(OAK LAWN, Ill.) — A woman in her 70s was recovering from injuries Thursday after being forcibly held at gunpoint while suspects ransacked her home.
The home invasion took place Tuesday evening in Oak Lawn, Illinois, when a female suspect pretending to be selling candy approached the residence, police said. The older woman declined to make a purchase and closed the door.
Upon answering a second doorbell, the victim encountered the female suspect, believed to be a teenager, standing next to a man who was armed with a handgun, authorities said. He forced his way into the residence, ultimately knocking the older woman to the ground.
Home Invasion 4600 block of 105th Pl occurred the evening of March 22nd. If you can help identify the individuals pictured please contact the OLPD Detective Division at 708-907-4051 pic.twitter.com/pEkwp6K9Hx
According to police, two men looted the home while the female suspect held the victim at gunpoint. The trio then fled to a getaway vehicle, a white Kia Optima, which was driven by a fourth suspect.
The woman was home alone during the incident. She sustained minor injuries in the robbery, according to police.
Authorities described one suspect as a short man, believed to be in his 30s, with short black hair and a heavyset build. The other man, believed to be in his 40s, is tall with a heavyset build and a round face. The female is tall and has a thin build. A description of the driver was not provided.
“The main priority of the police department is the safety of the community,” police said in a statement. “We will continue to actively pursue those involved in this case and all other acts of violence and crime. We plan on utilizing every resource at our disposal that will assist in the arrest of those involved.”
No arrests have been made at this time. Anyone who can identify the suspects involved in the incident are urged to contact the detective division at the Oak Lawn Police Department.
(ITHACA, N.Y.) — After a significant viral outbreak before winter break in December, COVID-19 infection levels at Cornell University had markedly declined, as the omicron surge receded, and students returned to campus for the spring semester.
However, as new case totals begin to tick up in the state of New York, the campus is once again reporting a viral resurgence. This week, Cornell elevated its COVID-19 alert system to “yellow,” indicating that transmission is rising, and prevalence of the virus is above predicted levels.
Between March 17 and March 23, Cornell recorded 515 positive COVID-19 infections among students, staff and faculty, according to data from the university.
“COVID-19 cases on the Ithaca campus are increasing beyond our predictions, indicating a substantial prevalence of the virus on campus,” Provost Michael Kotlikoff said in a statement on Wednesday. “This rising transmission is likely due to a number of factors, including relaxing mask requirements, the emergence of the BA.2 variant, and increased social activities.”
Data shows 97% of the student population is vaccinated, while 92% of those eligible are boosted.
At this time, all unvaccinated or unboosted students, faculty, and staff are required to participate in surveillance testing. Cornell provides symptomatic test kits to community members who are experiencing mild to moderate symptoms suggestive of COVID-19.
“The majority of positive cases being reported on campus are from symptomatic testing, which tells us that there are even more asymptomatic cases within our community,” Kotlikoff wrote.
The increase comes less than two weeks after the school dropped its mask mandate for most locations, though community members are still required to wear masks when in certain settings, such as classrooms and laboratories, at health care and testing facilities, and on public transportation.
Given the resurgence, the university strongly encourages community members to get tested before and after spring break, which is not for another week.
With increasing viral transmission occurring overseas, federal officials have been warning that the U.S. is likely to see an uptick in COVID-19 cases in the weeks to come, as the presence of the omicron subvariant, BA.2, spreads across the country.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Wednesday her agency is “carefully” watching New England and New York City for increases of the BA.2 variant after they found slight increases in the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater surveillance.
“Currently, we’re seeing a modest uptick of sites reporting an increase of virus levels in wastewater in some communities. In fact, over the past two weeks we have seen increasing wastewater signals in New York City and parts of New England, where we are now seeing increases in cases and some increased hospitalizations,” Walensky said during a White House COVID-19 briefing.
Walensky said officials have been focused largely on hospitalization metrics, to guide potential future guidance on masking and restriction measures.
“If cases do go up, we have the framework to implement additional layers of prevention strategies at the local level to swiftly protect individuals and communities,” Walensky said.
Many experts have been warning that the virus may be already spreading rapidly across the country.
Dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available in pharmacies, and through the federal testing program. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and thus, experts said infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.
Nationwide, BA.2, now accounts for more than a third of new COVID-19 cases. Many top health officials, including Walensky and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, have said that they anticipate that over the next few weeks, BA.2 will become the predominant variant in the U.S.
Although breakthrough COVID-19 infections surged during the omicron wave, data from the CDC shows vaccines still dramatically reduced the risk of requiring hospitalization or dying of the virus.
In January, unvaccinated adults were 9 times more likely to die of COVID-19, compared to vaccinated individuals, and six times more likely to require hospitalization.
Additionally, unvaccinated adults were about 21 times more likely to die of COVID-19 in January, and 12 times more likely to require hospitalization, compared to fully vaccinated and boosted adults.
(WASHINGTON) — Americans who don’t have health insurance will now start to see some of the free COVID-19 testing options disappear, even if they are showing symptoms.
Quest Diagnostics, one of the largest testing companies in the country, told ABC News that patients who are not on Medicare, Medicaid or a private health plan will now be charged $125 dollars ($119 + a $6 physician fee) when using one of its PCR tests either by ordering a kit online or visiting one of the 1,500 Quest or major retail locations that offer the tests, such as Walmart or Giant Eagle.
More than 30 million Americans had no insurance during the first half of 2021, according to CDC estimates.
This week, federal funding to cover the cost of COVID-19 testing and treatment for uninsured Americans officially dried up; any further infusion of cash hinges on Congress passing the White House’s request for billions more in COVID relief, which is still stuck at an impasse.
Quest has begun notifying its clients and partners they can no longer expect to be reimbursed for uninsured claims, barring additional funding from Congress.
For some of the major retail pharmacies, things are still in flux.
Walgreens told ABC News no firm decisions have yet been made. The company said it is waiting on further guidance from the White House and federal agencies and is remaining “hopeful for a path forward that ensures uninterrupted access to COVID-19 services.” CVS told ABC News it is “fully confident” a solution will be found between Congress and the administration.
But unless Congress agrees to more COVID-19 funding, it is likely companies will have to either absorb the cost of uninsured customers — or begin charging them.
Meanwhile, groups such as the National Association of Chain Drug Stores, which represents major retail drug stores and supermarkets such as CVS, Costco Wholesale, Hy-Vee and Albertsons, have been sounding alarm bells on the issue and pushing the Biden administration and Congress to sort things out.
“Any premature lapse in funding that splinters care access threatens to disintegrate the robust, equity-driven COVID-19 pandemic response that has so far saved more than a million lives,” NACDS wrote in recent letters to the White House as well as Senate and House leadership.
With funding for the uninsured expired, the support structure to provide equitable access to COVID-19 testing and treatment is “in imminent jeopardy,” the group wrote, warning the funding cut “could create extreme confusion at the pharmacy counter” and “result in the tragedy of increasing disparities in access to critically needed care and patients forgoing care.”
Fostering equitable access to COVID-19 care for vulnerable groups is contingent on making sure sick people get the treatment they need in time, because antiviral therapies such as monoclonals or Paxlovid must be taken within a short infection timeframe. So, getting treated is contingent upon getting tested in that limited window, to receive what is already a shrinking supply of free treatments. Getting tested in time is also contingent on being able to afford the service, which is not a given, especially for lower income families.
“The loss of access, as a result of expiring COVID-19 care programs, could undermine the nation’s broader, comprehensive response efforts, and NACDS agrees that inaction at this pivotal time could set the nation back, leave the nation less prepared, and may cost the nation more lives,” the letter read.
The American Clinical Laboratory Association — the national trade association representing some of the leading clinical labs responsible for COVID-19 diagnostics (including Quest and LabCorp) — is similarly raising concerns.
“Without question, the exhaustion of these funds will threaten access to testing for the most vulnerable Americans at a critical time in our nation’s response effort,” Tom Sparkman, ACLA’s senior vice president of government affairs and policy, wrote to House and Senate leadership this week.
Sparkman told ABC News in an interview Wednesday the funding cuts for the uninsured is two steps backward in the pandemic progress.
“We are still in a public health emergency. We’re not out of the woods yet — we don’t want to start taking apart pieces of the response. We need to remain strong and vigilant, and the uninsured funding is a critical component of that,” Sparkman said. “It’s extremely concerning.”
“We can’t start rolling up the carpet,” he said. “Not learning the lessons from past surges — of keeping a higher level of surge capacity for testing, keeping those lines warm and available — I think that would be a mistake.”
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
(OXFORD, Mich.) — The 15-year-old boy charged with multiple counts of murder stemming from a November mass shooting at Michigan’s Oxford High School must remain in an adult jail, a judge ordered Thursday as the teen’s court-appointed guardian said it’s now up to the jail to provide him an education.
During a hearing held on Zoom, Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Kwame Rowe maintained his prior order that Ethan Crumbley is not to be transferred at this juncture to a juvenile facility.
“The court has not been presented with additional information or new information that will cause this court to disrupt its March 1, 2022 opinion and order. Therefore, the court will continue the defendant’s placement at the Oakland County Jail,” Rowe said.
Crumbley’s lawyer, Paulette Michel Loftin, informed Rowe that a psychiatric evaluation of the teenager has been completed and that a written report of the results is expected to be available in 45 days. Crumbley’s lawyers said in January that they plan to mount an insanity defense.
The boy is charged as an adult with 24 counts, including four counts of murder and a terrorism charge. He is being held in isolation at the Oakland County Jail under behavior watch, which is one step below suicide watch, and must be checked on every 15 minutes, officials said.
Officials said at a previous hearing that Crumbley is only released from his cell to shower or speak with visitors and his attorneys. He spends most of his time reading Harry Potter books, officials said.
Deborah H. McKelvy, Crumbley’s court-appointed guardian, raised concerns Thursday over prosecutors continuing to say in court filings that it’s the responsibility of the defendant’s parents to provide him an education.
Crumbley’s parents, James and Jennifer Crumbley, are both jailed on charges stemming from the Nov. 30, 2021, mass shooting their son allegedly committed at Oxford High School in the Detroit suburb of Oxford Township. The parents are charged with four counts each of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly neglecting or failing to notice warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting. They also allegedly bought their son a 9-mm Sig Sauer pistol as a present just days before he allegedly used it in the shooting.
Six other students and a teacher were injured in the shooting.
McKelvy, citing a Michigan statute, told Rowe “it’s important to keep in perspective” that it’s now the jail’s responsibility to provide Ethan Crumbley with an education.
“It’s no longer the parents’ responsibility,” McKelvy said.
McKelvy said she received an email on Tuesday from a senior assistant at the Corporation Counsel for Oakland County notifying Crumbley of the educational programs available to him in jail.
“He (Crumbley) is thinking about what path he wants to proceed with,” McKelvy said.
She said one option is through a cyber school and the other is through a program offered by the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity, in which Crumbley could study for his high school equivalency exam or his GED with a laptop computer provided by the jail.
“Once he has achieved either the high school equivalency diploma or the GED, he then would be able to continue in that program to be able to do some community college courses,” McKelvy said.
Ven Johnson, a Detroit civil attorney who represents the parents of Tate Myre, one of four students Crumbley allegedly shot to death, agreed that under state statute, Oakland County must provide Crumbley an education until he’s 18.
“The parents can’t provide an education, imagine that,” Johnson told ABC News Thursday.
He said Myre’s parents, William and Sheri Myre, had no comment on the decision over Crumbley’s education, adding: “They’re too smart to get involved in that.”
Judge Rowe set Crumbley’s next hearing for April 21, for a required monthly reevaluation of whether he should stay in jail or be transferred to a juvenile facility.
Ukrainians Anatoli Boreiko, 64, and his wife, 59-year-old Natalia, recently arrived in New Jersey to stay with their daughter and son-in-law, Luda Boreiko and Yeugeniy Pakkel. – (WPVI)
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday will announce that the U.S. will accept 100,000 Ukrainian refugees, according to a senior administration official.
“To meet this commitment, we are considering the full range of legal pathways to the United States and that includes U.S. refugee admissions program, parole and immigrant and non-immigrant visas,” the official told reporters.
The official also said the commitment to take in 100,000 Ukrainian refugees was not tied to any particular time frame.
The official reiterated that the administration still believed the majority of refugees would prefer to stay in neighboring countries or elsewhere in the European Union.
Eastern European cities and countries have become overwhelmed with refugees. A senior administration official told ABC News last week that the U.S. refugee program “is not an emergency response program, so our goal would be to provide humanitarian assistance to keep people safe where they are for now.”
The process for refugees to stay in the U.S. is complex. Vetting it required as well as a referral from a United Nations agency. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is “looking at steps that we can take in the near term.”
The White House did not announce specifics on how it will process these refugees. Administration officials said specifics will be announced “in the coming weeks.”
The refugee resettlement process can also take years. In February, the U.S. admitted 427 Ukrainian refugees out of 2,133 refugees in total, according to Department of State data.
Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, more than 3.6 million refugees have fled the country, according to the U.N. Refugee Agency. The majority of the refugees have fled to nearby countries, with more than 2 million people crossing into Poland.
U.S. embassies and consulates in the region are processing emergency visa applications but are overwhelmed.
“We are not able to process the volume of the people who are thinking about that as an option,” a senior administration official said last week.
According to U.S. law, immigrant visas only apply to immediate family — meaning spouses, unmarried children under 21 and parents. Family not in that category can submit a petition to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to approve their case.
Biden on Thursday will announce more than $1 billion in new funding for humanitarian assistance for those affected by Russia’s war. “This funding will be additional to money that we have already provided and will provide food, shelter, clean water, medical supplies and other forms of assistance,” a senior administration official told reporters. The U.S. will also provide $11 billion over the next five years to address food security threats and malnutrition across the world. This will be done through the Feed the Future initiative.
ABC News’ Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, in an 8-1 decision, has endorsed a pastor’s audible prayer and laying of hands on an inmate at the moment of his execution, siding with a Texas death-row prisoner who challenged the state’s ban on the practice during lethal injection.
Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion. Justice Clarence Thomas was the sole dissenter.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Since 2020, legislation on race education has popped up across the country. A total of 35 states so far have signed into law or proposed legislation banning or restricting the teaching of critical race theory, the academic discipline at the center of the debate.
Critical race theory, mostly taught in universities and colleges, seeks to understand how racism has shaped U.S. laws.
Many legislators have been invoking critical race theory broadly in their attempts to restrict discussions of race in the classroom and in government agency diversity training.
These Republican-led efforts have continued to move forward in many states across the country. However, in some states, the bills have fallen short.
A total of 16 states so far have signed into law bills restricting education on race in classrooms or state agencies.
There are currently 19 states that are considering bills or policies that restrict race education in schools or state agencies.
Six states failed to pass this type of legislation.
Eight states have yet to introduce any legislation on this topic.
Officials who back these bills argue that educators are indoctrinating students with certain lessons on race that make people feel “discomfort” or “shame.”
“We won’t allow Florida tax dollars to be spent teaching kids to hate our country or to hate each other,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has introduced restrictions on diversity education for schools as well as private corporations.
He continued, “Finally, we must protect Florida workers against the hostile work environment that is created when large corporations force their employees to endure CRT-inspired ‘training’ and indoctrination.”
Educators and some parents argue these bills would censor teachers and students, as well as place restrictions on discussions on racial oppression.
Proponents of critical race theory say that some opponents are portraying “critical race theory” as something harmful to reverse progress made in diversity and racial equity.
“There’s long-term resentment against people of color speaking up for civil rights,” Justin Hansford, a law professor at Howard University, told ABC News. “If you don’t see race, that doesn’t really help anybody. It’s ignoring the truth.”
Lawsuits against anti-CRT laws have already popped up in two of the states that passed them, Oklahoma and New Hampshire.
(COLUMBIA, South Carolina) — A man’s family is speaking out after he was shot and killed by a law enforcement officer in Columbia, South Carolina.
Irvin D. Moorer Charley, 34, whose family said he had various mental illnesses, was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy after police responded to a domestic violence call.
“The officer was very aware of my son’s condition,” Moorer Charley’s mother, Connie Craig, told reporters at a press conference. “They had been to the home many times, several times.”
While Moorer Charley’s family said he was having a mental health episode, the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said the 911 call did not identify Moorer Charley as a person experiencing a mental health crisis.
“I tried to tell them that I’ve been dealing with him for a long time, and I probably could have gotten him to stop,” Craig said. “They said ‘Get back.’ I begged them. I begged them not to do that to him. I couldn’t do any more, and I dropped to the ground, but my son didn’t deserve this. He did not deserve this.”
The sheriff’s department released part of a dash cam video Tuesday in efforts to be “completely transparent with the community” and to provide “clarity to misstatements that this was a mental health call for service.”
In the released clip, the deputy who shot Moorer Charley is seen yelling at him multiple times, saying, “drop the weapon,” as Moorer Charley approached officers while holding a sharp wooden object. A second officer tried to use a stun gun on Moorer Charley, but according to Richland County Coroner Naida Rutherford, it was ineffective.
“It did not stick in the skin, and so it did not stop him as you would expect,” Rutherford told reporters at a press conference Sunday.
After the stun gun was deployed, officers said Moorer Charley charged at them, and one of the officers shot him.
The department defended the incident at the press conference.
“We can’t expect these deputies to go out here and be killed,” Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told reporters. “They have to protect themselves.”
While some of the body cam video has been released, Moorer Charley’s family is calling on the department to release the video in its entirety.
“We are just calling for transparency and for actions to be taken not only in South Carolina but across the country to address these tragic and preventable mental health deaths,” Brendan Green, who is representing Moorer Charley’s family, told reporters.
Lott said that while he believes the officers’ actions were justified, “It’s sad all around,” he said.
“Mental health is a problem in our community,” the sheriff said. “We do not need to continue to ignore it. When someone cries out for help, they need to get help.”
(NEW YORK) — The executors of the estate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have listed for sale the two private Caribbean islands the late financier owned off the east coast of St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, an attorney for the estate told ABC News on Wednesday.
The asking price: $125 million, according to two sources.
Epstein purchased the private island, Little St. James, in 1998 for about $8 million and established his permanent residence there in 2010, around the time he was released from his first jail sentence in Palm Beach, Florida. He liked to refer to his estate there as “Little St. Jeff’s,” according to testimony that emerged last year during the criminal trial of his former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
Epstein later acquired ownership of a larger, neighboring island, Great St. James, and he was in the process of building a new estate there at the time of his arrest in 2019, according to court and property records in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
The Wall St. Journal first reported news of the listing.
The islands are currently encumbered by “criminal activity” liens placed by Denise George, the U.S. Virgin Islands’ attorney general, who in early 2020 filed a civil racketeering lawsuit against the estate. The suit alleges that Epstein created a network of shell companies, charitable organizations and individuals that participated in and conspired with him in a decadeslong pattern of criminal activity tied to alleged sex trafficking of minor girls and young women.
“Epstein, through and in association with defendants, trafficked, raped, sexually assaulted and held captive underage girls and young women at his properties in the Virgin Islands,” the complaint said.
ABC News reported earlier this month that lawyers for the Epstein estate are in settlement talks with the U.S. Virgin Island government. One estate attorney described the two sides as being “extraordinarily close” to reaching a negotiated resolution.
A lawyer for the estate, Daniel Weiner, confirmed to ABC News Wednesday that the properties have been listed for sale. The proceeds of any sale, Weiner said, would be used by the estate “for the resolution of outstanding lawsuits and the regular costs of the Estate’s operations, and will be subject to potential claims by tax authorities, creditors, and other parties.”
The proceeds will be held in liened accounts, Weiner said, pending the resolution of the government’s lawsuit
The estate has previously unloaded two of Epstein’s other properties, his Palm Beach Island seaside home and his Upper East Side Manhattan townhouse. Two other properties, Zorro Ranch in New Mexico and an Avenue Foch apartment in Paris, are also for sale.
The marketing of the islands is being handled by New York firms The Modlin Group and Bespoke Real Estate in partnership with U.S. Virgin Islands-based Christie’s International Real Estate The Saints, Weiner said.
(KENOSHA, Wis.) — A police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin, resigned from his off-duty role at the local school district amid an investigation into the tactics he used to restrain a young girl while stopping a fight in which she was involved.
Officer Shawn Guetschow, who was working part-time as a security officer for the Kenosha Unified School District, came under fire after a viral video appeared to show him putting his knee on the neck of a 12-year-old girl at Lincoln Middle School on March 4, while trying to stop a fight.
Guetschow resigned from his role with the school district on March 15, Tanya Ruder, chief communications officer for the Kenosha Unified School District, confirmed to ABC News.
Kenosha police Lt. Joseph Nosalik confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that Guetschow is still employed by the police department and is currently on desk duty amid the investigation.
In his resignation letter, a copy of which was obtained by ABC News, Guetschow cited the “mental and emotional strain” that the public attention surrounding the incident has brought on his family, as well as what he says is “the lack of communication and or support” that he has received from the district.
The incident was the subject of a heated discussion at the school board meeting on Tuesday, with some community members calling for the district to suspend its contract with the Kenosha Police Department, while others argued that police officers are needed in school to keep students safe.
The 12-year-old girl’s father, Jerrel Perez, spoke out against the officer’s tactics in a press conference last week and called for criminal charges to be filed against him.
“She’s humiliated. She’s traumatized. Every day I gotta hear, ‘Daddy, I don’t wanna go to school,'” Perez said Wednesday.
“It breaks me, because I wasn’t there to help her,” he added. “I felt helpless.”
A charge of disorderly conduct was referred to juvenile court for both students involved in the fight, police told ABC News.
Attorney Drew DeVinney, who represents the girl and her father, said during a press conference Wednesday that the family plans to take legal action against the police and the school soon.
Ruder told ABC News that the Kenosha Unified School District could not provide any more information.
“As it appears that this incident may lead to litigation, the district will provide no further details at this time,” she said.
A video of the incident taken by one of the students at the school was obtained by ABC News and shows the officer responding to a fight between two students during lunch time in the cafeteria.
The 12-year-old girl, whose name has not been revealed as she is a minor, pushes the officer, and then he pins her to the ground amid shouting from students who have gathered to watch.
The clip is 10 seconds long, and it is unclear what happened before or after.
“We continue our investigation, paying careful attention to the entire scope of the incident. We have no further update at this time,” the Kenosha Police Department said in a statement Saturday.
Last week, the Kenosha Unified School District released a redacted version of school surveillance video of the incident.
In the video, Guetschow pushes the girl’s head to the ground and then appears to kneel on her neck for over 20 seconds.
Perez expressed outrage over the police officer’s tactics and compared the image to George Floyd, the Minnesota man who was killed when a police officer placed a knee on his neck for nearly nine minutes.
Amid a push for police reform after Floyd’s death, Wisconsin banned the use of police chokeholds in June 2021 except in life-threatening situations or in situations where police officers have to defend themselves. Chokeholds include various police neck restraints.
DeVinney told ABC News earlier this month that the girl “suffered injuries to her head and neck and is currently receiving medical treatment.”
He said that since chokeholds have been banned in Wisconsin, the “incident should never have occurred.”
“The family hopes to find out why this happened, so that it does not happen again to anyone else’s child,” he added.
