(WASHINGTON) — Adm. Linda Fagan became the first woman to lead a branch of the U.S. military when she was sworn in as commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard at a sunny ceremony in Washington on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden, who nominated Fagan to the post in April, spoke at the change of command event at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters, calling it “a new milestone in our history” and “a big deal.”
“There’s no one more qualified to lead the proud men and women of the Coast Guard, and she will also be the first woman to serve as Commandant of the Coast Guard, the first woman to lead any branch of the United States Armed Forces — and it’s about time,” Biden said at the ceremony, where Fagan relieved Adm. Karl Schultz, who is retiring.
Biden added, “Secretary of Defense, when he sent me the name, I said, ‘What in the hell took you so long?'”
Fagan is coming off serving as the Coast Guard’s vice commandant — the first female four-star admiral to serve as a branch’s second-in-command — and previously served as the commander of the Coast Guard Pacific Area from June 2018 to June 2021.
Now, Fagan will soon be the first woman to take a seat at the table of the U.S. Joint Chiefs — representing all branches of the military — and she comes equipped with nearly 40 years in the service, on par with the officers she will be joining.
“I’m immensely grateful to the many players that paved the way,” Fagan said following Biden. “Pioneers like Admiral Siler, Dorothy Stratten, Ida Lewis, Dorothy McShane, Elizabeth Friedman. I’m proud to be a part of this long history of service, dedication, and groundbreaking, and I’m committed to carrying these principles forward.”
Biden noted that Fagan had been a pioneer earlier in her career, too, serving as one of few women — or the only woman — in various stations throughout her time in the service, and calling Wednesday’s ceremony “a historic first, in that effort.”
“I want to thank you Admiral Fagan for taking the helm during this critical moment,” he added. “And for all that you’ve done throughout your career, it opened the doors of opportunities just a little bit wider to allowing those following behind you, a way through.”
Biden also emphasized that the U.S. needs to ensure that more women are in leadership positions at Fagan’s level.
“We need to ensure women have an opportunity to succeed and thrive throughout their professional careers and that means providing support and resources so women can compete fairly and fully for promotions and make sure women are not penalized in their career for having children,” Biden added. “It also means creating an environment where every member of the Armed Forces feels safe in the ranks, including from sexual assault and harassment, and where their contributions are respected.”
In 1985, Fagan was in just the sixth graduating class from the Coast Guard Academy that included women. She has since risen the ranks to serve on all seven continents — “from the snows of Ross Island, Antarctica to the heart of Africa, from Tokyo to Geneva,” according to the Coast Guard — and aboard the USCGC POLAR STAR, a 399ft heavy polar icebreaker. She is also the longest service in the marine safety field, which earned her the Coast Guard’s first-ever Gold Ancient Trident distinction.
During Fagan’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee, which has oversight of the Coast Guard, lawmakers on the panel including Chair Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., praised her qualifications and place as a trailblazer.
“We’re sending a strong message to women cadets and to people training at Cape May. And we are sending a strong message to young girls who dream of someday serving in the Coast Guard,” she said. “We are saying now that the leader of this organization that your service matters, your contribution to the Coast Guard and to the country matters. And yes, you too can be commandant someday.”
Notably, Fagan’s daughter, Aileen, is also a Coast Guard lieutenant and was present at Wednesday’s ceremony.
“Thank you, Mr. President, for calling her out,” Fagan said in her remarks, after Biden had thanked her family for being there. “She’s my personal aide. I lean on her pretty heavily.”
Born in Columbus, Ohio, Fagan also earned degrees from the University of Washington and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.
Other prior assignments include Deputy Commandant for Operations, Policy, and Capability, Commander of the First Coast Guard District, and a joint assignment as Deputy Director of Operations for Headquarters and United States Northern Command.
The Senate approved Fagan’s nomination, along with five other senior Coast Guard officers, by unanimous consent last month.
ABC News’ Luis Martinez contributed to this report.
BET announced the nominees for the 2022 BET Awards Wednesday, naming Summer Walker, Chris Brown, H.E.R, Nicki Minaj, Yung Bleu and Mary J. Blige, among many others.
Leading the pack with six nominations is Doja Cat, who’s in the running for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist, Best Female Hip Hop Artist, Album of the Year for Planet Year, BET Her for “Woman,” Video of the Year and Best Collaboration for “Kiss Me More” featuring SZA.
Also up for Best Female R&B/Pop Artist and Video of the Year for “Pressure” is AriLennox,who nabbed four total nominations. Drake is also nominated for four awards, including Best Male Hip Hop Artist and Best Collaboration.
Tied for third most nominations is Baby Keem, Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak), Chlöe, Future, H.E.R., Jazmine Sullivan, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Lil Baby, Mary J. Blige and Tems.
In the non-music categories, King Richard, Summer of Soul and Respect are nominated for Best Movie, while Jennifer Hudson, Issa Rae, Quinta Brunson, Will Smith and Denzel Washington are up for Best Actress/Best Actor.
The full list, which can be found on the BET Awardswebsite, follows the announcement of Taraji P. Henson as this year’s host. Henson returns for another year after hosting the 2021 awards show, which she kicked off with a tribute to iconic Black women.
The 2022 BET Awards will air live from the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 26, at 8 p.m. on BET.
Jeff Golden/Getty Images; Paul Morigi/Getty Images
This spring, The Monkees‘ Micky Dolenz and The Rascals‘ Felix Cavaliere have teamed up for several joint U.S. concerts dubbed “Legends Live!,” and the famous singers have two more co-headlining shows scheduled this week — on Friday in New York City and Saturday in Lynn, Massachusetts.
Dolenz tells ABC Audio that the shows with Cavaliere have been a great experience for him, as well as being a treat for music fans.
“Felix and I go back a while. He’s an incredible guy. His band is great. Everybody is so much fun,” Micky notes. “[H]e has so many huge hits. I am blessed to have had a number of big hits. And so it’s like two headliners. You’re kind of getting two shows for the price of one, if you will.”
Dolenz says he’s “a huge fan” of The Rascals, and loves all of the group’s big hits, including “Groovin’,” “Good Lovin'” and “Beautiful Morning.”
“You know, I sit in the wings…and watch part of his set every night, ’cause there’s so many great songs,” Micky reveals.
As for his own set, Dolenz tells ABC Audio he always performs all of The Monkees’ biggest hits.
“I know that the vast majority of fans and people that maybe don’t come to every single show, they want to hear those hits,” Micky notes.
This year marks the first time Dolenz has hit the road as the only surviving member of The Monkees, as Michael Nesmith sadly passed away last December just a few weeks after he and Micky finished a farewell tour together.
Asked how he feels about being the last Monkee, Dolenz says, “It’s strange…I don’t think I’ve probably completely processed it yet, ’cause it is quite recent.”
Check out Micky’s full upcoming schedule at MickyDolenz.com.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Amerie Jo Garza, 10, one of the 21 victims of the Robb Elementary School shooting, was a proud Girl Scout who had completed her bridging ceremony — moving from one level of Girl Scouts to the next — the week before she died.
On Tuesday, the day she was laid to rest in her hometown of Uvalde, Texas, it was announced that Amerie Jo was awarded one of Girl Scouts’ highest honors.
The fourth grade student was awarded the Bronze Cross, an award given “for saving or attempting to save life at the risk of the Girl Scout’s own life,” according to Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas, which announced the honor.
“On May 24, 2022, Amerie did all she could to save the lives of her classmates and teachers,” the Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas said in a statement, adding, “We will carry her story with us always and ensure her brave actions will endure for generations.”
In addition to presenting the Bronze Cross to Amerie Jo’s family, the Girl Scouts said they also honored the 10-year-old with a Presentation of Colors at her funeral.
“Amerie was a bright and outgoing fourth-grader who loved Play-Doh, playing with friends at recess — and being a Girl Scout,” Girl Scouts of Southwest Texas said in a statement. “She was proud of the badges she earned.”
On May 24, Amerie Jo was in a fourth grade classroom at Robb Elementary School when a gunman entered the school and then her classroom, killing 19 students and two teachers.
Amerie Jo’s father, Angel Garza, told ABC News last week that his daughter just turned 10 on May 10.
“Thank you everyone for the prayers and help trying to find my baby,” Garza wrote in a statement to ABC News. “She’s been found. My little love is now flying high with the angels above. Please don’t take a second for granted. Hug your family. Tell them you love them. I love you Amerie Jo. Watch over your baby brother for me.”
A visitation was held for Amerie Jo on Monday at Hillcrest Memorial Funeral Home in Uvalde.
Her funeral was held the next day, Tuesday, at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, also in Uvalde.
On Wednesday’s episode of Red Table Talk, Jada Pinkett Smith opens up a conversation around alopecia, the autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss. Smith, who has alopecia; her mother, Adrienne Banfield Norris;and her daughter, Willow Smith, are joined by a few guests who share their personal experience with the disorder.
The mother of 12-year-old RioAllred,who died by suicide after being bullied for her alopecia, emotionally recalls her daughter’s hair loss journey and how she and her family, including her 7-year-old daughter, Avry, are dealing with the tragic loss.
“With the hair loss, she was so strong,” Allred’s mom, NikiBall,said. “She just rocked it, even when it was still falling out and she had these big patches.” Ball details how the many different remedies she tried — like creams and injections — didn’t help her daughter and instead aided in the young girl’s decision to shave her head. “So we did and she just glowed,” Ball said.
Of the many instances of bullying she endured, one of the last encounters Allred told her mother about was a “really bad day” at school when a fellow student, referring to Allred’s bald head, told her to “put your hat back on, I can’t stand the glare.”
On how she’s coping since the discovery of her daughter on March 14, Ball said, “Eating has gotten a little easier; you literally have to eat to stay alive.”
Speaking to the table of visibly emotional hosts, Ball said, “I worry about all of us a lot. I feel like I have to stay strong.”
Phoebe Bridgers has premiered the video for her new single, “Sidelines.”
The clip features live, backstage and behind-the-scenes footage from the “Kyoto” artist’s ongoing U.S. headlining tour. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
If you want to see Bridgers live, her tour continues Wednesday in Omaha, Nebraska, and concludes June 16 in New York City.
“Sidelines,” Bridgers’ first original song to follow her Grammy-nominated 2020 effort Punisher, premiered in April. It was recorded for the new series Conversationswith Friends, which is streaming now on Hulu.
Bridgers will perform “Sidelines” during her appearance on NBC’s The Tonight Show on June 15.
(NEW YORK) — With more travelers ready to take to the skies this season, the Transportation Security Administration predicts a summer of record-breaking proportions.
According to the agency, it could screen more than 3 million people in a day with the summer surge demand.
Airfare, ticket prices soar
Scott Keyes, who dedicates his life to helping travelers find cheap flights with his brand, Scott’s Cheap Flights, told Good Morning America that “It’s not just your imagination — summer flights right now are indeed extraordinarily expensive.”
His suggestion? Book sooner than later.
“Don’t wait to book your flights until the very last minute, because last-minute flights are generally going to get more expensive, not less expensive,” he said.
One family said their recent cross-country trip to California was astronomical compared to years past.
“A flight [to] the San Francisco for us would typically be about $1,600. And it was about $2,800,” Karen Brennan told Good Morning America.
Brennan said she saved and paid for the flights, “but then all the hotels and everything else that would normally be in our usual budget just added into it.”
According to experts, the July 4 holiday is the most expensive summer weekend to fly with domestic airfares averaging $412.
When to Find Cheaper Summer Deals
Waiting until the end of summer can save travelers. Hayley Berg, an economist for the flight savings and booking app Hopper, told GMA.
“If you’re willing to wait until late August to take your summer vacation. You can save as much as $118 off of domestic airfare and more than $100 off a three-night hotel stay,” she said.
Destinations That Don’t Break the Bank
Berg also said that some of the most expensive stays include Seattle, San Diego and Portland. But some less expensive places include Houston, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale.
Other Money Saving Tips
For families, try booking just one ticket at a time, rather than all together, Keyes suggested .
“A few months ago, we had a flight from Portland to New York, and we were searching for four tickets. And those tickets came back at $187 per person,” Keyes said. “When I reduced it down to one ticket, all of a sudden the price dropped to $113 per person.”
Keyes said what’s happening is “the airline will only sell you four tickets if they are in the same — ‘fare bucket’ — so maybe they only had three tickets available at that $113 rate. And so by searching for four tickets, I got bumped up to $187 rate.”
Another savings option is to try searching for one-way ticket fares. While one airline may have a good offer for your departure, another airline could have a good option for the return flight. Once you book, travelers can periodically go back and check the flight’s current price, so if it drops you can call the airline and ask to get a credit.
(MOSCOW) — The Kremlin said Wednesday that President Joe Biden’s plans to send advanced rocket systems to Ukraine was “adding fuel to the fire.”
“We know that the United States has been purposefully and meticulously adding fuel to the fire,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. “The United States pursues the course towards fighting Russia to the last Ukrainian.”
Biden said Tuesday the U.S. would provide advanced rocket systems to help Ukraine defend itself, as Russia’s invasion nears the 100-day mark.
“We have moved quickly to send Ukraine a significant amount of weaponry and ammunition so it can fight on the battlefield and be in the strongest possible position at the negotiating table,” Biden wrote in an opinion piece in The New York Times. “That’s why I’ve decided that we will provide the Ukrainians with more advanced rocket systems and munitions that will enable them to more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said Wednesday that if Ukraine receives multiple-launch rocket systems from the West there were “risks” of a third country becoming involved in the conflict, according to Interfax. “Such risks, of course, exist,” he told reporters, responding to a question, according to Interfax.
The White House’s principal deputy national security adviser, Jonathan Finer, said Wednesday morning that “Russia has brought this on itself.”
“We don’t negotiate our security assistance packages to Ukraine with the Kremlin,” Finer said during an interview with CNN, adding that Biden had warned Russian President Vladimir Putin “directly” that if he “launched a new, renewed invasion of Ukraine, the United States would increase the amount of security assistance we were providing, including new and advanced systems.”
“They have not been pleased by the amount of security assistance we’ve been providing to the Ukrainians, frankly, since far before this most recent phase of the conflict began,” Finer said.
The United States will send high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), which will enable the Ukrainians to “more precisely strike key targets on the battlefield from a greater distance inside Ukraine, and to help them repel Russians,” a senior Biden administration official told reporters Tuesday.
The missiles will be provided as part of a new, $700 million security assistance package for Ukraine — the 11th of its kind from the U.S. — which will also include additional javelin anti-tank missiles, helicopters, tactical vehicles and artillery rounds.
The HIMARS is a longer-range rocket system that can fire munitions up to 190 miles.
But the munitions the U.S. plans to provide Ukraine have a maximum range of around 50 miles, according to senior Biden administration officials.
Officials say they wanted to limit the range so that the weapons would be used on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine but not fired further into Russia itself.
As Russia has shifted its invasion to the east of the country, Ukrainian fighters have found themselves outgunned by a Russian military with more powerful artillery.
Ukraine has struggled to push back Russian advances, and its leaders have long asked the U.S. to send more powerful guns.
“We need more heavy weapons delivered as soon as possible, especially MLRS, to repel Russian attacks,” Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, tweeted last week, referring to multiple-launch rocket systems.
An official stressed that the Ukrainians had given the United States “assurances they will not use” the new systems the U.S. is providing “against targets in Russian territory.”
“These systems will be used by the Ukrainians to repel Russian advances on Ukrainian territory, but they will not be used against targets in Russia,” the official said.
The administration has taken pains to underscore this distinction, given Russia’s warning that advanced systems would be seen as an escalation.
Biden’s announcement came a day after he sparked confusion during a quick exchange with a reporter outside the White House.
Asked if he planned “to send long-range rocket systems to Ukraine,” Biden only responded, “We’re not going to send to Ukraine rocket systems that can strike into Russia.”
White House officials clarified they were still considering sending longer-range systems to Russia. Ultimately, the U.S. stopped short of sharing systems with an even longer range than HIMARS.
In his Tuesday New York Times essay, the president stressed the action was not intended to start a broader conflict, and said the U.S. was “not encouraging or enabling Ukraine to strike beyond its borders” – nor did it “want to prolong the war just to inflict pain on Russia.”
“We do not seek a war between NATO and Russia,” Biden wrote. “As much as I disagree with Mr. Putin, and find his actions an outrage, the United States will not try to bring about his ouster in Moscow.
“So long as the United States or our allies are not attacked,” he continued, “we will not be directly engaged in this conflict, either by sending American troops to fight in Ukraine or by attacking Russian forces.
Liam Payne chose an inopportune time to air One Direction‘s dirty laundry and fans are livid.
Appearing on the Impaulsivepodcast, the British singer singled out his former bandmates by name. Fans are now accusing Liam of trying to divert attention away from his alleged infidelity. The “Strip That Down” singer’s engagement to Maya Henry went up in flames after he became embroiled in a cheating scandal.
Among the revelations was a scathing bit about Louis Tomlinson, whom Liam said he “hated” when 1D first formed. Although Liam said he and Louis are now close, he claimed they nearly traded blows when they were part of the band.
“We came very close at points. There was one moment where there was an argument backstage and one member in particular threw me up a wall,” Liam revealed.
He also spoke about Zayn Malik, who famously left 1D in 2015. “There’s many reasons why I dislike Zayn and there’s many reasons why I’ll always, always be on his side,” he said, referencing Zayn’s “upbringing” by hinting his parents weren’t supportive.
Liam’s interview has ignited fans’ outrage, with many pointing out that his former bandmates haven’t badmouthed One Direction since the group went on hiatus over five years ago.
He also drew some heavy criticism for claiming in the same interview that he is the most successful of his former bandmates. Speaking of his 2017 single “Strip That Down,” he said, “We did the first song, billion streams. I think it outsold everybody within the band.”
Fans have pointed out both Zayn and Harry Styles’ debut singles, respectively “Pillowtalk” and “Sign of the Times,” amassed over a billion Spotify streams, while “Strip That Down” has 800,000.
