(NEW YORK) — Authorities in Suffolk County, New York, on Tuesday released video evidence from the unsolved Gilgo Beach murders, showing the last known surveillance of Megan Waterman, one of the victims.
Suffolk County Police also announced it is doubling the Crime Stoppers reward to $50,000 for information that leads to an arrest and conviction in the case.
Waterman, whose remains were found along Ocean Parkway, near Gilgo Beach in 2010, was last seen at Holiday Inn Express in Hauppauge, New York, in June 2010. She had advertised escort services on Craigslist.
The remains of 10 people were found in 2010 and 2011 in the weedy sections off Ocean Parkway near Jones Beach. At the time, police said half of the identified victims worked as prostitutes.
Earlier this year, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison created the Gilgo Beach Homicide Investigation Task Force. The task force includes representatives from the FBI, New York State Police, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s office and the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Office.
In 2020, police released photos of a belt believed to be handled by the suspect, which did not belong to any of the victims, hoping to advance the investigation.
Authorities discovered the remains during the search for Shannan Gilbert, a sex worker from New Jersey, but she is not believed to be tied to the other deaths because she did not match the pattern of the Gilgo Beach homicides, police said in 2020.
Remains found on Dec. 11, 2010 during the search for Gilbert, were later identified as the remains of 24-year-old Melissa Barthelemy. Two days later, three more victims were found on Ocean Parkway. They were later identified as Maureen Brainard-Barnes, 25; Amber Lynn Costello, 27; and Megan Waterman, 22.
All four women worked as Craigslist escorts.
The remains of another woman who worked as an escort were found on March 29, 2011, but the remains have not been identified.
On April 4, 2011, three more sets of remains were found on Ocean Parkway, which were those of a toddler, an unidentified Asian male and a third victim who was later identified as Valerie Mack.
Two more sets of remains were found a week later, one of which was discovered to be the mother of the toddler. The mother’s partial remains were first found in 1997.
Several country stars really raked in the dough in 2021.
Of the top 10 artists who made the most money in last year, Blake Shelton leads the pack by a wide margin, bringing in a whopping $83 million, according to Substack. This is mainly from his $50 million music catalogue and his earnings as a coach on the wildly popular The Voice.
Behind him is Luke Bryan, who between his gig as an American Idol judge and endorsement deals with household brands like Bayer and Jockey earned $40 million last year. Coming in third is the legend herself, Dolly Parton, who’s empire that includes perfumes, a new novel and her extensive music catalogue brought in $30 million.
The fourth highest-earning country star is Chris Stapleton, who’s top-selling albums and multiple hit songs made him about $26 million. Rounding out the top five is Florida Georgia Line, the duo of Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelley, at $25 million, much of which came from the sale of their publishing catalogue last year.
Ringo Starr‘s All Starr Band has unveiled dates for a second North American tour leg this year.
The newly announced series of shows, which includes 19 dates, begins on September 23 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, and runs through an October 19-20 engagement in Mexico City. After the kickoff show, the outing will stop in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and then work its way across Canada, with concerts in Michigan and Minnesota along the way.
Once on the West Coast, the trek will proceed to visit venues in Washington, Oregon, and California, wrapping up the U.S. portion on October 16 at Los Angeles’ famed Greek Theatre.
As previously reported, the first leg of the All Starr Band’s upcoming tour begins with a May 27-28 stand in Rama, Canada, and runs through a June 26 show in Clearwater, Florida. The 2022 trek is made up mostly of dates that were postponed from 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It is so great to finally announce all these shows we had planned for 2020, and I am really looking forward to playing them!” Ringo says. “How great to start at Casino Rama [in Rama, Canada], where we’ve begun 5 All Starr tours, and then to go back to [New York City’s] Beacon [Theatre], and to the Greek, which was the last show we played in 2019 on our 30th Anniversary tour. I can’t wait to see all our fans and until then I’m sending everyone peace and love and see you soon!”
The All Starr Band’s current lineup features Edgar Winter, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, Men at Work‘s Colin Hay and former Average White Band guitarist/bassist Hamish Stuart, as well as sax player/percussionist Warren Ham and drummer Gregg Bissonette.
Need Earth Day plans? Netflix has you covered with their new docuseries Our Great National Parks. Narrated and executive produced by President Barack Obama, the new series brings you up close to nature’s greatest creatures in its most iconic landscapes.
“I’d like to think that this the series speaks of the importance of wilderness everywhere and because we need it now more than ever, and it needs us,” James Honeyborne, a producer of the series, tells ABC Audio. “It’s a two way thing. It’s about our relationship with wilderness as well.”
While exploring that relationship with wilderness, they were able to capture rare footage of hippos body surfing the waves, something Honeyborne says was “so hard to get,” sharing that the crew spent a lot of time in Gabon in Africa before managing “to get the material of these big hippos going into the ocean, catching waves to actually move up and down the coast.”
After watching the docuseries you can choose which National Park is your favorite, but if you ask Honeyborne, the answer is Monterey.
For producer Sophie Todd, “Leuser National Park in Indonesia, just because it’s an incredibly beautiful rainforest where you can still see forest elephants, orangutans, tigers and rhinos in the same place.”
In addition to exploring the world’s National Parks, the producers got to work with Obama, something they agree just made sense.
“As president, he protected more natural space than any president in U.S. history in terms of area. So I mean, it’s just a natural fit, really, wasn’t it?” Todd says.
“Yeah,” Honeyborne agrees. “It felt very authentic to have him there. And it was wonderful that we were able to to have him introduce each episode because he has a connection to each location that we have filmed.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
Cleveland 10, Cincinnati 5
LA Angels 4, Miami 3
St. Louis 6, Kansas City 5
Milwaukee 5, Baltimore 4
Colorado 4, Texas 1
LA Dodgers 7, Minnesota 2
Houston 2, Arizona 1
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Boston 5, Detroit 3
Chicago White Sox, 3 Seattle 2
NY Yankees 4 Toronto 0
Tampa Bay 9, Oakland 8
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Chicago Cubs 2, Pittsburgh 1
NY Mets 2, Philadelphia 0
Atlanta 16, Washington 4
San Francisco 13, San Diego 2
NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Brooklyn 115, Cleveland 108
Minnesota 109, LA Clippers 104
NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Buffalo 5, Toronto 2
Carolina 4, NY Rangers 2
Washington 9, Philadelphia 2
Florida 3, Anaheim 2 (OT)
St. Louis 4, Boston 2
Ottawa 4, Detroit 1
NY Islanders 5, Pittsburgh 4 (SO)
Minnesota 5, Edmonton 1
Nashville 1, San Jose 0 (OT)
Los Angeles 5, Chicago 2
Calgary 5, Seattle 3
Dallas 1, Tampa Bay 0
New Jersey 6, Arizona 2
Vancouver 5, Vegas 4 (OT)
(WASHINGTON) — The White House says extending the federal mask mandate for airlines and other forms of transportation is still possible despite urging from GOP lawmakers and transportation industry leaders to end the measure, which is set to expire next week.
The decision could be influenced by an increase in COVID-19 cases in the U.S. and a large increase in travelers. The TSA screened 2.6 million travelers on March 20 — a record since the pandemic began and an upward trend many experts expect to continue as summer approaches.
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha said extending the public health order is “absolutely on the table” on NBC’s “Today Show” on Monday. Dr. Jha was asked whether rising case numbers could justify extending the order.
“This is a decision that the CDC Director Dr. Walensky is going to make,” Dr. Jha said. “I know the CDC is working on developing a scientific framework for how to answer that. We are going to see that framework come out I think in the next few days.”
CEOs of airlines including Alaska Air, American Airlines, Delta, JetBlue Airways and United sent a letter to President Joe Biden in late March asking him to roll back the mask mandate on airlines as well as the testing requirements for passengers. They pointed to the efficacy of vaccines and to the “burden” enforcing such measures puts on airline staff.
“Now is the time for the Administration to sunset federal transportation travel restrictions – including the international pre-departure testing requirement and the federal mask mandate – that are no longer aligned with the realities of the current epidemiological environment,” the letter said.
“Importantly, the effectiveness and availability of high-quality masks for those who wish to wear them gives passengers the ability to further protect themselves if they choose to do so,” industry leaders said in the letter. “It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do.”
GOP Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Roger Wicker R-Miss., as well as Reps. Sam Graves, R-Mo., and Garret Graves, R-La., also called on the White House to roll back the order in a letter last week.
“At a time when operators across all modes of our Nation’s transportation system are grappling with skyrocketing fuel prices and the lingering impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, the Administration’s policies should reflect nothing less than steadfast support for the transportation sector’s rapid recovery. To that end, we urge you to join us in supporting our Nation’s transportation operators, employees, and users by ending immediately the Federal transportation mask mandate, or allowing it to expire once and for all,” the letter from lawmakers said.
Airlines for America, a group representing major airlines, and other travel industry groups also sent a letter to Dr. Jha last week urging the administration to roll back the COVID mitigation measures.
“Simply put, the pre-departure testing requirement and the mask mandate no longer provide the public health benefits they once did,” the letter said. “Today, these measures are imposing significant costs on the traveling public, airline employees, and the American travel and tourism industries.”
(NEW YORK) — Opioid overdose deaths in adolescents rose far more rapidly than the general population between 2019 and 2021, according to a new study of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
The study found that deaths from opioid overdoses in teens ages 14 to 18 increased by 94% between 2019 and 2020 and by an additional 20% between 2020 and 2021.
One specific driver of these deaths was fentanyl, a synthetic opioid that the Drug Enforcement Administration says is 80 to 100 times stronger than morphine.
The researchers, who hailed from multiple institutions, found that adolescent fentanyl-related overdose deaths leapt 350% over the study period. Overall, fentanyl was associated with 77% of adolescent overdose deaths in 2021.
Additionally, specific youth faced elevated risk. Opioid overdose deaths were higher in adolescents from American Indian and Alaska Native and Latinx communities.
The findings come amid the widespread — and rapid — proliferation of fentanyl across the country.
According to the DEA, the number of forensic drug reports testing positive for fentanyl has skyrocketed in recent years from under 20,000 in 2015 to 117,045 in 2020. A recent study from the National Institutes of Health found that the number of individual fentanyl pills seized by law enforcement increased nearly 50-fold from the first quarter of 2018 to the last quarter of 2021.
Even though the adolescent rates outpaced them, adults haven’t been spared from the rising ubiquity of fentanyl. Provisional data released by the CDC in March showed that overdose deaths across age groups had reached record highs, taking the lives of nearly 106,000 Americans within the prior year.
These deaths were in large part driven by fentanyl.
A separate CDC study showed that of the more than 100,000 people who died from drug overdoses between May 2020 and April 2021, nearly two-thirds were linked to synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.
Overall, deaths linked to synthetic opioids have nearly doubled in Americans of any age over the past two years, the provisional data showed.
Advocates say that the record highs in overdose deaths highlight the importance of adopting new strategies to combat the opiate epidemic.
“Urgent action is needed to address America’s spiraling overdose crisis, including expanding access to opioid addiction treatment and investing in harm reduction,” the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit health care research organization, wrote in a February report, “but these lifesaving tools continue to be underutilized and resistance remains strong in many areas of the country.”
The authors of the study echoed those recommendations for youth specifically.
“Increasing adolescent overdose deaths, in the context of increasing availability of illicit fentanyls, highlight the need for accurate harm-reduction education for adolescents and greater access to naloxone and services for mental health and substance use behavior,” the authors wrote.
According to guidance by the U.S. Surgeon General, individual citizens also have an important role to play. The guidance recommends that individuals learn the signs of opioid overdose — including slowed breathing and pinpoint pupils — and get trained in the use of naloxone, a potent antidote for opioid overdoses.
“Knowing how to use naloxone and keeping it within reach can save a life,” the guidance reads.
Eli Cahan, MS, is a contributor to the ABC News medical unit. He is a fourth year medical student at NYU School of Medicine and will be starting his residency in pediatrics at UCSF in June.
In conjunction with this year’s Record Store Day, Creedence Clearwater Revivalwill issue a limited-edition seven-vinyl single featuring a previously unreleased performance from a 1970 concert the band played at London’s famed Royal Albert Hall.
The disc, which will feature renditions of the CCR classics “Travelin’ Band” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” will be available at participating retailers on the second Record Store Day drop date of 2022 — June 18.
The version of “Travelin’ Band,” which appears on Side A of the single, is an unreleased performance of the song that Creedence played at the Royal Albert Hall on April 14, 1970. The rendition of “Who’ll Stop the Rain” was recorded on January 31, 1970, at the Oakland Coliseum in California, and previously appeared on the CCR live album The Concert, which was released in 1980.
Only 9,000 copies of the vinyl single will be pressed. The packaging replicates the sleeve of the double-sided single Creedence Clearwater Revival released in January 1970 featuring the studio versions of “Travelin’ Band” and “Who’ll Stop the Rain.” The enduring tunes peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, and both tracks also were included on CCR’s chart-topping 1970 studio album, Cosmo’s Factory.
In 2020, CCR drummer Doug “Cosmo” Clifford told ABC Audio that plans were in the works to release the entire 1970 Royal Albert Hall concert as a live album, so it’s possible that an official update about that release may be announced soon.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Kings of Leon has announced a livestream for their upcoming concert at London’s O2 Arena, taking place July 2.
You’ll be able to tune in to watch virtually beginning at 3:45 p.m. ET via the streaming platform Veeps. For ticket info, visit KingsofLeon.Veeps.com.
Kings of Leon will be playing the O2 as part of their European tour this summer supporting their new album, When You See Yourself, which was released March 2021. They’ll be back in the U.S. this fall to play the Bourbon & Beyond and Wonderfront festivals.
The news of the KoL stream coincides with Veeps launching a slew of apps you can now use to watch its programming, which will be available on Apple TV, Roku, iOS and Android.
Other concerts available on the apps include previously announced streaming shows from Kaleo and Slash feat. Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators.
(MENLO, Iowa) — President Joe Biden traveled to Iowa on Tuesday for his first time as president to announce new efforts to bring down gas prices as the administration faces an 8.5% jump in the consumer price index compared to a year ago, which it attributes mostly to what he called “Putin’s Price Hike.”
“Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should on hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide a half a world away,” Biden said, appearing to ad lib that Russia’s actions in Ukraine amount to “genocide” for the first time. The U.S. government has an internal process for designating whether genocide has occurred, and other Western nations haven’t made the determination.
Biden was asked directly last week if he thought the atrocities in Bucha were genocide, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed, but responded at that time, “No, I think it is a war crime.”
But on Tuesday, he said: “Yes, I called it genocide. Because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian. And the evidence is mounting.”
The president also offered brief remarks on the subway shooting in New York City from Menlo, Iowa, before pivoting to his plan to ease gas prices amid intensifying inflation.
The March CPI report released Tuesday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed inflation is at its highest point in the U.S. in more than 40 years as rising prices have an impact on consumers worldwide. Prices were up 1.2% compared to just a month ago, the report said, raising concerns that, if the Federal Reserve gets more aggressive in raising interest rates to temper inflation, that might trigger a recession.
“Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has driven up gas prices and food prices all over the world,” Biden said. “So everything is going up. We saw it in today’s inflation data. Seventy percent of the increase in prices in March came from Putin’s price hike in gasoline.”
White House press secretary Jen Psaki tried to preemptively cushion the blow of the report numbers on Monday. She said the White House expected a large difference between core and headline inflation, pointing to the price of gas as the main reason for the discrepancy.
“Just as an example, since President Putin’s military buildup in January, average gas prices up more than 80 cents. Most of the increase occurred in March and gas prices, at times, prices were up more than a dollar above pre-invasion level. That roughly 25% increase in prices will drive tomorrow’s inflation rating,” Psaki said.
To address those prices, Biden announced Tuesday he issuing a temporary, emergency waiver for the summer to allow the sale of “E-15” — a blend of gas with 15% ethanol, rather than the usual 10%, which the White House says will bring down gas prices by 10 cents a gallon. Usually, E-15 is not sold in the summer because it’s believed to add to smog.
“The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to issue an emergency waiver to allow E15 gasoline that uses more ethanol from homegrown crops to be sold across the United States this summer in order to increase fuel supply,” Biden said. “It’s not going to solve all our problems. But it’s going to help some people and I’m committed to do whatever I can to help. Even if it’s an extra buck or two in the pockets.”
But the move will have a limited impact: Only 2% of gas stations around the country carry E-15, mostly in the Midwest. The White House countered a question from ABC News on whether the impact would be insignificant for Americans.
“Ultimately this is about giving Americans more options and more flexibility,” a White House official said ahead of the president’s remarks. “President Biden knows that every cent matters and families will see savings even after taking into consideration the difference in energy efficiency.”
Inflation and even gas prices have been on the rise even before the invasion of Ukraine. A new ABC News/Ipsos poll found Americans are more likely to place a “great deal” or a “good amount” of the blame for the price increases on Democratic Party policies (52%) and Biden (51%) than on Republican Party policies (33%) and former President Donald Trump (24%). A strong majority of Americans (68%) also disapproves of the way Biden is handling gas prices.
Biden’s trip to Iowa comes with the midterm elections seven months away. It’s a state he spent a lot of time in amid the 2020 campaign, but ultimately lost to former President Donald Trump by nine points.
While his remarks are set to focus on his administration’s actions to lower gas prices and the bipartisan infrastructure law passed last year, Biden might feel obligated to address Tuesday’s report, which showed increases in prices for gasoline, rent and food were the largest contributors to inflation for Americans. Gasoline prices rose 18.3% compared to a month ago and were a major contributor to inflation; other energy prices also increased. Food prices increased by 1% and the food at home prices by 1.5%.
Aside from food and energy, rent was the biggest factor in the price increases. Airline fares, household furnishings and operations, medical care and motor vehicle insurance also contributed to inflation. Used cars and trucks fell 3.8% compared to a month ago.
The report, though in line with expectations, does nothing to temper concerns that the Federal Reserve has a tough job ahead of it in cooling this inflation without sparking a recession.
ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.
