(NEW YORK) — Social media accounts with ties to users in China and Russia posed as Western media outlets in an attempt to manipulate users and spread “inauthentic” content related to high-profile, politically charged issues including the invasion of Ukraine, Meta employees told reporters on Monday.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook and other services, said that the accounts tied to both countries were taken down manually, though for more in-depth investigations and bigger networks an automated feature for takedowns is also used.
The accounts, as a whole, did not reach nearly the same scale as past documented efforts on social media to spread politically related messages to U.S. users and others.
But the operations, as described by Meta, are some of the latest examples of what both the company’s officials and top U.S. lawmakers have said is a concern: how countries use social media to secretly sway public opinion. (The American government has reportedly employed a similar digital strategy abroad — to influence opinion of the U.S.)
In response to this scrutiny about foreign actors on their platforms, Meta and other leading internet companies have taken steps, they say, to curb the spread of suspicious and misleading information.
The coordinated Chinese operation that Meta revealed on Monday targeted users primarily in the U.S. and Czech Republic, Meta said, and it was running fake accounts and websites across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and two petition platforms in the Czech Republic.
According to the company, the accounts impersonated Americans by sharing online messages in both Chinese and English about issues including Second Amendment rights and abortion. Accounts in this network spanned both sides of the political aisle, supporting both conservative and liberal causes.
Messages were also directed to a more global French and Chinese-speaking audience, Meta said. The group operated between November 2021 and September 2022. This was the first Chinese-based effort that Meta disrupted that focused on U.S. political issues and major topics ahead of the midterms, a distinct shift in Chinese-based interference, according to Meta.
However, the operation was relatively short-lived and did not receive much engagement from real users, Meta said, with 81 Facebook accounts with 20 collective followers, one Facebook group with 250 members and two Instagram accounts with less than 10 followers between them.
On a number of occasions, Chinese-originated entities would post various Russian state-linked content, Meta said. While the two countries overlapped in their goals and mutually reinforced each other, there was no visible coordination between the two. Meta officials also noted a notable time lag between the two operations.
The Russian operation in May was the largest and most complex since the war on Ukraine started, spanning over 60 websites, using multiple different languages, impersonating credible and legitimate Western websites and news organizations, according to Meta. Its presence spanned Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, YouTube and other European sites.
The network mainly targeted users in Europe, including France, Germany, Italy, Ukraine and the U.K, Meta said. The narratives focused on the war on Ukraine and its impact in Europe. The messages criticized Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees and pushed the narrative that U.S. sanctions would backfire.
Meta said it disrupted misinformation campaigns that targeted Ukrainians and exploited Ukraine’s tensions with Russia in February. The company’s security team removed about 40 users they found “inauthentic,” officials said Monday.
The Russian operation had 1,633 Facebook accounts with 1,500 collective followers, 29 Instagram accounts with 1,500 followers between them and generated around $105,000 in ad sales, Meta said. The company will not return the ad revenue and will use it to build their security teams.
Meta previously removed a Russian network of users in 2020 for violating their policy of foreign interference. The users were connected to an online trolling group that attempted to interfere with the 2016 election, the company has said.
Meta has also emphasized that fake sites will continue to pop up.
The company stressed on Monday that its view is that its security work is on deception rather than the content itself and that it did not punish Russian government platforms that had content from either of the operations because they were not directly contributing.
Meta officials said the company remains on alert for more threats, including monitoring potential actors as the election season progresses. They will not be implementing any new tactics ahead of the midterms, officials said Monday.
Meta said it has also shared its findings and threat indicators with the media and other platforms, law enforcement and the government.
(NEW YORK) — Hurricane Ian strengthened to a Category 3 storm on Tuesday as it made landfall in Cuba on its path to Florida.
The hurricane is forecast to make landfall on Florida’s Gulf Coast or Panhandle by midday Thursday, though there is uncertainty about the hurricane’s track and intensity.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has declared a “state of emergency” for the entire state, with storm conditions “projected to constitute a major disaster.”
The National Hurricane Center has advised residents of Cuba, the Florida Keys and the Florida Peninsula to have a hurricane plan in place and to closely follow forecast updates.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Sep 27, 8:25 AM EDT
Latest forecast shows landfall in Tampa Bay area
The forecast has shifted significantly east, now with landfall expected in the Tampa Bay area Wednesday night into early Thursday morning as a Category 3 hurricane.
This would mark Tampa Bay’s first direct hit from a major hurricane since 1921.
Slow-moving Ian is expected to drop more than 15 inches of rain from Tampa to Orlando.
Major flooding is possible in Orlando, Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Sep 27, 5:00 AM EDT
Hurricane Ian makes landfall after strengthening to major storm
Hurricane Ian made landfall over western Cuba early on Tuesday morning, the National Hurricane Center said.
“Satellite and radar data indicate that the center of Ian has made landfall just southwest of the town of La Coloma in the Pinar Del Rio Province of Cuba at 4:30 a.m.,” the center said.
Ian’s winds at landfall were estimated at a maximum of 125 mph, making the storm a Category 3 hurricane.
Sep 26, 11:35 PM EDT
Ian strengthens as winds grow to 105 mph
Hurricane Ian continued to intensify Monday night, with maximum sustained winds now at 105 mph.
The hurricane is about 105 miles east-southeast of the western tip of Cuba, which is expected to see significant wind and storm surge impacts soon.
The storm is expected to become a major hurricane overnight or Tuesday morning.
Sep 26, 9:47 PM EDT
Tampa International Airport to close as Ian approaches
Tampa International Airport will stop all operations starting 5 p.m. Tuesday to secure its airfield and terminals ahead of Hurricane Ian’s expected landfall later this week.
Sep 26, 7:14 PM EDT
HHS secretary declares public health emergency for Florida
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has declared a public health emergency for the state of Florida.
HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra made the declaration Monday to address the possible health impacts for Florida residents once Hurricane Ian nears the state.
“We will do all we can to assist Florida officials with responding to the health impacts of Hurricane Ian,” Becerra said in a statement. “We are working closely with state, local, and tribal health authorities, as well as our federal partners, and stand ready to provide additional public health and medical support.”
HHS has pre-positioned two 15-person health and medical task force teams from its National Disaster Medical System, as well as a 13-person incident management team and two pharmacists to assist with the response in Florida.
“These teams are highly trained and ready to respond if, when, and where they may be needed following the storm,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Dawn O’Connell said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency on Saturday. That declaration was approved by President Joe Biden on Sunday.
Sep 26, 6:59 PM EDT
Hurricane warning issued for Tampa Bay area
The National Hurricane Center has issued a hurricane warning for the Tampa Bay area just after its 5 p.m. advisory for Hurricane Ian.
The hurricane, currently a Category 2, is forecast to strengthen before it slows down as it approaches land. It is then expected to hover off the coast of Tampa from Wednesday into Thursday before making landfall.
A hurricane watch has also been issued for Big Bend, Florida, near the panhandle, and tropical storm warnings are in effect for much of southwest Florida.
Tropical storm watches are in effect for Orlando toward the northeast portion of the state, from Fort Pierce to Jacksonville.
-ABC News’ Melissa Griffin
Sep 26, 6:21 PM EDT
Florida utility company to use remote grid technology to restore power during the storm
The emergency response from Florida Power & Light is “well underway” as Hurricane Ian approaches, the utility company announced Monday.
FP&L has mobilized 13,000 workers, as well as supplies, to ensure the response is conducted as safely and quickly as possible after the storm hits, according to a press release.
As the hurricane begins to bear down on the region, FP&L will use remote grid technology to restore power remotely during the storm, as long as it is safe to do so, the company said. After the storm passes and winds drop below 35 mph, FP&L will continue restoration and conduct damage assessments with field crews.
The utility company also urged customers to make preparations and take safety precautions.
“As this storm approaches Florida, we know our customers are counting on us and we are determined to meet this challenge,” said Eric Silagy, chairman and CEO of FP&L in a statement. “We are mobilizing and pre-positioning our restoration workforce, so these brave men and women can quickly start working as soon as it is safe to do so.”
-ABC News’ Matt Foster
Sep 26, 3:58 PM EDT
Florida State University cancels classes
Florida State University has canceled classes Tuesday through Friday as Hurricane Ian approaches.
“The cancellation of classes on Tuesday is to allow students to travel safely out of the area if they so choose,” the university said. “Students who choose to stay in Tallahassee will be advised via the FSU Alert system to follow a ‘shelter in place’ protocol during the storm.”
Sep 26, 3:38 PM EDT
St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport to close
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport will close at 1 p.m. Tuesday due to the mandatory evacuation orders in Pinellas County. The airport will stay closed until the evacuation order is lifted.
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for coastal parts of Hillsborough County, Florida. Over 300,000 people are expected to evacuate, officials announced Monday, with emergency shelters opening at 2 p.m. Monday.
Hillsborough County could face up to 15 feet of storm surge and 30 straight hours of tropical storm force winds, Florida Emergency Management Director Tim Dudley said.
County Administrator Bonnie Wise added, “We did not make this decision easily, but the storm poses a serious threat, and we must do everything we can protect our residents.”
Some residents of Sarasota County and Manatee County are also under mandatory evacuation orders.
-ABC News’ Alex Faul
Sep 26, 2:01 PM EDT
7,000 National Guardsmen deployed to help
Five-thousand members of the Florida National Guard have been activated to help during Hurricane Ian. Another 2,000 guardsmen from Tennessee, Georgia and North Carolina are also coming to help, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said.
Nearly 300 ambulances and support vehicles are being deployed to areas bracing for Ian’s landfall, DeSantis said.
-ABC News’ Alex Faul
Sep 26, 12:43 PM EDT
Tampa may shut down airport
In Tampa, where residents are bracing for 10 feet of dangerous storm surge, the Tampa International Airport may shut down parts of its airfield and facilities over the next day or two, airport officials announced.
The airport is in an evacuation zone, but because it’s critical infrastructure, it’s “exempt from the storm evacuation order and will stay open until a closure is necessary,” airport officials said in a statement.
It’s been 101 years since Tampa last had a direct hit from a major hurricane.
Sep 26, 11:36 AM EDT
Sarasota, Tampa-area schools close
Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa will be closed Monday through Thursday due to the storm. Instead, some schools will operate as storm shelters, the district said.
In Sarasota County, schools will be closed on Tuesday.
Sep 26, 11:34 AM EDT
First mandatory evacuation orders issued
Mandatory evacuation orders are in place for coastal parts of Hillsborough County, Florida. Over 300,000 people are expected to evacuate, officials announced Monday, with emergency shelters opening at 2 p.m. Monday.
Hillsborough County could face up to 15 feet of storm surge and 30 straight hours of tropical storm force winds, Florida Emergency Management Director Tim Dudley said.
County Administrator Bonnie Wise added, “We did not make this decision easily, but the storm poses a serious threat, and we must do everything we can protect our residents.”
Sep 26, 10:43 AM EDT
NASA rolling Artemis rocket back off launch pad
NASA said it will roll the Artemis I rocket off the launch pad and back to the vehicle assembly building on Monday night due to the storm.
“Managers met Monday morning and made the decision based on the latest weather predictions associated with Hurricane Ian, after additional data gathered overnight did not show improving expected conditions for the Kennedy Space Center area,” NASA said in a statement. “The decision allows time for employees to address the needs of their families and protect the integrated rocket and spacecraft system.”
Sep 26, 10:08 AM EDT
Floodwater safety tips to remember
As Ian approaches, here are a few commonsense strategies to help avoid unnecessary risk from floodwaters:
–Before flooding, look up your neighborhood’s flood zone and determine if your home or business is prone to flooding. Come up with an evacuation plan and make sure your car has a full tank of gas. Stock up on non-perishable foods.
–After flooding, ensure your drinking water is sanitized and wash your hands thoroughly after contact with floodwaters. Disinfect objects that have come into contact with floodwater before offering them to children or toddlers.
–Try to avoid exposure with floodwaters for long periods of time to prevent physical injury. Wear waterproof boots if you have them. Do not attempt to drive over flooded streets as it could damage the car and strand passengers.
Sep 26, 10:01 AM EDT
White House closely monitoring Ian
The White House is “closely monitoring” the hurricane, a White House official told ABC News.
President Joe Biden approved Florida’s emergency assistance request this weekend “as soon as he received it,” the official said.
“He also directed his team to surge Federal assistance to the region well before landfall,” the official said. “FEMA has already deployed staff there and pre-positioned food, water, and generators.”
Biden was scheduled to travel to Florida on Monday but that trip has been postponed due to the storm.
-ABC News’ Karen Travers
Sep 26, 8:23 AM EDT
Hurricane watch issued for Tampa, Fort Myers, Naples
Ian is expected to become major Category 3 hurricane Monday night with winds of 115 mph.
As Ian passes Cuba, it’s expected to rapidly intensify, becoming a Category 4 hurricane as it moves through the Gulf. Hurricane warnings are in effect for Cuba and the Cayman Islands.
Models are split when it comes to Ian’s landfall in Florida; impacts could be as far north as Panama City and as far south as Fort Myers.
Some models forecast landfall by Wednesday afternoon between Tampa and Fort Myers, while other models predict landfall at the end of the week near Panama City or Apalachicola.
Hurricane watches have been issued in Tampa, Fort Myers and Naples.
-ABC News’ Max Golembo
Sep 26, 5:20 AM EDT
Storm becomes Hurricane Ian
The National Hurricane Center declared Ian a hurricane on Monday, as the storm gained strength on its way toward Florida.
“A Hurricane Watch has been issued along the west coast of Florida from north of Englewood to the Anclote River, including Tampa Bay,” the center said on Monday.
– ABC News’ Max Golembo
Sep 25, 10:19 PM EDT
NASA to reconvene on whether to take Artemis rocket off launchpad
NASA hasn’t decided whether to leave its Artemis I rocket on the launchpad as it monitors Tropical Storm Ian’s path toward Florida, the agency said Sunday.
The federal space agency’s mission managers will continue discussions on Monday about the next steps as its rocket was delayed again.
On Saturday, NASA scrapped its third planned launch attempt of Artemis I because of weather concerns. Artemis I was scheduled to launch on Sept. 27.
Engineers will decide if the rocket needs to roll back off the launch pad. If they do not roll it back, the next possible launch date is Sunday, Oct. 2.
Tropical Storm Ian is forecast to strengthen into a major hurricane as it nears Florida.
NASA had to scrub the first launch attempt on Aug. 29 because of a faulty temperature sensor and the second attempt on Sept. 3 due to a liquid hydrogen leak.
If the Oct. 2 launch doesn’t happen, the rocket will be taken back to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center until the team decides on the next date.
-ABC News’ Gina Sunseri, Mary Kekatos and Nadine El-Bawab
Sep 25, 10:27 PM EDT
Ian strengthens once again, forecast to become hurricane on Monday
Tropical Storm Ian has strengthened with maximum sustained winds at 60 mph and is expected to get stronger throughout the night as atmospheric conditions become more favorable for the storm.
Ian is forecast to become a hurricane on Monday, becoming even more intense likely into Tuesday.
Ian is moving to the northwest to the Northwest at 12 mph, with the center located 160 miles away from Grand Cayman.
Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are expected to experience heavy rain, a heavy surge and possible flash flooding over the next 24 hours.
-ABC News’ Dan Peck
Sep 25, 5:45 PM EDT
Ian weakens slightly but will regain strength overnight
Tropical Storm Ian has weakened slightly, but it is expected to not only strengthen but rapidly intensify overnight as it travels over warm waters in the Caribbean.
As of 5 p.m. ET, the storm system had maximum sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving west-northwest at 12 mph, with the center located about 220 miles away from Grand Cayman.
Dry air ahead of the storm has delayed the strengthening trend so far. But the rapid intensification is expected to occur Monday into Tuesday as the system continues across the northwestern Caribbean and closes in on western Cuba.
Over the next 24 hours, the outer bands will impact Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, bringing rounds of heavy rain, possible flash flooding and storm surge. Later Monday and into Monday night, Ian will be closing in on western Cuba and will likely bring significant wind and storm surge impacts to the region.
A hurricane warning is in effect for Grand Cayman and portions of western Cuba. A tropical storm watch has been issued for portions of western Cuba, as well as the lower Florida Keys, including Key West.
As of 5 p.m., the forecast track was nudged slightly eastward. Overall, the forecast guidance variability and uncertainty will remain high, and the track for where the storm will be from the middle to the end of the week will continue to shift over the next 24 to 48 hours.
(LONDON) — Prince William and Kate, the prince and princess of Wales, traveled to Wales on Tuesday to meet with different communities across the nation and learn about the work of key charitable organizations.
The couple first traveled to Anglesey to meet with crew and volunteers at the RNLI Holyhead Lifeboat Station, one of the oldest lifeboat stations on the Welsh coast, then visited St. Thomas Church in Swansea, a redeveloped church supporting locals and serving as a hub in the community.
Their visit to Wales was the first to the nation since King Charles III announced earlier this month that their new titles would be the prince and princess of Wales, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.
They are the first couple to use the titles since they were used by Charles and the late Princess Diana, who divorced in 1996.
William and Kate have a “deep affection for Wales,” according to Kensington Palace. The couple made their first family home in Anglesey, where they spent their first months as parents, making Wales the first home of Prince George. Wales was also where William undertook his first engagement as a young boy.
William graduated from the Search and Rescue Training Unit at RAF Valley in Anglesey when he was training to become a helicopter pilot with the Royal Air Force’s Search and Rescue Force.
The couple’s three children, Prince George, Princess Charlotte and Prince Louis, have also taken on the last name, Wales.
(NEW YORK) — Most children in the United States have returned to school for the year as districts aim to bring kids back to a setting that resembles the pre-pandemic normal.
Masks are now optional in most classrooms and, last month, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it was no longer recommending schools use test-to-stay, which allowed students who were close contacts of those who tested positive for COVID-19 to continue to attend in-person classes if they remained asymptomatic and continued to test negative.
Dr. Greta Massetti, chief of the field epidemiology and prevention branch at the CDC, told reporters at the time that because unvaccinated and vaccinated people were no longer being advised to quarantine, test-to-stay was no longer necessary.
Cases and hospitalizations do not appear to be dramatically rising and adults have the highest rate of weekly cases per 100,000, per CDC data.
But experts said testing data is not robust as it was during the last two school years, making it difficult to compare current data to previous seasons.
“There’s good reason to be cautiously optimistic,” Dr. Jim Versalovic, pathologist in chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, told ABC News. “It’s important to point out that we have seen over the past several weeks a steady decline in COVID positivity and in COVID hospitalizations at Texas Children’s.”
He continued, “There’s more at-home testing available and we don’t have all the testing data, but we have enough data now to say confidently that positivity is down for COVID less than 5% in our latest rolling seven-day average and we also are now at single-digit hospitalizations, which is a big deal.”
Adults still make up most COVID-19 cases
According to CDC data, weekly cases per 100,000 are higher in every adult age group compared to children. Children aged 5-11 have the lowest rate at 15.6 per 100,000 compared to those aged 75 and older at 41.6 per 100,000 with the highest rate.
What’s more, the weekly case rate has massively declined since the summer. Just two months earlier, the case rate among 5 to 11-year-olds was 114.6 per 100,000.
Versalovic and other experts point out there are several reasons why there is not a major increase of COVID-19 cases seen among children during the new school year.
This includes less community spread in general; schools having better filtering of air; children being able to play outside, which is less risky for spread, before it gets cold; and vaccination.
Currently, 60.7% of 12-to-17-year-oids are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data. This is in comparison with 47.7% fully vaccinated at the same time last year.
Meanwhile, 31.4% of 5-to-11-year-olds are fully vaccinated. While uptake in this age group has severely lagged older children, it’s a substantial increase from 0.4% this time last year.
“That was not the case a year ago,” Versalovic said. “One year ago, we were still trying to get vaccines to school-aged children. We’ve now had those vaccines available since last November and we’ve had boosters available throughout the summer.”
However, he said that vaccination rates, particularly among younger children have been lower than he’d like to see. Only 1.2% of children under age 2 and 2.3% of children aged 2 to 4 are fully vaccinated, according to CDC data.
“We cannot be complacent about it.” he said. “Vaccination rates have not been strong as we hoped. That gives us some pause as we look ahead to the winter.”
Testing is down from last year
Test is down because testing has dropped dramatically in health care settings and in schools, experts said. Schools are also no longer running test-to-stay programs, so cases could be circulating undetected. Additionally, many people do no report positive at-home tests to health officials.
“There are some important caveats,” Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, told ABC News. “We know that overall testing, test volume is down. Incentives for testing have changed, we’ve seen that reduction in test-to-stay programs.”
“There is an argument to make that this could potentially be a calm before the storm as we approach colder months, more indoor activities, drier conditions that facilitate better transmission of respiratory viruses,” he added.
Low rates of testing could be hiding potential surges in classrooms or underreporting asymptomatic cases.
Brownstein said there is cause for optimism because a new variant has yet to emerge — the omicron variant and its subvariants have remained dominant for almost a year compared to 2021 when the dominant variant changed every few months.
“There’s a lot of room for optimism, even in the face of a surge, because of the availability of vaccines and treatments,” he said. “That being said, we’ve been surprised at every turn of the pandemic. And so, it absolutely makes sense for us to remain vigilant and utilize the best possible data to drive decisions.”
Experts stressed the importance of children getting vaccinated, especially in case COVID-19 infections do surge in the late fall and winter.
“The No. 1 tool that we have to prevent disease are vaccines,” Versalovic said. “These vaccines are safe and effective and, if anything, they’ve proven to be even more safe and effective than we ever could have imagined over the past year.”
Brownstein added that certain children, such as those who are immunocompromised or live with a family member at high risk of severe disease, may want to consider other prevention measures such as masking.
“Even if masks or testing isn’t required, these are tools that can still be used as needed, depending on your sort of risk tolerance and the risk of family members,” he said. “Generally, we are at a good point right now where transmission is lower and we’re not facing the threat of a new highly transmissible variant, but we have to remember that we have to be flexible as we continue this school year.”
(NEW YORK) — More than 32,000 young patients newly diagnosed with cancer now live in states that have imposed or have impending abortion restrictions, according to a new study published Monday in The Lancet Oncology.
Because many life-saving cancer treatments harm future fertility, many teens and young adults with cancer decide to freeze eggs, sperm or embryos in the hope of having a family later in life.
Now, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade, the American Cancer Society is warning that their fertility preservation options could be at risk in the future.
Possible ramifications for cancer patients could include potential restrictions on gene testing, storage and disposal of embryos, even those created in the laboratory, according to researchers from the American Cancer Society.
For now, these concerns are hypothetical. Recent legislation has focused primarily on restricting abortion, and laws regarding embryos or other fertility preservation methods are not explicit, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion-rights research organization.
However, Guttmacher and other abortion-rights advocates have raised it as a possibility in the future. And they argue that some state legislation refers to protecting an “unborn child” without clearly defining whether that might include an embryo. That could make it difficult for health care providers to know when they’ve run afoul of the law, they say.
Researchers at the American Cancer Society studied more than 120,000 young patients between the ages of 15 and 44 who were diagnosed with cancer in 2018, finding that more than 68% needed fertility preservation.
Of those, more than 32,000 patients — including over 20,000 women — were from the 22 states where abortion bans exist or are expected to be implemented, the study found. Texas, Ohio and Georgia were the states with the largest number of newly diagnosed young cancer patients whose fertility preservation care could be compromised.
“Ongoing monitoring of the health effects of the Supreme Court decision on cancer patients and their families is warranted,” said Xuesong Han, Ph.D., the lead study author, scientific director and health services researcher at the American Cancer Society.
The anti-abortion group Charlotte Lozier Institute called the American Cancer Society’s warning misleading.
“A plain reading of state pro-life laws shows this study is nothing more than scaremongering, which is a huge disservice to the medical community and American women,” the institute’s Tara Sander Lee, Ph.D., said
Researchers found that patients from 22 states with abortion restrictions were more likely to be living in non-metropolitan areas, belonging to the poorest counties, and were of white or Black ethnicities, compared to the patients from 28 states where abortion remained legal.
“We have not yet begun to see exactly how the Dobbs ruling impacts fertility; however, it is clear that there will be a monumental impact,” said Dr. Eleonora Teplinsky, head of breast medical oncology at Valley Health System and a clinical assistant professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
Fertility preservation, though possible in a less restrictive state, will create new barriers and could widen geographic and socioeconomic disparities, according to the study.
“Traveling to another state to get fertility care will put undue burden especially on the most vulnerable of these patients — medical, financial and psychological,” said Dr. Sunita Nasta, professor of clinical medicine at the Abramson Cancer Center at the University of Pennsylvania, adding that “compromised access to care leads to worse outcomes.”
“The treatment of aggressive cancers is usually urgent. Fertility preservation needs to be accomplished within a few days to weeks. If these procedures are limited by these bans, patients will face the burden of losing their fertility or delaying therapy,” Nasta said.
“Many patients make treatment decisions based on fertility concerns. If fertility preservation is further endangered as we suspect it will be, we likely will begin to see even more patients choosing not to go on life-saving cancer therapy,” Teplinsky said.
“The ability to protect their choices with appropriate fertility care gives these patients the freedom to be aggressive about choosing therapy for the best outcomes rather than what may affect their future fertility,” Nasta added.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Two Texas legislators held a listening session Monday to hear from Robb Elementary School victims’ families, who continue to voice how unheard they feel by their representatives as they plead for gun control statewide and nationally.
Their advocacy was spurred by the school shooting that took place on May 24, when 19 children and two teachers were killed.
Parents spoke about wanting commonsense gun legislation, accountability for police officers and transparency from local officials, as well as voiced their frustrations with overly complex and arduous application processes for relief funds.
“The fact that I have to sit here and tell y’all, the state and federal government, how to do your job, is evidence enough of the massive failure we’ve experienced,” Kimberly Rubio, mother of 10-year-old victim Lexi Rubio, told the legislators.
“This was not the first school shooting and will not be the last until we federally ban these weapons,” Rubio said. “You can’t help us. All we want is a federal ban on assault weapons.”
She also lamented about the process to receive donation funds, referencing the 20-page application document she said was sent by the National Compassion Fund only days after the shooting.
“We couldn’t even get out of bed. Four months later, I can’t even read a chapter of a book. When we finally filled it out, they sent it back with so many documents of things they needed,” Rubio told the legislators. “You know who I am, you know I lost my daughter. It should be easier.”
U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, told ABC News she asked families to testify so that she could share the recording with fellow lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and said that after the meeting, she plans to find ways to make the federal compensation process more expeditious for families, which she recognized was a glaring issue.
When asked if she will share the footage directly with Republican senators who have come out against H.R. 1808, the upcoming bill in the Senate that proposes federally banning assault weapons — which many Uvalde families have asked for — she told ABC News, “Well, it is available and we’ll go back to Washington and determine how it can be best given.”
Brett Cross, 10-year-old victim Uziyah Garcia’s uncle and legal guardian, asked the legislators, “How many more damn kids need to die before the government does something?”
He, like others, said he feels Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doesn’t care.
“I spoke to Gov. Abbott when I asked him to call a special session to raise the minimum age to 21. He said that wouldn’t have made a difference,” Cross said tearfully, reminding the gathering that the shooter was only 18 years old at the time of the massacre.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, agreed.
“This community was not only failed on that day at Robb Elementary, but by every level of government so far, including the governor of the state of Texas, the Department of Public Safety and local elected officials who refuse to release basic information about what happened and why it happened,” Castro told the families Monday night. “And that is a second kind of assault on the community of Uvalde.”
“We just need something to change because if it doesn’t, we’ll feel like our kids died for nothing,” said Angel Garza, stepfather to victim Amerie Jo Garza.
Earlier Monday, Uvalde County commissioners voted unanimously to approve a letter to Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, asking him to meet with victims’ families who seek to speak with him about raising the minimum age for purchasing assault-style weapons to 21.
This vote came after similar calls on Abbott to convene a special session have gone unanswered.
“It’s not going to happen,” Uvalde County Commissioner Mariano Pargas Jr., who seconded the motion, said of Uvalde’s pleas to Abbott to legislate the age requirement.
“We’re hoping we can do something that will make ’em change their minds,” he said of the intent behind the letter to the Texas State House speaker.
Getting families in front of legislators, he believes, is one way to do that.
(ELMORE, Ala.) — When twins Kassie and Kascie Vaughan visited their brother at the Staton Correctional Facility in Elmore, Alabama, on Sunday, they said he was unable to walk, had lost a significant amount of weight and was almost unrecognizable.
The family of 32-year-old Kastellio Vaughan, who was convicted on burglary and break-in charges in 2019, now fears for his life, saying the Alabama Department of Corrections is neglecting his health.
“He’s looking terrible. Just one word, terrible. He’s feeling weak in spirit. He’s really just, he’s really feeling low,” Kascie Vaughan told ABC News. “He doesn’t look like Kastellio, the brother that we know.”
Kassie Vaughan told ABC News she received harrowing photos of her older brother earlier this month along with a message to get him help. Photos depicting Kastellio Vaughan slumped over, emaciated, and with a large, undressed wound extending down his abdominal area were allegedly sent by an unidentified inmate at Elmore Correctional Center.
“He said, ‘Your brother’s not gonna make it until Monday. Please get him help.’…[He said] they brought him back to general population at the prison, they didn’t cover up his wounds, and the staples was bursting out of his abdomen,” Kassie Vaughan told ABC News.
The inmate who sent the photos claimed he saw Kastellio Vaughan vomiting and in a weakened state after being released to Elmore’s general population on Aug. 30. That was the same day Kastellio Vaughan had surgery to remove part of his small intestine due to complications from an old gunshot wound, according to his sisters.
They allege they were unaware their brother underwent a procedure until receiving the photos.
Kastellio Vaughan was transferred to Staton Correctional Facility’s Medical Observation Unit last Friday, according to the Alabama Department of Corrections.
Prison officials said Kastellio Vaughan had been in touch with his family and was observed walking and eating after his transfer to Staton Correctional.
“He has been in contact with his family to update them on his situation and ease their concerns,” the department said in a statement about Vaughan’s condition on Friday. “Inmate Vaughan has requested and received medical attention with the ADOC at least 11 times between July 30, 2022, and September 22, 2022. As a result, each time he received appropriate medical treatment and/or care.”
“The ADOC offers a constitutional level care to all inmates,” its statement continued. “However, inmates are not required to undergo care, just as citizens in the civilian world are afforded choice of whether to receive care.”
Following their visit on Sunday, the Vaughan’s said their brother’s appearance and condition have not appeared to improve “at all” since the photos were taken. They also said he was using a wheelchair and unable to walk while they were at the facility. He also now has to use absorbent briefs, which the sisters said another inmate has to help change or he’s forced to try and do it by himself.
The Alabama Department of Corrections has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment on these most recent allegations.
Kassie Vaughan said she shared these photos of her brother on Facebook last week to bring attention to his deteriorating health.
“Even after being incarcerated and us being away from him, it really hurts but it was better because we knew that his health was OK,” Kascie Vaughan said. “But after his health declined, we really just been feeling like we kind of losing our big brother. Like, we don’t have no hope. And he’s always protected us and now we feel like we are trying to protect him.”
Civil rights attorneys Lee Merritt, Harry Daniels, and Ben Crump, who are now representing Vaughan, allege this is a case of medical neglect that points to larger issues in the prison system. Kastellio Vaughan’s legal team alleges he’s lost 75 pounds in less than a month.
“This is horrific,” Crump said in a statement on Sunday. “Let’s be clear, the state of Alabama has tried to deflect any action or responsibility for Mr. Vaughan’s condition at every turn. If it wasn’t for these pictures, the media spotlight and the resulting uproar, we might never have known about the neglect and Mr. Vaughan would have died before the public knew anything was happening.”
Kastellio Vaughan’s legal team and family “are still deeply concerned about his safety in that prison,” Merritt told ABC News. He said they are now pushing for Vaughan to receive a professional medical evaluation, treatment and appropriate accommodations to restore his health.
“It shouldn’t have been prisoners sending emergency text messages and photographs to his family, but it should have been the medical staff who are responsible for the health and safety of everyone who is under their care,” Merritt said. “It is not as if Mr. Kastellio could have gone to see a doctor himself or scheduled an appointment. He is an inmate at that prison and the law requires that they honor their duty to provide for their prisoners’ wellbeing.”
“It doesn’t matter what Kastellio did, why he was in jail, doesn’t matter. As society as a whole, as human beings, we have a duty to one another. It doesn’t matter what that person is imprisoned for,” Daniels told ABC News. “We need this man to get well. Alright, we need him to get help. That’s not asking for a whole lot.”
(NEW YORK) — The more than 1,200 miles of shores in the southern U.S. that line the Gulf of Mexico are no stranger to strong storms — but that doesn’t make potential damage from an approaching cyclone any less likely.
As Hurricane Ian marches closer to the U.S., its aim toward the Gulf Coast is especially concerning considering how vulnerable the region is to storm surge, experts told ABC News.
The underwater geology of the Gulf of Mexico is what makes the Gulf Coast particularly unguarded against the massive influx of seawater. The shallow waters in the Gulf, combined with the symmetry of its shallow ocean floor, are what allow the storm surge to be pushed even higher onto land, Ryan Truchelut, chief meteorologist at Weather Tiger, a consulting and risk management firm, told ABC News.
The continental shelf of the Florida Gulf Coast extends quite far offshore — up to 200 miles in some spots, Truchelut said.
“The waters of the Gulf of Mexico just simply aren’t that deep, over a lot of the Florida coastal waters just offshore,” he said. “If there’s wind pushing water toward that direction, it’s shallow, it has nowhere to go. So it kind of amplifies and goes further inland.”
Meteorologists are most concerned about the west coast of Florida, starting in the Florida Keys and north to Tampa Bay, Michael Brennan, acting deputy director for the National Hurricane Center, told ABC News.
The Tampa Bay area is “extremely sensitive” to storm surge, Brennan said, adding that the region could experience 5 to 8 feet of inundation — meaning above ground-level flooding. The Fort Meyers and Charlotte Harbor areas could see 4 to 7 feet and regions farther south could see 3 to 5 feet of inundation, Brennan said.
Another reason why the Gulf of Mexico is especially vulnerable to hurricanes and storm surge is because of its unique U-shaped coastline, which essentially traps a storm system into a populated region, no matter which way it turns, Truchelut said.
“When a hurricane gets into the Gulf of Mexico, it’s hard for it not to hit somebody,” he said.
The same geography conundrum also applies on a smaller scale to Tampa Bay, which is almost shaped like a cul-de-sac and doesn’t have anywhere for the water that’s getting pushed around to go, Truchelut said.
“Right now, the way this storm is coming in, you’d have this sort of push of surge right into Tampa Bay and in regions along the Gulf, western Gulf Coast,” Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.
Although the models are still uncertain, Ian will almost certainly strike somewhere along the eastern Gulf Coast as a major hurricane, Shepherd said.
Oftentimes, if a hurricane trapped within the Gulf of Mexico changes directions, it exacerbates the threat even more, Truchelut said. The change in direction typically slows down the storm system, allowing more time for waves to get bigger and head toward the shallow continental shelf, he added. Ian will likely stall over the Tampa Bay region, Shepherd said.
Ian does not even need to directly impact the Tampa Bay region to do considerable damage, the experts said. Even without a direct hit, the slow movement at Ian’s intensity will bring intense storm surge, flooding rain and prolonged hurricane-force winds.
In November 2020, Tropical Storm Eta, which had downgraded to a weak tropical storm after making landfall in Central America as a Category 4 hurricane, caused widespread flooding in Tampa. The storm made direct impact about 90 miles north of Tampa, but the 70 mph winds and soaking rain still caused bay waters to top seawalls in the area.
“It’d be 1,000 times worse had it been an actual major hurricane that was well organized,” Truchelut said.
Because of the way Ian is moving, as well as its intensity and the fact that it may stall, it places the Tampa Bay region on what meteorologists call “the dirty side of the hurricane” — the right front quadrant of the storm, just to the right of the eye, that typically has the worst of the winds and storm surge due to the motion and circulation of the system, Shepherd said.
A large concern is that many of the areas that flooded in the Tampa Bay region more than 100 years ago will do so again and at a greater scale — and this time, populated by hundreds of thousands more people from the influx of development that has occurred since, Truchelut said. Much of the coastal infrastructure, including condos and homes along the coast, did not exist the last time a major hurricane directly impacted the region, Shepherd said.
Climate Central, a nonprofit news organization that analyzes and reports on climate science, has calculated the 100-year flood height in the Tampa Bay area at 6.5 feet. There are more than 125,000 homes in the region currently situated below that flood level.
The experts cautioned residents in Florida to heed evacuation warnings and not to be deterred by the category of the storm or “hurricane amnesia,” since it has been a century since the region experienced a major storm.
“We as a society have to get accustomed to or used to planning for the worst, and maybe it doesn’t happen,” Shepherd said. “As good as our weather predictive capability is, if not, it still has some uncertainty with it.”
(LONDON) — Royal Mail in the United Kingdom has revealed images of four new portrait stamps in memory of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
These are the first stamp images to be approved by King Charles III and all four stamps feature images that were used in the 2002 Golden Jubilee stamp issue.
The images of the stamps include a second class stamp featuring a photograph taken by Dorothy Wilding in 1952 to mark the queen’s accession and coronation, a first class stamp with a picture of the queen in in her admiral’s cloak snapped by Cecil Beaton taken in 1968, a £1.85 stamp displaying a portrait of the late queen taken in November 1984 by Yousuf Karsh, and a £2.55 stamp with the newest photograph in the collection that features a picture of the queen taken at Prague Castle in 1996 by Tim Graham.
A Presentation Pack of all four stamps will retail at £6.95 and are available to pre-order until they are released and go on general sale from Nov. 10.
The announcement comes as the official Royal Mourning period ends Tuesday — just over a week after her funeral was held — and the debut of King Charles III’s new cypher that was unveiled overnight.
Chosen by the new king, the cypher will replace the “E II R” on government buildings, state documents and some mailboxes around the country.
The cypher features the king’s initial of “C” intertwined with “R” which stands for Rex — Latin for “king” — along with the Roman numeral III.
The Royal Mint also confirmed that they will unveil what the new bank notes will look like before the end of the year with the new King Charles notes expected to be placed into circulation in 2024.
(NEW YORK) — Four people have died and two are missing after a tourist boat sunk near the Galápagos Islands on Sunday night, Santa Cruz officials confirmed to ABC News.
Officials said that 31 passengers were rescued and two are still missing.
An American-Israeli citizen, a Colombian and an Ecuadorian are among the dead, according to Santa Cruz officials.
The boat sunk close to Tortuga Bay and was traveling between Isla Isabella and Santa Cruz, officials said.
The boat’s three engines reportedly stopped working after running out of fuel, according to officials.
More than two dozen rescue personnel from Ecuador and the Galápagos National Park are searching for the two missing passengers, officials said.
Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands is an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean and includes Santa Cruz Island.
