(RICHMOND, Va.) — One man is dead after being shot inside of a Richmond, Virginia, hospital early Wednesday morning. Another man, the alleged shooter, is in custody.
VCU and Richmond Police responded to a call that came in at about 12:04 a.m. about shots fired inside VCU Medical Center North Hospital.
A fight broke out between two men resulting in one shooting the other, police said.
A lockdown at the hospital was lifted and no other injuries were reported. Police said no patients were in danger and there was no indication that patients were involved, according to ABC affiliate WRIC-TV.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Philadelphia 8, Toronto 4
Atlanta 9, Boston 3
San Diego 6, Minnesota 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Cleveland 2, Detroit 0
Baltimore 4, Tampa Bay 2
Chi White Sox 4, Kansas City 2
NY Yankees 10, Oakland 5
Houston 3, LA Angels 1
Seattle 5, Texas 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Colorado 10, Pittsburgh 1
Cincinnati 7, NY Mets 6
LA Dodgers 6, Milwaukee 2
St. Louis 6, Chi Cubs 4
San Francisco 4, Washington 1
Miami 6, Arizona 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
Philadelphia 115, Boston 103 (Philadelphia leads 3-2)
Denver 118, Phoenix 102 (Denver leads 3-2)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Carolina 6, New Jersey 1 (Carolina leads 3-1)
Dallas 6, Seattle 3 (Series tied 2-2)
(NEW YORK) — Although it’s been over 20 years since Marisa Bardach Ramel’s mom Sally died in 2002, the Colorado-based author said she’s caught by surprise every year when Mother’s Day rolls around.
“Each year, I think I’m far enough away from it where it’s not going to bother me, and each year, it bothers me,” Bardach Ramel said of the holiday’s impact on her grief journey.
Early on, Bardach Ramel said she couldn’t walk into a drugstore this time of year without being bombarded with Mother’s Day reminders and messages. The ubiquitous marketing has since shifted online, but in 2019, she also noticed something new: A U.K. based florist started to let customers opt out of Mother’s Day emails — and other companies began to follow suit.
“I’m part of a lot of motherless daughters groups through Facebook, and there was a lot of hubbub in those groups of all of us motherless daughters being like, ‘Oh my gosh, people see us, people know that we exist. People know that this isn’t a happy holiday for some of us,'” Bardach Ramel told ABC News’ Good Morning America.
For Bardach Ramel, the Mother’s Day marketing emails don’t bother her as much as social media posts and tributes, but as she pointed out, grief doesn’t look the same for everyone, and it can change over time.
“It depends on where you are in your personal journey with your grief. But I think overall, it’s nice to have options,” the mom of two said.
Ron Hill, the Dean’s Professor of Marketing and Public Policy at American University in Washington, D.C., said the onslaught of marketing emails can trigger potential emotional reactions for some people.
“Holidays like this can be overwhelming for people … What happens if we’re not a mother? What happens if a mother [is no longer living]? There are lots of reasons why we might want to give people an opportunity not to have to listen to these messages, because they don’t fit,” Hill said.
“Since we get so many of these messages, the ability to not get some of them that aren’t targeted properly to us really can make a difference, because it reduces the clutter,” Hill added.
Some of the companies offering the option to opt out include beverage retailer Boisson, the graphic design platform Canva and the delivery service company DoorDash, which told GMA it’s had more than 80,000 consumers opt out of Mother’s Day marketing this year since emails started getting sent out at the end of April.
Fenot Tekle is the global head of communications at Canva and told GMA the Australian company started sending out opt-out emails to subscribers last year, and repeated the strategy again this year.
“Our core values are about being a force for good, and we, in this instance, prioritize being a good human and showing sensitivity to our community,” Tekle said. “Mother’s Day seemed like one that really does have a lot of emotions around it, and so we started with that holiday, but have expanded into other areas as well.”
The trend has caught on and doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon.
Bardach Ramel said she noticed “with COVID in 2020, that’s when a lot of companies really joined in on that effort to be sensitive.”
“Because there was just so much loss, I think every company, when they went to send any kind of communication, whether it was through email or social media, just took that extra step of sensitivity because loss was affecting so many people. Loss became so much more universal,” she said.
Hill agreed, telling GMA, “My guess [is] it will continue. I think this is a recent attempt to try to connect with consumers in a way that shows a positive emotional response to the person.”
Tekle said Canva is planning to roll out similar marketing efforts seasonally and with other holidays too, such as Father’s Day and Christmas, as part of a larger push to be more inclusive.
“There’s a recognition that we’re really acting in an empathy-first way in our marketing efforts, and at the end of the day, I think that resonates with people and gives them a good sense of who we are as a company and what we stand for,” Tekle said.
“I think more and more companies are thinking about how to be more inclusive in the way they market to their audiences,” Tekle added. “It’s no longer sort of a ‘nice-to-have’ to be inclusive in the work that you’re doing. It’s table stakes. And this belief is an extension of that effort.”
For customers, Hill explained that opting out can be an empowering move and restore a semblance of control for people.
“We tend to feel that we’re inundated by marketers and these kinds of promotions and communications,” Hill said. “By marketers giving us some agency, they actually allow us to feel more empowered and then we can remove some of those things that we really aren’t very interested in.”
Bardach Ramel also pointed out that as much as it can be healthy to opt out, there’s also a case to be made about facing one’s grief triggers when time has passed.
“The truth is, we can never opt out of Mother’s Day fully,” she said.
She added, “I don’t think we should avoid all the triggers. Because we have a lot of emotions, and grief especially has a lot of emotions. And we need to feel them at some point. It’s important to feel them. Otherwise we just keep shoving them down.”
(WASHINGTON) — A high-stakes meeting Tuesday between President Joe Biden and congressional leaders on the debt ceiling ended with no solution as the nation barrels toward a June 1 deadline to reach a deal or risk default.
“Everybody in this meeting reiterated the positions they were at. I didn’t see any new movement,” House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., told reporters as he left the White House.
Biden, who later labeled the meeting “productive,” told reporters he’ll sit down with the leaders again on Friday and their staffs will meet daily in the interim to continue discussions.
When asked about the short time left to reach a deal, he said he’d skip next week’s long-scheduled trip to Japan to meet with G-7 leaders if necessary.
“I’m still committed,” he said of the trip. “But obviously this is the single most important thing that is on the agenda.”
Both parties dug into their familiar talking points as they emerged from the short meeting, with each side stating the other has the responsibility to act.
“The House raised the debt limit, the Senate has not and the president hadn’t been negotiating,” McCarthy said, pointing to the Save, Limit, Grow Act narrowly passed last month to raise the debt ceiling in exchange for reducing funding for federal agencies to 2022 fiscal year levels and limiting growth in government spending to 1% per year.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries left the meeting with a message to their Republican counterparts to “take default off the table.”
“The bottom line is very simple. There are large differences between the parties,” Schumer said of the two 2024 budget proposals offered by Biden and by House Republicans.
“We can try to come together on those in a budget and appropriations process, but to use the risk of default, with all the dangers that has for the American people, as a hostage and say it’s my way or no way … is dangerous,” Schumer added.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell categorically declared the U.S. would “never default.”
“It never has, and it never will,” McConnell said. “However, elections have consequences. We now have divided government.”
Biden said he was “pleased” by McConnell’s comments and said “everyone in the meeting understood the risk of default.”
Biden has said raising the debt ceiling is non-negotiable, and told reporters he was considering the 14th Amendment to get around the debt ceiling and continue borrowing money — a solution Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told ABC would risk an “unconstitutional crisis” — but that it would take time to get litigated.
While both sides still seemed miles apart on a debt ceiling fix, a rare point of agreement did emerge ahead of the meeting: opposition to a short-term solution.
“He’s gotta stop ignoring problems,” McCarthy said about Biden before the meeting Tuesday. “And why continue to kick the can down the road? Let’s solve it now.”
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during the daily briefing, “A short-term extension is not our plan, either. That is not our plan.”
Jean-Pierre reiterated the Biden administration’s view that it is Congress’ duty to enact a clean raise to the debt ceiling without conditions.
McCarthy said he believed a deal in principle on the matter is needed by next week in order to avert default, which Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warns could come as soon as June 1 though there’s still uncertainty about the exact date when the government would be unable to pay all of its bills.
Administration officials have warned adversaries like China and Russia could take advantage if the U.S. were to default, and economists state there would be wide-reaching impacts that could trigger a global financial crisis.
“It’s widely agreed that financial and economic chaos would ensue,” Yellen said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week”.
If the U.S. were to default for the first time in history, Americans are split on who would bear responsibility.
A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll found 39% would mainly blame the Republicans in Congress, while virtually as many, 36%, say they’d mainly blame Biden. Sixteen percent volunteer that they’d blame both parties equally.
ABC News’ Ben Gittleson, Jay O’Brien and Gabe Ferris contributed to this report.
Kim Hairston/The Baltimore Sun/Tribune News Service via Getty Images
(BALTIMORE) — Attorneys Ben Crump and Adam Slater announced that they plan to file lawsuits on behalf of the Baltimore Archdiocese sexual abuse victims starting Oct. 1, when the Maryland Child Victims Act of 2023 goes into effect.
The law, signed by Gov. Wes Moore last month, repealed the statute of limitations concerning damages in civil lawsuits regarding child sexual abuse claims.
During a press conference Tuesday, the attorneys praised the law and encouraged other states to take similar action.
“Hopefully, prayerfully other states will follow because it just didn’t happen in the state of Maryland as we all know,” Crump said.
“There’s so much anger in my life. So much hate,” said victim Marc Floto. “I just hope I can help somebody else understand that they can come forward and talk, or help somebody else young.”
Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown released a report last month accusing 156 priests and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore of sexually abusing more than 600 children.
Most of the alleged abusers are deceased, according to the report, and it did not mention the victims by name – even those who spoke out publicly.
The investigation into the abuse of children in Baltimore became public in 2018 after Archbishop William E. Lori informed priests and deacons that the Archdiocese has been cooperating with the AG’s office in an “investigation of records related to the sexual abuse of children,” according to a statement released by Lori in September of that year.
Lori added, “Based on my conversations with people throughout the Archdiocese…it is clear that we are a church in crisis and that crisis is one of trust. It is my hope and prayer that this independent review and other acts of transparency by the Archdiocese will bring about greater trust in the church among those who are understandably skeptical about the church’s handling of allegations of abuse.”
The attorney general office’s investigation revealed “incontrovertible history” that “is one of pervasive and persistent abuse by priests and other Archdiocese personnel,” according to the report. “It is also a history of repeated dismissal or cover up of that abuse by the Catholic Church hierarchy.”
At the press conference, the victims spoke out about the alleged abuse they received from some of the clergy, seminarians, deacons and employees of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
Former Maryland state senator Timothy Ferguson indicated that he was sexually abused by a priest during a fishing trip when he was a young teen.
“I’m here basically to help anybody who’s out there who has not come forth, who has not reached out for help. It’s not your fault. You didn’t do anything wrong,” he said. “And you need people to get better. If it’s people that mess us up, it’s people that help us get better.”
Other victims echoed similar messages.
Tanya Allen, who alleged that she was inappropriately touched in front of the church congregation and also while she was helped into a robe, said “we’re not being silent anymore. Our voices will be heard.”
“I’m not ashamed of anything of that nature that happened to me,” she said. “I’m not the one that should be ashamed.”
The Maryland investigation became public after a two-year probe in Pennsylvania ended with a bombshell grand jury report released in August 2018, accusing hundreds of Roman Catholic priests of assaulting children.
L.S. Dunes, the band featuring My Chemical Romance‘s Frank Iero and Coheed and Cambria‘s Travis Stever, has announced a U.S. headlining tour.
The outing launches July 9 in Nashville and wraps up August 11 in Garden Grove, California. Tickets go on sale Friday, May 12, at noon local time.
For the full list of dates and all ticket info, visit LSDunes.com.
L.S. Dunes also includes Circa Survive vocalist Anthony Green, and bassist Tim Payne and drummer Tucker Rule of Thursday. The group released their debut album, Past Lives, last November.
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — A coalition in Florida launched an effort Monday to get a question on the ballot in the 2024 general election that would enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.
The group, Floridians Protecting Freedom, is proposing asking voters if they support a constitutional amendment that would allow a woman to have an abortion up to when the fetus can survive outside the womb, typically between 24 weeks’ and 28 weeks’ gestation.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, 15 states have ceased nearly all abortion services.
Florida will be the 16th state once a new six-week abortion ban is implemented — but only if the state’s current 15-week ban is upheld as legal challenges play out in court.
“No law shall prohibit, penalize, delay, or restrict abortion before viability or when necessary to protect the patient’s health, as determined by the patient’s healthcare provider,” reads the language of the proposed ballot question. “This amendment does not change the Legislature’s constitutional authority to require notification to a parent or guardian before a minor has an abortion.”
However, for it to appear on a ballot, the coalition needs to gather nearly 900,000 signatures — representing 8% of the total number of votes cast in the last presidential election — by Feb. 1, 2024.
What’s more, signatures must be collected from at least half of the state’s 28 congressional districts, according to Florida’s Constitution.
Once the Florida Secretary of State certifies that an initiative has crossed the threshold of signatures, its state’s Attorney General, Ashley Moody, is required to file a petition with the Florida Supreme Court seeking asking whether it can be included on the ballot.
However, the Attorney General can challenge the ballot initiative. In 2019, Moody challenged a ballot imitative seeking to legalize marijuana for recreational use, saying it was too long and couldn’t be adequately summarized, according to the Orlando Sun Sentinel.
“Floridians deserve the freedom to control their lives, their bodies, their health care, and their futures,” Kara Gross, legislative director at the ACLU of Florida — one of the groups in the coalition — said in a statement.
“The decision about whether and when to continue a pregnancy is one of the most, if not the most, important decisions we make. We should be free to make this decision in consultation with our medical providers and those we love and trust, without political interference.”
The governor’s office did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment.
It comes after several successful ballot initiatives related to abortion rights were launched last year.
In August, 59% of Kansas voters said “No” to repeal the right to abortion in the state’s constitution in the first state-level test since Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Meanwhile, during the November 2022 election, voters in California, Michigan and Vermont enshrined abortion rights in their constitutions while those in Kentucky and Montana states voted against further restricting access to abortion services.
Ed Sheeran is going country. The singer is set to perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards for the first time. The ceremony will stream live on Prime Video Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. ET.
Niall Horan, Coi Leray, RAYE, Mimi Webb and Portugal. The Man are among the performers on the lineup for the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year. The festival is taking place October 6-8 and October 13-15 in Austin, Texas. Tickets go on sale starting Tuesday at noon CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ACLFestival.com.
Lauren Spencer Smith is hitting the road. The singer has announced dates for the Mirror Tour, her first global headlining trek. The tour kicks off in Chicago on July 14, the same day her debut album, Mirror, comes out. Presales begin May 15, with tickets going on sale to the general public on May 19. For a full list of dates, visit tour.LaurenSpencerSmith.com.
Ed Sheeran is going country. The singer is set to perform at the Academy of Country Music Awards for the first time. The ceremony will stream live on Prime Video Thursday, May 11, at 7 p.m. ET.
Elton John marked the 300th show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour in Berlin Monday night. He commemorated the moment with a fun, Elton-themed cake that he showed off on Instagram.
Sara Bareilles and Josh Groban have been nominated for the 23rd annual Broadway.com Audience Choice Awards. Sara scored a nod for Favorite Performance of the Year (Musical) for Into the Woods, while Josh was nominated for Favorite Leading Actor in a Musical for Sweeney Todd. Voting begins Tuesday and runs through May 21 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Winners will be announced June 1.
Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette are among the headliners for the Austin City Limits Music Festival this year. The festival is taking place October 6-8 and October 13-15 in Austin, Texas. Tickets go on sale starting Tuesday at noon CT. For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit ACLFestival.com.
Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — Leaders from the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Prisons gathered on a rainy Tuesday morning in Washington to honor the sacrifice and service of fallen federal correctional officers during National Correctional Officers Week.
From May 7 to May 13, correctional officers and corrections professionals — more than two-dozen of whom have died in the line of duty — are honored for their service and sacrifice from both federal and state prisons, the Bureau of Prisons said.
“We gather together today to honor the memory of those Bureau employees who made the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty,” Bureau of Prisons Director Colete Peters told the group of family members and leaders gathered at the National Law Enforcement Memorial. “We must never forget the tragedies of the past and the corrections professional’s lives cut short while ensuring the public’s safety and working to prepare those in custody for successful reentry into our communities.”
Peters highlighted the 26 officers who have died in the line of duty throughout history. Peters highlighted the cases of Royal Cline, a corrections officer who died at USP Alcatraz in 1938 shortly after the BOP was established, and Lt. Osvaldo Albarati, who was murdered in 2013 after he was targeted by inmates on his way home from work at Metropolitan Detention Center Guaynabo in Puerto Rico.
Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told those gathered that BOP officers and employees risk their lives to ensure the safety and security of the American public.
“Our country is made better because of the dedication of the public servants that make up the Bureau of Prisons,” she said. “Those who go to work for the Bureau of Prisons, who answer the call to serve, often put themselves in harm’s way to do demanding and dangerous jobs. They go about that work quietly, often without praise or thanks, simply hoping to carry out their work protecting their communities and then return safely home to their families.”
Shane Fausey who serves as the President of the Council of Prison Locals, the largest union representing more than 30,000 federal corrections officers, applauded correctional employees as “extraordinary human beings that run towards danger when most people go the other way.”
“We take pause to remember those men and women that have died in the line of duty protecting the American way of life. We are forever grateful and indebted to them and their families,” said Fausey.
There are 159,634 federal inmates as of last Thursday, according to BOP.
