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(LOS ANGELES) — Students enrolled in Prof. Daniel Nathanson’s business class at UCLA do not take tests or pore over books. They are not immersed in the usual 40-page case studies that often dictate the curriculum.

Instead, Nathanson has help from an AI tool to enhance interaction in his classroom. The tool gets students through real-life business scenarios in small groups, offers individualized quizzes, and leads group discussions on big business concepts.

Nathanson, the first college professor to use the Breakout Learning AI tool, says the software is used both to prevent students from using generative AI to cheat, and is incorporated into the lesson to ensure the students’ comprehension of the material.

“It enabled me to say where they need a level set, where they are and adjust my lecture to meet their needs,” Nathanson said of the learning tool, which is now used at more than 100 universities, including Yale, Cornell and MIT.

Nathanson says he plugs in what he wants the AI to teach the students.

When asked, none of the students thought AI’s grading was better than that of humans. Nathanson also doesn’t use the scores from AI when calculating final grades, but only as a way to assess their comprehension of the course material.

The business scenarios, voiced by actors, bring to life the experiences of corporate leaders like former Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, who died in 2020, and his team, making the learning experience truly immersive and relevant.

“We want to lift up the idea of small group discussion as the primary format for learning,” said Ramit Varma, who, along with Steven Walters, founded Breakout Learning. “We’ve been learning in small group formats for thousands of years.”

Breakout Learning transcribes the spoken words and then runs it through OpenAI, which generates a summary and matches it against a grading rubric to determine an individual engagement score and two group performance scores.

The company’s website emphasizes using AI for grading and facilitating conversations, claiming it can simplify the former.

In one experiment, educators and the owners of Breakout Learning went through the course with the students during a test to evaluate the grading system. One student, Georgia, was engaged, collaborative and considerate of her colleagues. It seemed clear that she would rank among the highest scores.

However, she ranked near the lowest.

“That particular student scored the highest in group; what they saw was an engagement score, which was actually a misfire in the software that actually is not the actual metric that we use to measure quality,” Walters said.

Breakout Learning stated that after observing the session with the students, they completely removed this specific scoring system. They are now focusing solely on comprehension scores rather than engagement.

While questions linger about using AI as a grading tool, the students still support the program.

“Thus far into its development, probably a B+,” Georgia said, grading the software. “There’s always room for improvement. AI again is very new. We’re just seeing the beginnings of something great.”

A USC professor agrees with the students and believe that in the next decade UCLA won’t be an anomaly. They think most classrooms in America will use some form of artificial intelligence. Other educators, however, believe AI needs to be thoroughly tested before being used as a main teaching tool in classrooms.

“If I’m a student, and I’m like, ‘well, computers just going to grade me,’ then am I going to put forth 100% of my effort?” said USC Associate Professor Stephen Aguilar. “Or am I going to use some other AI to basically talk to their AI so it just becomes an AI talking to AI? And I think that that’s one of the dangers of doing too quickly without really understanding or figuring out what our values are relative to new AI technologies.”

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(NEW YORK) — As emergency crews in three states began mopping up and assessing damage from a series of tornadoes on Sunday, more severe weather is being forecast for a large swath of the Midwest.

More than 230 severe storms were reported on Sunday, including 13 twisters confirmed by the National Weather Service that struck in parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado.

There were no immediate reports of deaths, but several people were injured in the storms and more than 30 structures were destroyed or damaged, officials said.

A large funnel cloud touched down Sunday in Yukon, Oklahoma, near Oklahoma City, causing major damage to several buildings and ripping the roof off at least one home.

Two people were hospitalized after being injured in a tornado that destroyed their home in Hydro, Oklahoma, about 63 miles west of Oklahoma City, according to the Blaine County Sheriff’s office. A nursing home was also damaged in Hydro, according to a statement Monday from the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

In Custer City, Oklahoma, about 90 miles west of Oklahoma City, a twister knocked down powerlines, destroyed several buildings and picked up trailers, tossing them around like toys, officials said. At least 10 homes were damaged in Custer City and Hydro, according to emergency management officials.

At least 20 structures were damaged in Canadian County in suburban Oklahoma City, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management.

More than 5,700 homes and businesses remained without electricity on Monday, most of them in Custer and Tulsa counties, officials said.

Severe weather from at least four tornadoes in Kansas caused widespread power outages and destroyed several buildings.

Russell, Kansas, about 150 miles northwest of Wichita reported “significant” damage from a strong storm that hit Sunday.

“At least three structures have been leveled,” the City of Russell said in a Facebook post, adding that crews were working Monday to restore electricity to several areas of the city.

A tornado also touched down in eastern Colorado near Fleming on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service. Residents also posted photos on Facebook of baseball-size hail near Fleming.

More severe weather is expected through Wednesday in Colorado, Iowa, Indiana, Nebraska, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Potentially damaging winds and large hail, especially in Nebraska and Colorado, are forecast for Monday.

Severe weather is expected once again on Tuesday from Oklahoma to Michigan, including the Oklahoma City area, Kansas City, Missouri, Des Moines, Iowa, Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Green Bay, Wisconsin and Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Severe weather is forecast to spread from to Texas and Ohio, with large hail expected for Dallas.

Hot weather is also expected Monday for Texas, where temperatures are forecast to reach 98 in Amarillo and 104 degrees in Del Rio. On Tuesday, potential record heat is expected to spread into the Midwest, with St. Louis expecting a high of 93 degrees.

Later this week, hot weather is expected to reach the Northeast, where Binghamton, New York, is forecast to hit a record high of 86 on Wednesday and New York City could see 80-degree weather.

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(NEW YORK) — “ABC News Live” Anchor Linsey Davis is accustomed to seeking the truth and reporting it.

That instinct for fact-finding transcended recently to Davis’ personal family history, with a genealogist from the 10 Million Names Project helping the Emmy-winning journalist track down an ancestor born in the early 1800s.

ABC News has partnered with the 10 Million Names Project, which aims to break down the genealogical “brick wall” that makes it difficult for Black Americans to retrieve ancestral documents and history, including names, from before 1870. The project seeks to identify every individual enslaved before 1865 in the present-day United States.

10 Million Names genealogist Kenyatta Berry revealed to Davis that her great-great-great paternal grandfather was the first in her family to register to vote, and very likely among the first Black Americans to cast a ballot.

“Like many African Americans, I don’t have any information about my family ancestry going back more than a few generations,” Davis said. “It’s one of the many tragic legacies of slavery: not knowing the full details of our roots.”

Davis headed to Georgia, where her great-great-great-grandfather, Tobe Murray, was born. She first visited the Georgia Archives in Morrow County, which maintains a massive collection of the state’s most important historical documents.

Murray, Davis’ great-great-great-grandfather, was born in 1829 and was likely formerly enslaved. Several historic registration records kept at the archives showed Davis proof that Murray registered to vote under dangerously difficult circumstances.

Davis was able to hold the same book that Murray touched in June of 1867 and saw where he wrote an “X” to mark his signature to register to vote, since he most likely couldn’t read or write.

Murray marked his name with an “X” after a clerk wrote his name in cursive, according to an expert at the Georgia Archives.

Following Emancipation in 1863, most free Black Americans lived among hostile white communities, according to historians. They were denied education and fair wages and lived primarily in rural poverty, facing constant threats of violence.

However, in 1867, it was not unusual for Murray to be registered to vote, since Congress had passed the Reconstruction Act of 1867, allowing Black men in Southern states to vote and hold office for the first time.

As Davis and Professor Susan O’Donovan dug deeper, they discovered that Murray was most likely a farmer and still a registered voter in 1898, more than 30 years after he first registered.

“I really didn’t think at that time that quite often a Black male, especially someone if we believe he was enslaved, would then have the wherewithal to say, ‘you know what, I’m going to go forward and get my rights and act on this’ and carry it out in the midst of, you know, all of the brainwashing that that went on at the time, that you’re a second-class citizen or less now,” Davis said.

The Union victory in the Civil War led to the freedom of about four million enslaved people. However, challenges persisted during the Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and freed Black people in the South faced uncertainty.

White Southerners regained control and enforced laws, known as the Black Codes, to restrict the activities of freed Black people and ensure their availability as a labor force.

The 15th Amendment, adopted in 1870, prohibited denying voting rights based on race, color or previous servitude. During Reconstruction, Black Americans were elected to Southern state governments and the U.S. Congress.

Newspaper articles from the 1870s displayed the language and tone mostly white editors used at the time when writing about elections and political campaigns.

“The Negroes voted solidly, blindly, and in full force behind the Independent candidates,” an early Morgan County newspaper wrote. “They were organized better, voted more unanimously and with more determination than ever since they have been given the ballot.”

Persistent and overtly-racist voter suppression tactics continued in Georgia and throughout the South in the following decades, according to historians.

La’Neice Littleton, a historian at the Atlanta History Center, says that despite suppression, the Black community has been fighting for the sacred right to vote generation after generation.

“Time changes, but attitudes don’t,” Littleton said “…and so we see a consistent fight on the part of Black citizens to organize, mobilize, strategize, and exercise their right to vote and participate in democracy.”

Times have certainly changed since 1867. In fact, according to Georgia state registration files, there were almost 1.7 million new voters in the lead-up to the 2020 elections.

During her trip, Davis met up with young canvassers of the New Georgia Project in Georgia, where voting-rights activists continue to be a formidable force, working to encourage voting in November’s election.

New Georgia Project CEO Kendra Cotton and the young and inspired team went door to door, reminding fellow citizens that voting is a right, a privilege and a duty. It’s an opportunity to be counted as equal Americans.

“We want our voters showing up and making their voices heard, because we fundamentally believe that the best way to get good progressive policy in the state is not to beg for it from folks who don’t share your values, but it’s to vote in people who already do,” Cotton said.

Davis said her visit to Georgia meant a lot to her. She learned about a missing part of her own history, saw the struggle her great-great-great-grandfather had to go through, and realized that even though things are better today, the job is not finished.

“I didn’t actually think I would be emotional about it,” Davis said. “But being with this kind of living document that I can only imagine, you know, what Tobe had to endure and I can’t help but feel pride.”

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

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

May 20, 9:52 AM
Defense suggests Cohen had distractions dealing with Daniels

Defense attorney Todd Blanche suggested that Michael Cohen was juggling multiple other issues in October 2016, at the same time he was arranging the Stormy Daniels hush money payment.

Cohen testified that was resolving issues with his taxi medallion business, handling a loan for one of his investment properties, assisting with the National Diversity Coalition, and helping Tiffany Trump deal with an instance of extortion.

“You agree with me, right, that you had a lot going on both in your personal life and with President Trump in those first two weeks of October?” Blanche asked.

“Yes sir,” Cohen said.

Blanche also reminded jurors that Cohen was dealing with harassing phone calls at the time — referencing his line of questioning last week when he suggested Cohen lied about the purpose of a phone call to Trump’s security guard Keith Schiller on Oct. 24, 2016.

May 20, 9:43 AM
Cohen asked about communication with reporters

Defense attorney Todd Blanche opened today’s questioning by asked Cohen about his communication with reporters.

“Since that time [when your last testimony ended], how many reporters have you talked to?” Blanche asked.

Cohen said he’s spoken to reporters “who called to say hello, to see how I’m doing,” but that he didn’t talk about the case.

“Didn’t speak at all about your testimony last week?” Blanche asked.

“Correct,” Cohen responded.

As Cohen resumed his testimony, jurors appeared attentive, with several taking notes. Trump sat slouched at his chair with his eyes closed.

May 20, 9:38 AM
Michael Cohen retakes witness stand

Following the break, former Trump attorney Michael Cohen has entered the courtroom.

He took his seat in the witness box to resume his cross-examination as Trump looked on.

May 20, 9:24 AM
Attorneys conference at bench on discovery issue

Defense attorney Todd Blanche asked to approach the bench about an ongoing discovery issue.

Both legal teams leaned in as Blanche spoke to the judge.

With the sidebar completed, the judge called for a ten-minute break.

May 20, 9:09 AM
Judge won’t let defense expand expert witness’ testimony

Judge Merchan denied a request from defense lawyers to broaden the scope of testimony from their expert witness Bradley Smith, who is an expert on campaign finance regulations.

On Thursday, defense lawyers asked Merchan to allow Smith to testify about various terms related to federal campaign finance laws. Merchan denied the request, citing long standing precedent prohibiting witness testimony about the law.

“An expert is not permitted to present or interpret the law,” Merchan said.

Merchan also expressed concerns about Smith’s testimony prompting a “battle of the experts” between Smith and an expert called by prosecutors, which Merchan said would confuse the jury.

Merchan said that Smith could still testify, as long as he follows the limits imposed in his pretrial ruling on the case’s motions in limine.

“The court will monitor this testimony closely to ensure full compliance,” Merchan said in a pretrial ruling. “Any deviation from this ruling could result in sanction up to and including striking the expert’s entire testimony.”

May 20, 8:59 AM
Judge rejects defense request to admit email as evidence

Judge Merchan has begun hearing arguments about the admissibility of some defense exhibits, including an email communication between Michael Cohen and his one-time attorney Bob Costello’s law partner Jeffrey Citron.

Defense attorney Todd Blanche argued that the exhibit could be used to impeach Cohen’s testimony.

Judge Merchan said he will not allow the email into evidence. Prosecutors argued that the email was hearsay and cannot fairly offer a window into Cohen’s state of mind.

“There is another layer there of hearsay,” Merchan said about the email. “I don’t see any probative value for impeachment purposes here at all.”

May 20, 8:53 AM
Judge says summations will likely happen next Tuesday

“Good morning Mr. Trump,” Judge Juan Merchan said as he gaveled in the proceedings.

“It’s become apparent that we are not going to be able to sum up tomorrow,” the judge said after taking the bench.

Merchan said it’s more likely summations will take place next Tuesday, after procedural matters and the Memorial Day break.

“Either have a long break now or a long break then, and unfortunately the calendar is what it is,” the judge said.

May 20, 8:41 AM
Trump, prosecutors enter courtroom

Prosecutors have entered the courtroom for Day 19 of the trial.

Trump has arrived with his entourage.

Before entering, the former president addressed reporters but ignored their questions about whether he’ll testify in the trial.

May 20, 6:00 AM
Prosecution expected to rest its case Monday morning

Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen returns to the witness stand Monday morning for the final time before prosecutors rest their case against the former president in his criminal hush money trial.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case later Monday morning.

Defense attorneys have not yet declared who they plan to call to testify — including whether Trump will testify in his own defense.

Cohen, the prosecution’s last major witness, is scheduled to complete his cross-examination by Trump’s defense team Monday morning.

Proceedings are scheduled to get underway at 8:45 a.m. ET with arguments over the admission of additional exhibits, after which the jury is expected back in court at 9:30 a.m.

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(BALTIMORE) — The battered cargo ship that’s been partially blocking the entrance to one of America’s busiest ports for two months is expected to be refloated and moved into port on Monday, officials said.

The Dali, a 984-foot container ship traveling under a Singaporean flag, crashed in March into the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, Maryland. The crash disrupted marine traffic at the seaport, which is among the largest in the Mid-Atlantic.

“Optimum conditions call for the transit of the DALI to commence at high tide, predicted to be Monday at 5:24 a.m.,” officials said in a statement on Sunday. “The vessel will be prepared at 2 a.m., allowing it to catch the peak high tide for a controlled transit.”

Officials said they expected to spend about 18 hours getting the ship ready to refloat. The process, which began on Sunday, included removing some anchors and mooring lines that had been attached to the ship after the crash.

Officials were also expecting to remove some or all of the 1.25 million gallons of water that had been pumped into the Dali to ballast the Dali during the bridge removal, according to a plan released by the Key Bridge Response 2024 Unified Command on Sunday.

Up to five tugboats were expected to help move the ship about 2.5 miles to the local marine terminal, officials said. That trip is expected to take about 3 hours, officials said.

Crews had last week done a controlled demolition of much of the remains of the Francis Key Scott Bridge, which had been turned into a tangle of steel girders that rested on the seafloor and rose out of the water.

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(NEW YORK) — Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen will return to the witness stand for the final time before prosecutors rest their case against the former president in Trump’s criminal hush money case Monday.

Cohen last week described Trump as being deeply involved in a scheme to hide information from voters ahead of the 2016 election, but a stinging line of cross-examination may have damaged Cohen’s overall credibility with the jury.

Trump is on trial for allegedly falsifying business records to hide the reimbursement of a hush money payment that Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels in order to boost Trump’s electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election. The former president has denied all wrongdoing.

Prosecutors could rest their case by lunchtime Monday, and defense attorneys have not yet declared who they plan to call to testify — including whether Trump will testify in his own defense.

Defense lawyers have suggested they might call Bradley Smith — an expert on federal campaign finance laws — and have left the door open to call rebuttal witnesses.

Judge Juan Merchan asked both sides to be prepared to deliver closing arguments as early as Tuesday morning.

During his cross-examination of Cohen on Thursday, defense attorney Todd Blanche accused him of lying about an alleged phone call with Trump related to the Stormy Daniels’ hush money payment.

Cohen testified that on Oct. 24, 2016, he placed a phone call to Trump’s security guard Keith Schiller, who passed the phone to Trump so he and Cohen could “discuss the Stormy Daniels matter and the resolution of it.”

On Thursday, Blanche presented evidence to suggest that Cohen lied about the purpose of the phone call, arguing that Cohen actually called to complain to Schiller about a teenage prank caller.

Jurors saw text messages between Cohen and the prank caller from the same day as the alleged phone call between Cohen and Trump.

“This number has just been sent to secret service for your ongoing and continuous harassment to both my cell as well as to the organizations main line,” Cohen texted the teenager.

“It wasn’t me,” the 14-year-old prank caller replied. “My friend told me to call.”

Jurors also saw text messages between Cohen and Schiller ahead of their phone call at 8:02 p.m.

“Who can I speak to regarding harassing calls to my cell and office. The dope forgot to block his call on one of them,” Cohen texted Schiller.

“Call me,” Schiller texted Cohen at 8:02 p.m..

When confronted with the alleged inconsistency, Cohen stood by his initial testimony, arguing he spoke to Trump about the hush-money payment in addition to talking to Schiller about the prank caller.

“That was a lie, you did not talk to President Trump on that night, you talked to Keith Schiller about what we just went through; you can admit it?” Blanche confronted Cohen while raising his voice.

“No, sir, I can’t. I am not certain that is accurate,” Cohen responded.

While the cross-examination may have broadly damaged Cohen’s credibility, the specific phone call emphasized by Blanche was just one of many conversations between Cohen and Trump related to the Daniels’ payoff. Cohen testified that he had multiple other phone calls and in-person meetings with Trump — in both Trump Tower and the Oval Office — where Cohen claimed they discussed how to approach Stormy Daniels’ allegations, the plan for Cohen to make the payment, and the scheme to reimburse Cohen in 2017.

Trump, for his part, has repeatedly signaled his willingness to testify during the trial.

“I would have no problem testifying,” Trump told ABC News on March 25. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I would testify, absolutely,” Trump said on April 12. “It’s a scam. It’s a scam. That’s not a trial. That’s not a trial. That’s a scam.”

However, Trump appeared to back away from the idea earlier this month, falsely telling reporters that the limited gag order in the case — which prohibits extrajudicial statements about witnesses and jurors — prevents him from testifying.

The next day in court, Judge Juan Merchan directly addressed Trump to clarify that he has an “absolute right” to testify and that the gag order does not apply to his statements in court.

“I want to stress, Mr. Trump, that you have an absolute right to testify at trial, if that is what you decide to do after consultation with your attorneys,” Merchan said.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial in New York City, where he is facing felony charges related to a 2016 hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels. It marks the first time in history that a former U.S. president has been tried on criminal charges.

Trump last April pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment his then-attorney Michael Cohen made to Daniels in order to boost his electoral prospects in the 2016 presidential election.

May 20, 6:00 AM
Prosecution expected to rest its case Monday morning

Donald Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen returns to the witness stand Monday morning for the final time before prosecutors rest their case against the former president in his criminal hush money trial.

Prosecutors are expected to rest their case later Monday morning.

Defense attorneys have not yet declared who they plan to call to testify — including whether Trump will testify in his own defense.

Cohen, the prosecution’s last major witness, is scheduled to complete his cross-examination by Trump’s defense team Monday morning.

Proceedings are scheduled to get underway at 8:45 a.m. ET with arguments over the admission of additional exhibits, after which the jury is expected back in court at 9:30 a.m.

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(NEW YORK) — Ed Dwight, the United States’ first Black astronaut candidate, became the oldest person to go to space on Sunday as Blue Origin launched its New Shepard NS-25 spacecraft and completed its first human flight since 2022.

The 90-year-old Dwight took his first trip to space more than 60 decades after President John F. Kennedy appointed him in 1961 to the elite Aerospace Research Pilot School — the Air Force program from which NASA astronauts were chosen. Despite being recommended by the Air Force, Dwight was not chosen for the NASA astronaut corps in the aftermath of Kennedy’s assassination.

New Shepard NS-25 was Blue Origin’s seventh human flight to space. The flight made Dwight the oldest person to make the journey to space and back.

“Long time coming,” Dwight said as he emerged from the capsule Sunday, pumping his fist in the air after landing in the remote Texas desert

“It was absolutely terrific. I thought I really didn’t need this in my life but now I need it in my life. I am ecstatic,” Dwight said. “It was a life-changing experience. Everybody needs to do this.”

The New Shepard NS-25 with five other passengers aboard lifted off from Texas at 10:36 a.m. ET.

It was the seventh human flight for Blue Origin but the first since the Federal Aviation Administration grounded the space tourist program after a mid-flight failure in September 2022 during an uncrewed research mission.

After entering private life in 1966, Dwight spent a decade as an entrepreneur before later becoming a sculptor of historic Black figures.

Dwight’s seat on the flight is sponsored by the nonprofit Space for Humanity.

Charles Bolden, the first Black NASA administrator and an astronaut who flew on four missions himself, wished Dwight good luck on his flight late Saturday.

“You’ve waited a long time for this opportunity and all of us who stand on your shoulders could not be happier,” Bolden told ABC News, emphasizing the word “long.” “I know how much you have dreamed about this and I want you to take some time while you are flying to suck it all up and take it all in. You deserve every moment of this. You’ve been a role model and mentor for many of us for so long and we’re with you there in spirit.”

The launch window opened at 8:30 a.m. central time from west Texas.

Dwight was joined by Mason Angel, the founder of venture capital fund Industrious Ventures; Sylvain Chiron, the founder of Brasserie Mont Blanc; Kenneth Hess, a software engineer and entrepreneur; Carol Schaller, a retired accountant; and Gopi Thotakura, an aviator and founder of Preserve Life Corp.

Actor William Shatner was previously the oldest to fly to space. He was 90 years and 206 days old when he flew on a previous Blue Origin flight on Oct. 13, 2021. Dwight will be 90 years and 253 days old on Sunday.

John Glenn, at 77, remains the oldest person to actually launch into orbit. Blue Origin travels just above the Karman Line, about 62 miles above Earth and NASA’s definition of space, while Glenn went 100 miles higher on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998.

ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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(KEY BISCAYNE, Fla.) — The boater accused of fatally striking a Florida teenager has released surveillance footage that he said shows he was unaware his boat had collided with the teen, according to his attorney.

In the video, which was released by ABC affiliate WPLG, the boat operator appears to be calm after arriving back to the dock. The boat operator’s attorney said this supports the claim that her client was unaware of the collision. Ella Adler, 15, was killed in the collision.

“This was an unthinkable tragedy and our hearts break for Ella and her family. We hope this video helps to shut down some of the awful and unfounded rumors going around about Bill, who is absolutely devastated,” Lauren Krasnoff, the boater’s attorney, said in a statement to WPLG.

“As the video shows, Bill was alone. He was not drinking. And he had no clue that he may have hit someone – he parked the boat at his home, he was calm, he didn’t clean the boat, and he did not try to hide anything. Bill will continue to cooperate with law enforcement in every possible way,” Krasnoff said.

ABC has not independently obtained, confirmed or verified the video released by the attorney.

The boater previously said he had “no knowledge” of the accident and is “devastated” to learn he may have been involved, according to his attorney.

Adler had fallen while wakeboarding near Nixon Beach in Key Biscayne on Saturday and was waiting for her vessel when another boat struck her and didn’t stop, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said.

FWC said it seized a boat believed to be connected to the hit-and-run and identified the vessel’s owner and operator on Wednesday as a 78-year-old Coral Gables resident. He is cooperating with the investigation, the FWC said. No charges have been announced in the case.

Krasnoff previously released a video statement on his behalf Thursday in response to “numerous” media inquiries.

“This is the worst possible tragedy and before saying anything else, we want to express our deepest sympathies to Ella Adler’s family and friends,” Krasnoff said.

“Because this is an ongoing investigation with which he is fully cooperating, he will not be making any statements to the media other than to say that he was beyond devastated to learn that he may have been involved in this awful tragedy,” she continued.

Krasnoff said that the man is a “very experienced boater” who is familiar with the bay. He was boating by himself on Saturday and “has no knowledge whatsoever of having been involved in this accident,” she said.

“If he hit Ella that day, he certainly did not know it,” she said, adding that he “absolutely would have stopped” if he realized he had.

“He docked his boat in plain sight right behind his house, and did not even know there was an accident on the water that day until officers showed up at his door,” she said.

He is “absolutely devastated by the loss of this intelligent, accomplished and beautiful young woman,” she said.

Krasnoff said the operator of the boat will continue to cooperate with law enforcement in the ongoing investigation.

The FWC announced Tuesday it had found a boat matching the description given by witnesses of the striking vessel. The 42-foot Boston Whaler has been transported to an FWC evidence compound, the agency said.

FWC officers have called for anyone with information or footage to contact them.

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(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. State Department issued a “Worldwide Caution” alert on Friday, warning U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution due to “the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events.”

According to an administration official familiar with the matter, the alert is connected to the recent announcement from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security that foreign terrorist organizations might seek to exploit “LGBTQIA+-related events and venues,” including events during 2024 Pride month, which begins in June.

The alert comes on the same day the State Department is commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia.

Last year’s Pride month was also marked by safety concerns after the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning that domestic violence extremists and people who commit hate crimes have increased threats of violence against the LGBTQIA+ community in recent years.

LGBTQ advocacy groups have issued a “state of emergency” in the U.S. following record-breaking waves of anti-LGBTQ legislation as well as a spike in reports of hate incidents.

The State Department alert also advises traveling Americans to exercise increased caution because of the potential for more generalized terrorist attacks, demonstrations, or violent actions “against U.S. citizens and interests.”

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