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(NEW YORK) — After a chaotic week, Russian soprano Anna Netrebko has withdrawn from performances at New York City’s Metropolitan Opera House.

“It is a great artistic loss for the Met and for opera,” Met Opera general manager Peter Gelb said in a statement Thursday. “Anna is one of the greatest singers in Met history, but with Putin killing innocent victims in Ukraine, there was no way forward.”

On Sunday, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Gelb posted a message to the Met’s social media saying, “We can no longer engage with artists or institutions that support Putin or are supported by him — not until the invasion and killing has been stopped, order has been restored and restitutions have been made.”

The statement was met with confusion from some specifically because Netrebko — who has previously voiced support for Putin and in 2014 supported the arts in the separatist region of Ukraine — has become a widely recognized face of the Met over the last two decades, including opening the season several years in a row. She was set to perform in the Met’s “Turandot” later in the spring and was scheduled to perform in the 2022-23 season, which the Met announced Feb. 23.

The Met’s message now that she has been withdrawn from performances after “not complying with the Met’s condition that she repudiate her public support for Vladimir Putin while he wages war on Ukraine,” is sending loud reverberations through the industry.

In a series of Instagram posts over the weekend, Netrebko called for peace and voiced her opposition to the war, but did not mention Putin.

“Forcing artists, or any public figure, to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right. This should be a free choice. Like many of my colleagues, I am not a political person. I am not an expert in politics. I am an artist and my purpose is to unite people across political divides,” she wrote on an Instagram post Saturday.

She went on to say in an Instagram story, “It’s especially despicable from people from the West, seated comfortable in their home, not fearing for their lives, to pretend to be brave and pretending to ‘fight’ by putting in trouble artists who asked nothing.”

Netrebko’s Instagram, where she has over 750,000 followers, was later set to private.

Netrebko’s withdrawal from the Met, which includes the “Turandot” this spring as well as a “Don Carlo” in the next season, comes as Russian conductor Valery Gergiev faces similar career impacts from the invasion. He was replaced in a series of Vienna Philharmonic concerts at New York City’s Carnegie Hall last week and fired as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic after also refusing to denounce Putin.

The two — who are among the most globally famous classical artists currently performing — have faced, and stand to face, further repercussions as the opera and classical industry take stands against the Russian invasion.

Polish tenor Piotr Beczała, Latvian mezzo Elīna Garanča and Georgian mezzo Anita Rachvelishvili all announced they would not be performing in Russia, with Rachvelishvili calling Putin a “dictator” who “is killing our people.”

“I am not a politician and I have no influence on political decisions. But I am an artist and I can use my voice to express my opposition to the war that takes place just across the border of my beloved motherland,” Beczała wrote.

Russian American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya, music director of the Chicago Opera Theater, wrote on Twitter that she was “terrified for all my family and friends in Ukraine, where I spent so many happy summers as a child.”

Finnish soprano Karita Mattila also took to Twitter with a memory: “I refused to perform with (Maestro) Gergiev in 2014 at Carnegie Hall concert because he publicly supported Russian invasion of Crimea. I wanted to show solidarity towards my Ukrainian colleagues. My action had long lasting consequences: I received threats.”

Netrebko has brushed controversy before, both with her 2014 actions and with her opinions on skin-darkening makeup. Gelb told The New York Times it’s “hard to imagine a scenario in which (Netrebko) will return to the Met,” a stunning remark given her staying power at the house that made her an international star.

The Met on Monday opened its first opera after a scheduled monthlong break with a performance of the Ukrainian national anthem.

For the springtime “Turandot,” Netrebko will be replaced by Liudmyla Monastyrska — a Ukrainian soprano.

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(NEW YORK) — A New York girl is on a mission to brighten the lives of cancer patients in her community.

Sophie Enderton of Newfane, New York, started her “Sophie’s chemo bags” initiative after seeing her late grandfather, Terry Enderton, undergo chemotherapy after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last October.

“She saw him kind of struggling and losing his hair and getting tired and just having to sit at chemo,” Sophie’s mom, Jillian Enderton, explained to “Good Morning America.” “I think his chemo was two or three hours long and he was saying how many people were there just sitting around and she wanted to do something to help him and other chemo patients.”

So Sophie got to work and enlisted the help of her parents and maternal grandparents to help bring her vision to life.

She and her mom researched chemo-friendly care package ideas on Pinterest, while she and her grandparents went shopping for comforting items, like blankets, pillows, cozy socks, soup bowls, pre-made soups, mints, and ginger candies. Later, Sophie added games, such as playing cards and checkers sets.

Sophie’s great-grandmother even knitted several homemade blankets for the first set of “Sophie’s chemo bags” and as word spread, so did the donations.

“We received a lot of donations from people in the community, family and friends, so she’s able to put a little bit more in there and have more extra money to do it again in December. She wants to do it again at Christmas also,” Enderton said.

Sophie made a total of ten bags for her first set to patients at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York. The first bag went to none other than her beloved grandpa Terry.

“He was super proud of her and the work she was doing and wanting to help others,” Enderton recalled. “Very proud grandpa.”

Sophie is making sure to carry on what she started, honoring her late grandfather in the process.

“He passed away in December after a short battle of pancreatic cancer,” Enderton continued. “His birthday’s at the end of March and we are scheduled to go up actually on his birthday and drop more bags off.”

For this second round of chemo bags, Sophie added 5 more bags for children as well.

“She wanted to do some for kids because she doesn’t think it’s fair that they have to go be sick so she wanted to brighten their day too,” Enderton said.

The 39-year-old mom said her daughter’s chemo bags project seems to be supporting her through the grieving process.

“She’s putting her energy into something else so that’s helping her, knowing that she is helping others who are going through the same thing. She’s actually flattered by all the attention. She’s like, ‘I just wanted to help people.’”

Enderton said her daughter and father-in-law had a special bond and Terry Enderton would pick her up to and from school in his red Corvette, as well as attend all her soccer and softball games. “She just loves the time they really spent together. She says he was one of her best friends and he was there for everything,” she said.

“We just want to keep it going and do grandpa proud.”

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(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Navy said Thursday it has recovered the stealth F-35C fighter jet that fell into the South China Sea after a crash landing aboard the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson in late January.

The jet’s resting place in international waters had fueled speculation that China might want to attempt its own salvage operations of the world’s most advanced stealth fighter jet.

On Jan. 24 while conducting regular flight operations in the South China Sea the jet crashed on the carrier’s deck while attempting a landing. It ultimately slid off of the deck into the ocean waters and seven sailors, including the pilot, were injured in the crash.

The Navy said shortly after the incident that it would attempt to recover the jet that ultimately was located at a depth of more than two miles.

“The wreckage was recovered from a depth of approximately 12,400-feet by a team from CTF 75 and the NAVSEA’s Supervisor of Salvage and Diving (SUPSALV) embarked on the diving support construction vessel (DSCV) Picasso,” said a statement from the Navy’s Seventh Fleet.

“The task force’s expertise in rapid, scalable command, control, and communications, agile logistics, organic security, and explosive ordnance disposal was the most flexible choice for the fleet commander to respond in a timely manner,” said CTF 75 Commodore, Capt. Gareth Healy.

The plane was recovered using a remotely operated vehicle, known as the CURV-21, that attached specialized rigging and lift lines to the aircraft so it could be raised by the crane aboard the Picasso.

“The aircraft will be delivered to a nearby military installation to aid in the ongoing investigation and evaluated for potential transport to the United States,’ said the statement.

Soon after the crash, a video that showed the aircraft on approach and photos that showed the aircraft floating in the water were posted on social media and confirmed by the Navy as having been taken aboard the aircraft carrier.

Five sailors, including a junior officer, were later charged with leaking a second video that showed the actual crash that had been recorded by one of the ship’s surveillance cameras.

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(NEW YORK) — Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama, pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges on Wednesday as part of deal with prosecutors contingent on his cooperation with the U.S. government in their ongoing prosecution of defendants who were involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The plea deal is the first of its kind for a Jan. 6 defendant and comes nearly a year after James was charged with impeding and obstructing Congress’ affirmation of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election.

James pleaded guilty before the court to one count of seditious conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding in exchange for a reduced offense level, which the judge will consider at sentencing. James agreed to pay $2,000 under the agreement for the damages to the Capitol.

The agreement requires James to cooperate with federal authorities, testify before a grand jury, sit for interviews, and turn over an accounting of his financial assets.

The maximum penalty for seditious conspiracy is 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and 3-year supervised release, along with other fees and penalties. James’ cooperation can be used in determining his sentencing, presiding Judge Amit P. Mehta explained to the court.

Without James’ full cooperation, as determined by the government, he will stand in violation of the agreement.

James acknowledged he was instructed by Oath Keepers leader Stuart Rhodes to be prepared to use lethal force if then-President Donald Trump was removed from the White House. Separately, he acknowledged that he, Rhodes and others planned to use “any means necessary” to stop the lawful transfer of power.

James admitted to assaulting an officer on the scene, grabbing him and yelling, “Get out of my Capitol.”

The 10 other alleged Oath Keepers charged in the seditious conspiracy plot, including Rhodes, have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

Lawyers for James did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

According to the indictment, James was a leader of a second “stack” of Oath Keepers who breached the building through the east side.

He is accused of forcing his way past law enforcement who were trying to guard the Capitol Rotunda, and of pushing his way past officers who were forced to deploy chemical spray against him.

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(NEW YORK) — Hours after President Joe Biden’s inaugural State of the Union speech Tuesday night, restaurant and bar industry leaders called on the administration for action.

Chefs, restaurant owners and leaders of the Independent Restaurant Coalition spoke to media Wednesday in tandem with a new letter signed by over 100,000 restaurant employees urging the president and congress to add much-needed money to the bipartisan-backed Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t addressed that our need is as dire as it is. The opportunity has not been lost, but that window is closing very quickly,” IRC board member, San Francisco-based chef, and co-owner of Che Fico, David Nayfeld said. “The president could have had an opportunity to recognize us in that moment, but it’s not too late. He can recognize it through action. I don’t care if we were in a speech, I care that the program gets refilled and that his actions speak to his values.”

The urgency of the IRC’s message comes nine days out from the March 11 expiration date for the Continuing Resolution, commonly referred to as the spending bill to add money to the RRF.

“The state of the union is not strong when neighborhood restaurants and bars are ready to close permanently,” Erika Polmar, executive director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, said.

After nearly a year since the RRF became law, it has failed to support roughly two-thirds of eligible businesses that applied for the program, leaving out nearly 200,000 independent bars and restaurants with four out of five of those businesses in danger of closing permanently, threatening the nearly 11 million employees it supports.

The State of the Union for restaurants is not strong. @POTUS and Congress must make restaurant relief a top priority and refill the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. #ReplenishRRF #SOTU2022 pic.twitter.com/iXYbsvZ2tL

— Independent Restaurant Coalition (@IndpRestaurants) March 2, 2022

IRC co-founder Tom Colicchio reiterated thanks for early support from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer along with others who came together in Washington, D.C., to include $28.6 billion for the industry as part of the American Rescue Plan, but said it’s not even close to enough.

“As great as that was that really only took care of about a third of the restaurant applicants — and he knew at the time that that money wasn’t enough — he actually called it a downpayment for our industry,” Colicchio, the Crafted Hospitality owner and restaurateur said. “It’s almost a year later since he made that declaration and there are almost 20,000 restaurants in New York City alone that have applied for grants and still have not received a dime.”

Like many, Colicchio’s own restaurants in New York City have been at the epicenter of multiple COVID-19 surges that prompt tighter restrictions, closures and smaller crowds, which has directly impacted business.

“I owe at least a million dollars in back rent. So all the business coming back is not going to do that. At a certain point I’m gonna have to make a decision if I can’t pay my landlord, I’ll have to declare bankruptcy and close cause there’s no way we can find that in the current business we have now. Eventually landlords are going to run out of patience and restaurant owners will be closing their doors in droves,” he said.

Nayfeld said as the third year of the pandemic nears, it has become “impossible for most restaurants to withstand the compounding debt, rising costs, revenue-decimating local restrictions, and COVID-19 surges without dedicated help from Congress.”

“Replenishing RRF is the only way independent restaurants and bars can recover from the past two years of economic trauma that we’ve endured and the aftershock we’ll continue to experience,” he said. “To take that little bit of money to reopen a business, buy back inventory, get a little momentum for six to seven weeks, then shutdown again, that loss of momentum is so detrimental to the business — Omicron was something for a lot of restaurants was the arrow through our bodies that’s gonna make us limp along and die from later.”

He continued: “If I could make a plea to Speaker Pelosi, my elected official, I would ask that she drive down the streets of downtown San Francisco and see the boarded up cafes, restaurants and bars that won’t come back without assistance — Even the owners of the ones that look busy, I promise you they would say that they’re stressed, their bank accounts are dwindling, in debt to their eyeballs and they don’t see a solution.”

President Biden addressed the economy and inflation on Tuesday night, but Colicchio said while problematic for the restaurant ecosystem, it’s not the primary pain point for the tens of thousands of independent owners and operators seeking relief from the last two years.

“Prices of food are going to go up — that’s why the restaurants that didn’t receive grant money are at a competitive disadvantage,” he said. “The roughly $40 billion we’re asking for will cover the grants for all the restaurants that have applied and I don’t believe that that’s going to be inflationary. A lot of that money is not gonna go out and be spent, it’s going to pay bills that are already there.”

Inflation paired with increasing fuel prices will inevitably impact the local, independent restaurant supply chains and Colicchio said that “upscale restaurants have pricing elasticity” to stay nimble. But without support from government grants, he said, “all the small neighborhood restaurants that don’t have that — are going to get really hurt and those are the restaurants that we’re really fighting for. Those mom and pops and neighborhood restaurants cant raise prices by 15%, the clientele won’t absorb that. Another reason why we need to complete this funding. We’re not asking for anything additional from our original position, we’re just asking for government to finish their job.”

At least 90,000 restaurants and bars have closed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the IRC. Unemployment rate for leisure and hospitality is still 8.2%, about double the economy-wide rate, as restaurant and bar employment is still down 984,700 below its pre-pandemic levels.

Polmar explained, as detailed in a January IRC report, that “neighborhood restaurants and bars are deeper in debt and exhausted every possible option. Our industry is organizing for the second time in five weeks because the only hope we have is for our elected officials to hear our pleas and ensure every single restaurant and bar has the relief they need to survive the pandemic.

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(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — A 52-year-old JetBlue pilot was pulled off a plane in Buffalo, New York, after blowing a blood alcohol content over the legal limit for pilots, according to Helen Tederous, public affairs director for the Niagra Frontier Transportation Authority.

Pilots face strict blood alcohol restrictions, with .04 considered illegal.

According to NFTA, a Transportation Security Administration officer noticed the pilot was acting drunk, and authorities removed him from the cockpit.

NFTA Airport Police took the man, who is from Orlando, Florida, into custody, and notified federal authorities, according to Tederous. He was released to JetBlue security and may face federal charges.

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(BAKERSFIELD, Calif.) — The more than yearlong search for two missing California toddlers took a disturbing twist Tuesday night when their adoptive parents were jailed on murder charges, authorities said.

Trezell West, 35, and Jacqueline West, 32, were being held without bail on Wednesday at the Kern County Jail, according to online jail records.

The couple was booked at the jail around 8 p.m. Tuesday on two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of willful cruelty to a child and a misdemeanor charge of making a false report of an emergency, according to jail records. They are expected to make their first appearance in court on Thursday.

The Wests reported their adopted children, 4-year-old Olson and his 3-year-old brother, Orrin, missing in December 2020 from the backyard of their home in California City near Bakersfield, setting off a massive search involving police and volunteers. A reward fund ballooned to more than $120,000 for information on the boys’ whereabouts.

Lt. Jason Townsend of the Bakersfield Police Department confirmed to ABC Bakersfield affiliate station KERO that the couple was arrested around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Townsend declined to release more information on the arrests except to say they were taken into custody in an unincorporated area of Bakersfield.

Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to discuss developments in the case.

Trezell and Jacqueline West reported the boys missing on Dec. 21, 2020, and have publicly denied being involved in their disappearance.

In an interview with KERO just two days after the boys vanished, Trezell West claimed he last saw them playing in their backyard.

“I realized that I left the back gate open and I panicked and came inside the house. [We] searched the house, me and my wife,” Trezell West said at the time. “Once that didn’t pan out, I got in the van. I looked down the street in both directions; it was getting dark, getting cold.”

Police investigators previously said the Wests were not suspects. It was not immediately clear what evidence led investigators to arrest the couple.

The whereabouts of Olson and Orrin remain a mystery. Since the outset of the search for the boys, police have said they suspect foul play was involved in their disappearance.

The Wests were initially foster parents to Orson and Orrin, who came to live with them in 2018. The couple officially completed the adoption process in 2019.

In addition to Orson and Orrin, the couple has four other children, including two who are adopted and two who are biological, investigators told ABC News. The Wests’ four other children had been moved into protective custody, police said.

In an interview with ABC News in February 2021, Trezell West’s mother, Wanda West, defended him and Jacqueline West as “really good parents as far as I’m concerned.”

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin and Zohreen Shah contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — One of the jurors who convicted Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking in December intends to take the Fifth Amendment at a hearing next week regarding his role on the jury, according to a letter from the juror’s attorney that was made public Wednesday.

“I write to inform the Court that Juror 50 will invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the hearing,” wrote Todd Spodek, a lawyer for the juror.

Spodek did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan last week ordered Juror 50, a 35-year-old Manhattan resident, to appear in federal court on March 8 for an inquiry focused on his responses during jury screening and on his post-trial interviews, in which he revealed his alleged personal experience as a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Nathan last week denied Maxwell’s motion for a new trial based on the current record, but ordered the juror to court to answer questions under oath. The court also unsealed the juror’s responses to a written jury questionnaire, showing that the juror answered “no” to a question asking if he had ever been a victim of sexual harassment, assault or abuse.

In response to the letter from the juror’s lawyer, federal prosecutors informed the court that they are “in the process of seeking internal approval” to grant the juror immunity, thereby compelling him to testify at the hearing. Subject to that approval, the government says it will submit a proposed order to the judge in advance of the hearing, according to a letter from prosecutors that was filed with the court.

Juror 50 granted several interviews in the days following Maxwell’s convictions in late December. Identified in media reports using his first and middle names, Scotty David, told media outlets that during a critical stage of deliberations, he shared his experiences of being sexually abused as a child.

He claimed in interviews that his personal reflections helped convince some skeptical jurors that key prosecution witnesses — the four women who testified about Maxwell’s role in their sexual abuse — could be believed.

“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the [color] of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he said in an interview with the Independent. “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted on five felony counts, including sex trafficking and conspiracy to entice minors to travel for illegal sexual activity between 1994 and 2004. Prosecutors portrayed Maxwell and Epstein, the millionaire financier who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges, as “partners in crime who sexually exploited young girls together.”

Maxwell’s lawyers, who structured her defense largely on challenges to the reliability of her accusers’ memories, contend that if Juror 50 had disclosed his history of child sexual abuse during jury screening, he almost certainly would have been removed from consideration.

Maxwell has been detained at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her arrest in July 2020.

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(NEW YORK) — Approximately 46,000 people died on U.S. roads last year, according to preliminary data from the National Safety Council.

That number is up 9% from 42,339 deaths recorded in 2020, and up 18% from 39,107 deaths in 2019, according to the nonprofit health and safety organization.

“This devastating news serves as yet another wakeup call for this country. We are failing each other, and we must act to prioritize safety for all road users,” Lorraine Martin, president and CEO of the National Safety Council, said in a press release. “One life lost in a preventable crash is tragic enough and more than 46,000 in one year is unacceptable.”

The report comes as traffic on roads nears pre-pandemic levels. According to the Federal Highway Administration, vehicle miles traveled in the first nine months of 2021 increased 11.7% from the same time in 2020.

The cause for the continuing rise in motor vehicle deaths is not yet known. Some experts say while fewer people were on roads in the beginning of the pandemic, reckless driving ran rampant.

“What we do know, at least preliminarily through some NHTSA studies at the beginning of the pandemic, is that people are speeding, they are not wearing their seatbelts, they are driving distracted and impaired as well,” Jane Terry, the vice president of government affairs at NSC, told ABC News.

A new study from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety found an estimated 4% of drivers in the United States said they increased their driving during the pandemic. Those drivers tended to be younger and mostly male, AAA said.

That group also reported to engage in risky driving behaviors such as distracted driving, speeding, aggressive driving, substance-impaired driving and not using seatbelts, AAA’s report found.

In January, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg released a plan, the National Roadway Safety Strategy, to reduce road deaths across the country. The plan calls for nationwide design changes to roads and automatic emergency braking in passenger vehicles, among dozens of other initiatives — including a goal to reach zero deaths on American roadways.

“This is a national crisis,” Buttigieg said at the time. “We cannot and must not accept these deaths as an inevitable part of everyday life.”

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(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for former President Donald Trump have appealed a ruling that he and his two eldest children must testify in the investigation by the New York state attorney general into the family’s business practices.

Trump’s attorneys filed the notice of appeal on Monday, nearly two weeks after a New York judge ruled on Feb 17 that the three Trumps must sit for depositions within 21 days.

The Trump family had unsuccessfully tried to quash the subpoena for testimony, arguing that it was improper for the attorney general’s office to issue subpoenas for its civil investigation while the Manhattan district attorney’s office is still conducting its separate criminal probe.

Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court rejected that argument.

“This argument completely misses the mark,” Engoron wrote in his decision. “Neither OAG nor the Manhattan District Attorney’s office has subpoenaed the New Trump Respondents to appear before a grand jury, The New Trump Respondents’ argument overlooks the salient fact that they have an absolute right to refuse to answer questions that they claim may incriminate them.”

The judge noted that when Trump’s son Eric sat for a deposition two years ago as part of the same investigation, he invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 500 times.

Trump also argued that the investigation into his business practices is overtly political, and cited statements New York Attorney General Letitia James made during and after her campaign for attorney general about her intentions to investigate the former president and his family’s real estate firm.

The judge found those statements had no bearing on the legitimacy of the subpoenas.

“Attorney General James, just like respondent Donald J. Trump, was not deprived of her First Amendment rights to free speech when she was a politician running for a public office with investigatory powers,” the judge’s decision said.

“The abhorrent statements made by Letitia leave no doubt that this is yet another politically motivated witch-hunt,” Trump attorney Alina Habba said in response to the ruling. “The court clearly had its mind made up and had no interest in engaging in impartial discourse on this critically important issue.”

Trump, in a statement following the ruling, blasted the investigation.

“She is doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process,” he said of James. “It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history — and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible!”

“Today, justice prevailed,” said James following the ruling. “Donald J. Trump, Donald Trump, Jr., and Ivanka Trump have been ordered by the court to comply with our lawful investigation into Mr. Trump and the Trump Organization’s financial dealings. No one will be permitted to stand in the way of the pursuit of justice, no matter how powerful they are. No one is above the law.”

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