(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.” Heavy shelling and missile attacks, many on civilian buildings, continue in Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, as well as major cities like Kharkiv and Mariupol.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Mar 30, 5:27 am
Over four million refugees have fled Ukraine: UNHCR
More than four million people have been forced to flee Ukraine since Russian forces invaded on Feb. 24, according to the latest figures from the United Nations Refugee Agency.
The tally from the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) amounts to just over 9% of Ukraine’s population — which the World Bank counted at 44 million at the end of 2020 — on the move across borders in 35 days.
More than half of the refugees crossed into neighboring Poland, UNHCR figures show.
Mar 30, 3:41 am
Russian authorities may ‘single out and detain’ Americans in Russia and Ukraine, US warns
The United States is warning that Russian authorities “may single out and detain U.S. citizens” in both Russia and Ukraine.
The warning came Tuesday as the U.S. Department of State issued new travel advisories for the two warring countries.
The State Department previously warned Americans in Russia that they could be targets for harassment by Russian authorities. But the latest advisory makes it explicit that U.S. citizens could be “singled out,” “including for detention.”
The State Department has also previously warned Americans against traveling to Ukraine to join the fight against Russian forces, pointing to statements from Russian authorities that anyone detained while fighting will not be considered a lawful combatant. That could mean mistreatment or worse, according to State Department spokesperson Ned Price.
“There are continued reports of U.S. citizens being singled out and detained by the Russian military in Ukraine and when evacuating by land through Russia-occupied territory or to Russia or Belarus,” the latest advisory for Ukraine states.
Both Russia and Ukraine have been on the State Department’s “Travel Advisory Level 4 – Do Not Travel” for months, as tensions ratcheted up and with little to no diplomatic presences on the ground.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Homeland Security is bracing for as many as 18,000 migrants per day at the southern border if Title 42 is revoked, according to senior DHS officials who briefed reporters on Tuesday.
The DHS official said they have “no idea” when Title 42, the controversial Trump administration policy that deports single adults under the auspices of a public health emergency, will be lifted.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is currently conducting a review of Title 42, which must be completed by March 30. An announcement on whether it will be renewed is expected soon thereafter.
Officials said they have run through three scenarios and the highest level of migrants coming across the border per day was 18,000. They stressed it is only a prediction and they are prepared for anything. DHS has also established a joint information center with officials from across the federal government.
“I think it’s unclear what the impact of Title 42 potentially lifting in the coming days, weeks or months would be on migratory flows, but we need to be prepared for considering a potential contingency, which is that the lifting of Title 42 could increase flows and so that is definitely part of this planning process,” one senior DHS official said.
ABC News obtained a strategic plan outlining the steps DHS will take in “response to irregular migration patterns.”
The 16-page document specifically says the lifting of Title 42 will likely “cause a significant increase along all United States borders — primarily along the Southwest border.”
“The DHS Office of Immigration Statistics (OIS) produced projections for post-Title 42 Southwest Border encounters describing low, medium, high, or very high encounter scenarios,” the document says. “These scenarios underpin planning assumptions that generate requirements which in turn drive operational execution. Based on these projections the SBCC is currently planning for 6,000, 12,000 (high) and 18,000 (very high) encounters per day.”
In the event of large migration numbers along the border, Customs and Border Protection is prepared to more than double their air and bus transportation capabilities and beef up CBP agents at surge points.
The agency is looking at ways to make the situation more tenable if an influx of migrants does come, such as establishing an online preregistration system and sending more CBP officers to the border.
The department is setting up temporary facilities in anticipation of high migrant levels.
There was an average of 5,892 apprehensions along the southwest border each day in February, according to CBP data, an increase from 2021 when there were an average of 4,753 per day for the calendar year.
“We are now seeing 40% of our monthly encounters coming from countries that are not Mexico, or the Northern Triangle countries of Central America. That is frankly unprecedented and something that is concerning not just to us, but to the government of Mexico and other countries in the region,” one senior official told reporters, noting that they are seeing an influx of Nicaraguan, Cuban and Venezuelan nationals.
(WASHINGTON) — Politicians and family members are calling on Congress to step up and do more to help soldiers who were affected by potentially deadly diseases caused by toxic burn pits.
The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs held a hearing Tuesday with Secretary for Veterans Affairs Denis McDonough testifying to discuss the Honoring our PACT Act, a bill that would expand veteran health benefits and improve care for illnesses brought on by burn pits and toxic exposure.
Burn pits are any open-air swaths of land dedicated to incinerating waste. They were commonly used on U.S. bases in Iraq and Afghanistan to dispose of items like medical waste, human waste, rubber, plastics and other materials that emit toxic fumes. Such items would be centralized in a given burn pit and lit ablaze with diesel or jet fuel.
The PACT Act would broaden the list of the conditions presumed to be related to one’s tenure of service. At present, eligible veterans receive disability payments for such conditions, but qualifying for benefits related to non-presumed conditions mandates they prove their illness is directly linked to their military duties.
The bill was passed by the House in early March, with 34 Republicans joining every Democrat in voting for it, but has yet to be voted on by the Senate.
Veterans Affairs has already been running a pilot program to establish protocol for creating new presumptive conditions, according to McDonough. The pilot, which is slated to end in April, uses “all available science” and claims data to determine new guidelines.
“Upon completion of that, which I anticipate is yet this spring, we’ll submit the whole thing for you to see, and you can see both what we’ve proposed and what the outside review of what we’ve proposed finds,” he said at the hearing. “The bottom line, in my view, about our new presumptive process is that we have to put the veteran at the center of the process, and we have to increase the sources of science available for us to make the decisions that we need to make.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., quickly pushed back on whether this approach really centered the process around veterans, noting that while broader coverage can be more expensive, it at least allocates resources toward actual benefits.
“I would hope that we can all agree that if we’re spending $1 on VA health care, spend that on health care, not a bureaucracy to determine whether or not the veteran in fact, was exposed or not,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., aired concerns echoed by critics of the bill, including several other Republican Congress members, saying, “[The PACT Act] also includes provisions that perhaps will stretch the VA beyond its operational capacity, effectively providing no guarantee that veterans will be able to access the benefits promised.”
McDonough acknowledged these concerns and stated the department has recently hired 1,742 new claim adjudicators to help ameliorate the current backlog of 240,000 claims. More adjudicators and staff would need to be hired to help ensure the promises of the PACT Act if passed, he said.
Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, later recognized this need and stated it was Congress’ duty to give Veterans Affairs the resources to implement the act, as veterans currently pay the price not only financially but also logistically.
“I think one of the most difficult aspects of what we require of veterans to make the service connection evident is that they bear the burden of proof, and whoever has the burden of proof has a really high burden,” Hirono said.
The Senate committee estimated that up to 3.5 million veterans who served after Sept. 11 could have experienced exposure, and many may be suffering from illnesses that have yet to be diagnosed.
Prior to the committee’s hearing, Sens. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., held a press conference Tuesday outside the Capitol to address the urgency of passing the PACT Act. They were joined by several veterans, advocates and families of soldiers who died due to toxic exposure-related illnesses. Comedian Jon Stewart, who has long advocated for increased funding for those suffering from diseases brought on by burn pits, also attended the rally.
Schumer described the importance of the PACT Act as a nonnegotiable step in bringing closure and healing.
“We refused to face up to one of the biggest costs of those wars, and that is the health care needs of veterans who fought and sacrificed on our behalf,” he said. “It’s our job to make sure we take care of them once they come back.”
Gillibrand specifically talked about the link between exposure and disease, in the context of Sept. 11 survivors, first responders and witnesses.
“We know what toxins were released at these burn pits. We know that the smoldering toxins set fire by jet fuel, of plastics, of human waste, of medical waste, of building materials, of clothing, of any type of item, computers, electronics that could be burned,” Gillibrand said. “Those are the same things that were burned on 9/11, so that’s why we know the toxins that were released cause these cancers. And that’s why having a presumption that if you served and you’re sick, you are covered. That is our promise.”
Danielle Robinson, whose husband Heath served in Iraq and died from a rare kind of lung cancer in 2020, spoke about her devastating loss and described staying by his side during his last moments in hospice.
“I need all of you senators to understand what it is like to lay on the floor underneath your dying husband for seven hours, helping him die,” Robinson said.
While for many it is too late, Robinson called on senators to pass the PACT Act in the name of helping veterans currently battling illness, as well as those who may be diagnosed in the future.
“If you pass this Honoring Our PACT Act, you’re going to help so many veterans who are in the same situation, on hospice right now, for those that may have to come and hopefully to take care of those that have cancers that can be curable,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — The New York Attorney General’s office is urging an appellate court to enforce a subpoena that requires former President Donald Trump and his two eldest children to testify in a civil investigation that’s examining whether there has been fraud within the Trump family real estate business, according to a new court filing.
The former president and his eldest children, Donald Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, have asked the Appellate Division’s First Department to quash the subpoenas, arguing they became improper once the Manhattan District Attorney’s office opened a parallel criminal investigation.
“Nothing in the law supports that outcome, which would impermissibly constrain the discretion of the Attorney General, New York’s chief law enforcement officer, to select from among the investigative tools and remedies conferred on her by statute,” Eric Del Pozo, the deputy solicitor general, wrote in a motion filed Tuesday. “Civil subpoenas do not compel appellants to provide information that may be used against them in a future criminal case.”
The Trumps have also argued the subpoenas result from an investigation driven by the political animus of New York Attorney General Letitia James, which her office rejected.
“Office of Attorney General’s civil investigation began after a corporate insider gave sworn testimony that the Trump Organization had engaged in widespread fraud,” the filing Tuesday said. “That fact, along with the substantial evidence collected to date of possible business fraud, amply supports Supreme Court’s finding that the civil subpoenas are part of a valid and well-founded investigation rather than a product of political animus.”
Michael Cohen, Trump’s former personal attorney, testified to Congress in 2019 that the former president valued his real estate holdings differently depending on whether he was seeking loans or tax deductions.
Cohen provided Congress with copies of Trump’s financial statements that he said misrepresented the values of Trump assets to obtain favorable terms for loans and insurance.
“So far, the investigation has uncovered significant evidence potentially indicating that, for more than a decade, these financial statements relied on misleading asset valuations and other misrepresentations to secure economic benefits—including loans, insurance coverage, and tax deductions—on terms more favorable than the true facts warranted,” according to the filing Tuesday.
Trump, in a statement last month, blasted the probe following a ruling by Judge Arthur Engoron of the New York State Supreme Court that the Trumps must testify.
“She is doing everything within their corrupt discretion to interfere with my business relationships, and with the political process,” he said of James. “It is a continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in history — and remember, I can’t get a fair hearing in New York because of the hatred of me by Judges and the judiciary. It is not possible!”
(BALTIMORE) — The family of 18-year-old Donnell Rochester, who was fatally shot by Baltimore police on Feb. 19, is calling for accountability and answers in a case that has sparked outrage.
Rochester was shot and killed while being pursued in his car over an outstanding bench warrant after failing to appear in court for a carjacking charge, police said.
Protesters spoke out during a “Justice for Donnell Rochester” rally Friday, where they were joined by family and friends of the teenager. They marched to City Hall and urged Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott to take action.
“My son didn’t deserve it at all. Like, not at all,” Rochester’s mother, Danielle Brown, said at the rally, according to Baltimore ABC affiliate WMAR. “He wasn’t a bad person and to not have him here no more with me, it’s like a nightmare. They killed him for nothing.”
Rochester’s family and friends gathered at Baltimore police headquarters on March 8, where they called for criminal charges against the officers, according to the Baltimore Sun.
Public outcry over Rochester’s death comes amid an investigation into the incident by the Baltimore Police Department and the investigation division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office. The investigation was announced by Baltimore Police Commissioner Michael Harrison on the evening of the incident.
Body camera videos from the four officers involved in the incident released by the Baltimore Police Department on Feb. 25 show that two of the officers fired at Rochester’s vehicle.
Videos show police calling for Rochester to exit the car and he drove away as they continued to run after him on foot.
Body camera video from officer Connor Murray shows police running up to Rochester’s Honda Accord from various directions, while Murray runs toward the car as it drives in his direction.
“Stop it, stop the car,” Murray can be heard saying in the video before firing several shots at the vehicle.
Murray then drops to the ground and can be heard shouting, “Shots fired, shots fired.”
Those shots can be heard in body camera video from officer Robert Mauri, who was running toward the scene and fired at the vehicle seconds later.
Two other body camera videos show officers Antoine Galloway and Joshua Lutz responding to the scene.
After the two officers fired shots, Rochester stops the car after driving a short distance up the street and gets out, immediately dropping to the ground on his knees with his hands up as officers push him to the ground and handcuff him.
As blood starts to pool around him, officers note that Rochester was injured and call for medics, who arrived at the scene shortly after.
Fatal police shootings remain at past years’ levels amid calls for reform
“Where are you hit at?” one officer repeatedly asks as officers take off Rochester’s shirt, attempting to find his wound.
Rochester, who tries to respond, appears to have trouble speaking.
“Are you OK?” an officer asks moments later.
“No,” Rochester appears to respond.
Police said that medics who arrived at the scene transported Rochester to an area hospital where he later died.
A spokesperson for the Independent Investigations Division of the Maryland Attorney General’s Office told ABC News on Tuesday the results of Rochester’s autopsy, including ballistic evidence, will be included in the investigation’s final report to the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office.
Harrison initially said on the evening of the incident that Murray “fired his weapon prior to being struck” by Rochester’s car. It is unclear if Murray claimed that he was struck.
“Our officer that was struck by the vehicle is in good condition, doesn’t have any real injuries,” he said.
But during a press conference Feb. 25 in which the body camera footage was released, Deputy Police Commissioner Brian Nadeau told reporters that from the video, police “cannot tell” if Murray was struck by Rochester’s car.
“Donnell then starts to drive towards officer Murray, who discharges his weapon and officer Murray falls to the ground. At this time, on video, we cannot tell whether or not officer Murray was struck by the vehicle. That is certainly under investigation,” Nadeau, who heads the department’s Public Integrity Bureau, said.
Asked if the investigation has determined whether Murray was struck with Rochester’s car, the spokesperson for the Attorney General’s Office of Independent Investigations told ABC News Tuesday that “events leading up to the shooting remain under investigation.”
A spokesperson for the Baltimore Police Department told ABC News Tuesday that the investigation is ongoing and all four officers involved in the incident have been “assigned to administrative duties pending the outcome of the investigation.”
ABC News has reached out to attorneys for Rochester’s family but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon is seeing “small numbers” of Russian troops repositioning to the north of Kyiv but is not labeling it a withdrawal as Russia has characterized it. Instead, it believes the troops might be used in an offensive elsewhere in Ukraine, possibly into the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.
After holding talks with Ukrainian negotiators in Turkey, Russia’s defense ministry said it was withdrawing forces from around Kyiv and Chernihiv as “a good faith” measure in the talks. However, the move coincided with the Russian military’s lack of success in its moves on the two northern cities.
“We’re seeing a small number now that appears to be moving away from Kyiv,” John Kirby, the Pentagon’s top spokesman, told reporters Tuesday. “This on the same day that the Russians say they’re withdrawing, but we’re not prepared to call this a retreat, or even a withdrawal. What they probably have in mind is a repositioning to prioritize elsewhere.”
“It’s certainly not a significant chunk of the multiple battalion tactical groups that Russia has arrayed against Kyiv,” Kirby said. “It’s not anywhere near a majority of what they have arrayed” around Ukraine’s capital.
He noted the Russians have said in recent days that it has made the Donbas area a priority.
“We believe that it is likely more repositioning to be used elsewhere in Ukraine. Where exactly we don’t know,” he said. “We all should be prepared to watch for a major offensive against other areas of Ukraine. It does not mean that the threat to Kyiv is over. “
Kirby expressed similar skepticism about the Russian announcement from other top Biden administration officials, including President Joe Biden.
“We’re not taking anything they say at face value,” Kirby said. “We’re not we’re not prepared to buy the Russian argument that it’s a withdrawal. Again, our assessment is that their intention is to reposition forces and bolster their efforts elsewhere.”
Though Kirby said Russian troops had repeatedly failed in their military objectives in Ukraine, particularly in taking Kyiv, he declined to characterize the Russian move as a defeat.
“I don’t think we’re prepared to slap a bumper sticker on this thing right now,” Kirby said. “I mean, there are still people dying. There’s still bombs falling. There’s still missiles flying. And they’re still give and take on the battlefield. So I don’t think we’re ready to call it one way or another here.”
Earlier on Tuesday, Gen. Tod Wolters, the top U.S. military commander in Europe, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that Russia’s invasion was “a pivotal moment in Europe with generational implications” that had strengthened the NATO alliance.
Wolters said American troop levels in Europe had risen from 60,000 to 100,000 due to the invasion and said more troops might be needed.
“My suspicion is we’re going to still need more,” Wolters said. “And obviously, there’s always a mix between the requirement of permanent versus rotational and there are pluses and minuses of each one. We’ll have to continue to examine the European contributions to make a smart decision about where to go in the future.”
During his press conference Tuesday, Kirby announced some Marine forces that had recently participated in NATO’s Cold Response exercise in Norway would be redirected to Lithuania and Eastern Europe. The Marine units included a command and control unit being sent to Lithuania along with 10 FA-18 fighters and several C-130 transport planes.
Wolters praised Ukraine’s military and its ability to stall Russian military operations throughout the country, especially through the weapons systems being provided by the U.S. military.
“I think we can, and we will continue to maintain our support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” Wolters said. “… We’ve made dramatic improvements in our information and sharing and intelligence sharing.”
That support has included the key delivery of American-made Javelin anti-tank weapons and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles that have helped the Ukrainian military stall the progress of Russian troops throughout Ukraine.
Wolters said the supply line of weapons to the Ukrainians had been successful and had not come under attack. “They’ve been delivering right to the right location at the right time,” Wolters said.
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Students in the Sacramento City Unified School District are still out of class on Tuesday, as a standoff between teachers’ and workers’ unions continues against the district.
Teachers and classified employees, of the Sacramento City Teachers Association and the Service Employees International Union, began their strike on March 23, but the SEIU said they have been bargaining with the district since October.
“We want equity across the district. And so far they’re just playing games, and they’re not responding seriously to our proposals. They are not showing any urgency about ending the strike or ending the staffing crisis,” Jennie Smith-Camejo, a spokesperson for the SEIU, said of the school district in an interview with ABC News.
According to the SCTA, teachers and school workers began their strike last week due to the “severe staffing crisis” in the district.
“Every single day 3,000 SCUSD students go without even a substitute teacher and nearly 600 students go without any instruction due to a lack of independent study instructors,” the SCTA claimed on its website.
Both unions say the shortage is taking a toll on students and their education.
“Kids are waiting at bus stops and getting school like an hour, two hours late, because there aren’t enough bus drivers, and they’re having to do one route and go back and pick up another route,” Smith-Camejo said.
“We have instructional aides who are being left alone with whole classrooms full of kids, which that’s not what they’re supposed to do, they’re supposed to work one on one with special needs kids,” Smith-Camejo said. She said they are having to write curricula when they aren’t certificated teachers, and that isn’t their job.
According to Smith-Camejo, the transportation department lost 25% of its staff in the last six months.
“Of course, the reasons for this is because the job is very high stress, the working conditions aren’t good right now and it doesn’t pay enough. So people are finding better jobs either in neighboring school districts or in the private sector and they’re leaving, and they’re not able to replace those people,” Smith-Camejo said.
The problem doesn’t stop there, according to the teacher’s union. Teacher shortages are forcing some schools to combine classes.
“Some students, like at John F. Kennedy High School on certain days, they would pack 13 classes into an auditorium because they didn’t even have substitute teachers, let alone regular teachers,” a spokesperson for the SCTA, Jamie Horwitz, told ABC News in an interview.
Horwitz told ABC News the district is short 250 regular teachers and 100 substitute teachers.
Because the district is short 15 independent study teachers, prior to the strike 571 students who applied for independent study, because they are unable to return to in-person school for health or other reasons, have received no instruction, according to Horwitz.
The SCUSD admits it has a staffing crisis, “but so do most other school districts in the state. This problem predated these negotiations and will exist after this contract is settled. Public schools, and especially SCUSD, do not have sufficient qualified teachers and substitutes entering the profession to fill vacant positions,” the district says on its website.
“Despite offering the most generous total compensation in the region, SCUSD is still struggling to attract qualified teachers and substitutes to fill vacant positions,” the district said.
The SCUSD said its current offer to the SCTA “would help address the staffing crisis, with recruitment bonus incentives and increases in compensation to strengthen retention. We want to reach an agreement with SCTA, and urge SCTA to end the strike, so we can work together to address our district’s staffing problem.”
The district said it has taken “meaningful steps” since 2017 to address understaffing and said its COVID proposals would have addressed these issues.
“The district’s previous COVID-related proposals, which SCTA did not agree to, would work toward alleviating some staffing issues and toward compensating employees for their extra workload,” SCUSD said on its website. “The lack of agreement over these COVID-related issues has prevented staff from benefiting from extra pay for taking on extra work related to COVID. Without an agreement, the district cannot assign district training specialists who usually work at the district office to cover classes when there is a vacancy at a school site.”
SCTA claims the district can afford to recruit and retain educators and is in “the best financial position in its history.”
The SCTA claims the district has hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funds and has had budget surpluses in 11 of the last 12 years, and yet the district has still demanded cuts in the average educator’s take-home pay of $10,000 per year, which SCTA believes will only worsen the crisis.
“The district’s narrative has been that they have financial problems and historically, they did, if you went back like a dozen years. But [now] primarily, they have really bad accounting,” Horwitz said.
The district denies it is proposing pay cuts and said it is proposing 100% health coverage for SCTA represented staff and their families on a new health plan or 80% coverage on the more expensive old health plan.
Horwitz said in the past the district has said they do not have enough funds and sent pink slips to teachers, then later in the year claim they made a mistake and have a surplus of funds.
According to Horwitz, the SCUSD has $123 million in its reserves and it has received over $320 million from the state and federal government.
The district says it cannot make long-term promises based on one-time grants.
“The district cannot make ongoing financial commitments with one-time money. The district has received COVID-relief funds from the state and federal governments in the form of one-time funding designed to address pressing student needs as a result of the pandemic. We cannot spend one-time money on ongoing financial commitments like salaries and benefits,” SCUSD said on its website.
While the district on Saturday offered the SEIU a 2% pay increase for workers, Smith-Camejo said this is “really unacceptable.”
“Our folks are the lowest paid employees in the district. A lot of them make minimum wage are just barely above, even when they’ve been there for decades. And they haven’t had a cost of living adjustment in six years. The superintendent, who’s making over $400,000 a year and just got about 10% [adjustment] this year, is saying that all they deserve is 2%,” Smith-Camejo said.
A fact-finding report between the teacher’s union and the district recommended that the district “provide an across-the-board salary increase retroactive to the beginning the 2021-22 school year, in an amount equal to the cost-of-living increase provided to the Superintendent for this school year,” records show. This kind of report is initiated when workers and management cannot resolve a dispute and one or both sides ask the state for help.
The SCUSD claims, on its website, that total compensation for SCUSD teachers is the highest in Sacramento County, and among the highest in the region and the state.
Horwitz said the district should not be holding on to this money if it can solve this issue.
“Sacramento’s the litmus test, are people going to allow school districts to just say we want to make sure that we’re kind of wealthy here, we’re just gonna hang on to our cash,” Horwitz said. “This is why there’s so much unity in the strike people feel that this is totally dereliction of their duty, the school board and the superintendent.”
“Our members believe that the only way they’re going to get a teacher in front of the classroom is by walking out of the classrooms,” Horwitz said.
Smith-Camejo said the strike is hard on its workers and the union is “so disappointed and outraged that the district is not doing as part.”
“We are so ready for it to to end, our members really want to go back to work. We know that parents want kids back in class, we want the kids back in class, but unfortunately, the district is just not engaging,” Smith-Camejo said.
(NEW YORK) — In March 2020, COVID-19 shut down the world. The global pandemic would force people everywhere to face the challenge of change: two years of saying goodbye to loved ones, businesses closing and waiting to reopen, doctors waging battles against new variants and striving to develop effective vaccines.
A 20/20 special, “24 Months That Changed the World,” airing March 30 on ABC at 10 pm ET, explores how COVID-19 disrupted lives and created lasting change across all aspects of human life.
The question remains: How do we live now?
Watch the full story on “20/20” on March 30 at 10 p.m. ET on ABC.
Three families spoke to ABC News about their experiences with changing the way they lived during the pandemic and what the future looks like for their households.
The McDowell Family
Talib McDowell, a hotel manager from Tampa, Florida, was furloughed at the beginning of the pandemic.
“It was the first time that I ever personally worried about the future of our family and how we were gonna get through the disaster,” said McDowell.
The McDowell family decided to temporarily reimagine their living situation and moved three generations under one roof. McDowell said the purpose was to pool the family’s resources and get through the pandemic together.
“If we don’t think outside the box, if we don’t really rely on each other to help us through, something’s gonna fall,” said McDowell. “We can really kind of pool our resources together and figure out how to get through this thing, because we don’t know how long it’s gonna be.”
Grandparents Janice and Wade McDowell pitched in to help take care of the kids, including helping the family adopt a healthier lifestyle.
“I didn’t expect them to tell on us when we would sneak snacks at night out of the pantry,” said Janice McDowell.
For the McDowell family, a virus that kept people apart — brought them closer together. The family now has plans to build a new home with a grandparents’ wing.
“The past 24 months has shown truly, truly what family can do for you, what we can do for each other, what we can bring to the table and make things work,” said Talib’s wife, Joan McDowell.
The Irby Vu Family
Alison Irby Vu is a financial planner and single mother who lived outside Washington, D.C.
When COVID-19 swept across the world, she was the sole provider for her 3-year-old son Enzo and quickly realized she needed to add the role of “teacher” to her resume. “He was going to virtual school, and when he’d go to bed, I’d go to sleep, too, because I was exhausted,” said Irby Vu. “But then I’d get up at like one or two in the morning and work until he woke up.”
The family fell into a routine that oscillated between remote work and remote school. Vu said she realized at one point that the family’s new life didn’t have to be in Washington, D.C. — it could be anywhere.
“All we did was I worked, he played. We weren’t connecting with friends and family, and I realized I could do that anywhere,” said Irby Vu.
With so many folks working remotely, smaller and more affordable cities used the opportunity to lure new residents with incentives. Irby Vu decided to take advantage of the incentivized relocation program, Tulsa Remote, and moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma.
“It’s $10,000 to move to Tulsa and be a part of the program. You have to live in proper, within the city limits, for a year,” said Irby Vu. “I’ve always wanted to move to another place that I didn’t know and just see what would happen. When else would we do this?”
Irby Vu said since moving to Tulsa, she has no plans on returning to Washington, D.C.
“To be a present mother, creative in my work and to be able to do all of those things and not be depleted at the end of the day; it’s a big shift,” said Irby Vu. “I think a lot of people have had that taste of it and aren’t going to want to let it go.”
The Hyatt Family
Rather than move out or switch careers, Emily Hyatt, a rabbi from Denver, adjusted her living situation to stay connected to her synagogue congregation.
She said she knew that in such challenging times, they needed her now more than ever.
Hyatt, who is a single mother, decided to bring the congregation into her small apartment, virtually.
“My desk is in my room right next to the bed. And so I would put my son in the bed with snacks and Legos, said Hyatt.
For her, and many other religious leaders across the country, it was a paradigm shift.
“We figured out how to do it differently, how to connect differently, how to recommit to the community that we’re a part of and we stopped being unrooted,” said Hyatt, who would perform virtual weddings and memorials from her bedroom.
Hyatt said that by inviting the congregation into her own home, she was able to see the vulnerability and humanity of its members.
“When they come to sit in my office, they’re buttoned up, they’re on their best behavior. When they’re at home, they are their real selves,” said Hyatt.
Despite the congregation returning to in-person services, Hyatt said that the online services have become an integral part of the community.
“We have people that participate in our online services from all over the country,” said Hyatt.
She added that change in the face of adversity is central to living now.
“A word that has come up over the past few years has been the word resilience. Resilience is not about being impacted. Resilience is not about hurting,” said Hyatt. “It’s not about reacting or suffering. It’s about how we come back.”
Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released an online calculator Thursday to help people determine if they should isolate or quarantine after contracting COVID-19 or being exposed to someone with the virus.
The tool can be accessed on a desktop or on a mobile device.
Once a person answers a few questions, the calculator will help discern how long one should isolate or quarantine, whether they should get tested, and how long they should take precautions, such as wearing a mask around others in public.
Those who are up to date on their COVID-19 vaccines will have different recommendations than those who are not up to date or not vaccinated at all.
There is a distinct difference between isolating and quarantining, with isolation being for people who have mild symptoms or no symptoms at all but have tested positive for the virus.
People who need to quarantine are those who have come in close contact with someone who has COVID-19, but have not tested positive.
Want to know when you can safely leave home if you tested positive for #COVID19? Or what to do when you find out a close contact has COVID-19? Try CDC’s new Quarantine and Isolation (Q&I) Calculator: https://t.co/U8CA3JmzOU. pic.twitter.com/xYOGKxoehJ
For example, according to the calculator, someone who has come into contact with a COVID-19 patient, is up to date on their vaccinations and has not tested positive themselves do not need to stay home unless they develop symptoms.
However, the tool does recommend the user get tested five days after exposure and to wear a mask around others for 10 days.
But someone who is not vaccinated or not up to date with their vaccines is recommended to quarantine for five days — starting the day after exposure — to get tested at the end of the quarantine period and to wear a mask for 10 days as well.
If a user tests positive and doesn’t have symptoms — regardless of vaccination status — they are recommended to isolate for five days and can then leave their home if they continue to not develop symptoms.
If the person has symptoms, they can end isolation after five days of no fever without the use of medication and they are recommended to wear a mask for 10 days around others.
The CDC said the guidance from its tool does not apply to Americans who have weakened immune systems or to people who test positive or are close contacts in high-risk settings.
In December 2021, the CDC shortened its isolation guidance for asymptomatic COVID-19 patients from 10 days to five days as well as the quarantine guidance for close contacts who don’t develop symptoms.
The federal health agency said the change was due to a growing body of evidence that showed most COVID-19 patients were not contagious five days after testing positive or developing symptoms.
The tool comes as the U.S. sees COVID-19 hospitalization rates plateauing and death rates declining.
CDC data shows the daily average is hovering just below 700 virus-related fatalities every day, a steep decline from the more than 2,600 deaths reported per day during the omicron peak in early February.
ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has signed the Emmett Till Anti-lynching Act into law Tuesday, making lynching a hate crime under federal law.
“It was pure terror, to enforce the lie that not everyone — not everyone belongs in America, not everyone is created equal,” Biden said. “Terror, to systematically undermine hard fought civil rights, terror, not just in the dark of night but in broad daylight. Innocent men, women and children, hung by nooses, from trees, bodies burned and drowned, castrated.”
Congress failed to pass anti-lynching legislation over 200 times before the bill finally moved forward this year. The bill is the first legislation of its kind in more than 100 years to be signed into law.
Lynchings were used to murder and terrorize the Black community in the U.S., predominantly in the South, from the 1880s to 1960s, the NAACP states.
Of people who were killed in lynchings, Biden said: “Their crimes? Trying to vote, trying to go to school, trying to own a business, or preach the gospel.”
The Equal Justice Initiative, a racial justice advocacy and research organization, has documented nearly 6,500 racial terror lynchings in the U.S. between 1865 and 1950.
Under the bill, an offense can be prosecuted as a lynching when the offender conspires to commit a hate crime that results in someone’s death or serious bodily injury under this bill. This includes kidnapping and aggravated sexual abuse or an attempt to kidnap, abuse, or kill.
A perpetrator can be sentenced to up to 30 years in prison for lynching alone, raising the maximum sentence by 20 years from previous versions of the legislation.
The act is named after 14-year-old Emmett Till, who was kidnapped, beaten and killed in Mississippi in August 1955 after being accused of whistling at a white woman.
Till’s cousin, Reverend Wheeler Parker, Jr., thanked legislators for enshrining this bill into law.
“My cousin was a bright, promising 14-year-old from Chicago,” Parker said in a statement to ABC News. “My family was devastated that no one was held responsible for the abduction, torture, and murder of Emmett. But we are heartened by this new law, which shows that Emmett still speaks in powerful ways to make sure that no one can get away with a racist crime like this ever again”
Till’s death remains a symbol of racism and brutality against Black people in the U.S.
“While this will not erase the horrific injustices to which 10s of 1000s of African Americans have been subjected over the generations, nor fully heal the terror inflicted on countless others, it is an important step forward as we continue the work of confronting our nation’s past in pursuit of a brighter and more just future,” said Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on the Senate floor.
Biden also recalled recent acts of violence against Black people, including the fatal killing of Ahmaud Arbery.
“The law is not just about the past. It’s about the present and our future as well,” he said.
Black Americans remain the most targeted group in the U.S. when it comes to reported hate crimes. They made up 2,871 of the 8,263 reported hate crimes in 2020 — or 34% — according to the FBI.
The Senate passed the bill unanimously on March 7.
Members of Congress applauded the bill’s progress following several years of attempts to pass it. Rep. Bobby L. Rush, D-Ill., who has been sponsoring such a bill since the 115th Congress, said that the bill is one step toward correcting “historical injustice.”
“By passing my Emmett Till Antilynching Act, the House has sent a resounding message that our nation is finally reckoning with one of the darkest and most horrific periods of our history and that we are morally and legally committed to changing course,” said Rush after the House passed the bill in February.
