(PARIS) — French President Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen, a far-right presidential candidate, took the top two spots in the first round of the presidential elections on Sunday, according to preliminary results.
The two, who led a crowded field of twelve candidates, will advance to a second and final round of voting on April 24.
Macron, who is seeking reelection, placed first with about 28% of votes cast on Sunday, according to preliminary results. Le Pen carried about 23%.
Experts say the latest trends showed a strong and rapid rise in the number of voters in favor of Le Pen, while those of Macron were falling.
“We’ve seen a positive dynamic in favor of Marine Le Pen,” Henri Wallard, deputy CEO at Ipsos polling, told ABC News. “She has progressed clearly in the last two or three weeks before this first phase.”
The far-right candidate’s message has reached French people concerned about the cost of living.
“The most important concern expressed by the French voters is the purchasing power and and the social issues in general,” Wallard said. “And the fact is Marine Le Pen was early on in the campaign well-positioned on this topic … and the fact is that we have seen as a consequence of the current international crisis a surge in the price of oil and gas and the impact on inflation.”
The war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic have disrupted this atypical presidential campaign and added uncertainty for voters.
France risks breaking the 2002 record of non-voters, which reached 28% in the whole of France, according to Jean Chiche, emeritus researcher at the SciencesPo Center for Political Research. Abstention hovers over the elections, as the majority of French people don’t feel represented by political office-holders, he said.
“There is a rejection of the political class,” Chiche told ABC News. “It is the young people of the working classes who live in isolated cities, or in peri-urban areas; they are the most abstaining.”
Macron achieved high scores in the first 15 days of the war in Ukraine, according to Chiche, a major boost for the president seeking reelection.
“Faced with the war in Ukraine, he fully assumed his responsibilities as head of state, everyone in France understands that,” Maud Bregeon, spokesperson for Macron’s La République En Marche party told ABC News.
Critics have pointed to Macron’s absence on the campaign trail since the beginning of the war as one cause for his dropping popularity.
Macron is also facing possible trouble at the polls since his government came under fire in February for hiring and paying large amounts to a U.S. consulting firm, as first revealed by two journalists from French newspaper L’Obs. The French government paid up 1.5 billion euros in 2020 to several private consulting firms for services such as counting health masks at the beginning of the pandemic or drafting a military strategy, the newspaper reported.
A senatorial commission of inquiry into the government’s frequent and expensive payments to those firms later unveiled that one of them, McKinsey & Company, did not pay taxes in France between 2011 and 2020, despite the large sums received. The National Financial Prosecutor’s Office opened a preliminary investigation on April 6 for aggravated money laundering of tax evasion.
McKinsey responded the same day, saying in a statement that “the tax approach applied by McKinsey is similar in the countries where it is present and has been consistent for years.”
“As it stands, if Macron doesn’t campaign more, if Marine Le Pen makes it to the second round and at the same time she doesn’t collapse like she had did in 2017, then the probability of her being elected is non-zero; it is between 15 to 30%,” Chiche before Sunday’s vote.
The rise of Le Pen’s party also led to the emergence of new candidates on the far-right, such as polemist Eric Zemmour.
Zemmour, who was found guilty in January of hate speech by a Paris court, has stood out with a campaign focused on what he calls the fight against Islamism, calling on French Muslims to “renounce the practice of Islam, which imposes a legal and political code.”
Proposals from conservative and far-right camps targeting Muslim populations — such as requiring French nationals to have certain first names — have come under strong criticism.
“It’s a reaction of disgust,” Abdallah Zekri, president of the National Observatory for the Fight against Islamophobia, told ABC News. “When he says we have to change our first names? Why change our first names? Zemmour is completely out of bounds.”
Other proposals targeting migrants, such as the conservative candidate Valérie Pécresse’s bid to systematically remove illegal immigrants accompanied by a “zero visa” policy for countries that refuse to take them back have also hit a nerve with migrant communities.
Zekri says speeches like that of Zemmour, conservative party candidate Valérie Pécresse and Le Pen tend to lead to an increase in Islamophobic acts.
“I have been following anti-Muslim acts for over 11 years,” Zekri said. “Whenever an election approaches, Islamophobic acts automatically increase; and it’s getting worse.”
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden and the Department of Justice are set to announce a final rule on “ghost guns” on Monday in the Rose Garden.
A “ghost gun” is a firearm that comes packaged in parts, can be bought online and assembled without much of a trace.
The new rule essentially expands the definition of a “firearm,” as established by the Gun Control Act, to cover “buy build shoot” kits that people can buy online or from a firearm dealer and assemble themselves. It will make these kits subject to the same federal laws that currently apply to other firearms.
“At its core, this rule clarifies that anyone who wants to purchase a weapon parts kit that can be readily be converted to a fully assembled firearm must go through the same process they would have to go through to purchase a commercially made firearm in short weapon parts kits that may be readily convertible into working fully assembled firearms must be treated under federal law,” a senior administration official told ABC News.
Commercial manufacturers of the kits will have to be licensed and include serial numbers on the kits’ frame or receivers. In addition, commercial sellers will have to be federally licensed and run background checks before selling a kit.
The final rule also tackles ghost guns that have already been made and are in circulation. The DOJ will require federally licensed dealers that take in any un-serialized firearms to serialize it before selling the weapon. If a licensed dealer acquires a ghost gun, the rule will require them to serialize it before re-selling it.
“This requirement will apply regardless of how the firearm was made, meaning it includes ghost guns made from individual parts, kits, or by 3D-printers,” a fact sheet of the new rule shared with ABC News.
“If you can put together an IKEA dresser, you can build a ghost gun,” Mia Tretta, a volunteer leader with Students Demand Action and a gun violence survivor who was shot and wounded with a ghost gun in a school shooting in 2019, told ABC News. “Unfortunately, it is that easy to get a weapon that has not only changed my life but has done the same thing to thousands of others. Finalizing this rule is a critical step to making sure no one else has to go through what my family has had to go through.”
The final rule also updates the definition of a “frame” and “receiver” so that all using split or multi-part receivers are covered under existing gun laws and will be subject to serial numbers and background checks.
The rule also extends the 20-year record retention requirement that all Federal Firearm Licensees must adhere to. Under the rule, FFLs must retain records for as long as the dealer is licensed.
From January 2016 to December 2021, the ATF said it received “approximately 45,000 reports of suspected privately made firearms recovered by law enforcement in criminal investigations — including 692 homicides or attempted homicides,” according to the DOJ.
New ATF director
Biden and Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco are also set to announce the nomination of Steve Dettelbach as the new director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
“Steve is a highly respected former U.S. Attorney and career prosecutor,” a senior administration official said. “He has a proven track record of working with federal, state, and local law enforcement to fight violent crime and combat domestic violent extremism and religious violence — including through partnerships with the ATF to prosecute complex cases and take down violent criminal gangs.”
The official did not specify whether the interim ATF director, Marvin Richardson, will remain in place during the confirmation process.
“We applaud the Biden-Harris Administration for doubling down on its commitment to gun safety by taking action to rein in ghost guns and nominating an ATF Director who will end its culture of complicity with the gun industry,” John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, told ABC News. “Steve Dettelbach will be the strong leader the ATF needs to lead a top-to-bottom overhaul of the agency, and we urge the Senate to swiftly confirm him.”
(NEW YORK) — April 11-17, 2022, is Black Maternal Health Week, a time to put a spotlight on and have a national conversation about Black maternal health in the U.S., according to Black Mamas Matter Alliance, a nonprofit organization that founded the initiative five years ago.
Naomi, a 37-year-old Black woman from Portland, Oregon, will have a doula by her side when she gives birth to her seventh child, a daughter, later this month.
By using a doula — a trained professional who provides support to moms before, during and after childbirth — Naomi is part of a growing trend of Black women who see having a doula, particularly a Black doula, as a potentially lifesaving advocate during birth.
“I know the intensity of what’s happening can lead to a lot of complications,” Naomi, who asked that only her first name be used, told Good Morning America. “When you’re tapped out because you’re having contractions that take your breath away, you want someone who can step in and knows what to do and knows what you want.”
As a Black woman in the U.S. — which continues to have the highest rate of maternal mortality among developed nations — Naomi is more than twice as likely to die during childbirth or in the months after than white, Asian or Latina women, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Black women like Naomi are also more likely than white, Asian or Latina women to die from pregnancy-related complications regardless of their education level or their income, data shows.
Naomi said she only learned about doulas eight years ago, when she was pregnant with her sixth child and needed someone to be a support person in the delivery room. She was able to access a doula free of cost thanks to a local nonprofit organization, Black Parent Initiative (BPI), that matches Black women with Black doulas in hopes of improving their odds during pregnancy and delivery.
“All those times I gave birth, I wish I would have had a doula,” said Naomi, who had her first child in her late teens. “I wish it was available 20 years ago like it is now.”
Linda Bryant-Daaka, a labor and postpartum doula and manager BPI’s doula program, said interest in the program has increased every year since its founding in 2016, and especially during the past year of the coronavirus pandemic, which both disproportionately impacted Black people and put a glaring spotlight on racial disparities in health care.
“What we’ve heard from women is that there was so much stress around the pandemic and they had so many family members pass away, they now want to use these services,” said Bryant-Daaka. “And they want someone who has that shared, common background or lived experience as them.”
How doulas can help Black pregnant women
Why Black women die at a higher rate than any other race during childbirth is the result of a web of factors, experts say.
Pregnancy-related deaths are defined as the death of a woman during pregnancy or within a year of the end of pregnancy from pregnancy complications, a chain of events initiated by pregnancy or the aggravation of an unrelated condition by the physiological effects of pregnancy, according to the CDC.
One reason for the disparity is that more Black women of childbearing age have chronic diseases, such as high blood pressure and diabetes, which increases the risk of pregnancy-related complications like preeclampsia and possibly the need for emergency C-sections, according to the CDC.
But there are socioeconomic circumstances and structural inequities that put Black women at greater risk for those chronic conditions, data shows. And Black women often have inadequate access to care throughout pregnancy which can further complicate their conditions, according to a 2013 study published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
Anecdotal reports also show that the concerns of Black women experiencing negative symptoms during pregnancy and postpartum are specifically ignored by some physicians until the woman’s conditions significantly worsen, at which point it may be too late to prevent a deadlier outcome.
That is where doulas come in, according to Tracie Collins, a doula and CEO and founder of the National Black Doulas Association (NBDA), a nonprofit organization that connects Black birthing families with Black doulas.
“Black women hire doulas because they want to make sure that they live,” said Collins. “It’s not a status quo for us.”
“It’s about, ‘I’m getting ready to go into an experience that I know I need support in and I’m unfamiliar with processes. I’m unfamiliar with what I’m about to face. I’m unfamiliar with bureaucracy and the hospital procedures. I’m unfamiliar with the personnel. I’m just unfamiliar and I want to make sure that not only are my voice and my wishes respected, but that I have somebody there to help advocate so everybody can be healthy on the other side,'” she said.
Dr. Ashanda Saint Jean, a board-certified OBGYN and chair of OBGYN for the Health Alliance Hospitals and Westchester Center Medical Health Network in New York, notes that doulas are a source of non-medical support for pregnant women before, during and after childbirth.
“A doula is a support person who has been trained and educated in labor and delivery,” said Saint Jean. “I’ve had a number of Black patients feel that having a doula is an extra layer of support where they’re able to more ask questions about their birthing experience and explore all measures to ensure a healthy outcome.”
In Naomi’s experience, she and her doula created a birthing plan so that Naomi’s doctors and partner would know what she wanted, and the doula made sure the plan was executed during labor.
“With a doula, I can relax and focus on labor,” said Naomi. “She can even tell my partner things like, ‘Rub her back right here.'”
Dr. Jacquelyn McMillian-Bohler, a certified nurse-midwife and assistant professor in Duke University’s school of nursing, describes doulas as bridging the communication gap between health care providers and Black female patients.
“Our health literacy is poor across the board, and then when you add racism on top of that, it just creates another layer,” she said. “That’s what we’re doing with the doula, we’re trying to attack that health literacy piece that really affects outcomes.”
Studies show that continued support like doulas for pregnant women can help reduce the rate of C-sections, which are higher among Black women.
The postpartum care offered by doulas also helps to increase the rates of breastfeeding, which improves health outcomes for new moms and babies, and decreases the rates of postpartum complications, like blood clotting and blood hemorrhaging, both of which impact Black postpartum women, data shows.
Stephanie Devane-Johnson, Ph.D., associate professor at Vanderbilt University’s school of nursing, said she sees doulas as filling a lifesaving role in the birthing process for Black women.
“It takes a village not only to raise a child, but also to give birth,” said Devane-Johnson. “What we’re trying to accomplish here is to create the village to support Black mothers.”
An effort to get more Black doulas for Black women
Devane-Johnson and McMillian-Bohler are among the health experts leading the fight to get more Black doulas trained to meet the need of expectant Black women.
They and other experts point to the issue of racial bias in medicine and say it is critical to have doulas who understand and share the same lived experiences as their clients.
“It’s very important that we have health care providers that look like the community we serve and birth workers that look like the community that we serve,” said Devane-Johnson. “I still actively practice at Vanderbilt University and it’s amazing how Black patients, whenever I walk into a room they’re like, ‘Where did you come from?'”
“It gives them a sense of comfort,” she said.
Venus Standard, assistant clinical professor in the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill’s School of Medicine’s department of family medicine, recently received a $75,000 grant to train Black doulas, a program she is working on alongside Devane-Johnson and McMillian-Bohler.
The funding will allow the trio to recruit and train 20 Black women to earn doula certification — which can cost hundreds of dollars and is often a barrier to entry for Black women — and also provide business and marketing seminars to “help the newly-trained doulas establish viable businesses,” according to UNC.
“There’s a lack of trust in within the Black community toward the medical community,” said Standard. “There is a better trust value when [a Black pregnant woman] knows that you’re going to give them accurate information and information that’s needed for them and their particular situation, especially if her provider team does not look like her.”
McMillian-Bohler pointed out the trust factor between doulas and patients is especially important because the birthing process is so personal.
“You think about someone being in your intimate space, being with you in your home and potentially coming to the hospital and and sitting in a room with you for 20 hours,” she said. “It can be a hard sell so that’s why this grant is so important and projects like this are important, so that not only do people know doulas are out there, but that we’re growing the body of doulas that look like the people we are caring for.”
A help, but not a complete solution to the maternal mortality crisis
Health care providers who are on the front lines of helping Black pregnant women describe a heartbreaking situation of watching women live in fear during what it supposed to be a joyous time.
“I cannot have another Black patient come to me and say, ‘I’m scared I’m going to die having this baby,'” said Saint Jean, the OBGYN in New York. “It breaks my heart that in 2021 we still have women in the United States afraid that they will die in childbirth.”
And while having a doula is helpful for Black mothers, it is not a cure-all for the maternal mortality crisis in the U.S., experts say.
For one, doulas can cost upwards of $1,000 per birth. While there are efforts to have doulas funded by Medicaid and more insurance plans and there are initiatives like the Black Parent Initiative (BPI) in Oregon that offers doulas free of charge, the access is not equal, according to BPI’s Bryant-Daaka.
“Everyone should be able to have a doula, no matter what the cost is,” she said. “If we know that these services are helpful and are going to save lives and reduce cost on the backend, why would you not want them offered to women who are giving birth?”
Having doulas present is also not going to eliminate all of the underlying issues that put Black pregnant women in more danger, according to McMillian-Bohler.
“Black doulas are not going to fix the oppression and discrimination and those things that are still happening,” she said. “Because what you hear [from Black women] that’s very consistent is, ‘I don’t feel heard, ‘I’m not listened to;’ ‘I don’t feel comfortable explaining how I’m feeling because I’m not taken as seriously as someone else.'”
“We have example after example after example of where that has happened, and until we get to that issue, it’s not going to go away,” she said.
ABC News’ Dr. Adjoa Smalls-Mantey, Dr. Alexis E. Carrington and Danielle Genet contributed to this report.
(CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa) — Police in Iowa are investigating the scene of a nightclub shooting that killed two people and injured 10 others.
Shots broke out Sunday at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge on Third Street in downtown Cedar Rapids just before 1:30 a.m., according to the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
Cedar Rapids police officers were on routine downtown patrol when the shooting occurred and “were able to respond immediately,” according to the police department.
The two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while the 10 injured were treated at area hospitals, police said. Their conditions were not released by police.
It is unclear what led to the shooting. Police did not release information on whether the gunman was in custody but announced around 6 a.m. that the scene was secure and there was no threat to public safety.
Investigators are asking that anyone present at the time contact the police department.
ABC News’ Keith Harden contributed to this report.
Ukrainian forces fire GRAD rockets toward Russian positions in Donbas, Ukraine on April 10, 2022 – Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian troops invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Russian forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
In recent days, Russian forces have retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, the United States and European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
Apr 10, 11:11 pm
Forces preparing to respond to Russian attack on eastern Ukraine, Zelenskyy says
Ukrainian forces are preparing to respond to a planned Russian attack on the eastern side of the country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced in his address on Sunday.
Russian troops are expected to move to an even larger operation in the east of Ukraine, which will enable them to carry out even more bombardments, Zelenskyy said, adding that Ukrainian forces are ready for the attack.
“We are preparing for their actions,” Zelenskyy said. “We will respond. We will be even more active in providing Ukraine with weapons. We will be more active in the international arena. We will be even more active in the information field.”
Zelenskyy added that he and other government officials are doing everything they can to ensure that Ukraine gets the world’s attention, especially as Russia continues to attempt to influence the narrative and justify the invasion.
This coming week will be just as important as previous weeks, Zelenskyy said.
“It will be just as tense and even more responsible,” he added.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 10, 5:00 pm
Thousands of refugees return to Ukraine
Nearly 23,000 Ukrainian refugees returned to Ukraine on Saturday after fleeing the country following the Russian invasion in February, according to Ukrainian and United Nations officials.
The repatriated Ukrainians are among the more than 4.5 million who left the country between Feb. 24 and April 9, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
More than half of the Ukrainian refugees fled to neighboring Poland, officials said.
The Polish border guard service is reporting that despite the war still raging in Ukraine, the number of refugees voluntarily returning to Ukraine reached the highest figure for a single day on Saturday since the war began, according to Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications and Information.
The UNHCR estimated that as of April 8, more than 7.1 million people in Ukraine have been displaced due to the war.
-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou
Apr 10, 3:58 pm
Death toll from Kramatorsk train station attack rises to 57
The death toll climbed to 57 on Sunday from an alleged Russian rocket attack Friday on a crowded train station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, Ukrainian officials said.
Among those killed in the attack were five children, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk Oblast in the Donbas region. Another 109 people were wounded when two Russian rockets struck the train station.
“There are many people in a serious condition, without arms or legs,” said Kramatorsk Mayor Oleksandr Goncharenko according to the Associated Press.
The number of dead victims in the attack grew from 50 on Friday, officials said.
Ukraine’s state-owned railway company issued a statement on Facebook calling the attack “a purposeful strike on the passenger infrastructure of the railway and the residents of the city of Kramatorsk.”
Graphic images provided by Ukrainian officials showed the aftermath of the attack — bodies lying on the ground next to scattered luggage and debris, with charred vehicles parked nearby.
The remnants of a large rocket with the Russian words painted on its side reading “for our children” was also seen on the ground next to the main building of the train station.
Russia has denied involvement in the attack. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed involvement of Russian forces was already ruled out by the Russian Ministry of Defense, based on the type of missile that was used — a Tochka-U short-range ballistic missile.
“Our armed forces do not use missiles of this type,” Peskov told reporters during a press briefing Friday. “No combat tasks were set or planned for today in Kramatorsk.”
(CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa) — Police in Iowa are investigating the scene of a nightclub shooting that killed two people and injured 10 others.
Shots broke out Sunday at the Taboo Nightclub and Lounge on Third Street in downtown Cedar Rapids just before 1:30 a.m., according to the Cedar Rapids Police Department.
Cedar Rapids police officers were on routine downtown patrol when the shooting occurred and “were able to respond immediately,” according to the police department.
The two victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while the 10 injured were treated at area hospitals, police said. Their conditions were not released by police.
It is unclear what led to the shooting. Police did not release information on whether the gunman was in custody but announced around 6 a.m. that the scene was secure and there was no threat to public safety.
Investigators are asking that anyone present at the time contact the police department.
ABC News’ Keith Harden contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — It was a chaotic meteorological transition into spring as March saw the highest number of tornadoes in a single month in U.S. history.
At least 218 tornadoes occurred in March, with many of the tornadoes happening toward the end of the month, according to the National Weather Service.
On March 30, eight states in the South and Midwest were under tornado watch.
The severe weather spawned nearly 30 tornadoes and killed two people who were inside mobile homes in Washington County, Florida. Two other people inside one of the destroyed mobile homes were injured, according to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
A powerful EF-3 twister with winds up to 145 mph tore through Springdale, Arkansas, on March 29, injuring seven people and inflicting heavy damage to an elementary school, the NWS reported.
Earlier in the month, more than 60 tornadoes occurred across five southeastern states. A funnel cloud that caused severe damage over a 2-mile stretch in St. Bernard’s Parish, Louisiana, on March 22 killed one person and hospitalized seven others, St. Bernard’s Parish President Guy McInnis told ABC News.
That tornado was measured to be an EF-3 with winds of at least 130 mph, according to the NWS.
A tornado on March 21 killed a 73-year-old woman and injured 10 others in Grayson County, Texas, said Sarah Somers, the director of the county’s office of emergency management.
On March 5, seven people, including two children under the age of 5, were killed when a powerful EF-3 tornado ripped across central Iowa, Lucas County Emergency Management Coordinator Mike Lamb told ABC News.
Up to 30 homes were destroyed in an area just north of Winterset, Iowa, announced Diogenes Ayala, the director of Madison County Emergency Management Agency, during a news conference at the time.
Even more severe weather that could conjure up more tornadoes is expected over the next several days. On Sunday and Monday, tornadoes could pop up in eastern Oklahoma, northeast Texas, southern Missouri and much of Arkansas.
On Tuesday, enhanced risks are also predicted from Iowa to Texas, with damaging winds, hail and strong tornadoes possible. That system will then shift to Arkansas and Louisiana on Wednesday.
ABC News’ Daniel Amarante and Bill Hutchinson contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said Americans should continue assessing risk for themselves as COVID-19 cases tick up.
“It’s going to be a person’s decision about the individual risks they’re going to take,” Fauci told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl exclusively on Sunday.
“This is not going to be eradicated and it’s not going to be eliminated,” Fauci said. “So you’re going to make a question and an answer for yourself, for me as an individual, for you as an individual. What is my age? What is my status? Do I have people at home who are vulnerable that if I bring the virus home there may be a problem?”
Dr. Anthony Fauci says Americans should continue assessing risk for themselves as COVID-19 cases rise.
Fauci said that while “there is concern that we are seeing an uptick in cases,” it’s “not unexpected that you’re going to see an uptick when you pull back on the mitigation methods.”
With 21 states now reporting an increase in COVID cases, Fauci said much of the country “is still in that green zone, which means that masking is not recommended in the sense of not required on indoor settings.”
Amid the uptick, the annual Gridiron Club Dinner held last Saturday in Washington was followed by a surge in COVID-19 cases among high-profile attendees.
“Let me ask you about the spike we’ve seen right here in Washington,” Karl said. “You and I were both at the Gridiron Dinner. This is a dinner that had about 600 or so attendees. So far, I believe we’re at 67 people that have tested positive who were at the dinner…What is the lesson here?”
“I think the people who run functions, who run big dinners, who run functions like the White House Correspondents’ ball, or thinking back, the Gridiron Dinner, are going to have to make a determination looking at the CDC guidelines and seeing where the trends are,” Fauci responded.
President Joe Biden didn’t attend the event but has been in contact with multiple prominent lawmakers, including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other officials who have recently tested positive or been deemed close contacts of someone who did.
After Pres. Biden attends multiple events with people who later tested positive for COVID-19, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci tells @jonkarl that “we feel that the protocols around the president are sufficient to protect him.” https://t.co/1a7IjqSxMlpic.twitter.com/4PZZJB1rzx
“What is your level of concern about the president’s exposure here?” Karl asked.
“Well, Jon, the protocols to protect the president are pretty strong,” Fauci said. “The president is vaccinated. He is doubly boosted. He got his fourth shot of an mRNA. When people like myself and my colleagues are in the room with him closely for a considerable period of time — half an hour, 20 minutes, 40 minutes, all of us need to be tested.”
Biden, 79, received his second booster shot last month. Fauci urged those who are eligible to follow the president’s example and said the “best way to mitigate” living with “some degree of virus in the community” is to get vaccinated.
In the meantime, Fauci said, “We’re watching it very, very carefully,” adding that “hopefully we’re not going to see increased severity.”
(GRANTVILLE, Georgia) — A $15,000 reward is being offered in the search for suspects who killed the owners of a Georgia shooting range and their teen grandson during an apparent robbery in which at least 40 guns were taken, authorities said.
The triple homicide occurred at the Lock, Stock and Barrel Shooting Range in Grantville, about 50 miles southwest of Atlanta. The bodies were discovered on Friday night by Coweta County coroner Richard Hawk, the son of the slain shooting-range owners and the father of the teenager who was gunned down, police said.
“I’ve been here eight years and we’ve never had anything like this,” Grantville police Chief Steve Whitlock told ABC affiliate station WSB-TV in Atlanta. “Right now, I’m just speechless. I have a hard time talking about it because they were friends of ours. I’ve known them for a long time.”
Police identified the victims as 75-year-old Thomas Richard Hawk Sr., his 75-year-old wife, Evelyn Hawk, and their 17-year-old grandson, Luke Hawk.
Investigators suspect the killings unfolded between 5:30 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday during an apparent armed robbery, according to a statement from the Grantville Police Department.
Richard Hawk went to the shooting range around 8 p.m. on Friday, discovered the bodies and called 911, police said.
In addition to the arsenal of guns stolen, the business’ security camera was also taken from the scene, police said.
Grantville police officials asked anyone who drove passed the gun range around the time of the killings to contact investigators and relay any information on what they saw, specifically what type of vehicles were parked outside.
The federal bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting in the investigation. The Lock, Stock and Barrel Shooting range is a federal firearms licensee in Grantville, officials said.
The ATF joined the City of Grantville and the Georgia and the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry, in announcing a combined reward of up to $15,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for the killings.
“ATF and our law enforcement partners will work tirelessly to bring the killer(s) to justice,” Benjamin Gibbons, special agent in charge of the Atlanta ATF field division, said in a statement. “The brutality of these senseless murders along with the fact that these killer(s) have acquired additional firearms make solving this case our top priority.”
The killings have rocked Grantville, the town of about 3,000 residents where Thomas and Evelyn Hawk lived for more than 30 years and were well-known in the community, according to friends.
“Tommy would do anything for anybody. It’s just a nice family. It’s been really hard,” said Whitlock, adding that he last spoke to the couple on Tuesday when he visited the shooting range.
The family was well known in the Coweta County community and investigators are still trying to piece together what led up to the shooting. https://t.co/NS9YZBgi5a
Coweta County Sheriff Lenn Wood said he was also close to the Hawk family and posted a heartfelt condolence letter on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook page, saying, the Coweta County Community is “forever broken and changed by the senseless and tragic event that happened in Grantville.”
“Family was taken from the Hawk family, and us, way too soon and we are left with hurt, pain, and very little answers,” Wood wrote. “I am a life-long member of Coweta and every family, especially the Hawk family, are a valuable and precious part of my life. My heart is hurting and my prayers to our God is that He is ever present right now with Richard and his family; providing peace, strength and overwhelming love from God and our community.”
Wood added, “I am also fervently praying that God will use our law enforcement community and the Coweta Community to bring justice swiftly.”
(NEW YORK) — When Jace Dulohery started school at Oklahoma Christian University in 2020, no one knew he was transgender. He had already begun to medically and socially transition, and no one questioned him living in male housing his freshman year.
However, when he opened up to a resident assistant about being trans that year, the information made its way up the administrative ladder at the school, which is affiliated with the Churches of Christ.
Eventually, he said he was forced to live in private housing.
“There’s just no room for a normal college experience when there’s actual discrimination happening,” Dulohery told ABC News. “This is not Christian behavior. This is not loving. This is not merciful. This is not compassionate. This is not of God. This is harmful.”
Dulohery filed a Title IX complaint about the decision to move his housing, and a Title IX panel agreed that his housing had been moved due to his gender identity. It also found that he was denied entry into a male-only social club for being transgender.
However, nothing has been resolved, Dulohery said. Instead, he said the school offered to pay for therapy.
Dulohery said the university’s legal team cited the religious exemption to Title IX, a federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination, as the basis for its actions. It’s just one way that he says the school has become increasingly hostile against LGBTQ people on campus.
He, other LGBTQ students and allies hope that the ongoing national debate about LGBTQ discrimination in education can push their movement forward and put an end to Title IX’s religious exemption.
Advocates say the exemption claimed by Oklahoma Christian in certain circumstances, and which is claimed by more than 100 other universities, allows schools to partake in legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people, even while federal law otherwise prohibits it.
They also say that the exemptions reinforce a particular view of Christianity that they say is not reflective of the faith as a whole.
‘Legal discrimination’
Title IX and the regulations that implement it state that religious institutions do not have to abide by the law if it would be inconsistent with the organization’s religious beliefs, according to the U.S. Department of Education. This is true even if the school has taxpayer funding.
Schools don’t have to apply for an exemption, however, however, a written claim or “request” can be submitted for assurance that the exemption will be legal and acknowledged by the DOE, according to the department. They must comply with Title IX otherwise, except for the aspects that are explicitly prohibited by their religious beliefs.
The agency can deny a school’s claim if it doesn’t believe its actions are within the religious tenets. Even if a school has a religious exemption, students can still file complaints against schools for discrimination, the education department said.
Dulohery says that the exemption allows “legal discrimination” against LGBTQ people.
There are more than 100,000 LGBTQ students attending religious colleges and universities across the U.S., according to the LGBTQ advocacy group the Religious Exemption Accountability Project (REAP).
Oklahoma Christian has submitted a request for assurance of religious exemption under certain conditions more than once, according to the documents on the Department of Education website.
The school also filed a notice of religious exemptions for certain policies, such as housing and admissions, after the DOE clarified transgender people are protected by Title IX in 2014. Both were granted.
The letter listed passages from the Old and New testaments interpreted to be against homosexuality or transgender identities. Churches of Christ is a set of autonomous organizations that share similar beliefs about Christianity.
“Universally, Churches of Christ believe that all sexual relations outside of a heterosexual marriage covenant, are sin,” read the 2014 letter to the Department of Education from university President John deSteiguer.
“Churches of Christ would oppose a person’s attempt to modify his or her birth sex and present as a sex other than his or her original birth sex, and we’ll consider one who does so misguided and a disruptive presence,” deSteiguer stated.
OC does not explicitly ban LGBTQ students from attending.
Other alleged instances at Oklahoma Christian
Dulohery’s complaint is not the only instance of alleged discrimination described by students, faculty and alumni interviewed by ABC News.
At least one faculty member and one staff member say they have been fired or resigned for supporting the LGBTQ community in some fashion.
Michael O’Keefe, who was a tenured art professor at the university for about 40 years was fired after inviting a gay man, former OC professor and alumnus Scott Hale, to speak to his class in an annual speaker series.
Hale spoke about religious trauma and growing up as a gay man, according to O’Keefe, Hale and students.
He gave a trigger warning before the talk and told students they could leave at any time if they felt uncomfortable, both Hale and O’Keefe said.
O’Keefe told ABC News no students complained to him about the lecture and that he was fired less than a week after the speech.
Oklahoma Christian University declined ABC News’ request for comment on O’Keefe’s and Dulohery’s allegations.
However, in a memo to staff about O’Keefe’s firing given to ABC News, the school stated: “The employment termination process was prompted by multiple complaints from eyewitnesses or others aware of the inappropriate and graphic language of a sexual nature, and stories shared in O’Keefe’s class.”
The memo continued, “Some of the speaker’s remarks included telling the class about his history of exposing his genitals to others.”
In the letter, the university said the decision was not based on Hale’s sexual orientation.
O’Keefe and Hale both denied this to ABC News, saying that the “exposing his genitals” anecdote was taken out of context, and the speaker was discussing an incident when he was 10 years old at a slumber party. Both men said they believe O’Keefe was fired because Hale is a gay man.
O’Keefe is considering filing an appeal over his firing with the university.
A wider reckoning
The calls for change at OC are not an anomaly.
Students at Christian schools across the country recently filed a class-action suit against the U.S. Department of Education for alleged discrimination they say they have experienced as a result of religious exemptions.
The lawsuit, filed in Oregon federal court in March 2021, aims to “put an end to the U.S. Department of Education’s complicity in the abuses and unsafe conditions thousands of LGBTQ+ students endure at hundreds of taxpayer-funded, religious colleges and universities.”
The Religious Exemption Accountability Project is behind the lawsuit.
It states that if plaintiffs win, the DOE would have to treat Title IX complaints from sexual and gender minorities at religious universities with taxpayer funding in the same manner as it does with complaints from non-religious colleges.
Its director, Paul Southwick, says it’s been a long time coming for this anger to reach a boiling point in places like OC.
“There is a significant human cost to religious exemptions,” Southwick said. “Exemptions essentially mean that no matter how great the harm is that you commit, there is no accountability for it.”
Although the DOE is the named defendant, students seeking to be part of the class action describe alleged discriminatory treatment at various Christian universities.
The lawsuit represents 33 LGBTQ students and alumni from various religious colleges and universities from across the country.
“What we see is LGBTQ+ students being sent into conversion therapy,” Southwick said. “We see students expelled, disciplined, stripped of leadership positions. We see pervasive harassment that goes unchecked” at some Christian universities.
He continued, “We see students who experience sexual assault unable to report that assault if it involves someone of the same sex or would reveal their gender identity. Because they could then be disciplined for that in the course of reporting an assault” in some cases.
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities, an organization of evangelical Christian institutions, denounced the lawsuit as an infringement on religious freedoms.
“The Title IX religious exemption has proven indispensable as contemporary notions of sexuality and gender depart, often substantially, from the religious beliefs that animate every aspect of Christian campus life,” said the CCCU in a court filing to join the litigation as a defendant, since the group would be affected by the outcome.
It continued, “Removing Title IX’s religious exemption, as applied to LGBT students or otherwise, will deprive religious colleges of the oxygen that gives them life by forbidding them, on pain of losing federal assistance for their students, from teaching and expecting adherence to their core religious beliefs.”
In June 2021, the Justice Department wrote in a court filing that it would defend the DOE and the exemption. Several motions to dismiss the case have been filed.
The DOE declined ABC News’ request for comment and pointed to the DOJ’s response.
Promise to ‘end the misuse’ of exemptions
The Biden administration made a campaign promise to “end the misuse of broad exemptions to discriminate,” according to his campaign website. Those against Title IX exemptions have applauded Biden and have used it as momentum for their cause.In 2021, the DOE clarified that Title IX covers discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
“There has been this work to try to say: to be religious, to be Christian is to be anti-LGBTQ,” said Ross Murray, a deacon and vice president of LGBTQ media watchdog GLAAD Media Institute.
He continued, “They wanted to claim a generic Christianity that they can use and mold to reinforce the existing biases and prejudices and help to bolster their discrimination.”
As OC students and faculty continue to work toward addressing allegations of discrimination on their own campus, the effort nationwide against anti-LGBTQ sentiment continues.
They say accountability will save the lives of LGBTQ students, who suffer under such policies.
“People have always been mad about the way the school has been treating them. And now inside and outside ears are listening,” Dulohery said. He said plans are in the works for in-person action against the school from students and allies alike.
“We’re gaining attention. We’re gaining traction… I really just hope they see the consequences of their actions.”
