Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Angelina Jolie took to Instagram on Monday to pay tribute to her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, who died of breast and ovarian cancer in 2007, at age 56.
“Tomorrow would have been my mother’s 73rd birthday. She passed away 15 years ago, after a long struggle with breast and ovarian cancer,” the post, accompanied by a photo of Jolie as a young girl posing with her mother, began.
“In June, I will be a month away from the age when she was diagnosed,” Jolie, 47, continued. “I have had preventive surgeries to try to lessen chances but I continue to have check ups.”
She went on to write, “My mom loved [Jimi] Hendrix. And would always sign her letters Kiss the Sky. It took on new meaning after she passed. Sending my love to those who have also lost loved ones and strength to those who are fighting at this very moment for their lives and the lives of those they love.”
“And to other women, please take the time to look after yourself and go for your mammograms and blood tests or ultrasounds, particularly if you have a family history of cancer,” the Maleficent star added.
Jolie elected to have a double mastectomy in 2013 after being diagnosed with the BRCA1 gene, which put her at high risk for developing breast cancer.
Following an ovarian cancer scare two years later, she had her ovaries and fallopian tubes removed in a hysterectomy procedure.
“I simply feel I made choices to improve my odds of being here to see my children grow into adults, and of meeting my grandchildren,” Jolie wrote in a 2019 Time magazine essay. “My hope is to give as many years as I can to their lives, and to be here for them.”
(NEW YORK) — More than a year after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of neighboring Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, the countries are fighting for control of areas in eastern and southern Ukraine.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s forces are readying a spring counteroffensive, but Putin appears to be preparing for a long and bloody war.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
May 09, 12:05 AM EDT
Air raid sirens go off across Ukraine, air defense activated in Kyiv
Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine around 5 a.m. local time Tuesday.
Air defense systems were activated in the Kyiv region.
The Russian airstrike on Kyiv was the “fifth air attack” on the capital since the beginning of May, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.
About 15 Russian missiles were launched at Kyiv and intercepted by the Ukrainian air defenses around Kyiv with “no casualties and major damage,” the city military administration added.
May 08, 1:45 AM EDT
4 injured in Kyiv from drone debris in Russian strike
Four people were injured from falling debris after a Russian drone was shot down above Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Three of the people injured were at the site of the explosion in Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv, and one was in the Svyatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, where wreckage fell on a residential building, the mayor added.
Debris also fell on runway at the Zhulyany airport in the Solomyansky district of Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.
In Odesa, Russian troops launched a missile attack from strategic aircraft, Ukrainian Operational Command South said on Facebook. The X-22-type rockets used by the Russians were “aimed at one of the food companies and recreational zones on the Black Sea coast,” the Operational Command South said.
Rescue services are working to put fires out, and no information about the number of people injured was immediately available, they added.
-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Natalia Kushni
May 08, 1:45 AM EDT
4 injured in Kyiv from drone debris in Russian strike
Four people were injured from falling debris after a Russian drone was shot down above Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram.
Three of the people injured were at the site of the explosion in Solomyanskyi district of Kyiv, and one was in the Svyatoshynskyi district of Kyiv, where wreckage fell on a residential building, the mayor added.
Debris also fell on runway at the Zhulyany airport in the Solomyansky district of Kyiv, the head of the Kyiv City Military Administration Serhiy Popko said on Telegram.
In Odesa, Russian troops launched a missile attack from strategic aircraft, Ukrainian Operational Command South said on Facebook. The X-22-type rockets used by the Russians were “aimed at one of the food companies and recreational zones on the Black Sea coast,” the Operational Command South said.
Rescue services are working to put fires out, and no information about the number of people injured was immediately available, they added.
-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Natalia Kushniir
May 07, 5:21 PM EDT
Russia launches widespread air attack on Ukraine
Air alert sirens went off in several regions of Ukraine late Sunday evening as Russian forces launched a widespread airstrike on the country.
Air alert sirens went off in central and southeastern Ukraine, including in the Odesa, Kyiv, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions of Ukraine.
Kh-22 missiles were launched toward Odesa, unofficial Telegram channels reported. The air defense systems were activated in response to the attack and repeated explosions were heard in the area, unofficial channels reported.
-ABC News’ Max Uzol and Anastasia Bagaeva
May 07, 9:45 AM EDT
Leader of Russian mercenary group appears to back down from threats of mutiny
The leader of of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group appeared on Sunday to ditch plans to withdraw his forces from Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine after receiving promises overnight that they would get all the arms needed to capture the devastated city.
Yevgeny Prigozhin said in a new audio message that the Kremlin has promised to resupply his Wagner Private Military Company with as much ammunition and weapons as they need.
Prigozhin said that for the first time he received a response to the situation regarding the shortage of ammunition. He said on Saturday night that the relevant companies promised to deliver everything necessary to continue the offensive in Bakhmut.
“Overnight we received a combat order, for the first time in all this time,” Prigozhin said. “We have been promised as much ammunition and weapons as we need to continue further operations. We have been promised that everything needed to prevent the enemy from cutting us off (from supplies) will be deployed on the flank,” he added.
In addition, Russian Army Gen. Sergei Surovikin will personally deal with issues of interaction between the Wagner PMC and the Ministry of Defense, Prigozhin said. “This is the only man with the star of an army general who knows how to fight,” Prigozhin said of the Russian Defense Ministry assigning Surovikin to work alongside Wagner.
Surovikin commanded Russia’s Ukraine campaign for several months before the chief of the General Staff, Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, was given overall operational command above him.
May 05, 12:03 PM EDT
Russian official warns it is ‘on the edge’ of a conflict with US
Russia is ready to use all means at its disposal to prevent anyone from encroaching on the security of the country in response to the recent drone attacks targeting the Kremlin, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said in an interview on Russia’s Channel One Thursday.
Ryabkov said Washington is using its “puppets” in Kyiv to stage more and more dangerous provocations.
“I think that any reasonable person in any country will understand that the United States continues its escalatory policies and uses its subordinates in Kyiv, their puppets, to stage and carry out more and more audacious, more and more dangerous, acts of provocation,” he said.
He went on to say that U.S. officials may deny any responsibility and involvement in the attacks but nobody will believe them.
“We are working to prevent relations with the U.S. from plunging into the abyss of an open armed conflict. We are already standing on the edge, on the edge of this precipice,” he said.
May 05, 9:06 AM EDT
Wagner announces retreat from Bakhmut; blames Russian Defense Ministry
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group said it will retreat from Bakhmut because of severe shortages in ammunition, according to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the group’s leader. He said his forces would withdraw on May 10, blaming Russia’s defense ministry for the retreat.
Wagner has played a crucial role for months in the fighting for Bakhmut, sustaining huge casualties. The announcement and the suggestion of bitter infighting within Russia’s military forces signals division and disorganization just as Russia is bracing for a major Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Prigozhin said he was taking the decision in retaliation against Russia’s military leadership, which he accused of deliberately starving his troops of ammunition because they are jealous of Wagner’s success.
Prigozhin and Russia’s defense ministry have been in a one-sided public feud for months. Prigozhin claims it’s now reached a breaking point, delivering a blistering attack on Russia’s senior military command in the video announcing the withdrawal. He accused them of being “cowards” and of denying Russians a victory in Bakhmut because of their “petty envy.”
-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell
May 04, 12:15 PM EDT
Zelenskyy makes unannounced visit to The Hague
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for a war crimes tribunal in a surprise visit to The Hague on Thursday.
“There must be accountability for this crime. And this can only be achieved through the tribunal. … We must transform the experience of the Nuremberg trials into new operational rules. And that is why we advocate the creation of such a tribunal. We want to continue the tradition of mandatory punishment for such crimes as a guarantee of non-repetition of such aggression,” Zelenskyy said.
-ABC News’ Will Gretsky
May 04, 8:21 AM EDT
US calls Kremlin drone accusation ‘ludicrous’
Responding to Russia’s accusation that the U.S. was behind Wednesday’s drone attack on the Kremlin, White House spokesperson John Kirby said it was a “ludicrous claim.”
“There’s a word that comes to mind that I’m obviously not — not appropriate to using on national TV,” Kirby said on CNN on Thursday.
“I will just tell you Mr. Peskov is lying, and I mean, that’s obviously, it’s a ludicrous claim,” he added. “The United States had nothing to do with this. We don’t even know exactly what happened here, Kaitlin. But I can assure you, the United States had no role in it whatsoever.”
Kirby said the U.S. does not have any information on who is behind the strike but are “trying to learn more about this as best we can.”
May 04, 6:44 AM EDT
Kremlin blames US for drone attack in Moscow
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman accused the United States of being involved in the drone attack on the Kremlin on Wednesday.
“We understand well that the decision about such terror attacks are taken not in Kyiv, but in Washington,” Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a briefing. “Often targets are determined not in Kyiv but in Washington. They don’t Kyiv the right everytime in choosing the means. In Washington they also clearly understand that we know that.”
He added, “Without question. Such decisions — the determining of targets and means — are all dictated to Kyiv from Washington.”
Peskov said it was important that Washington understand the “danger” of such involvement in an attack.
May 04, 12:08 AM EDT
Russia attacks Kyiv with drones and missiles; no casualties or injuries reported
Russian forces launched a “complex air strike” with “drones and missiles” on Kyiv early Thursday morning, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.
The air raid siren went off in Kyiv for three and a half hours during the attack, the Kyiv City Military Administration said.
There were no casualties or injuries from the strikes.
“According to preliminary information, all the missiles and UAVs were destroyed,” the Kyiv City Military Administration added.
This was the third attack on the capitol in four days, the administration said.
May 03, 5:11 PM EDT
US Embassy in Ukraine warns of ‘ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks’
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine sent an alert to Americans on Wednesday warning of an “ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks,” including in Kyiv.
“In light of the recent uptick in strikes across Ukraine and inflammatory rhetoric from Moscow, the Department of State cautions U.S. citizens of an ongoing heightened threat of missile attacks, including in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast,” the alert stated.
The U.S. Embassy urged U.S. citizens to follow guidance from local authorities and to observe air alarms and shelter appropriately.
May 03, 2:43 PM EDT
At least 21 killed in Kherson region shelling: Ukrainian officials
At least 21 people were killed and 48 injured by shelling in the Kherson region on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said, as the death toll continues to rise.
A railway station and market in the city of Kherson were hit in strikes, which occurred across the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, officials said.
“A railway station and a crossing, a house, a hardware store, a grocery supermarket, a gas station — do you know what unites these places? The bloody trail that [Russia] leaves with its shells, killing civilians in Kherson and Kherson region,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Twitter.
All the victims were civilians, Zelenskyy said.
An ambulance was also damaged in the strikes, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin.
“No military objects here. Just civilians, including children,” Kostin said on Twitter.
At least one person was killed and three injured in the strike on the railway station, officials previously said.
May 03, 2:00 PM EDT
White House announces $300M military aid package for Ukraine
The Biden administration has announced a new $300 million military aid package for Ukraine.
The package includes additional ammunition for U.S.-provided High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, as well as “additional howitzers, artillery and mortar rounds, and anti-armor capabilities that Ukraine is using to push back against Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression,” the Department of Defense said in a statement.
This marks the Biden administration’s 37th drawdown of equipment from Defense Department inventories for Ukraine since August 2021.
May 03, 11:50 AM EDT
At least 12 killed in Kherson shelling: Ukrainian officials
At least 12 people were killed and 22 injured by shelling in Kherson on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said.
A market and railway station were hit in the strikes in the southern Ukrainian city, according to Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin. An ambulance was also damaged, he said.
“No military objects here. Just civilians, including children,” Kostin said on Twitter.
At least one person was killed and three injured in the strike on the railway station, officials said.
Four additional fatalities were reported from shelling throughout the Kherson region Wednesday, officials said.
May 03, 9:48 AM EDT
Zelenskyy denies involvement in Kremlin attack
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected Russia’s claim that his country was involved in the drone attack on the Kremlin early Wednesday.
Zelenskyy, who is currently in Finland, said the claim was the prelude to a “large-scale terrorist attack” from Russia.
“First of all, Ukraine wages an exclusively defensive war and does not attack targets on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Zelenskyy said in a statement. “What for? This does not solve any military issue. But it gives RF grounds to justify its attacks on civilians.”
Zelenskyy went on to say that various attacks in Russia could be the result of “guerrilla activities of local resistance forces.”
May 03, 8:31 AM EDT
Russia says Ukraine tried to kill Putin in Kremlin with two drones
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman has accused Ukraine of trying to strike Putin’s residence in the Kremlin with two drones overnight, but said they were brought down before they could reach their target.
No injuries were reported, Kremlin officials said. Putin was not at the residence at the time, they said.
Videos released on official social media channels appeared to show a drone strike the roof of the Senate Palace at the Kremlin.
The Kremlin said “the Russian side reserves the right to retaliate whenever and wherever it deems necessary.”
May 03, 1:30 AM EDT
Ukrainian drone hits Russian port, causing fire
A Ukrainian drone hit a Tamanneftegaz fuel tank in the Port of Taman, Russia, at about 2:30 a.m. local time Wednesday, Kirill Fedorov, a pro-Russian blogger, said on his Telegram channel. The Port of Taman is in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait.
The fire could be seen in a video circulating online.
Local authorities confirmed the fire, which “has been assigned the highest rank,” the governor of the region said. A tank with petroleum products was hit by the drone and is burning, the governor said. No injuries were reported and there was no threat to residents, he added on his Telegram channel.
May 02, 11:45 PM EDT
All drones targeting Kyiv shot down; third attack on capital in six days
All drones that were used by Russians to attack Kyiv early Wednesday morning local time were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems, the Kyiv City Military Administration said on Telegram.
There were no reported injuries or casualties, the military administration said.
This was the third attack on Kyiv in six days, the administration added.
May 02, 6:58 PM EDT
Explosions reported in Kyiv
Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.
The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.
S-300 missiles belonging to Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit in Zaporizhzhia, the spokesman of the Odesa Regional Military Administration, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Telegram.
Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol
May 02, 6:12 PM EDT
Explosions reported in Kyiv
Explosions were reported in Kyiv around 1:00 a.m. Wednesday local time, according to Suspilne, the Ukrainian public broadcaster.
The Ukrainian Air Defense Forces were activated in response, the Kyiv City Military Administration reported.
Reports of damage, and number of people injured or killed were not immediately available.
-ABC News’ Ellie Kaufman and Max Uzol
May 02, 12:38 PM EDT
Marine veteran killed while evacuating civilians in Ukraine
A 26-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran was killed in a mortar strike last month in Ukraine while working to evacuate civilians, his family confirmed to ABC News this week.
Cooper Andrews died on April 19 in the Bakhmut area, his cousin Willow Pastard, who is speaking on his family’s behalf, told ABC News.
The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine, though did not provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.”
“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
At least nine deaths of U.S. citizens who have volunteered to fight in Ukraine have been officially reported since the war began last year, according to the State Department.
-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford
May 01, 3:54 PM EDT
2 dead, 40 wounded in latest Russian strikes
Two men were killed and at least 40 people, including children, were injured after Russian missiles struck Pavlograd, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other officials said.
Serhii Lysak, the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk, said 19 high-rise buildings, 25 private houses, six schools and preschool education institutions and five shops were hit by the missiles.
Five children were among the wounded officials said. The youngest victim is 8 years old, according to officials.
-ABC News’ Wil Gretsky
May 01, 3:07 PM EDT
Russia suffered 100K casualties in Bakhmut since December: White House
The U.S. estimates that Russia has suffered over 100,000 casualties, including over 20,000 killed in action, from the battles in Bakhmut since December, White House spokesman John Kirby said Monday
Half of the 20,000 killed in action were members of the Russian-backed private military Wagner Group, according to Kirby. The majority of Wagner fighters killed were allegedly ex-convicts, according to Kirby.
Kirby said that the data came from “some downgraded intelligence,” that the U.S. has been able to collect. He was unable to provide data on deaths of Ukrainian fighters.
Kirby emphasized that the U.S. thinks Bakhmut holds “very little strategic value for Russia” and if captured by Russia it “would absolutely not alter the course of the war in Russia’s favor.”
-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson
May 01, 1:41 PM EDT
State Department confirms US citizen dies in Ukraine
The State Department announced Monday that an American citizen died in Ukraine.
“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.
The State Department declined to provide more details or an identity “out of respect for the family’s privacy during this difficult time.” It is not immediately clear when the death took place.
At least 10 U.S. citizen deaths in Ukraine have been officially confirmed by the State Department since the war began last year. The majority of those deaths were of Americans who volunteered to fight alongside Ukrainians, according to officials.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Monday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
AMERICAN LEAGUE
LA Angels 6, Houston 4
Texas 2, Seattle 1
Detroit 6, Cleveland 2
Tampa Bay 3, Baltimore 0
NY Yankees 7, Oakland 2
Kansas City 12, Chi White Sox 6
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Arizona 5, Miami 2
Washington 5, San Francisco 1
Milwaukee 9, LA Dodgers 3
St. Louis 3, Chi Cubs 1
Pittsburgh 2, Colorado 0
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION PLAYOFFS
LA Lakers 104, Golden State 101 (LA leads 3-1)
Miami 109, New York 101 (Miami leads 3-1)
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Vegas 5, Edmonton 1 (Vegas leads 2-1)
(NEW YORK) — An 8-year-old boy survived for two full days in a Michigan state park after he disappeared while collecting firewood Saturday on a family camping trip.
Search party volunteers found 8-year-old Nante Niemi at 1:30 p.m. local time on Monday, and the boy has since been reunited with his family, according to the Michigan State Police.
Niemi likely got lost while gathering firewood near his family’s campsite in Michigan’s Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park, according to a press release from the Michigan State Police. Last seen around 1 p.m. on Saturday, Niemi was rescued roughly two miles from his campsite after 48 hours on Monday.
“He had braved the elements by taking shelter under a log where he was ultimately found,” the press release noted.
Eli Talsma, an 18-year-old who aided in the rescue, told ABC News that Niemi survived for two days without eating or drinking anything.
Talsma said Niemi gathered branches and leaves to cover himself at night. When he saw a helicopter buzzing overhead at one point, Niemi attempted to signal to it, but the pilot appeared not to see him, according to Talsma.
Talsma said Niemi avoided drinking the water in the forest, fearing getting sick. However, he “ate” a few handfuls of snow – his only sustenance over the two-day period, said Talsma.
“If you didn’t know he was in the woods for two days, you wouldn’t know,” Talsma said about the moment rescuers found Niemi under a log.
“I mean, he was just normal. Nante was just walking around. He was talking. He was asking questions. He said he wasn’t hungry,” Talsma said. “He was perfectly fine, but we did give him a Cliff Bar and a banana and some water.”
Michelle Robinson, a Michigan State Police spokeswoman, said she did not know how the boy survived alone, but said Niemi was “in good health and reunited with his family.”
Over 150 search and rescue personnel participated in the search for Niemi, which covered 40 square miles of a remote and hilly portion of Michigan’s upper peninsula. Volunteers from Michigan and Wisconsin also aided in the successful search.
Steve Lombardo, the elementary school principal of the Hurley School District in Wisconsin, said the announcement about Niemi’s safe rescue prompted cheers through the K-12 school building, which had been on edge since the second-grader’s disappearance.
“We announced it to the entire school, and as my colleague said, it was like being at a big football game with our winning touchdown being scored,” Lombardo told ABC News. “The entire school lit up in cheers, and everybody was just relieved and thankful.”
(ALLEN, Texas) — A mom of two is recounting the harrowing moments she and other shoppers huddled for safety as a mass shooting unfolded at the Allen Premium Outlets in Allen, Texas, on Saturday afternoon.
Racquel Lee told ABC News she was shopping alone when a “spraying” of gunfire rang out.
“I see a woman running in the parking lot, or trying to get to the parking lot. And she’s by our window — and I see her get gunned down,” Lee said.
“All of us were just paralyzed,” she said. “I just remember crouching down. … There was nowhere to run in the store.”
Lee said a store associate then led her and 11 other shoppers to an employee area to hide as the sound of the shots moved closer.
“We’re huddled in this bathroom closet. And one of the men in the bathroom closet was trying to open the door [to get the employee, who hadn’t joined them in the safe area], and we kept begging him not to,” Lee said. “Shots are still going on. So in my mind, we’re next. He’s coming in here, and we’re trying to tell him, ‘Close the door.’ And he said, ‘I have to go get her.’ I didn’t realize [the employee] wasn’t with us.”
“Everyone’s trying to call 911,” Lee said. “No one could dial out and so I connect to WiFi from a store nearby, and I FaceTimed my husband at like 3:40 [p.m.] and I tried to text my family. And I said ‘Please, I love you. I hope you get this.'”
She said the group spent at least 90 minutes in that break room, not knowing if the shooting had ended.
“You’re thinking, ‘Oh God, we’re going to be next,'” she said. “I started praying. I was rocking on my knees and praying.”
“Everybody was just kind of having their own moment trying to reach loved ones,” she said. “I’m trying to text my family for what I thought was my last moments.”
Lee said she texted her husband: “Please tell everyone I love them. I can’t die like this.”
Lee said the group of 12 strangers came together to support each other.
“Every shot, you’re just, like, twitching. And I start crying, and someone’s petting my back. Then they start crying, I’m petting their back,” she said. “It didn’t matter what nationality, race, religion, color person you were. It was just everyone … everyone just collectively being in this moment together.”
Law enforcement eventually opened the door and told them to put their hands up and come out, Lee said.
“You just see bodies, bags, blood, bullets,” Lee said. “It felt like a war zone. … I can’t unsee it.”
Eight victims were killed by the alleged gunman, who died after a confrontation with police.
“That’s the hardest — that you survive, that you made it out. But you relive it and you think of faces,” she explained.
Lee said she’s desperate to find the store employee who ushered Lee and 11 other shoppers to the staff room to hide.
“I’m really trying to find the store associate’s family. I’m thinking about how she saved — that’s the part that really upsets me, that I don’t know if she’s alive,” she said.
(ALLEN, Texas) — Just one day after the most recent mass shooting in the United States — this time at an outdoor mall in Allen, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott blamed the incident on mental health issues as he’s done with previous mass shootings in the state.
Abbott, a Republican, said addressing mental health — not tightening gun laws — can prevent shootings such as the one on Saturday, in which eight people were killed and seven injured before the suspect was fatally shot by police, Abbott said in an interview on “Fox News Sunday.”
Law enforcement sources told ABC News the alleged gunman was in the U.S. Army in 2008 but was “removed due to mental health concerns.” Investigators have found he also may have gravitated toward right-wing extremist ideology, including neo-Nazi sympathies, the sources told ABC News.
“What we’ve seen across the United States over the past year or two … is an increased number of shootings in both red states and blue states,” Abbott said on Sunday. “We’ve seen an increased number of shootings in states with easy gun laws as well as states with very strict gun laws.”
This is not the first time Abbot has blamed a growing prevalence of people with mental health issues on mass shootings. In May 2022, he also said it was behind the Uvalde elementary school shooting that left 21 people dead.
Here’s what Texas has — and hasn’t — done when it comes to addressing mental health in the state.
Texas ranks last in the U.S. when it comes to access to mental health care, including a lack of mental health services, a high number of those uninsured, and being unable to see a mental health professional due to costs, according to a recent report from nonprofit Mental Health America.
It’s not just adults suffering, but adolescents as well. The report found 60% of youth with major depression did not receive mental health treatment.
Additionally, last year, Abbott announced nearly $500 million would be moved from state agencies to support the deployment of the National Guard to the southern border as well as to support border operations.
Of that amount, $210.7 million was from Texas Health & Human Services, which oversees public mental health programs. It’s unclear if funding was cut from mental health programs:
That’s not to say nothing has been done in Texas to address mental health. In June 2022, in response to the Uvalde shooting, Abbott ordered that $5.8 million be allocated to expand the Texas Child Health Access Through Telemedicine statewide and that $4.7 million be allocated to the Health and Human Services Commission to increase multisystemic therapy, a program for juveniles with serious criminal offenses, across the state.
However, the National Mental Health Alliance of Texas is working to get Republican offices to support HB 4713, providing insurance coverage for coordinated specialty care for people under age 26 experiencing a first episode of psychosis, meaning delusions and hallucinations.
Recently an amendment was introduced by state Rep. Jeff Leach, whose district includes Allen — where the shooting took place — that makes it optional for insurance companies to cover this care.
Greg Hansch, executive director of NMHA of Texas, expressed his disappointment at the amendment passing in a statement to ABC News.
Not voting “to ensure that insurance pays for the gold standard in treatment for young people experiencing a first episode of psychosis, they are leaving significant mental health legislation on the table that could help in preventing further tragedies,” he said. “This all happened today, two days after the shooting.”
Abbott’s office did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.
Lester Cohen/Getty Images for Omnipeace Foundation
While news that Kevin Costner‘s wife of 18 years, Christine Baumgartner, had filed for divorce came as a surprise to fans, People reports it wasn’t a surprise to those closest to her.
The Yellowstone patriarch had been pivoting away from that hit show — in fact, it was just announced Yellowstone will be ending when season 5 finishes — to another Western he directed and starred in, called Horizon.
While the former show is shot in Montana, the latter was filmed in Utah.
“She wasn’t happy about it,” a source tells the magazine. “Christine wants them to spend family time at their Santa Barbara home. During filming, Kevin is not around very much. His absence has been very hard for her.”
The Dances With Wolves Oscar winner was described as “obsessed” with Horizon, even though he knew the location time was causing static at home.
Another source tells People the “in demand” Costner has been known to be particularly driven when it comes to his passion projects like Horizon, and Yellowstone‘s “success and excitement over the new project probably took his attention away from his family more than he realized.”
The 68-year-old Costner, a father of seven, had three children with Baumgartner, 49: sons Cayden, 16, and Hayes, 14, and 12-year-old daughter Grace. He was previously married to Cindy Silva from 1978 to 1994, and the pair had three children: Annie, 39, Lily, 36, and Joe, 35.
After his first divorce, Costner had son Liam, now 26, with former girlfriend Bridget Rooney.
Nicki Minaj‘s decadeslong career includes quite a few accomplishments, a lot of which were made before and with her debut album. Taking to Twitter Sunday, the rapper reminded fans of that while resharing a post that claimed her Pink Friday photoshoot wasn’t much of a topic.
“Ok but no one has discussed the LEGENDARY! Pink Friday shoot. Even though its not a cover shoot. @NICKIMINAJ #OnikaWinsAgain,” the fan wrote. Nicki retweeted it alongside the caption, “Imagine being a fashion icon b4 your debut album. Imagine performing w|Ye & Jay[-Z] in Yankee Stadium, no album out, imagine Drake, Eminem, Rihanna, Ye, WillIAm, & Natasha Bedingfield on your FIRST ALBUM.”
She continued, “bwahahaha I have to laugh. Blessings & gratitude to my supporters.”
In another post, Nicki shared a more recent statistic: #OnikaWinsAgain, which finds fans sharing her most fashionable looks, was trending.
“My legacy can never be undone. On the mood boards for the last 14 years,” she wrote in the caption. “But anyway guys let’s go back to the stats & the show footage. We’re almost there.”
Nicki dropped Pink Friday in 2010; she teased her upcoming NM5 album in one of the aforementioned tweets.
The latest episode of Yellowjackets was a harrowing one for Sophie Nélisse’s character, Shauna, and she says Harry Styles helped her get through her emotional scenes. “I was listening to, for some reason, ‘Fine Line’ by Harry Styles,” she tells Entertainment Weekly of how she was preparing between takes. “It wrecks me. I don’t know why it gets me, but I have a whole playlist of sad songs, it’s called Rough Day at the Office. From week to week it will change, but for some reason, ‘Fine Line’ gets to me.”
The Taylor Swift/Matty Healy romance rumors continue. Fans are convinced the two are sending secret messages to each other while onstage. At her concert Friday, fans captured video of Taylor mouthing, “This is about you, you know who you are. I love you.” The 1975 frontman apparently mouthed this exact phrase during his concert in the Philippines earlier this month. Matty was spotted at Taylor’s Nashville show Friday and joined her tour opener Phoebe Bridgers onstage Saturday, then stayed to watch Taylor perform again with her close pals Gigi Hadid and Lily Aldridge.
“The Ballad of Sweeney Todd (Opening),” the first single off the official Broadway cast recording of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, is available now on all streaming and digital platforms. The Broadway revival stars Josh Groban in the title role. The full album is due out later this year.
