(NEW YORK) — Intense heat has returned to the Northeast, with 70 million Americans facing heat advisories on Thursday that will likely extend into the weekend.
Boston is projected to reach 99 degrees on Thursday, breaking a 96-degree high from 1928, according to the National Weather Service. The mayor of Boston declared a heat emergency on Wednesday through Sunday, opening 16 cooling centers across the city.
“I urge everyone to stay cool and safe, and check on your neighbors during the week,” Mayor Michelle Wu said in a statement.
Hartford, Connecticut, is forecast to hit 101 degrees on Thursday, breaking a 1944 record of 96 degrees, the NWS said.
Newark, New Jersey, could tie a 1993 record of 100 degrees. The city of Newark issued a Code Red on Wednesday, urging residents to take precautions against the dangerous heat.
New York City is forecast to break a 2006 record, reaching 94 degrees on Thursday, according to the NWS.
Con Edison, the city’s energy supplier, issued an advisory on Wednesday, asking residents to conserve energy due to the anticipated heat and humidity creating increased demand for electricity.
Philadelphia is expected to tie a 1995 heat record by reaching 95 degrees, according to the NWS.
Two heat deaths have been reported in the Northeast over the last two weeks, one in New York City and one in Philadelphia, officials said. Authorities have warned residents of the danger for more fatalities.
The heat will peak on Thursday, will highs forecast to decrease slightly on Friday before rising again on Sunday. The NWS predicts thunderstorms across the Northeast over the weekend, as heat and humidity come to a head.
The dangerous heat has persisted throughout the summer, with records broken across the Northeast just two weeks ago being threatened once again.
Last week, a heat wave settled over the Northwest, where over a dozen deaths have now been linked to the extreme temperatures.
Mystikal was denied bond following his recent arrest on charges of rape and battery, among others. The rapper was accused of attacking a woman at his home on Saturday, taking her car keys and holding her against her will.
The Advocate reports Mystikal’s defense attorney, Roy Maughan Jr., maintained his client’s innocence and asked for $250,000 bail. State District Judge Steven Tureau determined the rapper should remain in jail until trial, citing the evidence in the current case, the victim’s fears and Mystikal’s criminal history.
Mystikal, born Michael Lawrence Tyler, is a lifetime registered sex offender. He previously served six years in jail in connection to a 2003 incident for which he pleaded guilty to sexual battery and extortion. He later spent 18 months in jail while facing rape and kidnapping charges, which were dropped in December 2020 due to a lack of evidence.
Mystikal’s also been arrested numerous times in relation to marijuana possession, misdemeanor domestic violence and first-degree rape but walked away with no conviction.
According to testimony from Sheriff’s Detective Garrett Keith, the accuser, who was in a long-term relationship with Mystikal, went to his home to discuss financial matters when things went downhill. He allegedly accused her of stealing his money before abusing her, using prayers and rubbing alcohol to remove her “bad spirits” and raping her.
Prosecutors argued that Mystikal is likely to repeat a similar crime given his criminal record, but Maughan argued that his celebrity status would make it difficult to evade authorities. He also noted his client’s perfect attendance in court and that he hasn’t been convicted for any other crimes outside the 2003 case. Maughan objected to the judge’s decision, but an appeal is unlikely, The Advocate reports.
(MOSCOW) — WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia for over five months, was found guilty on drug charges in a Moscow-area court Thursday.
Hours earlier, the prosecutor in the case had asked that the basketball star serve 9 1/2 years in prison.
Griner, a 31-year-old Houston native who plays professional basketball for the Phoenix Mercury, was detained on Feb. 17 at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Khimki as she returned to Russia to play during the WNBA’s offseason after she was accused of having vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in the country.
The two-time Olympic gold medalist, who appeared in court Thursday for the final hearing in her trial, is facing up to 10 years in prison although 9 1/2 years is the maximum sentence with time served. Griner has a right to appeal.
Griner shared an emotional statement in court ahead of the verdict on Thursday morning.
She apologized to her loved ones for the hurt that her detention has caused and said that her parents instilled hard work in her and this value is what brought her to Russia.
Griner’s trip to Russia to play in the offseason has underscored the issue of pay inequality in professional basketball
Many WNBA players have traveled around the world to play in the offseason because they don’t make enough money during the season — an issue that is not as prevalent for NBA players. The top WNBA salary is $228,000 per season, whereas star NBA players make over $20 million a year.
The Phoenix Mercury star held up a photo of her Russian teammates on Thursday and said that she made “an honest mistake” by packing the vape cartridges in her bag.
The prosecutor argued that Griner’s guilt has been proven and also asked that Griner pay a $16,500 fine, which is about 1 million Russian roubles.
Griner pleaded guilty to drug charges in court last month, saying that the vape cartridges containing hashish oil were in her luggage mistakenly and that she had no “intention” of breaking Russian law.
Her legal team told ABC News in a statement last month that her “guilty” plea was recommended by her Russian attorneys.
“Brittney sets an example of being brave. She decided to take full responsibility for her actions as she knows that she is a role model for many people,” the lawyers said in the statement. “Considering the nature of her case, the insignificant amount of the substance and BG’s personality and history of positive contributions to global and Russian sport, the defense hopes that the plea will be considered by the court as a mitigating factor and there will be no severe sentence.”
Griner testified last week that she did not mean to leave the cartridges in her bag, but that she was in a hurry and was stressed after recovering from COVID-19 that month. The WNBA star said she was aware that the U.S. had warned Americans about traveling to Russia, but she didn’t want to let her team down in the playoffs.
She also testified that she has permission to use medical cannabis and used a certificate to buy it in the U.S. Earlier this month, one of Griner’s attorneys presented a letter from an American doctor in court, giving her permission to use cannabis to reduce chronic pain.
The American basketball star said she was pulled aside after inspectors at the airport found the vape cartridges in her luggage and that when she was detained, she was not offered an explanation of her rights or access to an attorney. Griner said that while there was a translator present, she was not offered a complete translation and even tried to use her phone to translate.
Russia’s invasion of neighboring Ukraine began one week after Griner was detained, and some officials have expressed concern that Americans jailed in Russia could be used as leverage in the ongoing war.
The U.S. Department of State has classified both Whelan and Griner as “wrongfully detained.”
Last week, in a sharp reversal, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that he will hold a call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov “in the coming days” to discuss securing the freedom of Griner and former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since late 2018.
“[They] have been wrongly detained and must be allowed to come home,” Blinken told reporters in Washington, D.C, on July 27. “We put a substantial proposal on the table weeks ago to facilitate their release. Our governments have communicated repeatedly and directly on that proposal, and I’ll use the conversation to follow up personally and I hope [to] move us toward a resolution.”
Two days later, Blinken told reporters that he had a “frank and direct conversation” with Lavrov about a U.S. proposal to exchange convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in return for Griner and Whelan’s freedom.
“I pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” Blinken said. “I’m not going to characterize his responses and I can’t give you an assessment of whether I think things are more or less likely, but it was important that [he] hear directly from me on that.”
During a press conference in Moscow on July 28, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova confirmed that “the issue of mutual exchange of Russian and American citizens, staying in places of detention on the territory of the two countries, was discussed at one time by the presidents of Russia and the United States,” but “a concrete result has not yet been achieved.”
ABC News’ Max Karmen, Shannon Crawford, Joseph Simonetti and Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
Courtesy of Trafalgar Releasing & Sony Music Entertainment
The recently announced film companion to veteran Norwegian pop-rock band a-ha‘s upcoming album, True North, will get its premiere in select theaters worldwide on September 15. Tickets for the screenings went on sale Thursday at ahaTrueNorth.com.
The True North film features the “Take On Me” group performing and recording the songs for the album with Norway’s Arctic Philharmonic orchestra at a studio in Bodø, Norway, located just south of the Arctic Circle.
The movie also captures the band members discussing the project around Bodø and features vignettes where actors portray life in the northern region of Norway.
In addition, the screenings will include a special behind-the-scenes featurette, exclusive to cinemas. You can check out a teaser trailer for the movie now on a-ha’s official YouTube channel.
The True North album will be released October 21 and can be preorderd now. The record’s lead single, “I’m In,” is available now via digital formats. A music video for the song that features footage from the companion film can be viewed on YouTube.
Sydney Sweeneymade headlines recently with her claim that despite appearing in some of TV’s hottest shows — including HBO Max’s Euphoria and The White Lotus — she can’t afford to take time off just yet.
Now, CamSoda, an adult live-streaming platform, wants to help the sexy 24-year-old actress — with an offer of $15,000,000 to perform 12 one-hour long live cam shows.
In a letter to Sweeney, CamSoda’s VP, Daryn Parker, writes, in part, that they saw her statement, and “now that you’re a rising sex symbol — and considering you said you’d never stop doing nude scenes — I think there is an opportunity for us to work together so that you can afford a six-month break and pay your bills.”
The letter then offers Sweeney “up to $15,000,000 to perform 12 one-hour long live cam shows on our website. That should hold you over during your break from Euphoria and other acting endeavors so you can afford your lavish L.A lifestyle.”
In an apparent final dig at Sweeney, the letter ends, “Please get back to me at your earliest convenience. I’d hate for you to be forced to sell your $3,000,000 home in L.A. to make ends meet.”
Sweeney will be seen in the upcoming Sony Pictures feature Madame Web, slated for a January 13, 2023 release.
Lady Gaga can breathe a sigh of relief — the man suspected of shooting her dog walker and kidnapping her French bulldogs has been rearrested after he was erroneously released from jail in April.
KABC confirms James Howard Jackson, 19, was arrested without incident. He is accused by authorities of shooting dog walker Ryan Fischer in the chest with a .40-caliber handgun when stealing two of Gaga’s French bulldogs.
Authorities tracked Jackson down to an address on Apricot Drive in Palmdale, California. After executing a search warrant at the location, the suspect was found and arrested.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in April Jackson was mistakenly released due to a “clerical error.” The suspect had attended a hearing on April 5 but was then “inadvertently” released from custody.
In July, the U.S. Marshals Service offered a $5,000 reward in exchange for information that could lead to Jackson’s whereabouts. He was considered “armed and dangerous” at the time.
Jackson, along with Jaylin White and Lafayette Whaley, kidnapped Lady Gaga’s two French bulldogs Gustav and Koji in February 2021. Fischer was shot during the struggle. The three men were charged with attempted murder, conspiring to commit robbery and second-degree robbery.
White was sentenced Wednesday to serve four years in state prison after accepting a plea deal where he pleaded no contest to the latter charge. The two other charges against him were dismissed.
Whaley’s hearing has been scheduled for September 20.
Lady Gaga’s missing dogs have since been found. White’s father, Harold White, as well as Jennifer McBride were charged as accessories to attempted murder after McBride claimed she “found” the dogs and tried to claim the $500,000 reward Gaga offered for Gustav and Koji’s safe return.
Young-Ho Lee / Sipa/ Pool/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(SEOUL, South Korea) — U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with her South Korean counterpart and other political leaders in Seoul on Thursday to reassure strong ties between their two countries, but she avoided making direct public comments on her recent controversial visit to Taiwan.
South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin-pyo greeted Pelosi and other members of her congressional delegation as they arrived at the unicameral national legislature in South Korea’s capital. After an hour-long meeting, both sides reaffirmed the ironclad bilateral alliance facing a range of issues, including increasing nuclear threats from North Korea.
“We also come to say to you that a friendship, a relationship that began from urgency and security, many years ago, has become the warmest of friendships,” Pelosi said during a joint press conference with Kim. “We want to advance security, economy and governance in the inter-parliamentary way.”
Pelosi emphasized the need to bolster inter-parliamentary cooperation between their two nations to deal with global security and economic challenges ahead. She agreed to review Kim’s proposal for Congress to work on a resolution marking next year’s 70th anniversary of the U.S.-South Korea alliance, forged on the battlefield during the 1950-53 Korean War.
Both Pelosi and Kim shared concerns about North Korea’s unprecedented number of ballistic missile tests in recent months. Reiterating the need for the international community to prepare for possibly more provocations from Pyongyang, Kim said he and Pelosi agreed to support their governments’ efforts to achieve “practical denuclearization and peace” on the Korean Peninsula based on “strong and extended deterrence” as well as diplomacy.
Neither Kim nor Pelosi took questions from reporters.
During her visit Thursday, Pelosi traveled to a border area with the North that is jointly controlled by the American-led United Nations Command and North Korea. She is the highest-level American to visit the so-called Joint Security Area since 2019, when then-U.S. President Donald Trump traveled there for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
Later Thursday, Pelosi and her delegation spoke by telephone with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a planned vacation this week but was accused by critics of snubbing the U.S. speaker in consideration of ties with China, South Korea’s largest trading partner.
When asked whether Yoon’s inability to meet with Pelosi in person was related to her trip to Taiwan, the South Korean president’s spokesperson, Choi Young-bum, told reporters: “Every decision was made in consideration of our national interests, and without doubt, the South Korean government respects the U.S. administration’s diplomatic decisions.”
“It is clear that our position to put the Korea-U.S. alliance at first does not change,” he added.
According to Yoon’s office, the Taiwan issue was not brought up by either side on the call.
Pelosi became the first U.S. speaker to visit Taiwan in a quarter century when she and her delegation made a surprise landing there on Tuesday night, defying repeated warnings not to from mainland China, which claims the self-governing island as its own territory.
Before departing Taipei for Seoul, Pelosi said at a press conference Wednesday that “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad.” In response, Beijing began military exercises around Taiwan, including launching multiple ballistic missiles into the waters surrounding the island.
Pelosi and her delegation are scheduled to arrive in Japan on Thursday as the last stop in their Asia tour this week. They visited Singapore on Monday and Malaysia on Tuesday.
ABC News’ Morgan Winsor and Karson Yiu contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Coler Rehabilitation and Nursing Care Center on Roosevelt Island in New York City is the foundation of where the Open Doors NYC project came to be. It was founded by Jennilie Brewester, a former volunteer at the hospital, who saw a need for more creativity among black and brown people in wheelchairs at the facility.
Vincent Pierce, the Director of Open Doors NYC, said what started as a writing workshop, turned into writing their own poetry, which would eventually turn into the Reality Poets, “being that most of us that was involved with injured due to gun violence. We told her that we wanted to go to schools and talk to kids about gun violence and the consequences of it. She’s got us doing that. Then we started doing these slam poetry workshops. And we started writing poetry and realized we was writing about our lives. One of the members came up with the name Reality Poets.”
Pierce, now 36, became paralyzed a decade ago, after being shot in the neck, saying he initially felt like his life was over after being confined to a wheelchair. But Pierce saw the bigger picture, “Thank god I had a four-year-old daughter at the time. That’s what really steered me straight and gave me a reason to know why I’m still alive… being blessed to be placed in a place where I had. People dealing with the same thing as me. People around my age, and people younger.”
Open Doors NYC hosts Freestyle Fridays, a virtual session where they invite artists as guest speakers, and all are encouraged to join and learn more about the project as well. Guns Down Mic Up! Is held bi-weekly, and is an open mic and discussion for those looking to share their stories about systemic and personal violence, including gun violence.
ZING! Is another one of the many programs under the Open Doors NYC umbrella. Pierce launched the program as a way to try and keep kids off the street and give them access they may have been initially denied, to showcase their talent and creative ability.
“Who knows? I could be saving lives by having here at that point in time, and actually paying them to come learn. I got a grant to start the program… It was just important to just keep kids off the street and give them something positive to do. Something I never had.
In March of 2022, New York State comptroller, Thomas P. DiNapoli, released an audit showing that Health Department officials underreported nursing home deaths related to the COVID-19 pandemic, by nearly half for almost a year. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in August 2021 over allegations of sexual harassment, and his administration also could not account for about 4,000 nursing home deaths during the 10-month period.
Pierce launched the #NursingHomelivesMatter campaign in July 2020, in response to how they felt the pandemic was handled when it came to residents in long-term care facilities. Pierce in a message on the site saying, “We were fighting for our lives—COVID patients were brought into our home, no safety precautions were followed, and bodies piled up in two refrigerated trucks parked outside. Then as the lockdown dragged on for more than a year, we were fighting to see our families or just to get beyond the iron gate and yellow tape that corralled us in like convicts or animals at the zoo.”
The movement contains a Bill of Rights which includes being treated as an individual, families never being locked out, safe staffing ratios, decent wages for staff, and more.
When asked what he hopes the future of Open Doors NYC holds, Pierce said “I want to see us grow. Especially that this pandemic is dying down for us to get more out there again… doing poetry shows and basically growing in the social justice field. Disability justice and being more known.”
The Strokes opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers is already a pretty stacked bill, and that’s before Eddie Vedder joined in on the fun.
The Pearl Jam frontman made a surprise appearance during Julian Casablancas and company’s support set in Seattle Wednesday, joining them for a rendition of their 2005 single “Juicebox.”
Fan-shot footage of the onstage collaboration was posted by YouTube user supercones. Come for the music, stay to watch Vedder’s hip-shaking dance moves.
The Strokes will be opening for Red Hot Chili Peppers for the remainder of their U.S. headlining tour, which will conclude September 18 in Arlington, Texas. The bill also includes acclaimed bassist — and recent Gorillaz collaborator — Thundercat, as well as King Princess for select shows.
The Chili Peppers are touring in support of their new album, Unlimited Love, which dropped in April. The “Can’t Stop” group will release their second record of the year, Return of the Dream Canteen, on October 14.
(NEW YORK) — Two of former President Donald Trump’s grown children have been deposed by the New York Attorney General’s Office as part of its civil investigation into the family real estate business, sources familiar with the testimony told ABC News.
Ivanka Trump sat for her deposition on Wednesday, while Donald Trump Jr. appeared last week, the sources said. Their depositions were postponed following the death of their mother, Ivana Trump, last month.
It was not immediately clear what questions they were asked or how they responded.
A spokeswoman for New York Attorney General Letitia James declined to comment.
Former President Trump, who has denied wrongdoing and called the investigation politically motivated, is expected to sit for a deposition with James’ investigators later this month after he and his children lost repeated attempts to avoid giving depositions in the case.
Trump argued unsuccessfully he should not have to sit for a deposition while the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office was conducting a parallel criminal investigation. While the district attorney’s case remains active, two senior prosecutors who had been leading it resigned earlier this year over the lack of an indictment.
The Manhattan district attorney’s investigation did produce criminal charges for the Trump Organization and its longtime CFO, Allen Weisselberg. Both have pleaded not guilty. Trump himself has called those charges “shameful” and “a disgrace.”
James has said her office has uncovered evidence of potentially fraudulent conduct in the way the Trump Organization valued its real estate holdings, allegedly overvaluing properties like 40 Wall Street and even the former president’s Trump Tower apartment.
Her deputies have said in court the office is nearing a decision on an enforcement action.
ABC News’ John Santucci contributed to this report.
