Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s tour continues to be affected by illness. After postponing their show Thursday in Columbus, Ohio, The Boss was forced to postpone shows at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut this past Sunday and at the MVP Arena in Albany, New York on Tuesday.
“Illness” was to blame for both shows’ postponements, although just like the Columbus concert, there was no revelation as to who in the band is sick.
The concerts aren’t canceled though, with both announcements noting, “We are working on rescheduling the date so please hold on to your tickets as they will be valid for the rescheduled show.”
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s next scheduled concert is supposed to happen Thursday in Philadelphia, PA.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden spoke out Monday morning in an effort to reassure Americans there is no need for panic after federal agencies stepped in following the failures of two big banks over the weekend.
“Americans can rest assured that our banking system is safe. Your deposits are safe. Let me also assure you, we will not stop at this. We’ll do whatever is needed,” Biden said from the White House.
The federal government said Sunday that all depositors at Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank will be protected and be able to get access to their money Monday morning, with the funds coming from special fund set up by the nation’s banks and from the sale of the banks’ assets, not from taxpayers.
“No losses will be borne by the taxpayers,” Biden repeated Monday.
“Because of the actions that our regulators already taken, every American should feel confident that their deposits will be there if and when they need them,” he continued. “Second, the management of these banks will be fired. If the bank is taken over by FDIC, the people running the bank should not work there anymore.”
“Third, investors in the banks will not be protected. They knowingly took a risk, and when the risk didn’t pay off, investors lose their money. That’s how capitalism works. And fourth, are important questions of how these banks got into the circumstance in the first place. We must get the full accounting of what happened and why those responsible can be held accountable,” he said.
Biden also pledged that he would take action to “reduce the risks of this happening again,” pointing the finger at the Trump administration for, according to Biden, rolling back some of the requirements the Obama administration put in place during their administration.
“Unfortunately, the last administration rolled back some of these requirements. I’m going to ask Congress and the banking regulators to strength the rules for banks, to make it less likely this kind of bank failure would happen again, and to protect American jobs and small businesses,” Biden said.
His comments echoed what he said in a statement Sunday, “I am pleased that they reached a prompt solution that protects American workers and small businesses, and keeps our financial system safe. The solution also ensures that taxpayer dollars are not put at risk.”
“The American people and American businesses can have confidence that their bank deposits will be there when they need them. I am firmly committed to holding those responsible for this mess fully accountable and to continuing our efforts to strengthen oversight and regulation of larger banks so that we are not in this position again,” he said.
His comments came just before the U.S. markets and banks open and before he heads on a previously scheduled trip to California. He did not take any questions.
A screen grab from school surveillance video obtained by ABC News appears to show an interaction between 15-year-old Marissa Barnwell and a River Bluff High School staffer on Nov. 29, 2022. — Obtained by ABC News
(LEXINGTON, S.C.) — The family of a 15-year-old Black honor student is suing her South Carolina school district, alleging she was assaulted by a school staffer who she said was upset she hadn’t stopped to acknowledge the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lawyers for the family of Marissa Barnwell, a student at River Bluff High School in Lexington, said in a federal lawsuit that on Nov. 29, 2022, Barnwell “decided to exercise her First Amendment Right to refrain from acknowledging the Pledging Allegiance in a non-disruptive manner” when an instructional assistant “physically assaulted” Marissa before taking her to the principal’s office for punishment.
The staffer, along with the school’s principal, the superintendent and the South Carolina Department of Education are also listed as defendants in the lawsuit.
Marissa and her parents Fynale and Shavell Barnwell, held a press conference on Thursday to discuss the lawsuit.
Fynale Barnwell, Marissa’s mother, said at Thursday’s press conference that her daughter called her in tears claiming that the staffer attacked her.
According to the federal lawsuit, Marissa silently walked to her class while the Pledge of Allegiance was playing on the school’s intercom when she said the staffer pushed her to the wall and “forcefully” touched her to make her comply with saying the pledge.
ABC News obtained school surveillance video that appears to show an interaction between Marissa and the staffer in a school hallway. According to the lawsuit, Marissa alleges that the principal sent Marissa back to class telling her that he would review the surveillance video footage of the alleged incident.
The lawsuit alleges that the staffer deprived Marissa of her constitutional rights and caused physical pain and emotional distress, resulting in medical bills and an inability to enjoy her life.
According to South Carolina law, the Pledge of Allegiance must be said every day at school, but those who choose not to recite it cannot be punished for not participating.
“A person who does not wish to participate may leave the classroom, may remain in his seat, or may express his non-participation in any form which does not materially infringe upon the rights of other persons or disrupt school activities,” the law states.
At Thursday’s press conference, Marissa said that she hadn’t recited the Pledge of Allegiance since the third grade after she questioned if the U.S. was living up to its promise of ensuring “liberty and justice” for all its citizens.
“The fact that this [person] attacked me and disrespected me completely just because of that. No one should ever go through that,” Marissa said. “No one should have to be in school every day and have to face this [person] and have to face the same administration that let this happen.”
“What Marissa wants is for the powers that be to do everything in their power to try to make this right and really get some accountability and justice that she deserves, not just for herself, but for others as well,” Tyler Bailey, the family’s attorney, told ABC News.
In a statement to ABC News, Lexington School District One’s chief communication officer Elizabeth “Libby” D. Roof said that the attorney representing the district is in the process of responding to the Barnwells’ lawsuit and that it will be filed in the coming weeks.
According to the family’s attorney, Lexington Police Department said they reviewed the surveillance video and decided not to pursue a case. The department did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
Marcello Hernández pretended to be Mario Lopez while Heidi Gardner played Maria Menounos or Kit Hoover, joking, “They haven’t told me yet.” The bit saw them interviewing various celebrities, like Chloe Fineman‘s Jamie Lee Curtis and Keenan Thompson‘s Mike Tyson, for Access Hollywood.
They joked Tyson was hired to handle security amid the fallout over last year’s infamous slap between Will Smith and Chris Rock. Thompson, as Tyson, also warned that things like clapping or statues of gold “will set me off.” He also joked that “all the nominees have been given tasers and all the seat fillers have been given guns and [host] Jimmy Kimmel has been given a flame thrower.”
The cold open also took another jab at disgraced representative George Santos, who was played by Bowen Yang. The politician pretended to be Tom Cruise in order to get on the red carpet and insisted, “I’m definitely Thomas Q. Cruise, star of this year’s blockbuster film Top Gun 2: Top Bottom.”
When Lopez called out his lies, Santos came clean but reminded everyone he is in Congress before walking away so he can “be everyone, everywhere all at once.”
Scream VI star Jenna Ortega hosted the show, with musical guest The 1975.
(HOUSTON, Texas) — A 3-year-old in Houston, Texas, gained access to a firearm and “unintentionally” shot and killed a 4-year-old, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said the preliminary investigation showed that the two children had been inside an apartment on Bammel North Houston Road. with one other person.
“The toddler was pronounced deceased at the scene,” he said on Twitter.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NOTE LANGUAGE) Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner at Sunday night’s 95th Annual Academy Awards, snagging almost everything: The film from Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert nabbed seven Oscars out of its leading 11 nominations, including Best Picture.
Backstage, its star Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman to win a Best Actress trophy, explained, “This is actually a historical moment, so I really have to thank the Academy for acknowledging [and] embracing diversity and true representation.”
She added, “I think this is something that we have been working so hard towards for a very long time. And tonight we frigging broke that glass ceiling!”
Everything‘s Best Supporting Actress Jamie Lee Curtis explained it was a “surreal and proud” moment, but she added she would have loved to see more female representation in other categories. “I think we’re getting there. We’re not anywhere near there,” she cautioned. “I think the most important thing is inclusivity and more women. I mean, basically just f***ing more women anywhere, anytime, all at once!”
Ke Huy Quan was as emotional backstage as he was on the podium accepting Best Supporting Actor for the film. The former child star of Steven Spielberg‘s Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom expressed, “During one of the commercial breaks, I ran up to Steven…and he gave me a big hug…and he says, ‘Ke, you are now an Oscar winning actor.’ And hearing him say that meant the world to me. And I still cannot believe it.”
Brendan Fraser‘s career comeback was complete with an Best Actor win for The Whale. He explained filming during COVID influenced all the nominated films. “We all lived under an existential threat, we didn’t know if there would be a tomorrow,” he said, adding the cast performed, “as if it’s the first and last time you ever will.”
(NEW YORK) — When the United States saw COVID-19 cases and deaths rise around this past Christmas and New Year’s, many Americans feared the country was in for a third winter wave.
But as quickly as both metrics went up, they also came down. Weekly cases and deaths in late winter 2022-23 are on par with what was seen in spring 2022, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Last year, the Biden administration issued a bleak warning that as many as 100 million Americans could be infected during a COVID-19 wave in the fall and winter.
However, as the third anniversary of the World Health Organization declaring the virus to be a global pandemic passes, it appears that the U.S. has survived its first winter without a massive COVID-19 surge.
Experts told ABC News that a combination of more immunity, better treatments, less severe infections and more people following mitigation measures likely played a role.
“We did not see a wave because we had a very high immunity due to infections and vaccinations,” Dr. Ali Mokdad, an epidemiologist with the University of Washington’s Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, told ABC News. “Omicron and its subvariants did not spare anyone. Also, many of the infections were minor and not reported or did not end in a hospitalization.”
Comparison between winters
During the first winter wave, weekly cases peaked at 1,714,256 the week of Jan. 13, 2021, as did weekly deaths at 23,378, according to CDC data.
Subsequently, during the second winter wave — due to the omicron variant — weekly infections reached their high point of 5,630,736 the week of Jan. 19, 2022, and weekly deaths saw a high of 17,373 the week of Feb. 2, 2022, the data shows.
By comparison, according to the CDC, the highest number of weekly cases seen during the most recent winter wave was 472,601 the week of Dec. 7, 2023 — the first time the peak has not surpassed 1 million.
Meanwhile, weekly deaths peaked at 4,448 the week of Jan. 11, 2023 — five times lower than the peak during the first winter wave and nearly four times lower than the peak during the second wave.
Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist and chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said there is some inconsistency when comparing past winter surges to this winter because there was a lack of overall testing and a declined use of home tests this winter.
However, the lower number of hospitalizations and deaths is likely a good indication of a less severe season this year compared to previous years, he said.
“Even though infections this winter were high in the community, the hospitalizations were relatively stable compared to the past few years,” Dr. Peter Chin-Hong, an infectious diseases specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told ABC News. “Many of us suspected that it wouldn’t last very long.”
More immunity
Experts told ABC News that as winters have gone by, more immunity has built up in the population.
During the first winter wave, COVID-19 vaccines were not widely available. They only began being rolled out in mid-December and only for specific groups, including health care workers and adults aged 65 and older.
By the time the second winter wave rolled around, most of the U.S. population had gotten a primary series, according to CDC data, and the first booster was available to the general population.
During this most recent winter, an updated bivalent booster is also available, which — although only 16.2% of the population has received it — has likely offered at least some protection.
“I think the reduction in serious diseases is increased population immunity,” Chin-Hong said. “Just the percentage of people who have been exposed and then you layer on that vaccinations.”
Last year, the CDC estimated that, as of May 2022, more than 94% of the U.S. population has COVID-19-induced antibodies either from past infection or vaccination.
Evolution of treatments
The experts said another reason this season may not have been as severe for COVID is that we have more effective treatments.
During the first winter wave, remdesivir was the only drug approved to treat patients with severe COVID cases.
However, clinical trial data was later released showing the drug did not significantly reduce the risk of mortality in severely ill patients but was more beneficial when given early in treatment.
Since then, we’ve seen the introduction of antiviral pills, including molnupiravir from Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics and Paxlovid from Pfizer.
Clinical trial data has shown Merck’s pill reduces the risk of hospitalization and death for patients who have symptoms and are at risk of severe illness by 30%, while Pfizer’s pill reduces the risk by nearly 90%.
People following mitigation measures
“I think the population’s consciousness around infectious disease is completely changed,” Brownstein told ABC News. “That wouldn’t necessarily mean for everyone but, for a large segment of the population, there’s a hyper-awareness around infectious disease that has led to significant behavior changes.”
This means that even as mask mandates and other mitigation measures have been removed, everyday Americans are being more thoughtful about staying home when sick, about wearing a mask in public situations or testing before attending a gathering, the experts say.
Chin-Hong said this is different from what he’s seen during winters before the pandemic.
“In the old days before the pandemic, people were just milling around,” he said. “And because there’s a lot of awareness that [at-home] tests may be negative early on for COVID, people just stayed home and did all the measures and isolated.”
He added that this likely also helped protect people from other diseases that were circulating this past winter including influenza and RSV.
Importance of staying vigilant
The experts told ABC News it’s important to remain vigilant because a new, more transmissible variant or a new outbreak could easily lead to another wave in the U.S.
“I think, in general, having a bunch of infections one year before helps with the next year, because you do carry across some immunity,” Chin-Hong said. “With COVID, who knows? It all depends on when people are losing immunity and what the rules are on boosting, which might happen in the fall.”
Earlier this year, it was revealed the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is considering a new COVID-19 vaccine strategy that would see Americans getting a single annual shot, similar to the flu vaccine.
According to briefing documents, the new approach would simplify public health messaging on when to get COVID vaccines, with the hope that making the guidance easier for people to understand could potentially increase vaccination rates in the U.S.
“I think that ultimately the trend will likely be towards less and less severe surges,” Brownstein said. “I don’t think it’s definitively predicted that we’ll always see smaller surges. There’ll be some variation that results from the factors of what variants circulating, what level of immunization is in the population, behavior.”
He continued, “So we can’t fully predict, but the overall trend over the coming year should be towards milder and milder surges.”
(SEOUL, South Korea) — North Korea claimed to have launched two strategic cruise missiles from a submarine into the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, on Sunday, but the South Korean military said they detected “one unidentified missile fired from North Korea’s submarine vessel near North’s port city of Sinpo.”
The missile test took place about 24 hours before the U.S. and South Korea’s joint forces started their annual 11-day military exercises, planned to be the biggest war games in five years.
The launches also come alongside a historic security pact partnership to strengthen military capabilities to counter China’s attempts to dominate in the Pacific, a pact allowing allies to share defense technologies and equip Australian forces with nuclear-powered submarines.
President Joe Biden is meeting on Monday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
China has slammed the deal as an “Anglo-Saxon” bloc which “involves the illegal transfer of nuclear weapons material” that makes it “essentially an act of nuclear proliferation,” a concern that North Korea has also voiced.
“North Korea had two reasons to test yesterday. One was to respond early to U.S.-South Korea war games and the other had Monday’s Biden-Albanese meeting in mind. They want to say to the world that they too are developing submarine-launched ballistic missiles and their submarine based military power could be dangerous, too,” Go Myong-Hyun, Research Fellow at Seoul-based Asan Institute, told ABC News.
While North Korea is seen as being years away from developing nuclear-powered submarines, they have been testing diesel-powered submarines that could carry missiles topped with nuclear warheads.
“AUKUS is a good excuse for North Korea to justify their nuclear ambitions. Although the AUKUS submarines don’t carry nuclear warheads like the ones that Pyongyang hopes to develop, the subs are nuclear powered. So North Korea could make a case that it’s a double standard,” Park Won-gon, Ewha Womans University Professor of North Korea Studies, told ABC News.
The nuclear-powered submarines announced on Monday allows the transfer of technology to Australia which is a sensitive issue because U.S. and British submarines are equipped with reactors that use uranium enriched above 90 percent, considered “weapons-grade.”
According to the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons under the United Nations Treaty, Australia is prohibited from manufacturing or acquiring nuclear weapons with an exception of use in naval reactors. Other countries have been under watch for exploiting this loophole which could allow using the fuels to develop nuclear arms instead of use in reactors.
(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration is expected to approve a roughly $8 billion oil drilling project in Alaska, which is a significant climate decision for the administration that had pledged to move away from fossil fuels, a source confirms to ABC News.
The White House, however, is pushing back, saying no final decision has been made on the ConocoPhillips Willow Project proposal.
“President Biden is delivering on the most aggressive climate agenda of any U.S. president in history and spurring an unprecedented expansion of clean energy. The Department of the Interior will make an independent decision on the Willow Project,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement Saturday. “No final decisions have been made – anyone who says there has been a final decision is wrong.”
The Willow Project was initially approved in 2020 by the Trump administration, but a federal judge threw out the permits for the oil project in August 2021, faulting the way the federal government had assessed its environmental impact. The Interior Department, which is responsible for the final decision on whether to approve the project, has said it has “substantial concerns” about the environmental impact of the project, including the amount of greenhouse gas emissions it would generate and impacts to local wildlife.
The Willow Project would generate 180,000 barrels of oil per day at its peak– 600 million over the project’s lifetime – and is expected to create as many as 2,500 construction jobs and 300 permanent jobs near the village of Nuiqsut on Alaska’s North Slope, according to ConocoPhillips.
Multiple proposals have been put forth, including one from the Bureau of Land Management, that reduced the number of drilling sites, but it’s unclear which would be the final version.
It’s drawn bipartisan support from the Alaska Congressional delegation, who met with Biden at the White House last week.
“Encouraging news on Willow today–seems like the Administration is taking Alaskans’ support for this project seriously. I don’t want to jinx anything, but I hope the Admin stays the course and reapproves this project. Alaskans are watching!” Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola tweeted Friday night.
But the decision could prove problematic for Biden heading into an expected 2024 re-election bid, given his pledge during the 2020 campaign to allow “no more drilling on federal lands, period.”
Climate groups have called the project a potential “carbon bomb” and said it would lock in fossil fuel production that the world needs to move away from.
Environmental impact statements for the project estimate it will generate up to 287 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over 30 years.
Videos from activists calling on Biden to block Willow have prompted a viral trend on TikTok, as the hashtag #StopWillow has garnered almost 150 million views.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Transportation will send proposed legislation to Congress Monday asking legislators to ban so-called family seating fees on flights.
The proposal follows calls from President Joe Biden to get rid of “junk fees” — including extra costs on airline tickets so families can sit together. The proposal would prohibit airlines from charging a fee or additional costs on kid’s seats in the same service class as an accompanying adult.
DOT officials conducted a review last year of airline seating policies, encouraging carriers to “review and improved” their policies to ensure kids can sit near parents at no additional cost.
“Upon review of the airlines’ seating policies, DOT remains concerned that airlines’ policies do not guarantee adjacent seats for young children traveling with a family member and that airlines do not guarantee the adjacent seating at no additional cost,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a letter to House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The proposed legislation also follows DOT’s recently released a family seating dashboard, which outlines which airlines will allow parents to sit with their kids at no extra cost.
To receive a “green check” on DOT’s dashboard, an airline must guarantee that parents can sit next to children aged 13 and younger at no additional cost if adjacent seats are available when they book. Airlines must include that guarantee as part of their customer service plan so that it is backstopped by USDOT enforcement if they fail to deliver, DOT said.
Alaska Airlines, American Airlines and Frontier Airlines have the green light from DOT on their family seating policies.
