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Elon Musk says he paused Twitter deal over fake user accounts: Why they matter

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s $44 billion bid to purchase Twitter struck an unexpected roadblock early Friday morning when he tweeted that he had put the deal “temporarily on hold,” citing concern over the prevalence of bot and spam accounts on the platform.

Nearly two hours later, Musk assured observers that he remains “committed to acquisition.” But damage had been done. The price of Twitter shares plunged Friday, closing more than 9% down.

Market analysts said the worry over fake accounts could serve as a pretext for Musk to bargain a lower price for the acquisition or abandon the effort altogether. The share prices of both Tesla and Twitter have fallen in the weeks since Musk reached a deal to purchase the social media platform, on April 25, potentially making the acquisition less attractive for Musk.

“I believe he’s still committed in theory, probably at a lower price,” Dan Ives, a managing director of equity research at Wedbush, an investment firm, who closely follows the tech sector, told ABC News. “It starts to be a boy that cried wolf.”

An unpredictable figure, Musk defies an easy assessment of his thinking. But he has expressed concern over fake accounts on previous occasions. On April 21, days before he reached the deal to acquire Twitter, Musk tweeted: “If our twitter bid succeeds, we will defeat the spam bots or die trying!”

There are two main explanations for why Musk could be worried about fake accounts. First, there is the threat they pose to the company’s business model. Second, there is their potential to undermine the credibility of the platform as a site of authentic discourse between real users.

Twitter generates the vast majority of its revenue through advertising to users on the platform, which means its business depends to a significant degree on the number of users who see the ads displayed by the company.

In the first quarter of this year, the company reported 229 million users who accessed Twitter on any given day on a platform on which they could be shown ads, which amounted to a 15.9% increase from the same quarter a year ago. The company reported $1.2 billion in revenue for the first quarter of this year, of which $1.11 billion came from advertising.

If the number of spam or bot accounts on Twitter is larger than the company has estimated, then it could cut into that number of monetizable users and the amount of ad revenue they generate. In turn, that could damage Twitter’s bottom line.

An accurate estimate of the number of fake accounts is important “given that establishing an accurate number of real tweeters is considered to be key to future revenue streams via advertising or paid for subscriptions on the site,” Susannah Streeter, a senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown, told ABC News in a statement.

In prior comments, Musk has stated another source of worry over bot accounts that centers on how they could undermine the role Twitter plays as a “de facto public town square,” as he has described it. If Twitter posts cannot be trusted as real remarks from actual human beings, then the value of the discourse on the platform deteriorates.

“There is so much potential with Twitter to be the most trusted & broadly inclusive forum in the world!” Musk tweeted on May 3.

“That is why we must clear out bots, spam & scams. Is something actually public opinion or just someone operating 100k fake accounts? Right now, you can’t tell,” he added in a follow-up tweet minutes later.

Public interest in fake accounts on social media platforms intensified in the aftermath of the 2016 presidential election, when it was found that Russian operatives had used false accounts to spread misinformation on a massive scale. In 2018, Twitter escalated its efforts to remove fake or suspicious accounts, suspending more than 70 million such accounts in May and June of that year, the Washington Post reported that July.

For its part, Twitter has acknowledged the challenge of accurately estimating the number of fake accounts on the platform. In the public filing this month in which it stated that fake accounts make up less than 5% of users, Twitter added a note of caution about the figure: “In making this determination, we applied significant judgment, so our estimation of false or spam accounts may not accurately represent the actual number of such accounts, and the actual number of false or spam accounts could be higher than we have estimated.”

Last month, Musk reached a deal to buy Twitter at $54.20 a share, which amounted to a 38% premium above where the share price stood before it was made public that Musk had been purchasing company stock.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Musk over a delay in notifying regulators of a 9.2% stake in Twitter he took earlier this year, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. Likewise, the Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the acquisition over the possible violation of an antitrust reporting rule.

Ives, the analyst at Wedbush, said the announcement from Musk on Friday puts the outcome of the acquisition in question.

“This continues to be a circus show that really puts the deal in uncertainty,” he said. “The chances of a deal getting done is probably less than 50% now.”

911 calls released in connection to woman whose disappearance led to Gilgo Beach victims

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Police are thinking differently about the undetermined death of a woman previously thought to have been killed in a rash of prostitute murders on Long Island, New York.

Suffolk County police on Friday released three 911 calls made on May 1, 2010, the day Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker, vanished near Oak Beach.

Though the 2010 search for Gilbert led police to discover the Gilgo Beach murder victims, Suffolk County police said Friday that the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit concluded that Gilbert’s death isn’t consistent with homicide.

Gilbert’s cause of death is undetermined and was most likely an accident, police said.

In the early hours of May 1, 2010, Gilbert was driven from New York City to Oak Beach to meet a client, Joseph Brewer, police said.

“Gilbert’s driver remained in the area while she met with Brewer,” police said in a statement. “During the meeting, Gilbert reportedly began acting irrational, prompting her client to contact the driver to have Gilbert leave his home.”

Gilbert called 911 from Brewer’s house. Police noted that at times on the call Gilbert spoke calmly but slurred her words. At other points on the call she was non-responsive, and at other points she screamed, police said. She told the operator, “There’s somebody after me.”

Gilbert eventually left Brewer’s home and ran to the house of another resident, who called 911. The third 911 call was made by another resident when Gilbert knocked on her door.

An investigation found Gilbert’s death “was most likely non-criminal,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison told reporters Friday.

Brewer and Gilbert’s driver have been cleared of any criminal involvement in her death, police said.

However, Gilbert’s family hired a private pathologist to conduct an autopsy; while that pathologist determined there’s insufficient information to determine a definite cause of death, he found her death is consistent with homicidal strangulation, police said.

Harrison told reporters, “Shannan was a loving daughter, sister and a young woman who should have had a whole life ahead of her, regardless of the circumstances surrounding her death. Her unfortunate passing is tragic.”

Police said they are “committed to evaluating any information or evidence that the public may have to help determine a definitive cause of death.”

The investigation into the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders started more than 11 years ago when Suffolk County police, searching for Gilbert, discovered the body of Melissa Barthelemy along Ocean Parkway. The remains of 10 people were found in 2010 and 2011 in the weedy sections off Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach. At the time, police said half of the identified victims worked as prostitutes.

A $50,000 reward is available for information leading to an arrest in the Gilgo Beach murders.

White House clambers for fixes to baby formula shortage as dismay mounts, probes planned

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The ongoing baby formula shortage — with nearly half of products recently unavailable, according to experts — triggered a flurry of responses from Washington this week as the Biden administration and Congress sought to address the public outcry.

“There’s nothing more urgent we’re working on than that right now,” President Joe Biden said Friday from the White House at an event that had been meant to tout public safety funding — reflecting how the lack of formula has quickly overtaken other administration concerns.

Criticism and dismay from parents grew ever sharper as families encountered more empty shelves, with an estimated 43% of formula products out of stock as of Sunday at stores across the U.S., according to tracking firm Datasembly.

The shortage — compounded by broader, coronavirus-related supply chain issues — was worsened by a recall from Abbott, one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of baby formula products.

The company pulled three of its popular brands in February and closed its plant in Sturgis, Michigan, in the wake of bacterial infections linked to two infants who died after consuming Abbott formula and a Food and Drug Administration inspection that documented problems at Abbott’s Michigan facility, including the same bacteria.

(Abbott maintains there is no evidence its products were connected to the babies’ deaths, though it has acknowledged the infractions the FDA found elsewhere at the plant.)

A complaint against Abbott was first filed in September, but the FDA didn’t investigate the plant until approximately four months later.

Now, the Biden administration is facing questions from Republicans and others about how long problems may persist and what solutions are available to the public — even as the government stresses its watchdog role in investigating Abbott.

“This is not a Third World country,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, a New York Republican and a new mother, said at a Thursday GOP news conference. “This should never happen in the United States.”

Responding to such criticism, Biden insisted Friday that “if we had been better mind readers, we could’ve [acted more quickly], but we moved as quickly as the problem became apparent to us. We have to move with caution as well, and speed.”

The White House has not provided a timeline for when shelves will be restocked, though press secretary Jen Psaki maintained Thursday that the government has been working “for months” on this issue as they roll out new steps aimed at alleviating the problem.

Among the fixes, as Psaki and Biden then reiterated on Friday, was supporting the ability of parents to use benefits from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (also known as WIC) to buy formula. Abbott has agreed to provide rebates through August for WIC users to buy other products.

The administration is also calling on federal and state officials to crack down on reports of potential price gouging.

The FDA will announce next week ways that the U.S. can import more products from abroad. It remains unclear how the imports would work given the FDA’s requirements on formula packaging and vitamin content, though Commissioner Robert Califf tweeted Friday that the agency will ensure imported products meet “certain safety, quality and labeling standards.”

Biden said Friday he believed the timeline for imports would be a “matter of weeks or less.”

The Department of Health and Human Services has also unveiled a new website where parents and caregivers can go to obtain information on where to find formula and other resources.

Psaki said Thursday the White House was considering “every option,” including invoking the Defense Production Act, which gives the president substantial power over private industry. But on Friday, Psaki noted that the administration views the DPA as a potential “long-term” solution. “Our focus primarily is twofold: One is increasing supply, and the other is making it readily available,” she said.

Meanwhile, the Democratic majority on Capitol Hill is launching investigations into the nationwide shortage. The House Oversight Committee is demanding records from four major manufacturers.

“We have asked for a briefing by the end of the month, and we’ve asked three basic questions: Do they have the supply to meet the demand? Is there a supply chain problem that can be corrected? And what can we do to make sure this doesn’t happen again?” Chairwoman Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., told ABC News.

A group of 32 Senate Democrats on Friday wrote a letter to urging the Infant Nutrition Council of America — an association of formula manufacturers — to take “immediate action” to address the shortage, though they didn’t offer any specific steps the group can or should implement.

“We are calling on you and your member companies to take immediate action and ensure that infant formula manufacturers are making every effort to mitigate this dangerous shortage and get children the nourishment they need,” the lawmakers wrote.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday the House of Representatives intends to take legislative action as soon as next week, voting on a bill that would grant emergency authority to the WIC program to address supply disruptions and recalls by relaxing certain regulations.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the shortage in his own floor speech on Thursday, calling it “outrageous and unacceptable”.

“It seems that while President Biden’s administration and the FDA … have been asleep at the switch in terms of getting production back online as fast as possible,” he argued.

Utah Republican Sen. Mitt Romney penned his own letter to both the FDA and United States Department of Agriculture earlier this week urging the agencies to “protect infant health by ensuring they have access to safe formula, and when crises arise, to initiate contingency plans to mitigate shortages that risk the lives of infants across the nation.”

House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., announced Wednesday her panel would examine the Abbott plant in Michigan, where the bacteria was found, and the “FDA’s delayed response to this horrific incident.”

DeLauro released a whistleblower complaint last month showing a former employee of Abbot detailed concerns about alleged wrongdoing at the facility.

Abbott said it could restart operations at its Michigan facility within two weeks of getting the green light from the FDA. From there, the company estimates it would take an additional six to eight weeks to get the product into stores.

But the FDA said Friday that Abbott’s plant still carried contamination risks as of March.

“The plant remains closed as the company works to correct findings related to the processes, procedures, and conditions that the FDA observed during its inspection of the facility from January 31 – March 18, 2022, which raised concerns that powdered infant formula produced at this facility prior to the FDA’s inspection carry a risk of contamination,” an FDA official said.

Abbott says they are working to address the FDA’s issues so they can resume operations.

“We are confident that we can continue to produce safe, high-quality infant formula at all of our facilities as we have been doing for millions of babies around the world for decades,” the company said in a statement.

Arkansas police investigating fatal shooting following high school graduation

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(HOT SPRINGS, Ark.) — Police in Hot Springs, Arkansas, said they arrested a man after a shooting left one person dead and three others injured following a high school graduation.

The three injured were transported to local hospitals to be treated and suffered non-life threatening injuries, according to the Hot Springs Police Department.

Police say the shooting occurred after a large fight broke out in a parking lot across from a convention center where the ceremony was being held for Hot Springs World Class High School on Thursday night.

“During the fight, HSPD officers and Garland County deputies were on scene attempting to defuse the situation when a single gunman began shooting into the crowd. Officers of the HSPD returned fire on the suspect, later identified as Charles Johnson,” Officer Omar Cervantes, a spokesperson for the HSPD, told ABC News in a statement on Friday.

Johnson, 25, was wounded, but able to flee the scene, Cervantes said. He was later arrested while getting treatment for his wounds at a local hospital, he said. Johnson has been charged with one count of murder in the first degree and three counts of battery.

Arkansas State Police are investigating the officer-involved shooting and the officers involved have been placed on administrative leave with pay until the investigation is complete, Cervantes said.

Hot Springs Superintendent Dr. Stephanie Nehus acknowledged the incident in a Facebook update on Friday saying school counselors and staff will be working with students who witnessed events.

“We are heartbroken that these violent events took place following such a beautiful celebration for our graduates and their families. Our Law Enforcement Officers and staff will continue to do all that we can to collaborate with local law enforcement agencies/officials to complete an investigation,” Nehus said.

No current students or graduates were involved in the incident, Nehus said in an earlier post. “Our hearts and thoughts are with all individuals who suffered injuries tonight,” she said.

Hot Springs is about an hour west of Little Rock, Arkansas.

DSU to file civil rights complaint over drug search of lacrosse team bus

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Delaware State University announced plans to file a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice over what its president called a “constitutionally dubious” drug search of a bus transporting its women’s lacrosse team through Georgia last month.

The historically Black university intends to file the complaint next week, alleging “misconduct” by the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office, the school’s president, Tony Allen, said during a press briefing Friday.

Allen did not go into detail on the contents of the complaint ahead of the filing, but said that “from our standpoint, the evidence is clear and compelling.”

“What we believe is that the search was conducted inappropriately, and there was implicit racial bias in the search,” he said, noting that the lacrosse team is 70% African American.

The university is seeking “justice” for the student-athletes, who may choose to pursue legal action on their own, Allen said.

Liberty County deputies pulled the bus over for an alleged traffic violation that then turned into a drug search. Nothing illegal was found, authorities and school officials said.

The incident, which occurred on April 20, came to light after one of the team’s lacrosse players wrote about the search in the school’s newspaper last week with the headline, “Delaware State Women’s Lacrosse Team Felt Racially Profiled by Police in Georgia.” The player also released a video of part of the deputies’ interactions with the team.

The team’s head coach, Pamella Jenkins, also charged that it was an incident of racial profiling in interview with ABC Philadelphia station WPVI.

In response to the allegations, Liberty County Sheriff William Bowman said this week that there was probable cause for the luggage search due to an alert from a K9.

“Although I do not believe any racial profiling took place based on the information I currently have, I welcome feedback from our community on ways that our law enforcement practices can be improved while still maintaining the law,” he said.

The sheriff’s office also released body-camera footage of the incident, during which a deputy can be heard telling the student-athletes to come forward with anything “questionable.”

“Marijuana is still illegal in the state of Georgia,” he said.

Prior to conducting the search, the deputy can be heard while in his cruiser saying, “There’s a bunch of dang school girls on the bus. There’s probably some weed. Maybe.”

The university contacted Delaware Attorney General Kathleen Jennings about the incident, who this week wrote to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division “urging a full examination,” she said.

In her letter, Jennings said she was “deeply troubled” by what happened.

“By all accounts these young women represented their school and our state with class — and they were rewarded with a questionable-at-best search through their belongings in an effort to find contraband that did not exist,” she wrote. “Not only did the deputies find nothing illegal in the bags; they did not issue a single ticket for the alleged traffic infraction.”

House Democrats call on Supreme Court to defend abortion access

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol facing the Supreme Court on Friday, calling on the justices to defend access to abortion on the eve of abortion rights protests in Washington and nationwide.

It comes after the unprecedented leak last week of a Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade followed by Senate Democrats’ failure to codify abortion rights into federal law on Wednesday.

“Americans are marching and making their voices heard,” Pelosi said. “Public sentiment is everything. We will never stop fighting for patients and their health care.”

Pelosi said Republicans around the country have already mobilized a “dangerous” and “extreme” agenda to criminalize all forms of reproductive healthcare — referring to the conservative push for a nationwide abortion ban — even though Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said he would not try to break a Democratic filibuster to block a ban should Republicans take control of Congress.

She warned, because Roe is based on a constitutional right to privacy, that other similar rights such as same-sex marriage and contraception would be stripped from Americans if Roe case is overturned.

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sponsor of the Women’s Health Protection Act, commended her colleagues for passing her House bill in September that would provide a national right to abortion, calling it the “most supportive” reproductive rights bill in the history of Congress.

Chu called out West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin who voted with anti-abortion Republicans to block the Senate bill, arguing it went “too far.”

“Even though Senator Manchin did not join, all of the other 49 Senate Democrats did. I also want to talk about that to so called pro-choice Republicans who voted against whip-up because they said our bill goes too far. Well, that’s not true. It does exactly what we need it to do — uphold Roe versus Wade.”

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., co-chair of the congressional Pro-Choice Caucus, said Republican lawmakers are “out of step” with Americans’ views because a majority of them support abortion access and personal liberty to make their own decisions regarding their reproductive health care.

“This is personal for many of us,” said Lee. “It’s personal for me, because I know firsthand what being denied access to legal abortion looks like. I have personally experienced the fear the stigma, the trauma, the despair, of being denied the care that you need. I know what it’s like to have your medical decisions criminalized to be forced to travel for the care that you need and to see your future hang on the decisions of politicians rather than doctors.”

Reps. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., and Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., called on Americans to mobilize for the approaching midterms in November.

“I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues and with our speaker,” said Maloney. “We are united in our resolve to defend abortion rights in this country with our like minded men and women. And it’s time to take America forward again.”

19-year-old becomes youngest Black student to graduate from Texas law school

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DALLAS) — Haley Taylor Schlitz made headlines in 2019 after getting accepted into nine law schools. She was just 16 at the time.

Now, after three years of classes, long nights, clerkships and internships – and a pandemic to boot – Taylor Schlitz is ready to step into her next chapter.

The 19-year-old from Keller, Texas, graduates from Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law on Friday and will become the Dallas law school’s youngest Black student to do so, the school confirmed to “Good Morning America.”

“We are incredibly proud of Haley and all she has accomplished during her time at SMU Law School. We know she is going to make a difference in this world, and we can’t wait to see all the wonderful places her career will take her,” SMU Dedman School of Law Professor Jennifer Collins told “GMA” in an emailed statement.

Schlitz told “GMA” it feels surreal to finally be graduating but is ready for her big day.

“It’s just been a lot of buildup and it’s really exciting to take off,” the student said.

She’ll be celebrating this weekend with her family, including her mother, father and siblings before she gets cracking on her bar exam studies next Monday. “My village is a huge part of my motivation to keep going,” Schlitz said.

“My mom has been probably my absolute biggest motivator, my biggest supporter, the person that I look up to the most,” she continued. “She’s an ER doctor and so for the longest time, I wanted to be an ER doctor, but even after wanting to be an attorney, and now going to law school, she’s still somebody that is such a huge life counselor, such a great advisor for me.”

When she stopped by the “GMA” studio three years ago, Schlitz said she wanted to “help other students and fight for equity” and with law school wrapped up, she wants to do just that.

“I absolutely feel that even more strongly now,” Schlitz said. “It’s so much more tangible. I’m so close to actually being able to make that impact that I’ve been talking about … write that legislation, really get active.”

Schlitz, who cited criminal law and torts law as her two favorite law school courses, hopes to work in educational policy or teach. “I have quite a few job offers and right now, it just depends on where I want to be in the country,” she said.

For others searching for their own success, Schlitz said she had one key message for them.

“You don’t find your path. You make it,” she said. “Take life by the reins, by the horns, and just really make what you want your reality.”

She also encouraged people to take advantage of opportunities and not to be afraid to take chances.

“It’s OK to make mistakes,” Schlitz said.

She went on, “Just go back to your foundation and build up again and don’t be confined to boxes or stereotypes or when other people are trying to say whether it’s no or yes. It’s really up to you.”

Texas Supreme Court overturns halt on investigations into trans youth care

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — The Texas Supreme Court reversed the statewide halt on investigations into parents who provide gender-affirming care to their transgender children on Friday.

However, the court also stated that the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services is not legally obligated to investigate such care as child abuse based on the directives from Gov. Greg Abbott and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The court did not rule whether such investigations violate the families’ rights or not — that is still up to lower courts.

In a Feb. 22 letter, Abbott called gender-transitioning or affirming procedures “child abuse,” following an opinion from Paxton that said the same.

Paxton attacked gender-affirming care for LGBTQ youth, saying that his opinion “comes at a critical time” when “Texans are seeing the horrors that flow from the merging of medicine and misguided ideology.”

State District Judge Amy Clark Meachum issued a temporary injunction on the directive in March after hearing from the parents of a 16-year-old transgender girl who were under investigation by DFPS. Meachum also heard from attorneys from the state.

The Texas Court of Appeals later that month affirmed the injunction.

The state Supreme Court said that neither the governor’s letter nor the attorney general’s opinion changed the legal obligations of the DFPS and have no authority over the state agency. Gov. Abbott was dismissed from the case, because the court states he has no authority over such investigations.

In February, the DFPS announced that it would comply with Paxton and Abbott’s directive. It was investigating at least nine families under Paxton’s directive, an agency spokesperson told ABC News.

“In sum, we are directed to no source of law obligating DFPS to base its investigatory decisions on the Governor’s letter or the Attorney General’s Opinion,” the opinion from the Texas Supreme Court states.

The court also will uphold the decision to block an investigation into a family that is suing the DFPS and Governor Greg Abbott over the directive.

According to an ACLU complaint against the state, “some doctors and other providers have discontinued prescribing medically necessary treatment for gender dysphoria to transgender youth” as a result of Abbott’s directive.

Homeland Security announces $1.6B in local grants for election security, to combat extremism

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

Homeland Security announces .6B in local grants for election security, to combat extremism

(WASHINGTON) — Shortly after the Boston Marathon bombing in 2013, then-top Department of Homeland Security official Alejandro Mayorkas saw a picture of a Federal Emergency Management Agency analysis as part of the investigation — and realized the equipment used, to illustrate what happened on the day of bombing and lay out a plethora of evidence and leads, had been purchased through a grant program run by his department.

Years later, a repeat: After a shooting on the New York City subway last month injured 10 people, Mayorkas told ABC News in an interview this week, authorities relied on equipment purchased with FEMA funds to capture “critical evidence.”

“We impact people’s lives by making those lives safer,” said Mayorkas, now the secretary of DHS.

The DHS on Friday announced nearly $1.6 billion as part of the FEMA preparedness grant program for the 2022 fiscal year, available to cities from coast to coast, with a specific focus on terrorism and preventing disasters.

The newly announced awards are the latest in what DHS officials called significant funding funneled to the local level. Since FEMA’s preparedness grant program began in 2002, the department has given localities more than $54 billion.

State and local governments, which can apply annually, can be funded by eight grant programs that range from an increase in law enforcement equipment to overtime for local officers on the southern border.

The grant recipients for the largest amount of money, the Urban Area Security Initiative, have to address six priority areas of cybersecurity, soft target and crowded places, information and intelligence sharing, domestic violent extremism, community preparedness and resilience and election security, according to DHS.

The categories of community preparedness and resilience and election security are new for 2022, Mayorkas told ABC News.

DHS’ continued focus on cybersecurity and domestic extremism comes amid the department’s concerns of possible Russian cyberattacks as retaliation to the U.S. response to the war in Ukraine and what Mayorkas himself has called one of the “greatest” threats to the country: homegrown extremists.

As part of the latest wave of grants, which will be disbursed throughout the 2022 fiscal year, DHS will identify 36 high-threat, high-density cities, states and localities that will receive some of the $615 million funds allocated through the program to focus on the six priority areas.

These areas are selected in a nonpartisan way, Mayorkas stressed.

“This is a risk-based program,” he said.

The secretary told ABC News that officials have increased the percentage of funds — from 25% to 30% — which must be dedicated to law enforcement’s terrorism prevention. Mayorkas cited their “role in preventing terrorist acts on the front lines in each of our communities across the country.”

In years past, according to public filings, the grants have been used to fund local narcotics task forces, training for intelligence analysts and more.

Mayorkas says the program has improved because they’ve engaged with local stakeholders on the flexibility of how they spend their grant money.

Along the southern border — where federal officials have been dealing with historically high levels of migration — the department is allocating $90 million for local communities through their Operation Stonegarden grant.

Operation Stonegarden pays for border officer overtime, Mayorkas said, as well as technology enhancements for local communities, such as phones and tablets to allow for better communication, according to previous filings.

Regarding the southern border, the secretary told ABC News that the federal government has been planning since September for the end of Title 42, the Trump-era policy continued by the Biden administration which expels migrants before they can seek asylum under the auspices of a public heath emergency.

President Joe Biden’s White House is seeking to now roll back the use of Title 42 regarding immigrants — which drew intense criticism from advocates under both Trump and Biden — but that plan is being challenged in court, with the latest hearing scheduled in Louisiana on Friday.

Conservatives have continually voiced concerns about how the government will handle high levels of immigration at the same time that the government’s treatment of these migrants, dating beyond the Biden administration, has also drawn scrutiny.

Nurse rejected over race honored by hospital 71 years later

May 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ELGIN, Ill.) — Betty Brown was rejected by Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin, Illinois, for nursing school 71 years ago because she is Black. This year, the now-retired 90-year-old is being named an honorary chief nursing officer by that same hospital.

“It was very emotional,” Brown told ABC News. “And it was emotional for the speaker … because of somebody like me, it made her what she is today,” she said, referring to the hospital’s current president, Sheri De Shazo, who is a Black woman.

“That refusal to let that moment that I know was deeply painful — She didn’t let it become a barrier and that’s what inspires me,” De Shazo told ABC 7 Chicago.

Brown didn’t let the rejection 71 years ago phase her — she went on to make history as the first Black nursing student and the first Black nurse at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Joliet, Illinois.

She later returned to work at Advocate Sherman Hospital, but she never held a grudge against the institution.

“I would always say to the young women: don’t give up,” she said. “Keep your eye on the goal and don’t give up and don’t become bitter.”

She’s also a local leader, volunteering with organizations like the local Elgin YWCA, which she says gave her and other Black children a safe place to play and socialize.

“When I was growing up, there weren’t many places that Black young women could go and be accepted and the YWCA was a place that we could go and be accepted,” she said.

She took swimming, tap dancing and music lessons there — and she says the organization sparked her passion for giving back to the community.

“While other organizations were still segregated, we have always welcomed everyone into our programs,” said Alana Freedman, an administrator at YWCA Elgin. “Over the years, almost her entire 90 years, she’s been a supporter of our programs and our mission. She’s come back to teach classes to our children here, like etiquette classes.”

The YWCA honors Brown annually, by presenting a social justice award in her honor to up-and-coming local heroes: the Betty Brown Racial Justice Award. It’s one of the many ways Brown has been honored over the years.

“I will always contribute to them,” Brown said.

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