(CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.) — NASA astronaut Jessica Watkins will take to the skies in 2022 on a historic debut spaceflight to the International Space Station.
Watkins will become the first Black woman to embark on a long-duration mission at the space station, where she will live and conduct research in the microgravity laboratory as it orbits the Earth.
NASA announced that Watkins will serve as a mission specialist for the SpaceX Crew-4 mission, the fourth rotation of astronauts on the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the ISS. This will be her first journey to space since becoming an astronaut in 2017.
She will join NASA astronauts Robert Hines and Kjell Lindgren, as well as European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti. The group is scheduled for liftoff in April 2022 from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
Watkins was born in Maryland and now calls Colorado home. Previously, she worked as a geologist with a bachelor’s degree from Stanford University and a doctorate from the University of California, Los Angeles.
She joined NASA as an intern and has worked at various research centers in California. At the time of her astronaut selection, Watkins worked as a post-doctoral fellow on the science team for the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity.
When Watkins launches into space next spring, it will be the realization of a dream she’s held since she was in elementary school.
“A dream feels like a big faraway goal that’s going to be difficult to achieve or something you might achieve much later in life,” Watkins said in a video released by NASA last year. “But in reality, what a dream realized is just one putting one foot in front of the other on a daily basis. If you put enough of those footprints together, eventually they become a path towards your dreams.”
(BOSTON) — The death of Elijah Lewis, the 5-year-old boy from New Hampshire who went missing before being found dead in Massachusetts last month, has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Monday.
Lewis died from “violence and neglect,” John Formella, the New Hampshire attorney general, said in a release. The boy suffered “facial and scalp injuries, acute fentanyl intoxication, malnourishment and pressure ulcers.”
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Massachusetts conducted the autopsy.
Lewis’ body was found late last month, after “credible information” led investigators to a wooded area near Boston, the local district attorney said at the time. There, a cadaver dog found Lewis’ remains “buried in the ground.”
Two people — Lewis’ mother, Danielle Dauphinais, 35, and her boyfriend, Joseph Staph, 30 — remain held without bail on charges of witness tampering and child endangerment, which were brought against them last month after they were arrested in New York City.
Both allegedly asked other people to lie about where the 5-year-old was living, “knowing that child protection service workers were searching for Elijah,” the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said.
“The endangerment charge alleges that they violated a duty of care, protection or support for Elijah,” the office said.
The two pleaded not guilty to both charges in a New Hampshire court.
The Merrimack Police Department began investigating Lewis’ disappearance on Oct. 14, after the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth, and Families reported to police that his whereabouts were unknown, according to the state’s attorney general’s office. The child welfare agency’s involvement with the boy is unclear.
The search for Lewis involved multiple New Hampshire and Massachusetts state and county agencies, as well as the FBI.
Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(GROVELAND. Fla.) — A judge in Florida posthumously exonerated four Black men, known as the “Groveland Four,” who were falsely accused of raping a white woman in the central Florida town of Groveland in 1949.
Their families have been fighting to clear their names for decades, and in October, Florida State Attorney Bill Gladson filed a motion to posthumously clear the “Groveland Four” of their criminal records after the state determined that the evidence against the men was falsified.
Charles Greenlee’s daughter, Carol Greenlee, told ABC News that knowing her father has been exonerated has cleared a “cloud” that has followed her for 72 years.
“All my life I’ve been waiting to hear those words: ‘Restore presumption of innocence,'” she said.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis granted posthumous pardons to the men — Charles Greenlee, Ernest Thomas, Samuel Shepherd and Walter Irvin — in 2019.
“Even a casual review of the record reveals that these four men were deprived of the fundamental due process rights that are afforded to all Americans,” Gladson wrote in the motion that was heard in court Monday morning. “The evidence strongly suggests that a sheriff, a judge and prosecutor all but guaranteed guilty verdicts in this case.”
Following the rape accusation in 1949, an angry mob shot and killed Thomas before he could be arrested. Charles Greenlee, Shepherd and Irvin were all put to trial and convicted.
Charles Greenlee was given a life sentence. Irvin and Shepherd were sentenced to death and successfully made an appeal. In 1951, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated their convictions and ordered a new trial for each. Following the new indictment, a Florida sheriff, Willis McCall, shot and killed Shepherd and attacked and injured Irvin.
Records show that the indictment against Thomas and Shepherd were never dismissed by the court, according to Gladson’s motion.
Irvin was retried, convicted and again sentenced to death, but later had his sentence commuted to life in prison.
Following the hearing, Gladson addressed reporters in a press conference and was joined by family members of the Groveland Four.
The first of the family members to speak was Carol Greenlee, who broke down in the court when the judge announced her father’s name would be cleared.
“This is a day that God has made,” she told reporters and thanked everyone who has helped her along her journey to fight for her father.
Carol Greenlee, who is 72, is just as old as the case of the Groveland Four. She was born a few months after her father was wrongfully imprisoned for rape.
Charles Greenlee, who was only 16 at the time, received a recommendation of mercy from the jury and received a life sentence instead of a death sentence. He did not appeal the verdict, but he was released on parole when his daughter was 11 years old. He died in 2012.
In an emotional interview with ABC News, Carol Greenlee, who said she took on the fight to clear her father’s name because he didn’t appeal his conviction, reflected on the “hole” in her life that the Groveland Four case has left and how it impacted her relationship with her father.
She said that she grew up visiting her father in prison until she was 3, when he asked her mother not to bring her back because it was “too painful.” But he continued to send her things from prison and didn’t miss a birthday card, she said.
Carol Greenlee said it took her years to understand the story of the Groveland Four and why her father didn’t want to see her.
“As a child, I would play in the courtyard while they talked and this one particular Sunday, he told her not to bring me back,” she said. “And that gave me a sense of being rejected, not being wanted. For a long time, I couldn’t understand. I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Carol Greenlee said that the charges against her father made her feel “guilty” growing up, and she felt like “other children that knew about it looked at me in a very strange and unforgiving way, that I was dirty.”
But as she got older, she learned more about what happened to the Groveland Four, and when she was 40 years-old, she finally asked her father and heard the story from him for the first time.
“I decided that in order to get rid of this hole that was inside of me that nobody could fill, that marching on picket lines couldn’t fill that, that everything that I did could not fill that hole — the desire to know more about my father,” she said.
Carol Greenlee said she can now begin to heal spiritually, because this journey has taught her that “hate destroys you from within, anger tears you apart.”
“But compassion, forgiveness, and hope builds you up. And as long as you got hope, you can look forward,” she added.
When asked how she wants the world to remember her father, she said, “I want the world to know Charles Greenlee as a compassionate, loving family man who cares dearly about his children and wants to protect them at all costs.”
Other family members who spoke at the press conference on Monday included Dr. Beverly Robinson, the cousin of Samuel Shepherd; Eddie Irvin and Gerald Threat, nephews of Walter Irvin; and Aaron Newson, the nephew of Ernest Thomas.
Author Gilbert King — who won a Pulitzer prize for “Devil in the Grove,” his 2012 book about the Groveland Four — also spoke following the hearing. He was joined by Thurgood Marshall Jr., the son of the late Supreme Court justice who represented Irvin in the trial.
Marshall Sr. was with the NAACP at the time before becoming the Supreme Court’s first Black justice. His son said the case always haunted his father.
ABC News’ Rachel DeLima contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice has reached a settlement with parents of the Parkland shooting victims, court documents obtained by ABC News show.
Parents Fred and Jennifer Guttenberg sued the DOJ in 2018, alleging that the FBI knew shooter Nikolas Cruz was “going to explode” at some point and did nothing to stop him from starting a massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
Other parents of Parkland victims joined the suit.
On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz opened fire at the school, which he attended, and killed 17 fellow students. In October, he plead guilty to 17 counts of murder, and a jury will decide if he should face the death penalty or not.
“He wanted to kill people, and he had the means to do so—he had spent the last several months collecting rifles and ammunition,” the complaint filed in federal court in 2018 says. “Forty days later, Mr. Cruz did just what tipster warned the FBI he would do. He entered his former high school—Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida—and executed 17 people.”
While the DOJ did not offer any settlement details, in their most recent court filing, the details are being worked out between the parties.
The court asked that the specifics of the settlement to be reached by Dec. 20.
(NEW YORK) — The rush to vaccinate children against COVID-19 is accelerating amid a steady increase in coronavirus infections and hospitalizations nationwide.
Last week, nearly 142,000 child coronavirus cases were recorded, with weekly infections among children up by more than 40% since late October, according to a new report from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Children’s Hospital Association (CHA).
Nationally, new coronavirus cases among all age groups have been increasing for the last three weeks, with the average now topping 92,000 new cases a day. Thirty-one states, as well as Washington, D.C., have seen an uptick in daily cases of 10% or more in the past two weeks.
Last week, children accounted for about a quarter of reported weekly COVID-19 cases, despite individuals under age 18 only making up 22.2% of the U.S. population. Regionally, the Midwest continues to see the highest number of pediatric cases, as the area experiences a notable viral resurgence with winter arriving across the region.
The nation has also seen an uptick in pediatric hospital admissions, alongside other age groups. Although hospitalization totals are still significantly lower than during the nation’s most recent summer surge, across the country, just under 1,250 children are hospitalized with a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 infection. Ohio currently leads the country with 168 children receiving care, followed by Texas with 120 children.
Amid this viral resurgence, health experts are urging parents to get their eligible children vaccinated.
COVID-19 “is one of the top 10 leading causes of death in children,” Dr. Leana Wen, emergency physician and professor of health policy and management at the George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health, said during a briefing Wednesday with the National Press Foundation. Vaccines are a “safe and simple intervention,” she said, and significantly lower the risk of severe illness.
Earlier this month, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky reported the agency had seen a surge of interest in pediatric COVID-19 vaccinations, following emergency use authorization of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
“We’re seeing strong demand for COVID vaccinations among children ages 5 to 11 across the country with hundreds of thousands of appointments booked for the next few weeks,” Walensky said at the time.
Approximately one-third of children ages 5-17 have received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to recently updated federal data. In the last two weeks alone, 2 million children ages 5-11 years-old have received their first dose.
If parents get their children vaccinated now, they will be able to be fully vaccinated by the later winter holidays, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House’s chief medical adviser, said during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday.
“We now have vaccines that are highly effective and clearly very safe, particularly now with the recent data showing that we can vaccinate children from 5 through 11,” Fauci said. “There are 28 million children within that age category. If we started vaccinating them now, they’ll be fully protected by Christmas.”
Although severe illness due to COVID-19 remains “uncommon” among children, the two organizations wrote, there is an “urgent” need to collect more data on the long-term consequences of the pandemic on children, “including ways the virus may harm the long-term physical health of infected children, as well as its emotional and mental health effects.”
(WASHINGTON) — First lady Jill Biden kicked off the holiday season in the nation’s capital on Monday by accepting delivery of the official White House Christmas tree — with all the sleigh bells and whistles one might expect.
This year’s tree — an 18.5-foot Fraser fir — hails from Jefferson, North Carolina. The White House welcome event on Monday afternoon marked 56 years of the tradition.
The tree arrived at the White House Portico on an evergreen-colored carriage decked out in holiday greenery and pulled down the driveway by two Clydesdale horses — Ben and Winston — who were adorned with silver sleigh bells and with paper Christmas trees in their braids. A four-piece band played Christmas classics, including “O, Christmas Tree” and “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” as the tree was delivered.
Wearing a red coat and a white dress, the first lady accepted the Christmas tree in apparent delight following a quick quality inspection.
“It’s beautiful — it’s magnificent, actually,” she told reporters when asked what she thought of the tree.
This tree will be on display in the Blue Room, where the chandelier will be temporarily removed to accommodate the full height of the tree, according to the White House.
Following the first lady’s acceptance, the Christmas tree will be decorated for the holiday season.
In addition to the Estes family, which provided the tree after winning the National Christmas Tree Contest for their third year, the first lady also invited the Harrell Family to mark the occasion, to represent and honor the families of active National Guard members who are spending the holidays apart this year.
A National Guard mom herself, Biden intended to honor the role of the National Guard this year in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the White House said.
Biden’s family was also on hand for the acceptance including son Hunter and his son, Beau Jr., whom the first lady handed a branch that she plucked from the tree.
The first lady has not yet announced the theme of this year’s decorations at the White House, expected to be unveiled in the coming days.
She told reporters her message for service members this holiday season is to “be safe and have a happy, healthy holiday.”
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.
(WAUKESHA, Wis.) — Five people were killed and more than 40 were hurt when an SUV barreled into a Christmas parade in Waukesha, Wisconsin, on Sunday afternoon, authorities said.
Children are among the injured.
A person of interest is in custody, authorities said.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Nov 22, 4:37 pm
Suspect previously arrested for running woman over with SUV, court records show
Darrell Brooks, the suspect accused of driving into a Christmas parade on Sunday, killing five, was arrested last month for using a 2010 maroon Ford Escape to run over the mother of his child, according to court documents.
This appears to be the same vehicle used to plow through the parade.
In early November, a woman told police Brooks had pulled up beside her following an earlier domestic dispute and instructed her to get into his car, the documents said. When she refused, Brooks hit her in the face with a closed fist, according to the criminal complaint.
As she walked away through a gas station parking lot, Brooks “intentionally” ran her over with his car, the complaint said.
Brooks, 39, is set to make his first court appearance on Tuesday in connection to Sunday’s incident. He is charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, police said.
-ABC News’ Aaron Katersky
Nov 22, 3:00 pm
81-year-old, 79-year-old among the 5 killed
An 81-year-old man, Wilhelm Hospel, and a 79-year-old woman, Virginia Sorenson, were among the five killed, police said at a news conference. The other victims were 71-year-old LeAnna Owen, 52-year-old Tamara Durand and 52-year-old Jane Kulich.
The suspect, 39-year-old Darrell Brooks, is charged with five counts of first-degree intentional homicide, police said. More charges are possible, police said.
The suspect was involved in a domestic disturbance minutes prior to the deadly crash, police said.
Besides the five killed, 48 were hurt when the suspect “intentionally drove his maroon SUV through barricades into a crowd of people,” police said.
One officer fired shots to try to stop the driver, but stopped shooting because so many parade-goers were present, police said. No one was hurt by the gunfire and the officer is on administrative leave, police said.
Police said the suspect acted alone and this was not a terrorist event.
Officials said this “Norman Rockwell-type Christmas parade” has been held for decades.
Nov 22, 1:43 pm
Biden says he prays ‘spirit’ of Thanksgiving will ‘lift up’ families
In his first comments on the deadly crash, President Joe Biden said Monday, “While we don’t have all the facts and details yet, we know this morning that five families in Waukesha are facing fresh grief of a life without a loved one.”
“At least 40 Americans are suffering from injuries, some of them in critical condition, and an entire community is struggling, struggling to cope with the horrific act of violence,” Biden said.
“Last night, the people of Waukesha were gathered to celebrate the start of a season of hope and togetherness and Thanksgiving,” he continued. “This morning, Jill and I and the entire Biden family, and I’m sure all of us, pray that that same spirit is going to embrace and lift up all the victims of this tragedy, bringing recovery from the injuries and wrapping the families of those who died in support of their community.”
The administration is “monitoring the situation very closely,” Biden added.
-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky
Nov 22, 1:22 pm
Person held by police is 39-year-old Darrell Brooks
The person being held by police is 39-year-old Darrell Brooks, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News. Brooks has not been charged with a crime in connection with the parade incident nor has he been named a suspect.
-ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Josh Margolin, Luke Barr, Aaron Katersky
Nov 22, 12:29 pm
6 kids in critical condition
Ten of the 18 children taken to Children’s Wisconsin hospital were admitted to the ICU, including six children in critical condition, hospital officials said.
Three of the ICU patients are in serious condition and one is in fair condition.
Another eight patients were admitted in fair conditions and two of the 18 children have since been discharged, officials said.
The hospitalized children range in age from 3 to 16 and include three sets of siblings, officials said. Injuries include serious head injuries and broken bones.
Six children were sent to the operating room Sunday night and another two children will undergo surgery on Monday, officials said.
-ABC News’ Josh Hoyos
Nov 22, 11:23 am
Man recounts ‘SUV hurtling towards me’
Brayden Kowalski was at the parade in Waukesha, which he described as “a very loving community,” when he “saw about a block away, the SUV hurtling towards me.”
He pulled his nephews, ages 4 and 6, out of the vehicle’s path at the last minute. The SUV was about 5 feet away, Kowalski said.
Kowalski said he “was fear-stricken, but I just, I tried the best I could to help,” escorting people from the street over to the sidewalks.
Of the driver, he said, “I don’t know if they were targeting people, but they for sure weren’t dodging people. “
Nov 22, 11:07 am
18 treated at children’s hospital
Children’s Wisconsin, the pediatric trauma center for the area, has treated 18 children following the crash, hospital officials said.
Nov 22, 10:55 am
Driver may have been fleeing previous incident
Based on video evidence and interviews, investigators’ preliminary assessment is that the driver wasn’t aiming at specific parade participants but was speeding through the route to flee an earlier incident, multiple law enforcement sources told ABC News.
Authorities scoured social media and other digital platforms associated with the person of interest overnight. At this point authorities have no reason to believe there is any connection to radicalization, extremism or the ongoing debate about the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict, the sources said.
-ABC News’ Josh Margolin, Luke Barr, Aaron Katersky
(BATTLE CREEK, Mich.) — Negotiations are resuming on Monday between Kellogg Co. and the union representing some 1,400 cereal plant workers who have been on strike for more than six weeks.
The workers, who have been striking since Oct. 5, are being represented by the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM). Talks between union leaders and Kellogg’s fizzled early in November after the two sides failed to reach an agreement and further negotiations were put on hold for weeks before Monday’s meeting.
The ongoing strike involves Kellogg’s plants across four states and comes amid a spate of work stoppages hitting the private sector in the U.S. Unique labor market conditions in the wake of the COVID-19 shock to the economy, including record-high levels of workers quitting their jobs, have been linked to new employee activism in recent weeks.
“We look forward to getting back to the table and are committed to negotiating in good faith,” Kellogg’s said in an update Friday. “We remain hopeful that we can reach an agreement soon so our employees can get back to work and back to their lives.”
The union rejected a proposal from Kellogg’s on Nov. 4, saying in a statement at the time that the company’s “last, best and final offer does not achieve what our members are asking for; a predictable pathway to fully vested, fully benefitted employment for all employees with no concessions.”
“The company came to the table insisting that there will only be an agreement if the Union accepts the company proposal exactly as it has been written,” the union’s statement added. “The company’s proposal was filled with conditions and terms as to what was acceptable to Kellogg’s. These terms and conditions are unacceptable to our members.”
After the union rejected the proposal, Kellogg said it was continuing operations at the four plants where the workers are on strike with hourly and salaried employees and “third-party resources producing food.”
“The bottom line is that our proposals address what the union has told us are their primary concerns,” Ken Hurley, Kellogg’s head of labor relations, said in a statement. “The union does not seem interested in revising its proposals or exploring creative solutions to resolve issues.”
The union and Kellogg’s did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for further comment.
The striking workers in Michigan, Nebraska, Pennsylvania and Tennessee help produce Kellogg cereals including Rice Krispies, Raisin Bran, Fruit Loops, Corn Flakes and Frosted Flakes, according to the union.
A separate strike at agricultural machinery giant John Deere ended just last week after waging on for over a month. The new agreement gave John Deere workers an $8,500 signing bonus and a 20% increase in wages over the life of the contract, among other things, in a deal some say highlights the new power workers are seizing in a post-pandemic labor market.
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 booster shots are now authorized for anyone over the age of 18. For anyone hoping to get a COVID-19 booster dose before the Thanksgiving holiday, experts say it’s important to understand that protection doesn’t kick in right away.
Although the body starts to increase antibodies within a few days after the shot, it takes two weeks for peak protection to return.
“There is a meaningful increase in antibody titers by one week and peak responses at 2 weeks following mRNA boosting,” said Dr. Dan Barouch, director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston.
More than 32 million people in the U.S. have already received a COVID-19 booster dose. The FDA and CDC say it’s safe to mix and match boosters.
COVID-19 booster shots are composed of the same formulation as the current COVID-19 vaccines. But the Moderna vaccine booster is given at half the dose of the primary Moderna series.
Studies show the immunity gained from the primary vaccine series may decline over time — particularly protection against mild breakthrough infections. Therefore, experts recommend booster vaccination to increase immunity.
“The booster shot will have a similar response as the second dose of the primary series. The highest antibody level will be around 10-14 days and then things will level off. The antibody levels will decline as it would with all vaccines, however the boosters help to stabilize the antibody levels,” said Dr. Simone Wildes, an infectious disease specialist at South Shore Health in Massachusetts.
Public health experts say booster shots could also help slow the spread of COVID-19 within communities. However, to truly curb the pandemic, it’s far more important for the unvaccinated to get their initial doses.
The expanded authorization of the Moderna and Pfizer boosters comes right in time for the holidays to allow many more Americans to get their booster shots before the holidays for safer travels and gatherings. The expanded authorization to now everyone over the age of 18 also helps eliminate any confusion on who may receive booster shots and ensures boosters are available to everyone who needs one.
Esra Demirel, MD is an OB-GYN resident physician at Northwell Health-North Shore University Hospital & LIJ Medical Center and is a contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit.
(WASHINGTON) — More than 90% of the nation’s 3.5 million federal workers have gotten at least one COVID shot with the “vast majority” of employees fully vaccinated and another 5% either requesting an extension or exemption, the Biden administration was expected to announce on Monday.
Officials said the numbers — which include civilian and military personnel — show the government won’t see disruptions this holiday season in because of the mandate.
It’s still unclear though exactly how many workers in critical jobs like border patrol, prisons and airport security have sought medical or religious exemptions. It also wasn’t immediately clear when those employees would run out of options if denied, with agencies just now beginning the counseling process but given ample leeway to decide how to handle workers who refuse to get a shot.
“There won’t be disruptions to government services and operations,” said a senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity in advance of an announcement later Monday. “At each step of this process we’ll see even more employees getting vaccinated.”
Overall, the White House says 95% of employees total are “in compliance,” meaning they either have at least one dose or have filed a medical or religious exemption or asked for an extension, said the official. That includes 93% of workers at the Transportation Security Administration.
The White House Office of Management and Budget was expected to release more details on Wednesday, including a breakdown of vaccination rates by agency.
The mandate is the nation’s first test of President Joe Biden’s insistence that employer requirements work. Biden has proposed a separate Jan. 4 mandate that would apply to federal contractors and health care workers.
He also has proposed that businesses with 100 or more employees mandate vaccines or weekly testing; that regulation by the Labor Department is on hold pending a review by a federal appeals court.
Under Biden’s plan, more than 2 million civilian workers were supposed to have gotten their final vaccine dose two weeks ago so as to be considered “fully immunized” by Monday’s deadline. The White House has not released estimates yet on how many of those employees did so.
Military personnel face their own deadlines depending upon their service branch.
