(WASHINGTON) — NASA kicked off its first Earth Day celebration since the COVID-19 pandemic Friday at Washington, D.C.’s Union Station. The weekendlong event allows attendees to navigate informational exhibits led by NASA specialists on topics such as planet rotation, volcanic eruptions and NASA’s newest scientific expeditions.
Bill Nelson, NASA’s administrator and highest-ranking official, made an appearance announcing a mission control initiative focused on NASA’s state-of-the-art climate-monitoring system called the Earth Information Center, which is expected to launch in the next few years.
Nelson, who championed environmental causes as a Democratic senator from Florida for 18 years, said NASA’s role in curbing climate change is bringing a data-driven approach to everybody, including all levels of government, universities, schools, the private sector and the “everyday American.”
“The reason we want to bring this to the public is this is our home,” Nelson said. “This is the planet, it’s the only one we have. We want to keep it.”
He said attempting to change laws relating to climate raises challenges in political viability.
“Sometimes, politically, that’s hard because it’s entrenched in special interests,” Nelson said. “But we’ve got to keep trying.”
While still in the conceptual phase, the center would be funded by the president’s most recent budget proposal for fiscal year 2023. The $2.4 billion could fund real-time climate- and weather-monitoring systems easily accessible to the public.
Nelson said it’s wonderful to see kids’ eyes light up when they interact with the exhibits.
NASA hopes to inspire children like 8-year-old Connor Everitt to explore their scientific passions. Connor said he dreams of becoming an engineer and is inspired by NASA’s innovations.
“Anything that we can do to inspire them to have a greater tomorrow for the entire world is a good thing,” his father, Cole Everitt, said.
(NEW YORK) — Textbook publishers say they have been left in the dark about why their mathematics books were rejected by the Florida Department of Education, with the state claiming the textbooks sought to “indoctrinate” students.
ABC News contacted the eight publishers who were rejected on the basis of “special subjects” — including critical race theory, a discipline often practiced in higher education that analyzes the role of racism in U.S. legal systems.
Other “special subjects” included Common Core education standards, as well as Social-Emotional Learning (SEL) techniques. SEL is a practice that infuses social and emotional development skills with various school subjects.
Several companies say they’ve not yet heard from the state about the reasoning behind the rejections or how they implemented said “special subjects” in their textbooks.
The Florida Department of Education says that since some content is copyrighted, it is unable to publicly release examples about the reasons textbooks were rejected. However, they released examples that were given to the department that show statistics on racism, mentions of social awareness and discussions on emotional learning frameworks.
Florida has rejected almost 41% of the textbooks submitted for the upcoming school year, the department said in a statement last week.
For grades K-5, 71% of materials were rejected. In grades 6 through 8, 20% were rejected. In grades 9 through 12, 35% were rejected, according to the department.
The state Department of Education says that 21% of all rejected books incorporated “prohibited topics” or “unsolicited strategies,” including apparent instances of critical race theory.
In June 2021, the department sent an addendum to the bid specifications for mathematics textbooks to these publishers.
“In an effort to make sure Florida students have the highest quality instructional materials, we are advising publishers and school districts to not incorporate unsolicited strategies, such as social emotional learning and culturally responsive teaching,” the letter stated.
Some of the biggest textbook publishers in the country were later included in the long list of rejections, including McGraw Hill, Cengage Learning, Savvas Learning Company — formerly known as Pearson K12 Learning — and Macmillan Learning.
“Savvas has a long and successful track record of working with the Florida Department of Education to ensure that our instructional materials deliver high-quality, research-based pedagogy designed intentionally to align with the current Florida standards for mathematics,” a Savvas spokesperson told ABC News.
Several of the companies said they are not clear as to what needs to be fixed or how they broached “special subjects” against the state’s wishes.
“At Macmillan Learning, everything we do is in service of our common goal with educators — to see students succeed,” a Macmillan Learning spokesperson told ABC News.
“We were surprised and disappointed to learn that a statistics text from Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers (the Advanced Placement and 9-12 High School division of Macmillan Learning) was not on the approved list of titles from the State of Florida with no explanation,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the company’s “Statistics and Probabilities with Applications” textbook received “considerable demand from districts and schools throughout the state” and earned a high score of 4.6 out of 5 on Florida’s Subject-Specific Standards Score.
Publishers now must appeal this decision, or revise the submissions to meet Florida’s expectations.
Some teachers may be limited in how many books they can choose from. From the latest list of approved books, grades K-2 teachers seemingly only have one book they can choose.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis slammed publishers for the alleged inclusion of certain subjects.
“It seems that some publishers attempted to slap a coat of paint on an old house built on the foundation of Common Core, and indoctrinating concepts like race essentialism, especially, bizarrely, for elementary school students,” DeSantis said in the announcement of rejected books.
ABC News’ Will McDuffie contributed to this report.
(PHOENIX) — There are at least 11 large wildfires currently raging in the Southwestern U.S. — largely in Arizona and New Mexico.
The Tunnel Fire in Arizona has burned 21,087 acres and is 3% contained as of Friday. This is one of multiple large wildfires burning in the state, with the Crooks Fire also burning south of Prescott.
Dangerous fire weather conditions are expected in the coming hours across portions of Colorado and New Mexico where an extreme fire danger alert is in place.
Strong winds, very dry and warm conditions will fuel potentially dangerous weather that could spark new fires and make any existing fires difficult to battle.
Wind gusts could top 60 to 70 mph along with relative humidity values falling into the single digits in spots.
Widespread drought conditions persist across much of the West into the Plains. Over 93% of New Mexico is facing severe drought conditions.
A severe weather threat will unfold across a large swath of the Plains Friday evening into the night. Severe thunderstorms will be possible from the Texas panhandle up into the Dakotas.
Severe thunderstorms moving into the region may bring damaging wind gusts and large hail. Tornadoes could also occur.
The bulk of these storms will begin around 8 to 9 p.m. ET and will persist into the overnight period in some areas.
Weather alerts are in effect across more than a dozen states from California to Minnesota.
There are widespread red flag and high wind warnings in effect across several states, including Denver, Colorado and New Mexico.
A wind advisory remains in place for Flagstaff, Arizona, and surrounding areas until 8 p.m. MT, with more wind gusts on the way.
Winter weather alerts are in effect across parts of the Rockies into the northern Plains. A blizzard warning is in effect from Miles City, Montana, to Minot, North Dakota.
Flood watches are in effect for parts of the Upper Midwest as well. Storm impacts are winding down along the West Coast as the system moves eastward and into the Plains.
On Saturday, the severe thunderstorm threat will stretch from Oklahoma up to Minnesota with more damaging wind gusts, large hail and the possibility of tornadoes.
(NEW YORK) — Dozens of New York City Education Department employees are being placed on unpaid leave as of Monday for submitting fake coronavirus vaccine cards.
“Fewer than 100″ employees submitted the fake vaccination cards, the DOE said Friday. A union official estimated about 70 employees were impacted.
The United Federation of Teachers, the union representing educators in the city, is preparing to challenge the move, saying some teachers claim they were wrongly accused and placing them on unpaid leave violates “the basic notion of due process.”
“It is wholly improper for the DOE to unilaterally remove UFT members from the payroll based on mere conjecture that vaccination documentation is fraudulent,” Beth A. Norton, general counsel for UFT, wrote in a letter to the city.
“The UFT demands that the DOE immediately rescind the aforementioned notices and confirm by the close of business April 22, 2022 that the affected UFT bargaining unit members will remain on the payroll on April 25, 2022 and thereafter,” the letter added. “Should the DOE fail to comply with this demand and the due process procedures, the UFT is prepared to initiate litigation to challenge the DOE’s improper actions.”
The Department of Education defended its actions in a statement.
“Fraudulent vaccination cards are not only illegal, they also undermine the best line of protection our schools have against COVID-19 — universal adult vaccination,” The Education Department said in a statement. “We immediately moved to put these employees — fewer than 100 — on leave without pay.”
New York City has engaged in a prolonged legal battle with teachers over its vaccine mandate. The mandate went into effect on Oct. 4, 2021, at the behest of then-Mayor Bill de Blasio. The city required all public school teachers — in the largest school system in the country — to receive at least one dose of the vaccine.
The city said 95% of staffers had complied with the rule by Oct. 4.
But a legal battle raged on in the courts even after the mandate went into effect, with a group of teachers appealing all the way to the Supreme Court. Just this week, the nation’s highest court refused to hear the case without explanation.
ABC News’ Mark Osborne contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A man opened fire from his apartment window in a “sniper-style” shooting in Washington, D.C., on Friday, injuring four people, before the suspect took his own life.
D.C. police responded to the Cleveland Park and Van Ness areas around 3:20 p.m. and found three shooting victims — two men and a 12-year-old girl, authorities said.
The two men are in critical but stable condition, while the child was hospitalized in stable condition with a minor gunshot wound, police said at a Friday evening press briefing. One of the men was a retired Metropolitan police officer, authorities said.
A fourth victim who sustained a gunshot wound later came forward to police. The victim — a woman in her mid-60s — had a graze wound to her upper back and received medical treatment on site, police said.
The suspect died by suicide in his apartment when police closed in, according to Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Robert Contee.
Contee said a tripod was set up in the fifth floor apartment and the man appeared to be targeting people at random on the street below.
Six guns were found in the suspect’s apartment, including both long guns and handguns, as well as “multiple, multiple rounds” of ammunition. Contee said dozens of shots were fired, but they were still collecting evidence of exactly how many.
Police identified 23-year-old Raymond Spencer, of Fairfax, Virginia, as a person of interest “based upon the things we have seen on social media,” Metropolitan Police Department Assistant Chief Stuart Emerman told reporters during an update Friday night.
While Contee would not officially confirm that Spencer was the person found dead in the apartment, he said they were no longer looking for anyone in connection to the shooting.
Contee confirmed that a social media video of the shooting appeared to be credible, but was unsure if it was streamed live or recorded and later posted.
“Today, evil reared its ugly head in our community,” Contee said.
“It speaks to the depravity of some of the individuals we have to face in our community. … There could’ve been more damage done, more lives lost,” Contee later added.
Earlier in the evening, while still searching for Spencer, Emerman said, “We’d like to speak to Mr. Spencer, figure out if he has any role in this or any connection to this. Hopefully that’ll lead us in a direction to identify what happened here and why.”
Contee said they still do not have a motive in the shooting. The suspect was not previously arrested, Contee added.
Students from the Edmund Burke School who were on lockdown during the incident are now being reunified with families, officials said Friday night.
“We have experienced this too much in our country. The epidemic of the gun violence, the easy access to weapons has got to stop,” D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser said. “People should not be scared taking their children to school.”
The FBI Washington Field Office confirmed in a statement to ABC News that it is assisting police in the response.
“The situation is ongoing and the FBI will provide appropriate personnel and resources, as requested and needed,” the office said.
Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ Washington Field Division are also helping with the shooting investigation.
ABC News’ Luke Barr and Jack Date contributed to this report.
“Cradles” artist Sub Urban has announced his debut album.
The record is titled HIVE, and arrives June 3. It includes a new single called “UH OH!” featuring New Zealand singer BENEE, which you can listen to now via digital outlets.
“I feel so refreshed to finally release this song, and I am beyond thrilled to start the countdown to my debut album,” Sub Urban says. “BENEE’s presence in ‘UH OH!’ gives the song a much needed level of enchantment. Though it’s a shame we never met in person, she nailed her parts in this project, both vocally and in the video.”
Along with “UH OH!,” HIVE features the previously released songs “INFERNO” and “PARAMOUR.”
HIVE follows Sub Urban’s 2020 EP Thrill Seeker, which features the single “Freak.”
Black Label Society has premiered the video for “You Made Me Want to Live,” a track off the band’s latest album, Doom Crew Inc.
The clip captures performance footage of Zakk Wylde and company rocking out amid a psychedelic light show that’s fitting for any metalheads still celebrating 4/20. You can watch it now streaming on YouTube.
Doom Crew Inc., the 11th Black Label Society album, was released last November. It also includes the single “Set You Free.”
Black Label launch a U.S. tour in support of Doom Crew Inc. April 30 in San Diego. They launch a co-headlining run with Anthrax in July.
Billie Eilish has one important rule no one can ever break: don’t interrupt her while she’s eating and watching something. She admitted to Billboard, “I get irrationally angry and furious.” The Grammy winner confessed she has another weird quirk: she sometimes will make herself a new meal and start from the top so she can fully enjoy it.
BTS‘ “Boy with Luv” is officially their most-viewed video on YouTube after amassing over one-and-a-half billion streams. They’re the third Korean act to notch that many views on a music video, following BLACKPINK and PSY. “Boy with Luv,” which features Halsey, was released in April 2019.
Cardi B‘s hilarious new episode of Cardi Tries is here, in which she toughed it out in the woods. “Ya girl was outside with no shelter, no water, AND no cell phone but I SURVIVED,” Cardi teased. The episode is live now on Messenger.
Mother’s Day is May 8 and new mom Meghan Trainor told USA Today what gifts she thinks will knock it out of the park. Breakfast in bed is a must, adding that when she became pregnant with Riley and “got a taste of gestational diabetes,” her husband, Daryl Sabara, “wanted to make sure the pregnancy was as easy as possible for me.” Other gift ideas include chocolate covered strawberries, a good Mother’s Day card and a vacation.
Olivia Rodrigo reflected on how she managed her explosive fame when she was 17 years old, telling OK!, “It’s so crazy…But I have amazing friends who are super honest with me and keep me grounded.” As for the advice she has now for her former self, said the Grammy winner, “Everything’s gonna work out, surround yourself with great people and do all this because you love writing songs.”
Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
Bonnie Raitt’s back with a new album, Just Like That…, her first release in more than six years. And while Bonnie’s big breakthrough didn’t come until she was 40, with her album Nick of Time, she now says that she’s glad it took years for her to have success.
Speaking to Variety, Bonnie, 72, admits, “I look at Taylor Swift and…Adele and Billie Eilish and Ed Sheeran and people are handling incredible early success with the guidance and experience of people decades older, and I’m just so happy to see that. Because I don’t think I could have handled it.”
“I didn’t seek it and I wouldn’t have wanted a hit record,” she explains. “I actually turned down songs that would have made me a star…I just didn’t want to be that in that pressure. I was in it for the long run…planning to be doing this into my eighties or so.”
And that’s still her plan: As she tells Variety, her fellow musicians make her believe she’ll be able to do it.
“If you watched the Tony Bennett special with Lady Gaga, I stood up and gave him a standing ovation in my house. That’s how much I love that he still was able to do that show,” she notes. “And Mick [Jagger] and Keith [Richards] — oh my God, what an inspiration. And Mavis [Staples, her current tour mate].”
“I don’t see any sign of any of us retiring,” she adds. “I mean, Bruce Springsteen and Sting — people are at the top of their form right now, I think.”
Meanwhile, Bonnie’s back on tour for the first time since the pandemic, and she’s thrilled, saying, “I’ve never had more of a mission to go back out on the road to bring joy and relief to people.”
Mother’s Day is May 8, and new mom Meghan Trainor told USA Today what gifts she thinks will knock it out of the park. Breakfast in bed is a must, adding that when she became pregnant with daughter Riley and “got a taste of gestational diabetes,” her husband, Daryl Sabara, “wanted to make sure the pregnancy was as easy as possible for me.” Other gift ideas include chocolate-covered strawberries, a good Mother’s Day card and a vacation.
Olivia Rodrigo reflected on how she managed her explosive fame when she was 17 years old, telling OK!, “It’s so crazy… But I have amazing friends who are super honest with me and keep me grounded. My life has changed drastically, but at the end of the day, I’m really kind of like the same person.” As for the advice she has now for her former self, said the Grammy winner, “Everything’s gonna work out, surround yourself with great people and do all this because you love writing songs.”
Kelly Clarkson channeled Stevie Nicks on her daytime talk show Friday, belting out a haunting cover of Stevie’s 1982 smash solo hit “Edge of Seventeen.” This isn’t the first time the American Idol winner showed Nicks some love: she previously covered Fleetwood Mac‘s “The Chain” and “Dreams” on her show.
