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(NEW YORK) — Even before the pandemic took hold in 2020, Americans drifted away from their social circles, dedicating more and more time to solitary activities. This shift has deepened feelings of social isolation, leaving many individuals longing for connections and companionship that once felt more accessible.

Approximately 20% of American adults are grappling with “daily loneliness,” according to a recent Gallup report, marking the highest level in two years. The U.S. Surgeon General, often referred to as the “Nation’s Doctor,” declared that we are currently facing a serious loneliness epidemic. They also stated that Generation Z — those born from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s — might be the loneliest generation.

Chronic loneliness — prolonged feelings of loneliness and social isolation — affects not only your mental health but also has physical consequences.

“It can do everything from increase rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, increased rates of dementia, and actually decrease how long we live,” Dr. Kelli Harding, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, told “Nightline.”. “It’s as risky for health as, you know, smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”

To combat the loneliness epidemic, professional cuddlers like Jasmine Siemon from Bethesda, Maryland, are leading the way. She uses platonic touch therapy to assist adults dealing with issues such as intimacy, anxiety and loneliness.

Siemon told “Nightline” she always does a consultation to see what made the person interested in touch and cuddle therapy.

“I want to know what their touch history is. There’s a clear understanding of having agency over your body in the session,” she said. “At no point am I going to touch you in a way that you’re not comfortable with or that you’re not curious about, and vice versa. So the boundaries are the rigid boundaries — no touching anywhere a bathing suit covers.”

Siemon acknowledged that while her job may sound unusual to some, she has seen how her work has helped people like Elliot Wallace, who has been having cuddle therapy sessions with Siemon for a year.

“I found myself being nervous in certain cases, whether people were very close, like moving in too close or taking up my space or even being touched,” Wallace said. “And I wanted to find a way to not have that [be] threatening anymore.”

Since Wallace works a lot from home, he says it makes it harder for him to meet people. He sought out Siemon to help him discover who he is, so he can be more open and vulnerable with people.

While Siemon says she has seen how her work has helped some people, consulting a professional cuddler may not suit everyone. Experts warn that if cuddle therapy ends suddenly, it can lead to feelings of abandonment, rejection, loss and even despair.

Professional cuddlers are just one option for coping with loneliness, which can manifest in various ways. Kaari Hostler, a recent college graduate who has moved from the Midwest to New York City, hopes to connect with others, but the 22-year-old isn’t seeking love or romance. Instead, she’s looking to make friends.

Hostler was searching for ways to branch out when she came across “The Girls NYC” online. It’s an exclusive social group for women looking to make friends in their early 20s in New York City.

When attending these events, there is one important rule: you must come alone. Similar groups focusing on finding connections, like dinner parties and running clubs, are rising across the U.S.

“We spend so much time online, we end up isolating ourselves,” Hostler said. “It’s not a substitute for actual human interaction.”

Through social media, people can connect and game with others across continents. TikTok trends like “Get Ready With Me” videos — which show the process of someone getting ready for an event or activity — can help you feel connected to your favorite influencers. There are also dating and friendship apps.

However, these are remote and experts say may not be a good substitute for actual human interaction.

“Gen Z has had it tough,” Dr. Harding said. “They didn’t have a traditional graduation from high school. They have also been part of this great experiment of social media we are learning without guardrails.”

Like Hostler, 38-year-old Quincy Winston struggled to make new friends after relocating to Phoenix with his wife, Latoya, in 2015.

However, a heartfelt conversation with his wife sparked an idea.

“Her girlfriends are very organized, very tight knit,” said Winston. “A lot of my friends at the time were distant,” adding his wife told him that “it’s important for men to seek out friendship and build camaraderie.”

In 2022, Winston formed the Phoenix Professional Black Men’s Friends Group, a space for men to meet locally and find new friends.

“So for me, it’s been a self-discovery,” Winston said. “It’s been a journey. I’ll thank my wife every day for kind of opening up about my own emotions and encouraging other men to support other men.”

Winston’s group now has nearly 200 members, and helps men connect with something he says some men may struggle with.

“I think there’s a term out there,” Winston said. “Emotional intelligence — guys, you have to work at that. What do I need to do in order to be a friend and make friends and have friends and keep friends?”

Experts say loneliness does not discriminate, and could happen to anyone at any age.

At the New Ground Estate in London, 26 residents are making history — living at the first and only co-housing community in the United Kingdom dedicated to women aged 50 and over.

Some have likened this housing situation to a real-life version of “The Golden Girls,” the TV show that followed four older women living together in Miami.

“It is really beneficial because there’s that sense of community,” Dr. Harding said. “I think it can also reframe how we think about aging.”

Everyone at New Ground has their own flats but there are also communal living spaces — all run by the ladies themselves.

Jude Tisdall is 73 years old and moved into the community in 2018.

“There’s a few people here who are of a certain age and are inspirational and are fit and still active and doing things,” Tisdall said. “I think that has made me really, really think about is I’m going to live to the nth degree till I die. And that’s what I’ve got to do.”

Kelsey Klimara, Arturo Ruiz, Sabrina Shanghie and Caroline Kucera contributed to this report.

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Tropical Storm Rafael is barreling through the Caribbean and may impact the U.S. Gulf Coast this weekend.

Rafael is bringing gusty winds and heavy rain to Jamaica on Tuesday morning.

The storm is forecast to strengthen into a hurricane Tuesday night as it passes over the Cayman Islands.

Rafael is expected to make landfall in Cuba on Wednesday evening as a Category 1 hurricane, bringing mudslides and damaging winds to the island.

On Thursday morning, Rafael’s outer bands will graze the Florida Keys with gusty winds and heavy rain. A tropical storm watch has been issued.

By Friday morning, the system is forecast to slow down and weaken in the Gulf of Mexico.

As of now it’s not clear what impacts, if any, Rafael will bring to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Some models predict Rafael targeting the Gulf Coast as a rain maker, while other models show a weakening Rafael heading toward Mexico.

Atlantic hurricane season lasts through Nov. 30.

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(WASHINGTON) — As millions of Americans head to the polls, thunderstorms are forecast from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast, with the potential to cause inconveniences to voters across the country.

The heaviest concentration of rain is expected in Wisconsin, Louisiana, eastern Texas and Arkansas but heavy rain along the Mississippi River and Ohio River valleys could bring flash flooding and approximately 2 inches to 4 inches of rain between Louisiana and southern Indiana.

Meanwhile, heavy snow is forecast in the Rockies from Montana down to Colorado and winter weather alerts have been issued in those regions.

In California, strong winds and dry conditions will create a threat for wildfires from the San Francisco Bay area down to Los Angeles where a red flag warning has been issued.

However, beautiful weather is forecast in the Northeast today, with warm temperatures in the 70s across much of the eastern seaboard and potential record highs from Meridian, Mississippi, all the way to Rochester, New York, with temperatures in the 80s.

The record heat is expected to concentrate in the Northeast on Wednesday with record highs possible for major cities such as Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and New York City with temperatures close to 80 degrees.

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(NEW YORK) — Election workers across the country are being bombarded with threats, and law enforcement agencies nationwide are dedicating “substantial resources” to ensure public safety during the election, according to a new threat assessment obtained by ABC News.

The document, transmitted Monday by the NYPD Intelligence Bureau, encapsulates the full picture of Election Day threats, including the risk of physical violence and disinformation generated by foreign governments. Potential targets include “election personnel and government officials, campaign offices, as well as voting-related sites, infrastructure, and technology,” the assessment said.

“Individuals may employ a variety of tactics that could include physical attacks, threats of violence, delivery of suspicious packages, swatting, arson, and property destruction, harassment, as well as cyberattacks and mis/dis/mal-information campaigns,” the assessment also said.

The FBI has received more than 2,000 threats to election workers and “opened at least 100 investigations into these unlawful actions” as of April, the assessment said, citing a September report by the U.S. Department of Justice, with more than 20 people charged.

In the last week alone, multiple individuals in separate states have faced charges related to threats against election officials, according to the assessment:

• Teak Brockbank, 45, of Colorado, pleaded guilty to transmitting interstate threats after he made a series of online threats against election officials in Colorado and Arizona, a judge in Colorado, and federal law enforcement agents.
• Richard Glenn Kantwill, 61, of Tampa, allegedly made threats against an election official.
• John Pollard, 62, of Philadelphia, allegedly threatened to kill a state party representative who was recruiting poll watchers online.

Threats and hostile rhetoric against election officials have proliferated online, according to the assessment:

• Last month, the NYPD Intelligence Bureau found users on several platforms that accused Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of attempting to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election, and called for his execution.
• A user in an online extremist messaging channel called for a “national militia for the defense of the Republic” to ensure “election integrity.”
• In September, suspicious packages containing powder were sent to secretaries of state and state election offices in at least 15 states.

“Each state runs elections a little bit differently but the commonalities across all the states are that election officials are professional, they follow the laws of their state, and the process is transparent,” Benjamin Hovland, chairman of the bipartisan U.S. Election Assistance Commission, told ABC News.

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A tropical system churning in the Caribbean is forecast to strengthen into Tropical Storm Rafael on Monday as it takes aim at Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and the Gulf Coast.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for Jamaica, where Rafael is forecast to bring heavy rain and mudslides Monday night into Tuesday morning. A hurricane warning has been issued for the Cayman Islands.

Rafael could strengthen to a hurricane by Tuesday night into Wednesday morning as it makes landfall in Cuba with heavy rain, strong winds, flash flooding and storm surge.

Rafael is expected to move into the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm by the end of the week.

By Saturday, Rafael could reach the U.S. Gulf Coast.

It’s too early to tell which parts of the Gulf Coast will see the worst conditions. Everyone from Texas to Florida should monitor the storm’s path.

Atlantic hurricane season lasts through Nov. 30.

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(LANSING, MI) — A semitractor-trailer crashed into backed-up traffic on a Michigan interstate, killing four people and injuring 17 others just before midnight on Saturday, police said.

Troopers with the Michigan State Police had been stationed on Interstate 96, controlling traffic as workers installed power lines across the road, the department said in a statement.

Prior to the crash, “numerous” cars had come to a halt in the expressway’s westbound lane near the intersection with M-52, police said. The work, which was being done by Consumers Energy, required the road to be completely shut down for a short period, police.

Those vehicles had just begun moving again when the truck crashed into them, police said.

“It appears the driver of the semi-truck did not see the backup and could not stop his vehicle in time,” police said. “The semi-truck was in the left lane of travel and struck numerous vehicles.”

The truck and more than a dozen other vehicles caught fire after the crash, police said.

“Seventeen vehicle occupants have been transported to UM Sparrow Hospital and McLaren Hospital in Lansing for serious injuries,” police said.

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(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — A jury on Friday found former Louisville police officer Brett Hankison guilty of violating Breonna Taylor’s civil rights during a fatal botched police raid, in a retrial of the federal case against him.

The guilty verdict came hours after the jury acquitted Hankison of a second count of violating the civil rights of three of Taylor’s neighbors, who lived in an adjacent apartment that was also struck by gunfire during the raid. After the partial verdict was delivered, jurors, who remained deadlocked on the count specifically related to Taylor, were instructed by the judge to continue deliberating.

The jury returned a guilty verdict on that count shortly before 9:30 p.m., according to Louisville ABC affiliate WHAS.

Family and friends of Taylor hugged each other and cheered after leaving court late Friday night.

Speaking to reporters after the verdict, Tamika Palmer, Taylor’s mother, thanked prosecutors and jurors. “They stayed the course,” Palmer said of prosecutors, who retried the case after Hankison’s first federal trial ended in a mistrial last year when the jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision after deliberating for several days.

As deliberations this time around stretched late into the evening Friday, Palmer said she began to feel defeated. “The later it got, the harder it got, and I’m just glad to be on the other side,” she said.

“Now, I just want people to continue to say Breonna Taylor’s name,” her mother said.

Taylor was fatally shot during the March 2020 raid. The three officers fired dozens of rounds after her boyfriend fired one round at them, striking one of the officers.

Hankison fired 10 rounds through Taylor’s sliding glass door and window, which were covered with blinds and curtains, prosecutors said. Several of the rounds traveled into Taylor’s neighbor’s apartment, where three people were at the time. None of the 10 rounds hit anyone.

Prosecutors argued Hankison’s use of force was unjustified, put people in danger and violated the civil rights of Taylor and her three neighbors. The indictment alleged Hankison deprived Taylor of the right to be free from unreasonable seizures and deprived her neighbors of the right to be free from the deprivation of liberty without due process of law.

Several witnesses, including Louisville’s current police chief, testified during the trial that the former officer violated Louisville police policy requiring officers to identify a target before firing, according to The Associated Press.

The defense argued during the trial that Hankison had joined a poorly planned raid and that he fired his weapon after believing someone was advancing toward the other officers, the AP reported.

The charges carry a maximum sentence of life in prison if convicted.

The plainclothes officers were serving a warrant searching for Taylor’s ex-boyfriend, who they alleged was dealing drugs, when they broke down the door to her apartment. He was not at the residence, but her current boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, thought someone was breaking into the home and fired one shot with a handgun, striking one of the officers in the leg. The three officers returned fire, shooting 32 bullets into the apartment.

The original indictment alleged Hankison had also violated Walker’s civil rights, though Walker was removed from the charge at the beginning of the retrial.

The retrial marked the third trial for Hankison, following the initial mistrial as well as a state trial in 2022, in which he was acquitted of multiple wanton endangerment charges.

Like in his previous trials, Hankison took the stand during the retrial, getting emotional at times over two days of testimony, according to WHAS, the ABC affiliate in Louisville covering the case in the courtroom.

Hankison told the jurors he was “trying to stay alive, [and] trying to keep my partners alive,” according to WHAS.

Hankison insisted “the only person my bullet could have struck was the shooter,” saying there was “zero risk” of hitting anyone outside the threat, according to WHAS.

He said that night was the first time he fired his gun in nearly 20 years of policing, according to the AP.

Hankison was fired from the Louisville Metro Police Department for violating department procedure when he “wantonly and blindly” fired into the apartment.

The two other officers involved in the raid were not charged. Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron called Taylor’s death a “tragedy” but said the two officers were justified in their use of force after having been fired upon by Walker.

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(ORLANDO, Fl) — The mayor of Orlando, Florida, is cracking down in the city’s entertainment district after two people were killed and several others injured in a Halloween night shooting.

The suspect, 17-year-old Jaylen Dwayne Edgar, has been taken into custody, Orlando police said.

Officers responded to reports of shots fired just after 1 a.m. Friday, and within minutes, the officers witnessed a second shooting, police said.

One person was killed at the first scene and the second victim was killed at the second scene, police said.

Nine people, aged 18 to 39, were injured, some critically, police said.

The suspect walked by more than 10 officers just before opening fire, Orlando Police Chief Eric Smith said.

Surveillance video captured the chaos of people fleeing the scene as officers apprehended the suspect.

Edgar has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a firearm and six counts of attempted first-degree murder with a firearm, police said.

A motive is unknown, Smith said.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer said he’s issuing a local state of emergency for establishments in the downtown entertainment area, which will ban alcohol sales after midnight and implement a curfew from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

“It’s unfortunate that the changes in the state concealed weapons laws [in 2023] have made it even easier for people to carry guns,” Dyer said at a news conference.

“You can legally carry a firearm unless you fall into a certain kind of category: underage, convicted felon,” Smith explained. “For most people, it allows them, without getting a concealed weapons permit, to carry a gun concealed.”

ABC News’ Jason Volack contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Opening statements begin Friday in the trial of Daniel Penny, who is charged in the death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man who was acting erratically on a New York City subway car, by putting him in a fatal chokehold on May 1, 2023.

The sounds of a sidewalk protest over the death of Neely were audible in the 13th-floor courtroom ahead of opening statements. Protesters were heard calling Penny a “subway strangler.”

Judge Max Wiley said he would instruct jurors to ignore “noise outside the courthouse.”

Penny, in a slate blue suit, strode confidently into the courtroom and took his seat at the defense table.

The former Marine has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death. Wiley denied Penny’s bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.

The jury of seven women and five men, four of whom are people of color, will be asked to do something prosecutors concede is difficult: convict someone of an unintentional crime.

To convict, prosecutors must prove Penny’s use of lethal force was unjustifiable and that Penny acted recklessly and consciously disregarded the substantial risk of putting Neely in the chokehold for so long. Prosecutors do not have to prove Penny intended to kill Neely, which defense attorneys have said Neely did not intend to do.

The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks, according to Wiley.

The case has fueled political narratives about urban crime and captivated a city in which the subway is indispensable.

What happened that day

While there is no doubt that Penny’s actions led to Neely’s death, witness accounts differ regarding the events that led up to Penny applying the fatal chokehold, according to various sources.

Many witnesses reported that Neely, 30, who was homeless at the time of his death and was known to perform as a Michael Jackson impersonator, had expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty, according to prosecutors. Most of the witnesses also recounted that Neely indicated a willingness to go to jail or prison.

Some witnesses also reported that Neely threatened to hurt people on the train, while others did not report hearing those threats, according to police sources.

Additionally, some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train. However, others have said that while Neely had exhibited erratic behavior, he had not been threatening anyone in particular and had not become violent, according to police sources who spoke with ABC News following the incident.

According to prosecution court filings, some passengers on the train that day said they didn’t feel threatened. One said they weren’t “really worried about what was going on,” while another called it “like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing. I wasn’t really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don’t really hear anybody saying anything like that.”

Other passengers, however, described being fearful, according to court filings. One said they “have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that,” while another said Neely was making “half-lunge movements” and coming within a “half a foot of people.”

Neely had a documented history of mental health issues and arrests, including alleged instances of disorderly conduct, fare evasion and assault, according to police sources.

Less than 30 seconds after Penny allegedly put Neely into a chokehold, the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette Station, according to court records.

“Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train. The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a court filing objecting to Penny’s dismissal request.

According to prosecutors, footage of the interaction, which began about two minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely in the chokehold for about four minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train, with a couple of passengers nearby.

Prosecutors said that about three minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely ceases all purposeful movement.

“After that moment, Mr. Neely’s movements are best described as ‘twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'” prosecutors said.

The case is expected to feature testimony of passengers who were aboard the subway at the time, as well as a roughly six-minute video of the choke hold.

Jury to hear eyewitness statements

Before opening statements on Friday, Wiley granted a defense request to allow some of the statements that eyewitnesses to the chokehold made to police that were captured on body-worn cameras.

One witness, a Ms. Rosario, was captured on body-worn camera 15 minutes after the incident aboard the F train.

“I can see most of that statement coming in as an excited utterance,” Wiley said.

The judge declined to allow a part of her statement in which an officer is heard asking whether she thought Neely was on drugs.

A Mr. Latimer is captured a minute later and Wiley said his statement is “well within the immediacy of the event” and could be admitted.

“This person displays emotion, excitement as he’s describing what happened. It’s narrative,” Wiley said.

Most of the passengers who were aboard the train and who witnessed the event are expected to testify at trial.

Jury will see evidence that Neely did not have a weapon

The judge also previously ruled that the jury will see evidence that shows Neely was unarmed.

Penny’s defense had sought to preclude evidence or testimony about the lack of a weapon recovered from a search of Neely’s body but in a written opinion issued Thursday, Wiley said such evidence and testimony is relevant to the case.

“The fact that Mr. Neely was unarmed provides additional relevant information to aid the jury, namely, it clarifies what could have been perceived by someone in the defendant’s position,” Wiley wrote. “The possibility that a person in the defendant’s situation could have been reasonable in mistakenly believing that Mr. Neely had been armed is appropriate for consideration by the jury and well within their capability.”

The defense worried that including evidence that Neely was unarmed could bolster sympathy for the victim but Wiley said it would help the jury decide whether Penny’s actions were justified.

Penny’s lawyers and Neely’s family speak ahead of the trial

Members of Neely’s family were seated with the spectators for opening statements Friday.

“I loved Jordan. And I want justice for Jordan Neely. I want it today. I want justice for everybody and I want justice for Jordan Neely,” his uncle, Christopher Neely, said before entering court.

Prosecutors in the Manhattan district attorney’s office are expected to concede that Neely may have seemed scary to some subway riders, but will argue Penny continued the chokehold well past the point where Neely stopped moving and posed any kind of threat.

Penny’s attorneys have said that they were “saddened at the loss of human life,” but that Penny saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others,” arguing that Neely was “insanely threatening” to passengers aboard the subway train.

While Penny’s defense will argue that he had no intent to kill Neely, prosecutor Steinglass has noted that the second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.

“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said earlier this year, after Penny’s request to dismiss the charge was denied.

“This case is simple. Someone got on a train and was screaming so someone else choked them to death,” Neely family attorney Donte Mills said in a past statement to ABC News. “Those two things do not and will never balance. There is no justification.”

“Jordan had the right to take up his own space. He was allowed to be on that train and even to scream. He did not touch anyone. He was not a visitor on that train, in New York, or in this country,” Mills added.

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(WILLINGBORO, N.J.) — Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a mother and daughter during a home invasion in New Jersey.

Catherine Nunez, 33, and her mother, Marisol Nunez, 54. were found dead in an upstairs bedroom of their home in Willingboro early Wednesday, the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office said.

It appears the intruder broke a first-floor window to enter the home, prosecutors said.

No arrests have been made, prosecutors said.

Authorities said they believe the crime wasn’t random and don’t think other residents in the neighborhood are at risk.

 

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