(WASHINGTON) — The FBI has warned of criminals increasingly using “SIM swap” scams in which criminals obtain cellphone SIM cards from unknowing victims and steal their personal information, including their cell phone numbers and bank account details.
These scams netted criminals $68 million in 2021 alone, the FBI said, and it received more than 1,611 complaints. From 2018 to 2020, the FBI reports, victims suffered $12 million in losses.
Criminals are able to obtain an individual’s SIM card through phishing tactics by pretending to be the victim’s mobile carrier, according to the FBI.
“Once the SIM is swapped, the victim’s calls, texts, and other data are diverted to the criminal’s device,” the FBI said. “This access allows criminals to send ‘Forgot Password’ or ‘Account Recovery’ requests to the victim’s email and other online accounts associated with the victim’s mobile telephone number.”
Alarmingly, “the criminal uses the codes to login and reset passwords, gaining control of online accounts associated with the victim’s phone profile,” the FBI said.
The FBI urged the public to be aware of suspicious emails and not to advertise financial ownership in cryptocurrency or other financial assets.
(NEW YORK) — The majority of children under age 5 are getting more screen time than is recommended by pediatricians, new research shows.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) recommends babies and toddlers up to age 2 should avoid screen time other than video-chatting, while children ages 2 to 5 should be limited to no more than one hour per day of high-quality programming.
More than 75% of children younger than 2 and 64% of kids ages 2 to 5 exceeded the recommended guidelines, according to researchers at the University of Calgary, who analyzed over 60 studies looking at more than 89,000 children around the world.
The researchers described kids ages 5 and under as the “fastest-growing users of digital media,” citing research showing that prior to the coronavirus pandemic, kids in that age group used screens for an average of around 25% of the time they are awake each day.
They found that kids under 2 consume more TV and movies, while kids ages 2 to 5 engage in everything from TV and movies to tablets and video games.
“Digital media are now a regular part of young children’s lives, and supporting families to best fit evidence-based recommendations into their daily routines needs to be a priority,” the researchers wrote.
Too much screen time can be linked to obesity when it replaces physical activity or encourages mindless eating while being on screens, irregular sleep if they are on screens more than recommended, and even violence if exposed to violent content on TV, which can significantly impact their behavior, according to an article published by the Mayo Clinic in May 2021.
Other studies have found that there can be cognitive and emotional delays in a child’s development from excessive screen time.
While regulated screen time does have some potential benefits for kids, like learning opportunities, parents should monitor their kids’ use, according to Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent.
“I think when you take into account the risk versus benefit, in this age group, the risks outweigh the benefits,” Ashton said Tuesday on ABC’s Good Morning America.
Ashton recommends limiting screen time by keeping kids engaged in a variety of ways.
One tip is to make a screen time schedule that sets time aside on the weekends for activities away from computers and tablets. Making a chart for older kids so they can see where they are on their schedule is also another way to limit screen time.
Ashton also said it is important to separate eating from screen time, so kids are not consuming snacks or meals while they watch.
And finally, Ashton recommends bringing in other activities, like getting outside with kids to walk or play.
(NEW YORK) — Black students are much more likely to incur the largest average student loan debt out of any group in the United States, including their white peers, according to a recent study from nonprofit The Education Trust.
It’s a situation Dr. Shamell Bell knows well. Even though she had scholarships, Bell, who is now a Harvard lecturer and single mother, took out multiple student loans to pay for her living expenses while she pursued higher education.
Bell told ABC News’ Good Morning America the stress from her college debt has significantly impacted her life.
“Every single night, I’m not getting sleep because I’m worried about my bills. I’m worried about loan payments. I’m worried about my credit,” she said.
“We were sold a lie with the educational system. I went all the way to the top and I still feel like I failed,” she added.
Bell isn’t alone. A 2021 report from the American Association of University Women, based in part on federal data, shows that women not only make less than men after graduating from school, they hold more debt, an average of $31,276 more. Black women also borrowed an average of $37,558, more than other racial and ethnic groups overall.
Financial aid expert Jessica Brown, author of How To Pay For College When You’re Broke, told GMA there are several keys to tackling college debt. Here are her recommendations:
Financial advice for incoming students
– Apply for grants, loans and other aid as soon as possible with the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).
– Research prospective schools.
– Understand the cost of attendance at different schools.
– Make a financial blueprint with your family.
Financial advice for current students
– Use apps to look for “unclaimed” scholarships. Apps like Scholly and the HBCU Hub can help you identify these funds. You can also look into community organizations and see if they offer any scholarships you qualify for.
– Build relationships with your college’s financial aid office.
– Maintain academic excellence. Many scholarships award strong academic performance.
Financial advice for graduates
– Build a relationship with your loan servicer. This way, you can identify the best repayment plan for you that’s realistic and feasible for you to maintain.
– Inquire about consolidating federal student loans and see if that would be best for your situation.
– Check your eligibility for public service loan forgiveness. Some jobs, in sectors such as education and the federal government, offer loan forgiveness for employees.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia’s military has said some troops massed near Ukraine will begin returning to base on Tuesday following the completion of what it called “exercises,” in a potential sign of de-escalation amid continuing fears of a possible Russian invasion.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said units from its southern and western military districts, which have deployed thousands of troops close to Ukraine’s border, had begun returning to barracks. Video released by the military showed what it said was tanks pulling back and being loaded onto rail transports. A spokesman for Russia’s southern military district also said its servicemen had also begun leaving Crimea, where Russia has built up a large force.
United States and Ukrainian officials, as well as independent experts, though cautioned that it was still to be seen whether the Russian forces will now really leave and how many. Major Russian exercises are still continuing in neighboring Belarus to the north of Ukraine and in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said officials would believe the Russian withdrawal “when we see it.”
Hopes that Russia might be moving to de-escalate were dimmed by Russia’s parliament which on Tuesday voted to pass a law calling on President Vladimir Putin to recognize two Russian-controlled breakaway regions of Ukraine as independent. The law appeals to Putin to recognize the self-proclaimed “People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk” in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian statelets that were created with Moscow’s backing and troops during fighting in 2014. Separatist forces, backed up by Russian troops, have continued to fight a low intensity war with the Ukrainian government along a static frontline since then.
The move to recognize the regions would open a path to Russia formally annexing the regions, as it did Crimea eight years ago, a step that would likely trigger more Western sanctions and further escalate the crisis. The vote now puts the decision in Putin’s hands, who can decide whether to go through with it.
The parliament’s speaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, said the appeal would be sent to Putin “immediately.”
Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said the issue was “highly, highly relevant in Russian society” but told reporters not to get ahead of themselves, as “no decisions have been taken.”
The vote was denounced in Ukraine, with an advisor to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling it an “escalatory action.” The advisor, Mikhailo Podolyak, said if Putin went ahead it would amount to Russia’s formal exit from the Minsk agreements, the stalled 2015 peace deal aimed at ending the war in eastern Ukraine.
The U.S. and other western countries have warned this week that a Russian invasion of Ukraine could come this week and U.S. officials Tuesday said they would wait to see if Russia really does now pull back its forces, warning they consider Ukraine still to be inside the window for a potential attack.
Satellite images and videos spotted on social media by open source researchers over the weekend and Monday showed Russian forces continuing to move closer to Ukraine, with some units taking up what experts said appeared to be forward positions. The U.S. on Monday announced it was closing down its embassy in Kyiv and moving key diplomats to Lviv in western Ukraine amid an “accelerated” build up by Russian forces.
The Russian announcement that it was pulling back some forces came a day after Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu briefed Putin that Russia’s huge military drills would end in the “near future.”
Shoigu told Putin that “part of the drills are approaching their completion, and part would be completed in the near future.”
Russia has always denied it has any intention to attack Ukraine using the over 100,000 troops it has massed near its border. Russia has painted warnings from the U.S. and other Western countries that it may be preparing to launch an invasion as “hysteria.”
A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the day would prove the Western warnings had been unfounded.
Tuesday “will go down in history as the day the Western propaganda war failed. Disgraced and destroyed without a shot being fired,” the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, wrote on her Facebook.
Military exercises on an unprecedented scale are continuing in Belarus and are due to end on Feb. 20.
Putin hosted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday, as Western countries continue intensive diplomacy to try to avert a war.
The U.S. has warned that Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine this week, reportedly briefing NATO allies last week that it had intelligence the attack could come as early as Wednesday.
Ukraine’s government has expressed more skepticism that Russia is ready to attack this week, suggesting it believes the massive Russian build up is intended to pressure Ukraine with the threat of invasion. Zelenskyy, in a televised address Monday night, told Ukrainians he was declaring Wednesday, the alleged day of a possible Russian attack, a national holiday.
Zelenskyy’s national security advisor, Oleksiy Danilov, told Ukrainian television Monday night that Ukraine did not see signs Russia is preparing to attack on Feb. 16 or 17.
“We recognize all the risks that there are for our country. But the situation is absolutely under control,” he said. “More than that, we today do not see that a broad-scale invasion from Russia can happen on either 16th or 17th February. We do not see that.”
(NEW YORK) — The United States is warning that Russia could invade Ukraine “any day” amid escalating tensions in the region.
As many as 150,000 Russian troops are estimated to be massed near Ukraine’s borders and U.S. officials have urged all Americans to leave the country.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday that the country was shuttering its embassy in Kyiv and “temporarily” relocating the small group of diplomats left in Ukraine to the western city of Lviv, citing the “rapid acceleration in the buildup of Russian forces.”
But Ukrainian officials have said they do not see signs of a Russian attack as soon as Wednesday — the date reportedly given to NATO allies — and called for a day of unity instead.
Russia has demanded the U.S. and NATO bar Ukraine from joining the military alliance and pull back troops from Eastern European member states, while denying it has plans to invade Ukraine.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 15, 7:02 am
Russia’s parliament asks Putin to recognize breakaway regions in Ukraine
Russia’s parliament voted for a law on Tuesday that calls on President Vladimir Putin to recognize two Russian-controlled breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine as independent.
The measure is a formal appeal to Putin to recognize the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics, in an area of southeastern Ukraine known as the Donbas, where Russian-backed separatists forces have been battling the Ukrainian army since 2014.
Such recognition would open a path for Russia to formally annex the two regions as it did the Crimean Peninsula almost eight years ago. It’s now up to Putin to decide whether to go through with it.
Two bills were initially put forward for a vote in Russia’s parliament — one by the Communist Party and the other by Putin’s ruling United Russia. The first would have the request sent to the president immediately, while the second would have sought consultations with the foreign ministry and other government agencies before appealing directly to Putin. Ultimately, parliament voted for the first bill.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office called the vote an “escalatory action.” Ukraine’s foreign ministry has warned that it will consider Russia recognizing the separatist regions as a withdrawal from the Minsk peace agreement reached in 2015, which was supposed to end the conflict in Donbas that broke out a year earlier.
Feb 15, 5:41 am
Ukraine reacts to Russia announcing withdrawal: ‘We’ll believe it when we see it’
Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba reacted to Russia’s announcement Tuesday that it is withdrawing some troops from the border, saying his country will “believe it when we see it.”
“There are constantly various statements coming from the Russian Federation, so we have a rule: we’ll believe it when we see it,” Kuleba said during a televised briefing Tuesday. “When we see the withdrawal, we’ll believe in de-escalation.”
Feb 15, 5:25 am
Russia says some troops will return to base
Some Russian troops positioned near the border with Ukraine will begin returning to their bases Tuesday after completing “exercises,” according to the Russian Ministry of Defense.
The units set to return are from Russia’s Southern and Western Military Districts, the defense ministry said Tuesday. But there are troops from other military districts massed on the border. Still, if some troops do pull back, it would potentially be a key signal that the crisis with Ukraine will not escalate.
Russian state media then released video purportedly showing tank troops loading up in neighboring Belarus to return home as well as tanks in southwestern Russia moving back. A spokesperson for Russia’s Southern Military District told state media Tuesday that some personnel have begun leaving Crimea for their permanent bases following the completion of drills.
In 2014, Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and established two federal subjects there, the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. But the international community still recognizes the territories as being part of Ukraine.
Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Shoygu told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday that the military exercises would end “in the near future.” There are still drills being conducted in neighboring Belarus as well as the Black Sea that are due to end Feb. 20.
Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in a post on her official Facebook page on Tuesday that Feb. 15 “will go down in history as the day the Western propoganda war failed.”
“Disgraced and destroyed without a single shot fired,” Zakharova added.
Feb 15, 4:29 am
White House warns invasion could start ‘at any time’
While the United States believes a path of diplomacy remains “open” to Russia, a White House official warned that a Russian invasion of Ukraine “could begin at any time.”
Answering a question from ABC News’ Cecilia Vega during a press briefing Monday, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. government is so far seeing “more and more” Russian troops arrive on the border with Ukraine.
“In the past 10 days or so, when you look at what is happening at the border of Ukraine, there, we are seeing more than 100,000 troops there and it’s just been an every day more and more troops,” Jean-Pierre said.
“So we are certainly open to having conversations and seeing a de-escalation,” she added. “That door is open for diplomacy and this is up to President Putin. He has to make that decision. It is his decision to make on which direction he wants to take this.”
Jean-Pierre noted that “it remains unclear which path Russia will choose to take.”
When asked about the imminency of the situation, she said: “We are in the window when an invasion could begin at any time.”
“I’m not going to comment on the intelligence information,” she added, “except to say that it could begin this week.”
(NEW YORK) — A Missouri mom is warning fellow parents about a rare condition caused by a strand of hair that sent her 5-month-old son to the emergency room.
Sara Ward, from St. Louis, shared a Facebook post explaining that her 5-month-old son, Logan, started developing a condition called hair tourniquet syndrome on Jan. 22 and, over the course of a week, had to be rushed to his pediatrician’s office, urgent care and later, the emergency room at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.
“This was my first time and even with being a third-time parent, I was not aware of this beforehand,” Ward, a mom of three, told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
“I had never seen this or this (had) never come up with any of my friends or family members that are moms. So I was definitely kind of in the dark on just how severe this can be,” Ward said.
For Ward, the unexpected ordeal began when she and her husband noticed that one of Logan’s toes was “looking a little bit pink.”
“We kind of didn’t really think much of it that night because he didn’t seem bothered by it at all,” she said.
They went about their weekend as usual, but Ward said that after a couple of days, Logan’s toe started changing color again.
“By Monday, it hadn’t improved and it was starting to look redder and we were kind of noticing this line that was going across the middle of the toe.”
That’s when she decided to take Logan to see his pediatrician and it was at the doctor’s office that she first learned about hair tourniquet syndrome.
“Hair tourniquet syndrome is when there is a piece of hair, or a thread of another material like a piece of cloth, that’s tightly wrapped around a body part. It’s usually a finger or a toe, but it also can be the genitals,” Dr. Sara Holmstrom, a board-certified pediatrician and a pediatric emergency medicine fellow at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, explained to GMA.
Holmstrom said hair tourniquet syndrome cases are “pretty uncommon overall” and noted that in a 2015 review from Lurie Children’s, only 81 cases of patients ranging in age from 2 to 22 years old were reported from May 2004 to March 2014.
“It most often occurs in young infants under six months, most frequently on the toe, and most of the time, patients do not need surgery,” Holmstrom added. At 5 months, Logan matched the typical patient profile.
At the pediatrician’s office, Ward estimated that Logan’s doctor and nurses spent about 40 minutes trying to remove the hair that had somehow gotten wrapped around his third right toe.
“They took a look and they had to use all these kinds of special instruments. They brought in these magnifying goggles and special lights and they had these long tweezers and like little scalpels,” Ward said. “They were going in there and they could not get it either. I mean they were able to get one small piece of it but they did not feel confident that they got it.”
Logan’s pediatrician then sent the family home with orders to monitor his condition and see if the toe would get better on its own.
“Within a few hours of being home, it felt like the toe was starting to swell some and we felt like it was starting to look a little bit purple, in the back of the toe,” Ward said. “So we became concerned again, and I took him into the urgent care center. And they sent us right to the emergency room.”
Ward said several doctors responded to Logan’s case and he was admitted to the hospital for an overnight stay. By Tuesday morning, when Logan’s toe wasn’t immediately improving, doctors told Ward they had to start considering surgery as a treatment option.
“I was just kind of in shock the whole time that it was getting to this point. I just really thought nothing of it in the very beginning because it didn’t seem to bother him and once we went into the pediatrician and they mentioned that a piece of hair got wrapped around it, I still thought it was going to be an easy fix and that well then, you can just go in and we’ll remove the hair right here in the pediatrician’s office. … I think that’s where a lot of people don’t understand the severity that these hair tourniquets can cause and that it can get to that point,” Ward said.
Symptoms and treatment options for hair tourniquet syndrome
According to Dr. Katie Lockwood, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, “typically, the affected body part becomes red, swollen, and sometimes has an indentation where the hair/fiber is in a circumferential pattern.”
“You will notice some redness and swelling of a digit, or the affected area, so fingers, toes and then sometimes genitals. So, more commonly the penis in males or labia in females … Sometimes it can cause breakdown of the skin so you may see a little bit of bleeding with time,” Holmstrom continued. “And if it’s been there for a really long time, the digit can actually turn purple, so not just a red discoloration but kind of purple and signs that the blood flow has not been adequate for some time.”
“If (parents notice) their babies are really fussy and they’ve checked all the usual things – they’re fed, they don’t have a wet diaper, they’re trying to console them – as a mom of a six-month-old myself, I would say, ‘Let me just take these socks off and take a peek at the toes,'” Holmstrom added.
Both physicians noted that if manual attempts at removing the hair or thread are unsuccessful, doctors will try other methods.
“We do this in the emergency room, use a chemical solution that dissolves hair,” Holmstrom said. “So over-the-counter, that’s Nair. Veet is another brand and we actually have that in the emergency room to dissolve the hair. And then worst-case scenario, if it can’t be manually or chemically removed, then surgical removal is needed.”
Ward said Logan did not need to have surgery and the hospital discharged him once his toe swelling started to improve.
“We’re actually not really sure what happened. Some of the swelling started to come down. So we’re not sure if maybe the hair removal creams might have worked. I mean, honestly, we couldn’t even tell you because we never even really saw the hair,” she said.
Her message to other parents?
“Be aware of hairs and always be checking the toes and fingers. If (you) see that a hair strand is wrapped around it, try to remove it as quickly as you can and if you can’t get it, then seek help from your pediatrician right away,” she said.
Lockwood and Holmstrom both recommend seeking medical care or contacting a pediatrician if a child can’t be consoled after all the usual methods are exhausted. Other signs it may be time to get a doctor’s opinion is if there’s any abnormal discoloration or swelling of a finger or toe that doesn’t subside.
Ward reported that it took at least a week for Logan’s toe to “fully look back to normal” and her baby boy has recovered three weeks after the incident.
(NEW YORK) — Joan MacDonald went from struggling with stairs to being a fitness influencer on Instagram with more than one million followers — and she did it while in her 70s.
Her transformation journey began five years ago, when she said she was fatigued, suffering from painful arthritis and struggled to walk up and down stairs.
Joan MacDonald’s breaking point, she said, came when she was told by a doctor that her blood pressure was rising and she would need to again increase her medication.
Her daughter, Michelle MacDonald, a fitness coach, was visiting her at the time and challenged her to make changes to her diet and exercise to improve her quality of life.
“When Michelle gave me that ultimatum to do something about my life, I figured it’s now or never,” Joan MacDonald said. “I was sick and tired of being sick and tired. It was existing, not living.”
In January 2017, just a few weeks before her 71st birthday, Joan MacDonald flew from her home in Canada to Tulum, Mexico, where Michelle MacDonald and her husband own a gym.
She began to follow a diet program laid out by her daughter that was focused on making sure she got enough macronutrients — fats, carbohydrates and proteins — in five meals per day, rather than sporadically snacking like she had done before.
Joan MacDonald also began to workout in the gym for the first time with Michelle MacDonald, founder of The Wonder Woman, a strength and bodybuilding coaching program.
“It was tough in the beginning,” Michelle MacDonald said. “People don’t realize that [my mom] was there in the trenches, trying to figure it all out and getting frustrated.”
According to Joan MacDonald, her motivation to continue came from how much better she started to feel very quickly.
She said she lost around 10 pounds in the first month of training, and in just a few months she was able to reduce her medications by half.
Once she returned to Canada, Joan MacDonald continued with her wellness journey by tracking her food on a macronutrient-focused app and by continuing her workouts.
“I go to the gym five days a week,” she said, noting two of those days are cardio-focused workouts. “I like that routine, because it gives you something to look forward to.”
Over the past four years, she said she has maintained a 65-pound weight loss and gone off medications for high blood pressure, high cholesterol and acid reflux.
As she transformed her health, Joan MacDonald said she was encouraged by her daughter to start an Instagram account to document her progress and connect with other people.
Today, her Train With Joan Instagram account has 1.5 million followers. She also has a website and an app that offers workout and meal plans overseen by Michelle MacDonald, who specializes in coaching women of all ages.
Joan MacDonald said she hopes people who follow her journey take away that it’s never too late to change your life, no matter your age or situation.
“Nothing is magical. It’s work, but it’s work that you can enjoy,” she said. “In the end, you are going to be stronger and healthier, and that’s all that really matters.”
The MacDonalds shared five tips for people who want to transform their health, no matter their age:
1. Think about your sleep.
“We live in a culture that doesn’t prioritize sleep,” Michelle MacDonald said. “But there’s so much research that shows when you’re not getting eight hours of quality sleep, it really negatively impacts you hormonally, cognitive function and your body.”
2. Drink lots of water and eat protein with every meal.
Michelle MacDonald said most women she works with, including her mom, come to her not eating enough calories. She recommends eating five meals consistently throughout the day and including protein at every meal, with the goal of eating in total daily one gram of protein for every pound of a person’s ideal body weight, so 130 grams of protein if their ideal weight is 130 pounds.
In addition, Michelle MacDonald recommends drinking at least three liters of water for day, for most people.
“Drink more water, and pace it out,” she said. “Drinking mindfully is an easy way to attach yourself to this idea that you’re taking care of yourself.”
3. Get active.
Start by just walking, aiming for 10,000 steps per day, which can be broken up and completed throughout the day, according to Michelle MacDonald.
Once a person is ready, she recommends adding in 45 minutes of strength training a few day per week.
“Train with intention, not lifting the same weight forever,” she said. “If you want to use the weights to change your body, you want to do that with intention and try to push yourself.”
4. Focus on a positive mindset.
Joan MacDonald said she continually works on having a positive inner dialogue in order to help her reach her goals.
“Mindset is something that I am still learning, and I know that it’s a very strong factor in everything,” she said. “It’s something you really have to work at.”
Both she and her daughter recommend journaling in the morning to set intentions and start off the day with a clear head.
5. Document your progress.
Take a photo of yourself on the day you start your journey, and keep documenting your progress, Michelle MacDonald recommends.
“Have a starting photo … and take photos every week,” she said. “You may not feel changes, but you’ll see them.”
(SAN FRANCISCO) — As school board meetings across the nation become increasingly contentious, parental pushback over COVID-19 related regulations and virtual learning has brought things to a head in San Francisco. There, voters are headed to the ballot box Tuesday to decide the fate of three school board members in an unprecedented recall election.
San Francisco School Board President Gabriela López and board members Faauuga Moliga and Alison Collins could all be recalled Tuesday.
The recall effort began in January of last year as tensions rose during the pandemic with parents claiming board members misplaced priorities, focusing their attention on social issues rather than pandemic reopening strategies at a time when many other school districts were open.
In April, board members dropped their plans to rename a third of the city’s public schools honoring historical figures linked to injustices following backlash from parents. The board said it would revisit the plan after students returned to in-person learning.
“They would spend the first seven hours talking about renaming schools or they would spend the first seminar talking about whether a gay dad was diverse enough to be on the Parent Advisory Council,” Autumn Looijen, campaign co-lead at Recall the SF School Board, told ABC News. “These things are important. But when you’re facing this urgent crisis, they’re not what you should be focusing on.”
Each member will be voted on individually and it only takes a simple majority for the recall to be successful. If the recall goes through, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who backs the recall, will be in charge of appointing replacements to serve out their remaining terms until an election is held for the three positions in November.
The recall is energizing an influx of voters. As of Monday, more than 500,000 mail-in ballots were issued and more than 115,100 ballots were returned, according to the San Francisco Board of Elections.
Among those voting are noncitizens, who are eligible to vote in local school board elections in San Francisco.
In this election, noncitizens in San Francisco are taking advantage of that right more than ever. At least 258 noncitizens are eligible to vote and over 120 have already cast their ballots in this historic election. That’s a significant increase from the previous school board election in 2020, when only 31 noncitizens voted.
However, it’s not just those that live, work and have children in San Francisco getting involved in support of the recall. Financial documents show the election has largely been funded by donations from big donors who don’t have children in the public school district.
Campaign finance records show some of the biggest financial contributors are 95-year-old billionaire Arthur Rock and PayPal COO David Sacks, who contributed close to $400,000 and more than $74,000, respectively.
The large contributions from the super-wealthy are a sticking point for many against the recall.
“Everyone who is following this campaign knows that billionaires are trying to buy out public education outright,” Frank Lara, executive vice president of United Educators of San Francisco, said in an ad encouraging people to vote “No” in Tuesday’s election.
The recall efforts continue to thrust the topic of education into the spotlight as it increasingly becomes integrated into political playbooks. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin seized on the issue during his successful run for governor following comments from Democratic gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe that parents shouldn’t be telling schools what to teach during a debate.
It is a trend that is not lost on Collins as she reflects on how she got to the point of fighting for her job.
“Honestly, I think that’s part of a national trend that we’re seeing. There’s an unprecedented number of recalls and also just outrage campaigns happening around school boards,” Collins said to ABC News.
In 2022, 25 school board recall efforts are being launched against 66 officials nationwide, according to data tracked by Ballotpedia. There are six in California alone. It follows a year where more than twice the average of recalls were launched at 92, according to Ballotpedia.
Now, López, Moliga and Collins wait for polls to close and votes to be tallied on an election viewed as another referendum on strict COVID policies heading into the midterms.
Tuesday’s election is the first time since 1983 that San Francisco voters are considering removing an elected official from office, which is when then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein survived the recall vote.
Looijen and fellow parent Siva Raj’s efforts, which started around a kitchen table last year, are showcasing the new avenues parents are taking when it comes to their children’s academic futures after some say virtual learning upended student achievement.
“I think there’s a common thread that public education is a vital government service. It’s one of the critical public services that we expect in any of these situations. And when you take that away, you will have angry, frustrated parents. It’s guaranteed,” Raj said.
(KYIV, Ukraine) — Russia’s military has said some troops massed near Ukraine will begin returning to base on Tuesday following the completion of what it called “exercises,” in a potential sign of de-escalation amid fears of a possible Russian invasion.
Russia’s Ministry of Defense said units from its southern and western military districts, which have deployed thousands of troops close to Ukraine’s border, had begun returning to barracks. Video released by the military showed what it said was tanks pulling back.
A spokesman for Russia’s southern military district said its servicemen had also begun leaving Crimea, where Russia has built up a large force.
Ukrainian officials and independent experts cautioned that it was still to be seen whether the Russian forces really leave and how many of them do so. Major Russian exercises are still continuing in neighboring Belarus to the north of Ukraine and in the Black Sea.
Ukraine’s foreign minister said officials would believe the Russian withdrawal “when we see it.”
“There are constantly various statements coming out of the Russian Federation, so we have a rule: We’ll believe it when we see it,” Minister Dmytro Kuleba said in a daily briefing. “When we see the withdrawal, we will believe in the de-escalation.”
The pullback announcement came a day after Russia’s Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu briefed President Vladimir Putin that Russia’s huge military drills would end in the “near future.”
Shoigu told Putin that “part of the drills are approaching their completion, and part would be completed in the near future.”
Russia has always denied it has any intention to attack Ukraine using the over 100,000 troops it has massed near its border. Russia has painted warnings from the U.S. and other Western countries that it may be preparing to launch an invasion as “hysteria.”
A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday said that the day would prove the Western warnings had been unfounded.
Tuesday “will go down in history as the day the Western propaganda war failed. Disgraced and destroyed without a shot being fired,” the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, wrote on her Facebook.
Military exercises on an unprecedented scale are continuing in Belarus and are due to end on Feb. 20.
Putin is hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks at the Kremlin on Tuesday, as Western countries continue intensive diplomacy to try to avert a war.
The U.S. has warned that Russia could launch an invasion of Ukraine this week, reportedly briefing NATO allies last week that it had intelligence the attack could come as early as Wednesday.
Ukraine’s government has expressed more skepticism that Russia is ready to attack this week, suggesting it believes the massive Russian build up is intended to pressure Ukraine with the threat of invasion. Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy, in a televised address Monday night, told Ukrainians he was declaring Wednesday, the alleged day of a possible Russian attack, a national holiday.
Zelenskyy’s national security advisor, Oleksiy Danilov, told Ukrainian television Monday night that Ukraine did not see signs Russia is preparing to attack on Feb. 16 or 17.
“We recognize all the risks that there are for our country. But the situation is absolutely under control,” he said. “More than that, we today do not see that a broad-scale invasion from Russia can happen on either 16th or 17th February. We do not see that.”
(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, cut ties with Trump last week, saying his financial disclosures from 2011-2020 can no longer be relied upon, according to a letter the firm sent to the Trump Organization.
The letter was included in a court document filed Monday by the New York Attorney General’s office, which is conducting a civil investigation into the way the Trump Organization valued its real estate portfolio.
“We write to advise that the Statements of Financial Condition for Donald J. Trump for the years ending June 30, 2011 – June 30, 2020, should no longer be relied upon and you should inform any recipients thereof who are currently relying upon one or more of those documents that those documents should not be relied upon,” the letter to Trump’s namesake company said.
“We have come to this conclusion based, in part, upon the filings made by the New York Attorney General on January 18, 2022, our own investigation, and information received from internal and external sources,” said the letter. “While we have not concluded that the various financial statements, as a whole, contain material discrepancies, based upon the totality of the circumstances, we believe our advice to you to no longer rely upon those financial statements is appropriate.”
Mazars effectively resigned as the Trump Organization’s accountant, saying, “Due in part to our decision regarding the financial statements, as well as the totality of the circumstances, we have also reached the point such that there is a non-waivable conflict of interest with the Trump Organization. As a result, we are not able to provide any new work product to the Trump Organization.”
The letter indicated that the former president and his wife still have tax returns to file by Feb. 15.
“We believe the only information left to complete those returns is the information regarding the Matt Calimari Jr. apartment,” said the letter. “As you know, Donald Bender has been asking for this information for several months but has not received it. Once that information is provided to your new tax preparers, the returns can be completed.”
A spokesperson for the Trump Organization refuted the firm’s characterization of the organization’s financial statements as unreliable.
“While we are disappointed that Mazars has chosen to part ways, their February 9, 2022 letter confirms that after conducting a subsequent review of all prior statements of financial condition, Mazars’ work was performed in accordance with all applicable accounting standards and principles and that such statements of financial condition do not contain any material discrepancies,” the spokesperson said. “This confirmation effectively renders the investigations by the DA and AG moot.”
However, the New York Attorney General seized on the letter as reason why a judge should order compliance with a series of subpoenas issued to the company and personally to Trump, his eldest son Donald Jr., and his eldest daughter Ivanka.
“This development further reinforces what OAG’s previous submissions already showed: The Court should order Respondents’ compliance with OAG’s document and testimonial subpoenas,” the attorney general’s office said in a filing Monday.
The Trumps have been fighting to dismiss the subpoenas on the grounds they are overly broad and that the investigation is politically motivated.
Monday’s AG filing also makes mention of the recent flap over Trump’s purported destruction of documents as asserted by the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol attack.
“Given reports concerning Mr. Trump’s destruction of documents covered by the Presidential Records Act, he should be ordered to comply with Instruction 3 in the subpoena entitled ‘Documents No Longer in Your Possession,’ requiring a sworn statement regarding how documents were destroyed and by whom,” the filing said.
