(NEW YORK) — Tamara Walcott, a 38-year-old mother of two from Columbia, Maryland, said that if anyone had told her five years ago she’d be a world champion powerlifter, she would have laughed.
This year, Walcott won the title for the heaviest raw deadlift in the world by a woman after deadlifting 639 pounds.
Her journey to a world title began in 2018 when Walcott took up weightlifting to gain strength.
“I think one of the biggest things that kind of made me change my life and decide that I wanted to do this is that I wanted to take control of my life ” Walcott said Wednesday on ABC News’ Good Morning America. “And that’s exactly what I did, by controlling the weight in my hand.”
Over the next several years, Walcott also lost 100 pounds.
She is featured in the new issue of People as one of the magazine’s “Beyond the Scale” success stories, highlighting five different wellness journeys that celebrate non-scale victories.
Walcott said her top tip for people who want to make a change, especially in the New Year, is to set one goal each day.
“Every single day I do one thing,” she said. “One thing when I wake up that gets me one step closer to my goal.”
She continued, “Whether that’s eating healthier that day because I know I won’t be training, so I focus on nutrition. Or the days that I’m training, I focus on, alright, what are fueling your body in order to attain this lift that you have to accomplish.”
Walcott said the hardest part of her health transformation was healing her unhealthy relationship with food and that her improved mental health is her biggest accomplishment — not the physical transformation.
To stay motivated during the tough days, Walcott said she would tell herself “what you put in, is what you put out.”
To fuel her body and her workouts, Walcott said she focuses on eating protein, vegetables and complex carbohydrates like sweet potatoes.
“I just make better choices,” she said. “Motivated or not, I’m determined. I’m checking all the boxes.”
Walcott said she started her weightlifting journey by working out in her living room, even bench pressing her son, who now works out with her in the gym and whom she describes as her “hype man.”
She said she’s most proud of being a role model to her children and setting the example that anything you can dream, you can do.
“I think one of the biggest things too is my kids realize now that I can show them better than I can tell them that anything is possible,” she said.
“Beyond the Scale” is featured in the latest issue of People, on newsstands now.
(NEW YORK) — More than nine months after Russian President Vladimir Putin launched an invasion into neighboring Ukraine, the two countries are engaged in a struggle for control of areas throughout eastern and southern Ukraine.
Putin’s forces in November pulled out of key positions, retreating from Kherson as Ukrainian troops led a counteroffensive targeting the city. Russian drones have continued bombarding civilian targets throughout Ukraine, knocking out critical power infrastructure as winter sets in.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 29, 6:04 AM EST
Russia continues ‘escalating’ missile campaign, US Embassy says
Moscow has been “cruelly wielding cold & dark against” Ukrainian civilians by targeting cities in winter, the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Thursday.
The rebuke came as Russia fired missiles at cities throughout the country on Thursday. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Army said 69 missiles were launched, fewer than the 100 missiles that officials had estimated earlier in the morning. Officials said 54 missiles were intercepted.
“The Kremlin continues its escalating campaign of missile attacks, cruelly wielding cold & dark against” Ukrainians, U.S. Embassy officials said on Twitter. “Families are again hunkering down as critical infrastructure & other targets across the country are attacked.”
Air raid sirens started wailing before 6 a.m. local time across Ukraine, sending residents scrambling into underground shelters in several cities. Missiles landed in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Odesa, Lviv and Zhtomyr.
Ukraine’s defense systems intercepted some missiles, including 16 that were shot down near Kyiv, the capital, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Two homes in Kyiv were damaged by falling debris and three people were injured, he said.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense said Russia had been “saving one of the most massive missile attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion for the last days of the year.”
“They dream that Ukrainians will celebrate the New Year in darkness and cold,” officials said.
Dec 29, 2:29 AM EST
More than 100 Russian missiles fired at Ukraine
Russian forces early on Thursday launched a missile strike on Ukraine.
More than 100 rockets were fired in several waves, Oleksiy Arestovych, an advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Twitter. Some rockets were reportedly fired from carriers in the sea, while others were reportedly fired by at least a dozen fighter aircraft.
Another presidential advisor, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that more than 120 missiles had been launched “by the ‘evil Russian world’ to destroy critical infrastructure & kill civilians en masse.”
At least one loud explosion was heard in Kyiv, where air raid sirens were ringing for several hours on Thursday morning.
Dec 28, 1:58 PM EST
Kremlin rejects Ukraine’s Feburary ‘peace summit’
Russia has rejected a proposal from Ukraine to hold a “peace summit” in February, according to a Kremlin official.
“There is no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine for now, that’s for starters,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wenderday. “Besides, there can be no ‘peace plan’ for Ukraine, which disregards today’s realities on Russian territory, the entry of new regions, four of them, into Russia.”
Peskov was apparently referring to recent Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russia, including one this week at the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia that killed three Russian soldiers.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 27, 1:13 PM EST
Putin bans sending Russian oil to countries imposing a price cap
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree Tuesday that not only rejects a price cap on the country’s oil but bans sending crude and other petroleum products to any country that has endorsed the price cap.
The Group of Seven countries, including the United States, agreed on Dec. 3 to impose a $60 per barrel price cap on Russian oil in response to the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine. Australia and the European Union also agreed to impose the price cap.
The decree Putin signed goes into effect on Feb. 1 and is valid until July 1, 2023.
The decree bans the supply of oil and oil products from Russia to those countries that place a price ceiling on contracts. The decree also forbids the supply of oil to other foreign buyers whose contracts use a price cap mechanism.
The decree includes a clause allowing Putin to overrule the ban in special cases to be determined by the Russian leader.
The price cap on Russian oil implemented by G-7 nations disallows the world’s second-largest oil exporter from selling crude at a price above $60 per barrel.
Since the outset of its war with Ukraine, Russia has sold its oil at discounted prices. As of Tuesday, Russian Urals crude was trading at $57 per barrel — an amount slightly less than the cap. But the price cap aims to ensure that Russian oil sales remain well below global oil prices, which stand at about $80 per barrel.
-ABC News’ William Gretsky
Dec 26, 7:40 AM EST
Ukraine strikes bomber base in Russia, killing three
A Ukrainian drone attack on the Engels Air Force Base in southern Russia killed three, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
A spokesman for Ukrainian Air Force confirmed the attack, saying, “If the Russians thought the war would not touch them they were wrong.”
Russian air defence reportedly shot down a Ukrainian drone flying at low altitude, but falling debris caused the casualties in the overnight attack.
The Engels base lies just over 300 miles northeast of Ukraine’s border with Russia. The facility has been repeatedly used by Russia to carry out missile strikes on targets in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces had attacked another Russian air base on Dec. 5, killing three and damaging two strategic bombers.
(NEW YORK) — Starting Jan. 5, people flying from China will need a negative COVID-19 test within two days of their departure in order to enter the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday.
The newly announced restrictions come amid what the CDC called a “surge” in cases of COVID-19 in China as well as a “lack of adequate and transparent” data being reported by the Chinese government.
Given this, the CDC highlighted concerns about being unable to monitor newly emerging variants of the virus.
“CDC will continue to monitor the situation and adjust our approach as necessary,” the agency said.
The new restrictions, which take effect after midnight on Jan. 5, apply to every airline passenger 2 years or older regardless of vaccination status, according to the CDC.
Passengers will need a negative test, such as a PCR or antigen test, no more than two days before they leave China, Hong Kong or Macau.
People who recently recovered from COVID-19 may also show that documentation instead of a negative test result, the CDC said.
These restrictions apply to direct flights from China to the U.S. as well as those that stop in Incheon International Airport, Toronto Pearson International Airport and Vancouver International Airport en route to the U.S.
Those hubs were singled out because, together with direct flights, they cover the “overwhelming majority” of people flying out of China to the U.S., the CDC said.
(NEW YORK) — The mastermind of the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal — known by its investigative moniker “Varsity Blues” — deserves no more than six months in prison, Rick Singer’s attorneys said Wednesday in a new court filing.
Federal prosecutors, however, said Wednesday night in a sentencing memorandum that Singer deserves to spend six years in prison, far exceeding the six-month sentence sought by the defense.
Singer pleaded guilty in 2018 and has since helped federal prosecutors in Boston with their sweeping investigation into bribes paid to athletic coaches, SAT and ACT proctors, and others so students of wealthy parents could cheat their way into some of the country’s best-known schools. Actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were among the more than three dozen parents charged.
Singer’s attorneys said three years probation, including 12 months of home detention, would be a sufficient sentence, but added “if incarceration is deemed necessary, a six-month sentence, followed by a three-year term of supervised release that includes community service, will satisfy the purposes of sentencing.”
Singer’s cooperation helped prosecutors secure 53 convictions, and defense attorneys said that deserved the judge’s consideration.
Prosecutors said that in addition to prison time, Singer should pay restitution to the IRS in the amount of $10,668,841 and forfeit more than $3 million in cash and certain assets worth more than $5 million.
“Singer was the architect of a massive, decade-long scheme to use fraud and bribery to secure the admission of high school students to elite colleges and universities across the country,” prosecutors wrote. “Staggering in scope, Singer’s scheme was also breathtaking in its audacity and the levels of deception it involved.”
While the government’s sentencing submission acknowledged Singer’s cooperation that helped lead to the convictions of more than 50 defendants, they also suggested it does not fully mitigate the severity of his crimes.
“His corruption and manipulation of others were practically limitless. Singer is far and away the most culpable of the Varsity Blues defendants — by orders of magnitude — and is therefore deserving of the longest sentence, notwithstanding his cooperation with the government’s investigation, which as discussed below, was exceptionally valuable and, at the same time, plagued by missteps,” prosecutors wrote.
“Working closely with prosecutors and agents, he strategically planned and made recorded phone calls, attended wired meetings and completed controlled financial transactions,” the defense wrote in a sentencing memo. “His cooperation contributed to the conviction of more than fifty people and the widespread recognition of vulnerabilities in college admissions. Whatever may be said about Rick’s crimes, his cooperation has led to important reforms at great cost to his own safety and reputation.”
(SALT LAKE CITY) — Nursing a broken arm, two cracked vertebrae and wearing a neck brace, ice climber Tim Thompson recounted surviving a 40-foot fall from a towering outcropping in Utah’s Provo Canyon, saying thoughts of his demise raced through his mind during the horrifying plunge.
One day after cheating death, the 29-year-old Thompson sat at his kitchen table thankful to be alive.
“‘Hopefully I don’t die’ was the first thought that went through my mind,” Thompson told ABC affiliate station KTVX-TV in Salt Lake City.
Thompson, a married father of a young child, said he and a friend were climbing the icy “Finger of Fate” outcropping near Bridal Veil Falls northeast of Provo on Monday morning when the episode unfolded.
He said he was near the top when his footing suddenly gave way and the ice screw anchoring him on the steep icy surface broke loose, making the fall even more perilous.
“All the weight on that left foot, all the ice just sheared off the rock,” said Thompson, who has been ice climbing for seven years. “In my mind, I probably would’ve made the same decision again any other time, which was a bit of a startling thing — thinking that you’re totally safe and solid and then having that happen.”
Thompson said he fell onto a snowy ledge, likely saving his life.
His climbing buddy quickly summoned climbers nearby and called the Utah County Search and Rescue team for help. About 50 people in all responded to rescue Thompson.
He was flown safety down the mountain by a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter crew and taken to Utah Valley Hospital in Provo for treatment.
Corey Cluff, a member of Utah County Search and Rescue, said “conditions in the area were deteriorating” due to rising temperatures, making the ice less cohesive and rocks unstable and threatening to fall.
Despite the near-death experience, Thompson said he is not about to give up ice climbing.
“A lot of people, I think, would have something like this deter them from doing it,” Thompson said. “But it’s something I’m so passionate about and love that I think you truly can make it safe.”
In 2019, the Academy of Country Music declared Jason Aldean one of its rare Artists of the Decade, perhaps a sign to some superstars that things might be slowing down. Close to four years later, that’s still not the case for the Peach State native.
2022 saw Jason release the remainder of his mammoth Macon, Georgia project, adding bonus live versions of his greatest hits to the record named after his hometown. At the same time, his matchup with Carrie Underwood on “If I Didn’t Love You” won Single of the Year at the Academy of Country Music Awards, and both Video and Collaborative Video of the Year at the CMT Music Awards.
“This double album was our 10th album, which for me just means a lot,” Jason tells ABC Audio. “That I’ve been able to to stick around in the business that long and be able to record that many records.”
“And the people still seem to like what we’re doing and we can still go out there, and be relevant and make music that people want to hear,” he says. “And so to do that this many years into my career, still being nominated for awards and things like that, having songs that were, you know, not just hits, but big hits.”
Indeed, Jason clocked his 27th career number one in 2022.
“‘If I Didn’t Love You,’ I mean, that was a huge song for us. And then ‘Trouble a Heartbreak’ did really well, too,” he points out. “So we’re still out there doing those things this many years into my career, and that means a lot to me for sure.”
2022 wasn’t without its hiccups for Jason, however: his longtime publicists, The GreenRoom, parted ways with him after his wife, Brittany, made anti-LGBTQ+ comments on social media.
The middle of the Venn diagram between Kate Bush and Metallica fans probably wasn’t all that big at the beginning of 2022. By the end of the year, however, both the English art pop singer and the U.S. metal outfit shared one (stranger) thing in common.
The popular Netflix sci-fi series Stranger Things’ fourth season made unexpected resurgent hits out of Bush’s 1985 single “Running Up That Hill” and Metallica’s 1986 thrasher “Master of Puppets.”
“Running Up That Hill” was featured in the first half of the season, which premiered in May. As the favorite song of the character Max Mayfield, played by Sadie Sink, “Running Up That Hill” helps her — spoiler alert — escape the clutches of the evil Vecna.
Following its placement, “Running Up That Hill” began to run up the Billboard Hot 100, eventually peaking at #3 on the all-genre chart — a career-high for Bush. In Bush’s home country, “Running Up That Hill” hit #1 on the United Kingdom’s Official Single Chart, breaking several records along the way; Bush became the oldest female artist to ever conquer the ranking.
The response to “Running Up That Hill” was so overwhelming that Bush issued several public statements, which was major news for an artist who’d developed a reclusive and press-shy reputation. It even got to a point where Bush gave an actual interview, her first in several years.
When the second half of Stranger Things season 4 premiered in July, it was Metallica’s time to shine. Like “Running Up That Hill,” “Master of Puppets” was featured in a pivotal scene, this time featuring Joseph Quinn‘s beloved metalhead and Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast Eddie Munson, who — again, spoiler alert — shreds the metal classic in an effort to thwart Vecna.
While it didn’t quite match the enormous popularity of “Running Up That Hill,” “Master of Puppets” debuted on the Hot 100 for the first time, peaking at #35 — not bad for a nearly nine-minute metal song in the year 2022.
As Stranger Things was bringing in new fans, the “Enter Sandman” rockers reminded longtime ‘Tallica fans that “everyone is welcome,” no matter how long you’ve been listening.
Stranger Things also sparked renewed interest in Dio thanks to the Eddie character, who wore a patch dedicated to the “Holy Diver” metallers on the back of his denim jacket.
(NEW YORK) — Federal prosecutors have started looking into public filings by congressman-elect George Santos amid questions about the source of his wealth, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
The sources were careful not to characterize this as a formal investigation and stressed that prosecutors, at this stage, are only looking at publicly available filings.
An attorney for Santos referred ABC News to his press team, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office for the Eastern District of New York, which encompasses New York’s 3rd Congressional District in Queens and Nassau County that Santos will represent, declined to comment.
In 2020 when he first ran for Congress, Santos listed no assets and a salary of $55,000 in his personal financial disclosure report filed as a House candidate.
But his 2022 personal financial disclosure report filed as a candidate subsequently showed his fortunes had drastically changed: He owned assets valued between $2.6 million and $11.25 million, including an apartment in Rio de Janeiro, a checking account and a savings account.
According to the 2022 disclosure, he reported earning millions between January 2021 through December 2022 from his New York-based company, Devolder Organization. He also reported having a car loan worth between $15,001-$50,000.
Santos did not identify any clients of Devolder on his disclosure form and the company does not appear to have a public presence, such as a website. His campaign website previously called it his “family firm,” where he oversaw $80 million in client assets as the managing principal.
According to his campaign disclosure filed with the Federal Election Commission, Santos reported loaning his congressional campaign $705,000 between 2020 and 2022, including $500,000 in March 2022 and a last-minute injection of $125,000 in the final weeks of the 2022 election cycle.
Last week, the FEC sent a letter to the Santos campaign asking to properly itemize the $125,000 loan.
His seemingly sudden wealth, along with other discrepancies in his biography that were first reported by The New York Times, drew the attention of congressional Democrats, including New York Rep. Ritchie Torres, who tweeted this week that “George Santos, a former call center employee falling behind on his rent, lent his campaign a staggering $705,000. Where did all that money come from?”
Santos has admitted to fabricating parts of his background, including his education and employment history, and also exaggerating his Jewish ancestry. But he’s insisted in interviews that he’s “not a criminal,” suggesting he was guilty merely of “embellishing.”
“I think humans are flawed, and we all make mistakes,” Santos said during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday. “I think we can all look at ourselves in the mirror and admit that once in our life we made a mistake. I’m having to admit this on national television for the whole country to see.”
But Santos seemed to backtrack on some of his admissions of actual falsehoods on his resume during the Fox News interview, saying that his claim that he worked for Goldman Sachs and CitiGroup is “debatable,” saying Link Bridge, a firm he served as vice president for, did “extensive” business with the two Wall Street giants.
Santos continued to defend himself on Fox News, saying he’s “not a fraud” and that he worked “damn hard to get where I got my entire life.”
He told the news outlet Semafor that he made his money in part by matching sellers of luxury goods like planes and yachts with potential buyers and taking a cut. He described Devolder as working in “deal building” and “specialty consulting” and his clients as “high net worth individuals.”
“If you’re looking at a $20 million yacht, my referral fee there can be anywhere between $200,000 and $400,000,” Santos told Semafor.
The site said he did not answer questions about his past clients.
To questions about his Jewish ancestry, Santos, who had once called himself a “proud American Jew” told the New York Post: “I never claimed to be Jewish… I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was ‘Jew-ish.'”
Separately, the New York attorney general is looking into an animal rescue charity tied to Santos along with an address in Queens where Santos was registered to vote, sources previously told ABC News.
The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office is also looking into Santos, a spokesman for the office told ABC News.
District Attorney Anne Donnelly, a Republican who was elected a year ago, said in a statement that “the numerous fabrications and inconsistencies associated with Congressman-Elect Santos are nothing short of stunning. The residents of Nassau County and other parts of the third district must have an honest and accountable representative in Congress. No one is above the law and if a crime was committed in this county, we will prosecute it.”
While Santos has acknowledged fabricating parts of his resume, after previously pushing back on the scrutiny about his background, he has said he doesn’t intend to resign.
“This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good,” he told the New York Post this week.
Republican leaders in the House have not commented.
Rep.-elect Nick LaLota, a fellow incoming New York Republican, called for an ethics investigation. Another incoming New York Republican representative, Anthony D’Esposito, tweeted that Santos should “pursue a path of honesty” and a “spirit of sincerity.”
ABC News’ Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX) — The remains of an Arizona teenager were found a week after he was kidnapped during an armed home invasion, police said Wednesday. A homicide investigation is now underway.
Jesse Sainz-Camacho, 17, was taken from his Phoenix home on Dec. 19 by “two armed suspects,” police said.
The teen’s remains were found on Monday in a rural area of Maricopa County, police said. The Phoenix Police Homicide Unit is currently leading the investigation.
Police responded to the victim’s home around 3:15 a.m. local time on Dec. 19 following an “unknown trouble call,” Phoenix Police Department spokesperson Sgt. Phil Krynsky said in a statement.
Two men “forced their way into the home” and shot a man who was asleep inside, Krynsky said. They then forced the teen into a dark-colored sedan, which fled in an unknown direction, police stated.
The suspects were carrying a rifle and handgun, according to authorities.The shooting victim, who was not identified by police, sustained non-life-threatening injuries and was transported to a local hospital.
Police have not made any arrests in the case and are seeking two suspects. Local authorities have also released images of one of the suspects, seen carrying a firearm, amid the investigation.
A reward of up to $1,000 is being offered for information leading to the arrest and/or indictment of the suspects.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call Silent Witness at 480-948-6377.
(ATLANTA) — Carol Yancey of the Atlanta metro area was planning to spend a festive Christmas holiday with her large extended family. But she said the threat of possibly contaminated water in Clayton County ended her holiday plans.
Boil water notices were issued last weekend and this week in Georgia’s Atlanta metro area counties, including Clayton, Butts, Forsyth, and parts of Dekalb, Haralson and Monroe. Freezing temperatures caused pipes to burst and valves to freeze, resulting in little to no water pressure in many homes.
The Environmental Protection Agency has previously said that a loss of water pressure could potentially lead to contamination in the water.
“This is the time you really get the community – the unity in it,” Yancey, a community activist, said. “We’re not waiting on elected officials. We’re stepping up and trying to do what we can – we find out something, we tell somebody else.”
Some Atlanta metro residents affected by the water boil advisory say they learned about the possibility of contaminated water from friends and relatives rather than water authority officials. With many local officials on break during the holidays, these residents say they took it upon themselves to help each other get through the ordeal.
Forsyth county resident Kristen Flory said she found out about the water boil notice from a friend a day after the county issued the advisory on Christmas on the water authority’s website. Forsyth lifted its water boil advisory on Dec. 28.
“I was just in shock that I had to go on their website to find out about the possible contaminants that could be in our water,” Flory said. “They should come out and send out a mass text saying, ‘Hey, just so everyone is aware, we had this happen and you need to boil your water until further notice.'”
Spokespeople for Butts, Forsyth and Haralson counties told ABC News that their agencies used a combination of alerts on their websites, social media posts and press announcements through local radio and TV to inform residents.
Local officials have established bottled water distribution sites for residents in the meantime. Forest Park in Clayton County distributed over 1900 cases of bottled water as of Dec. 27, doling out one case per family, according to Forest Park Mayor Angelyne Butler.
“I have to leave those details up to the Clayton County Water Authority,” Butler said when asked when the water system would return to normal. “We are asking for extreme patience during this time, as the water authority is working on a permanent resolve.”
Water authorities for counties that are still affected told ABC News that boil water notices should be lifted on Dec. 29 or 30 after testing results come in.
On the Clayton County Water Authority website, residents experiencing little to no water pressure are directed to call a phone number to notify the agency. But when ABC News tried to call the number on Wednesday evening an automated message stated that the service was experiencing system problems and was unable to process calls.
“I can imagine how inundated with calls and inquiries that they’re receiving at this time. But no, I have not heard of anything,” Butler said when asked if Forest Park residents have complained about not being able to get through to the Clayton County Water Authority.
Clayton County Water Authority General Manager Bernard Franks did not immediately reply to ABC News’ request for comment about the agency’s ability to respond to residents.
About 3,000 homes and businesses experienced low to no water pressure in Butts County, according to Alyssa Hopson, the Butts County Water Authority’s general manager. Other water authority officials that ABC News reached out to were unsure of the estimated number of homes affected.
The water in Forsyth County was likely not contaminated and the boil water advisories were initiated in an abundance of caution, according to Russell Brown, the county water authority’s director of communications and external affairs.
Yancey, who says she does a lot of community work in Clayton County, believes about half of the people she’s been in contact with in the county are experiencing water pressure issues.
Yancey has normal water pressure in her home, but plumbers had to tear down walls in her neighbor’s house to fix busted pipes and restore adequate water pressure.
“To know that infrastructure can shut you down, shut down the county, the water system,” Yancey said. “It reminds me of what went on earlier this year in Mississippi.”
Yancey is referring to the Jackson, Mississippi, water crisis earlier this year where its 150,000 residents were left with contaminated water and little to no water flow in their faucets after inclement weather debilitated its water infrastructure. Jackson residents are currently dealing with another water boil advisory because of freezing temperatures.
Despite the circumstances, residents in the Atlanta area say they have no choice but to trudge on.
“We’re just trying to make sure we bring awareness to the community at large,” Yancey said. “And we look out for each other because the last five letters of community is unity.”
