(NEW YORK) — A 24-year-old United States Olympic athlete who competed in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games has died after being involved in a motorcycle accident, police say.
Authorities have not released any details about the incident Patrick Gasienica was involved in other than to say the accident happened on Monday night in the village of Bull Valley, located in Chicago’s far northwestern suburbs, according to the Bull Valley Police Department. USA Nordic, the official body of American Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined, confirmed in a statement that the athlete had passed away at the age of 24.
Gasienica, a U.S. ski jumping athlete who was born in Oak Park, Illinois, and trained as a ski jumper at the Norge Ski Club about 40 miles northwest of Chicago, made his FIS Ski Jumping debut in 2015 and subsequently represented the United States at two FIS Junior World Ski Championships in 2016 and 2017 as well as the 2019 FIS Nordic World Ski Championships before going to Beijing to compete in the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing off Patrick Gasienica, an incredible athlete, teammate and person,” read a tweet from the U.S. Ski and Snowboard team. “Sending love to his family, friends and the entire ski jumping community.”
Gasienica finished 49th and 53rd in individual events in Beijing last year and finished in 10th place in a team competition alongside fellow teammates Casey Larson, Kevin Bickner and Decker Dean.
Said USA Nordic: “Patrick was an incredible competitor, teammate and friend. He will be dearly missed.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Federal Reserve paused its aggressive series of interest rate hikes on Wednesday, ending a string of 10 consecutive rate increases that stretches back 15 months.
Nearly all members of the decision-making committee believe the central bank will need to impose at least one additional rate hike this year, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said at a press conference.
“Considering how far and how fast we’ve moved, we judged it prudent to hold the target range steady,” Powell said.
“Looking ahead, nearly all committee participants view it as likely that some further rate increases will be appropriate this year,” he added.
In turn, the Federal Reserve raised its projection for where interest rates will stand at the end of the year.
The decision to pause interest rate hikes came a day after fresh data showed consumer prices rose 4% last month compared to a year ago, cooling more than economists expected and bolstering hopes that inflation will continue its steady return to normal levels.
Inflation has fallen significantly from a peak last summer but remains at a level double the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%.
Powell said “inflation pressure continues to run high and the process of getting inflation back down to 2% has a long way to go.”
The slowdown of price increases has coincided with a sharp escalation of the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate last seen in the 1980s.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg expected the Federal Reserve to pause rate hikes as it assesses the ongoing effect of its previous policy decisions.
For more than a year, the Federal Reserve has aimed to roll back price increases by slowing down the economy and slashing consumer demand.
Data released in recent months suggests that the policy approach has succeeded in slowing economic activity.
U.S. gross domestic product grew by a sluggish 1.1% annualized rate over the three months ending in March, according to government data.
Meanwhile, three of the nation’s 30 largest banks failed over a weekslong stretch beginning in March.
While high interest rates contributed to the collapses, each of the banks also retained a sizable portion of uninsured depositors, who tend to panic without a government backstop for their funds.
Consumer spending and hiring, however, have remained solid, fueling hope among some economists that policymakers can succeed in dialing back inflation while averting a recession.
A jobs report earlier this month showed that the labor market grew robustly in May, adding 339,000 jobs compared to Wall Street estimates of just 195,000.
Since the economy continues to exhibit strength, the expected Federal Reserve decision to pause rate hikes marks a “close call,” Bank of America said in a research note last week.
“While incoming data point to resilience in activity and stickiness in inflation, the Fed appears to desire additional time to monitor policy lags and regional bank stress,” Bank of America said.
“We do not believe the Fed is close to signaling a prolonged pause,” the bank added. “Instead, we expect the Fed to say that inaction in June is more akin to a skip — for now.”
Upon the announcement of the central bank’s most recent rate hike last month, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted the removal of a sentence that appeared in the Fed’s previous rate hike announcement that said “some additional policy increases might be appropriate.”
Powell described the omission in the announcement as “meaningful,” saying a decision about any additional rate hikes would be “data dependent.”
Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that Texas bused a group of migrants to Los Angeles, adding it to a growing list of so-called “sanctuary cities” targeted by the Republican governor.
The move expanded his efforts to bus migrants outside of Texas, which has sent other buses to Washington, D.C., New York City, Chicago, Denver and Philadelphia.
“Texas’ small border towns remain overwhelmed and overrun by the thousands of people illegally crossing into Texas from Mexico because of President Biden’s refusal to secure the border,” the governor said in a statement.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the governor bused more than 40 people.
“It is abhorrent that an American elected official is using human beings as pawns in his cheap political games,” Bass said in a statement.
A staunch opponent of President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, Abbott’s busing efforts have drawn the ire of the officials across the country. In April 2022, he directed the Texas Division of Emergency Management to begin transporting migrants to cities outside of Texas. According to the governor’s office, the state has transported more than 21,600 migrants.
Nongovernmental organizations and city agencies across the country have had to scramble to meet the groups of migrants as they’re dropped off, often with no heads up from Texas government officials or the organizations they’ve contracted to help dispatch the buses. In September 2022 the governor bused migrants to a location near Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence in Washington, D.C.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential contenders, has also launched his own efforts to transport migrants. In September he flew nearly 50 migrants from San Antonio, Texas, to Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts.
Civil rights attorneys representing some of the migrants filed a class-action lawsuit accusing the governor and other state officials of misleading migrants by promising resources if they boarded the flights.
Earlier this month, DeSantis transported another 36 migrants from Texas to Sacramento, California. California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the Department of Justice is determining whether a crime was committed.
Shortly after taking office in December 2022, Bass directed city agencies to begin planning for the possibility her city would be the target of “a despicable stunt that Republican Governors have grown so fond of,” she said in a statement.
“This did not catch us off guard, nor will it intimidate us,” Bass said, adding that emergency management and law enforcement officials found out about the incoming bus before it arrived.
(NEW YORK) — Deaths from suicide among youth and young adults have been increasing over the last two decades in the United States, new federal data showed.
For those between the ages of 10 and 24, the suicide rate remained stable between 2001 and 2007, around 6.9 per 100,000.
From 2011, the rate rose 60% to 11.0 per 100,000 in 2021, according to a report published early Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
“You don’t want to see rates of suicide go up and so, in that sense, it isn’t surprising, unfortunately, because the trendline has been going up,” Dr. Madhukar Trivedi, a professor of psychiatry at UT Southwestern Medical Center, told ABC News.
Among preteens and teens aged 10 to 14, suicide rates declined in the first half of the aughts and then tripled from 0.9 per 100,000 in 2007 to 2.9 per 100,000 in 2018, with no significant changes through 2021.
“We have begun to see much more concerning data for even preteens,” Trivedi said. “We were all along aware that as soon as 15 is a very high-risk period for teenagers, but I think 10-to-14-year-olds are also now beginning to show signs that we need to pay attention to.”
For teenagers aged 15 to 19, rates did not change significantly from 2001 to 2009 but then rose 57% from 2009 through 2017, from 7.5 deaths per 100,000 to 11.8.
Meanwhile, the suicide rate for adults aged 20 to 24 increased 63% from 2001 through 2021 from 11.9 deaths per 100,000 to 19.4.
The report did not go into reasons behind the increase, but experts who have been studying risk factors for suicide and depression among adolescents and young adults say it’s due to a variety of reasons including stress, social media and the pandemic.
“One of the big societal changes that’s well-written about and discussed, in particular, is that really around 2010-11, smartphones and social media applications took off,” Dr. Ajit Jetmalani, a professor of psychiatry in the division of child and adolescent psychiatry at Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine, told ABC News.
He said smartphones are not necessarily all bad, but research has shown a subset of youth have become addicted to checking their smartphones and are seeing their social and emotional skills impaired.
“So kids are just checking and checking and checking with no real emotional value, and they become more and more disconnected from the things that create resilience, which is really relationships,” Jetmalani said. “And so, they’re not experiencing relationships in these addictive behaviors and so the decline in mood and increase in anxiety is really driven by those factors.”
Additionally, the experts said lockdowns and stay-at-home orders due to the COVID-19 pandemic likely created a period of social isolation for young people and that loss of social connectedness may have led to increasing rates of suicide.
To reverse these trends, Trivedi and Jetmalani said it would require a multi-pronged approach, including primary care and pediatric screenings for anxiety, depression and suicide; more attention in schools to kids who are experiencing mental health issues and adults also getting the help they need so they can in turn help kids.
In Oregon, Jetmalani said officials initiated a youth suicide prevention strategy involving every youth who goes to a doctor’s appointment having a suicide and depression screening as well as all schools having programs identifying high-risk youth and initiating suicide prevention.
“So, I think the key factors really are improving screening and then having clear services available for youth who have screened positive,” he said. “In Oregon, we’re seeing fewer attempts and fewer completed suicides in the last three years so that suggests to me that if you screen and identify early, you get to those kids who are thinking about this before they actually attempt to harm themselves.”
The findings come on the heels of other research showing an increase in suicidal thoughts and behaviors among America’s youngest.
Between 2019 and 2021, the percentage of high school girls who seriously considered attempting suicide rose from 24.1% to 30%, a CDC study from April 2023 found.
Additionally, a March 2020 study found 8% of 9- and 10-year-olds reported suicidal thoughts and 2% reported a suicide attempt.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(ATHENS, Greece) — Rescue efforts were underway Wednesday after a fishing vessel carrying migrants capsized and sank in the Mediterranean Sea, about 54 miles off the coast of Pylos, Greece.
At least 104 people have been rescued and 79 have died, the Greek Coast Guard said. Unconfirmed early estimates put hundreds of migrants — perhaps as many as 650 — on board when the boat began to sink at about 2:30 a.m. local time.
The Greek Coast Guard was in charge of the rescue operation, which included six Coast Guard vessels, a Greek Navy frigate, a military transport plane, an Air Force helicopter, several private vessels and a drone from the European Union border protection agency.
Survivors are being brought to a hospital on Kalamata, a city in southern Greece, officials said. Mayan Queen IV, a 300-foot yacht, picked up some survivors.
The Coast Guard had contacted the vessel midday on Tuesday as it traveled through international waters, according to a statement released Wednesday afternoon.
A ship approached the fishing boat with supplies later on Tuesday, but passengers refused further help, saying they wanted to continue on their path toward Italy, the Coast Guard said.
The number of illegal border crossings detected in the Central Mediterranean nearly quadrupled in the first four months of the year from the same year-earlier period, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, said last month.
More than 42,200 such crossings were recorded from January through April, Frontex said. That amounted to the highest level recorded since Frontex began collecting data in 2009, the agency said.
“Organised crime groups are taking advantage of political volatility in some departure countries to increase the number of migrants they smuggle across EU borders,” Frontex said in a statement in May.
Wednesday’s capsizing was another “tragedy in the Aegean,” the U.N.’s International Organization for Migration said on Twitter.
The group called for comprehensive action including more pathways for legal migration.
(MOSCOW, Idaho) — Justice may be blind, but it’s not cheap.
Prosecutors in Moscow, Idaho, this week said the upcoming prosecution of Bryan Kohberger, the man charged with killing four college students last fall, could cost more than eight times their entire annual trial budget.
Meeting with county commissioners Tuesday, Latah County Prosecutor Bill Thompson requested a $135,000 budget, as his team puts together what is expected to be a complicated and high-profile case.
Thompson said they know the trial “is not going to be cheap,” according to the minutes from the meeting, obtained by ABC News, acknowledging the request is a significant departure from the $15,000 budget they had maintained “for years and years.”
Thompson said his office is trying to keep its projected budget “as conservative as possible,” while at the same time “[making] sure the case is handled properly.”
Among the anticipated expenses, Thompson’s budget request cites “witness travel fees, transcript fees, exhibit display expenses [and] postage fees,” as well as “travel associated with case development, expert witnesses and other associated trial expenses,” according to the budget request.
Thompson said his office is also proposing to add a “part-time legal assistant” position to the payroll in order to help shoulder the workload, according to the meeting minutes.
One of the commissioners on the board, Kathie LaFortune, suggested an even larger allowance for Thompson’s budget, according to meeting minutes, suggesting an increase to $150,000 in order to fully cover potential costs.
Separately, the defense has been augmenting its resources, as well.
Kohberger’s lead counsel, the chief public defender in neighboring Kootenai County, Anne Taylor, is receiving $200 an hour — an amount agreed to by Latah County upon her hiring. Taylor’s co-counsel is receiving $180 an hour. Additional further expenses to the case include hiring a private investigator and experts’ services to aid their case.
Kohberger, 28, was indicted last month and charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. At his arraignment in late May, Kohberger declined to offer a plea, so the judge entered a not-guilty plea on his behalf.
A trial date has been set for Oct. 2.
Kohberger is currently being held in the Latah County Jail in Moscow.
Prosecutors allege that in the early morning hours of Nov. 13, 2022, Kohberger, a criminology Ph.D. student at Washington State University, broke into an off-campus home and stabbed to death four University of Idaho students: Ethan Chapin, 20; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21.
After a more than six-week hunt, police zeroed in on Kohberger as a suspect, tracking his white Hyundai Elantra, cell phone signal data, and recovering what authorities say was his DNA on a knife sheath found next to one of the victims’ bodies, according to court documents. He was arrested on Dec. 30, 2022, in Pennsylvania, after driving cross-country to spend the holidays at his family home in Albrightsville.
The quadruple homicide in November rocked Moscow, Idaho, the college town where the killings occurred; the ensuing investigation, and impending trial, strained the city’s already slim budget.
Police overtime and other expenses mounted exponentially, with the ongoing need for increased patrols and law enforcement work — and shouldered by a short-staffed force putting in long hours.
The bottom line, officials said: The ongoing cost of the case has burned through cash that could have gone to benefit the community and fix up city infrastructure.
“Moscow is not awash in a funding excess,” Moscow Mayor Art Bettge told ABC News in May. “We run a very, very lean budget, and the impact of the investigation has been felt on the budget.”
Even with a suspect in custody, the ongoing investigation had depleted Moscow’s coffers and scrambled an already fragile balance sheet, city officials said.
“You budget for fires. You budget for floods. You prepare for natural disasters. This was not natural,” Moscow City Council member Sandra Kelly told ABC News. “The cost is astronomical. And of course, you can’t skimp on keeping people safe. Yet, this is just not something you budget for — because it’s something you’d never dream could happen.”
(NEW YORK) — Two Americans were found dead in their luxury hotel room in Baja California Sur, Mexico, on Tuesday, local police told ABC News.
When police and paramedics arrived at the Hotel Rancho Pescadero in El Pescadero, around 9 p.m. Tuesday, the two Americans, a man and a woman, had no vital signs, police said.
The victims have been identified as John Heathco, 41, and Abby Lutz, 22, according to the Baja California Sur Attorney General’s Office. Lutz is from Newport Beach, California, the AG’s office said. Local police initially said both victims were in their mid-30s.
Their cause of death was “intoxication by substance to be determined,” the AG’s office said in a statement Wednesday.
The man and woman had been dead for about 10 or 11 hours when they were found, the attorney general’s office said. There were no signs of violence on their bodies, according to the AG’s office.
Hotel Rancho Pescadero is a luxury hotel and a Hyatt property.
Hyatt didn’t immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
The local attorney general is currently overseeing the investigation.
(NEW YORK) — Instant Brands, the parent company of beloved kitchenware and houseware brands like Pyrex glassware and Instant Pot, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Earlier this week, Instant Brands announced the voluntary court-supervised process in a press release, stating that it will give the company “time and flexibility” for ongoing discussions with financial stakeholders to move forward in a way that “strengthens the company’s financial position.”
The company has over $500 million in both assets and liabilities, according to its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The Chicago area-based company said it received a $132.5 million commitment for new debtor-in-possession financing from its existing lenders that, paired with cash from current operations, it expects will support the business during the process.
President and CEO Ben Gadbois said in Monday’s press release that the company “continues to drive positive operating cash flows.” However, after weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, the company faces challenges, including “tightening of credit terms and higher interest rates,” he said.
This had caused an impact on the company’s liquidity levels and made its “capital structure unsustainable,” he said.
Four years ago, private-equity firm Cornell Capital acquired Instant Brands and it merged with Corelle Brands. Additional consumer products under the parent company include Corelle, Snapware, CorningWare, Visions and Chicago Cutlery.
Luke Bryan‘s gearing up for his highly anticipated 36-city Country On Tour.
The trek, which kicks off June 15 in Syracuse, New York, will feature fresh changes in Luke’s set list that may surprise longtime fans.
“Obviously, I tour pretty much every year. You always want to come out with new looks. I mean, I’m really lucky to have fans — I guess repeat people that come to the show quite a bit,” Luke shares with ABC Audio. “This year, we’re playing some songs that we hadn’t played in quite a few years, songs that even were like Spring Break cuts and songs that I would go through my set and build the show [on].”
“These are songs that we look back and now, you know, we look at the streaming numbers and all that, and they’re doing great for us,” adds Luke.
However, that doesn’t mean he’s removing fan favorites like “Country Girl (Shake It For Me)” and “Play It Again.” Luke’s cognizant of the cost of concerts, and he’s prioritizing the big ol’ hits that fans want to hear.
“I’ll never be one of those artists that just kind of plays a bunch of random songs,” he says. “When people pay their hard-earned money, I want to try to play the hits that they came to see.”
When Gabrielle Union decided to go on a trip to Africa for her 50th birthday, she planned to document the experience for herself.
“Initially it was just footage for me, for my family. Being able to take my mom and my daughter, that’s three generations of Union women — I wanted that documented,” she tells ABC Audio. “My mom had never been, my daughter had obviously never been, and I knew it was going to be … important memories that I thought could probably help some of our other family members and future generations.“
Gabrielle says as she shared her plans with loved ones, she noticed they seemed very interested and realized the trip “could be a very eye-opening experience for other folks that want to make the connection.”
“I view the continent of Africa as the birth place, the origin story of all of us … the birthplace of civilization. So to not understand the continent is to not understand yourself,” she says. “I wanted to try to share as much of that experience with as many people [as possible].”
Gabrielle’s trip to Zanzibar, Namibia and Accra is documented on Gabrielle Union: My Journey to 50, airing Thursday, June 15, on BET+. The documentary captures her renaming ceremony, her visit to Nelson Mandela‘s home and her bath in Accra’s Slave River, where she says she felt connected with her ancestors.
While she hopes her trip will encourage others to learn about their ancestry, Gabrielle has no plans to continue filming her life.
“I think I probably have a newfound respect for reality TV folks,” she says, noting “it’s a little nerve-racking” to be mic’d up. “There’s not going to be a ton of this in my future … but for this particular trip, I’m glad that I dug my way through.”
