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(CHICAGO) — The Obama Presidential Center will provide economic investment and opportunities for young people on Chicago’s South Side, President Barack Obama said an interview with “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts ahead of the center’s grand opening.

Obama has a personal connection to the area; he said that he first “learned how to work in public service as a community organizer” and announced a run for political office in the South Side.

“But part of it is also because I believe that both here, in America, and around the world, we’re at a critical juncture where we can either go down the path of division and conflict and tribalism and cynicism, or we can pull together and solve big problems,” Obama said. “And a test case is in a city as wealthy as Chicago, in a country as powerful as the United States; is everybody included? And, you know, here on the South Side, there’s young people who are enormously talented, enormously gifted, but often forgotten.”

Those young people on the South Side of Chicago — a predominantly African-American area of the city which has historically faced redlining, divestment and discrimination — are often surrounded by “poverty, crime and drugs,” Obama said.

“And so, for us to be able to build a world-class institution that will attract millions of people and bring billions of dollars of benefits and thousands of jobs into a community that so often is forgotten, [that] hopefully will send a signal that those young people count. Those young people matter,” he added.

Building the center will also help give people from the South Side jobs and train them in professions that can be of use to them in the future, Obama said.

The Obama Presidential Center differs from previous presidential libraries in that it is not run by the National Archives and Records Administration. It will host a branch of the Chicago Public Library, but the records themselves will be digitized and stored elsewhere.

The center’s planning has not been free of controversy; it has previously faced lawsuits over its location in Jackson Park, a public park that is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designed by Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

Community activists on the South Side of Chicago have also called on the Obama Foundation and the city of Chicago to ensure current residents are not displaced from nearby neighborhoods through gentrification.

Obama told Roberts he is confident that the center will enhance the park, and that he and the Obama Foundation have “gone through such an exhaustive process” to get community input in developing the establishment.

He had previously said that he did not want to sign agreements with community groups, because he did not think those agreements could represent everyone.

All in all, Obama said he wants the center to send a message of empowerment.

“Ultimately, what we wanna do is empower [people in the community] to do the work where they live in their various communities. And part of the goal of the presidential center is anybody who visits the museum, we want them to come through and, at the end of the museum, we’re gonna be asking them the question, ‘How can you make a contribution?'” Obama told Roberts.

“We wanna be able to say to them, ‘Look, this isn’t about some president over there. This is about citizens like you who could make a difference,'” he added.

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(NEW YORK) — Recreational pot has become legal for more Americans, but despite that ease of access, marijuana use hasn’t ignited, a study released Monday found.

An article published in The Journal of the American Medical Association found there was no increase in cannabis use among the general population or among previous users after their states legalized marijuana.

Researchers surveyed about 830,000 Americans over age 12 on their reported cannabis use, both before and after recreational marijuana was passed in their state. The study looked at data between 2008 and 2017.

Washington state and Colorado became the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2021, after which marijuana use saw a slight increase among Hispanic and white participants, researchers said.

The study also found there were no changes in cannabis use or cannabis use disorder for individuals between the ages of 12 and 20 in the states that legalized the substance.

As of Sept. 27, 18 states and the District of Columbia have legalized recreational marijuana use for adults over 21. In this year alone, four states, New York, New Mexico, Virginia and Connecticut, legalized the substance.

ABC News’ Dr. Ronnye Rutledge contributed to this report.

 

 

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(CHICAGO) — Ahead of Tuesday’s groundbreaking on the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, former President Barack Obama reflected on the center’s mission and defended his decision to choose the historic Jackson Park neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side as the site to honor his legacy.

Some community organizers have expressed concern that development of the center, which would become a tourist attraction, could lead to gentrification of the neighborhood, while park preservationists have challenged the construction in court, citing environmental concerns.

“The truth is, any time you do a big project, unless you’re in the middle of a field somewhere, you know, and it’s on private property, there’s always going to be some people who say, ‘Well, but we don’t want change. We’re worried about it. We don’t know how it’s going to turn out,'” Obama told Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview. “Which is why we’ve gone through such an exhaustive process to encourage and elicit comments and concerns and criticism and suggestions from the community.”

Jackson Park is a public park on the National Register of Historic Places that was designed by New York Central Park designer Frederick Law Olmsted.

A four-year federal review, which concluded in February, determined that the new Obama Center would pose “no significant impact to the human environment.”

But Protect Our Parks, a nonprofit park preservationist organization that filed an unsuccessful lawsuit to block construction in 2018, filed another lawsuit in April challenging the federal review.

The group argued that construction “will tear up this Frederick Law Olmsted masterpiece,” resulting in the removal of trees, the removal of the Women’s Garden and the closure of roadways.

On Aug. 21 the U.S. Supreme Court rejected an emergency appeal by the group to block construction.

Amid ongoing litigation, Protect Our Parks on Sept. 20 filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeal for the Seventh Circuit in support of its preliminary injunction request, the group told ABC News.

Monday, on the eve of the groundbreaking, a spokesperson for the group released a statement saying that “the homecoming of the former President and the First Lady should be a moment of pride for Chicagoans. On this visit, though, we hope they will mourn the devastation of the initial clear-cutting of the mature trees and the destruction of the Women’s Garden in Jackson Park, in addition to the long-term environmental and public health dangers that will ensue.”

“Unfortunately, hosting a series of virtual groundbreakings will not change the facts of the case or the long-term adverse effects on the community,” the statement said. “On the contrary, it would take one decision by Mr. and Mrs. Obama to relocate the OPC site to the adjacent area close to Washington Park.”

Asked about the legal hurdles, Obama said that he’s “absolutely confident” that the center will benefit the local community.

“The overwhelming majority of the community has been not just OK with it, but are hugely enthusiastic about it,” he told Roberts.

Presidential libraries are often housed in affluent areas, but much of Chicago’s South Side, which is home to a predominantly Black community, is in an underserved and economically depressed area of the city.

The Obama Presidential Center, which will honor the legacy of the first Black president, will include a library, museum, gardens, and a children’s playground. Organizers say it will seek to bring investments and jobs to the community.

“The Obama Presidential Center will connect the economy of the South Side of Chicago with the rest of the city, creating new jobs and opportunities. It will breathe new life into a park that has long been protected and loved, but underused. And it will uphold our commitment to this vibrant community,” according to the Obama Foundation, which is funding the project.

Obama was born in Hawaii but spent much of his formative years on Chicago’s South Side. It was there that he worked as a community organizer and was first elected to public office. The former president decided in 2016 that the South Side, where is also where former first lady Michelle Obama grew up, would house his presidential library.

“The young person who’s growing up across the street or down the block or a few miles away, now suddenly have a place where concerts and speeches and debates and forums are taking place that they can access,” Obama said.

“If they want to bring about change in their neighborhoods, they’ve got resources and people who can teach them how to do that effectively. And they’re going to be able to see themselves as part of that change in a way that, so often, they don’t feel right now.”

The Obamas, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker are set to attend Tuesday’s groundbreaking.

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(NEW YORK) — The United States has been facing a COVID-19 surge as the more contagious delta variant continues to spread.

More than 690,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 while over 4.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 64.8% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the CDC.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Sep 28, 8:55 am
Pfizer submits initial child vaccine data to FDA

Pfizer on Tuesday submitted data for the Phase 2/3 vaccine trial for 5- to 11-year-olds to the FDA.

Pfizer will make a formal request for authorization in the coming weeks.

The FDA will review the data and make a decision, possibly by the end of October. The timeline for authorization is not set in stone.

Sep 27, 8:00 pm
Judge upholds NYC school staff vaccine mandate

A three-judge panel from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has dissolved a temporary injunction that halted New York City’s vaccine mandate for school staff.

The panel offered no explanation and cleared the way for the city to enforcement the public school vaccine mandate.

“Vaccinations are our strongest tool in the fight against COVID-19 – this ruling is on the right side of the law and will protect our students and staff,” New York City’s Department of Education said in a statement.

As of Monday night, 87% of DOE employees, including 91% of teachers and 97% of principals, have at least one shot, according to the DOE.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said public school employees will have until the end of day Friday to get at least one dose of vaccine.

Michael Mulgrew, the president of the United Federation of Teachers, released a statement Monday night saying, “We will be working with our members to ensure, as far as possible, that our schools can open safely as the vaccine mandate is enforced.”

Sep 27, 7:02 pm
First lady Jill Biden receives booster shot

First lady Jill Biden received her COVID-19 booster shot Monday, according to Michael LaRosa, her spokesman.

The shot was administered at the White House in the afternoon, LaRosa told ABC News.

Sep 27, 6:10 pm
Judge rules Arizona ban on school mask mandate unconstitutional

An Arizona judge ruled Monday that the state’s ban on mask mandates in schools is unconstitutional.

Judge Katherine Cooper sided with the Arizona School Boards Association, which contended that the Arizona State Legislature’s law to ban school districts from issuing a mask mandate violates the state constitution’s title requirement and single subject rule.

The association argued that the legislature included policy regarding 30 subjects into one bill.

“The single subject rule precludes legislators from combining unrelated provisions into one bill to garner votes for disfavored measures. Together, these requirements promote transparency and the public’s access to information about legislative action,” the judge wrote in her decision.

The law was slated to go into effect on Sept. 29.

The state has until Nov. 1 to file an objection or response to the ruling.

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(LAS VEGAS) — A 6-year-old boy whose mom told him to keep his face mask on at school is now going viral for following his mom’s instructions exactly.

Mason Peoples, a first-grade student in Las Vegas, Nevada, wore his face mask for his school photo.

The photo was shared on Facebook by his mom, Nicole Peoples, who wrote that her son had the option to take his mask off.

Peoples said her son declined and told the photographer, “No Thank you, I always listen to my mom!”

“I’m so proud of him for sticking to his word, but I should have been more clear about my rules on this day,” Peoples wrote on Facebook.

While Peoples’ photo of her son quickly went viral, Mason is not the only student who chose to keep a mask on for school photos this year, according to Matthew Comfort, an account manager for Dorian Studio, the photography studio that took Mason’s school photo.

“We’ve taken hundreds and hundreds of students this fall wearing their masks,” Comfort told “Good Morning America.” “It’s not an isolated incident.”

Comfort said that Dorian Studio first asks schools if they want to give students the option to remove their mask for their school photo. If the school allows masks to be removed for the photo, then the photographer gives each student the option.

The photographer who took Mason’s school photo on Sept. 7th, followed the guidelines correctly in giving Mason the option to take off his mask and then in following his request to leave it on, according to Comfort.

“If students don’t want to [remove their mask] because of safety concerns, we don’t push them,” she said. “[The photographer] did exactly what she was supposed to do.”

Mason’s now-viral school photo with his mask on is a sign of the times, as it is now the third school year in a row upended by the coronavirus pandemic.

Both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend that face masks be worn at schools by both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

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(NEW YORK) — A federal judge approved a plan Monday to unconditionally release John Hinckley Jr., who had shot and wounded former President Ronald Reagan in 1981, from all remaining court-ordered restrictions, if he continues to follow rules and agrees to undergo regular mental health examinations.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul L. Friedman said he plans on issuing his ruling on the plan later this week, the Associated Press reported.

Hinckley, who was previously granted conditional release in 2016, was allowed to stay at his mother’s home in Williamsburg, Virginia. Since then, he has been kept under regular court-ordered supervision and mandated therapy.

Hinckley, now 66, is not allowed to own a gun, contact Raegan’s children, other victims or their families, or actress Jodie Foster – who he was obsessed with at the time of the 1981 shooting.

Friedman said Hinckley could be released from all court supervision by June 2022, if he continues to follow those rules.

According to the Associated Press, Hinckley has displayed no symptoms of active mental illness, no violent behavior and no interest in weapons since 1983, said Friedman.

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(EVANSTON, Ill.) — Northwestern University says it is investigating two fraternity houses after students say they were non-consensually drugged during gatherings at the Evanston, Illinois, campus locations. There is also now a criminal investigation into the incidents by local police.

The university has yet to determine how many students were allegedly involved.

On Saturday, school officials halted social events and chapter-sponsored recruitment activities at some campus fraternities. The suspension will last until Oct. 17, at the earliest.

The university is encouraging students to seek on-campus counseling and other health services as needed as student protests erupt at the two locations where the incidents allegedly took place.

“I am here because multiple survivors have come forward stating the harm that they experienced in this frat and others,” one student told the ABC Chicago station. “This is not a unique instance.”

School officials said in a statement that they have been in communication with the Interfraternity Council, the governing body of many fraternities, and it “understand[s] the seriousness of these reports and the importance of the investigations.”

The IFC also passed a resolution to institute a ban on all social activities inclusive of recruitment events during this time frame.

“This decision was made to help ensure the safety of our students,” a university representative told ABC News. “As we said in our message to the Northwestern community, the health, safety and well-being of our students is our top priority.”

The university has since reminded students of the policy against alcohol in on-campus fraternity and sorority houses.

Northwestern University Police is urging people with information on these reports to call 847-491-3456.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden publicly received his COVID-19 booster shot on Monday afternoon as his administration promotes new booster guidance that has spurred some confusion among Americans on when to get a third dose.

“Like I did with my first and second COVID-19 vaccination shot, I’m about to get my booster shot and do it publicly. That’s because the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA, the Center for Diseases Control and Prevention, the CDC, looked at all the data, completed their review, and determined the boosters for the Pfizer vaccine — others will come later, maybe, I assume — but the Pfizer vaccine are safe and effective,” Biden began.

Delivering remarks ahead of receiving a third dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine in the South Court Auditorium, provided Biden the opportunity to address some of that confusion.

He joked, “Now I know it doesn’t look like it, but I am over 65 — I wish — I’m way over. And that’s why I’m getting my booster shot today.”

The president already received his first dose of the vaccine on Dec. 21, 2020, and his second dose on Jan. 11, 2021. At age 78, Biden qualifies for a third shot under the new CDC guidance issued last week recommending booster shots to older Americans at least six months after their first series of shots.

Additionally, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky overruled her agency’s independent advisory panel last Friday by also adding a recommendation for a third dose for Americans ages 18 to 64 considered high risk to COVID-19 due to where they work.

Biden repeated the administration’s messaging that while booster shots are rolling out, baseline vaccinations are the priority.

“The bottom line is that you’re fully vaccinated, and you’re highly protected now from severe illness, even if you get COVID-19. You’re safe and we’re going to do everything we can to keep it that way, with the boosters. But let me be clear, boosters are important, but the most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated,” he said.

“The vast majority of Americans are doing the right thing. Over 77% of adults have gotten at least one shot. About 23% haven’t gotten any shots. And that, that distinct minority is causing an awful lot of us, a lot of damage for the rest of the country,” he added.

“This is a pandemic of the unvaccinated. That’s why I’m moving forward with vaccination requirements wherever I can,” Biden said.

As Biden walked over to receive his shot, he did a double-take back to the podium to put his mask back on, in apparent modeling of CDC recommendations.

He said first lady Jill Biden, at age 70 and working in a school, considered a high-risk environment for COVID-19, would receive her shot booster soon too.

On ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Monday, Walensky acknowledged the confusion around the decision and the categories of people it applies to as the administration promotes the rollout of booster shots.

Asked also on CBS about Biden’s comment last week that boosters could be offered to the general population anyway, despite the more narrow recommendations from the Food and Drug Administration and CDC, Walensky said, “I recognize that confusion.”

“Right now, our recommendation is for these limited people in the population, over 65, high-risk workers, high-risk community occupations, as well as high-risk by comorbidities,” she said.

On when the general population will be eligible, Walensky said it’s being looked at every few weeks but did not offer the same optimism as the president had last week.

“We are evaluating this science in real-time. We are meeting every several weeks now to evaluate the science. The science may very well show that the rest of the population needs to be boosted. And we will provide those guidances as soon as we have the science to inform them,” she said.

The new CDC current policy does not apply for boosters to be given to people initially vaccinated with the Moderna or Johnson & Johnson shots.

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(NEW YORK) — In 2009, when Dashauna Priest was just 9 years old, her third grade class project was to write letters of gratitude to military veterans. Priest’s letter was sent to Frank Grasberger, a World War II veteran, and he’s kept it ever since.

“It meant so much to me and touched my heart so much,” Grasberger told “Good Morning America.” “Keeping it with me made me feel like I was with her, protecting her.”

In addition to the note of thanks, Priest drew a helmet with flowers coming out of it and an American flag on the letter, which Grasberger said “really touched” him.

“I felt like how could such a young girl understand what war was and how could she be so kind writing to someone she didn’t even know?” he said.

Grasberger knew he wanted to meet Priest immediately after reading the letter but was unable to find her, he said. Jill Pawloski, an employee at VITALIA Senior Residences in Strongsville, Ohio, where Grasberger lives, stepped in and tracked Priest down on social media.

“I reached out and sent her a private message explaining the situation,” Pawloski told “GMA,” adding that Grasberger was unaware that she was searching for Priest on his behalf. “I then asked her if she’d be interested in coming to our community to surprise Frank and without hesitation she said yes. I was thrilled and so full of joy that I could do this for Frank. He has such a huge heart and I knew this would fill his heart up.”

Priest, now 21, told “GMA ” that Pawloski’s message went to the requests folder on Instagram, which she “usually doesn’t open” but for some reason did that day.

“It’s so ironic because two weeks before I had opened up my memory box and went through it and I actually picked up [Grasberger’s] letter and read it,” Priest said. “So when she had messaged me, I had opened it around 12 at night and I actually cried because it was like, ‘Wow, this is crazy I just read the letter.'”

In response to Priest’s original letter, Grasberger wrote her a letter back in 2009, but he said he “never knew if she ever received it.”

After 12 years, the pair were able to finally meet on July 23 of this year. With the help of Grasberger’s family, Pawloski was able to keep the meeting a secret from Frank so that it could be a surprise.

“We told him that someone was coming in to interview him about his story,” Pawloski said. “We were all in tears watching [them] meet for the first time. It was beautiful and heartwarming and showed what a little act of kindness can do for two strangers.”

“Oh God, I was in shock like it couldn’t be the girl,” Grasberger said. “I never thought I’d find her let alone see or meet her. It was amazing. I went through a box of Kleenex.”

Priest said of the meeting: “It was amazing. He’s a very amazing person. He has a great personality. I was really thrilled to meet him. He was just full of life.”

Grasberger, along with his family and Pawloski, had another surprise waiting for them. In a full-circle moment, Priest arrived wearing her National Guard uniform as she herself has joined the military.

“No one had known I was in the military so when I showed up in my uniform it sparked something in everyone to start crying and it made me cry,” Priest said, adding that she’s not typically a crier.

“I’m so proud of her,” Grasberger said. “She’s like a third daughter to me. She has become such a wonderful nice girl. I hope her son knows one day what a difference she made in my life.”

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(WASHINGTON) — When Anita Hill accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of unwanted advances and lewd comments when she worked for him, she says it changed “just about every aspect” of her life.

Thirty years after Hill delivered testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee about Thomas, she is still a “crusader” — not just on the topic of sexual harassment but also on the larger issue of gender violence.

“I started out with sexual harassment and I thought that was the issue that I would deal with but I started hearing from people who had told me about intimate partner violence and then there are people who wrote me, [who] spoke about their experience with sexual assault and rape,” Hill told “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts. “And what I started to understand was that there was this connection and that you couldn’t really separate them, because at the heart of it was the same problem.”

Hill’s testimony in 1991 before a panel of 14 male senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee gripped the nation. The senator who led the hearing was President Joe Biden, who, in recent years, has publicly apologized for the treatment Hill received while publicly testifying against Thomas.

Hill told Roberts she feels that Biden’s personal apology to her “wasn’t enough.”

“I’m not sure that he quite understood how much harm the Senate hearings and his control, or lack of control, of those hearings did to all of us,” she said of Biden. “I think, unfortunately, the personal apology wasn’t enough. What I really wanted was somebody who was going to commit to doing something about this massive problem of gender violence that we have in this country that’s hurting everyone.”

Thomas would go on to be confirmed as a Supreme Court justice, a position he continues to hold.

Hill writes in her new book, “Believing: Our 30-Year Journey to End Gender Violence,” that her testimony against Thomas not only changed her own life but sparked a national conversation on gender violence.

The conversation has been propelled over the past decades by actions like the Me Too movement, founded by Tarana Burke in 2006, and Christine Blasey Ford’s testimony in 2018 against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but much is left to be done, according to Hill.

“We can, first of all, change the narrative culturally and stop telling people, telling children, that what’s happening to them is ‘not so bad’ because that keeps people from coming forward,” said Hill, adding that more needs to be done to fix what happens once people come forward with allegations.

“I still am not at the point where I can say I advise everyone to come forward. I don’t,” she said. “What I advise people to do is understand the process that you’re coming forward into, because we still have processes that are not necessarily meant to solve the problem of sexual harassment, or rape or sexual assault. We’ve got to change the processes if we in fact want people to feel confident and trust that they are going to be treated fairly when they go into them.”

In the United States, 81% of women and 43% of men report experiencing some form of sexual harassment and/or assault in their lifetime, according to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

When it comes to domestic violence, nearly 20 people per minute are physically abused by an intimate partner, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence.

Hill, whose book goes on sale Tuesday, said she still believes “change is possible” 30 years later.

“I’m believing that change is possible. I’m believing that we deserve better,” she said. “We deserve better systems. We deserve better attention. We deserve leadership that will call out and acknowledge this problem for the public crisis that it is.”

“I’m talking about the president, as well as the president and CEO of every company and university,” Hill said. “Make that commitment to use your resources to stop this problem, and I believe that we can do it.”

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