(NEW YORK) — This Fourth of July is expected to be the second-busiest for travel since 2000, with 47.9 million Americans taking trips, according to AAA.
Here’s what to know before you head to the airport or hit the highways.
Air travel
Friday, July 1 is shaping up to be the busiest day for air travel during the holiday weekend. Monday, July 4 will likely be the lightest, according to AAA booking data.
The top domestic destinations for the holiday this year are: Orlando; Seattle; New York; Anaheim, California; Anchorage, Alaska; Ft. Lauderdale; Las Vegas; Honolulu; Denver; and Chicago, according to AAA.
Fourth of July airfare is up 45% compared to 2019, now at an average of $437 for a domestic roundtrip, according to Hopper.
But the best prices for domestic trips can be found with a quick weekend trip, flying on Saturday, July 2 and returning on Monday, July 4, according to Hopper.
Road travel
The afternoons of Thursday, June 30 and Friday, July 1 are anticipated to be the most crowded days on the road as commuters leave work early and mix with holiday travelers, according to AAA.
If you’re going to brave the roads on Friday, before 10 a.m. or after 9 p.m. is best, according to analytics company INRIX. On Thursday, before 7 a.m. or after 8 p.m. is best.
July 3 and July 4 are expected to be the best days for traffic, according to INRIX.
(NEW YORK) — The heat is on this summer, and it’s forecast to stay that way.
Millions of Americans had already been given a taste of sweltering temperatures by the time the summer solstice — the longest day of the year and the official start of the summer season — arrived last week.
A reprieve from the heat is likely not coming, forecasts into the coming months show.
Following back-to-back dangerous heat waves that impacted a large swath of the nation over the past two weeks, much of the country will be bracing for more rounds of intense heat as summer continues.
The final days of June and first days of July will likely bring above-average temperatures along the Gulf Coast, with building heat in the West. Rounds of intense summer heat and longer-duration heat waves will be likely over the next couple of weeks and heading through the month of July, according to long-range weather forecast models monitored by meteorologists.
Odds favor above-average temperatures across much of the South and along the East Coast, according to the latest July outlook issued by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. While there will be breaks in the heat from time to time, more rounds of prolonged, dangerous heat will be more likely in these areas — which have already experienced triple-digit temperatures — heading into the middle of summer.
The Midwest, which saw some of the highest temperatures during the most recent heat waves, will be one of the few regions to experience relief from the heat in the coming days.
Heat is the No. 1 weather-related killer. On average, more people in the U.S. die from extreme heat than any other severe weather event, including tornados, hurricanes and flooding combined, according to the National Weather Service.
Vulnerable populations, including impoverished and marginalized communities and those with pre-existing health conditions such as asthma and heart disease, are most at risk when temperatures begin to skyrocket, Ladd Keith, an assistant professor in the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning at the University of Arizona, told ABC News.
“With climate change, we’ve already seen the number of heat waves increase,” he said. “In the 1960s, they were occurring twice per year. And we’ve already seen that increase to six times a decade in the last decade.”
As the heat index increased, cities all over the country began offering heat management strategies such as cooling and hydration centers. In Tennessee, utility company Middle Tennessee Electric even suspended disconnections for non-payment until at least July 6 amid the forecast for scorching temperatures.
Cities tend to be hotter than their natural surroundings because of the heat island effect caused by buildings, roads and other infrastructure, which absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than a natural landscape, Keith said. This is why is it important for cities to also implement heat mitigation strategies, such as planting trees, increase vegetation, and use cool pavements and cool roofs during new construction, he said.
“Just the average temperatures that are rising due to climate change — and how we built our cities — can expose people to unsafe temperatures throughout the summer season, particularly for historically hotter states,” Keith said. “And so that’s a concern, because it could certainly lead to things like dehydration, heat, heat exhaustion and up to heatstroke.”
Heat severity in urban areas is “drastic and inequitably distributed,” Keith said. Lower-income, marginalized minority neighborhoods are physically hotter because they have less vegetation, and they have less public investment that’s historically connected to those locations, he added.
In addition, a lot of critical urban infrastructure and systems, such as industry, airports and transportation hubs, are typically located in lower-income areas “intentionally,” Keith said.
“So that physically makes those places hotter, so they’re exposed to more heat just by where they live,” he said.
Combine that with the inability to access health care or afford basic utilities such as air conditioning, and people’s health can succumb to the heat, Keith said.
The heat and megadrought are becoming such a concern in the West that the city of Los Angeles named its first-ever chief heat officer earlier this month, while the Federal Emergency Management Agency has identified Los Angeles County as the nation’s most vulnerable county to heat waves.
Despite cities being hotter, there are actually more heat-related hospitalizations in rural regions, likely due to the types of occupations those residents hold and their travel patterns, Keith said.
The next heat wave is forecast to also hit the Pacific Northwest, a region that experienced triple-digit temperatures twice in 2021 — something that would have been unheard of two decades ago.
It is estimated that about 1,400 people in the U.S. and Canada died as a result of that heat wave.
“There’s just a less visible risk, and it kind of hides some of those deaths, unfortunately,” Keith said.
(BRENTWOOD, Calif.) — Three people are dead and two others seriously injured after an Amtrak train collided with a car in Brentwood, California, on Sunday, the East Contra Costa Fire Department told ABC News San Francisco station KGO.
The two people who were wounded, including a child, suffered serious injuries and were both sent to John Muir Medical Center, according to officials.
It’s unclear how many people were on the train.
Fire department officials said they have been called out to that train crossing up to twice a year because there isn’t a traffic guard at that location.
On Sunday, the rapper took to Instagram to reveal that her new song “Hot S***” will be released on Friday, July 1.
“My new single “Hot S***” available everywhere THIS FRIDAY 7/1,” she announced alongside a 15-second teaser clip that showed an aerial view of a city before landing on Cardi atop a skyscraper.
That’s not all though, the “Up” rapper also shared that another surprise will be announced Monday.
“Tomorrow 8pm I got another surprise for yall, tune in,” she teased.
The announcement comes ahead of Cardi’s long-awaited sophomore album, the follow up to 2018’s Invasion of Privacy. She’s since released a string of collaborations including 2020’s Megan Thee Stallion-assisted “WAP,” a verse on Lizzo‘s “Rumors” and the remix to Summer Walker and SZA‘s “No Love.”
(MOSCOW) — WNBA star Brittney Griner appeared at a preliminary hearing in Moscow on Monday more than three months after she was detained in Russia.
Griner did not respond to an ABC News reporter’s question as she walked out of the courtroom. Her attorney did not comment after the hearing. The next hearing is scheduled for July 1.
Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia on Feb. 17 after she was accused of carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia.
The U.S. State Department has said Griner was “wrongfully detained” by Russia.
“Our position for some time on this has been very clear. Brittney Griner should not be detained. She should not be detained for a single day longer,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said June 14.
Russia had issued multiple extensions of her pre-trial detention. If convicted, Griner, 31, faces up to 10 years in prison.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began one week after Griner was detained. Some officials are concerned that Americans jailed in Russia could be used as leverage in the ongoing conflict.
Cherelle Griner told Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts in May that she would like to speak with President Joe Biden.
“I just keep hearing that, you know, he has the power. She’s a political pawn,” she said. “So if they’re holding her because they want you to do something, then I want you to do it.”
Asked last week about a potential meeting between Cherelle Griner and President Biden, Jean-Pierre said, “We don’t have anything to share about a potential phone conversation or meeting.”
ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — The Colorado Avalanche beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 2-1 Sunday night in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals in Tampa, Fla. The Avalanche took the series 4 games to 2, and will bring Lord Stanley’s Cup back to the Centennial State for the first time since 2001.
This is the third Cup for the Avalanche, whose first Cup victory came in 1996, followed by another win in 2001. Colorado stopped Tampa from winning its third title in a row.
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are celebrating their sweet 16!
On June 25, the beloved couple commemorated their 16th wedding anniversary with a pair of adoring Instagram posts that show then vs. now.
Keith shared a photo of the two out celebrating the special day, both flashing a smile as Nicole waves to the camera. “HAPPY SWEET 16 BABY,” Keith captions the moment.
Meanwhile, Keith’s Academy Award winning wife shared a throwback photo from their wedding day in 2006 that shows them lighting a ceremonial candle together at the chapel where they married in Sydney, Australia, Nicole wearing her ravishing wedding gown and veil while the country star looks sleek in a black tuxedo and white flower lapel.
“Sweet XVI. Remember this like it was yesterday. Forever,” Nicole writes alongside the memory with a series of heart emojis.
The loving couple also shares two daughters, 14-year-old Sunday Rose and 12-year-old Faith Margaret.
As you can probably guess by its title, Motionless in White‘s new album, Scoring the End of the World, deals with a lot of contemporary themes. But the record takes a quick detour into the ’80s with the song “Werewolf.”
In the song, frontman Chris “Motionless” Cerulli makes a references to the 1984 Rockwell hit “Somebody’s Watching Me,” singing along to its immediately recognizable chorus, which featured vocals from Michael Jackson. Overall, though, “Werewolf” was mainly inspired by the King of Pop’s classic single “Thriller.”
“We felt like we wanted to have our iconic song, our theatrical moment,” Cerulli says of his band’s approach to “Werewolf.” “We’ve never fully embraced it at that level before.”
He adds, “Whether people love it our hate it, we love it because we made that venture into that world.”
Along with the retro influence of MJ and Rockwell, Cerulli wanted “Werewolf” to still feel modern, which Motionless brought in thanks to some inspiration from Muse.
“It felt so cool to explore that side of stuff for us and have it go so well that everybody’s favorite song in the band is ‘Werewolf,'” Cerulli says.
Of course, part of what made “Thriller” so iconic was its legendary video, and Cerulli hopes that “Werewolf” will get a fitting visual, as well.
“I feel like it needs a video that’s, like, a modern-day ‘Thriller,'” Cerulli says. “Something that feels fun, spooky, feels like Motionless, but has a little bit of a serious thing on the side.”
Scoring the End of the World is out now. It also includes the single “Masterpiece.”
R-Lily Allen; L- Olivia Rodrigo; Joseph Okpako/WireImage
Over the weekend, Olivia Rodrigo performed at the U.K.’s prestigious Glastonbury festival and used her time on stage to denounce the Supreme Court’s ruling on Friday that overturned Roe v. Wade. Meanwhile other stars continued to weigh in on Twitter and pledge to take action.
The British paper The Guardian reports that on Saturday, Olivia told the crowd, “I’m devastated and terrified. So many women and so many girls are going to die because of this.”
She continued, “I wanted to dedicate this next song to the five members of the Supreme Court who have showed us that at the end of the day, they truly don’t give a s*** about freedom. The song is for the justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh. We hate you! We hate you.”
She then brought out guest star Lily Allento perform Allen’s song “F**k You,” whose lyrics go, “Your point of view is medieval/F**k you, f**k you very, very much/’Cause we hate what you do.”
Meanwhile, Harry Stylestook to Twitter to write, “I’m absolutely devastated for the people of America today. Check on your friends. Look after each other. We’re all in this together, and the fight is just beginning. A truly dark day for America.”
Mariah Careywrote, “It is truly unfathomable and disheartening to have to try to explain to my 11 year old daughter why we live in a world where women’s rights are disintegrating in front of our eyes.”
And Lizzoannounced that she was pledging $500,000 from her upcoming tour to Planned Parenthood, and that concert promoter Live Nation agreed to the match the donation for a total of $1 million.
