(NEW YORK) — Thirty-three states from Texas to Maine are on alert Friday morning for snow, ice, bitter cold and flooding as a massive winter storm continues its push east.
With 5,210 flights canceled Thursday nationwide, including over 1,400 in Dallas, the day marked the highest number of weather-related cancellations since March 14, 2017.
Over 310,000 customers are without power Friday morning across Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Texas and Kentucky.
The monster storm brought more than 1 foot of snow from Missouri to western New York over the last 36 hours, bringing roads to a standstill.
Indianapolis recorded a record daily snowfall Thursday with 7.3 inches.
The storm brought 1.7 inches of snow to Dallas — more than the city usually sees in an entire year.
The storm even brought freezing rain down to Texas’ Gulf Coast. Police in Houston are urging drivers to stay off the roads due to ice, and Houston schools are closed Friday.
Texans are still feeling the freeze Friday morning with the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — hitting about 8 degrees in Dallas, 7 degrees in Austin and 1 degree in Lubbock.
On Friday morning, the heavy snow and ice are pummeling the inland Northeast from New York state to Maine. An additional 6 inches of snow is possible in New England.
As temperatures drop Friday morning, icy conditions will develop along the Interstate-95 corridor from New Jersey to New York City to Boston. And the temperatures will continue to plummet for the Northeast Friday night, so whatever rain or freezing rain falls will freeze on any untreated roads.
The storm moves out of the Northeast Friday night. But those in the Northeast will wake up to freezing temperatures Saturday, with the wind chill forecast to plunge to 4 degrees in Boston, 6 degrees in New York City and 12 degrees in Washington, D.C.
(BEIJING) — For the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, officials have established a series of rules to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
This will mark the second Olympics since the pandemic began, which will be held between Feb. 3 and Feb. 20. The Paralympic Games will follow from March 4 to March 13.
China has enforced strict measures to limit the spread of the virus within its borders and there will be no loosening of these restrictions when it comes to the Olympics.
This means no spectators aside from a few local fans, a closed loop system, a rigorous testing program and stringent measures for those who test positive.
ABC News took a closer look at some of the rules that have been established for the Games.
Vaccinate or undergo quarantine
According to the Olympics playbook, all participants must be fully vaccinated at least 14 days before arriving in Beijing to avoid quarantine.
Only certain exceptions will be made if an athlete has a history of allergic reaction to a component of the vaccine or is using any immunosuppression medication.
Games officials also recommend that all participants receive a booster before traveling to China.
Anyone who is not vaccinated has to quarantine in Beijing for 21 days before being allowed in the closed loop system.
Regardless of vaccination status, all athletes and personnel must take two PCR tests at least 24 hours apart within 96 hours of their flight to China.
Closed loop system
Similar to Tokyo, Beijing has implemented a closed loop system in which athletes, coaches and their staff will undergo daily screening and testing.
Additionally, buses and trains designated for the Games will specifically move participants to the opening and closing ceremonies, training venues, competition venues, victory ceremonies and the Olympic Village, where most of the athletes are staying.
“This is to ensure there is no contact with the general public or anyone outside of the closed loop,” according to the playbook.
Minimizing physical interaction
The playbook also offers guidance for how athletes can minimize contact with each other while in the closed loop system.
Officials recommend athletes avoid hugs and handshakes and stay away from enclosed spaces or large crowds.
Individuals are also required to keep 2 meters (6 feet) from athletes, and athletes must keep 1 meter (3 feet) from each other.
Mask-wearing will be enforced at all times except “when training, competing, eating, drinking, sleeping, when alone, or during interviews, stand-ups and live presentations,” the playbook states.
Criteria for testing positive
Games officials said they are expecting more COVID-19 cases to emerge.
During a press conference last month, Dr. Brian McCloskey, chair of the Olympics medical expert panel, said the goal is “zero spread” not “zero cases.”
Because of this, Beijing has adjusted its rules regarding the threshold for when someone is considered to be positive with a figure known as the cycle threshold (CT) value.
After a sample is collected, it is isolated and undergoes multiple amplification cycles in an effort to detect viral RNA, or genetic material.
The CT value is the number of cycles needed before RNA is found, at which point the machine stops working. The higher the number, the less infectious a person is considered.
Previously, participants had to meet a CT value of 40 to be considered positive for COVID-19. Now they will have to meet a standard of 35.
What happens when participants test positive?
Any athletes who test positive will immediately be removed from the Games and the Olympic Village.
Symptomatic participants will be taken to a designated hospital while those who are asymptomatic will be in an isolation facility.
Sick individuals will not be allowed back into the closed loop system until all symptoms clear and they test negative twice in a row with two tests taken 24 hours apart.
Few spectators
There will be very few spectators in the stands to watch the athletes compete in the Games.
No fans from other countries are allowed to attend and only spectators who are selected will be allowed to watch the events in person.
“In order to ensure the safety of all participants and spectators, it has been decided that tickets should not be sold anymore but be part of an adapted program that will invite groups of spectators to be present on site during the Games,” according to an announcement released on Jan. 17.
Leaving China
All athletes and personnel will be transported to Beijing Capital International Airport using transportation services designated specifically for the Games.
Close contacts of anyone who has tested positive will be able to leave China as long as they test negative within the last 24 hours.
No more than 24 hours before leaving China, travelers will be required to fill out the online Customs Health Declaration form to show to airport officials and/or gate agents before boarding flights.
(WASHINGTON) — A lawsuit filed Wednesday against the District of Columbia alleges its police department keeps a “watchlist” of critics and stalls or denies requests for public information from those on it.
Amy Phillips, a criminal defense lawyer and “outspoken critic” of the Metropolitan Police Department, filed the lawsuit after, she said, a former employee alerted her to the alleged existence of the watchlist and her presence on it. Phillips said in the lawsuit that she is on the alleged list because she requested information that embarrassed MPD and that she intends to continue.
The lawsuit claims the alleged list is a “constitutional violation” and discriminates against requestors of public information on the basis of the “content and viewpoint of prior or anticipated speech,” according to the court filing.
Phillips is requesting the court require the District to stop the use of any watchlist policy and establish a way to ensure continued compliance. She is also asking for attorney’s fees and damages of $1.
“This lawsuit is important because MPD is trying to silence critics of police at a crucial moment in American history where people like me are trying to hold them to account,” Charlie Gerstein, Phillips’ lawyer, said in an interview with ABC News.
If someone on the alleged list submits a request to MPD under the D.C. Freedom of Information Act, it is “set aside for special review by high-ranking officials, including the Chief of Police,” the lawsuit alleges.
People are allegedly put on this list after publicly criticizing the MPD or when requesting information that could be embarrassing to the MPD or its officers, according to the lawsuit.
“Once on the list, the requesters face hurdles that the general public avoids: They may be charged money for public information that others get for free, they may have their requests delayed, or they may have their requests denied outright,” the lawsuit alleges.
In the lawsuit, Phillips said her allegedly being on the list amounts to a violation of her First Amendment rights.
Inspector Vendette Parker, a former FOIA officer for MPD, reportedly alerted Phillips to the existence of the “unofficial, unwritten policy,” the lawsuit states. Parker was reportedly told on her first day of work that the watchlist was created in an effort to prevent then-Police Chief Peter Newsham from being “blindsided” by reporters with questions regarding records they received, the lawsuit says.
According to an estimate from Parker cited in the lawsuit, the “MPD delayed, denied or improperly altered approximately 20 requests pursuant to the watchlist policy” between 2017 and the end of 2019.
“[Parker] also said that she would flag for attention any request that came from a reporter. So that, we think, has to be a lot more, but at the moment we’re not sure,” Gerstein said. “We look forward to learning more in the process of litigating this case.”
Every week, Parker was required to notify Newsham and LeeAnn Turner, the chief operating officer of MPD, of requests that “may lead to criticism of the department, specifically those originating from news reporters or people known to be critical of the department, or those containing requests for information with the potential to embarrass the department,” according to the lawsuit.
Parker would then have a weekly meeting with Turner in which she was instructed how to process the requests, the lawsuit alleges.
“Proposed responsive documents were to be presented to Turner in hard-copy form because, Turner said, she did not want to generate more records that would be subject to disclosure,” the lawsuit says.
According to the lawsuit, those on the alleged list — including reporters, advisory neighborhood commissioners and criminal defense lawyers — always at least experienced a delay in their requests “while the department prepares for any criticism that may result.”
According to former colleagues of Parker, the lawsuit alleges, current Chief of Police Robert Contee has not ended or suspended the policy.
Phillips said she filed at least eight requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act between 2018 and 2021, including requests for information about the MPD’s disciplinary reviews of officers, Newsham’s use of “zero-tolerance policing,” and “policies governing MPD’s specialized units, including the Gun Recovery Unit, Narcotics and Special Investigations Division, and Crime Suppression Teams.”
D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser told reporters she hadn’t read the lawsuit and couldn’t directly comment on it, but said she is taking the accusation seriously, noting “all FOIA requests should be handled as expeditiously as possible.”
“I’m never going to try to stop anybody’s First Amendment right,” she added.
Hugh Carew, a spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Department, told ABC News it hadn’t been formally served with the lawsuit but wouldn’t discuss specific allegations due to the pending litigation.
“We do acknowledge the serious nature of the claims. Transparency with our community partners is necessary to maintaining trust and agency accountability,” Carew said. “A thorough review of the assertions will be completed and appropriately acted upon.”
(CAIRO) — Rescuers intensified their efforts on Friday to recover a five-year-old boy trapped in a 32-meter-deep well in a Northern Moroccan province for almost three days in a relief operation that kept people in the Arab world on tenterhooks.
The boy, identified by Moroccan media as Rayan, reportedly fell through a narrow opening of the well while playing in the village of Ighran in Morocco’s Chefchaouen province on Tuesday evening.
A “Save Rayan” Arabic hashtag trended in several Arab countries, including in neighboring Algeria as well as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as thousands of users took to social media to offer their prayers.
Many likened his story to that of Prophet Yunis, commonly referred to as Jonah in the Bible, who was swallowed up by a whale for three days before the giant fish spat him out.
“Please God, protect him just like you protected Yunis in the belly of the whale,” read a caption on a widely shared drawing of a boy playing with toys while being trapped in a deep well.
Several Moroccan media outlets live-streamed the rescue operation to hundreds of thousands of users, leading to an outpouring of sympathy. A CCTV camera lowered into the well to track Rayan showed him alive on Thursday, albeit he appeared to be suffering from head injuries. Oxygen, food and water were also sent down.
“Still can’t sleep Till he is free fully I’m literally been depressed all day, I’m lying on my bed and I feel so exhausted imagine this little poor baby what he feels,” one Twitter user said.
Moroccan state news agency MAP said parallel digging carried out by bulldozers had reached a depth of 28 meters, reviving hopes that the rescue efforts can bear fruit soon. Horizontal drilling will start once a depth of 32 meters is reached, an informed source told MAP.
However, the source urged caution in fear of possible landslides. Footage showed parts of the soil collapsing during the digging work.
“The excavation work stopped from time to time, in order to take the necessary measures, as the rescue operation has reached a complex stage, and perform the necessary interventions to avoid a ground collapse,” the source told MAP.
(NEW YORK) — It was dubbed a watershed moment for the withering organized labor movement when the first-ever union election at an Amazon warehouse took place last spring in Alabama.
Workers seeking collective bargaining rights at a fulfillment outpost of the e-commerce giant in Bessemer — a rural, predominantly Black suburb of Birmingham — garnered international headlines and even backing from the White House ahead of last year’s landmark vote.
Despite the high-profile support, hopes of forming Amazon’s first labor union were ultimately crushed last year when less than 16% of some 5,000 eligible workers voted in favor it, per the National Labor Relations Board’s tally.
The saga in the South, however, did not end there for the nation’s second-largest employer.
After objections alleging union-busting conduct from Amazon filed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which sought to represent the workers, the NLRB ordered a do-over of the entire election.
Now, approximately a year since the first showdown, the NLRB is set to mail ballots out Friday for a second union vote at the same Bessemer Amazon facility. The rerun comes amid the backdrop of an American labor market still scarred by pandemic shocks, giving new leverage to workers, and in the wake of a tidal wave of workplace activism marked by strikes and collective actions at major companies from John Deere to Starbucks.
With all eyes back on Bessemer, here is what some economists and workers say the failed first unionizing attempt reveals about the climate of labor in the U.S., and the implications this could carry for the second vote.
“Our employees have always had the choice of whether or not to join a union, and they overwhelmingly chose not to join the RWDSU last year,” Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agrait told ABC News in a statement. “We look forward to our team in BHM1 having their voices heard again.”
First vote ‘revealed the David versus Goliath nature of our labor laws’
Economists and labor researchers say the tossed-out results of the first union election at Amazon in Alabama is indicative of the uphill battle workers face in trying to form a union under current labor laws, despite the vocal support from lawmakers, and the power employers have in potentially influencing the vote.
“The first election in Bessemer was very revealing of how the odds are stacked up against workers trying to organize in this country, and particularly in a place like Amazon,” Molly Kinder, a fellow at the Brookings Institution whose research focuses on the present and future of work, especially for low-wage workers, told ABC News. She referenced how the NLRB ultimately found Amazon’s actions during the first vote may have influenced the results and thus ordered the do-over.
“The big sort of takeaway from that first experience in Bessemer was, yes, there was a lot of attention and excitement and this thought that if this worked, it would be this massive victory for labor, and ultimately it wasn’t successful,” Kinder said. “I think it opened up a lot of people’s eyes to just how imbalanced our labor laws are in this country.”
“It sort of revealed the David versus Goliath nature of our labor laws,” Kinder added. “We don’t have an even playing field in this country for workers who are trying to organize.”
Data similarly indicates a gulf between the growing number of Americans who support labor unions and dwindling rates of membership.
A majority of Americans approve of labor unions (68%), according to Gallup data released last September, marking the highest support levels for unions in nearly 60 years. Union membership, meanwhile, has fallen sharply over the past few decades. Just 10.3% of workers belonged to a union in 2021, per Bureau of Labor Statistics data, approximately half the 20.1% figure seen the first year data was collected in 1983.
“A major reason why you have this huge gap between support for unions and actual participation in unions is that the United States makes it extremely hard for workers to form a union,” Kinder said. “That interest in unions or desire for a union often dissipates because the obstacles to actually form one are just so great, and the playing field is so tipped in favor of the employer versus the worker when it comes to forming a union.”
Alex Colvin, dean of Cornell’s Industrial and Labor Relations School, told ABC News that this divide between workers wanting unions yet not joining them is referred to as “the representation gap.”
“The reality is we do not see workers who want representation being able to get it, and it’s really striking,” Colvin said. “There’s nowhere where you see such a big difference as you do in the United States in those numbers.”
“What I think it says is that our current labor law system isn’t functioning effectively,” Colvin added.
Rather than lending support via Twitter or hosting rallies, Colvin said the best thing lawmakers can do to support workers seeking to unionize is changing the laws so that it isn’t so difficult for them to create a union — such as putting in more protections for workers trying to organize and stiffer penalties for employers that attempt to influence the vote.
“The most important thing would be if there was passage of labor law reform,” Colvin said. “That would be the thing that would have the biggest impact.”
Brooking’s Kinder added that sputtering labor law reform has emerged as the major stumbling block impeding the post-pandemic labor movement from translating into long-term change for workers.
“We’ve heard a lot in the news about stories like the Starbucks workers in Buffalo, or workers going on strike, or workers quitting, and so there’s been a lot of sorts of unrest and quitting and workers dissatisfied, but it hasn’t necessarily been harnessed into longer-term change through more union membership,” she added. “A lot of that is because of our labor laws.”
‘There’s a really important element of racial justice in here’: Spotlight back on Bessemer
As the central Alabama community found itself at the center of a national labor movement showdown, some activists say out-of-town politicians and union organizers may have lost touch with day-to-day realities faced by the workers they sought to support.
Some 72.4% of Bessemer’s 26,000 residents are Black, according to Census data, and more than 25% of Bessemer’s population lives in poverty. The decadeslong decline of the mining and steel industry that historically built Bessemer’s economy evaporated jobs for many local laborers and their children and grandchildren. When Amazon brought its first Alabama fulfillment center to Bessemer in 2018, it was touted by one local business leader as “a big win for the Birmingham region,” because of its promise to bring thousands of well-paying jobs with benefits starting on day one.
With the federal minimum wage — and Alabama’s — unchanged for decades at $7.25 per hour, Amazon’s starting pay of at least $15 an hour makes it a relatively lucrative option for many.
Labor activist Chris Smalls, a former Amazon worker who is spearheading efforts to unionize at a fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, told ABC News that he visited Bessemer to lend his support last year and witnessed how local labor market conditions apparently left workers feeling like they have little power in the jobs market.
“I’ve seen how decimated that city was down there; it was like a time warp back into the 1950s,” Smalls said of the economy in Bessemer. “There’s nothing down there but major corporations like Walmart, Amazon, like Dollar General, but other than that these workers have nowhere else to turn [for jobs].”
Smalls added that the state’s historically unfriendly attitude toward labor also meant many of the workers he spoke to in Alabama were unfamiliar with how a union works or could benefit them, especially in an area where good job opportunities felt sparse.
Smalls, who is Black, sees unionizing Amazon’s workers as a racial justice issue both in the South, where Black workers have historically been oppressed by anti-labor policies, and at Amazon facilities in predominantly Black and Brown communities across the country.
“Black and brown workers make up the majority of these facilities no matter where they’re at,” Smalls said. “Amazon sets up shop specifically in these neighborhoods, just to hire from these communities.”
One area where labor activists may have made a misstep last year, according to Smalls, is by losing sight of the needs and hopes of the workers on the ground in Bessemer. He thinks this may have contributed in part to the dismal local turnout and support during last year’s union election.
“It’s the workers that are the most important thing. If you lose sight of the workers and drown out the workers’ stories and their voices and politicize it, that doesn’t help at all,” Smalls told ABC News.
“Bringing politicians into it, I don’t care if it’s Bernie Sanders or the president, that’s not going to resonate with the workers,” he said of the national messages of support. “You’ve got to be there on the ground, you’ve got to connect with them. You’ve got to build your own relationship and trust with them.”
Research from Kinder and her colleagues at Brookings back up Smalls’ sentiments.
“Amazon’s workforce is disproportionately Black,” Kinder told ABC News. “The percentages of Amazon’s workforce that’s Black is about twice what you find in the economy overall, and in Bessemer, you know, upwards of 85% of Amazon employees are Black.”
“There’s a really important element of racial justice in here,” she said. “When you take a step back and you think about Amazon, I mean very few companies have had the kind of financial success and in a pandemic that Amazon has had.”
Pointing to their skyrocketing profits and stock prices, Kinder said the company has created billions of dollars in wealth for its shareholders, but most of this has gone not to the Black and brown workers who contributed to this financial success during a pandemic but to the often wealthier, whiter shareholders. Income inequality at Amazon was also put under a harsh spotlight last summer when founder Jeff Bezos, then the world’s wealthiest man, took a trip to the edge of space via his own private company Blue Origin — and then thanked Amazon workers for paying for it.
Cornell’s Colvin added that more so than national attention, local labor market conditions play a major factor in unionization efforts. While factors at the national level — including struggles of major companies to find staff and record-high levels of workers quitting their jobs — may have given workers an upper hand at negotiating with employees elsewhere, this momentum doesn’t mean much to those in Bessemer if local conditions are not improving.
“There’s certainly a strong national labor market, but it’s what your actual day-to-day local terms are that matters,” Colvin said.
“The local labor market condition and the relative attractiveness of the Amazon jobs is something that you have to take into account and that’s, to be honest, something that goes into location decisions,” he said. “There’s a reason that non-American auto companies locating plants in the United States tend to be located in areas like Bessemer, in places that are low unionization generally.”
‘A change, it’s coming’: Excitement builds for 2nd vote
Colvin told ABC News that there is some precedent for the NLRB ordering do-overs for union elections, but that historically second votes have not had as high success rates as first votes.
Kinder added that Amazon’s famously high turnover rate could have some impact on the second election, telling ABC News, “I think it could go either way.”
“There is an opportunity for some new people who might not have voted for the union in the last election that might now do it now,” she said. “But it also means that the work of organizers to try to organize support for the union is also challenged because turnover is so high. Frankly, I think it’s a little unpredictable.”
The voter list this time around is 6,143 workers, according to the RWDSU, which estimates more than half of the workers remain from the invalidated vote.
Kristina Bell, an Amazon worker at the Bessemer facility who is supporting the union drive, said during a press conference organized by the RWDSU that she feels the exuberance among workers is different this time around.
“A lot of people went through the first election and is still there and they understand that nothing has changed,” Bell said. “The loss was a blessing — that loss making us motivated to win even more.”
Bell added that a lot of younger employees didn’t vote the first time around, saying, “A lot of young people didn’t understand the importance of the union.”
“But after we lost that vote, you know how many people said, ‘I should have voted?'” she added. “It’s a lot of mind-changing, they went home and talked to their parents and their grandparents. … They come to me and I tell them, ‘Get educated, talk to your family.'”
“My community is excited and I’m from Bessemer, born and raised,” Bell said. “A change, it’s coming.”
(LONDON) — Queen Elizabeth will set yet another milestone on Feb. 6, when she becomes the first British monarch to reach a Platinum Jubilee — 70 years on the throne.
The 95-year-old queen ascended to the throne 70 years ago following the death of her father, King George VI, on Feb. 6, 1952.
Queen Elizabeth will spend the anniversary of her father’s death at her Norfolk estate, Sandringham, where King George died in his sleep.
While there, the queen will be staying at Wood Farm, where her late husband, Prince Philip, who died last April, spent much of his time after retirement.
Queen Elizabeth, who marks Feb. 6 as a day of remembrance for her father, will celebrate her Platinum Jubilee in June with a series of public celebrations.
Here is a look back at seven of the queen’s most memorable moments from 70 years on the throne.
1. A history-making coronation
Queen Elizabeth’s coronation on June 2, 1953, was the first to be televised.
The nearly three-hour service in Westminster Abbey was watched on TV by 27 million people in the United Kingdom alone, according to the royal family.
Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip’s oldest child, Prince Charles, attended the coronation, becoming the first child to witness his mother’s coronation.
Following the service, the queen and Prince Philip joined a 16,000-person strong procession from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace.
Among the thousands of journalists covering the queen’s coronation was Jacqueline Bouvier, who at the time worked for the Washington Times-Herald and would go on to become first lady of the United States alongside her husband, President John F. Kennedy, according to the royal family.
2. The first royal ‘walkabout’ to greet fans
While royal watchers are used to seeing royals including Prince William and Duchess Kate greet fans at each stop they make, a practice called the “walkabout,” that was not the case before Queen Elizabeth.
The queen upended royal tradition while on a tour of Australia and New Zealand with Prince Philip in 1970. Instead of waving to crowds from a protected distance, Queen Elizabeth walked out and greeted people in-person, the first royal “walkabout.”
3. Meeting 13 sitting U.S. presidents
Queen Elizabeth has met with every U.S. president during her 70 years on the throne, except for Lyndon B. Johnson.
She met with President Joe Biden last June at Windsor Castle, marking her 13th meeting with a sitting U.S. president.
Queen Elizabeth has hosted just three presidents for an official state visit — Presidents George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
4. Celebrating jubilees in a history-making reign as queen
In 1977, Queen Elizabeth celebrated her Silver Jubilee, 25 years on the throne, with a service at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where she repeated her pledge to a life of service.
More than two decades later, in 2002 — the same year both her mother and sister passed away — Queen Elizabeth celebrated 50 years on the throne, her Golden Jubilee.
The queen was escorted through the streets of London in a four-ton golden coach, previously used only when she was crowned and at her Silver Jubilee. In a ceremony that dates back almost 800 years, she touched a sword handed to her by the Lord Mayor of London, symbolizing the supreme power of the monarch.
In June 2012, Queen Elizabeth celebrated 60 years on the throne, her Diamond Jubilee, with a parade down the Thames and a concert outside Buckingham Palace.
Three years later, in 2015, Queen Elizabeth made history, becoming Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, at 63 years.
5. ‘Parachuting’ into the London Olympics with James Bond
The same year as her Diamond Jubilee, in 2012, Queen Elizabeth memorably starred alongside actor Daniel Craig in a clip that aired during the opening ceremony for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
The queen portrayed herself in the clip, which featured Craig, as James Bond, picking her up at Buckingham Palace. Stunt actors then portrayed the two helicoptering across London and parachuting into the Olympics venue, while Queen Elizabeth herself arrived at her seat, accompanied by Prince Philip.
6. Serving as matriarch of a growing royal family
Queen Elizabeth has been an omnipresent force not just on the world stage, but also within her own family.
The queen, a mother of four, is the matriarch of an ever-growing family, which now includes eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.
She has been present for weddings, as well as divorces that made headlines.
She has also guided her family through scandal and discord, most recently amid a lawsuit against her son Prince Andrew, as well as the exit of her grandson Prince Harry and his wife, Duchess Meghan, from their senior royal roles.
7. Saying goodbye to her husband of 73 years
Queen Elizabeth faced a deeply personal and sad moment in her reign last April when she said goodbye to her husband , Prince Philip, following his death at age 99.
Due to restrictions amid the coronavirus pandemic, the queen sat alone during the April 17, 2021, funeral service for Philip, her husband of 73 years.
Known as one of the hardest-working members of the royal family, Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was also a stalwart supporter of his wife.
“He is someone who doesn’t take easily to compliments, but he has, quite simply, been my strength and stay all these years,” Queen Elizabeth said in 1997, paying tribute to her husband on their golden wedding anniversary. “And I, and his whole family, and this and many other countries, owe him a debt greater than he would ever claim, or we shall ever know.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Aviation Administration is sounding the alarm over a staggering increase in laser strikes against aircraft in the United States.
Laser strikes occur when people on the ground shine lasers toward aircraft in order to distract them. This can cause temporary blindness for pilots.
“It could dazzle a pilot’s eyes,” Ganyard told ABC News. “It’s essentially a single piloted airplane until the person whose eyes were dazzled comes back to normal and there’s always the chance that it can be caused permanent damage.”
Laser strikes on planes reached record numbers in 2021, according to new data from the FAA.
The agency received 9,723 reports of laser strikes last year — the highest number ever recorded.
“It’s distracting, and usually it happens when planes are close to the ground. That’s the last time you really want anybody flying a plane to be distracted,” Col. Steve Ganyard, an ABC News contributor, said.
Laser strikes have been on the rise in recent years — the FAA reported 6,852 incidents in 2020, 6,136 incidents in 2019 and 5,663 incidents in 2018.
“Many types of high-powered lasers can completely incapacitate pilots, many of whom are flying planes with hundreds of passengers,” the agency said.
Last year, there were 47 injuries related to the laser strikes, the FAA said.
Lasers used can be easily purchased in stores or online by civilians.
Intentionally aiming lasers at aircraft violates federal law. Individuals may face up to $11,000 in civil penalties per violation and up to $30,800 for multiple incidents. Violators can also face criminal penalties from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies.
“The FAA continues to educate the public about the hazards of laser strikes because they pose such a serious threat to the safety of the pilot, the passengers and everyone in the vicinity of the aircraft,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said in a release.
The agency issued $120,000 in fines for laser strikes last year.
(BRIDGEPORT, Conn.) — A Bridgeport, Connecticut, chapter of the NAACP is demanding the Department of Justice investigate the Bridgeport Police Department over the cases of two Black women, Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Lee Rawls, who were both found dead in their homes.
The demand comes after two Bridgeport police detectives assigned to both cases, were placed on administrative leave pending an investigation by the police department’s internal affairs office.
The detectives were disciplined due to a “lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy” in the handling of the two cases, according to a statement from Bridgeport Mayor Joseph P. Ganim on Jan. 30.
Rawls was found dead and alone in her home on Dec. 12, 2021. The cause and manner of death are still undetermined, according to the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Smith-Fields was found dead in her apartment that same day, shortly after being with a man she had met on a dating app.
The Connecticut chief medical examiner’s office found that Smith-Fields’ cause of death was “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol.” The medical examiner ruled the manner of death an “accident.”
The families of Smith-Fields, 23, and Rawls, 53, claim Bridgeport police failed to notify them of the deaths and say they learned of the deaths from others.
During a virtual press conference on Wednesday, Bridgeport NAACP president Rev. D. Stanley Lord recommended new training, revised hiring practices, community input and oversight, and more in order to address criticisms of “insensitivity” and “prejudicial” treatment toward “Blacks and other citizens of color” from the department.
“The operation within the Bridgeport Police Department seems to be a constant disarray and dysfunction,” Lord said.
He added, “Recent actions by uniformed officers and detectives have cast a shadow on the performance of the department publicly and has made clear that there is a great need for diversity in its staff, its leadership, and decision-making practices.”
Lord reported that African Americans make up less than 15% of the Bridgeport Police Department. BPD confirmed the statistic.
However, Black Americans make up 35% of the city’s population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
In a statement to ABC News from the city of Bridgeport, BPD said it “serves its residents and all members of our community regardless of race, ethnicity, gender or religion. Members of the Bridgeport Police Department are hired and promoted based upon a competitive Civil Service exam process.”
The families of Smith-Fields and Rawls have continued to call for proper investigations into their deaths following the mayor’s announcement. The cases have been reassigned and are still under active investigation.
“It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed,” Ganim said in his statement. “To the families, friends and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport Police Department, I am very sorry.”
The Bridgeport police union called the mayor’s decision to place the officers on leave “regrettable.”
“We caution against a rush to judgment until we have all the facts surrounding this case,” said Sgt. Brad Seely, the union president, in a statement obtained by ABC-affiliate WTNH. “We will file grievances over the placement of Dets. Llanos and Cronin on administrative leave to restore them back to full duty status.”
Seely cited staff shortages in calling for the return of the two detectives.
The union also extended “sympathy and sorrow to the families and friends of Lauren Smith-Fields and Brenda Rawls, whose untimely deaths have brought unimaginable pain.”
(NEW YORK) — For Christmas two years ago, Jessica Harvey Galloway was gifted a home DNA test kit by her parents, mom Jeanine Harvey and her dad, John Harvey, who goes by Mike.
They never expected that the test they used from Ancestry.com would indicate that Jessica was not at all related to Mike, who is of Italian descent.
“We got the results and logged on. There’s Irish, English, German, Welsh, French all these things. And there’s no Italian Sicilian. I mean nothing,” Jessica recalled on “Good Morning America.”
Nearly 30 years ago, the Harveys turned to Dr. Nicholas J. Spirtos, a doctor at Summa Health System’s Akron Campus in Ohio to help them on their journey to becoming parents. With the help of IVF, the couple conceived a daughter.
But according to the family, the DNA test showed Jessica’s biological father was someone else entirely — a complete stranger to the family.
“It revealed a trauma that I never could have imagined. It’s taken every ounce of my power to remain strong for myself and my family as we try to move forward,” Jeanine Harvey told “GMA.”
“Learning that your entire reality isn’t what you believed it to be is hard to explain,” Mike Harvey added. “It’s like waking up in someone else’s life.”
Now, the Harveys are suing Summa Health and Dr. Spirtos, alleging they were the victims of medical malpractice, negligence and a breach of contract, among other claims, according to a copy of the lawsuit obtained by “GMA.”
The Harveys are being represented by Peiffer Wolf Carr Kane Conway & Wise, LLP of Cleveland. One of their lawyers, Adam Wolf, told “GMA,” “You can’t go back in time and change things. All we can do at this point is demand accountability and demand regulation and oversight so that we don’t have more people in the Harvey situation.”
“We are aware of an allegation that has been made claiming in 1991 a patient was artificially inseminated with the semen from a person who is not her husband,” Summa Health said in a statement to “GMA.” “We take this allegation seriously and understand the impact this has on the family. At this point, we have not met with the family or conducted testing of our own. Given the very limited information that we have and the amount of time that has passed, it remains our hope that the attorneys representing the family will work with us to make that next step a priority.”
As for Jessica, who said she has always been passionate about her genealogy and father’s Italian heritage, she hopes to move past the shocking news.
“My priority going forward is focusing on my family, regardless of DNA or blood,” she said.
(ATLANTA) — Gregory McMichael, the retired Georgia police officer convicted in the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, informed a federal court Thursday evening that he has withdrawn his plans to plead guilty to federal hate crime charges connected to Arbery’s death after a federal judge this week rejected the terms of a plea agreement reached with the Justice Department.
Counsel for McMichael, the father of Travis McMichael, who shot Arbery in February 2020 three times at close range, informed U.S. District Court Judge Lisa Wood in a filing that they are now ready for him to stand trial on the federal hate crimes charges next week.
It is still not clear whether Travis McMichael similarly plans to withdraw his plans to plead guilty after the hearing earlier this week when Wood said she could not accept the terms of the plea agreement reached between the DOJ and the McMichaels, which would have constrained her ability to determine their sentence.
Wood told the men she wanted an answer by Friday.
If Travis McMichael also decides to withdraw his pleas, they will go to trial next week with their co-defendant William “Roddie” Bryan, who was not offered the same plea deal.
Gregory McMichael, 66, a retired Georgia police officer and his 36-year-old son were convicted of state murder charges last year along with Bryan, 52, and were all sentenced to life in prison, the McMichaels without the possibility of parole.
Friday’s decision by the McMichaels comes just days after Wood rejected a plea deal in which federal prosecutors guaranteed the men would be able to serve the first 30 years of confinement in federal prison.
During a hearing on Monday in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, Wood said she felt “uncomfortable” approving a plea deal that locked her into giving the McMichaels a three-decade sentence in a federal penitentiary. She noted that the case was in its early stages and said, “I can’t say that 360 months is the precise, fair sentence in this case.”
Wood’s decision came on the heels of Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, giving impassioned statements in court. They asked the judge to deny the men their wish to go to federal prison, which is safer and better funded than most state prisons, according to legal experts.
“Granting these men their preferred conditions of confinement would defeat me,” Cooper-Jones told Wood. “It gives them one last chance to spit in my face after murdering my son.”
At Monday’s hearing, assistant U.S. attorney Tara Lyons said Travis and Gregory McMichael agreed to plead guilty to count one of a multi-count indictment alleging they interfered with Arbery’s right to enjoy the use of a public road he was jogging on “because of Arbery’s race and color.” Lyons said the agreement called for other charges to be dismissed, including attempted kidnapping and discharging a firearm during a violent crime.
The agreement also called for the McMichaels to waive their right to appeal in both the federal and state cases.
Arbery, 25, was fatally shot on Feb. 23, 2020, after the McMichaels saw him jogging in their Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia. They said they assumed Arbery was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. The McMichaels’ neighbor, Bryan, joined the pursuit, blocking the victim’s escape path with his truck.
Bryan also used his cellphone to record Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun, video that became integral to their state murder convictions.
