(EUGENE, Ore.) — Athletes competing at the 2022 USA Track and Field Outdoor Championships in Eugene, Oregon, will not have to worry about child care, thanks to fellow competitor Allyson Felix.
Felix, an 11-time Olympic medalist and mom to 3-year-old daughter Camryn, is providing free child care for athletes, coaches and staff for select track and field events this year, starting with the championships in Eugene, which kick off Thursday.
Felix, 36, is offering the child care in partnership with her sponsor, Athleta, and &Mother, the nonprofit organization she co-founded with her Team USA teammate Alysia Montaño.
“My final season is not about winning medals but giving back to the sport and future mom-athletes and leaving it better for the next generation of women raising children,” Felix said in a statement. “Athleta and I set out to prove the power in supporting women holistically.”
She continued, “As I reflect on the barriers that I faced when competing at the highest level alongside being a mother, I feel more committed than ever to leaving behind this legacy to ensure more women can both raise children and excel in their athletic careers.”
Felix announced in April that this track season will be her last, making this week’s competition in Eugene her final USA outdoor national championships.
In her announcement, Felix — who won her 11th Olympic medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, her fifth Olympics and her first as a mom — said she would be running this season “for women” and “for a better future for my daughter.”
Felix gave birth to her daughter in November 2018 and has spoken publicly about the life-threatening complications she faced during pregnancy.
Then one year after giving birth, in 2019 Felix left her former sponsor Nike after speaking out alleging that female track stars were penalized contractually by the brand for being pregnant.
In May 2019, Nike said it would change its pregnancy policy and do more to protect female athletes’ pay during and after pregnancy.
Felix went on to launch her own shoe and lifestyle brand, Saysh, which she has made mother-friendly.
Earlier this year, the company announced a unique return policy that allows pregnant customers to receive a new pair of shoes if they experience pregnancy-related changes to their shoe size.
Felix has also partnered with Athleta in the past specifically on the issue of child care. Last year, she and the women-focused apparel company announced a $200,000 grant program to cover child care costs for professional mom-athletes traveling to competitions.
Kyle Andrew, Athleta’s chief brand officer, said the company is partnering again with Felix on the new track and field child care initiative to continue Felix’s mission to “bring meaningful change for women and girls.”
“Athleta’s purpose is to break down barriers to help women take care of themselves and each other,” Andrew said in a statement. “Our latest effort to support mom athletes with child care allows them to flourish in their professional careers while prioritizing their wellbeing and removing a barrier so prevalent in sports. No woman should have to choose between her career and her family.”
(NEW YORK) — While many Americans have noticed sky-high gasoline prices, the lesser-known increase in diesel costs could be what drives the U.S. economy into a recession, experts told ABC News.
Oil prices, which on Wednesday afternoon stood at $105 per barrel, are likely to remain high through November, when they’ll moderate to around $100 per barrel, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Elevated diesel prices could persist even longer as heightened demand for diesel outlasts that for gasoline, experts said. Since nearly all products that people consume rely on trucks, trains, and other modes of transportation that use diesel fuel, the already-inflated prices for many goods will prove difficult to dial back in light of those elevated diesel costs, they said.
“No one really notices diesel prices in the U.S. because it’s really only used by industries,” said Damien Courvalin, head of energy research and senior commodity strategist at Goldman Sachs. “But that diesel represents a piece of your plane ticket, a piece of that box of cereal… that price is folded into aggregate inflation.”
The nationwide average price for a gallon of diesel stands at $5.81, which marks a staggering 80% increase since a year ago, when a gallon cost $3.22, according to AAA data. In California, the average price of a gallon of diesel is just below $7 per gallon, AAA data shows.
‘Diesel is my biggest concern’
While gasoline demand may decline leading into a recession, diesel demand often remains elevated, experts said. “In the pandemic we didn’t see diesel demand fall off the way we saw gasoline fall because we all ordered things off of the internet,” said Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at market research firm OPIS.
Many facets of U.S. industry rely on diesel-fueled transportation of goods, experts said. Typically, overall consumer demand drops during a recession. But diesel demand could remain at high levels in the lead up to a recession, especially in light of the prevalence of e-commerce and home delivery, experts said.
“Diesel is, quite frankly, my biggest concern, even more so than gasoline,” Cinquegrana said. “You could make behavioral changes when it comes to gasoline — you could carpool to work, some of us have the ability to work from home.”
But with diesel, high costs elevate the prices of everyday goods, since the higher cost of transportation is often passed down to consumers. In turn, consumers restrain their spending habits at grocery and other retail stores, slashing demand and exacerbating an economic slowdown, experts said. Consumer spending accounts for about 70% of U.S. gross domestic product.
“Those trucks run on diesel, and those costs get passed on to the consumer — that’s why the price of eggs, the price of milk, beer, go up,” Cinquegrana said. “It’s the price of diesel that kind of breaks the back of the economy eventually.”
Refineries are nearing capacity
The fundamental issue behind the high prices of both gasoline and diesel: demand is high and supply is constrained. Currently, U.S. refineries are producing about a million barrels less per day than they were pre-pandemic, according to the EIA.
In recent years, energy companies have slowed oil expansion in response to a call for fiscal discipline from shareholders. The rise of renewable energy alternatives has also posed a challenge for long-term investment in oil extraction.
While President Joe Biden is set to travel to Saudi Arabia next month, a prospective oil deal likely won’t help the U.S. in the short term.
“Their oil is in the ground,” said Courvalin, the head of energy research at Goldman Sachs. “None of us use that, we need refined oil — it needs to go through the refining process to get what we consume.”
Last week, Biden sent a letter to major oil refinery companies calling on them to take “immediate actions” to increase output. The letter accused the companies of taking advantage of the market environment to reap profits while Americans struggle to afford gas. It mentioned the possibility of Biden invoking the Defense Production Act, which requires companies to produce goods deemed necessary for national security.
But experts told ABC news that U.S. refineries are already near full capacity, and it would take a prolonged period to build new ones. Refineries are “very complex, highly regulated, and very expensive to build,” the EIA said. “Building new refineries to increase capacity is not something that can be done in a short time frame.”
“You have to realize that up until recently, nobody was screaming for more refining capacity in the world,” said Bob McNally, president of Rapidan Energy Group, a consulting firm. “In fact, if anything, refining capacity was starting to look like horses in buggies did in 1908.”
Biden should ‘go further’
The Biden administration’s short term response to the crisis has involved the release of oil from strategic reserves and a call for a gas tax holiday. The long term response has centered around a transition to clean or low carbon energy, but Cinquegrana criticized this proposal as “not appreciating how difficult an energy transition is.”
“What we really need is that higher investment – we talk about refining capacity: if there is none, then I cannot increase gasoline supply,” Courvalin said. “There is nothing the policy can do at this stage.”
The Biden administration has called for a federal gas tax holiday which would temporarily pause the federal gasoline tax of 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.3 cents per gallon on diesel fuel.
“On the one hand, yes, it does reduce prices at the pump,” Courvalin said of the potential holiday. “But when you look at it from a commodity perspective, it also means we are still not balancing, just subsidizing what we are running out of.”
The American Petroleum Institute sent the White House its own 10-step proposal to alleviate supply shortages. Their recommendations ranged from lifting development restrictions on federal lands and waters to revising the NEPA permitting process.
“I would go even further,” McNally comments on the letter, “reversing the ban on cross-border pipelines, removing the prospective risk of onerous regulation of oil and gas companies and investment and so forth until we can legislate a proper climate change policy.”
Some of the major energy companies agree.
“In the short term, the US government could enact measures often used in emergencies following hurricanes or other supply disruptions — such as waivers of Jones Act provisions and some fuel specifications to increase supplies,” ExxonMobil suggested in a statement to ABC News.
“Longer term, [the] government can promote investment through clear and consistent policy that supports U.S. resource development, such as regular and predictable lease sales, as well as streamlined regulatory approval and support for infrastructure such as pipelines,” the company added.
(NEW YORK) — COVID-19 vaccines began to be rolled out for children between six months and 4 years old across the United States this week.
This means roughly 20 million babies, toddlers and preschoolers under age 5 are now eligible for shots after they were authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last week.
As of Wednesday, 2.7 million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech’s and Moderna’s vaccines have been delivered nationwide, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told ABC News.
Parents looking to schedule appointments can visit vaccines.gov, a website jointly run by the HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and VaccineFinder from Boston Children’s Hospital.
Vaccines.gov launched Tuesday, a few days earlier than planned. There are currently 1,591 locations on the website that include a mix of children’s hospitals, doctor’s offices, community sites, clinics and pop-ups offering the shots.
To use the tool, people can click on the button on the homepage that reads, “Find COVID-19 Vaccines.”
On the next page, users enter their ZIP code and click on the type of vaccine, depending on the age group they would like to receive.
It’s important to select the correct age group because Pfizer’s three-dose vaccine for kids is three micrograms each, one-tenth the dose offered to adults, while Moderna’s two-dose vaccine is 25 micrograms each, one-quarter of its adult-sized dose.
Dr. John Brownstein, an epidemiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News contributor, said the number of locations is expected to increase to more than 10,000 in the coming weeks are more locations get their shipments delivered
“Of course, we understand there’s a lot of anxiety and parents have been waiting a long time to get these vaccines,” Brownstein said. “At some point, the supply will outstrip the demand. Any parent will have access in the coming days. It will take time to get vaccines, but there will be enough to supply.”
The Biden administration has said it eventually expects that 85% of kids under age 5 will live within five miles of a potential vaccination site.
“HHS has received orders for approximately 4.2 million doses to date,” the agency told ABC News. “We made 10 million doses of vaccine available for ordering initially, with millions more available soon, so supply should not be a barrier to someone getting their young child vaccinated.”
For those who may not have access to the internet or are not internet literate, they can call 1-800-232-0233, which offers help to schedule appointments in English, Spanish and other languages.
Brownstein also recommends that people contact their family physicians or pediatricians to either schedule an appointment or ask where to find appointments.
“It absolutely makes sense [to contact them],” he said. “That’s where you have a formal relationship.”
It could prove challenging to get this youngest age group vaccinated if it’s not convenient to do so.
According to the CDC, only about 30% of American children between ages 5 and 11 have been vaccinated compared to 75% of kids above age 12.
Adding to the challenge is that many young children will not be able to receive their vaccines at pharmacies, because many states do not allow pharmacists or trained pharmacy staff members to vaccinate children under 3 years old.
ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.
The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jun 23, 6:26 am
More than 8 million have fled Ukraine, UN says
More than 8 million people have fled Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24, according to an update by the United Nations.
More than 4 million Ukrainians fled through Poland — by far the preferred route for the displaced, the U.N. report said. Hungary, the second most used route, reported just over 800,000 crossings.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 23, 6:08 am
Belarusian military flexes its muscle near Ukrainian border
The Belarusian Defense Ministry announced “mobilization exercises” on Wednesday in the Gomel region bordering Ukraine.
The military drills, scheduled to last until 1 July, will include special operations forces as well as freshly called up conscripts, Belarusian officials said on Telegram.
The Belarusian army has already been placing wooden dummies of tanks on the Ukrainian border to demonstrate their presence, Ukrainian Ministry of Defense spokesperson Alexander Motuzyanyk said on Wednesday.
Real weapons are arriving near the Ukrainian border, too, with a new batch of Russian missiles for the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system being brought to Belarus on Tuesday night, local monitoring groups reported. The delivery included at least 16 missiles, with the likely addition of one Pantsir missile defense system, the report said.
Still, Ukrainian officials maintain that “at this stage of the war,” there is no imminent threat “of the Belarusian army invading” Ukraine, Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, said on Wednesday as cited by local media.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 23, 5:39 am
EU shifts to coal as Russia tightens gas tap
The European Union will temporarily shift back to coal to cope with slowing Russian gas flows, an EU official said on Wednesday, as a tight gas market and rocketing prices set off a race for alternative fuels.
The International Energy Agency warned Russia could cut gas supplies to Europe completely this winter.
“Europe should be ready in case Russian gas is completely cut off,” IEA chief Fatih Birol told The Financial Times on Wednesday.
While Russia denies premeditated supply cuts, several European countries, including Germany and Italy, reported a dip in gas flow via pipelines from Russia over the past week.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak
Jun 22, 7:31 am
Turkey raises hopes for grain exports
A four-way summit discussing ways to export grain blocked in Ukraine will be held in Istanbul in less than 10 days, Turkish presidential sources told local media on Tuesday.
According to Turkish officials, a military delegation will head to Russia this week to discuss details. On top of Russian and Ukrainian delegations, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and the UN Secretary General António Guterres are likely to attend the Istanbul summit, local sources said.
The lives of about 400 million people in different countries depend on Ukrainian food exports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Monday.
-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Tatiana Rymarenko, Fidel Pavlenko and Natalya Kushnir
(LOGAN COUNTY, W. Va.) — Six people reportedly died in a helicopter crash in West Virginia on Wednesday.
The Bell UH-1B helicopter crashed by Route 17 in Logan County around 5 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which also said six people were on board. Emergency service personnel responded to the scene.
The six people were killed, Logan County Office of Emergency Management Deputy Director Sonya Porter told ABC News affiliate WCHS.
It’s unclear what caused the crash, but there was a severe thunderstorm watch for Logan County at the time of the incident, according to the county’s office of emergency management.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the incident.
This is a developing story, please check back for updates.
(SAN FRANCISCO) — The search continued Thursday for a gunman who shot two people, one fatally, on a packed Muni commuter train in San Francisco on Wednesday, police said.
The shooting occurred around 10 a.m. as the light-rail train was moving between stations, according to San Francisco Police Department spokesperson Kathryn Winters.
Winters said police were initially called to the city’s Forest Hill Muni station for a report of a shooting, but the train had already pulled away. Officers caught up to the train at the busy Castro Street Station, where they discovered the two victims, Winters said.
Police late Wednesday released a photo of a person of interest connected to the shooting.
Winters said the gunman and commuters aboard the train ran off as soon as it stopped and the doors opened at the station.
Winters said one victim, a man, was pronounced dead at the scene. A second individual was taken to Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center with non-life-threatening injuries.
The shooting happened ahead of this Sunday’s Pride Parade in San Francisco and in the heart of the city’s popular Castro District, which is expected to be filled with revelers celebrating LGBTQ pride this weekend. Winters said preliminary evidence showed that the shooting has no connection to this coming weekend’s activities or directed at the city’s LGBTQ community.
San Francisco Supervisor Myrna Melgar told ABC station KGO-TV in San Francisco that police informed her that the shooting occurred during a confrontation the gunman had with the victim who died.
“We do know the shooting happened after a heated verbal argument,” Melgar said.
It was not immediately clear whether the gunman and the deceased victim knew each other. She said the second victim who was wounded was an innocent bystander.
Winters said on Wednesday that homicide detectives were securing surveillance video from the train and the Forest Hill and Castro stations in hopes there was footage of the shooting that could help them identify the assailant.
Police had released a vague description of the perpetrator, saying he was a man wearing dark clothes and a hooded sweatshirt.
Melgar asked any commuters who were on the train and witnessed the shooting to contact police immediately.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
“It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere,” and Alan Jackson’s got the perfect way to celebrate.
The country legend just announced his new line of premium spirits called Silverbelly Whiskey, named for the signature cowboy hat that he wears at his shows. Though it may look white to the untrained eye, the color of Alan’s hat is technically called “silverbelly,” and his new brand of whiskey displays a similar sense of subtlety and refinement.
Made in partnership with Silver Screen Bottling Co. & DSP-KY-10, Alan’s Silverbelly Whiskey features notes of brown sugar, sweet apple, cherry and honey, according to a statement. The brand — available in 750 ml bottles and 91 proof, with an ABV of 45.5% — is available in stores across Tennessee now.
It’ll soon be available in other states, too, but until then, you can pick up a bottle of Alan’s new whiskey online. Preorders start today. A variety of upgrades and gift wrapping are available, and for an extra $4.99, you can receive a JM’s Dominican Churchill Maduro cigar with your bottle.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Wednesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Houston 5, NY Mets 3
Texas 4, Philadelphia 2
Baltimore 7, Washington 0
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto 9, Chi White Sox 5
Boston 6, Detroit 2
NY Yankees 5, Tampa Bay 4
Cleveland 11, Minnesota 10
Seattle 9, Oakland 0
LA Angels 5, Kansas City 0
NATIONAL LEAGUE
San Diego 10, Arizona 4
Miami 7, Colorado 4
LA Dodgers 8, Cincinnati 4
Atlanta 4, San Francisco 3
Chi Cubs 14, Pittsburgh 5
St. Louis 5, Milwaukee 4
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE PLAYOFFS
Colorado 3 Tampa Bay 2 (OT) (Colorado leads 3-1)
WOMEN’S NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
New York 81, Connecticut 77
The new Neflix action comedy The Man from Toronto, starring Woody Harrelson and Kevin Hart, debuts on Friday.
It’s one of more than 20 projects Hart has in the works as an actor or producer, which has him up before the sun rises every morning.
“I’m a busy man, but I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he notes. “I love it. I find joy in it. I find happy in it. And, you know, while I got the energy and while I’m able, I will and I can.”
It’s also motivated Hart to stay in top physical shape, something Harrelson admits has inspired him as well.
“One of my first conversations was to ask him about how the hell he’s so damn fit. And, you know, I really thought, I wish I had taken his advice because, you know, I’d be in a tight tee shirt right now,” shares Woody, adding, “he did teach me a lot about what I could do if I decided to take up that, you know, that hard work.”
The two actors both know a little something about being a part of successful on-screen duos; something Harrelson says is all about the love.
“You gotta love the people you’re working with. It’s got to congeal into a family,” he explains. “And I will say that definitely happened with Kevin…I loved him before I met him. And after I met him, I loved him more. So I was very happy to see that come across on screen.”
The feeling was mutual for Hart, who says that from their first conversation, to the first meeting, to the first day on set, the two “hit the ground running” and “never looked back.”
Gaga: Interscope; Berlin: Sony Music Entertainment
Lady Gaga‘s hit “Hold My Hand” is from the hit movie Top Gun: Maverick. She submitted the song to the film’s creative team in hopes that, as director Joe Kosinski tells ABC Audio, it would be just as popular as that Oscar-winning #1 ballad by Berlin from the original movie.
“We said we were looking for … the ‘Take My Breath Away’ of this film, which is a very, very high bar,” Kosinski explains. “I mean, can you imagine trying to take that on? Like, who throws their hat in the ring to try to match such an iconic thing? And [Gaga] did it. I mean, she crushed it!”
Ironically, “Take My Breath Away” was a fluke. As Berlin‘s Teri Nunn tells ABC Audio, they only got to record the song because Giorgio Moroder, who wrote and produced it, happened to be working with them at the same time he got hired to put the Top Gun soundtrack together.
As Nunn explains, “He tried a number of other singers on the song, and the producers didn’t like any of them. Big singers, you know, way bigger than me. So he was kind of out of options.”
So, she says, Moroder gave her the song to record and promised the producers it’d be great.
Nunner laughs, “I was so sure that I had no shot at this that … I changed his melodies. It was really stupid of me to do that … I was like, ‘I’m not going to get it.’ So … I gave it back to him and said, ‘OK, this is the way I would do it.’
“He played it for them and they said, ‘That’s it! That’s the one! … You found your singer, you found your band. Let’s do it!'”
