(SEATTLE) — One person was killed and at least one was injured during a shooting at a Washington state grocery store Monday, authorities said.
The suspect, who is believed to have a handgun, is still at large following the shooting at a Fred Meyer store in Richland, Washington, police told reporters.
ATF agents are heading to the scene, the agency said.
Richland is located about 200 miles southeast of Seattle.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(MINNEAPOLIS) — A Minneapolis city council committee will hold a hearing on no-knock warrants Monday afternoon following the death of Amir Locke, who was fatally shot in an apartment by Minneapolis police officers last Wednesday during the execution of a no-knock warrant.
Activists and Locke family attorneys will likely be in attendance to discuss banning these type of warrants.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a moratorium on no-knock warrants late Friday in response to the fatal incident.
“No matter what information comes to light, it won’t change the fact that Amir Locke’s life was cut short,” Frey said in a statement. “To ensure safety of both the public and officers until a new policy is crafted, I’m issuing a moratorium on both the request and execution of such warrants in Minneapolis.”
However, officials may execute a no-knock warrant under the moratorium if it is determined that there is an imminent threat of harm to an individual or the public. The chief must approve the warrant in those cases, according to the mayor.
Frey will talk with the experts who helped shape Breonna’s Law to review and suggest revisions to the department’s policy. The law, issued in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020, banned no-knock warrants following the fatal shooting of Breonna Taylor.
Minneapolis Police Department updated its policy in November 2020, limiting no-knock warrants to “exigent” cases.
Minneapolis police officers are required to announce their presence and purpose before entering a home, except for when announcing the officers’ presence would create an imminent threat.
In those cases, a supervisor can authorize officers to enter without announcing their presence. Supervisors are required to provide evidence to support that decision before it is signed and approved by the judge.
“This is about proactive policymaking and instilling accountability,” Frey said in a statement announcing the new policy. “We can’t prevent every tragedy, but we can limit the likelihood of bad outcomes. This new, no-knock warrant policy will set shared expectations for our community and clear and objective standards within the department.”
In a Friday press conference regarding Locke’s death, acting Minneapolis Police Chief Amelia Huffman said that “both a no-knock and a knock search warrant were obtained … so that the SWAT team could assess the circumstances and make the best possible decision” in the Locke case.
Body camera footage released Thursday shows officers executing a no-knock search warrant before coming across 22-year-old Locke, who had been sleeping under a blanket on the couch in the apartment that the warrant was issued for.
He is seen holding a gun as he begins to sit up, still covered with the blanket before he is shot less than 10 seconds after officers entered the room.
Huffman said that when officers saw the gun, “That’s the moment when the officer had to make a split second decision to assess the circumstances and determine whether he felt like there was an articulable threat.”
Locke was not named in the no-knock warrant, according to family attorney Ben Crump said at the press conference. The warrant was being executed on behalf of St. Paul police, who were searching for a homicide suspect.
The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has ruled Locke’s death a homicide.
The officer who shot and killed Locke was identified by police as Mark Hanneman. In accordance with policy, he’s been placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation into the incident. It is unclear if Hanneman has legal representation.
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison will work with the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office to review Locke’s death, the office said in a press release Friday.
Locke’s killing prompted protests demanding justice in his killing. Hundreds of demonstrators chanted, “Who’s down with the revolution? We’re down with the revolution!” and “No justice, no peace,” while marching toward the police precinct on Saturday.
A caravan of cars also pulled up to what ABC affiliate KSTP-TV reported could be Huffman’s home. Protesters got out of their cars in front of the home, chanting and banging drums.
(TRUCKEE, Calif.) — A desperate search was on in Northern California for one of six ice skaters who fell through the melting surface of a frozen-over reservoir as the temperature soared well above freezing, authorities said.
Disaster struck Saturday afternoon at the Stampede Meadows Reservoir near Truckee in the Sierra Nevada Mountains when the ice broke under the weight of a group of ice skaters, according to a statement from the Truckee Fire Protection District.
Five of the skaters managed to pull themselves from the frigid water, but one person failed to emerge, fire officials said.
As a dive team from the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office responded to assist in the search, fire officials cautioned people to stay off the iced-over reservoir and lakes and ponds in the area about 16 miles north of Lake Tahoe.
“It is impossible to know the safety and stability of the ice, especially with the recent warmer temperatures,” the Truckee Fire Protection District said in its statement.
Temperatures in the Truckee-Lake Tahoe area climbed into the mid-40s on Saturday from a low of about 12, according to the National Weather Service.
The incident occurred a week after the fire protection district firefighters conducted surface ice rescue training and sent out a warning on Facebook of the dangers of people and their pets venturing out on the area’s frozen waterways.
Meanwhile, some Southern California residents were being warned of escalating winter wildfire danger as strong Santa Ana winds kick up and temperatures climb into the unseasonably warm upper 80s.
Moderate to locally strong Santa Ana winds are forecast for Sunday night and into Monday across Ventura and Los Angeles counties in Southern California, according to ABC News meteorologists. Wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph were expected for the region, with isolated gusts up to 60 mph.
Blowing dust is also expected to reduce visibility across the region, and downed power lines and tree limbs are possible with the strongest gusts.
Another round of Santa Ana winds is likely on Wednesday and into Thursday, coupled with unseasonably warm temperatures. Record high temperatures in the mid-70s and upper 80s are possible for parts of Southern California on Thursday.
Burbank, California, is forecast to reach 86 degrees, coming within two degrees of the record of 87 degrees set in 1939.
(PORT CLINTON, Ohio) — More than a dozen people were rescued in Lake Erie after a sheet of ice broke away while they were riding snowmobiles, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard and a good Samaritan saved 18 people off the coast of Catawba Island in Ohio after the ice floe broke away, the agency said. All of the rescued were on ATVs and snowmobiles, according to the Coast Guard.
Rescue efforts started at about 1 p.m. after a Coast Guard helicopter from Air Station Detroit noticed people stuck on the ice.
Seven people were rescued by helicopter, while four were rescued by a Coast Guard airboat. Seven others were rescued by a good Samaritan who arrived at the scene with an airboat.
No one required medical attention once they were brought back to shore, the Coast Guard said.
Officials warned people seeking recreation on the ice “to take precautions, not chances” by dressing appropriately for the water temperature, not the air temperature; wearing a life jacket; carrying a reliable form of communication; and carrying icepicks or screwdrivers that can help them self-rescue if they go through the ice.
“There’s no such thing as safe ice, but people can mitigate their risks,” Lt. Jeremiah Schiessel of the Coast Guard Sector Detroit said in a statement. “Always be sure to tell someone where you’re going and when you expect to be back. Great Lakes ice is unpredictable, and conditions can change fast.”
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.7 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 902,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
About 64.1% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Feb 07, 11:54 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy announced Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end on March 7.
“Balancing public health with getting back to some semblance of normalcy is not easy. But we can responsibly take this step due to declining COVID numbers and growth in vaccinations,” Murphy tweeted.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the country. New Jersey, an early hot spot for COVID-19 cases, has lost more than 31,000 residents to the virus.
This move follows a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
Feb 07, 11:47 am
All states reporting declining or stable new case rates
After months of rising cases due to the omicron surge, every state in the U.S. is now reporting declining or stable new case rates, according to federal data.
Less than one month ago, the U.S. was averaging more than 800,000 new cases per day. Now that average has plummeted to just over 313,000 new cases per day — a 61% drop since the nation’s peak in mid-January and a 56% drop in the last two weeks.
Even so, the U.S. still reported nearly 2.2 million new COVID-19 cases last week; the nation’s daily case average remains higher than during any other wave of the pandemic.
Hospitalizations are also falling. About 14,000 Americans are being admitted to the hospital with COVID-19 each day — down by more than 23% in the last week, according to federal data.
Deaths, however, remain very high, with 16,800 Americans dying from COVID-19 over the last week. Deaths are a lagging indicator and usually take a few weeks to dip after the country sees a decline in cases and hospitalizations.
Feb 07, 9:42 am
Delaware to end universal indoor mask mandate
Delaware will lift its universal mask mandate on Friday morning after an improvement in cases and hospitalizations, Gov. John Carney said.
“We’re in a much better place than we were several weeks ago,” Carney said in a statement Monday. “I want to be clear about this point — COVID is still circulating in our communities. And the virus still poses a risk of serious illness, particularly among those who are not up to date on their vaccinations. But we have the tools to keep ourselves and each other safe.”
The mask requirement for Delaware schools was extended and is now set to expire on March 31.
Feb 07, 8:09 am
New Jersey governor to end mask mandate for schools
New Jersey Gov. Philip Murphy is expected to announce Monday that the state’s requirement to wear face masks in schools will end the second week of March.
Murphy, a Democrat, has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the United States. The move would follow a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
Meanwhile, the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Feb 07, 5:48 am
Ottawa declares state of emergency over trucker-led protests
Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency on Sunday because of trucker-led protests against COVID-19 vaccine mandates and other pandemic-related restrictions.
The move by Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson “reflects the serious danger and threat to the safety and security of residents posed by the ongoing demonstrations and highlights the need for support from other jurisdictions and levels of government,” according to a statement from the city.
“It also provides greater flexibility within the municipal administration to enable the City of Ottawa to manage business continuity for essential services for its residents and enables a more flexible procurement process, which could help purchase equipment required by frontline workers and first responders,” the city said.
Seven people were arrested in Ottawa on Sunday due to enforcement measures around the demonstration, according to a press release from the Ottawa Police Service.
“There are over 60 criminal investigations so far related to the demonstration,” police said. “They are primarily for mischief, thefts, hate crimes and property damage.”
Sunday marked the 10th straight day of the so-called “freedom convoy” protests, which began with truckers critical of a new rule that they must be vaccinated against COVID-19 to cross the United States-Canada border. The demonstrations have since grown into broader challenges to pandemic-related public health measures and opposition to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Thousands of protesters have occupied the streets of Ottawa and other cities across Canada in support of the movement, paralyzing the capital’s city center with traffic jams, nonstop noise and complaints of harassment. Protesters have said they won’t leave until all COVID-19 vaccine mandates and restrictions are lifted nationwide. They are also calling for the removal of Trudeau’s government, even though most of the public health measures were put in place by provincial governments.
(NEW YORK) — As new cases of COVID-19 decline across the country for the first time in weeks, the debate over face masks for kids is reaching a fever pitch.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat who has imposed some of the strictest pandemic-related mandates in the United States, is expected to announce Monday that the state’s requirements for masks in schools will end the second week of March. The move would follow a decision last month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, also a Democrat, to rescind his state’s mask mandate for schools.
More than one dozen states and Washington, D.C., currently require face masks in schools, while the Democratic governors of New York and Connecticut have said that they are reevaluating school mask mandates set to expire later this month. Other states, like Texas and Virginia, have banned mandates, according to an analysis by Education Week, an education-focused news organization.
In Virginia, where Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order allows families to opt their children out of mask requirements at school, at least seven school districts have filed a lawsuit against the order.
Last week, in Loudoun County, Virginia, where the district’s school board voted last month to keep its mask mandate, 29 students were suspended for not wearing face masks. Three families are currently suing the district’s school board over its enforcement of the mask mandate despite the governor’s order.
The mask debate has also moved to the courtroom in Illinois, where a judge last week ruled against Gov. JB Pritzker’s school mask mandate after parents and teachers from more than 150 districts filed lawsuits, according to WLS-TV, an ABC station in Chicago.
Studies show that masking in school dramatically reduces the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Fewer outbreaks means schools can stay open for in-person learning. But some parents wonder how masking might interfere with in-person learning.
Karla Alsop, a mom of three in Virginia, blames masks for her daughter’s difficulty with reading. Alsop’s daughter attends a public school in Stafford County, where schools continue to follow a mask mandate.
“She’s saying that she can’t read like a second grader and she’s afraid to go to school. I can’t, as a parent, let that go,” Alsop told ABC News. “This is about parents having the rights to make the best decisions for their kids regarding their health, regarding their education.”
So far, studies show that for most children, masking at school has minimal effect on development and learning comprehension.
Research shows kids also look at body language and eyes for social cues, according to Dr. Erica Lee, attending psychologist at Boston Children’s Hospital.
“That’s something we can still see and still be very expressive with, even if you’re wearing a mask,” Lee said of body language cues.
In Florida, where mask mandates in schools were dropped last fall, Kimberly Lasher continues to send her three daughters, ages 11, 9 and 6, to school wearing masks.
“We just chose to wear masks, I think, to help protect those who maybe aren’t taking the same precautions,” said Lasher. “Perhaps if my daughter is wearing a mask, that can prevent them from spreading COVID to another student or even a teacher and, in our opinion, every little bit helps, for sure.”
According to a poll released last August, 69% of people of supported their local school districts requiring teachers, students and administrators to wear masks in schools at the start of the school year. The same poll, released by Axios/IPSOS, found one in three Americans support state laws prohibiting local governments from requiring masks.
Pediatric cases of COVID-19 surged over the holidays amid the omicron variant but dropped for the first time since Thanksgiving, according to a report by the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association.
About 808,000 children tested positive last week, down from a peak of 1,150,000 cases reported the week ending Jan. 20.
The organizations, however, warn that pediatric cases remain “extremely high” and triple the peak level of the delta surge in the summer of 2021.
Though children ages 5 and older are now eligible to be vaccinated against COVID-19, more than 28 million eligible children remain completely unvaccinated, according to federal and census data.
Both the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) continue to recommend universal indoor masking at schools for all people ages 2 and older, regardless of vaccination status.
Dr. Elissa Perkins, a mom and a Boston Medical Center emergency room doctor with expertise in infectious diseases, said she believes there needs to be a more nuanced approach when it comes to kids and masks.
Perkins told ABC News she was a “very early proponent” of community-wide masking, but said her philosophy began to change as vaccines became more widely available, including to kids.
Most health experts counter that because even vaccinated kids can still transmit the virus, removing mask mandates could pose risks to younger siblings.
“That, for me, was the start of the inflection point when it became time to think about what are we accomplishing with mandatory masks,” she said. “At the same time, masks went from being what were what were initially a short-term intervention to a long-term intervention.”
Perkins continued, “Masks have become a long-term intervention, and we need to examine what the possible downsides might be if we plan to continue them.”
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have heard parents’ concerns and are now studying the potential downstream effects of prolonged masking for children, according to Dr. James A. Griffin, chief of the NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
“We do understand that one of the areas where masks do impair children is in their ability to understand what is being said to them,” said Griffin. “The difference between being able to understand a ‘bill’ and a ‘dill’ with the mask on that ‘d’ and ‘b’ sound can be very hard to distinguish without being able to see the lips, so there are challenges … we do recognize.”
Rachel Simmons, a parenting expert and the author of of the bestselling book Odd Girl Out, said if parents are concerned about their child’s struggles due to mask-wearing, they can help their kids cope by creating a plan.
“When our kids have a plan for who they can go see, what they can do when they get stressed out, research tells us they will have the tools to deal with the situation when it comes up,” said Simmons, who also recommends teaching kids mindfulness exercises, like feeling their feet on the ground, and supplying them with something calming, like a fidget toy, note or mint, to use during the day.
For parents who are struggling with how to respond to their child’s school if they don’t agree with the mask policy, Simmons said the best approach is to be a “partner” to the school.
“If you’re difficult to deal with as a parent, it will be harder to get heard,” she said. “So don’t send emails late at night. Be a partner to the school. Show your kids that you can respect someone even when you disagree.”
Simmons added, “And remember, your best way to be heard is if you have other parents standing with you.”
(NEW YORK) — Groundbreaking research by several top American medical centers has identified a COVID pandemic spike in cases of so-called “broken heart syndrome,” a potentially deadly stress-induced heart condition that doctors say is disproportionately impacting women.
“My heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest,” said Mary Kay Abramson, 63, of Brookeville, Maryland, who was diagnosed with the condition last year. “It just felt like the blood just couldn’t get through the heart fast enough.”
An otherwise healthy and active corporate travel agent, Abramson said the episode occurred without symptoms or warning signs and even surprised the doctors trying to diagnose it.
“[My cardiologist] comes up to my head and says, ‘have you been under a lot of stress, because your arteries look fine?'” Abramson said of the hospital bed conversation last year. “So, yeah, a little bit: I’ve been furloughed for three months. COVID is going on. You know, can’t get out and do things. We’re shut down. So, yeah, I have been under a lot of stress!”
It was a classic case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, or broken heart syndrome, her doctors say. The rare but dangerous form of heart disease is triggered by intense emotional or physical stress when a sudden flood of hormones is believed to stun the heart into pumping less efficiently.
Teams of experts at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles, Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins have each been tracking a recent surge in cases, likely spiking substantially during the pandemic, they say. The data is still being gathered and long-term implications examined.
“I don’t know how much we can really blame COVID, or how much of this is that we’re just recognizing more of it,” said Dr. Noel Bairey Merz, director of the Barbra Streisand Heart Center at Cedars-Sinai. “But heart disease is the leading killer of women and all ages, including teenagers, midlife women and older women. This is just a component of that major killer. So it’s really something that needs to be addressed.”
Bairey Merz says cases of broken heart syndrome have risen up to 10 times faster among middle-aged and older women than among younger women and men over the last decade. The disease is most common in this group as well.
Thirty-four-year-old tech recruiter Jenna Pilja of Huntington Beach, California, thought she was mentally prepared to give birth to her first child during COVID but was suddenly overcome last year after an emergency Cesarean section, potentially triggering a broken heart episode.
“Hearing that my son might not have been OK, that certainly could have triggered me, maybe more because of past trauma,” Pilja said. “Despite being on pain medication, I was able to feel some concerning symptoms. I had really bad dizziness and I had the worst headache I’ve ever had in my life.”
Her doctor later diagnosed the episode as a probable case of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Pilja is still undergoing evaluation but is expected to make a full recovery.
“As cardiologists we always think the heart is the most important organ. It’s the brain and the brain controls everything,” said Bairey Merz.
The brain-heart connection is at the center of Dr. Bairey Merz’s research at the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute. ABC News got an exclusive look inside the hospital’s high-tech simulation center where imaging data illustrates how stress can literally break a heart.
“You hear people say, ‘oh, she’s broken-hearted’ or somebody is broken-hearted because they had a breakup… but they may come in with this and it’s a real diagnosis. It was just, like, unbelievable to me,” said Zearlisha Kinchelow, 35, a single mom and nursing student in Kansas City, Missouri, who was diagnosed with a broken heart.
“They just told me I was at 10% heart function,” she said. Her heart function has since returned to normal with therapy and changes to her diet and exercise, she said.
For Elaine Kamil, 75, a pediatric nephrology specialist in Los Angeles, immense grief after the unexpected death of her 31-year-old-son physically took a toll on her heart.
“The pain was severe. I got lucky,” said Kamil, who believes she has had multiple episodes of broken heart syndrome in the past few years. “I think it’s important to make sure that whoever you’re seeing — cardiologists understand Takotsubo [cardiomyopathy] and what the best treatments there are.”
While many hearts heal quickly, Bairey Merz says one in five people who suffers a broken heart will have another attack within 10 years.
“Taking care of yourself is definitely more than, you know, just taking care of your body,’ said Pilja. “It’s really about looking after your mental health and your overall well-being and making sure that you’re taking time to engage in activities that help relax you and help you process your emotions in a useful way.”
Growing evidence suggests doing so is one key to maintaining a healthy heart.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will welcome German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House Monday at a critical time for the leaders as tensions with Russia persist.
While the Biden administration has warned for weeks that Russia will face “severe” consequences if it invades Ukraine, Germany has often opted for a softer response, refusing to send military equipment to Ukraine or deploy more troops to the eastern flank. Germany has also shown reluctance to shut down Nord Stream 2, a Russian gas pipeline that will carry gas directly to Germany, bypassing Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Biden has been rallying European allies to respond to Russia’s threats in lockstep with his more aggressive plan. Meeting with Scholz Monday, Biden will be looking for Scholz to express unity with the U.S. posture towards Russia.
On Nord Stream 2, in particular, a senior Biden administration official was blunt.
“We have made our position very clear, which is that if Russia invades Ukraine in one way or another, Nord Stream 2 will not move forward,” the official said on a briefing call with reporters.
While the official acknowledged “the narrative that’s been out there” that Germany’s response to Russia has been lacking, they were not outright critical of Scholz’s hesitations thus far. But they declined to say whether U.S. officials have already convinced the Germans to get on board with the plan to block Nord Stream 2 entirely if Russian President Vladimir Putin decides to move.
“We’re confident that the Germans share our concerns with Russian aggression, that they’re very involved in our ongoing efforts on both deterrence and diplomacy,” the official said. “What I can say is that we will continue to work very closely with Germany to ensure the pipeline does not move forward.”
When asked if the administration is working on ways to prevent the Nord Stream pipeline from becoming operational regardless of if Russia invades, the official underscored the U.S. opposition to the project overall.
“There is not currently any gas flowing through the pipeline. And there won’t be any gas for months, in part because of the diplomacy that the United States has been able to do on this issue with Germany,” the official noted.
ABC News has learned Putin now has 70% of the troops necessary to possibly launch a full-scale attack on Ukraine in place along the Ukrainian border. With U.S. intelligence indicating Putin is preparing for a large-scale invasion, the senior administration official said key allies like Germany are being kept aware of the situation.
“I absolutely think that our countries are unified in terms of awareness of the risk of further Russian aggression to Ukraine. We have been for a long time sharing intelligence with Germany with the rest of our allies,” the official said. “And I think there is absolutely absolute agreement, that if there is further Russian aggression, that there’s a number of things that need to be done in terms of deployment of additional troops to the eastern flank, and to the imposition of a large package of economic sanctions.”
Scholz’s visit will come almost two months to the day since he took office, highlighting the importance of the U.S.-German relationship.
Biden first met with Scholz in October at the G-2 summit, when former Chancellor Angela Merkel invited the then-finance minister to accompany her to her meeting with Biden, giving the leaders a chance to meet ahead of Scholz taking the helm.
(DENVER) — Low-cost carriers Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines announced plans on Monday to merge, which would create the fifth-largest U.S. airline by revenue passenger miles.
The deal, which is valued at more than $6 billion, leaves Frontier controlling 51.5% of the combined airline and Spirit with 48.5%.
Together the two airlines offer more than 1,000 daily flights to over 145 destinations in 19 countries with their all-Airbus fleets.
In a joint release, Spirit and Frontier said they expect the deal will allow them to add 10,000 direct jobs by 2026 without the need for layoffs.
The airlines estimate it will create $1 billion in annual savings for consumers.
“Together, Frontier and Spirit expect to change the industry for the benefit of consumers, bringing more ultra-low fares to more travelers in more destinations across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean, including major cities as well as underserved communities,” the airlines said.
The merger is expected to close in the second half of the year with William A. Franke, chair of Frontier’s board, serving as the chairman of the combined company.
“We worked jointly with the Board of Directors and senior management team across both carriers to arrive at a combination of two complementary businesses that together will create America’s most competitive ultra-low fare airline for the benefit of consumers,” Franke said in the announcement.
Combined, the company would have annual revenues of approximately $5.3 billion based on 2021 results.
They have yet to make an announcement on specifics such as the name of the new combined airline, the CEO, or where it will be based.
(NEW YORK) — During the Summer Olympics in Tokyo last year, star gymnast Simone Biles shined a light on the mental health struggles many Olympians face when she decided to withdraw from competition.
Now, the United States’ best figure skaters, skiers and snowboarders will be vying for gold medals as they also deal with the strain of a global pandemic for the second year in a row.
“The Olympics present particularly unique challenges for elite athletes,” Dr. Joshua Norman, a sports psychiatrist at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, told ABC News. “Many of them train their entire life for this one moment and a lot of them are removed from their support systems.”
He continued: “With the isolated experience of being at Olympic Village, with having such intense focus on competition … and particularly in today’s climate with COVID-19 with the athletes being tested multiple times a day and then they’re further isolated out of fear of getting COVID-19, it’s a very unique experience that can place significant physical and mental strain on the elite athletes.”
For the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Team USA has made it a priority to address and protect the mental health of its more than 200 athletes.
What Team USA plans to do
Athletes will have access to therapists and psychiatrists throughout the Olympic Village and venues, ability to attend individual or group therapy sessions and a crisis hotline they can call, Dr. Jessica Bartley, the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee’s director of mental health services, said during a media summit in October 2021.
She said that most of the athletes underwent several mental health screenings.
“The majority of our winter athletes, we actually did some mental health screens around anxiety, depression, eating disorders, sleep, alcohol and drug use over the summer,” Bartley said. “And then we’re going to repeat that. And just trying to keep tabs on them a little bit too.”
Team USA has also compiled a list of counselors whom athletes can contact and will allow free access to wellness apps.
In addition to the pressure of competing, Olympians will have several strict rules in place during the Games including staying within the closed loop system that doesn’t allow outsiders, daily screening and testing, mask-wearing with few exceptions and avoiding hugs or handshakes, according to the Olympics playbook.
Norman said the athletes do what they can to be physically and mentally prepared, but that some of the stringent measures may be hard to handle.
“Certainly, once arriving there and that being such a strange experience — particularly for those who it’s their first time participating in the Olympics — it can be somewhat of an overwhelming experience at times,” he said.
Athletes putting their mental health first
Dr. Leela Magavi, a psychiatrist with several patients who are student and professional athletes, offered some tips for athletes. For example, instead of practicing all day, athletes can take mindfulness walks, write in a journal or spend time talking to family members.
She also recommended that Team USA advocate for athletes expressing their thoughts openly.
“Rather than asking a close-ended question, ‘Are you depressed or anxious?’ ask ‘How are you coping with the anxiety?'” Magavi told ABC News. “When they’re anxious and internalizing those feelings, they don’t sleep as well, they don’t eat as well, they don’t play as well.”
Norman said that it’s important not only for athletes to keep on top of any current treatments, but to have constant communication with their support staff for any new or evolving conditions that may be affecting them.
Biles is not the first athlete to speak out about mental health. Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, has been candid about his struggles with ADHD, depression and even suicidal thoughts.
However, Biles is perhaps the most high-profile athlete to pull out of events to focus on her mental health after she revealed she had “the twisties,” which is when a gymnast loses their sense of where they are in the air.
“Whenever I think about Biles’ decision, she really helped people speak up,” Magavi said. “I’ve had people say, ‘I never thought you could even do that. If you were experiencing something like twisties, that could even say that.’ I do think that her decision did bridge the gap between mental and physical health.”
And it seems like some professional athletes have followed suit.
Prior to the NHL announcing that no hockey players would be traveling to the Olympics due to Beijing’s strict COVID measures, Las Vegas Golden Knights goalie Robin Lehner said he would not be playing for the Swedish national team, citing mental health struggles.
Lehner, who has been open about his bipolar disorder diagnosis, said that after consulting with his doctors, he had made the difficult decision to stay in the U.S. instead.
“Reality is that what [has] been said about how it’s going to be is not ideal for my mental health,” he tweeted Dec. 6. “Took long time to make [a] decision with my psychiatrist and family. My well-being [has to] come first and being locked down and not knowing what happens if you test positive is [too] much of a risk for me.”
The experts commended Lehner for his decision and called it “courageous.”
“It takes an enormous amount of confidence to speak up,” she said. “Athletes are accustomed to internalizing their feelings. When athletes are unable to sleep, eat or function, it’s often tied to a poor sports performance.”
How athletes speaking up removes the stigma
Magavi said that she hopes more athletes speaking out about mental health removes some of the pressure they face.
“Athletes are human beings like you and I,” she said. “Athletes have all kinds of insecurities. They want to win the gold as much as we want them to win it for us. But they also have the right to determine whether they want to play.”
“They are more attenuated with their bodies, their emotions and, if they’re feeling the time is not right, it’s their decision,” she added.
Norman said that athletes speaking up could also remove the stigma around mental health for everyday Americans and help them realize how common mental health conditions are.
“You’re not alone. Folks who are extremely high achieving like Simone Biles, Michael Phelps, a lot of elite athletes, also struggle with mental health conditions,” he said. “I think having folks like that with those types of platforms speaking out, it really helps not only other athletes but folks within the general population that may look up to these athletes. It may help them seek treatment.”
The psychiatrists added that giving Olympians a chance to address their mental health concerns will lead to better performances and, in turn, lead to more medals for the U.S.
“If we come back with healthy, safe players, we may also bring back the gold,” Magavi said. “It’s a win-win situation.”
