James Handy in a 1995 episode of ‘NYPD Blue.’ (Photo by ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)
Actor James Handy, known for roles in films including Top Gun: Maverick, The Rocketeer and Jumanji, has been identified as the victim of a fatal stabbing in Los Angeles on Wednesday, police said.
The Los Angeles Police Department said officers responded Wednesday to a report of “unknown trouble” in the Tarzana neighborhood of the city and found Handy in the front yard of a residence suffering from a stab wound to the chest.
He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Los Angeles Police Department on Thursday identified the victim as the 81-year-old actor.
According to the LAPD, the suspect called emergency services and said, “I am the son of man, I just killed the man of sin.”
Investigators allege that 44-year-old Michael Gledhill, the son of Handy’s girlfriend, stabbed the actor, though authorities have not revealed any motive behind the alleged stabbing.
Police said Gledhill flagged down responding officers and told them he was the person they were looking for.
Gledhill, who lived with his mother and Handy, was arrested and booked on suspicion of murder. Bail was set at $2 million.
The LAPD said the stabbing was an isolated incident and that there is no further danger to the public.
According to IMDb, Handy appeared in numerous film and television productions during his career, including roles in Top Gun: Maverick, The Rocketeer and Jumanji.
The investigation into Handy’s death is currently ongoing.
Stevie Nicks performs at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, November, 2023 (Disney/Michael J. LeBrecht II)
Stevie Nicks is honoring the doctor who helps keep her voice in tip-top shape.
The singer has made a major donation to University of Southern California to help complete a $3 million fundraising goal for an endowed chair at the Keck School of Medicine at USC within the Caruso Department of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery.
The chair honors Dr. Joseph Sugerman, Nick’s longtime ear, nose and throat specialist.
“Through late nights on the road, years of touring, hours in the recording studio, I always knew I could count on Dr. Sugerman to be there to help keep my voice healthy, just as he does for his other patients,” said Nicks. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to acknowledge his talent and insights and mark his many years of outstanding practice.”
The first holder of the endowed chair will be Dr. Michael M. Johns, director of the USC Voice Center, which was established in 2017.
“I am touched and humbled by the support of my patients who have extended themselves to create this endowed chair, which will be dedicated to advancing vocal medicine,” said Dr. Sugerman. “I’m especially excited that this will strengthen the outstanding programs at the USC Voice Center.”
Elijah McClain in an undated photo. (Family photo)
(NEW YORK) — The Colorado Court of Appeals reversed the convictions of two former Aurora paramedics, who were convicted in December 2023 of criminally negligent homicide in the 2019 death of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old unarmed Black man who was walking home from a convenience store.
In reversing the convictions, the judge ruled on Thursday that the case should be sent back to the district court for a possible retrial.
McClain’s case gained national attention, particularly in the wake of the May 2020 killing of George Floyd, becoming one of the prominent cases that fueled Black Lives Matter protests across the country.
Sheneen McClain, Elijah McClain’s mother, reacted to the reversal of the convictions in a post on social media on Thursday, calling the move “corrupt and cowardly.”
“I am not surprised by the denial of true justice for American citizens in the hands of government branches who allow criminal behaviors in their police agencies,” she wrote. “They are corrupt and cowardly.”
ABC News has reached out to attorneys for the paramedics, Peter Cichuniec and Jeremy Cooper, for comment.
Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser told ABC News in a statement that his office stands by its decision to charge the paramedics and “is committed to defending these convictions through the appeals. Justice demands it.”
ABC News reached out to Weiser’s office for further comment.
The charges
Cichuniec and Cooper were accused of administering an excessive amount of ketamine to sedate McClain after an encounter with police on Aug. 24, 2019.
Cichuniec and Cooper were found guilty of criminally negligent homicide on Dec. 23, 2023. Cichuniec was also convicted of assault in the second-degree via the unlawful administration of drugs. Cooper was acquitted of the assault charge in 2023, and they both pleaded not guilty at trial.
The appeals court ruling upheld Cichuniec’s assault conviction, but reversed the negligent homicide conviction.
Cooper was sentenced in 2024 to a four-year probationary sentence for negligent homicide. Meanwhile, Cichuniec was sentenced to five years in prison with a three-year period of parole for the assault charge and one year to be served concurrently on the negligent homicide charge.
Cichuniec and Cooper separately appealed their convictions.
In Thursday’s ruling, the appeals court agreed with Cooper’s defense team that the lower court “misled” jurors by failing to clarify the standard of care applicable to the charge of criminally negligent homicide after jurors asked the court for a definition.
“By telling the jurors to apply the ‘common and ordinary meanings’ of the words in the instruction, the court failed to shine any light on the issue and in fact misled the jurors as to the applicable standard of care: The proper standard wasn’t that of a generic reasonable person but of a person in Cooper’s profession under the existing circumstances,” the ruling reads.
The judge ruled that the reversal of Cooper’s conviction also applies to Cichuniec because they were both tried together in that case.
“The two were tried on identical theories of guilt and the evidence against them was, while not identical, sufficiently similar that we can’t conclude that the errors were harmless as to Cichuniec,” the ruling says.
What happened to Elijah McClain?
McClain was confronted by police while walking home from a convenience store after a 911 caller told authorities they had seen someone “sketchy” in the area.
McClain was unarmed and wearing a ski mask at the time. His family says he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.
When officers arrived on the scene, they told McClain they had a right to stop him because he was “being suspicious.”
In police body camera footage, McClain can be heard telling police he was going home, and that “I have a right to go where I am going.”
Officer Nathan Woodyard placed McClain in a carotid, or choke, hold and he and the other two officers on the scene moved McClain by force to the grass and restrained him.
When Cooper and Cichuniec arrived, McClain was given a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine to sedate him and he was loaded into an ambulance where he had a heart attack, according to investigators.
McClain died on Aug. 30, 2019, three days after doctors pronounced him brain dead and he was removed from life support, officials said.
Former police officer Randy Roedema was found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and assault in the third degree in McClain’s death. He was sentenced to more than one year in the county jail in January.
Two other officers, Jason Rosenblatt and Woodyard, were found not guilty on charges of reckless manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide. Rosenblatt was also acquitted on charges of assault in the second degree.
Karen Read and Alan Jackson greet her supporters after she is acquitted on many of the charges against her on June 18. (Staff Photo By Stuart Cahill/Boston Herald via Getty Images)
(Canton, Mass.) — Karen Read has filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts State Police and the Canton Police Department nearly a year after she was acquitted of killing her police officer boyfriend.
Prosecutors had accused Read of fatally hitting John O’Keefe with her car outside of another officer’s home and leaving him to die in a blizzard in January 2022, to which she pleaded not guilty.
Her first trial ended in a hung jury. In her second trial she was found not guilty of the most serious charges, including second-degree murder, manslaughter and leaving the scene after an accident resulting in death.
The jury did find her guilty of operating under the influence of liquor. The judge immediately sentenced her to one-year probation, the standard for a first-time offense.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday, Read claims she was “wrongfully prosecuted” for the death of O’Keefe — a Boston Police officer — costing her employment and leading to reputational damages, millions of dollars in legal expenses and serious emotional and physical distress and injury.
In the lawsuit, Read alleges that two former officers assigned to the case, former Massachusetts Police Officer Michael Proctor and former Canton Police Officer Sean Goode, were “misogynist bigots” who led a “conflicted and corrupt ‘investigation'” into the death of O’Keefe.
The suit listed some of the text messages found on Proctor and Goode’s phones with sexist and racist remarks that came under scrutiny during the course of Read’s criminal trials.
Proctor previously said he developed strong negative feelings about Read “as the case went on,” in an interview with ABC News. He said he “shouldn’t have” expressed his emotions in that way and should not have texted his friends about the case, calling the texts “regrettable.”
In a statement Friday, an attorney for Proctor pushed back against Read’s claims and maintained that there is “overwhelming” evidence that Read killed O’Keefe by “backing up and striking him” with her vehicle while “highly intoxicated.”
“The focus on anything other than Ms. Read’s own conduct on the night Officer O’Keefe was killed is as telling as it is predictable. Events in Mr. Proctor’s personal life have been reviewed, ad nauseum, by a grand jury, the District Attorney and the Massachusetts State Police,” Matthew Hamel, Proctor’s attorney in the Karen Read case, told ABC News in a statement.
“It is a matter of undisputed fact that anything Mr. Proctor did or said in his personal life, years before Officer O’Keefe was killed, had no bearing whatsoever on the investigation of Karen Read,” Hamel said.
In a statement Thursday, Massachusetts Police said Proctor’s comments are “not tolerated within our ranks.”
“These disturbing messages are entirely inconsistent with any basic standard of decency and certainly with the expectations of a Massachusetts State Trooper. These racist, sexist and abhorrent comments absolutely do not reflect the values of the Massachusetts State Police and are not tolerated within our ranks. They underscore and fully support my decision to terminate Michael Proctor,” Massachusetts State Police Col. Geoffrey Noble said in a statement to ABC News.
Noble also recognized that “this misconduct harmed the public trust on which our mission depends.”
An attorney for Proctor did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment Thursday. Attorney information for Goode was not immediately available Thursday.
The Town of Canton said in a statement Thursday it “learned of a lawsuit filed by Karen Read from the news media and via a press release issued by Read’s legal team. Town Counsel had previously attempted to communicate with Read’s legal team as to the status of her claim, but received no response at the conclusion of the notice period.”
“The Town has not been served, and as such we have nothing to review with legal counsel at this time,” the statement added.
The statement went on to say, “The Town of Canton has the utmost faith and confidence in the new leadership of Canton Police Department under Chief Michael Daniels, and we would refute any broad stroke characterizations about the brave and dedicated men and women who serve in the Department. The Department has made significant strides forward over the past two years, including the acceptance and implementation of findings and recommendations in the outside audit report.”
Read’s suit alleges that the officers began “targeting and framing the female outsider, Ms. Read” after the owners of the house where O’Keefe was found in the front lawn “falsely” told police he never entered the house.
In a statement to ABC News in 2023, the prosecutors said, “There was no conspiracy or coverup. Such claims have been systematically refuted by evidence submitted to Norfolk Superior Court.”
Proctor denied fabricating evidence in the June 2025 interview with ABC News, saying “there is no evidence of it.”
Goode said during his testimony at the trial that he stood by his investigation in the case.
In the lawsuit, Read alleges that O’Keefe had gone into the house of fellow cops and friends Brian and Nicole Albert and claimed that there were signs of dog bites and scratches on his arm and a laceration on his head that “could have only come from a backwards fall on a ridged surface in the house.”
The prosecution said in its statement to ABC News that, according to O’Keefe’s cellphone GPS records and 11 witness statements, O’Keefe never entered Albert’s home. The medical examiner found “no signs of Mr. O’Keefe being involved in any type of physical altercation or fight.”
The Alberts previously said in a statement after Read’s acquittal that they “mourn with John’s family and lament the cruel reality that this prosecution was infected by lies and conspiracy theories spread by Karen Read, her defense team, and some in the media.”
“Today, our hearts are with John and the entire O’Keefe family. They have suffered through so much and deserved better from our justice system,” the statement at the time said.
Read’s suit alleges that Proctor and Goode’s investigative approach was born out of “singling out and vilifying an outsider while protecting the ‘blue line’ and their families.”
Goode resigned this week while on paid administrative leave from the Canton Police Department amid an outside investigation into alleged misconduct, the Boston Herald reported. The resignation does not alter the completion of the investigation and the results will still be submitted to the town and the Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, the town of Canton told ABC Boston affiliate WCVB.
Read’s suit criticizes police for not searching the home where O’Keefe was found for blood, fingerprints or DNA evidence. Police only entered the “crime scene house” a week later, according to the suit.
Prosecutors said that evidence shows O’Keefe never entered the home and was not murdered by anyone inside the residence, alleging his injuries were sustained by Read hitting him with her car. Prosecutors insisted that those gathering inside the house had no idea O’Keefe was outside until he was discovered the next morning.
Read is asking the court for a ruling against Massachusetts State Police and Canton Police, an unspecified amount of damages to be calculated at trial and attorney’s fees.
Human crowd surrounding an injectable measles vaccine bottle on purple background. Horizontal composition with copy space. ( MicroStockHub/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Measles cases in the United States have surpassed 2,000 for the second year in a row, according to data updated Friday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
So far in 2026, 2,030 confirmed cases have been recorded in 39 states and the District of Columbia, CDC data shows.
Cases have been confirmed in: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Just 10 measles cases were reported among international travelers so far this year, according to CDC data.
Last year, 2,288 confirmed measles cases were reported for all of 2025. Prior to this, measles cases had not surpassed 2,000 in the U.S. since 1992.
The majority of measles cases have been confirmed among children and teenagers aged 19 and younger, according to the CDC.
About 92% of cases are among people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, CDC data shows.
Meanwhile, 4% of cases are among those who have received just one dose of the measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine and 4% of cases are among those who received the recommended two doses, according to the CDC.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Muse has dropped the new single “Nightshift Superstar” from their upcoming album, The Wow! Signal.
In a press release, the song is described as blurring Muse’s “signature fiery rock with funky French house,” noting it contains “driving disco rhythms, orchestral flurries, pinwheeling guitars, and choir vocals.”
“Nightshift Superstar” is now available via digital outlets, with a new video now on YouTube.
The Wow! Signal, dropping June 26, is the follow-up to 2022’s Will of the People. It also includes the previously released songs “Hexagons,” “Unravelling,” “Be with You” and “Cryogen.
Muse is getting ready to hit the road this summer. They’ll launch a North American tour on July 2 in Milwaukee, with dates confirmed through Aug. 31 in Los Angeles. A complete list of dates can be found at Muse.mu.
The Hammond Police Department is searching for gunmen who shot and killed an innocent 50-year-old woman at a Chevron gas station in Hammond, Louisiana, June 4, 2026. (Hammond Police Department)
(HAMMOND, La.) — An innocent woman was killed when gunmen fired 70 to 80 bullets into a car at a Louisiana gas station, apparently believing that their target was in the car, according to police.
Hammond police said the gunmen’s alleged target had been in the car before the shooting, but not at the time of the shooting.
Before the gunfire erupted early Thursday, the suspects were stalking a car at a farm, Hammond Police Chief Edwin Bergeron Jr. said at a news conference.
“At some point [the alleged target] was in the vehicle, and then exited the vehicle to ride with someone else,” Bergeron said.
The victim’s car then left the farm and went to a Chevron gas station, the chief said, and the suspects followed.
When the driver of the victim’s car got out and went inside the gas station, the suspects’ car “pulled up next to it … and began shooting,” Bergeron said.
The suspects fired between 70 and 80 shots, taking the life of 50-year-old Patricia Shepard, who was sitting in the car, Bergeron said.
She was an “absolute innocent victim,” the chief said. “She was not involved.”
Bergeron said investigators are searching for at least two or three suspects.
“We will not rest until the scumbags like this go to jail … for them to roll up and kill an innocent woman in a car because they thought it was somebody else,” he said.
The suspects were driving a car that was stolen in Mississippi earlier in the week, police said.
Authorities urge anyone with information to call the Hammond Police Department at 985-277-5755 or the Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 1-800-554-5245.
Javier Bardem and Amy Adams in ‘Cape Fear.’ (Apple TV)
Max Cady is back, and this time he’s played by Javier Bardem.
Apple TV’s limited series adaptation of Cape Fear has just debuted its first two episodes. This reimagining of the classic 1962 film and Martin Scorsese’s 1991 remake finds Bardem taking on the role of the former prisoner set on revenge. He told ABC Audio he felt pressure stepping into both Robert De Niro and Robert Mitchum’s shoes.
“Of course, the pressure is about me being a huge admirer of De Niro’s and Mitchum’s iconic performances,” Bardem said. “But also, the pressure was off when I first read the scripts and I felt that there was a different take, different character to play because it’s a different time in history.”
Bardem said he didn’t have to emulate anything specifically from De Niro or Mitchum’s takes on the role, outside of the “sense of humor” and “the irony of those performances,” although those aspects “were present [in] the writing.”
This take on Cape Fear gender swaps Max Cady’s lawyer into a woman — a new, reimagined character named Anna Bowden. Amy Adams portrays Anna, and she spoke about what this change brings to the story.
“I really love that aspect of it, this dynamic between them and the sort of power play. … There’s a depth and sort of a complexity to the relationship that we got to explore,” Adams said.
Going further, Adams said the story has more nuances when Max Cady’s lawyer is a mother, with audiences “understanding the risk and the protective nature that she would have.”
“Women’s relationship with shame is also something that I was interested in exploring through this. And pressuring yourself and being unforgiving to yourself,” Adams said. “It gave me a lot to play with.”
e HR recruitment manager holding resume in hands while having an interview in a modern office. (Xavier Lorenzo/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Hiring blew past expectations in May, registering at a blockbuster clip despite a continued rise in inflation set off by the Iran War.
The U.S. added 172,000 jobs in May, according to the report, which marked an acceleration from 115,000 jobs added in April. The reading for April exceeded economists’ expectations. The reading amounted to a slight downshift from March, when the U.S. economy gained 185,000 jobs.
Still, the job gains in May indicated a robust expansion of the labor market, defying concern about a potential economic downturn. Hiring has proven unexpectedly resilient in recent months, despite a rise in costs borne by businesses and shoppers.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3% in May, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said. Unemployment remains low by historical standards.
The leisure and hospitality sector added 70,000 jobs in May, far exceeding an average of 14,000 jobs added each month over the past year. Job gains also came in local government and healthcare.
The Middle East conflict, which began on Feb. 28, prompted the Iranian closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a maritime trading route that facilitates the transport of about one-fifth of global oil supply. The standoff triggered one of the largest oil shocks ever recorded.
The U.S. is a net exporter of petroleum, meaning the country produces more oil than it consumes. But since oil prices are set on a global market, U.S. prices move in response to swings in worldwide supply and demand.
The price of an average gallon of gas stood at $4.24 as of Thursday, AAA data showed – an increase of $1.26 per gallon since the war began on Feb. 28. That amounts to a roughly 42% price jump in about three months.
Grocery prices have also climbed as a result of higher diesel costs borne by suppliers.
A persistent increase in consumer prices may put pressure on the Fed to raise interest rates as a means of dialing back inflation. The choice to raise interest rates could slow price increases, but it risks a cooldown in economic performance.
For now, the U.S. economy appears robust. The economy grew at a solid pace over the first three months of 2026, rebounding from sluggish performance at the end of last year.
Futures markets overwhelmingly expect the Fed to hold interest rates steady when policymakers meet next month, according to the CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of investor sentiment.
: Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) heads for the Senate Chamber in between votes at the U.S. Capitol on June 04, 2026 in Washington, DC. The Senate began a marathon session of amendment votes on the $70 billion immigration enforcement bill. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Senate voted early Friday morning to approve a $70 billion immigration enforcement package that includes nothing to rein in the “anti-weaponization” fund by a vote of 52-47.
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski was the only Republican to join all Democrats in voting against the bill. All other Senate Republicans voted for it, giving the legislation enough support to be narrowly approved. Republicans applauded as the bill was gaveled down early this morning.
The bill now heads to House of Representatives, which is not expected to take it up for consideration until next week.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
