(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Prince Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre filed notice Tuesday morning in the Southern District of New York court informing the court that the parties have officially settled the case.
The court document states the case has been dismissed, “with prejudice” and that “each party” will bear their own costs and fees. “It is so stipulated,” the document concludes.
The stipulation for dismissal awaits a signature from the judge.
Last month, Prince Andrew agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit from Giuffre.
The sum of the settlement was not disclosed, and a letter to the court said that Prince Andrew “intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”
Giuffre had alleged that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew, who she claimed took advantage and sexually abused her when she was under 18.
Prince Andrew had repeatedly denied the allegation and attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives.
Giuffre and Epstein settled a civil lawsuit for $500,000 in 2009, which was the basis for Prince Andrew’s argument to have the case dismissed.
Epstein died by suicide at the at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan in 2019. He had been set to stand trial for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Six teenagers have been arrested on murder charges stemming from a drive-by shooting Monday outside a Des Moines, Iowa, high school that left a 15-year-old boy dead and critically injured two female students, police said on Tuesday.
The teenager who was fatally shot is believed to have been the intended target, the Des Moines Police Department said in a statement Tuesday.
Most of the suspects were arrested within an hour of the shooting and all were in custody in several hours, police said.
“While this incident occurred outside of a school, it could have occurred in any one of our neighborhoods. The school is where the suspects found their target,” police said in the statement.
The two wounded teenage girls remained in a hospital Tuesday with life-threatening injuries, police said.
The names of the suspects and the victims were not released.
In addition to first-degree murder, the suspects were charged with two counts each of attempted murder, authorities said.
Overnight, homicide detectives executed multiple residential and vehicle search warrants, and recovered multiple firearms, police said.
The shooting unfolded Monday afternoon outside East High School. The two injured girls were both students at the school, while the slain boy was not, police said.
The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.
“Unfortunately, what happened here … is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.
The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.
(DES MOINES, Iowa) — One teenager is dead and two others remain hospitalized after a shooting Monday afternoon outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, police said.
The shooting occurred outside East High School, according to the Des Moines Police Department.
Two female East High School students, ages 16 and 18, were hospitalized in critical condition.
The teenager who died was a 15-year-old boy. He was not a student at the school.
“Unfortunately what happened here today is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.
The gunfire appears to have come from a passing vehicle, police said.
Police said Monday night that potential suspects have been detained, but no charges have been filed at this time.
“Witnesses are being interviewed, evidence examined, investigative leads followed, and multiple search warrants are being executed,” police said in a news release.
The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.
(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — Police are searching for a suspect after a married couple was found stabbed to death on the side of the road early Sunday morning in Daytona Beach.
“We will spare no expense and leave no stone unturned in order to solve this case,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said in a statement Monday. “I assure you that our detectives are doing all they can to bring justice to the loved ones of these victims.”
Daytona Beach residents Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55, were found with multiple stab wounds and lacerations, police said. They were declared dead at the scene.
According to police, they believe the couple was riding their bicycles from Main Street between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday before they were attacked. Police found them on the corner of Wild Olive and Riverview.
Police said they believe the Aultmans were biking home from Bike Week festivities when the attack happened.
No motive or suspect is known at this time.
Police said they are looking for a man wearing white or light colored pants and potentially a backpack.
Anyone with information is asked to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department.
(NEW YORK) — At least 356 Haitian migrants traveled by boat on a dangerous trek to the coast of the Ocean Reef community in Key Largo, Florida, on March 6, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
CBP took custody of 158 people who swam to the shore from the vessel, according to Alan Regalado, the public affairs specialist for CBP in Florida. The 198 people who stayed on the boat were stopped and transferred to U.S. Coast Guard boats.
“It’s [a] really, really dangerous [trek], especially because of the conditions — I mean, over 300 people in one vessel? I mean, they’re just not equipped for that trip,” Regalado told ABC News.
He added, “Not only that, but the smuggling organizations and everything that migrants have to go through in the process — it’s just not a safe thing to do.”
CBP, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other local and state agencies responded to the incoming vessel.
“Multiple agencies responded quickly & worked closely to protect a lot of lives today,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Neiman, with Coast Guard District Seven, in a tweet.
According to CBP, the processing of such migrants who made it onto U.S. soil after their voyage depends on their claims and background.
However, those 158 migrants may be subject to Title 42, which is a clause of the 1944 Public Health Services law that allows the government to expel migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum during a public health emergency.
Many Haitian refugees have left their countries due to the devastating impacts of natural disasters and political instability that have also resulted in economic struggles for the country.
(NEW YORK) — Jessica Parker, 40, didn’t transition until she was in her 30s.
She suppressed her identity in her conservative, central Texas town out of fear of rejection or violence. But as more and more LGBTQ people came into her life, she finally felt safe enough to come out, identifying publicly as a woman.
“I feel more myself than ever,” Parker told ABC News in an interview. “I’ve been happier than ever. It’s been a struggle, certainly, but it’s been great and I have a good trans community now.”
Her “chosen family” — the close circle of LGBTQ friends and allies she has cultivated — understands the beauty and power of the LGBTQ community and they’ve become a lifeline for her.
When facing rejection from family members or feeling lost about the challenges faced by the LGBTQ community, that’s where a chosen family steps in. Local activist groups, LGBTQ alliances or clubs, or dedicated spaces like queer bars are often the birthplaces of many chosen families.
As anti-LGBTQ policies and legislation proliferate across the country, finding such a community has become a vital tool. For many queer people, a chosen family can be a means for survival.
“That’s what’s beautiful about the trans community,” said D. Ojeda, a senior national organizer at trans advocacy organization National Center for Transgender Equality. Their pronouns are they/them and they identify as nonbinary.
“What makes us so resilient is that we tend to really be resourceful in making sure that our communities get what they need, even if external forces don’t protect us.”
Increase in anti-LGBTQ legislation
2021 was a record-breaking year for anti-LGBTQ legislation, according to the Human Rights Campaign. Legislatures in 2022 are moving full steam ahead with these ongoing efforts — including bills or governmental directives in Florida, Texas, Alabama, Indiana, and more that target these groups.
Recent bills and laws range from attempting to ban some trans children from sports; to banning trans people from the bathroom corresponding with their gender; to banning curricula featuring LGBTQ subjects in some classrooms.
The trans community has taken its safety into its own hands in many cases. Ojeda says trans activists have been dispatched to barbershops and hair salons, health clinics and other service locations to assess a businesses’ acceptance of trans people.
When someone needs a jumpstart on their car, or when someone needs moral support during a health care procedure — a chosen family will ensure that someone will be there to lend a helping hand.
They say it’s because other LGBTQ people often understand the collective struggles, queer joy and nuances of the community in a way only they may understand.
“We’re always looking out for each other,” Ojeda said. “Even when outside forces want to make sure that we don’t exist — that’s going to be an impossible thing to do. Because our community is resilient. We definitely have this strong, unified force. This is our chosen family.
Building a strong network
It’s why Parker, Ojeda and Ricardo Martinez, CEO of LGBTQ advocacy group Equality Texas, encourage LGBTQ youth to find or build a strong moral support system that understands the challenges of being part of the community.
A chosen family can save lives, they say.
According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), LGBTQ community members are at a higher risk for experiencing mental health conditions, including depression, anxiety disorders and suicidal ideations.
Transgender individuals, in particular, are at risk — they are almost four times as likely as cisgender people to experience a mental health condition and suicide, NAMI reports.
The organization also found that discrimination, prejudice, denial of civil and human rights and family rejection are oft the source behind this disparity.
“I’ve made a tremendous amount of friends [in the LGBTQ community], which brings me a tremendous amount of joy. But also heartbreak, right?” Martinez said, referring to the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ legislation and sentiment.
However, he said the heartbreak is short-lived.
He added, “Regardless of what powers are trying to attack us, I know that I can pull back on many of the families that I’ve met, who affirm the identity of their children, folks who I’ve met on the ground who are incredible advocates that have tremendous power not only in their words but in their actions.”
(NEW YORK) — Ketanji Brown Jackson, President Joe Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, has the potential to make history as the first Black woman on the country’s highest court.
She was nominated by a historic White House, with the first female and Black vice president in U.S. history — Kamala Harris.
Black women have continued to “break the glass ceiling,” in politics, sports, the humanities and STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics). Despite this progress, there is still a long way to go to achieve racial and gender diversity.
Here are some of the women paving the way for generations to come:
Erin Jackson, first Black woman to win a medal in speed skating
Jackson, 29, won gold for the United States in the women’s 500-meter speed skating competition at the 2022 Beijing Olympics. She’s the first Black woman to ever medal in the sport.
Diversity in winter sports remains abysmal — Jackson is one of few Black athletes on Team USA for the 2022 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.
When asked by “Good Morning America” co-anchor Robin Roberts about the lack of diversity in the sport, Jackson said she hopes her achievement helps get “more people to come out and try” winter sports.
In an interview with Team USA, she said: “I hope I can be an example. I would love to see more people of color in all the winter sports. It helps to have some visibility out there, to be able to see other people like you doing something maybe you’d never thought about doing before.”
Jackson, who has been an inline roller skater since she was 10 years old, had only begun practicing speed skating in 2017. She qualified for her first Olympic team in 2018 within months of formally starting to train on the ice, according to Team USA.
Simone Leigh, first Black woman to represent the U.S. at the Venice Biennale
The Venice Biennale is one of the most anticipated international art events and in 2022, Leigh will take the world stage to highlight her work made for and dedicated to Black women.
Leigh, born in Chicago, Illinois, is a multimedia artist who explores the experiences of Black femme-identifying people, often referencing African art and traditions of the African Diaspora, according to the Institute of Contemporary Art.
“Leigh’s unique sculptural work explores and elevates ideas about history, race, gender, labor, and monuments, creating and reclaiming powerful narratives of Black women,” the ICA said in the announcement of her participation.
For the Biennale, Leigh created “a series of new sculptures and installations that address what the artist calls an ‘incomplete archive’ of Black feminist thought, with works inspired by leading Black intellectuals,” the ICA said.
Her work will be on view from April 23 to Nov. 27, 2022, in Venice, Italy.
Clarice Phelps, first Black woman to help in the discovery of a periodic element
Phelps is a nuclear chemist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory and in 2010 she played a key role in discovering and confirming Tennessine, a new element on the periodic table. But her groundbreaking work isn’t done — she’s also part of the international effort to discover elements 119 and 120.
Phelps, an advocate for diversity in STEM and youth outreach for the sciences, told ABC News that the discovery of Tennessine was one of the highlights of her career: “While my part may have been small in the entirety of the element discovery team, I think the impact of my presence was monumental for Black girls who don’t normally see themselves occupying spaces and disciplines like this.
“I would hope that the next generation of scientists, engineers, mathematicians, etc., do not have to find themselves alone amongst a sea of faces that do not reflect what they see in the mirror everyday,” she added. “I hope that working in this field allows others to see the valuable contributions that employing diversity yields and make adjustments to enact real change in their workplace environments.”
Jessica Watkins, first Black woman to live on the International Space Station
Watkins has become the first Black woman assigned to a mission at the International Space Station. She will orbit Earth as she conducts research in a microgravity laboratory as a mission specialist for the SpaceX Crew-4 mission.
Watkins, 33, earned a bachelor of science in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, and a doctorate in geology from the University of California, Los Angeles. She joined NASA as an intern and has since worked at various research centers before being selected in 2017 for NASA’s Astronaut Candidate Class.
This will be her first journey to space since becoming an astronaut. She’s officially fulfilling a dream she’s had since she was a young girl.
“A dream feels like a big faraway goal that’s going to be difficult to achieve or something you might achieve much later in life,” Watkins said in a video released by NASA last year. “But in reality, what a dream realized is just one putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis. If you put enough of those footprints together, eventually they become a path towards your dreams.”
(NEW YORK) — Don Natzke, who lost his sight at age 12, says still being able to vote has played a pivotal role in his life.
“It’s true of all citizens, but certainly for people with disabilities, the people who are making the policies are very important to us,” he told ABC News. “For example, what my community chooses to do to have accessible transportation available affects how I’m able to move around my community.”
Natzke, who is now retired, grew up in Wisconsin and says the only way he could vote was to appear at a polling place and have someone read, mark and cast the ballot for him.
“But as technology has moved along, we’ve ended up having the possibility of accessible voting machines and different ways to vote. This is particularly important,” he told ABC News.
Leading up to the 2020 election, in order to expand voting during the pandemic, the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission encouraged the use of absentee ballot drop boxes and allowed a friend or family member to drop off a ballot for another voter. Election officials placed about 570 absentee ballot drop boxes across 66 of the state’s 72 counties.
Natzke says that, since he was high-risk for COVID, he didn’t feel comfortable going to the polls in-person. He had reservations about mail-in-voting because of Postal Service delivery delays. He said having the drop boxes as an option was essential because he was able to have his son, one of his primary caretakers, drop off his ballot.
But now, in the wake of former President Donald Trump’s false claims of voter fraud, states that enacted policies making it easier to vote, such as drop boxes and drive-thru voting, expanded polling hours, and increased absentee voting options, have started to roll back those options.
Disabled voters say they and their caretakers are suffering the consequences.
In Wisconsin, changed election policies will make it harder for disabled voters to cast their ballots, Natzke said. While people with disabilities can still benefit from accommodations such as accessible voting machines, they still face hurdles getting to polling sites and sometimes having to use outdated equipment.
Last month, the Wisconsin Supreme Court denied a request from the elections commission to keep the drop boxes through the state’s April election and barred anyone other than the voter from mailing or returning a ballot.
It comes as the court will hear arguments next month on whether it’s valid to use drop boxes in future elections.
Rick Esenberg, president and general counsel of the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty, which brought the lawsuit challenging guidelines allowing drop boxes, told ABC News he’s not necessarily against drop boxes but says it’s up to state lawmakers, not election officials, to change election rules.
Since the 2020 election, Wisconsin’s GOP-controlled legislature has passed a slew of election-related bills. However, with many of them adding more requirements to voting or giving more power to partisan actors, Democratic Gov. Tony Evers says he will veto any legislation that makes it harder for people to vote.
Esenberg and other backers of the policy rollbacks in Wisconsin say their efforts are aimed at cracking down on election fraud, despite no serious fraud having been found in the 2020 election.
Esenberg also pushed back on claims disabled voters are being disenfranchised, saying people with disabilities can vote by requesting “door-to-door” service through the Postal Service to get their ballot delivered. Advocates say that doesn’t always work because some disabled voters are confined to bed.
Those in the disability community say there are still roadblocks for some with mobility issues, and argue the legislature’s work is causing harm.
“Well, it’s democracy,” Esenberg responds. “What you have to do at that point, is go out and win small elections. So, your side will have a majority in the legislature and you’ll be able to get what you want.”
“The disability community is not against fraud-free elections; we’re not against that. But we also don’t want our civil rights trampled on in the process,” said Stephanie Birmingham, an advocacy coordinator at Options for Independent Living and someone who has used a wheelchair since an early age.
Natzke agrees, saying there is no evidence of widespread fraud. “The cure is far worse than the illness.”
Just this year, 27 states have pre-filed or introduced legislation making it more difficult for people to vote. At least three of those states introduced measures specifically aimed at people with disabilities that make it harder to vote, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In Texas, under new voting law S.B. 1 — which includes new requirements to mail-in voting, more power to partisan poll watchers, and cuts back on early voting hours — lawmakers added new requirements and potential criminal penalties for assisting voters, including those with disabilities.
Now, aides must fill out extensive paperwork and take an oath that they did not pressure the voter to choose them for assistance.
Voters with disabilities and their aides say they are left to fend for themselves, trying to figure out what the new rules mean.
Barbara Beckert, director of the Disability Rights Wisconsin’s Milwaukee office, said she has experienced a significant influx of calls from caretakers as well as voters voicing frustration, hurt and confusion about the rollback of drop boxes and absentee ballot return assistance A main reason is that some of the new rules contradict legal disability protections.
Though Wisconsin state law says only the voter may return his or her ballot, section 208 of the Voting Rights Act permits a voter with a disability from getting help doing so from a person of their choice.
“It’s my understanding that in a situation like that, federal law would preempt the state law. However, you know, this is a difficult situation. It’s been very challenging to know how to advise a voter in that situation,” she explains.
The difficulties come as turnout among voters with disabilities has surged in recent years. In 2020, all disability types and demographic groups experienced higher turnout, with nearly 62% of all people with disabilities voting, according to recent data from the Program for Disability Research at Rutgers University and the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Now, they worry the new measures will reverse those historic gains.
Texas just held the first primary of the midterm season, and advocates say the new rules imposed significant challenges.
“We talked to one lady the other day who had applied multiple times and never got her ballot, so she ended up not voting,” Chase Bearden, deputy director of Coalition of Texans with Disabilities, told ABC News.
And in Wisconsin, voters are bracing for April’s election, where judicial, educational and municipal officers are on the ballot.
Don Natzke, now a senior citizen, hopes for a better understanding of the hurdles people with disabilities often face.
“We recognize that there are times that we all need to accomplish what everybody else needs to do. But sometimes we need to do that differently,” Natze said. “It makes me wonder, you know, is my vote really something that’s valued?”
(NEW YORK) — Matthew and Christy Johnson describe watching the Russian invasion of Ukraine as “heart-wrenching.”
The Johnsons, of Littleton, Colorado, are one of hundreds of families in the United States who were in the process of adopting a child from Ukraine when the conflict there began.
“It feels like living through a nightmare,” Matthew Johnson told “Good Morning America.” “She’s not legally our daughter but for all intents and purposes we feel like our daughter is over there with bombs flying around her, and all we can do is pray.”
The Johnsons, parents of five biological children, first met the child they hope to adopt, an 8-year-old girl named Margarita, this summer when they hosted her for several weeks through Host Orphans Worldwide, a nonprofit organization that matches host families in the U.S. with Ukrainian children.
Margarita returned to Colorado in December to spend the holidays with the Johnsons, and flew back to Ukraine on Jan. 15.
The Johnsons said they received one of the final pieces of documentation needed for the adoption process just days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.
Now, they said they are waiting daily to hear about the safety of Margarita, who lives in southeastern Ukraine.
“Over the past several months we’ve been able to do video chats or send her messages and packages, but we haven’t heard anything [from her] for the last week,” said Christy Johnson. “So it’s been really heart-wrenching.”
The Johnsons said they have heard from other families in the U.S. that the institution where Margarita is staying is safe, but they have no idea what is next for the young girl they describe as “funny and delightful” and a member of their family.
“When she left in January we were telling her, ‘We’ll come. We’ll see you in Spring,'” said Matthew Johnson. “Now it’s devastating. We can’t fulfill that promise anymore.”
While more than 1.2 million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, millions more people remain in the country, including children.
Prior to the war, approximately 100,000 children in Ukraine were being raised in institutions, according to government statistics, a United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF, spokesperson told ABC News.
Many of the institutions are located in hot spots, according to the spokesperson, who added that many of the children in institutions, such as boarding schools and orphanages, have disabilities.
These institutions are being evacuated without proper monitoring of the children’s situation, according to UNICEF.
Hannah and Brent Romero, of Villa Platte, Louisiana, said they submitted the final paperwork to adopt a 15-year-old boy from Ukraine on Jan. 17, just weeks before the war began.
The boy, whose name they asked not be used, has Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune condition in which a person’s body no longer makes insulin.
“We ask him every day about that and he says he’s doing OK,” said Brent Romero. “But I think he’s not telling us the full truth because he doesn’t want us to worry more than we’re already worried about his health.”
The Romeros said they are able to stay in touch with the boy — whom they have known since 2019, when they hosted him for nearly eight weeks in Louisiana — through text messages mostly while he shelters in place in Lviv, a city in western Ukraine.
“We stay up until he’s awake so we can see if we can catch him before we go to sleep,” said Hannah Romero. “He told me yesterday, ‘I didn’t sleep well … because the air raid sirens kept going off and we had to go in the basement.'”
Hannah Romero, a high school English teacher, and Brent Romero, a pastor, are flying from Louisiana to Poland on Friday to join a group of Americans who have gathered there to help support children who make it out of Ukraine.
Hannah Romero said she plans to stay in Poland for two weeks, while Brent Romero said he plans to stay indefinitely, until he can bring the 15-year-old boy home. The couple, already parents of two sons, said they are also hoping to take in the boy’s 11-year-old sister, whom they have never met.
“We’re not asking permission to adopt them right now,” said Hannah Romero. “We’re asking permission to bring them here temporarily, just to keep them safe and until everything else can be figured out.”
She continued, “It might take years to figure everything else out, but that’s OK. We need them to be safe in the time being.”
Hundreds of miles away from the Romeros, in Florida, Kelly Lee, a mom of five, including four adopted children, is working to help a 16-year-old girl she is in the process of adopting get safely to the U.S.
Lee, of Oviedo, Florida, and her husband, Kevin, are now applying for tourist visas for the girl and her sister and 7-year-old nephew, all of whom were able to escape to Hungary.
“The whole [adoption] process is on hold, and it’s really just a matter of getting them safe is what’s important,” said Lee. “Our first attempt is to apply for these tourist visas.”
Lee said she has seen what she describes as an “army of moms” working together in the U.S. to help children in Ukraine, connecting on social media and helping each other navigate language barriers and the extreme circumstances of war.
“We’re getting messages from families saying, ‘We need help. We have this kid we need out,'” said Lee. “So it’s been a joke that it’s like an army of moms have come together to try to get their children. They’re researching in a country that they can’t even read websites, but they’re trying to figure out buses and trains.”
In Oregon, Jennifer Mitchell, is one of the moms leading the charge.
Mitchell, a mom of eight, including three children adopted from Ukraine, is one of the founders of Host Orphans Worldwide, the organization that matches host families in the U.S. with Ukrainian children.
While Host Orphans Worldwide does not facilitate adoptions, about 75% of kids in its program end up getting adopted by people in the U.S., according to Mitchell. She said Ukraine has a high number of U.S. adoptions because it has both one of the shortest wait times for international adoption and one of the largest populations of children in need.
Mitchell’s husband traveled to Poland this week to assist a team on the ground supporting refugees, while Mitchell is home in Oregon coordinating between families in the U.S. and orphanage directors in Ukraine.
“We’ve gotten money to them to buy food because they were running out, and we’ve helped with bus transportation and train tickets to get kids out of Ukraine,” she said. “We have a few orphanages in the eastern part of the country that are surrounded and it is safer for them to stay put than to move. It is a dire situation.”
Mitchell said in one of those orphanages is a 12-year-old girl she and her husband were in the process of adopting, noting they have not spoken to her in over a week.
“There’s probably closer to 100 kids in that orphanage,” she said. “Even evacuating them puts a target on their back.”
With no end in sight to the conflict with Russia, Mitchell said she fears what the end result will be for children in Ukraine.
“The orphan crisis in Ukraine was already bad and this, it’s just going to be a humanitarian emergency,” she said. “It is horrific.”
