(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new drug Tuesday to treat a rare form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
The drug Qalsody (tofersen) is expected to help people with a very specific mutation, SOD1, which applies to only 2% of the ALS population.
In a statement, the FDA said it estimates “there are fewer than 500 patients with SOD1-ALS in the United States.”
Among those who qualify, the drug has the potential to slow muscle degeneration by targeting SOD1 mRNA, or mRNA, genetic material that tells the body how to make proteins to reduce the protein being made.
Studies showed that the drug reduced plasma neurofilament light (NfL), a blood-based biomarker of axonal (nerve) injury and neurodegeneration, according to the FDA.
“Patients receiving Qalsody had nominally significant reductions in plasma NfL concentration at Week 28 compared to the placebo arm,” the FDA said in a statement.
The drug is given via a lumbar puncture — or a spinal injection — with three doses in 14-day intervals, followed by monthly dosing.
Researchers determined Qalsody to be safe with the most common side effects being pain, fatigue, joint and muscle pain and increased white blood cells in cerebrospinal fluid.
The drug was given conditional approval by the FDA under the fast track designation. Biogen, which makes the drug, will still need to complete additional and larger studies on its effectiveness.
It comes after the FDA approved another drug from Biogen, Aduhelm, in 2021 to treat Alzheimer’s disease despite a lack of evidence that it is effective.
ALS, also sometimes known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a neurodewngerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain, leading to weakness and paralysis.
The disease often begins with patients experiencing muscle twitching and weakness in one arm or leg followed by having difficulty swallowing or slurring speech.
Patients’ conditions eventually decline to a point at which they are unable to move, speak, eat or even breathe on their own.
According to an 2017 estimate from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 32,000 people in the U.S. live with ALS.
There is no cure, but some already approved treatments may help. It is always fatal, according to the ALS Association.
(WASHINGTON) — Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday made a her case for a “consensus” on abortion, an issue that continues to divide conservatives. But she stopped short of adopting strict stances — such as embracing or rejecting a national ban at a certain week in pregnancy — beyond saying the government needed to have some role and stressed that she wanted fewer abortions in the country.
“My record on abortion is long and clear. … I want to save as many lives and help as many moms as possible. That is my goal. To do that at the federal level, the next president must find national consensus,” Haley said in remarks at the anti-abortion group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America’s office in Virginia on Tuesday morning.
Haley, the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina, reaffirmed her anti-abortion position, saying her priority as a candidate is to “save as many babies as we can while supporting women in difficult situations.”
But as leading Republicans like former Vice President Mike Pence have heartedly endorsed some sort of federal ban on abortion — and only days after prospective 2024 candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed a six-week abortion ban into law — Haley took another stance.
“I do believe there is a federal role on abortion. Whether we can save more lives nationally depends entirely on doing what no one has done to date: finding consensus,” she said. “That’s what I will strive to do.”
“Abortion is a deeply personal topic for both women and men,” she said. “I understand why. Someone’s body and someone else’s life are not things to be taken lightly, and they should not be politicized. The issue should be addressed with sensitivity and respect, not judgment and hate.”
In the wake of Roe v. Wade being reversed by the Supreme Court last summer, a series of state-level laws on abortion access have since rippled across the country, leading to numerous legal and legislative battles.
Voters have also repeatedly backed abortion access when it is on the ballot, in Kentucky, Michigan, Vermont and elsewhere.
“The pro-life laws that have passed in strongly Republican states will not be approved at the federal level,” Haley said in her speech, a seeming nod to the belief that a national abortion ban is not politically feasible, even if she were president.
Haley did offer some broad ideas regarding abortion and reproductive rights, including supporting adoptive families, advocating for “pro-life doctors and nurses,” limiting elective late-term abortions, increasing access to contraception and, in a subtle rebuke of a minority of her Republican colleagues, opposing efforts to criminalize women who get abortions.
“Surely, we can all agree that abortion up until the time of birth is a bridge too far,” she said. “Only seven countries on earth allow elective late-term abortions. We’re talking brutal regimes like communist China and North Korea. We should be able to agree that contraception should be more available, not less. And we can all agree that women who get abortions should not be jailed. A few have even called for the death penalty. That’s the least pro-life position I can possibly imagine.”
In response to her speech, a Democratic National Committee spokesperson sought to paint Haley as an extremist “MAGA Republican” and pointed to her time as governor, when she signed a 20-week abortion ban in South Carolina in 2016.
“She’s already signed an abortion ban with no exceptions for rape or incest that threatened to throw doctors and nurses in jail,” DNC spokesperson Rhyan Lake said, in part. “2024 Republicans are clamoring to prove they’d be the most extreme, anti-choice nominee in history in a desperate chase to out-MAGA each other, and they’ll stop at nothing to completely ban abortion nationwide.”
(WASHINGTON) — The world’s second-largest tobacco company has agreed to pay what the Department of Justice is saying is “the single largest North Korean sanctions penalty in the history of the Department of Justice.”
The British American Tobacco subsidiary pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit bank fraud and violating U.S. sanctions against North Korea by selling tobacco products to the country between 2007 and 2017, according to newly unsealed court documents. North Korea rakes in as much as $20 for every $1 spent in the production and trafficking of counterfeit cigarettes, and “a substantial portion of this profit is believed to flow back directly to the North Korean government, its military and its WMD program,” according to U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C., Matt Graves.
“To those companies and individuals thinking of evading international sanctions on North Korea, be forewarned. If you conspire with North Korea, you are helping to grow their illegal weapons of mass destruction and ballistic military programs.” Suzanne Turner, assistant director of the FBI’s Inspection Division, said at a press conference Tuesday.
The $508 million settlement BAT reached with the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control — the “maximum statutory penalty available” — is OFAC’s “largest settlement ever with a non-financial institution,” according to Undersecretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson.
“The DPRK’s murderous repression at home and relentless pursuit of nuclear capabilities threaten not just its own people, but the entire international community. Allowing funds to illegally flow into the coffers of the DPRK is an unconscionable act,” said Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew Olsen, who added that the case would “serve as a warning shot to companies” that attempt to evade sanctions.
The company noted steps it has taken so that it is “better equipped to lead a responsible and sustainable business.”
“On behalf of BAT, we deeply regret the misconduct arising from historical business activities that led to these settlements, and acknowledge that we fell short of the highest standards rightly expected of us,” Jack Bowles, chief executive of BAT, said in the Tuesday statement.
Beginning in 2007, BAT outsourced sales to North Korea to a third-party Singapore-based company, resulting in over $400 million in transactions passing through the banking system, according to the documents. North Korean buyers served as a front for the Hermit Kingdom, the documents add.
BAT says it has entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with DOJ while its Singaporean subsidiary entered into a plea agreement with the Department of Justice.
The company also entered into a settlement with the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, with the total amount payable to the U.S. through all three cases reaching $635.2 million plus interest.
(ERIE, Pa.) — It’s been over a decade since researchers began looking into microplastics in the Great Lakes.
Now, the issue is getting renewed attention amid broader concerns about the potential effects of microplastics on the human body and a possible future link to the hydro-fracking boom currently happening in the region.
Microplastics form as plastic pieces in the environment erode into smaller and smaller pieces, eventually becoming so small that they can’t be seen with the naked eye, according to Sherri Mason, director of sustainability at Penn State University’s Barr Campus on Lake Erie, who’s spent years researching microplastics in waterways.
Unlike other types of litter, the plastic bits will take far longer to disappear.
“If you were to see a paper bag on the side of the road, it’s unsightly, but within weeks it has completely, what we call, mineralized. There are organisms in the soil that can use it as a food source,” Mason told ABC News’ Start Here podcast host Brad Mielke.
Mason’s research has focused on Lake Erie, which has a concentration of microplastic that rivals the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a floating landfill that’s twice the size of Texas, according to multiple studies.
But the majority of plastic in Lake Erie is less than 5 millimeters in diameter, much of it approaching microscopic size “about the width of a human hair,” Mason said. She describes it as a “smog” of particles drifting around, which also makes it impossible to meaningfully clean up.
Mason and her students spent a year collecting samples of trash from Lake Erie and sorted them into different categories.
“Thousands of bottles is the No. 1 thing. Bottles and cups, and then a lot of chip bags. It’s mostly a lot of food packaging,” Mason said.
Before plastic gets pressed into a shape like a water bottle or bag, it starts off as plastic pellets that get fed into big machines.
The pellets, about the size of a grain of rice, are transported by millions on freight trains before being siphoned out onto trucks that take them to factories. Not far from the banks of Lake Erie, small piles of pellets litter the tracks where they’ve spilled out during this process, Mason said. When it rains, the pellets start making their way into nearby Mill Creek and later into lakes and oceans.
And it’s just one of the ways that plastic can end up in bodies of water, according to Mason.
What’s more, one study suggests that the average person may be ingesting about 5 grams of plastic per week, or the equivalent to the mass of a credit card, according to a study commissioned by the World Wildlife Fund. Microplastics have even been found in the lungs of living people, according to recent research. Mason said that microplastics are getting so small that in some cases they are able to find their way beyond the digestive tract.
“When you get a piece that’s smaller than a hundred microns or the width of a human hair, they can migrate across the gastrointestinal tract. They get carried in the blood. We have found them in the blood, and they can make their way into certain organs. They can make their way across the placental boundary,” Mason said.
The World Health Organization says that although more research is needed, so far it has found no direct evidence that microplastics make people sick. The Plastic Industry Association, which represents plastic makers, said in a statement that claims about microplastics “lack sound data,” and that plastic is overwhelmingly safe. In fact, the association said, plastics are essential to hygiene, which is why it is in so many medical products.
But Mason is concerned that the use of plastics shows no signs of slowing down.
The Midwest is currently in the midst of a hydro-fracking boom, and half of the fracking wells in Pennsylvania produce ethane. Ethane can be turned into polyethylene, which is the most common type of plastic.
“So now there is a connection between basically hydro-fracking and the plastics industry,” Mason said.
Last year, a new plant opened just north of Pittsburgh that converts this material into plastic, and two more facilities are being proposed in Ohio.
According to the Center for International Environmental Law, the health of the fossil fuel industry is deeply reliant on plastics, and these investments could cause plastic production to spike.
Mason believes that the ultimate responsibility to curb plastic usage lies with the companies that make and use them.
“You’ve given your money to that corporation. You end up with their container, which you don’t want, but then you also have to pay to get rid of it. You have to pay to clean it out of the water,” Mason said.
(NEW YORK) — Musician Ed Sheeran was in Manhattan federal court Tuesday as opening statements began in a copyright infringement trial involving alleged similarities between his Grammy-winning song “Thinking Out Loud” and the Marvin Gaye classic “Let’s Get It On.”
Sheeran, seated in a dark suit and tie at the defense table, listened to the opening statements in the case, which was brought forth by the heirs to “Let’s Get It On” co-writer Ed Townsend.
“If you remember nothing else about this trial, about this case, simply remember it is about giving credit where credit is due,” said renowned civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the heirs of Townsend.
The lawsuit claims that Sheeran, without permission, took the rhythm, chord progression and other elements for his 2014 song “Thinking Out Loud” from “Let’s Get It On,” which Crump said has become a “cornerstone” in the American experience.
“It has been called the perfect song for ‘that moment,'” Crump said of Gaye’s 1973 soul classic. “Some of you may know what I mean by ‘that moment.'”
Crump said Sheeran “recognized the magic of ‘Let’s Get It On'” and infringed on its copyright for the tune that won him his first Grammy.
Sheeran’s attorney, Ilene Farkas, said Sheeran and co-writer Amy Wadge “independently created” the song “Thinking Out Loud.”
“Their song was born from an emotional conversation,” Farkas said. “It was their original creation.”
The defense referred to the chord progression and rhythm of “Thinking Out Loud” as “basic musical building blocks that no one can own” and said the rest of the alleged similarities “do not exist.”
Crump said the plaintiffs “have a smoking gun”: a videotape of Sheeran in concert merging “Thinking Out Loud” with “Let’s Get It On.”
“In that video you will see Mr. Ed Sheeran switching from ‘Thinking Out Loud’ and then to ‘Let’s Get It On’ and then he switches back to ‘Thinking Out Loud,'” Crump said, arguing that demonstrates the infringing similarities.
Farkas said Sheeran and Wadge were thinking about personal loss and the recording of “Thinking Out Loud” had nothing to do with Gaye and Townsend’s song.
“‘Thinking Out Loud’ is a song about finding everlasting, unconditional love,” Farkas said.
The trial comes after Townsend’s heirs sued Sheeran, Warner Music Group and Sony Music Publishing in 2017.
There is a keyboard set up near the witness stand for an expert musicologist who is expected to testify during the trial.
Sheeran previously won a 2022 copyright infringement case involving “Shape of You,” while Gaye’s heirs, who are not involved in this current lawsuit, won a case in 2015 against Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams involving “Got to Give it Up.”
(MIAMI) — As the Republican field for president takes shape around former President Donald Trump, with Gov. Ron DeSantis expected to launch his own campaign by the summer, a third Floridian is angling to possibly join the 2024 race.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez is weighing a bid for the White House, recently telling ABC affiliate WMUR that he would be making a decision “shortly” on whether to run. Suarez has visited multiple early nominating states, including a visit last week to New Hampshire where he spoke at the Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm College, a staple venue for many mulling a presidential campaign.
There, Suarez highlighted his profile and backstory as the Hispanic son of a former Miami mayor and the Republican executive of a major American city, who was easily reelected in 2021. He touted his policy credentials on the economy and anti-crime measures and criticized the Biden administration for its Middle East and China policies.
As he takes some of the typical early steps before running for president, Suarez is previewing his case to occupy a potential third lane in a Republican primary that has so far largely featured Trump and DeSantis’ conservative styles. Amid a surge in Hispanic support for the GOP in some parts of the country, including Florida, Suarez offers a more centrist tone on migration and climate issues than his state’s governor and Trump, the party standard-bearer.
On climate change, he told CBS in July that “the problem for us is not theoretical … it’s real.”
He’s also made national headlines by inviting corporate heavyweights and startups alike, from asset managers to cryptocurrency traders, to make Miami their place of business.
In New Hampshire on April 18, Suarez said a relationship with the Hispanic community would be critical for the Republican nominee in 2024. More than 70% of the city of Miami is Hispanic, according to the latest census data.
Suarez suggested the GOP nominate “someone that can communicate and connect with Hispanics … [someone who can] help Republicans win elections for a generation, not just for one presidency.”
The nominee should have another quality, he said. “I’d want that person to have a positive — I’m going to stress that word — positive vision for the future. I think we’re getting a lot of negativity, a lot of divisiveness.”
Suarez won his second term as mayor with some 79% of the vote in Miami. A year later, DeSantis carried the Democratic stronghold of broader Miami-Dade County, becoming the first Republican gubernatorial candidate to win there in two decades. DeSantis had lost the county by about 20 points in 2018.
In New Hampshire, Suarez echoed other Republican criticism that DeSantis’ outreach in the party and initial public appearances across the country have been lackluster: “He seems to struggle with relationships, generally. I look people in the eye when I shake their hands.”
The mayor’s remarks came as a growing number of Florida congressional delegation members endorsed Trump for president, even before DeSantis has announced his own bid.
“[R]etail politics matters. The ability to go in particular places like Iowa, New Hampshire … is at times [about] meeting with just a handful of voters at once,” Matt Terrill, the managing partner at Firehouse Strategies, told ABC News.
Terrill said Trump was skilled in that art. “Trump, when he was the president at the time, would be inviting congressional members on Air Force One — many of those members from Florida — he’d be calling up members constantly playing golf with them.”
Appearing on Fox News on Thursday, Suarez declined any invitations to criticize Trump.
(ATLANTA) — On Jan. 2, 2021, former President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to win the state in the 2020 election.
The now-infamous phone call helped spark a criminal investigation launched the following month by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis looking into the efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Here’s a look at how the probe — one of several investigations involving the former president — has unfolded so far:
Nov. 3, 2020
Voters head to the polls in the 2020 general election.
Nov. 7, 2020
Multiple media organizations, including ABC News, call the election for Joe Biden based on the projected electoral vote count, as several states, including Georgia, have yet to be projected.
Nov. 10, 2020
The Trump campaign requests a hand recount in Georgia, where Biden leads by about 14,000 votes out of nearly 5 million cast in the presidential race.
Nov. 11, 2020
Raffensperger, a Republican, announces that due to how slim the vote margin is between Biden and Trump, the state’s planned audit will trigger a “full by-hand recount in each county” of the presidential race.
Nov. 19, 2020
The results of Georgia’s statewide audit, which entailed that counties recount by hand every vote cast in the presidential race, reaffirm Biden as the winner — by a margin of 12,284 votes. It’s the first time since 1992 that a Democrat will win the state.
Nov. 20, 2020
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and Raffensperger certify the results of the general election, making it official that Biden won the state’s 16 electoral votes.
Nov. 24, 2020
Georgia’s 159 counties start counting the votes cast in the presidential race for a third time, after the Trump campaign requests a machine recount.
Dec. 6, 2020
Raffensperger defends the integrity of the general election, telling ABC News Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos during an interview on “This Week” that his office has yet to find evidence supporting “systemic fraud” that would change the outcome.
Dec. 7, 2020
Raffensperger and Kemp recertify the state’s election results after a recount requested by Trump confirms once again that Biden won the state. The audit found that Biden won by a margin of 11,779 votes.
Dec. 22, 2020
Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff at the time, visits Georgia’s Cobb County to observe a signature match audit.
Dec. 23, 2020
Amid the signature match audit in Cobb County, Trump phones a chief investigator in Raffensperger’s office to discuss the audit, telling the investigator they would be praised for finding errors in the vote count, according to an individual familiar with the call.
Jan. 2, 2021
In an hourlong phone call obtained by ABC News, Trump calls Raffensperger and falsely claims that it was “not possible” for him to have lost and asks the secretary to “find 11,780 votes” — the exact number Trump needed to win Georgia.
“The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry, and there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump says on the call. “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. … Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”
Meadows was also heard speaking on the call.
Raffensperger challenged the president’s allegations, saying the data Trump is citing about tens of thousands of illegal votes “is wrong.”
Feb. 10, 2021
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis notifies Kemp that her office has launched an investigation into efforts by Trump and his allies to overturn the results of the 2020 election, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
The letter asked state officials to preserve any documents potentially related to the 2020 general election, “with particular care given to set aside and preserve those that may be evidence of attempts to influence the actions of persons who were administering” it, which would include Trump’s phone call with Raffensperger.
Jan. 20, 2022
Willis requests to seat a special grand jury in her probe, according to a letter obtained by ABC News. In the letter to Fulton County Chief Judge Christopher Brasher, Willis wrote that the move is needed because “a significant number of witnesses and prospective witnesses have refused to cooperate with the investigation absent a subpoena requiring their testimony.”
May 2, 2022
Twenty-six jurors are selected for a special grand jury in Willis’ investigation.
The special grand jury does not have the ability to return an indictment and can only make recommendations concerning criminal prosecution. Should charges be recommended, it would then be up to Willis to determine whether or not to pursue them.
July 19, 2022
New court documents reveal that 16 people identified as “fake electors” have been notified that they are targets of the Fulton County district attorney’s criminal investigation, new court documents reveal.
Aug. 15, 2022
Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, is informed he is considered a “target” of the Fulton County district attorney’s probe, according to sources familiar with the matter.
Nov. 1, 2022
The U.S. Supreme Court rejects Sen. Lindsey Graham bid to block a subpoena for testimony before the special grand jury. Graham, in the aftermath of the 2020 election, called Georgia election officials to discuss the election.
Nov. 8, 2022
Voters head to the polls in Georgia for a primary election where Raffensperger is up for reelection for his secretary of state seat. Trump supports Rep. Jody Hice in the primary.
Nov. 18, 2022
A hand count of random batches of votes confirms Raffensperger has won reelection, state election officials announce.
Jan. 9, 2023
A new filing indicates that the special grand jury has finished its work and submitted its final report following months of closed-door testimony.
The jurors heard testimony from some of Trump’s closest allies and supporters, including lawyers Rudy Giuliani and John Eastman, and Sen. Graham.
Jan. 24, 2023
Willis says during a hearing that charging decisions in the case are “imminent.”
Feb. 13, 2023
Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney rules that portions of the special grand jury’s report can be released in the coming days, though the majority of the report will remain sealed. Willis had argued for the report to remain sealed, saying that it was important to “be mindful of protecting future defendants’ rights.”
Feb. 16, 2023
Excerpts from the special grand jury’s report are released, revealing that the jury has recommended to prosecutors that they seek indictments against witnesses who they believe may have lied during their testimony.
“A majority of the grand jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it,” the grand jury wrote in the report. “The Grand Jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.”
The excerpts from the report do not list any names of those who grand jury members believe may have committed perjury nor offer any rationale for its allegations of perjury.
There are also no details revealed regarding whether or not the grand jury recommended changes for anyone related to efforts to overturn the election. The excerpts do not identify any of the 75 witnesses interviewed and do not mention Trump by name.
Following their release, a spokesperson for Trump said the excerpts “have nothing to do with the President because President Trump did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“The President participated in two perfect phone calls regarding election integrity in Georgia, which he is entitled to do — in fact, as President, it was President Trump’s Constitutional duty to ensure election safety, security, and integrity,” the spokesperson said.
Feb. 21, 2023
In a series of print and television interviews, Emily Kohrs, the foreperson of the special grand jury, reveals that jurors recommended charges for several individuals, without naming any of them — and intimated that the former president is among them.
“You’re not going to be shocked,” Kohrs told The New York Times about whether her panel recommended charges against Trump. “It’s not rocket science.”
March 20, 2023
Trump’s attorneys file a motion seeking to throw out the special grand jury report and remove the district attorney’s office leading the investigation.
March 27, 2023
McBurney gives Willis’ office until May 1 to respond to Trump’s motion to quash the special grand jury report.
April 24, 2023
Willis indicates her office will announce any charging decisions sometime between July 11 and Sept. 1, 2023, in a letter to law enforcement.
(TALLHASSEE, Fla.) — Hundreds of drag queens and allies are expected to march Tuesday in protest of recent legislation that organizers say is attacking the LGBTQ community.
The rally is expected to draw advocates statewide in Tallahassee Tuesday afternoon for a march to the state Capitol, where speakers are scheduled to include state Sen. Linda Stewart and Sen. Shevrin Jones and state Rep. Anna Eskamani, among others, organizers said.
The march comes nearly a week after the Republican-led state legislature passed a bill banning children from adult live performances, which LGBTQ advocates say targets drag shows.
“Drag Queens are not just entertainers, we’re valued contributors to society — small business owners, parents, teachers, nurses, first responders and much more. Floridians know we pose no threat,” Darcel Stevens, a drag queen activist from Orlando who organized Tuesday’s protest, said in a statement.
“That’s why we’re united here using our powerful collective voices to encourage political activism, register voters, and resist policies that harm us and the brothers and sisters in our LGBTQIA+ community” Stevens continued. “We are not going anywhere, we will not be silent, we will rise up and we will fight back.”
SB 1438, known as the Protection of Children Act, would allow the state to fine, suspend or revoke the food and beverage licenses of businesses that admit children to any “adult live performance.” The bill defines this as “any exhibition, or other presentation in front of a live audience” that “depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, or specific sexual activities” or other “lewd conduct.”
“Anything from local brunches, theatrical productions such as Shakespeare or the Mrs. Doubtfire musical, to major concerts featuring performers like Madonna or Sam Smith could all be canceled by venues who fear elements of Drag will be in violation of the law,” Equality Florida said in a press release on the event.
The law, which is awaiting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ signature, comes after his administration moved to revoke the liquor license of a Miami hotel that hosted a Christmas drag show.
(NEW YORK) — As many communities across the United States struggle with mass shootings, malicious actors are increasingly targeting schools with false reports of shootings, using the fear of gun violence and 911 calls to afflict terror about another potentially deadly incident, experts told ABC News.
Callers have caused confusion and delays, prompted law enforcement to expend vital resources and exposed the vulnerabilities of schools to potential future shootings. Commonly called “swatting” incidents, these instances employ technology to disguise phone calls that signal a threat, often prompting a local Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team to a specific address, according to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
A Growing Threat
“Somebody just shot seven students in the bathroom,” a caller told the Onondaga County, New York, 911 Dispatch Center around 10:15 a.m. on March 30. Officers from four different law enforcement agencies with long rifles and tactical gear rushed toward Westhill High School in Syracuse, New York. The call would later be deemed a hoax, but in that moment, officers believed it was the “real thing,” Geddes Police Chief John Fall told ABC News.
“The hardest part about any situation like this is everyone has a little bit of information,” Westhill Central School District Superintendent Stephen Dunham said to ABC News. “No one has all the information.”
No student had been shot in the school’s bathroom, yet parents and community members who learned of law enforcement’s response feared their school might be the next target of a mass shooting.
“You could see it on people’s faces, where it’s like, ‘I didn’t know for a couple minutes if I was going to be driving to the high school to have to identify my kids’ body,'” Dunham said.
On March 30 alone – the same day as the Westhill High incident – 226 schools across New York state were impacted by 36 false reports of mass shooting incidents, according to New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, who has called for a full-scale investigation from the FBI of the incidents.
Just three days before the hoax at Westhill, a lone shooter killed three children and three adults at a school in Nashville, Tennessee.
Swatting calls have become common over the last decade, with criminals calling in threats on rival gamers or activists. Schools, however, have become frequent targets this year, multiple experts told ABC News. The number of swatting calls has at least doubled over the last year, according to James Turgal, the former chief information officer of the FBI and the current vice president of information security company Optiv.
Experts said swatting incidents are similar to the rise of school bomb threats in the 1990s.
“It’s the best thing we have to compare it to, but the comparisons fall apart pretty quickly,” Mo Canady, the executive director of the National Association of School Resource Officers, told ABC News.
Swatting calls attempt to mimic what a “victim” of a fabricated shooting would tell authorities, while bomb threats are commonly made from the perspective of the person who placed the fictional bomb. Canady said a person who planted a real bomb has little incentive to call in a threat to clear people from their target. At the same time, a shooting victim would try to immediately contact the police for assistance – complicating the perceived importance of these calls.
“Those two males, approximately 6 feet tall; the male said he’s hiding in a stall and they were walking toward him and disconnected. He advised they had AR-15s, however, it sounded like he was trying to change his accent,” according to a police scanner on April 5 about a potential shooting at Valparaiso University in Indiana.
Authorities later determined the incident posed no credible threat and no weapons found.
“Even if that dispatcher can kind of create some doubt of whether or not this is a legitimate call, there is still local law enforcement that is running to that school,” Turgal told ABC News.
The exact reason for the surge in incidents is unclear, though multiple experts suggest the proliferation of accessible technology has enabled swatters. Computer programs have allowed callers to disguise their identity with a computer-generated voice, while advances in artificial intelligence have made these voices increasingly believable, according to Don Maue, director of the Center for Emerging and Innovative Media at Duquesne University.
“The ease of which someone can hide themselves behind some aspects of technology makes it sometimes easier for the task to be done,” Maue told ABC News.
Moreover, perpetrators can make their calls practically untraceable by utilizing a free and open-source software called the Tor network, or “the onion router.” This network allows users to communicate anonymously and make calls that bounce between multiple IP addresses, according to Turgal.
“I could be sitting in a hotel room in Pinehurst, North Carolina, like I’m doing now, but actually utilize that onion router network to then move my signal from North Carolina to Western Europe, right to Russia, to China,” he said.
For example, the call that impacted Westhill High School appeared to come from Canada, though it could have originated in Syracuse. According to Canady, the calls that target schools and universities increasingly originate from overseas.
Beyond a desire to create fear in a community, Turgal said these swatting calls might also be an international effort to expose law enforcement’s vulnerabilities and fatigue first responders mentally and physically. Criminal actors could use these calls to determine weak spots in a school’s response in planning a future shooting or move resources away from another target in a community, experts said.
The Fatigue of False Alarms
With 173 mass shootings so far in 2023, psychologists are concerned the fear of these incidents can harm children’s ability to comfortably socialize and grow in school spaces, which has always been associated with safety.
“Your fight or flight response comes on board. Where there’s an active danger, [your] body needs to respond,” school psychologist Tammy Hughes told ABC News. “And that happens prior to finding out that it’s a false report or a hoax, so your body already has the physiological response – people are afraid.”
University of Pittsburgh professor of psychiatry and law John Rozel said these fears can be inflamed as eyewitnesses and actors outside the impacted community begin posting about an incident on social media.
“They hear about a critical incident and then they start imagining that there’s more to it,” Rozel told ABC News. “I could have sworn I heard blank when they didn’t actually hear blank.”
Reports about these incidents also leave a lasting impression on local residents, according to Hughes.
“Even when things are found to be a hoax, there can be parts of the community that think, ‘Oh, no, it actually did happen. You’re just covering it up from happening, you’re failing to report that there was a shooting,'” she said.
While many victims of swatting are fearful for what could have been, others are left jaded or less concerned about the threat of gun violence, experts said. Rozel expressed concern that false alarms could expose first responders and students to “alarm fatigue,” where first responders or students could take swatting incidents less seriously and create vulnerabilities for the real thing.
“If the boy cries wolf too many times, people start to stop paying attention and that creates an opportunity for something even worse to happen,” he said.
(NEW YORK) — American Samoa has issued a public health emergency after an outbreak of measles has spread across the U.S. territory.
As of Tuesday, there has been one laboratory-confirmed case among an 8-year-old and 31 suspected and/or probable cases of the highly infectious disease, according to the Department of Health.
During a press briefing, Dr. Scott Anesi, the department’s lead epidemiologist, the suspected cases are all in children between ages 2 months old and 13 years old.
Anyone who tests positive for measles has been ordered to isolate for 21 days, while those who have or may have been exposed must quarantine for up to 21 days.
The emergency declaration, signed by Gov. Lemanu P.S. Mauga, is for 30 days and is set to expire Wednesday, May 24.
The outbreak has led the Department of Education in American Samoa, which serves 12,000 students, to close all schools until Friday, May 12.
Parents have been told that they can pick up their children’s virtual learning packers and any meals they are eligible for at their school sires through Friday.
This is not the first time there has been an outbreak in the area. According to a World Health Organization report, a 2019 outbreak swept the Pacific.
In American Samoa, there were 12 measles cases and no deaths reported. However, in the nation of Samoa, there were more than 5,700 cases and 83 deaths reported, most occurring in children under 5 years old.
The WHO and UNICEF said the outbreak came after measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine vaccination coverage fell from 74% to 34% between 2017 and 2018 after two infants died following immunization with improperly prepared vaccines, which led to vaccine hesitancy.
Measles is incredibly contagious, with the CDC saying every individual infected by the virus can spread it to up to 10 close contacts, if they are unprotected including not wearing a mask or not being vaccinated.
Complications from measles can be relatively benign, like rashes, or they can be much more severe, like viral sepsis, pneumonia or brain swelling.
The CDC says anybody who either had measles at some point in their life or who has received two doses of the MMR vaccine is protected against measles.
In the decade before the measles vaccine became available, an estimated 3 to 4 million people were infected every year, 48,000 were hospitalized and between 400 and 500 people died, according to the federal health agency.
One dose of the measles vaccine is 93% effective at preventing infection if exposed to the virus. Two doses are 97% effective.
Children are recommended to receive their first dose between 12 and 15 months old and their second dose between ages 4 and 6.
According to a report from the CDC published in January, during the 2021-22 school year, 88.3% of kindergartners in Ohio had received two doses of the MMR vaccine, less than the national average of 93%.
The American Samoa Department of Health says 89% of the students in daycares, elementary schools and high schools have received both doses of the MMR vaccines as of April 22.
The department shared a post on Facebook Tuesday of several clinics, halls and churches that will be offering the MMR vaccines for those aged 6 months and older.
Anesi said the goal for the territory is to achieve at least 95% and 100% among all school-age children.
“The main concern here is that those children that are one years old up to high school should be fully immunized as required by the DOE,” he said.
