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(NEW YORK) — Despite a violent Fourth of July holiday weekend, the number of shootings in New York City decreased in each of the last 13 weeks, according to the New York City Police Department (NYPD). For the first half of 2023, shootings are down 25% compared to the same time period a year ago.

So far in 2023, nearly 200 fewer people have been shot in the nation’s largest city compared to the first six months of 2022.

“That is not just a number. These are hundreds of real people. Hundreds of families spared the devastating impacts of gun violence,” acting New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban said.

The numbers are a stark contrast to the multiple deadly incidents of gun violence during the recent holiday weekend. Twenty people were killed and 126 were injured in 22 mass shootings that erupted across the country between 5 p.m. ET Friday and 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a website that tracks shootings nationwide.

The drop coincides with the historic number of gun-related arrests. In June 2023, police made 345 arrests resulting in 300 firearms seized for the month. Overall, NYPD officers have seized 3,424 guns and made 2,162 gun arrests through the first six months of 2023.

“There are still too many guns on the streets and too many criminals willing to carry them and pull the trigger,” Caban said.

Crime overall also dropped slightly last month compared to the same month a year ago. Additionally, there were fewer homicides, rapes, robberies, burglaries and hate crimes were down 18%. However, June saw increases in grand larceny, auto felony assault and subway crime.

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(SAN FRANCISCO) — A Ruby Princess cruise ship startled sleeping San Fransico residents Thursday morning after it hit a pier while docking, damaging it and the vessel, officials said.

None of the 3,328 guests and 1,159 crew members on board were injured during the incident, according to Princess Cruises. The ship was returning from a 10-day cruise to Alaska that left last week, according to the cruise line.

The Coast Guard is investigating the incident, according to police. A spokesperson for the San Francisco Bar Pilots group told ABC News in a statement that it is cooperating with the investigation.

Nearby residents told ABC affiliate KGO that they could hear the impact and they were awoken by the sounds of the crew scrambling.

“One of the dock guys, you can hear him yell out like, ‘Whoa,'” resident Jeremy Jordan told KGO, “and then you can kind of hear it just slowly going in…it was surreal, and you could definitely feel it.”

Witnesses said the dock took the brunt of the damage from the crash.

Princess Cruises told ABC News that the vessel underwent an assessment.

Passengers for the next trip on the boat began boarding later in the afternoon for a scheduled departure at 4 p.m. PT, according to the cruise line. It was unknown if that departure would be delayed.

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(NEW YORK) — The president of Clark Atlanta University is disappointed by the Supreme Court decision to end the use of race as a main factor in college admissions but he also views it as an opportunity for historically Black colleges and universities.

It’s been one week since the Supreme Court ended the use of affirmative action in college admissions decisions. The court held, in a 6-3 opinion for the conservative majority written by Chief Justice John Roberts, that Harvard and the University of North Carolina’s admissions programs violate the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment.

The following day, the Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration’s program to forgive student loan debt for more than 43 million American borrowers. In a 6-3 decision, also written by Roberts, the court ruled the Department of Education exceeded its authority when it moved to wipe out more than $400 billion in federal student loan debt.

Dr. George French, president of Clark Atlanta University, spoke to ABC News’ Phil Lipof about the reaction to the decisions among historically Black colleges and universities [HBCUs] and why he believes it provides both an opportunity and challenge for HBCUs to provide access to education to minorities for those who otherwise would not have it.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Dr. French, you’ve led HBCUs for the past 20 years, and you went out and released a statement last week expressing your disappointment in the court’s decision, but also noting that the potential opportunity for HBCUs is there. Can you explain to us what you mean by that?

FRENCH: There is a large degree of disappointment within the HBCU constituency, and that is because this decision was intentionally, appears to be intentional, in eroding what was an effective remedy for racial disparities in our nation. So we’re upset about it, but at the same time, we understand that this provides an opportunity for HBCUs to provide access to education for those who otherwise would not have it.

ABC NEWS LIVE: Well, we’ve seen the data, and I’m sure you have too, in the states that have already ended the use of affirmative action in admissions, with major declines in Black student enrollment in states like California. So how concerned are you that we are going to see that mirrored across the nation?

FRENCH: We know that it was about half – minority enrollment, in those states, decreased by half, which is significant. Given that those were those data that we bear out now, we can anticipate a precipitous decline in PWI [predominantly white institution] enrollment going forward. What does that mean? That means that we need additional resources, as the HBCU community, to meet the needs of those students. Not just financial, but programmatic. For example, if you come to an HBCU for one of our traditional disciplines – law, medicine, education – that’s one thing. But if you come for thermonuclear science, we don’t have that capacity. So when our minorities are turned away from PWIs, based on this decision, they will have nowhere to go, unless we build the capacity at HBCUs.

ABC NEWS LIVE: As we move on with the discussion, I want to talk about what kinds of tools and practices you think colleges should follow, use moving forward to maintain a diverse student body? And are you optimistic that can happen?

FRENCH: Yes, very optimistic. As a matter of fact, Phil, I think when we put it into perspective, we consider that this is not pre-May 17, 1954, Brown v. Board, but this is post. Pre Board, you had universities and colleges who were trying to deny access to minorities. That’s not the case today. Today, I have to compete with Georgia Tech, Georgia State, Harvard, Yale, Columbia. I have to compete with all of these institutions with the best and the brightest minorities. So it’s not a question of fighting against those institutions.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And sir, on the court’s other decision Friday, blocking the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness plan, what kind of impact do you think that’s going to have on recent graduates, especially for minorities who have historically faced more loan debt?

FRENCH: This is a much larger issue. It’s an issue that will affect the United States economy. We had an opportunity to eliminate debt of 21 million graduates and those who no longer are attending university are totally eliminated. That would allow them to purchase houses, to solidify their wealth program and plan as a family. So now they’ll have to go back and figure out how to pay off these loans. And make note, one third of all those who are in repayment programs, one third of those do not have a degree. But now they had student loan debt with no degree. That is a problem for our economy.

ABC NEWS LIVE: ABC News recently spoke to some high school seniors who are talking about their future. Some of them had to redirect their future, because of the price of college. One student said to us, and remember, this is a high school senior, “You can ruin your financial life at 18, but you can’t buy a beer.” So what would you say to students who look at the current landscape and wonder whether the cost of college is actually worth it at all?

FRENCH: I would say, first of all, if you think that the cost of education is high, consider the cost of ignorance. I assure you that the college education remains the main vehicle of social mobility for generations. It’s tested, tried and true – HBCUs like Clark Atlanta University. We’ve been here since 1865. We have educated so many hundreds of thousands of students who have taken their families from one level of wealth to the next.

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(NEW YORK) — Cam Barrett was strapped to a hospital gurney and in a neck brace following an automobile accident when her mother took pictures of the moment to post on social media.

It was not the first time Barrett’s mother shared personal information. Previous posts included details about Barrett’s first menstrual cycle and photographs of Barrett as a little girl sporting a bikini.

“She would just post paragraphs about my day-to-day life, what I was doing,” Barrett told ABC News Live.

Now Barrett is among the first generation whose parents may have overshared private details on social media about their children, a group that lawmakers are now working to protect with privacy legislation.

One proposed remedy is a first-of-its kind bill out of Washington state that would allow kids to request content be taken down once they reach a certain age. The bill, which is stalled in the state legislature, was co-sponsored by Rep. Kristine Reeves.

“It’s a different culture to grow up in the eye of social media. And the pressures are very different. They’re much more intense,” Reeves told ABC News.

“Not all kids get that right or that choice to be included in these materials. And, quite frankly, don’t always get the explanation of what it could mean for them, the implications of it long term,” Reeves said.

Those implications are something Barrett, who testified in favor of the bill, says she wishes her mom took into account when Barrett was growing up and had her private life thrust into the public domain.

Barrett said that some of the photos that her mom posted would get comments from older men.

“She didn’t know better. You know, the internet was new to her generation,” Barrett said.

Now when Barrett, who is 24, searches for her name, photos of her as a child wearing a bikini pop up on Google, she said during a hearing for the proposed Washington bill, adding that she’s “terrified to have those weaponized against” her.

Parenting expert Leah Plunkett, author of “Sharenthood,” says posting on social media is now an extension of families’ everyday lives, but warns that many parents aren’t aware of just who can see their posts.

“You really have no reliable way as a parent or really any user of social media of knowing exactly which eyeballs will be on the data that is reflected in your post now or in the future,” Plunkett told ABC News.

For Kodye Elyse, a single mom in California, her social media posts started as a fun way to entertain her three kids during the pandemic.

“I had started just doing some dances with my kids online to kind of pass the day and, pretty quickly, I started gaining some traction getting a following,” Elyse told ABC News.

She says she quickly found a community on Instagram and Facebook, where she would share update after update about her family and the “ins and outs of being a single mom.”

But it wasn’t long before her social media presence took a dark turn, after a video of her swapping places with her 5-year-old daughter went viral.

“I opened the comments and the comments were all inappropriate towards her. I was so disgusted. I immediately deleted the video. Deleted every video of them on the page and haven’t really looked back,” Elyse said.Even after wiping every picture of her kids from the internet, she says their school address was leaked and her family started to receive death threats.

“I would have gone into it more prepared, possibly with a, you know, suit of armor and would have never posted my kids ever,” Elyse said.

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(NEW YORK) — As people around the world contend this week with the hottest temperatures ever recorded on Earth, more visual evidence of climate change is emerging with the spread of ghost forests.

The globe is naturally warming and seas naturally rise, but greenhouse gas emissions have helped amplify that change and it’s evident along coastal forests especially in the mid-Atlantic.

Ghost forests develop when sea-level rise causes saltwater to advance on the land, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association. As saltwater overtakes the fresh water supply that trees rely on, the increased salinity slowly kills the trees, “leaving a haunted ghost forest of dead and dying timber.”

Each tree in a ghost forest is called a stag. A stag only stands for two to three years, meaning ghost forests aren’t like this for decades, and any visible ghost forest is relatively recent.

Virginia Institute of Marine Science associate professor Matthew Kirwan explained to ABC News his research group has found ghost forests in the mid-Atlantic region of Virginia through New Jersey, and they are developing up to 14 times faster than they did in the 1850s because the sea-level is rising much more quickly.

Ghost forests can be found in almost every coastal state, and hundreds of thousands more acres of forest are set to transition to ghost forests by the year 2100.

In New Jersey, the Department of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) is working to combat the transition of its own Atlantic White Cedar forests by seeding these trees further inland, aiming to restore 10,000 acres.

“Today, our cedar resource is at a tipping point,” NJ DEP declares on its website. “Rather than let this unique and valuable ecosystem be whittled away to meaninglessness, we can achieve ecosystem restoration through attention and forest management.”

At the time of European settlement, an estimated 500,000 acres of Atlantic White Cedar forests stretched from Maine to northern Florida, and along parts of the Gulf of Mexico, with about 115,000 acres in New Jersey alone. Today, less than 125,000 acres remain nationally, with less than 25,000 acres in New Jersey.

These forests serve as efficient carbon sinks, collecting and storing atmospheric carbon, and are critical for maintaining water quality in the Pinelands as they naturally filter, cool and slow the movement of groundwater and streams. They also provide a unique habitat for many plant and animal species, which officials worry may become endangered or extinct if they can’t adapt to the changing environment.

The nearby Chesapeake Bay has become a hotspot for ghost forest formation due to its relatively flat topography and fast rate of sea-level rise.

100,000 acres of forest and farmland have become wetlands in the Chesapeake region since the late 19th century, Kirwan explained, resulting in extensive ghost forests. Another 300,000 to 500,000 acres of ghost forests are expected to develop in the region by 2100.

Coastal forests protect against erosion, buffer storm surges, provide wildlife habitats and ensure water quality and quantity. The mass death of trees occurring through the formation of ghost forests places those benefits at risk and even damages local economies. As saltwater intrusion intensifies, the supply of coastal wood needed by the timber industry will shrink, harming the rural areas that depend on it.

Last month, the Biden administration released a new $2.6 billion framework to “invest in coastal climate resilience,” through the Inflation Reduction Act.

The funding is being allocated to NOAA for a variety of projects aimed at supporting, “communities and people on the frontlines of climate change,” according to a Department of Commerce press release.

“Under President Biden’s leadership, we are making the most significant direct investment in climate resilience in the nation’s history,” said U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. “As part of our more than $2.6 billion investment in regional coastal resiliency and conservation projects, we will be dedicating $390 million directly to Tribal priorities for habitat restoration and bolstering fish populations, and supplying crucial funding to ensure our coastal communities are better prepared for the effects of climate change.”

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(NEW YORK) — On Saturday, May 25, 1996, Kristin Smart, a freshman at Cal Poly State University, walked home from a party at 2 a.m. and was never seen again. She was 19 years old.

An arrest would not be made for 25 years.

“20/20” takes a fresh look this Friday, June 23 into why the investigation into Smart’s disappearance began slowly, with interviews from investigators and family members. But not all unsolved cases involving college students end in arrest – ABC News features five such cases below.

1996: Kristin Smart

The investigation into Kristin Smart’s disappearance had complications – Smart’s body was never found, false sightings were reported, and the last person to see her alive stopped cooperating with authorities. But the investigation into Smart’s disappearance, as San Luis Obispo Sheriff Ian Parkinson told ABC News, “began very slowly.”

Smart’s roommate, Crystal Calvin, noted Smart hadn’t returned home on May 25, 1996, and alerted campus officials. Calvin told ABC News, Cal Poly felt “very safe” and described how the Cal Poly University Police Department told her they were “sure…she’ll be back” after Memorial Day weekend.

On Tuesday, Smart didn’t show up to class and Calvin told ABC she and her friends tried to report her as missing to the San Luis Obispo Police Department – the local police. They referred her back to the Cal Poly campus police.

Campus police began interviews that day — four days after Smart’s disappearance and outside the critical first 72 hours in a missing person’s case.

As campus police continued their investigation, they spoke several times with Cal Poly freshman Paul Flores, who walked Smart home after the party on May 25. Even though he was the last person to see her alive, Sheriff Parkinson said there was still “a lack of physical evidence,” tying Flores to the case.

A month after Kristin’s disappearance, due to “family’s pressure,” Parkinson said the university police reached out to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office to request that they “step in and take over the investigation.”

By then Flores and his roommate had moved out of the dorm and a cleaning crew had come through, Detective Clint Cole, who worked on the case for the San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Office, told “20/20”.

Though the room was empty, four cadaver dogs separately alerted to the smell of human decomposition on Flores’ mattress, which later was a key piece of circumstantial evidence.

Although Cole said the case “was always active,” it was 27 years before a resolution. In March 2023, Paul Flores was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the murder of Kristin Smart.

Despite Flores’ conviction, Smart’s father, Stan Smart, said in a presser that her family “were not happy” because Smart’s remains had never been found. “From that aspect, we don’t have closure,” he said.

Not every missing college student’s story has ended in an arrest. ABC News takes a look back at five unsolved cases below.

1969: Betsy Aardsma

Betsy Aardsma was 22-years-old when she was found under a pile of books in the stacks of Penn State University’s Pattee Library on November 29, 1969.

The first-semester graduate student was transported to the campus hospital and declared dead by a stab wound, according to an article in The Penn Stater.

The deep puncture wound initially produced little blood, leading students and library employees who found her to assume she was suffering a seizure.

According to a 1989 article in the Daily Collegian, Penn State’s student newspaper, several students witnessed a man emerging from the stacks shortly after Aardsma was stabbed.

“Somebody better help that girl,” the man allegedly said to them. But a resulting composite sketch of the man produced no suspects.

As of 2013, according to Onward State, a Penn State student news website, the case remains open.

1986: Jane Marie Prichard

University of Maryland graduate student Jane Prichard was last known to be conducting botany experiments in Blackbird Forest State Park, according to the New Castle County Police Department.

Her body was found partially unclothed by two campers on September 20, 1986 – 20 feet away from her equipment, as reported by The Washington Post at the time.

She was killed by shots from behind, according to The News Journal, and a squirrel hunter came forward to police to report he saw her and another hunter near her before her estimated death.

Investigators arrested the squirrel hunter who came forward with the tip in October 1986 and charged him with Prichard’s murder, The Washington Post reported in August 1987. The only evidence was a single pubic hair at the scene which DNA testing – still in its infancy – found did not belong to the man police arrested.

Charges were dropped in August 1987 and no other suspects have been named.

Anyone with information should contact the Cold Case Homicide Squad at 302-395-2781 or 302-395-8216

1998: Suzanne Jovin

Thirty minutes after she was last seen on Yale University’s campus, senior Suzanne Jovin was found stabbed 17 times in a park almost two miles away.

Investigators from the New Haven Police Department and university department had a 15-person “pool of suspects,” but the name of one suspect, Jovin’s senior thesis adviser, James Van de Velde, leaked to the press.

In an interview with “20/20” in March 2000, Van de Velde maintained his innocence and blamed both Yale and the New Haven Police Department for rushing to presume his guilt.

Investigators never recovered a weapon and there was little physical evidence, but Jovin’s family and friends told “20/20” about frustrations Jovin allegedly had with her adviser before her death.

State attorney Michael Dearington announced that Van de Velde was no longer a suspect in 2013, according to the New Haven Register. He reached a settlement with the city and the university in 2013 over claims that they damaged his career and reputation by circulating his name.

Twenty-five years later, Jovin’s murder remains unsolved.

Anyone with information should contact the Jovin Investigation Team Tip Line at 866-623-8058

2002: Josh Guimond

Josh Guimond was at a party three minutes from his dorm when he went missing on November 9, 2002, in Collegeville, Minnesota. The 19-year-old St. John’s University student left a card game around midnight to use the bathroom, but never returned, ABC News reported at the time.

Investigators from the New Haven Police Department and university police department had developed a 15-person “pool of suspects,” but the name of one suspect, Jovin’s senior thesis adviser, James Van de Velde, leaked to the press.. Guimond’s father has long since suspected foul play.

In 2002, ABC News reported on the similarity between Guimond’s disappearance and that of two other missing college-aged men – Christopher Jenkins and Michael Noll – who all went missing within 10 days and 170 miles of one another. Jenkins’ body was found in a river and the Minneapolis Police reclassified it as a homicide in 2006, according to Minnesota Public Radio News.

Despite dives into lakes on campus, as reported by The Maple Lake Messenger, Guimond’s body has never been found.

Anyone with information should contact the Stearns County Sheriff’s Office at 320-259-3700

2017: David Josiah Lawson

Charmaine Lawson is still pushing for answers since her son, David Josiah Lawson, was stabbed to death at an off-campus party as a sophomore at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California.

Arcata police arrested and charged Kyle Christopher Zoellner, then considered the prime suspect, with murder and a special allegation of using a deadly weapon in 2017.

He pled not guilty and due to insufficient evidence, a judge dismissed the charges. Two years later, a criminal grand jury decided against indicting Zoellner also due to a lack of evidence.

Arcata Police did not immediately respond to comment on if Zoellner is still considered a suspect in the case.

Emerging witness testimony suggested that the homicide was a racially motivated murder, and that the police response may have been tainted by racial bias.

Lawson’s mother still believes Zoellner killed her son and told Golden Gate Express in 2018 that “the traditional system is so backwards…if the shoes were turned, my son would be still sitting in jail.”

Amid rising criticism, the Arcata City Council commissioned a 65-page report reviewing the police response. The report found police bungled basic crime scene security and management, while the city failed to provide appropriate training and planning for investigators.

The Lawson family filed a civil lawsuit against the city of Arcata and reached a settlement in 2021, in which the city admitted no wrongdoing and the Lawsons received $200,000 compensatory damages, according to North Coast Journal.

Zoellner filed his own civil suit alleging wrongful arrest by an Arcata Police detective.

In 2022 a jury sought to award him over $700,000 in damages, but the District Judge ruled against payment as a “reasonable officer” would believe there was a “fair probability” that Zoellner stabbed Lawson an officer could assume Zoellner killed Lawson.

Lawson’s murder remains unsolved six years after his death, but in April, but the District Judge ruled against payment, finding that Zoellner had failed to prove that “no reasonable officer … would have believed there was a fair probability that Mr. Zoellner stabbed Mr. Lawson.”

Anyone with information should contact the Arcata Police tip-line at 707-825-2590

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