(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.
(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.”
(ATLANTA) — Dozens of Air Force members came together at a suburban Atlanta church Friday with the family and friends of Senior Airman Roger Fortson to honor the serviceman, who was shot and killed in his Florida home by a sheriff’s deputy on May 3.
Fortson, 23, was in his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, when he was shot by an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to law enforcement authorities.
At Friday’s service, Fortson was laid out wearing his Air Force uniform and his coffin was draped with the American flag.
“As you can see from the sea of Air Force blue, I am not alone in my admiration of Senior Airman Fortson,” Col. Patrick Dierig told mourners at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Stonecrest, referring to the many service members in attendance who paid their respects to Fortson.
“We would love to take credit for making him great, but the truth is he was great before he came to us,” said Dierig, the commander of First Special Operations Wing Hurlburt Field, where Fortson was stationed. “The Air Force, we merely polished a diamond that you forged. Senior Airman Fortson was a combat veteran. He answered the nation’s call to take the fight to our enemies over the skies of Iraq, Syria. He took part in Special Operations missions, taking care of U.S. national security impact, and for the efforts he was awarded the Air Medal with a combat device in 2023.”
The Rev. Jamal Bryant’s eulogy included a story about civil rights icon Medgar Evers and Evers’ Army service during World War II.
Bryant also referred to Fortson’s killing as “murder.”
“We’ve got to call it what it is: It was murder,” Bryant said. “He died of stone-cold murder. And somebody has got to be held accountable. Roger was better to America than America was to Roger.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton, in a recorded video played at the service, highlighted Fortson’s military service and called for his death to not go unpunished.
“He, as a young black man, stood up, signed up to fight for this country. The question now is: ‘Will the country stand up and fight for him?’” Sharpton said. “The family, the mother, brokenhearted. Do we have, though, a broken system? That is the question. And that is what we intend to get an answer to.”
After the service, airmen saluted as Fortson’s casket was carried to a horse-drawn carriage and led away from the church.
The deputy in the fatal incident was responding to a call of a disturbance around 4:30 p.m., according to a released statement from the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Eric Aden of the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office played the body camera footage of the deputy who shot Fortson in a press conference last week following a news conference with Fortson’s family. In the video the deputy can be heard announcing twice that he is with the sheriff’s office. Fortson can then be seen opening the door for the deputy with what appears to be a gun in his hand. The officer shot Fortson within seconds of the door opening. Fortson later succumbed to his injuries, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Hearing sounds of a disturbance, he reacted in self-defense after he encountered a 23-year-old man armed with a gun,” according to a sheriff’s office statement. “[This was] after the deputy had identified himself as law enforcement.”
The deputy involved has been put on administrative leave and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) and the state attorney’s office will conduct their own investigations, according to the sheriff’s office.
(NEW YORK) — A 50-year-old man has been taken into custody for allegedly assaulting actor Steve Buscemi on a New York City street earlier this month, authorities said.
Buscemi was walking down the street just before noon on May 8 when he was punched in the face, suffering bruising, swelling and bleeding to his left eye, according to the NYPD.
Clifton Williams, who was identified as a suspect earlier in the week, was taken into custody in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood Friday afternoon, authorities said. The officers were responding to a harassment call of a man yelling at people when they realized the suspect was Williams, authorities said.
A representative for Buscemi said the 66-year-old “Boardwalk Empire” star “is ok and appreciates everyone’s well wishes.”
Buscemi, a native of Brooklyn, has starred in movies such as “Reservoir Dogs,” “Fargo” and “Armageddon.” He also has one Emmy win and eight nominations for his TV work.
(HOUSTON) — At least five people were killed when a powerful storm tore through Houston on Thursday night, officials said.
Fallen trees appeared to cause at least two of the deaths, according to officials.
Straight-line winds peaked at around 100 mph in downtown Houston, and residents told ABC News the winds sounded like a freight train.
The winds were so powerful, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said they were comparable to Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
One tornado was confirmed near Cypress, officials said.
Houston Mayor John Whitmire urged residents to stay home Friday following the “exceptionally” strong storm, noting 2,500 traffic lights are not functioning.
Houston schools closed on Friday and more than 600,000 customers remain without power.
For some, the power could be out for weeks, Hidalgo said.
The mayor said Houston is in “recovery mode.”
“Please … stay away from downtown — it’s dangerous. There’s broken glass in every direction,” Whitmire said.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the Federal Emergency Management Agency is working with state and local counterparts and is “ready to provide federal assistance as needed.”
She said the White House is “praying for four people who tragically lost their lives in Houston” and “also thinking of those who were injured and the communities that were affected by this extreme weather.”
The intense winds came after a rare “high risk” warning for flash flooding was issued in Texas and Louisiana, with the states bracing for up to 9 inches of rain in 24 hours.
“The high risk area has seen over 600% of their normal rainfall for the past two weeks alone,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned, and the flash flooding could be life-threatening.
“High risk” days account for just 4% of days, but they are responsible for more than one-third of flooding deaths, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
The storm in Houston is now over, allowing residents to begin to cleaning up on Friday.
The severe weather threat has now moved east, with flood watches in effect from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle. The heaviest rain is expected Friday and this weekend in parts of southern Mississippi, Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle.
Jean-Pierre said Friday, “We continue to monitor the storm’s path as it moves east, and more severe weather is likely across the Gulf Coast today. Residents in the affected area as well as those in the path of the storm should heed warnings from state and local officials.”
ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal, Justin Ryan Gomez and Daniel Amarante contributed to this report.
In this screen grab from police body cam footage released by the San Francisco Police Department, Paul Pelosi, the husband of Democratic Rep. Nancy Pelosi, is shown with his assailant, David DePape, at the Pelosi home, in San Francisco, Oct 28, 2022. — San Francisco Police Dept
(SAN FRANCISCO) — The man convicted of breaking into former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and attacking her husband Paul Pelosi with a hammer has been sentenced to 30 years in federal prison.
The Pelosis’ daughter, Christine Pelosi, appeared in court Friday and read victim impact statements from the family, according to San Francisco ABC station KGO.
David DePape was convicted in November 2023 for the Oct. 28, 2022, break-in and attack at the Pelosis’ San Francisco home.
DePape admitted that he was looking for Nancy Pelosi to question her about Russian influence on the 2016 election and planned to hold her hostage, but only Paul Pelosi was home when he broke in.
DePape told investigators that if Nancy Pelosi told the truth, he planned to “let her go, and if she ‘lied’ he was going to break ‘her kneecaps,'” according to the criminal complaint.
Paul Pelosi said on the stand that DePape repeatedly asked him, “Where is Nancy?”
DePape hit Paul Pelosi, then 82 years old, with a hammer, causing major injuries, including a skull fracture.
“I’m sorry that he got hurt,” DePape said at trial. “I reacted because my plan was basically ruined.”
Federal prosecutors wanted DePape to serve 40 years for his conviction on charges of attempted kidnapping of a federal officer or employee and assault of an immediate family member of a federal official.
“The defendant planned a violent hostage-taking of the Speaker Emerita, and then nearly killed her husband,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum. “The defendant planned and unleashed violence and has stayed true to his belief that the actions were necessary.”
“The violent lessons that the defendant wanted to teach are not permitted in this country, and the sentence that this court imposes must reflect the nature and circumstances of the offense,” prosecutors said.
DePape is also facing state charges, including attempted murder, and has pleaded not guilty. His state trial is set to start on May 22.
ABC News’ Annie Pong, Ivan Pereira and Meredith Deliso contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Sharon Malone, a board-certified OB/GYN, is on a mission to help women understand the importance of critical thinking when it comes to health products. She advises readers to scrutinize everything they consume, even items marketed as ‘natural’ or ‘organic’, as she says these terms can often be misleading marketing ploys.
Malone discussed her new book, “Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy,” with ABC News, and focused on how women over 40 should take care of themselves and be their best health advocates.
She also tackles vitamins and supplements in her book, stating that most are harmless. Some do nothing, she says, despite their claims, while others are known to interact poorly with certain prescription medications.
Malone also spoke about the importance of a healthy diet consisting of whole foods, whole grains and unprocessed foods.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Former first lady Michelle Obama has called our next guest one of the smartest, funniest and most charismatic women she knows. And now, leading OB-GYN Dr. Sharon Malone is sharing some of her wisdom, experience and humor with readers when it comes to women’s health.
Philadelphia still the 6th-biggest U.S. city, but San Antonio catching up, census data shows Her new book, “Grown Women Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy,” gives a practical guide to aging and being a woman who has felt disregarded or disempowered in the health care system. Dr. Malone gives a personal and relatable look into how you can be the best and most important advocate for your health.
And joining us now is none other than Dr. Sharon Malone, chief medical adviser for Alloy Women’s Health. Doctor, thank you so much for joining us.
MALONE: Thank you for having me.
ABC NEWS LIVE: OK. So you’ve been practicing medicine for more than 30 years in our nation’s capital. Why did you decide: ‘You know what? I’m going to write a book.’
SHARON MALONE: You know, when I stopped practicing, I did it rather abruptly because, you know, I was part of that great COVID-19 resignation. And I left the end of 2020, and I didn’t really feel like I was done. And I wanted to be able to use all of this wisdom, all of this knowledge and expertise and sort of leverage it over many, many, many women as opposed to just one-on-one in my office.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You mentioned your mom. You talk a lot in the book about your upbringing growing up in Alabama, losing your mom to colon cancer early on. And I thought it was really interesting. You talked about the idea of those medical records that die and knowing the family history medically, how important that is. Explain why people need to really talk about that.
MALONE: You know, the thing that we don’t talk a lot about is our health, and particularly to our elders. And I think medical history and our family history is so important because it gives us just the signposts. It gives us the warning signs, not necessarily what we will have, but what we may be predisposed to. And that’s why I think it’s important that everyone know your family history does not destine you to repeat that, but it lets you know what things you need to watch out for.
ABC NEWS LIVE: You talk about vitamins and supplements, and you say most are harmless. Some do nothing, including what they claim. Some vitamins are known to interact poorly with certain prescription meds.
You go on to say you should pay close attention to anything you ingest, including things that are purported to be good for you. Be aware that natural and organic are marketing schemes. You know what else is natural and organic? Bull bleep. And that’s where it gets into the real, the real grown woman talk.
But what should we be looking for? What should we know? I think I’m doing something good for my body, but who knows?
MALONE Yeah, I think that you should think of supplements just as that. Nothing substitutes for a healthy diet of whole foods and whole grains and non-processed foods.
So, just understand that the supplement market isn’t really regulated the same way as drugs are. So there’s really no duty to prove that it’s effective. And there’s really no duty to prove that what’s actually in it actually is in it.
So, you know, I always say buy and beware when it comes to supplements. If you’re spending, you know, $100 a month on supplements, you’re probably spending a little bit too much on that.
ABC NEWS LIVE: And you talk also about women who are 45, which I’m in that category, should start thinking about menopausal hormone therapy, something that I never thought of.
MALONE: You know, the thing about perimenopause and menopause is that it sneaks up on you way sooner than you think. And I think that a lot of women think that menopause is something that happens to you when you’re older.
But know that transition really starts in your early 40s. And for some women, even in their late 30s. And that is really why when I left my practice, I did a lot of menopausal care, and I transitioned to Alloy Women’s Health because there are so few doctors out there that really know how to treat and how to counsel women about this very important phase of their lives.
I mean, imagine we’re going to spend a third of our lives in menopause. And yet most of us walk into this blindly, and we are not really helped by our doctors, and we’re not really talking to each other either.
ABC NEWS LIVE: While this is for all women, you do talk about some of those scary medical issues that often confront Black women. Maternity mortality rate, for example. Quite often we hear the statistics. We know that they’re out there. But what should we actually do about it? What can we do?
MALONE: Prevention is a big message in this book. And that’s really what I want people to understand, is that this is not something that you should be afraid of or fearful about. There’s a lot that we can do. And so whether you enter this story and whether you’re 20-something, 30-something or 70-something, as long as you’re a grown woman, there’s something in this book for you.
And I like to say, if when I was assembling the stories for my book, you know, everyone knows that book: “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Well, my book is what to expect if you expect to live beyond 40.
ABC NEWS LIVE: Oh, that’s good. I like that. All right. Not only a D.J. and a doctor and an author. You’re all of these things. Thank you, Dr. Malone. Thank you so much for coming on the show. And we want to let our viewers know her book, “Grown Woman Talk: Your Guide to Getting and Staying Healthy” is available now wherever books are sold.
(HOUSTON) — At least four people were killed when an “exceptionally” strong storm tore through Houston on Thursday night, according to Mayor John Whitmire.
Fallen trees appeared to cause at least two of the deaths, according to officials.
The winds — which reached 78 mph — sounded like a freight train, Houston residents told ABC News.
The winds were so powerful, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said they were comparable to Hurricane Alicia in 1983.
Houston schools are closed on Friday and more than 770,000 customers lost power across the state.
For some, the power could be out for weeks, Hidalgo said.
Whitmire urged residents to stay home Friday, noting 2,500 traffic lights are not functioning.
The mayor said Houston is in “recovery mode.”
“Please … stay away from downtown — it’s dangerous. There’s broken glass in every direction,” Whitmire said.
The intense winds came after a rare “high risk” warning for flash flooding was issued in Texas and Louisiana, with the states bracing for up to 9 inches of rain in 24 hours.
“The high risk area has seen over 600% of their normal rainfall for the past two weeks alone,” the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned, and the flash flooding could be life-threatening.
“High risk” days account for just 4% of days, but they are responsible for more than one-third of flooding deaths, according to the Weather Prediction Center.
The storm in Houston is now over, allowing residents to begin to cleaning up on Friday.
The severe weather threat has now moved east, with damaging winds and large hail possible from Louisiana to Georgia.
ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal and Daniel Amarante contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — In the Mississippi Delta, farms, wildlife refuges and churches dot the landscape alongside the Magnolia State’s country highways.
In some ways, the region looks on the surface in 2024 as it did in 1954. Yet a quick drive reveals that even though the area’s population has long been on the decline, something in the Delta has increased over the last seven decades – the number of private schools.
In Tunica, a private school opened its doors in 1964. The next year, Deer Creek School opened in the former white-only Arcola Public School that had been consolidated with Hollandale. Today, 96% of Deer Creek’s students are white, even though the school-aged children living in its neighborhood are majority-non-white.
Indianola Academy also opened in 1965. Today, Black students make up less than nine percent of the private school’s student body, but nearly two-thirds of school-aged children in the surrounding neighborhood are Black.
These schools are just three of the dozens of private K-12 institutions that were developed throughout the Delta in the years since the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision.
The decision, which was announced 70 years ago on Friday, ruled that public school segregation was unconstitutional. It overturned the “separate but equal” doctrine, which allowed for segregated public spaces and had been the basis for deciding discrimination cases for over 50 years.
But seven decades later, while racial mandates no longer dictate enrollment, schools across the country remain segregated for a variety of reasons.
The Brown v. Board of Education decision and subsequent rulings were met with significant resistance from some elected officials and members of the public throughout the following decades. In southern states like Virginia, some public schools even closed their doors to avoid complying with court-ordered integration.
“These small, rural schools in the South, in particular, were the most resistant to school desegregation,” Virginia Commonwealth University professor Genevieve Siegel-Hawley told ABC News.
The Southern Education Foundation found that between 1950 and 1965, the South had the largest growth in American private school enrollment. Many of the independent schools created during this time were later called “segregation academies.”
“They were basically a place to educate white children and keep the school system white, and so what they did over time was they ended up draining enrollment from the schools,” said Mara Tieken, associate professor of education at Bates College.
Today, the Delta still has some of the country’s largest racial disparities between public and private education, according to an ABC News analysis.
National Center for Education Statistics data shows that in Mississippi’s North Bolivar Consolidated School District, private school students are 125 times as likely to be non-Hispanic white as public school students are.
In Hollandale, that number jumps to 200. And in Yazoo City, private school students are 932 times as likely as public school students to be non-Hispanic white.
“The earlier kids learn to care about one another and to share with each other, and to listen to each other’s needs and perspectives, the healthier our society and our democracy will be,” Siegel-Hawley said.
‘You still have really racially segregated schools’ While the Delta might be an extreme example, racial disparities between traditional public schools and schools that operate outside the conventional system can be found nationwide.
In Chicago and Houston, roughly 45% of white students attend private schools – compared to just 13% and 7% of non-white students, respectively.
“A lot of the folks with economic means, who are more likely to be white, are now sending their kids to private schools at a higher rate,” said University of California Merced associate professor Whitney Pirtle.
ABC News’ data analysis found that private school students are about 36% more likely than public school students to attend a school where four out of five students are the same race as they are.
“White flight” to private schools leaves urban public schools disproportionately non-white compared to the students who live in their districts. At the typical city public school, white and Asian students are underrepresented by about 20% and Black students are overrepresented by nine percent, the data showed.
At the time of Brown v. Board of Education, charter and magnet schools – publicly funded institutions that can differ from traditional district schools in structure and curriculum – largely did not exist. But today, these schools exacerbate segregation in many districts, according to ABC News’ analysis of NCES data.
In Philadelphia, just 38% of public school students attend their designated neighborhood school – and this rate is on the decline.
Nationally, when compared to all public school students living in their district, Black and Asian students are the most underrepresented at charter schools, followed by Hispanic students. Black students are especially underrepresented at charters in suburban and rural districts.
In Los Angeles, 109 of the district’s public schools are more than twice as white as the students who live there. Over a third of these are charters, compared to 15% of schools where Asian students are significantly overrepresented and just three percent of the dozens of schools where Black students are overrepresented.
“Charter schools do pull money that could go to public schools,” Pirtle said. “We thought that charter schools might be an answer, it might increase access. But I think an unintended consequence of that is that it still was extracting resources from the folks who had the biggest need for those resources.”
Magnet schools were created in the 1960s to encourage voluntary desegregation by attracting diverse students with a shared interest or learning style. But today, they are more than twice as likely as non-magnet schools to have at least one racial group represented at double its district rate, ABC News’ analysis found.
Magnet schools pull a different – but also racially unrepresentative – slice of public school students. Black students tend to be overrepresented and Hispanic students are slightly underrepresented at magnet schools in many cities and towns alike, data showed. In other places, magnet schools have disproportionately white and Asian students.
In Hartford and Bridgeport, Connecticut, the vast majority of students are Black or Hispanic. But over a third of Hartford’s public schools and nearly two-thirds of Bridgeport’s are more than twice as white as the students living there. All but one of those disproportionately white schools in Hartford and about a third of those in Bridgeport are magnets, data showed.
“Choice seems to perpetuate segregation,” Tieken said.
Tieken said that efforts to desegregate American education peaked in the 1980s, explaining that she thinks school segregation is now on the rise.
‘Outdated and unhelpful’ In 1954 when Brown v. Board of Education was decided, American suburbia was reaching unprecedented levels, with new neighborhoods popping up outside cities across the country.
While many of these new communities were not far from cities, they often were in separate school districts, creating a pattern that still exists today in some parts of the country with nearby school systems having vastly different demographics.
“The Northeast and the Midwest are defined by lots of tiny school districts in a bigger metropolitan area, and that fragmentation fragments family choices about where to live and send their kids to school,” Siegel-Hawley said.
In some cases, these racial differences can even appear within the same county.
In suburban Burlington County, New Jersey, non-white students make up roughly 75% of public school students in Beverly, where the population has largely been declining for decades.
Three train stops away, around 75% of the students in the growing community of Cinnaminson are white, according to federal data.
“Families have unequal purchasing power to get into these exclusive, high-wealth school districts [where] they can’t afford a house,” Siegel-Hawley said. “That reinforces school segregation too, because they can’t access the district because of the housing policies.”
A 2019 EdBuild report found that in communities where school districts are run locally, the system of financing education through local property taxes has led to major racial and economic gaps between districts.
Pirtle said this “is really an outdated and unhelpful way to fund schools.”
‘A pretty unique opportunity’ In states where district lines are drawn at the county level, each school within a district can have vastly different demographics from other nearby schools.
These disparities often result from residential segregation within the district. Residential segregation has persisted across America for decades, driven by economic disparities and a history of redlining – a racially discriminatory practice of grading neighborhoods by perceived lending risk, which was banned by the 1968 Fair Housing Act.
The legacy of redlining and its effects on school segregation are evident in Birmingham, Alabama, and its surrounding area, where neighborhoods given the highest grade nearly a century ago are still 94% white, and zones marked in red as “hazardous” are about 80% Black.
In the Jefferson County School District, which serves primarily rural areas outside Birmingham, 41% of public school students are white. However, nine of the district’s schools each have a student population that is at least 90% white.
ABC News’ analysis found patterns like this in rural areas nationwide.
To Tieken, despite their current segregation, districts like these composed of towns with different populations present the ability to increase diversity within individual schools since students already live in the same district.
“Rural districts actually have a pretty unique opportunity … if they’re pulling together several small towns,” she said. “Oftentimes people value an integrated education. We just need to give them the political tools to be able to enjoy that.”
Some scholars say that even when schools make progress in integrating their student body, segregation can often still exist within the walls of the building if programs such as gifted or remedial classes do not resemble the school’s demographics.
“You don’t really see that as segregation because all the kids are going to the public school down the road, but it can play out in that way,” Pirtle said.
Concerns have been raised each year since Brown v. Board of Education over whether America’s schools are still too segregated, but researchers are divided on how to level the academic playing field.
“We have not committed to addressing any of [the problems] for decades, so the scope and landscape of school segregation is not surprising because of our lack of intentionality to tackle the underlying system,” Siegel-Hawley said.
Controversial efforts were made decades ago to create more integrated school environments, such as busing students to distant neighborhoods or consolidating districts.
In 1966, Massachusetts developed the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity to desegregate classrooms in and around Boston by enabling Black students to attend suburban schools, but the initiative was met with protests and, on some occasions, violence.
Although its effectiveness has been questioned in recent years, METCO still exists today and researchers have touted it as a unique way to bring together diverse students across Boston and its suburbs.
Siegel-Hawley said Cambridge, Massachusetts, Berkeley, California, and Jefferson County, Kentucky, have made particularly strong strides recently when it comes to creating systems of voluntary integration that bring students of all racial and socioeconomic backgrounds from different neighborhoods together to learn.
“Desegregation is getting the numbers right,” Siegel-Hawley said. “Integration is that work within the school around truly sharing power and resources and seeing everybody as equally worthy of dignity and belonging.”
(NEW YORK) — A photo of an upside-down American flag flying at the home of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito and his wife Martha-Ann in January 2021 has been obtained by The New York Times.
The flag was “aloft on Jan. 17, 2021,” according to the NYT report, just days before President Joe Biden’s inauguration.
Since the Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and affiliated groups have been known to fly the American flag upside-down in protest of the election victory of President Biden — an expression of false claims that he stole the election.
Alito’s chambers has not responded to an ABC News request for comment.
In a statement to The Times, Alito did not dispute the image. He said he had no involvement in its flying, saying the flag was placed by his wife Martha-Ann Alito, who had been offended by a neighbor’s yard signs.
“I had no involvement whatsoever in the flying of the flag,” Justice Alito said in an emailed statement to the NYT. “It was briefly placed by Mrs. Alito in response to a neighbor’s use of objectionable and personally insulting language on yard signs.”
The Times reported that the yard signs were anti-Donald Trump.
Legal ethics experts, as cited by The New York Times, say this could possibly violate the spirit of the court’s ethics code as well as the recent pledge by Supreme Court justices to avoid the mere appearance of conflict or impropriety or expression of political opinion. Spouses of justices, however, are not bound by judicial ethics codes.
The Supreme Court is expected to rule on two cases regarding the Jan. 6 riots, including whether Trump has immunity for his actions during the riots. The decisions are expected to determine whether the former president can be held accountable for his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
James Sample, a professor and judicial ethics expert at Hofstra Law School, told ABC News that this could present a real headache for the Supreme Court.
“Two scenarios are plausible and neither one of them is attractive: either the flag was trivial pettiness that ought to be beneath the dignity of the Court or it is was intended as meaningful symbolism in which case it is a real problem – especially in the context of Jan. 6 litigation,” Sample said. “Collectively, the scenarios amplify the need for Congress to impose meaningful ethics enforcement on a Court that steadfastly refuses to police itself.”
ABC News has reached out to Martha-Ann Alito for comment.
