(NEW YORK) — Two shark sightings off Rockaway Beach have closed the entire stretch of some of New York City’s most famous beaches for swimming on Tuesday, according to the city’s parks department.
Rockaway Beach in Queens was closed to swimmers after sharks were spotted off both Beach 102nd Street and Beach 67th Street on Tuesday.
The NYC Parks Department said the beaches are closed to swimmers until it becomes safe to allow people back in the water.
NYPD Aviation is patrolling the area for sharks, according to the NYC Parks Department.
No attacks had been reported in the area as of Tuesday afternoon.
The Rockaway Beach closings come after a string of shark attacks off Long Island over the past few weeks.
From June 30 to July 13, five individuals suffered non-life-threatening injuries from shark attacks near Long Island beaches.
In response, Gov. Kathy Hochul directed state agencies to enhance shark monitoring at Long Island beaches on Monday.
Hochul directed state agencies to implement heightened patrols and surveillance of shark activity, including the use of drone and helicopter monitoring.
She added a direction to the agencies to expand public outreach efforts on shark safety resources and education in order to increase safety among beachgoers.
“As New Yorkers and visitors alike head to our beautiful Long Island beaches to enjoy the summer, our top priority is their safety,” Hochul said in Monday’s statement. “We are taking action to expand patrols for sharks and protect beachgoers from potentially dangerous situations. I encourage all New Yorkers to listen to local authorities and take precautions to help ensure safe and responsible beach trips this summer.”
The governor’s direction is set to increase drone resources for Long Island’s state beaches, and to increase the number of lifeguards on duty by 25%, according to her office.
As New Yorkers reach the halfway point of their summer season, shark sightings in the area seem to be growing.
There was only one report of a shark bite last summer — a lifeguard bitten in July — but there were 20 confirmed shark sightings off Long Island in 2021, a record for the area, according to Long Island officials.
That number was three times as many sightings as recorded in 2020, according to New York ABC station WABC.
(NEW YORK) — A New York man is determined not to give up when it comes to fighting the rare disease he’s been living with the last two years.
Anthony Di Laura first noticed something was unusual back in the summer of 2020.
“I was having stomach pain. I thought it was a stomachache. And I realized my belly button was protruding a little bit. No other symptoms,” Di Laura told “Good Morning America.” “It came, it went away after a week. But when it came back, my wife said, ‘Let’s go to the doctor. Let’s go to the gastroenterologist.'”
After visiting a gastroenterologist, Di Laura was referred to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, where he received a diagnosis in August 2020 of pseudomyxoma peritonei (PMP), a rare disease where mucus-secreting tumors grow in the abdominal area, according to the National Organization for Rare Disorders.
Since his diagnosis, Di Laura and his family have been on a roller coaster of highs and lows.
The 35-year-old and his wife Jackie Cucullo welcomed their first child, a son named JP, on New Year’s Day in 2021 and daughter Lila Rae just last month — two big life events for the couple, who call their children “miracle babies.”
“We tried for two years to get pregnant. And miraculously I did out of nowhere, right before starting in vitro,” Cucullo told “GMA.” “While Anthony was undergoing chemotherapy, I became pregnant again right before his health declined. And that is extremely rare in itself while someone is undergoing chemotherapy. So we feel blessed for our two children for sure.”
Di Laura had to endure chemotherapy for seven months and elected to undergo cytoreductive surgery with HIPEC — a major surgery with a type of heated chemotherapy — also nicknamed the “mother of all surgeries” or MOAS, three times with different doctors and medical teams, all in an effort to get better.
“It is the most miserable feeling in the world that nobody should ever go through,” Di Laura said of his day-to-day life. “Every day is a battle. Every day is a challenge.”
The chemo and surgeries didn’t yield the results Di Laura was hoping for and doctors began telling him that he was inoperable.
“This gets me every time. I hate talking about it. My last hospital stay … the shift doctor who was in charge came into our room and said, ‘What is your plan?’ I looked at him, I said, ‘What’s my plan? I want to get better.’ He goes, ‘Nobody will operate on you in this hospital … Your best bet is to go on hospice and live a comfortable life until the end.’ That’s what he said,” Di Laura recalled.
Throughout the journey, Di Laura, Cucullo and their family refused to give up hope. In March, the couple received promising news from someone through their PMP Pals support group.
“One of the women heard about another young man whose story was so ironically similar to Anthony’s,” Cucullo said. “They’re even close in age as well. [The woman] immediately called us and she said, ‘I dropped to my knees when I heard his story.'”
According to that support group contact, the other man was “the first person in this country to have a multi-visceral organ transplant” at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, with Dr. Anil Vaidya.
“[Vaidya] is from the U.K. [and] came here to essentially help people like my husband and various other people for other organ transplants,” Cucullo said. “On March 3, I made my first phone call to [the Cleveland Clinic] and that was when the process started for Anthony to be listed as an organ transplant recipient.”
Di Laura and Cucullo have since met the man, Andy Voge, and sought out his doctor, [Vaidya]. After multiple denials and appeals to their insurance company, Di Laura was finally approved to get on the transplant list last week, the first step to getting a modified multi-visceral transplant.
Di Laura’s insurance company, Empire BlueCross BlueShield, confirmed the company had overturned the previous denials for Di Laura to receive treatment at the Cleveland Clinic.
“Together with Mr. Di Laura’s medical team, our clinical team made the decision to cover Mr. Di Laura’s procedure with the surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic,” the company said in a statement to “GMA.” “The transplant surgeon provided additional information to demonstrate this procedure has shown early promise in case reports from the U.K. and could be the only option left that may improve health outcomes for Mr. Di Laura. We will continue to support him and his family as we move forward.”
Cucullo told “GMA” that, as of Monday, her husband had been officially added to the organ transplant list.
“The surgery needs to happen and the entire team [at the Cleveland Clinic] is very confident in Anthony’s success […],” Cucullo said. “Anthony and Andy alike can spread the word and they can be the torch holders to say, ‘This is a new way. We can beat this disease.’ As tough of a surgery it might be and a long recovery, this gives hope to thousands of people.”
No matter what happens, Di Laura said he hopes to impart one message to his children, above all others.
“Always fight. Always keep hope and never give up because somebody says it’s impossible,” he said.
“I’ve never taken no for an answer and I’m not going to start now when it’s going to save my life to live with my family,” he added. “So I want my kids to know that never give up in the face of anything because somebody says no. There will always be a way around it. There are always new ideas or always new inventions. There always will be an answer. You just can’t give up and that goes for everything in life.”
(NEW YORK) — The national average price for a gallon of gas fell below $4.50 on Tuesday for the first time since the middle of May, according to AAA data. The price crossed the milestone amid a sustained fall in gas prices over the past month, owing in part to a decline in global demand.
The national average price for a gallon of gas, which stands at $4.49, has fallen more than 10% since it reached a peak of $5.01 last month, according to data AAA provided to ABC News.
In California, the state with the highest average price, a gallon of gas costs $5.87, though that price has fallen more than 8% over the past month. In South Carolina, the state with the lowest average gas price, a gallon costs $3.99, AAA data showed.
Sky-high prices in the summer stemmed from a travel boom that brought more people to the pump, experts told ABC News in late May.
That spike in demand coincided with a shortage of crude oil supply amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which prompted a widespread industry exit from Russia that pushed millions of barrels of oil off the market, the experts said.
In March, the U.S. and its allies announced the collective release of 60 million barrels of oil from their strategic reserves over the following months, which sought to alleviate some of the supply shortage and blunt price increases.
The fall in gas prices marks good news for federal policymakers, who have sought to dial back prices while averting a recession.
But the milestone for falling gas prices follows an overall spike in the price of goods last month. The consumer price index, or CPI, stood at 9.1% in June, a significant increase from 8.6% in May, according to a release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics last Wednesday. That is the largest 12-month increase since December 1981.
“Tackling inflation is my top priority,” President Joe Biden said last Wednesday after the data was released. “We need to make more progress, more quickly, in getting price increases under control.”
(NEW YORK) — When Kate Coleman found out she was pregnant, she was overjoyed, she said. She and her husband shared the happy news with family and friends.
But three months later — a heartbreaking ultrasound. The fetus had a fatal brain malformation called anencephaly, a condition where parts of the brain and skull are missing. Coleman’s doctors told her she had a choice: continue with the pregnancy, or seek an in-clinic abortion.
“There are other people in the world [who] would choose to carry to term. For me, it was not the right choice,” Coleman said. “To know that either I was going to miscarry at some point [or] I was going to give birth to a baby that would immediately die — I couldn’t make that choice.”
Coleman had an in-clinic abortion procedure in January 2021 in her home state of Massachusetts. In the U.S., roughly half of abortions are in-clinic procedures, often referred to as surgical abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The other half are medication abortions, done with what is known as the abortion pill.
Today, in the wake of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, at least 12 states have banned nearly all abortion services, with more states likely to follow. In the fallout, the Biden administration and abortion advocates alike have rushed to shore up protections for abortion pills, which are legally and practically easier to protect than in-clinic abortions.
The Justice Department, for example, suggested it could take action against states that ban medication abortion because the pills are FDA approved for everyone in the U.S., no matter state of residence.
Meantime, abortion advocates are expanding underground networks to quietly ship the pills to places where abortion is now illegal.
But some doctors and advocates worry that shifting the focus to abortion pills leaves behind people who need or want an in-clinic abortion. For some pregnant people, in-clinic abortions are medically necessary because of an underlying medical condition, or if the pregnancy is more advanced. But for others, it’s simply a more appealing option because it’s nearly 100% effective and can be completed in 10-15 minutes by a trained medical provider.
There are two types of in-clinic abortion options, but both use suction to remove the contents of the uterus. The first and most common is called vacuum aspiration, typically offered up to 13 weeks of pregnancy. If a pregnancy is further along, doctors may opt for a procedure called dilation and evacuation, which uses suction and medical tools to empty the uterus.
Medication abortions, or abortion pills, are typically two medications taken at home that initiate a miscarriage. The process can take two to three days to complete, and most people experience cramping and bleeding heavier than a normal period.
“Medication abortions are FDA approved up until 10 weeks – that’s 70 days,” said Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News’ chief medical correspondent and board-certified OG/GYN. “There are pros and cons to this approach when compared to a surgical abortion. It depends on the situation that the woman is in, both socially, logistically, work-wise, family-wise.”
Some women may also have underlying medication conditions, including clotting and bleeding disorders, that would make a medication abortion risky.
Others simply “want something that’s definitive and over with — so they have a sense of closure,” said Dr. Elizabeth Langen, associate clinical professor of maternal-fetal medicine at the University of Michigan. “The bleeding tends to be a lot less. It’s a little bit more controlled. And for some people, that’s a better either emotional or medical option.”
Coleman says she feels “lucky” that despite the heartbreak of her first pregnancy, she had access to a medical team that helped guide her through the process.
“Everybody was really kind,” she said. She underwent general anesthesia and said she woke up with what felt like “bad period cramps” before taking some Tylenol and going home. Patients who receive abortion procedures earlier in pregnancy typically receive local anesthesia and additional medication to help ease pain and anxiety, Langen said.
Langen who specializes in high-risk pregnancies, says it’s important to have access to both types of abortion — surgical and medication induced — to keep patients safe. While medication abortion is very safe if taken correctly and early on during pregnancy, she said she worries about women who might be too fearful to visit a doctor if something goes wrong.
“Taking away the option and the safety of in-person procedures is unfair and unjust — and potentially unsafe,” Langen said.
(WASHINGTON) — The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill to codify the right to same-sex and interracial marriage in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade — with one justice writing that the right to same-sex marriage should also be reversed.
The final vote was 267-157, with 47 Republicans joining every Democrat in the majority.
Notable among those conservatives was Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming — in a break from her past stance on the issue, which publicly put her at odds with her parents and sister, who is gay. In 2021, Cheney reversed her opinion and said, “I was wrong.” (By contrast, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, of California, voted no on the legislation Tuesday.)
Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., kicked off debate on the bill — The Respect For Marriage Act — which would prevent state discrimination related to marriage based on “sex, race, ethnicity, or national origin.” It would also repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
The legislation, Nadler said, “would reaffirm that marriage equality is and must remain the law of the land.”
“Congress should provide additional reassurance that marriage equality is a matter of settled law. All married people building their lives together must know that the government must respect and recognize their marriage for all-time,” Nadler continued.
Concern among some lawmakers and advocates about the legal fate of same-sex marriage mounted after Justice Clarence Thomas’ concurrence in the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson, which reversed Roe last month. In his separate opinion from the majority, Thomas wrote that the court should next revisit its opinion in Obergefell v. Hodges, from 2015, which guaranteed nationwide same-sex marriage.
While the court’s majority took pains to note its decision to overturn Roe should not be seen as an indication of future rulings, Thomas’ separate opinion caused alarm among same-sex marriage supporters.
House Democrats have set votes on multiple bills to codify rights that were not spelled out in the Constitution but which were granted — at least for a period of time, in Roe’s case — by Supreme Court rulings.
“The Supreme Court’s extremist and precedent-ignoring decision in Dobbs v. Jackson has shown us why it is critical to ensure that federal law protects those whose constitutional rights might be threatened by Republican-controlled state legislatures,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said in a statement on Monday.
Following Nadler’s introduction of the marriage bill Tuesday, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, called the proposal an attempt to “intimidate” the Supreme Court and said the threat to same-sex marriage was a “manufactured crisis” — accusing Democrats of using the the legislation as a political tool.
“Democrats can’t run on their disastrous record, they can’t run on any accomplishments less than four months before an election,” Jordan said.
Both he and Texas Republican Rep. Mike Johnson said there was no need for the bill.
Nadler pushed back on the notion that Obergefell was solidified and that the bill was unnecessary. “If that decision is not overturned, this bill is unnecessary but harmless. If that decision is overturned, this bill is crucial — and we don’t know what this court is going to do,” he said.
House Republican Minority Whip Steve Scalise said at a press conference Tuesday morning that Republicans would be free to make their own decision on the bill — reflecting, in part, how the politics around the issue have shifted for the GOP in the seven years since Obergefell. Polling shows Americans have become increasingly supportive of same-sex marriage.
“Every member obviously is going to have to make their own vote on that,” Scalise said.
In a show of Republican backing for the bill, New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis indicated her support shortly before debate began.
“Today, I will vote to codify same-sex marriage to ensure our fellow Americans continue to have the right to equal marriage and benefits under federal law,” Malliotakis said in a statement after expressing regret for a previous vote against the legalization of same-sex marriage in New York when she served in the state Assembly.
After being passed by the House, the bill moves to a split Senate where Republican support is possible, too, if fragmented. It’s unclear if and when the upper chamber will take it up, given other business and a looming recess.
“I’ve made clear my support for gay marriage years ago. I will look at what the House is doing and see what that might mean here on the Senate side,” Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said Tuesday morning. She also listed the Supreme Court’s pro-abortion access rulings and its ruling guaranteeing contraception for married couples as rights she would like to see codified. (Democratic leaders in the House said this week they will also vote on a bill codifying contraception access.)
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., criticized Democrats’ framing of the same-sex marriage proposal but stopped short of saying how he would vote on it.
“It’s obviously settled law right now. This is a pure messaging bill by a party that has failed on substantive issues — be it inflation, crime or the [southern] border and now are looking for cultural issues in order to somehow do better in November,” he said.
Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said the marriage bill would likely draw a “mixed bag” of Republican votes.
The proposal was introduced Monday by a bipartisan group including Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine.
ABC News’ Gabe Ferris and Trish Turner contributed to this report.
Slipknot has announced a new album called The End, So Far.
The seventh studio effort from the masked metallers — and the first since 2019’s We Are Not Your Kind — will arrive on September 30.
“New music, new art, and new beginnings,” declares percussionist M. Shawn “Clown” Crahan. “Get ready for the end.”
The End, So Far includes the previously released single “The Chapeltown Rag.” A second track, titled “The Dying Song (Time to Sing),” is available now via digital outlets, and is accompanied by a video streaming now on YouTube.
Slipknot will be supporting The End, So Far on their fall Knotfest Roadshow tour, kicking off September 20 in Nashville.
Here’s the track list for The End, So Far:
“Adderall”
“The Dying Song (Time to Sing)”
“The Chapeltown Rag”
“Yen”
“Hivemind”
“Warranty”
“Medicine for the Dead”
“Acidic”
“Heirloom”
“H377”
“De Sade”
“Finale”
Daniel Karmann/picture alliance via Getty Images, FILE
(WASHINGTON) — The Army’s recruiting challenges this year continue as senior U.S. Army officials acknowledged to Congress on Tuesday that the total size of the active-duty arm of the branch will be 10,000 soldiers fewer than had been anticipated.
Army officials blame a tight labor market where private companies are incentivizing pay and the decreasing number of young people who can meet their tough eligibility standards.
The total size of the Army, or the “end strength,” as it is known, is met by keeping soldiers through retention or by bringing in new soldiers through recruiting. This year’s retention rates for the fiscal year 2022, ending in September, are higher than had been planned, but the same cannot be said for Army recruiting.
“The Army active-duty enlisted recruiting goal for the FY22 is 60,000 based on the 476,000 end-strength goal announced in March. As of mid-July, the Army has recruited nearly 30,000 enlisted Soldiers, 50% of our mission,” Lt. Col. Randee Farrell, the spokeswoman for Army Secretary Christine Wormuth, said in a statement to ABC News.
Back in March, already facing recruiting challenges, the Army had reduced its annual recruiting target by 15,000 recruits.
On Tuesday during a House Armed Services subcommittee hearing, Gen. Joseph Martin, the Army’s vice chief of staff, acknowledged that the Army’s recruiting challenges will mean it will fall about 10,000 soldiers short of meeting its projected end-strength goal.
“We believe that will land at 466,400 for this year for an end strength if we make our recruiting objectives,” Martin said. “If we’re over or under that will impact next year’s and strength, as well. We’re taking that all into account.”
Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., cited new Army information provided to another House committee that the Army would have an even more “dramatic” drop in the fiscal year 2023.
“You’re now shifting from an end strength of 473 [thousand] to somewhere between 445,000 and 452,000, so a reduction of between 21,000 and 28,000,” Speier said. “That’s alarming.”
Martin confirmed Speier’s numbers and said he was planning for it to be higher, though it would all depend on recruiting.
“I’d like to say that it’s 445 to 452 [thousand] but we’re going to mission ourselves for 455 if we can achieve it,” Martin said. “The question is, it’s whether or not we can achieve it.”
The big drop in recruiting is blamed on the tight post-COVID labor market and rising incentives from private companies to hire employees. The shrinking number of young Americans eligible to meet their recruiting standards has also shrunk from 29% to 23%.
“Right now what we’re experiencing and the why of what we think’s going on right now is we’ve got unprecedented challenges with both a post-COVID-19 environment and labor market, but also competition with private companies that have changed their incentives over time,” Martin said.
“You’ve seen that with the various incentives that companies have provided, and then what we call a decrease as a result of that, a decreasing propensity and requisite qualifications to serve,” he added.
What impact the Army’s end-strength drop will have on readiness remains to be seen.
Other military branches are also facing recruiting challenges.
“The Department is in fierce competition for skilled, relevant and innovative talent. The labor market, exacerbated by the effects of the pandemic and the military-civilian divide, creates a challenging recruiting environment,” Gilbert Cisneros, under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness of the United States, told senators during an Armed Services subcommittee hearing in April
NOW That’s What I Call Music! is throwing it back to the ’90s alt scene.
The latest offshoot in the long-running compilation series is titled NOW That’s What I Call ’90s Alternative Rock! It includes pre-Y2K classics such as Stone Temple Pilots‘ “Interstate Love Song,” Lenny Kravitz‘s “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” Sublime‘s “What I Got,” Blind Melon‘s “No Rain” and Third Eye Blind‘s “Semi-Charmed Life.”
Other artists on the track list include 311, Spin Doctors, Toad the Wet Sprocket, Live, Lit, Eve 6, Cake, Blues Traveler and Gin Blossoms.
NOW That’s What I Call ’90s Alternative Rock! will be released August 5.
That day will also see the arrival of the next mainline NOW album, NOW That’s What I Call Music! Vol. 83. Amid the mostly pop and hip-hop track list you’ll also find the Imagine Dragons song “Bones.”
Here’s the NOW That’s What I Call ’90s Alternative Rock! track list:
“Are You Gonna Go My Way” — Lenny Kravitz
“My Own Worst Enemy (No S*** Mix)” — Lit
“Inside Out” — Eve 6
“Everything You Want – Vertical Horizon
“If You Could Only See” — Tonic
“Lightning Crashes” — Live
“Interstate Love Song” — Stone Temple Pilots
“No Rain” — Blind Melon
“All I Want” — Toad the Wet Sprocket
“Hey Jealousy” — Gin Blossoms
“Run Around” — Blues Traveler
“The Way” — Fastball
“The Distance” — Cake
“Semi-Charmed Live” (Radio Edit) — Third Eye Blind
“Down” — 311
“Steal My Sunshine” (Single Version) — Len
“Two Princes” — Spin Doctors
“What I Got” — Sublime
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the official formation of Heart, and frontwoman Ann Wilson has revealed that plans are in the works for some kind of celebration marking the milestone.
“I’m not at liberty to say exactly what they are yet because it’s such early days, but sure,” Wilson tells Grammy.com. “It will be next year. And we’re doing a thing. Definitely. We’re still formulating it now.”
The celebration would mark the first time Ann and her sister, Heart co-leader Nancy Wilson, will have worked together since the band ended its Love Alive tour in 2019. The siblings have recently been at odds over the direction of the group, and both have been focused on solo projects during the last few years.
Nancy released her debut solo studio album, You and Me, in 2021. She also recently launched a new group called Nancy Wilson’s Heart that features powerhouse lead singer Kimberly Nichole and members of Heart’s most recent touring lineup.
Ann released a new solo studio album called Fierce Bliss in April and has been touring with her own backing band, The Amazing Dawgs, that mainly features a group of Nashville session musicians who accompanied her on most of the record’s songs.
Ann tells Grammy.com that she’s expecting to make another album with The Amazing Dawgs.
“What I can do now with these ideas I have is just get ’em down and go in with this group of excellent musicians,” she notes. “What we have is really energized, fiery and sharp. I think it’s working for us right now. It’s real.”
You can check out Ann’s 2022 tour schedule with The Amazing Dawgs at AnnWilson.com.
Billie Eilish is back to work on new music with her brother, Finneas. NME reports they hit up the recording studio right after Billie finished the European part of her Happier Than Ever world tour. This comes after the “bad guy” singer said she wants to release a new album sometime next year.
Post Malone teamed up with The Kid LAROI for a new performance of “Wasting Angels,” which is part of Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Toothache: A VR Experience. The two perform on a misty stage while bathed in white and blue light. The complete concert can be accessed as part of Horizon Worlds or on Facebook via VR.
Is Dua Lipa joining the DC Extended Universe as its Mistress of Magic? CBR reports she’s in talks to star as the magician Zatanna Zatara in the next DCEU movie. It was first reported in March 2021 that the DECU was making a standalone movie about Zatanna, with director Emerald Fennell set to write the script.
Sam Smith celebrated the third anniversary of their song “How Do You Sleep.” Taking to Instagram, Sam shared a video of them singing the hit and captioned it, “I wrote this song at a really hard time in my life. I’m so happy that three years on, it still makes me feel the same way.”
Ed Sheeran and Russ will release “Are You Entertained,” which samples the iconic line Russell Crowe belted out in Gladiator. Russ also teased the CGI-animated music video, out Friday, which shows him and Ed as knights riding through the forest and entertaining a colosseum of people.
MTV is launching Merch Masters, a new series where competitors must design merchandise for stars like Lil Nas X, Camila Cabello, Machine Gun Kelly and more. The series premieres Thursday, July 21, on MTV’s YouTube.
