Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Parents faced steeper prices for back-to-school shopping this year, with costs rising 7.3% amid tariffs, according to a new Century Foundation report.
The price hikes affected everything from basic supplies to electronics, with some items seeing dramatic increases. Index cards jumped 42%, while three-ring binders cost nearly 13% more than last year, ABC News business correspondent Alexis Christoforous reported.
“Parents are facing price increases across a number of categories when it comes to school supplies,” Dr. Sarah Dickerson, a research economist at UNC Chapel Hill Kenan-Flagler Business School, told ABC11. “If we look at pencils, for instance, we know the wooden pencils are imported from Brazil. We are anticipating price hikes there.”
According to Capital One Shopping research, Americans spent $125.4 billion on back-to-school and college shopping in 2024, with the average household budgeting $874.68 for school supplies. For one K-12 student, parents spent an average of $586 on supplies.
However, experts say there are ways to manage these rising costs. Christoforous recommended buying in bulk during sales to save money throughout the year, especially for basic supplies like pencils and pens.
She also suggested choosing generic brands over name brands, noting that some generic pencils cost as little as a dollar compared to $5 for well-known brands.
For parents looking to stretch their budgets further, Christoforous highlighted the benefits of thrift shopping for school supplies, where shoppers can often find unexpected deals.
When it comes to expensive electronics, she advised looking for refurbished laptops and tablets that come with warranties from major retailers. Additionally, she urged parents to take advantage of tax-free shopping periods, which many states offer during the back-to-school season.
As of 2025, 18 states offered tax-free shopping periods, according to the Federation of Tax Administrators. Some states, like Florida, extended these savings throughout August, while others limited them to specific weekends.
“A lot of the big retailers sell refurbished electronics with warranties,” Christoforous said, noting that electronics were particularly affected by tariffs due to overseas manufacturing and imported components.
For budget-conscious parents, Christoforous also suggested meal planning as a cost-saving measure.
“When you make dinner, make extra,” she advised. “That way you have leftovers and you’re not scrambling every day, going ‘What’s going to be for lunch?'”
Despite these challenges, Capital One Shopping research showed that household back-to-school budgets decreased by $15.39 or 1.73% compared to the previous year, suggesting that many families found ways to adapt to the higher prices.
Lisa DeNell Cook, nominee to be a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, testifies during a Senate Banking nominations hearing on June 21, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, sources familiar with the matter said Thursday.
Bill Pulte, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, sent the Department of Justice two criminal referral letters last month about Cook last month regarding Cook’s properties in Georgia and Michigan.
Federal investigators have begun issuing subpoenas and are utilizing grand juries in both states as part of their investigation, the sources said.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the existence of the criminal investigation.
As President Donald Trump seeks to reshape the balance of the Federal Reserve central banking system, Pulte’s allegations have become the basis of Trump’s effort to terminate Cook “for cause” — a controversial and legally fraught move that is actively being challenged in court.
In an Aug. 15 letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi and Special Attorney for Mortgage Fraud Ed Martin, Pulte alleged that Cook “falsified bank documents and property records to acquire more favorable loan terms, potentially committing mortgage fraud under the criminal statute.” Pulte has claimed that the referral was based on publicly available information but has declined to comment about the tip that prompted his investigation. The first referral focused on Cook’s properties in Georgia and Michigan.
Reached for comment regarding the DOJ probe, attorneys for Cook said in a statement, “Predictably and recognizing the flaws in challenging their illegal firing of Governor Cook, the administration is scrambling to invent new justifications for its overreach.”
“This Justice Department — perhaps the most politicized in American history — will do whatever President Trump demands. He wants cover, and they are providing it,” said attorney Abbe Lowell. “The questions over how Governor Cook described her properties from time to time, which we have started to address in the pending case and will continue to do so, are not fraud, but it takes nothing for this DOJ to undertake a new politicized investigation, and they appear to have just done it again.”
Following the Aug. 15 referral, Martin sent a letter to Federal Reserve Chairman Jermone Powell encouraging him to fire Cook because of the ongoing investigation.
“At this time, I encourage you to remove Ms. Cook from your Board. Do it today before it is too late! After all, no American thinks it is appropriate that she serve during this time with a cloud hanging over her,” Martin wrote.
Days later, Trump attempted to fire Cook based on the allegations that she designated both her homes in Georgia and Michigan as her primary residence. Cook has denied wrongdoing, said she would continue to serve in her role, and sued to challenge Trump’s attempt to remove her.
“President Trump has no authority to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. His attempt to fire her, based solely on a referral letter, lacks any factual or legal basis. We will be filing a lawsuit challenging this illegal action,” said Lowell.
Later that month, on Aug. 28, Pulte sent a second referral letter to the Department of Justice, alleging that Cook had made “multiple false representations” while serving as a Federal Reserve governor, including listing an apartment in Massachusetts as both an investment property and a second home.
In the following days, Pulte has made multiple comments on social media accusing Cook of crimes and calling for her prosecution, unusual steps during an ongoing investigation before any formal determinations of wrongdoing.
“The damage currently being done to the integrity of the Federal Reserve, by Lisa Cook and Jerome Powell, cannot be overstated,” he wrote in one post.
On Thursday, Pulte originally planned to hold a press conference in front of the Elijah Barrett Prettyman U.S. Courthouse in Washington, D.C. where he said he would share new information about Cook.
He later canceled the press conference, writing on social media, “Out of respect for the process, I will be delaying this press conference.”
Rescuers and firefighters operate at the scene after the Gloria funicular cable railway derailed in Lisbon, Portugal, 03 September 2025. (Zed Jameson/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least 16 people are dead and another 21 injured after a streetcar derailed in Portugal’s capital on Wednesday, officials said.
At least five people remain in life-threatening condition Thursday following the crash in Lisbon, according to Portugal’s presidency office.
One 3-year-old child is included in the injured, according to an official.
It appears the safety cable on the electric streetcar broke, causing the car to derail, Lisbon’s communications department said, based on preliminary information. The investigation into the cause is ongoing.
Its operator, Carris, said it complied with all maintenance protocols, including daily inspections.
The famed funicular, known as the Elevador da Gloria, travels up and down a steep hill using two streetcars.
The incident happened around 6:15 p.m. local time, when one of the funicular’s cars derailed and crashed, officials said.
The rescue mission lasted around two hours, a Public Ministry official told ABC News.
The tram cabin that derailed can hold up to 40 people. It is unclear how many total people were on board.
Carris said it immediately opened an investigation along with the authorities to determine the cause of the accident.
All the other funiculars of the city have been suspended for now, according to an official.
Swiss tourist Rasha Abdo told ABC News she was traveling on the funicular’s other streetcar with her husband and 3-year-old son when the crash occurred. She said they were near the bottom of the hill, traveling uphill, when they suddenly reversed direction.
She said they heard the other streetcar barreling down the hill toward them, so her husband jumped out the window and she passed their son to him to ensure his safety, before realizing the car had crashed farther uphill.
Her husband, who is a doctor, went to the streetcar to try and assist, but “it was too late,” she said. “I’m really grateful that we are still alive, but on the other side, I’m very sad for the people that lost their lives,” she said.
The mayor of Lisbon declared a three-day period of mourning.
“I offer my sincere condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning,” Mayor Carlos Moedas said in a statement.
Portugal’s Prime Minister’s Office also declared a national day of mourning for Thursday, expressing its “deep dismay” over the accident, and said it is in contact with local officials.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also expressed her condolences.
“It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous ‘Elevador da Glória,'” she said in a statement. “My condolences to the families of the victims.”
ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge and Hugo Leengardt contributed to this report.
A helicopter drops water as Cal Fire firefighters battle the 6-5 Fire in the TCU September Lightning Complex on September 03, 2025 near Chinese Camp, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(CHINESE CAMP, Calif) — The historic gold rush town of Chinese Camp, California, has been devastated by one of multiple lightning-sparked wildfires in three Northern California counties that have burned more than 13,000 acres combined, authorities said.
More than 20 wildfires in Calaveras County and neighboring Stanislaus and Tuolumne counties, where Chinese Camp is located, began on Tuesday night, when more than 17,000 dry lightning strikes hit the area, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire). The blazes are part of what Cal Fire has named the TCU Lightning Complex Fire.
As of Wednesday night, the fires combined had burned 13,371 acres, destroyed multiple structures and prompted evacuations in Calaveras, Tuolumne and Stanislaus counties, according to Cal Fire. The fire was 15% contained on Wednesday night, but there were individual fires within the TCU Lighting Complex Fire that remain 0% contained.
“Armageddon” is how Randall Hoffman, a resident of Chinese Camp, described the devastation to his small foothills town, about 60 miles west of Yosemite National Park.
“I think we lost 95% of the town,” Hoffman, whose home was spared by the fire, told ABC station KFSN in Fresno on Wednesday.
The wildfire that swept through Chinese Camp, dubbed the 6-5 Fire, had grown to 6,473 acres as of Wednesday night and was 0% contained, according to Cal Fire.
Structures throughout the tiny community of Chinese Camp, a town founded in by Chinese gold miners in the 1850s, were burned to the ground or damaged by the 6-5 Fire.
“To watch it come over the ridge the way it did and as fast as it did, that’s absolute fear,” Chinese Camp resident Pete Tomaino told KFSN after he evacuated from his home.
At least 11 areas threatened by the 6-5 Fire remained under mandatory evacuation on Wednesday night, including the entire town of Chinese Camp, which has a population of less than 100 people.
Meanwhile, the 2-8 Fire in Calaveras County, another blaze that was started by lightning strikes on Tuesday night and is part of the TUC Lightning Complex Fire, had burned 1,326 acres as of Wednesday night, according to Cal Fire. Multiple air tankers and helicopters, as well as fire crews on the ground, made progress fighting the fire on Wednesday, increasing containment to 15%, according to Cal Fire.
Further north, the Blue Fire, which was also started by lightning on Aug. 26 in the Klamath National Forest in Siskiyou County, near the Oregon border, has burned 1,631 acres, according to Cal Fire. As of Wednesday night, the Blue Fire was 0% contained and mandatory evacuation orders were in place, Cal Fire said.
Entrance to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) offices at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan. (Erik McGregor/LightRocket via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — The federal agency responsible for administering the nation’s immigration and naturalization system will now have enforcement agents for the first time.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is adding law enforcement agents to its workforce, according to a press release issued Thursday by the agency.
The agents will be tasked with “making arrests, carrying firearms, executing search and arrest warrants, and other powers standard for federal law enforcement,” according to the release.
Traditionally, the agency has not been a law enforcement agency.
A new rule published on the federal register grants the authority under a little-known department at USCIS: the fraud detection agency.
The rule technically expands their authority to give them law enforcement powers.
“By upholding the integrity of our immigration system, we enforce the laws of this nation. As Secretary Noem delegated lawful authorities to expand the agency’s law enforcement capabilities, this rule allows us to fulfill our critical mission,” USCIS Director Joseph Edlow said in the announcement, referring to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“This historic moment will better address immigration crimes, hold those that perpetrate immigration fraud accountable, and act as a force multiplier for DHS and our federal law enforcement partners, including the Joint Terrorism Task Force,” Edlow said.
Members of the National Guard patrol the National Mall in Washington, DC, on September 3, 2025. (Austin DeSisto/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Washington, D.C., Attorney General Brian L. Schwalb filed a lawsuit on Thursday to end the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops to the city, calling it an unlawful “military occupation.”
Nearly 2,300 troops from seven states have been stationed in the district since Aug. 11, a move Schwalb says goes beyond the president’s authority and violates local autonomy under the Home Rule Act.
The lawsuit argues the troops were placed under Defense Department command and later deputized by the U.S. Marshals Service to perform law enforcement, which Schwalb’s office says is “in violation of the foundational prohibition on military involvement in local law.”
By law, the president’s emergency deployment can last only 30 days unless extended by Congress, meaning the surge is set to expire Sept. 10.
Schwalb also alleges the federal government is unlawfully asserting command over state militias without formally bringing them into federal service, which he says is a violation of the Constitution and federal law.
The complaint says the deployments threaten to erode trust between residents and police, inflame tensions and damage the city’s economy — particularly in the restaurant and hospitality industries as, just last month, the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington extended summer restaurant week in an effort to draw customers during the surge.
The attorney general’s office further argues that the deployments violate the Home Rule Act by overriding local autonomy and undermining public safety “by inflaming tensions and eroding trust between District residents and law enforcement.”
Still, Gregg Pemberton, the D.C. union chairman said the long-term goal is for the Metropolitan Police Department to resume full responsibility.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — After a week of fast-moving shakeups at the nation’s health agency, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over his department, on Thursday for hours of questioning sure to center on his vaccine policy.
The new FDA approval for COVID shots allows for people who are aged 65 and older to get the vaccine, or younger Americans who have an underlying condition that puts them at a higher risk of severe illness from the virus.
Public health officials and pharmacist groups have said the change will make it harder for young and healthy people to get the vaccine — should they still choose to — and raises questions about where they can get it or whether insurance will cover it.
Kennedy is expected to tout the overhauls at HHS so far, which he has said are aimed at eliminating bloated bureaucracy and conflicts of interest at public health agencies that get in the way of “gold-standard science.”
In a statement, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said Kennedy will use the hearing to “reaffirm his commitment to Make America Healthy Again: restoring gold-standard science at HHS, empowering patients with more transparency, choices and access to care, and reestablishing trust in public health.”
While Republicans like Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo will attempt to keep the focus on chronic disease and Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, Democrats and even some Republicans are expected to push Kennedy for answers on the FDA’s latest change as well as an upcoming CDC meeting on vaccines, which could lead to more changes to the nation’s vaccine policy.
The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which discusses vaccine data and makes recommendations for which vaccines Americans should get and when, is going to weigh in on the FDA’s latest change, further informing insurance companies and pharmacies of how to carry out the policy.
But ACIP is also going to discuss a slate of different vaccines, including the COVID vaccine; hepatitis B vaccines; the measles, mumps, rubella, varicella (MMRV) vaccine; and the Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) vaccine.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee, said he had spoken to other members of his caucus who agreed that they needed to investigate what potential changes Kennedy and the CDC committee were weighing to the childhood vaccine recommendations.
“The issue is about children’s health, and there are rumors, allegations, that children’s health, which is at issue here, might be endangered by some of the decisions that are purported to be made. I don’t know what’s true,” Cassidy said. “I know that we need to get there. And I’ve talked to members of my Republican Caucus, several of them. They’ve agreed with me that we need to get at it.”
Cassidy, who pushed Kennedy during his confirmation hearings to issue support for vaccines and publicly struggled over his vote for him, has tasked the committee he chairs, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP), to do “oversight” of Monarez’ ousting, he wrote on X last week.
Cassidy maintained that he isn’t “presupposing someone is right or wrong.” “I just know we’ve got to figure it out,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy has also called for the CDC meeting to be postponed until “significant oversight has been conducted,” citing “serious allegations” about the “meeting agenda, membership and lack of scientific process.”
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who is on the HELP committee with Cassidy, told reporters on Wednesday that she is “concerned” and “alarmed” by Monarez’s firing.
“I know that the president has the right to fire whomever he wishes when it comes to that kind of appointment, but I don’t see any justification for it,” Collins said.
Monarez, who was in the job for only a month, was pushed out after she declined to fire top officials and support Kennedy’s vaccine policy changes in a meeting with the secretary early last week, a source familiar with her conversations with the secretary told ABC News.
“When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” Monarez’s attorneys Mark Zaid and Abbe Lowell said in a statement late last week.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters President Donald Trump had fired Monarez because she “was not aligned with the president’s mission to make America healthy again.”
“It was President Trump who was overwhelmingly reelected on November 5,” Leavitt said. “This woman has never received a vote in her life, and the president has the authority to fire those who are not aligned with his mission.”
Other CDC officials who followed Monarez out the door included:
Deb Houry, Chief Medical Officer and Deputy Director for Program and Science
Dr. Dan Jernigan, Director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases
Dr. Jennifer Layden, Director for the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance, and Technology.
The officials cited the political climate and a refusal to accept science that didn’t align with Kennedy’s beliefs.
In addition to the recent FDA changes for the COVID vaccine, Kennedy has also canceled up to $500 million in research and development for mRNA vaccines and changed the COVID vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women.
“I mean, from my vantage point as a doctor who’s taken the Hippocratic oath, I only see harm coming. I may be wrong. But based on what I’m seeing, based on what I’ve heard with the new members of the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, or ACIP, they’re really moving in an ideological direction where they want to see the undoing of vaccination,” Daskalakis said.
Kennedy, when he testified in his confirmation hearings to be health secretary in January, denied that he was anti-vaccine and said he supports “the childhood schedule” for vaccinations.
“I am pro-vaccine. I am going to support the vaccine program. I want kids to be healthy, and I’m coming in here to get rid of the conflicts of interest within the agency, make sure that we have gold standard, evidence-based science,” Kennedy said.
When pressed by Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, Kennedy committed to supporting the measles and polio vaccines.
“Senator, I support the measles vaccine, I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking either of those vaccines,” Kennedy said.
Rescuers and firefighters operate at the scene after the Gloria funicular cable railway derailed in Lisbon, Portugal, 03 September 2025. (Zed Jameson/Anadolu via Getty Images)
(LONDON) — At least 15 people are dead and another 23 injured after a streetcar derailed in Portugal’s capital on Wednesday, officials said.
At least five people are in serious condition following the crash in Lisbon, according to the city’s communications department.
One 3-year-old child is included in the 23 injured, according to an official.
It appears the safety cable on the electric streetcar broke, causing the car to derail, the department said, based on preliminary information.
Carris, the operator of the streetcar, said that all maintenance protocols were complied with, including daily inspections.
The mayor of Lisbon declared a three-day period of mourning.
“I offer my sincere condolences to all the families and friends of the victims. Lisbon is in mourning,” Mayor Carlos Moedas said in a statement.
Portugal’s Prime Minister’s Office also declared a national day of mourning for Thursday, expressing its “deep dismay” over the accident, and said it is in contact with local officials.
The incident — which happened around 6:15 p.m. local time — remains under investigation. Carris said it immediately opened an investigation along with the authorities to determine the cause of the accident.
The rescue mission lasted around two hours, a Public Ministry official told ABC News.
The tram cabin that derailed can hold up to 40 people. The famed streetcar, known as the Elevador da Gloria, is a funicular that travels up and down a steep hill.
“It is with sadness that I learned of the derailment of the famous ‘Elevador da Glória,'” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a statement. “My condolences to the families of the victims.”
All the other funiculars of the city have been suspended for now: Lavra, Graça and Bica, according to an official.
(NEW YORK) — Many parents, school districts and the federal government alike have embraced artificial intelligence this back-to-school season, but some experts warn artificial intelligence could widen the teacher shortage by eliminating jobs.
In a Pew Research Center study released last spring, 31% of AI experts, whose work or research focuses on the topic, said they expected artificial intelligence to lead to fewer jobs for teachers. Nearly a third of the experts surveyed predicted that AI will place teaching jobs “at risk” over the next 20 years, according to they Pew Research study.
The warning comes after the Learning Policy Institute — an organization that conducts independent research to improve education and policy practices — in July issued an overview of teacher shortages, which estimated that about one in eight teaching positions in 2025 are either unfilled or filled by teachers not fully certified for their assignments.
Indiana’s 2024 Teacher of the Year Eric Jenkins suggested AI could end up replacing “some parts” of teaching, but as a tool — not a replacement.
Idaho Superintendent of Public Instruction Debbie Critchfield emphasized that using AI to address the long-standing staffing shortage shouldn’t be considered.
“In no universe do I think that AI is going to replace a teacher,” Critchfield told ABC News.
“The teacher is the most important part and component of the classroom, but [AI] is a very useful tool in helping them provide the best educational environment that they can in the classroom,” she said.
The White House encourages K-12 students to use AI. While the Trump administration hasn’t directly addressed whether AI could replace teachers, the administration has launched its own action plan on the technology, which says “AI will improve the lives of Americans by complementing their work — not replacing it.”
Last week, first lady Melania Trump launched an AI contest challenging students to develop projects that use AI to address community challenges. Education Secretary Linda McMahon endorsed the challenge.
“AI has the potential to revolutionize education, drive meaningful learning outcomes, and prepare students for tomorrow’s challenges,” McMahon wrote in a post on X.
Teachers say they offer what AI can’t: connection Nearly three years after the launch of ChatGPT, which stands for Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, most of the United States has developed guidance on AI use in schools.
Many districts tell ABC News that they are embracing the technology so long as it is used appropriately — by adhering to local education agency guidance — with academic integrity. Critchfield even downplayed concerns that AI use in schools encourages cheating.
“Teachers can tell if you were writing like a seventh grader on Wednesday and then, all of a sudden, your paper you turn in on a Friday sounds like your post-doctorate in philosophy,” she said. “They know how to tell those differences.”
But in the wake of the pandemic, Thomas Toch, the director of FutureEd — an education policy center at Georgetown University, argued students need connection — to their peers, family and education tools such as AI chatbots — more than ever. Still, Toch rejected the full-time use of AI in place of humans.
“The loss of that connection during the pandemic, when kids were learning virtually, created widespread mental-health challenges,” Toch told ABC News. “The notion that, you know, a machine will be the only entity that interacts with kids is problematic in that regard.”
Education experts, such as Toch, contend K-12 education has “perpetual” teacher shortages with about a half-dozen areas in need, such as science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and special education instructors. The shortages have plagued the workforce for many years now, educators have told ABC News, with many of them citing strict time demands, persistent behavioral issues and lack of administrative support, among other obstacles.
Toch and Jenkins told ABC News they both appreciate AI for the powerful tool it can be in assisting teachers. It helps teachers plan lessons, grade students’ essays and is used as a “time saver” that helps them do their jobs better, according to Toch.
Preparing educators to work with AI tools Jenkins said AI is inevitable and that he believes teachers need to lean in and embrace its capabilities.
“I don’t think we can put our head in the sand about it,” Jenkins told ABC News. “I don’t think that it’s necessarily going to replace teachers because teachers can offer something that AI can’t, which is a connection, like authentic connection and community.”
Jenkins argued the chatbots lack the human element of what teachers do: making sure that students feel seen and heard. He said that is not going away.
With AI’s presence in education, Jenkins added, “it’s going to make those moments even more important.”
In Idaho, Critchfield said she has been excited about students and educators using the technology, but suggested the challenge ahead focuses on making AI be seen as a tool and not a negative. According to Critchfield, using AI wisely can aid in the shortage by increasing teacher retention and reducing educators’ workloads.
“How are we preparing and training our teachers to use [AI] so that we don’t add new problems as we’re trying to solve some other problems?” Critchfield said.
Ultimately, Critchfield said she doesn’t see AI as a boogeyman that is going to eliminate jobs, but she stressed that teachers who know AI could replace those who are less familiar with the technology.
After teachers in his district suggested banning ChatGPT just a few years ago, School District of Philadelphia Superintendent Tony Watlington told ABC News that instead of removing AI, Philadelphia is now learning from it together. The school district is implementing AI 101 Training for its teachers, school leaders, and superintendent through a partnership with the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
Watlington said it’s about “getting people around the table, and we are learning together.”
“We’re not hiding from AI,” Watlington said. “We’re also thinking about its implications and we’re really paying attention to what the prospective unintended consequences could be as well.”
Watlington added: “I think that’s the responsible way to think about artificial intelligence.”
(LONDON) — Ukrainian teenager Katya says she was living with her foster parents in the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in 2023 when Russian authorities approached her family and told them they would take her to a summer camp. But, in reality, she says she was being trained for military service.
“The school told us we are going for a vacation to the sea,” she tells ABC News in Kyiv, Ukraine. “Then we traveled for three days by bus, on the third day we were put on a train. And we were sent to a military camp.”
“Katya,” who has asked to remain anonymous to protect her identity, was 16-years-old at the time but now, at 18, she tells ABC News that she used to get up “at seven in the morning, had breakfast by nine, did exercises, then we went to the orientation. During orientation, we were forced to learn the Russian anthem and the anthem of this platoon.”
There were both Russian and Ukrainian teenagers in the military camp, which was inside Russian territory, Katya said. But Ukrainians were forbidden from speaking Ukrainian or expressing their identity, and told they were being trained to fight for the Russian army.
They would be forced into punishment exercises if they did not comply, she said. Katya can be seen doing squats and push ups in a video taken inside the camp shared with ABC News.
“As our instructors told us, we were being prepared for war,” she said. “They told us that as soon as we turned 18 [we would go to fight.]”
Katya was just one of thousands of Ukrainian children estimated to have been taken into Russia since the invasion of Feb. 24, 2022, with Ukraine saying that more than 19,500 children have been abducted or forcibly displaced into Russia since then.
Just over 1,500 children have been rescued from Russia, with almost half of those facilitated by Save Ukraine, a charity dedicated to the return of Russian children who helped Katya get back to Ukrainian territory after her weekslong ordeal in the military camp.
“Her story is really common, because now what we see from children who were rescued recently, we see that all of them were engaged in some military activities,” Natalia Savchenko, the head of communications at Save Ukraine, told ABC News. “It’s a policy and we see that the policy of Russia now is to take Ukrainian children, erase their identity, and force them to take part in military activities and, after that, make them Russian soldiers.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children’s rights in 2023. The ICC said they were allegedly “responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
Russia, however, denies kidnapping the children and claims it evacuated them for humanitarian reasons.
The prospect of an elusive ceasefire dominated the agenda at the Alaska Summit last month when President Trump hosted Vladimir Putin and hand-delivered a letter written by first lady Melania Trump, calling for the protection of children. The letter did not specifically mention Ukrainian children taken into Russia.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also raised the subject of Ukrainian children who have been taken into Russia when European leaders met with the U.S. President last month as well.
“This issue lies at the heart of the war’s humanitarian tragedy — our children, broken families, the pain of separation,” Zelenskyy said.
“It is a subject at the top of all lists and the world will work together to solve it, hopefully bringing them home to their families,” President Trump said.
Savchenko told ABC News that she hoped the diplomatic efforts would help “change the future of these children.”
“But at the same time, we continue to do our work, we are continuing to rescue them, to rehabilitate and to reintegrate, because these are Ukrainian children, and we cannot surrender. And let them be in the hands of war criminals,” she continued. “In our mind discussion about Ukrainian children should be done before the discussion about lands, because children, they are our future. It’s not the question of politics. It’s a question of humanity.”
