(NEW YORK) — The LEGOLAND Hotel in New York is almost open for business.
The hotel just announced it will open for overnight bookings beginning on Aug. 6 following the opening of LEGOLAND New York Resort on July 9.
This will be the first and only Lego-themed hotel in the Northeast and features 250 guest rooms.
All of the rooms are decorated with Pirate, Kingdom, Lego Friends and Lego Ninjago themes that feature separate sleeping areas for kids.
“Guests are greeted by a fire-breathing dragon at the hotel entrance and will discover more than 2,000 LEGO models inside the hotel,” according to a press release from LEGOLAND New York.
Activities for hotel guests include visits from Lego characters, a heated outdoor pool and creative workshops for kids.
Located at the main entrance of the resort, guests will be close enough to explore all seven lands at the new LEGOLAND New York Resort.
Reservations can be booked now on the LEGOLAND website.
(NEW YORK) — One 9-year-old is getting an early start in the medical field.
When Angelica Gunn, 30, from Belton, Missouri, started having intense contractions on June 28, her husband was at work. A week before her expected due date of July 9, and having gone into false labor just a couple days prior, Gunn wasn’t sure if this time was the real deal.
“Then midday the contractions just kicked in really hard,” Gunn told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I felt the urge to push all of a sudden.”
With no one home but her daughter Aakayla, 9, and her son, 4, Gunn knew she would have to ask for Aakayla’s help in delivering the baby.
“I just screamed for my daughter to come in,” she said. “I was like, ‘Something’s happening, you’re going to have to look and tell me what’s going on because I don’t know.’ I kind of just felt intense pressure and like [the baby’s] head was coming out.”
Initially, Gunn was worried about having her daughter help at a young age, but knew the baby was coming no matter what and that she would need assistance to deliver safely.
“In that moment I was like, this is a moment we’re going to have to share together and it’s a bond her and her sister will have forever,” she said. “All that other stuff just went away out of my mind and I focused on the moment at hand.”
A nurse and certified doula, Gunn was able to coach her daughter through the delivery while also weathering the contractions and pushing.
“I think that my instincts kicked in,” she said. “I was able to help her even though I was still screaming in pain.”
At first, Aakayla was hesitant but then “hopped right in,” said Gunn.
“I think in that moment she realized, ‘OK, it’s just me and mommy. I’m going to have to help her because daddy’s not here,'” Gunn said. “It’s kind of just amazing how she did that. She didn’t cry, she didn’t freak out or anything.”
Aakayla brought her mom towels and when it was time for the final push about three hours later, she was able to grab her new baby sister Aubree and hand her up to her mom.
“She’s very bold and very brave for doing all of that,” Gunn said.
Paramedics arrived soon after Gunn gave birth, taking mom and daughter to the hospital to make sure everything was OK.
Gunn added of Aubree: “She’s doing good and the kids love [her] — they’re just wanting to hold her 24/7.”
(NEW YORK) — A giant container ship that blocked traffic in Suez Canal for six days earlier this year was finally set free on Wednesday after its owners and insurers reached a settlement agreement with the vital waterway’s authority.
The agreement was signed in the coastal Egyptian city of Ismailia, with Ever Given — the skyscraper-sized vessel — sailing for the first time since it was dislodged on March 29, having brought global maritime trade to a standstill after being stranded near the southern end of the canal for nearly a week.
The terms of the deal, which came after more than three months of legal wrangling, were not disclosed by either side.
Egypt had initially demanded $916 million in compensation, which was deemed excessive by the vessel’s Japanese owner. The figure was later lowered to $550 million, with an Egyptian economic court ordering the seizure of the ship until a settlement was reached.
The Suez Canal Authority (SCA) estimated its losses at around $1 billion during the six days in which the waterway was blocked, pointing to lost transit fees and the costs of its salvage operation.
Local media footage showed Ever Given, which is 400 meters long and 59 meters wide (over 1,300 feet long and about 194 feet wide), transiting out of the Bitter Lake, where it has been held between two sections of the canal since it was re-floated.
The SCA and the vessel’s owners exchanged words of praise after the settlement agreement was struck.
“We are a regular and committed customer of the Suez Canal, and we would like to place on record our thanks to the Suez Canal Authority and others who worked tirelessly to release the ship as swiftly as possible when she ran aground over three months ago,” Shoei Kisen Kaisha Ltd, the owners of the ship, said in a statement.
The ship will first head to Port Said, Egypt, for a dive survey of the vessel, the company said, and after approval from the American Bureau of Shipping, the Ever Given “will then complete her voyage to the next port where her cargo will be discharged.”
Egypt’s massive salvage operation involved a flotilla of tugboats and dredgers that eventually managed to free the Panama-flagged ship, with stories of rescue crews working day and night to re-float it making local headlines and becoming a source of national pride.
“Today, I stand tall among the heroes of the Suez Canal … to announce to the world that an agreement has been reached regarding the ship crisis,” SCA head Osama Rabie said at a news conference.
Egypt announced in May plans to expand the southern part of the Suez Canal to include a parallel waterway so that ships can move in both directions at the same time.
In 2015, Egypt inaugurated a 35-km (nearly 22 miles) parallel waterway in the canal’s northern section in a project that cost the country $8 billion.
(LONDON) — Haitian President Jovenel Moise was killed in an attack at his home before dawn on Wednesday, the country’s interim premier said.
A group of unidentified individuals raided Moise’s private residence in Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince, at around 1 a.m. local time. They gunned down the 53-year-old head of state and wounded his wife, Martine Moise, who remains hospitalized, according to a statement from Haitian interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph.
Joseph, who condemned what he called a “hateful, inhumane and barbaric act,” said that the Caribbean country’s national police force and military had the situation under control and declared a state of emergency.
Late Wednesday, Haiti’s communications secretary said in a tweet that police have arrested the “presumed assassins,” but Frantz Exantus did not provide further details about Wednesday’s slaying or say how many suspects had been arrested. He said more information was forthcoming.
Reaction has been pouring in from around the world condemning the assassination, including from U.S. President Joe Biden, who called the situation “very worrisome.”
Reeling from the coronavirus pandemic, Haiti has also been in the midst of a constitutional crisis as Moise and opposition leaders disputed the end of his five-year presidential term and legislative elections remained interminably delayed.
Addressing the nation in a televised speech, Joseph called on the people of Haiti to “stay calm.” He chaired a meeting of the government’s ministers Wednesday morning, although the country’s line of succession is unclear, especially given its recent political turmoil.
“All the ministers and I have been working since the news broke and we want to assure you we will bring the killers of the president to justice,” he said. “Please stay calm and let the authorities do their work. We don’t want the country to plunge into chaos. This is a very sad day for our nation and for our people.”
The assailants, who remain at large, were “well-trained commandos” who were speaking Spanish and most likely came from outside Haiti, according to Bocchit Edmond, Haiti’s ambassador to the U.S. The group was “highly trained and heavily armed,” according to Joseph, who called for an urgent United Nations Security Council meeting and an international investigation into the attack.
Edmond said the Haitian government had video evidence of the group speaking Spanish. He also said they claimed to be agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which Edmond rejected. He urged the U.S. to provide security assistance not just for the immediate investigation, but also to boost Haitian security forces against armed gangs and a porous border.
First lady Martine Moise is in stable but critical condition, according to Edmond, and she was to be moved to a Miami hospital for treatment at some point Wednesday.
The streets of Haiti’s capital Port-au-Prince were largely deserted Wednesday and Toussaint Louverture International Airport has been closed in the wake of the assassination.
The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince was also closed Wednesday, including for consular services, “due to an ongoing security situation,” it said in a security alert. The embassy also said it is restricting its American staff to its compounds “until further notice” and urged members of the public to avoid unnecessary travel to the area.
U.S. officials are “still gathering information” on the deadly attack, according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki, offering U.S. assistance “if there’s an investigation.”
“We’re still assessing, still gathering information, and the president of course will be briefed by his national security team this morning,” she said.
Hours later, the White House issued a statement from Biden condemning “this heinous act.”
“I am sending my sincere wishes for First Lady Moïse’s recovery. The United States offers condolences to the people of Haiti, and we stand ready to assist as we continue to work for a safe and secure Haiti,” the statement said.
Haiti has been in a state of chaos for months now, with frequent gunfire and street skirmishes between armed groups, political demonstrations and strikes, and a coronavirus wave never brought under control. Cases of the virus were as high last month as they were one year ago, and the country has yet to distribute a single vaccine dose or receive any shipments from COVAX, the international program to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.
That’s in part because of the governing crisis roiling Haiti. The country’s political opposition had argued that Moise’s five-year presidential term ended this February — five years after his election victory, but four years after he took office — while he said he had one more year left because the disputed 2016 election delayed his inauguration until 2017.
Moise had been governing by decree since January 2020, after the country failed to hold legislative elections and the legislature’s mandate expired. Opposition leaders accused him of wanting to return Haiti to a dictatorship.
Earlier this year, Moise ordered the retirement of three Supreme Court judges and the arrest of nearly two dozen people, including prominent officials, who he alleged were plotting a coup. Violent protests against Moise erupted, prompting the president to declare a state of emergency in parts of the country in March.
The political instability in addition to economic woes and escalating gang violence have undermined efforts to rebuild Haiti from a devastating earthquake in 2010 and Hurricane Matthew in 2016.
While the Biden administration backed Moise’s claim to have one more year in office, it had grown increasingly vocal in its opposition to his “one-man rule,” in the words of the top U.S. diplomat for the Western Hemisphere, including governing by decrees and refusing to hold those legislative elections.
While the White House has said it will provide Haiti some of the initial 80 million COVID-19 vaccines it has promised to share overseas, it has yet to announce when it will do so — with the worsening security situation now making it that much harder.
ABC News’s Christine Theodorou, Molly Nagle, and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Congressional Democrats are eyeing a swift timeline for Senate approval of a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure plan, aiming to have the legislation on the floor as early as the week of July 19, according to three sources with knowledge of the matter.
The details of the timeline, including a push to have legislative language ready for consideration by Friday, were discussed among Democratic congressional aides and Louisa Terrell, the head of White House Legislative Affairs, and her deputy, Shuwanza Goff on a call Wednesday, the sources said.
The next hurdle for the bipartisan group of more than 20 co-sponsors, led by Sens Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz, and Rob Portman, R-Ohio, would be to obtain an official analysis of their bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office which crunches the numbers to see if proposed revenue would cover the desired new spending. That process takes time and usually far longer than most think or want.
The White House call and July 19 timeline were first reported by Politico.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said he wants the bipartisan package considered before the August recess. He said a sweeping — potentially $5 trillion — budget bill containing a blueprint for the top priorities of the administration and congressional Democrats, like child and elder care, Medicare expansion and climate change policies, would eventually be considered just after the monthlong summer recess.
The latter bill — a budget resolution laying the groundwork for a so-called reconciliation bill that would be crafted under arcane chamber rules that require just a simple majority — would instruct multiple committees to draft pieces of a broader bill. The final product would require unanimous Democratic support in the Senate and nearly every Democrat in the House, given that no Republican is expected to vote for it.
The budget resolution and its directives to committees, which unlocks the reconciliation process, is being crafted by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and is expected to be unveiled early next week, according to two Democratic sources familiar with the matter.
Sanders has acknowledged the broad range of views among his Democratic panel members and caucus colleagues, conceding weeks ago that his ambitious price tag might need to shrink to win support.
The timeline for all of this is incredibly bold as Schumer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attempt to appease disparate factions of their caucuses. And Pelosi has insisted that she will hold onto any bipartisan infrastructure legislation that passes the Senate until that chamber also approves the reconciliation bill.
Moderates like Sens. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., have pushed for a far smaller package and urged against dramatically raising taxes on the wealthy to pay for the plan.
And Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has made no secret of the fact that he plans to make it exceedingly difficult for his Democratic counterparts to maintain unity, urging centrist Democrats not to sign onto the sweeping, Democrats-only legislation.
“This is going to be a hell of a fight over what this country ought to look like in the future and that’s all going to unfold here in the next few weeks,” McConnell said Tuesday.”There is a process by which they could pass this bill without a single Republican, but we are going to make it hard for them,” McConnell said at an event Wednesday in his home state. “And there are a few Democrats left in rural America and some others who would like to be more in the political center who may find this offensive.”
(NEW YORK) — A 16-year-old suspect was arrested Wednesday in connection with a shooting in Times Square that left a Marine injured, police sources told ABC News.
The unidentified teen surrendered to police Wednesday afternoon, ending a 10-day search by police. Charges are pending.
The incident took place on June 27 at the corner Seventh Avenue and 46th Street when a small group of vendors allegedly got into an argument, police said.
One vendor pulled out a gun and opened fire, according to investigators and surveillance camera footage. Samuel Poulin, 21, who was standing just a few feet away near a Starbucks, was grazed in the back by one of the bullets.
Poulin, who recently graduated from the Citadel and was visiting Manhattan from upstate New York, was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Police said that Poulin was not the intended target.
The NYPD beefed up its presence in the area immediately after the shooting and Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city would crack down on illegal vending.
NYPD data shows a 37.8% increase in the total number of reported shooting incidents in the year to date compared to 2020, but newly released statistics show there was an improvement in June.
Reported shooting incidents in New York City were down 20% in June compared to May and reported murders were down 23% during that same period, according to crime statistics released by the NYPD on Tuesday.
(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — The search and rescue efforts at the collapsed Surfside, Florida, apartment complex have shifted to a recovery effort as 86 people remain unaccounted for, officials said Wednesday.
Rescue crews found eight additional victims in the rubble Wednesday, raising the death toll to 54, officials said Wednesday afternoon.
The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. Since then, hundreds of first responders have been carefully combing through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors.
On Wednesday, a grand jury agreed to investigate the Surfside collapse, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle announced, saying in a statement that she requested that the grand jury “look into how we can prevent such a disaster from occurring again, not just in Surfside, and not just in condominiums, but in all buildings and structures in the coastal, intercoastal and surrounding areas of our county, state and nation.”
No further details were available, as grand jury work is confidential in Florida.
The announcement came after three more victims — husband-and-wife Gino Cattarossi, 89, and Graciela Cattarossi, 86, as well as Simon Segal, 80 — were identified Wednesday, according to investigators. In total 32 victims have been identified as of midday Wednesday.
Crews have hauled away nearly 5 million pounds of concrete from the vast scene of wreckage, but large piles of rubble still remain. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Alan Cominsky said the rescue workers have been “aggressively” searching for any voids or “liveable spaces” within the debris where there could be trapped survivors but that they are “not coming across that.” No survivors have been discovered in the wreckage of the building since the morning it partially collapsed.
“We’re not seeing anything positive,” Cominsky told reporters on Tuesday morning.
Teams are now able to operate at full capacity and search in areas that were previously inaccessible following the demolition of the remaining part of the building.
The part of the building that remained standing was cleared of any people or pets before it was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns about its structural integrity. However, it was too dangerous for surviving residents to enter the building to retrieve their belongings, officials said.
Video released by the Miami-Dade Fire Rescue on Monday night showed crews working atop the piles, braving the elements as Tropical Storm Elsa approached the Sunshine State.
The incoming storm, which has weakened from a hurricane, initiated the discussion about demolishing the rest of the building and fast-tracked the process, according to Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett. Elsa made landfall in Cuba on Monday and by Tuesday morning the storm’s center was moving through Key West with maximum sustained winds of 60 miles per hour, according to the National Weather Service.
Prior to the demolition, the search and rescue operation was halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns for the crews regarding the remaining structure. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.
The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.
“The whole world wants to know what happened here,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava told reporters on Tuesday morning. “I look forward to learning the truth, as do we all, but I think it’ll be a while before it is understood.”
Burkett told reporters that he has drafted a letter that will be sent to condo boards and building owners outlining “minimum stopgap” measures to ensure their properties are secure.
“The town of Surfside is committed to doing everything it can to ensure the safety and peace of mind of its residents and we are grateful to our county, state and federal partners for all their amazing support,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden taunted Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Wednesday for having acknowledged his home state of Kentucky will receive money from the Biden administration-backed American Rescue Plan — despite McConnell not having voted for it.
Biden was in Illinois to promote his his “Build Back Better” agenda and sell the bipartisan infrastructure package and a second, larger package on “human infrastructure” that Democrats are hoping to pass through reconciliation — a process which allows them to bypass the usual 60-vote threshold necessary to pass bills in Congress.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Cecilia Vega asked the president about remarks McConnell made Tuesday on his infrastructure packages.
“Mitch McConnell says you’re in for a heck of a fight on this one,” Vega said to Biden.
“Mitch McConnell loves our programs,” the president said with a smile.
He added that the Republican leader had acknowledged, as recently as Tuesday, that although he did not support the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package passed in March, its funding will help McConnell’s constituents.
“Have you seen what Mitch McConnell said? He told me he wasn’t going to get a single vote in order to allow me to get, with the help of everybody here, that $1.9 trillion … program for economic growth,” he said. “Look it up, man. He’s bragging about it in Kentucky.”
“It’s a great thing for Kentucky, it’s getting $4 billion to help poor — it’s amazing,” Biden added, mimicking McConnell and gesturing widely.
In fact, McConnell at an event on Tuesday in his home state did talk about the American Rescue Plan.
“So you’re gonna get a lot more money. I didn’t vote for it. But you’re gonna get a lot more money,” he said.” My advice to members of the legislatures and other public officials is spend it wisely, because hopefully this windfall doesn’t come around again.”
He also vowed that Republicans would wage a “hell of a fight” if Democrats attempt to pass a sweeping multi-trillion dollar infrastructure plan along party lines.
“This is not going to be done on a bipartisan basis. This is going to be a hell of a fight over what this country ought to look like in the future and it’s going to unfold here in the next few weeks. I don’t think we’ve had a bigger difference of opinion between the two parties,” McConnell said.
Biden on Wednesday visited Crystal Lake, Illinois, a district former President Donald Trump won in 2020 but that is represented by Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood.
In remarks following a tour of McHenry County College, Biden expressed hope that the nation addressing infrastructure will not just drag on and become a running joke as it has been in the past.
“God willing, we’re not gonna have 40 — 40 weeks of, ‘this is infrastructure week.’ Do you remember those?” he said, referring to events during the Trump administration.
Biden focused his speech — which he concluded by describing as “boring” but “important” — on selling the “human infrastructure” aspects of the American Families Plan, calling it “essential” and the “second critical part” of his domestic agenda that he hopes to include in a reconciliation bill.
“To truly win the 21st Century and once again lead the world, to truly build an economy from the bottom up and the middle out, to truly deal everybody in this time, we need to invest in our people,” he said.
When the Senate returns to Washington next week, lawmakers hoping to move on Biden’s infrastructure agenda will be in a race against the clock to navigate a precarious political landscape before the summer comes to a close.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Justin Gomez and Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A Pentagon spokesperson has confirmed that two U.S. military service members were injured in a rocket attack on al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq earlier Wednesday.
The U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad had confirmed earlier that 14 rockets had been fired towards the base with some landing inside the perimeter.
Separately, a defense official said that the injuries consist of a concussion for one of the service members and an abrasion for the other.
This comes more than a week after White House officials said the U.S. carried out an airstrike near the Iraq-Syria border to target Iran-backed militias and two facilities behind drone attacks on U.S. troops in Iraq.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge found the United States Air Force 60% responsible for the mass shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, in November 2017.
Devin Kelley opened fire inside the First Baptist Church, 40 miles outside of San Antonio, during a Sunday service and killed 26 people from ages 5 to 72, making it the worst mass shooting at a house of worship ever.
In a civil lawsuit brought by families and victims of the shooting against the government, Judge Xavier Rodriguez found that because Kelley was investigated and court-martialed for assaulting his then-wife and her stepson on an Air Force base, the service should have alerted the FBI that Kelley could not legally purchase a gun through its alert system.
“The Court concludes that the Government failed to exercise reasonable care in its undertaking to submit criminal history to the FBI. The Government’s failure to exercise reasonable care increased the risk of physical harm to the general public, including Plaintiffs. And its failure proximately caused the deaths and injuries of Plaintiffs at the Sutherland Springs First Baptist Church on November 5, 2017,” Rodriguez wrote.
The government argued that they were shielded from liability by the Brady Act, which mandates that federal agencies, including the Department of Defense and Air Force, report disqualifying information “not less frequently than quarterly,” according to the filing. “Disqualifying information includes “any record of any person demonstrating that the person falls within one of the categories” of persons prohibited from purchasing firearms.”
During the investigation into domestic assault allegations, Kelley “threatened to kill both (his wife) and Air Force Security Forces” if she reported the abuse to authorities, according to the court filing. Additionally, his wife told investigators that Kelley threatened to commit a mass shooting at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
“My work is lucky. I’d take a shotgun and blow everyone’s head off,” Kelley said at the time, according to the court filing.
When Air Force Investigators looked into Kelley they discovered a “long history of violence and abuse,” according to the court filing.
Kelley was ultimately jailed for for a year on the domestic assault charges.
He later remarried and abused his second wife, according to the court filing.
The judge concluded that the Air Force did not properly report about Kelley to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) that gun dealers are required to use in order to complete a background check.
“The trial conclusively established that no other individual — not even Kelley’s own parents or partners — knew as much as the United States about the violence that Devin Kelley had threatened to commit and was capable of committing. Moreover, the evidence shows that — had the Government done its job and properly reported Kelley’s information into the background check system — it is more likely than not that Kelley would have been deterred from carrying out the Church shooting. For these reasons, the Government bears significant responsibility for the Plaintiffs’ harm.”
First Baptist Church Pastor Frank Pomeroy told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas in 2019 that he was still hurting from the shooting.
“The aftermath hurt almost as much as the actual, what the shooter did in our church,” Pomeroy said.
The judge gave the government 15 days to come up with a settlement plan.