identify as transgender and another 2.2% are questioning their gender identity, according to the first nationally representative survey on these groups, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday.

Transgender and gender-questioning teenagers reported alarmingly higher rates of bullying at school, persistent sadness and suicidal thoughts and behaviors, according to the survey, which was carried out in 2023. About 1 in 4 transgender students said they had attempted suicide in the past year, compared with 11% of cisgender girls and 5% of cisgender boys.

The data comes from the agency’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a survey of more than 20,000 high school students conducted in public and private schools across the country every two years. The 2023 survey was the first to ask teenagers in all schools whether they identified as transgender.

More trouble for Adams, N.Y. City Hall

A former New York City official was charged Tuesday with witness tampering and destroying evidence in a sweeping federal investigation that led to Mayor Eric Adams’ indictment on charges he took bribes and illegal campaign cash from foreign interests.

The arrest came amid an ongoing exodus of top Adams administration officials, as federal prosecutors delve deeper into allegations that the mayor was using staffers in an attempt to cover up wrongdoing.

Mohamed Bahi, who resigned Monday as the mayor’s liaison to the Muslim community, is accused of encouraging a businessman to solicit illegal straw donations from four of the businessman’s employees and to then lie about it to the FBI.

Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Adams denied that he had any hand in telling anyone to lie. “I would never instruct anyone to do anything illegal or improper,” he said.

Separately, New York City First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright resigned and is expected to be replaced by one of her top aides.

Wright, one of five senior Adams administration officials whose homes were raided by federal authorities on Sept. 4, was initially expected to step down this past Friday as part of an effort by the mayor to push out advisers ensnared in the corruption investigations.

Philly utility to pay $4.2M over explosion

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reached a tentative $4.2 million settlement with a firm that owned and operated a Philadelphia refinery that was shuttered after an explosion and fire in 2019.

The deal with Philadelphia Energy Solutions was announced Tuesday. The company does not admit to any liability in the settlement, which the EPA said is the largest amount ever sought for a refinery under a Clean Air Act rule.

The explosion and subsequent fire on June 21, 2019, eventually forced the refinery to close after being in operation for 150 years. At the time, it was the largest oil refining complex on the East Coast, processing 335,000 barrels of crude oil daily.

Probe alleges Section 8 housing bias in Calif.

California tenants who held Section 8 housing vouchers were refused rental contracts by more than 200 landlords, including major real estate firms, according to an undercover investigation that found widespread discrimination in the state.

The investigative nonprofit Housing Rights Initiative announced Tuesday that it has filed complaints with the California Civil Rights Department, alleging landlords violated a state law against denying leases to renters who pay with vouchers. It seeks penalties against 203 companies and individuals.

The nonprofit is also pushing for more state funding to adequately enforce the law, which Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in 2019.Newsom’s office referred comment on the filing to the state Civil Rights Department.

Ex-Houston officer gets 60 years in fatal raid

A former Houston police officer was sentenced to 60 years in prison on Tuesday for the murder of a married couple during a drug raid that revealed systemic corruption in the department’s narcotics unit.

Gerald Goines, 60, was convicted in the deaths of Dennis Tuttle, 59, and Rhogena Nicholas, 58, who were shot along with their dog after officers burst into their home using a “no-knock” warrant that didn’t require them to announce themselves before entering.

Goines had been free on bond since he was charged in the January 2019 deaths, until his convictions last month. He looked down but had no visible reaction as he heard the sentences for each count of murder, which will run concurrently. The jurors had deliberated for more than 10 hours.

Mexico emphasizes detente with drug lords

Rejecting a renewed “war” against drug-traffickers, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum on Tuesday unveiled her strategy to battle organized crime in a nation where each day brings word of new assassinations, gang wars, massacres and other carnage.

“The war against el narco will not return,” Sheinbaum, who took office last week, said in her daily press conference.

Instead, she outlined a four-point strategy that emphasized intelligence gathering, troop deployment, improved federal-state coordination and providing opportunities to dissuade impoverished young people from joining organized crime — which is among Mexico’s major employers.

A centerpiece of the plan is doubling down on the often-criticized “hugs not bullets” strategy of Sheinbaum’s predecessor and mentor, former President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

During his six-year term, López Obrador deemphasized direct conflict with cartels and instead bolstered scholarships, job-training, economic aid and other initiatives in a bid to provide alternate career paths for at-risk youth.

— From news services