Star Trek: Picard will welcome aboard six Star Trek: The Next Generation cast members for the Paramount+ show’s third and final season, the streaming service announced on Tuesday. LeVar Burton and Michael Dorn, along with Jonathan Frakes, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis and Brent Spiner will join Patrick Stewart in the final chapter of Star Trek: Picard. Frakes, Sirtis and Spiner have appeared in previous in Star Trek: Picard episodes over the first two seasons. Season two is currently streaming on Paramount+, with new episodes dropping weekly on Thursdays…
ABC on Tuesday released the season finale dates for its scripted primetime series, which begin next Tuesday, April 12 with the final episode of the network’s freshman comedy Abbott Elementary, followed by the series finale of black-ish airs the following Tuesday, April 19. The cop drama The Rookie wraps up its fourth season Sunday, May 15, while The Good Doctor closes out its fifth season the following night. ABC’s Wednesday night comedy block — The Goldbergs, The Wonder Years, The Conners and Home Economics — as well as the drama A Million Little Things, close out their current seasons on Wednesday, May 18. Thursday, May 19 marks the Station 19 and Big Sky season finales. Finally, on Thursday, May 26, it’s the two-hour Grey’s Anatomy season 16 finale…
The Sherlock Holmes film universe is expanding into TV with two shows tied to the film in early development at HBO Max, sources tell Variety. The potential show would be set in the same time frame as 2009’s Sherlock Holmes and 2011’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, starring Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr. John Watson, which were based on inspired by the books of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Downey Jr. and Susan Downey would executive-produce the shows along with Amanda Burrell of Team Downey. The two shows would each reportedly focus on a new character that would be introduced in Sherlock Holmes 3. Sherlock Holmes grossed over $524 million worldwide, while A Game of Shadows went on to gross over $543 million worldwide. A planned third film doesn’t have a release date and is not currently in production…
Nancy Meyers has inked a deal to write, direct and produce a new ensemble comedy feature for Netflix, the title and plot of which have yet to be revealed, sources tell Deadline. Meyers’ directing and writing credits include The Parent Trap, Something’s Gotta Give, The Holiday, It’s Complicated, and What Women Want. Her writing/producing Father of the Bride and its sequel. She last wrote, directed and produced the 2015 Anne Hathaway–Robert De Niro dramedy The Intern…
(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with troops crossing the border from Belarus and Russia. Moscow’s forces have since been met with “stiff resistance” from Ukrainians, according to U.S. officials.
Russian forces retreated last week from the Kyiv suburbs, leaving behind a trail of destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, U.S. and European officials accused Russian troops of committing war crimes.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Apr 06, 6:17 am
Russian military claims attacks on fuel depots
Russian missiles destroyed fuel storage facilities in five cities across Ukraine on Wednesday morning, Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.
“On the morning of April 6, high-precision air- and ground-based missiles destroyed 5 fuel storage bases near Radekhov, Kazatin, Prosyanaya, Nikolaev and Novomoskovsk,” the ministry claimed in its morning briefing. “These facilities have been used to supply fuel to Ukrainian military formations in Kharkov, Nikolaev and Donbass areas.”
Apr 06, 5:49 am
EU proposes new sanctions, readies Russian coal ban
European Union leaders said on Wednesday they were preparing a new round of economic sanctions against Russia, as outrage grew over civilian deaths in Bucha.
“We have all seen the haunting images of Bucha. This is what is happening when Putin’s soldiers occupy Ukrainian territory,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday. “They call this liberation. I call this war crimes. The Russian authorities will have to answer for them.”
The sanctions to be proposed may include a ban on importing Russian coal, bans on transactions with four Russian banks, and a ban on Russian ships at EU ports, among other measures.
The fifth round of sanctions “will not be our last,” von der Leyen said. U.S. officials are also expected to announce new sanctions on Wednesday, sources told ABC News.
Apr 06, 4:47 am
Mariupol airstrikes continue, deepening humanitarian crisis
Russian forces are continuing their airstrikes in Mariupol, the besieged Ukrainian port city, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said on Wednesday.
“The humanitarian situation in the city is worsening,” the ministry said. “Most of the 160,000 remaining residents have no light, communication, medicine, heat or water.”
Russian troops have prevented humanitarian access to the southern city, a move the ministry said was a part of a strategy to pressure Ukraine to surrender.
Apr 06, 12:11 am
US concedes Russia won’t be expelled from Security Council
Speaking with MSNBC Tuesday night, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations said the U.S. could not remove Russia from the United Nation’s most powerful body, the Security Council.
“They are a member of the Security Council. That’s a fact. We can’t change that fact, but we certainly can isolate them in the Security Council,” Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
That’s separate from the push to remove Russia from the U.N. Human Rights Council, which Thomas-Greenfield said earlier they hope to bring to the U.N. General Assembly for a vote.
“I know we’re going to get” the necessary two-thirds majority, she told CNN.
Thomas-Greenfield also described what it was like in the room Tuesday as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s graphic video finally played for the Security Council. She told MSNBC it was the first time she saw the uncensored video of the war’s victims.
“We were all speechless. We had all seen various videos showing atrocities. But they all covered up the real, you know, the real people that were there – they were all blurred,” Thomas-Greenfield said. “This was the first time I’ve seen that video without the bodies being blurred. And it was horrific. And there was silence in the room. I can tell you that people were horrified.”
Apr 05, 9:26 pm
US sending $100M in new anti-tank missiles
The U.S. will be sending an additional $100 million in Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine, a White House official confirmed to ABC News. The weapons will be coming from existing military stockpiles.
The White House later released a memorandum from President Joe Biden saying he would be using drawdown powers to release “an aggregate value of $100 million in defense articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Ukraine.”
Pentagon officials have said anti-tank weapons provided by the U.S. and other partner countries have been very successful in staving off Russian troops and bogging down vehicle movement.
(NEW YORK) — April is Autism Acceptance Month, a time to embrace the differences of people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a developmental disability that impacts roughly one in 44 children in the United States, according to a study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
For Eric Garcia, a Washington, D.C.-based journalist and the author of the book We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, it’s also a time to remember that people with autism are “everywhere.”
“Autistic people work in every sector,” he told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “They’re doctors and lawyers and waitresses. They’re car mechanics. They’re journalists. They’re everywhere.”
Fashion designers Tommy and Dee Hilfiger said three of their seven children have been diagnosed with ASD.
The couple said they first noticed signs of autism in their kids early on.
“Our son was counting steps at one-and-a-half years old and at 2, he stopped counting, stopped speaking. He was babbling quite a bit and then just stopped,” Tommy Hilfiger said Tuesday on GMA. “So we had him tested and obviously, it was a bit of a shock. But once you get over the shock, you then plan to do something about it.”
The designer said he and his wife sought out expert advice for each of their children, who have exhibited different symptoms.
He added that one of his top tips for parents is to know the signs of autism in order to be able to recognize them in your child and get help early on.
“Early intervention is really the key,” said Tommy Hilfiger. “If you sense that your child is off in any way … if they’re not responding or if they seem like they’re in their own world, you should get them tested, and the earlier you get them tested, the sooner you can intervene.”
In addition to seeking out expert advice, the Hilfigers say building a support system within the autism community has really helped them as parents.
“I think it’s really crucial that you talk to pediatricians,” said Dee Hilfiger. “And once the child is diagnosed, I think the most helpful thing for us and for other parents is to seek out other parents.”
“When you receive that diagnosis, it can be quite devastating but I think seeking out the support of friends made a big, big difference for us,” she added.
What to know about autism
People with autism have a wide variety of traits affecting communication, behavior and socialization, according to the CDC. The “spectrum” in autism spectrum disorder means that there’s a wide range of symptoms and severity.
A child of any race, socioeconomic status or ethnic group can get ASD. Boys though are four times more likely to be diagnosed with autism than girls, based on a study of children aged 8 years old. Kids that have a sibling with autism, and especially a twin, are more likely to have autism. Those with developmental disabilities or genetic and chromosomal diseases such as Down syndrome are also more likely to have ASD. There is also evidence that kids born to older parents have an increased risk of autism, according to several studies.
Garcia points out that autism “manifests itself in very different ways” in each person with the condition.
For Garcia, he experiences “stimming,” which involves making repetitive movements or sounds, a calming tactic for when one feels overwhelmed. Garcia said for him that can mean playing with his tie and taking his class ring on and off.
“A lot of times I can just completely be overwhelmed and almost want to have a meltdown, like to the point where it’s difficult for me to communicate or speak,” he said. “And that’s just my way to deal with all the sounds that we’re having all around here.”
Autism can be identified as early as infancy, although most children are diagnosed after the age of 2. There is no medical test to diagnose autism, so doctors watch a child’s behavior and development to make a diagnosis, according to the CDC.
“Someone might have the communication delay, but may not have the motor skill delay,” said Dr. Jen Clark, a New York-based clinical psychologist and specialist in autism. “They may experience sounds and lights in a very different way than you and I would and sometimes they can experience a sensory overload and they may wear headphones and this will help to make the noise not as severe, but also they may avoid certain situations where it’s just too overwhelming.”
The CDC notes that in some cases, people are not diagnosed with autism until they are teens or adults.
Experts say though that early detection of ASD is key, as is early intervention.
“When a child is young, the brain is capable of change,” said Clark, also the director of COAST Club, which offers therapy and social groups for children, teens and young adults with autism.
Early signs of autism in children may include, but are not limited to, little or no smiling and limited eye contact by 6 months; little to no babbling, pointing or response to their name by 12 months; and few or no meaningful two-word phrases by 24 months, according to the CDC.
Clark added that children may exhibit additional signs such as flapping of the hands, spinning, twirling and walking on their toes. She also says lining up toys, instead of playing with them in the way they’re intended to be played with, may also be a sign.
“If you do see these behaviors in your child, these are behaviors that are associated with ASD and important to mention to your pediatrician,” she said.
Treatment comes in many different forms, from mental health therapy to occupational, physical and speech therapies. Sometimes medications can be helpful for things related to ASD, like mood problems or inability to focus.
(NEW YORK) — Republican candidates are shying away from the debate stage as the midterm elections approach.
Over a half dozen GOP candidates in crucial state and federal races have either skipped out on or not committed to primary debates.
Joe Lombardo, a gubernatorial candidate in Nevada, turned down a chance to debate in January. In Nebraska, Jim Pillen, another gubernatorial candidate, turned down offers to debate his opponents in March, telling ABC News debates amount to “political theater.”
In Pennsylvania, Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz did not take part in the first GOP Senate primary debate in January, citing a “prior commitment.”
And the frontrunner in the GOP Senate primary debate in Georgia is Hershal Walker, who said he won’t debate his primary opponents and is instead focused on facing Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock on the debate stage in the general election.
“We have always strongly encouraged all candidates to participate in our debates,” said Lauri Strauss, executive director of the Atlanta Press Club, which is organizing 15 primary debates in Georgia.
When candidates choose not to participate, there are ripple effects.
In North Carolina, Republican representative and Senate candidate Ted Budd declined to take part in a primary debate in February and said he won’t attend one scheduled for April.
When word spread that Budd was not participating in the debate this month, GOP Senate candidate and former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory pulled out too, saying he would only debate if Budd did. Once McCrory dropped out, that left only one candidate and The North Carolina Faith and Freedom Coalition, which was organizing the debate, decided to cancel it altogether.
In Ohio, Republican Gov. Mike DeWine also decided not to attend the state’s March GOP gubernatorial primary debate. Jill Zimon, executive director of the Ohio Debate Commission, said once DeWine made it public that he would not participate, former Rep. Jim Renacci’s campaign told the Ohio Debate Commission that Renacci would not attend unless DeWine changed his mind.
Asked why the governor declined the invitation, DeWine’s campaign told ABC News that he “is the most publicly accessible governor in Ohio history” and that Ohioans already know where he stands on the issues.
Richard Davis, the president of the State Debate Coalition and co-founder of the Utah Debate Commission, said Republican candidates are becoming more “empowered” to refuse traditional debates.
The Republican National Committee’s continuous threats to bar their party’s presidential nominees from participating in debates organized by the Presidential Debate Commission, he said, has encouraged other Republican candidates to set debate requirements in exchange for their participation.
“[Republicans believe they] can set the ground rules and say that organizations that run debates…are biased,” Davis said.
While Republicans have been declining debates in eyebrow raising numbers, Democrats are not immune.
In Pennsylvania, the frontrunner in the Democratic Senate race, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, did not take part in the first primary debate Sunday and instead met with voters in rural Pennsylvania. Fetterman’s campaign, however, said he has committed to three other upcoming debates.
As more candidates skip out on debates or dictate the conditions under which they will appear, both Davis and Strauss believe candidates are shirking an important public service for voters.
“How can someone run for office and want to be elected if they’re not willing to debate their opponents and let the public know what they stand for?” Strauss said.
(BREMERTON, Wash.) — A coach’s personal act of prayer that grew into a public spectacle after Bremerton High School football games is now a major test of the First Amendment in a case this month before the U.S. Supreme Court.
The coach, Joe Kennedy, who was suspended by the school in 2015 over post-game prayers on the field, is asking the justices to affirm the right of public school employees to pray aloud while on the job, even when within view of students they coach or teach.
“This is a right for everybody. It doesn’t matter if you’re this religion or that religion or have no faith whatsoever,” Kennedy told ABC News . “Everybody has the same rights in America.”
The school district says Kennedy’s prayers, some of which were surrounded by players at the 50 yard-line, are hardly private acts of faith and run afoul of constitutional prohibitions against promotion of religion by government officials.
“It was my covenant between me and God that after every game, win or lose, I’m going to do it right there on the field of battle,” Kennedy said of his ritual, which he said typically lasted less than a minute.
Lower courts sided with the school district. A Supreme Court ruling for Kennedy has the potential to expand the ability of public school employees nationwide to practice their faiths more openly around students, legal experts say.
The case will be argued April 25 and decided by the end of June.
The First Amendment protects free speech and free exercise of religion, but it also prohibits the establishment of religion by the government. The Supreme Court has long said that public school-sponsored prayer violates the Establishment Clause, even if the prayer is voluntary.
It has struck down Bible readings and teacher-led prayer in classrooms, religious invocations at graduations and religious displays at other school sponsored activities. In a 2000 case, Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, the court said that opening football games with student-led prayer is also unconstitutional.
At the same time, the court has ruled that free speech rights don’t end at the schoolhouse gate and that religion need not be entirely expunged from public schools.
While Kennedy routinely prayed on the field after games for more than seven years, attracting varying levels of participation from students, it wasn’t until 2015 that the school district informed him that separation of church and state meant he could no longer pray with players and keep his job.
“They just said if anybody could see you anywhere here, it was over,” Kennedy said.
The school district explained at the time that the prayers violated “constitutionally-required directives that he refrain from engaging in overt, public religious displays on the football field while on duty.”
Some Bremerton High School parents like Paul Peterson, whose son Aaron played for coach Kennedy in 2010, later complained the prayer sessions were applying inappropriate pressure.
“The coach is a leader. The coach is a mentor. If he goes to the 50-yard line, he has a message he wants to deliver, and so the players would follow,” said Peterson in an interview.
“The harm is to those who are the minority students, the minority faiths, the students who have no faith,” he said. “They are being pressured into doing something that they don’t fundamentally agree with.That’s what the First Amendment protects us from.”
Kennedy insists there was no coercion, though widely publicized scenes show his post-game prayers became much more than solitary acts of faith.
Attorney Jeremy Dys, representing Kennedy on behalf of the First Liberty Institute, said the coach should not be held accountable for the voluntary decisions of others to join him in an expression of faith.
“He’s not on the field coaching anybody, he’s not telling what play to run. No instruction taking place,” Dys said. “School districts don’t own every word out of your mouth or any religious expression that you choose to make in your private time, even on school grounds.”
A federal appeals court called Kennedy’s characterization of his prayers as brief, quiet and solitary as a “deceitful narrative,” noting that they were clearly audible prayers surrounded by groups of students, amounting to unlawful religious speech as “a school official.”
“If this were a case about a coach who in fact wanted to pray privately, in a solitary manner, we wouldn’t be here,” said Rachel Laser, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a nonprofit advocacy group backing the school district. “You don’t leave that behind when you go teach or coach at a public school, but what you do leave behind is your ability to engage students who are very impressionable, who are required to attend public school.”
Kennedy’s case has been cheered on by top Republicans, including former President Donald Trump, dozens of state and federal lawmakers, and star NFL quarterbacks, like Kirk Cousins and Nick Foles, who have told the justices in a friend-of-the-court filing that the power of prayer promotes good sportsmanship.
“These kids mean everything to me, because I was a troubled youth, and I wanted to reach out to help these kids in Bremerton, give back to my community which I terrorized as a kid,” said Kennedy, who is a Marine Corps veteran and former project manager at the Bremerton naval shipyard.
On the other side of the debate, leaders of minority faiths, atheists and parents like Peterson, say a coach’s good intentions shouldn’t be an excuse for flouting the Constitution.
“When the teacher or coach is standing up and leading the children, I think you cross the line into indoctrination,” Peterson said.
The case could have an impact on public school playing fields nationwide and determine whether Kennedy can coach again, and take a knee in prayer for his Bremerton Knights.
He currently lives in Florida but has told the Court he would move back to Bremerton if the justices rule in his favor.
“Nobody should have to be fired or worry about their job if they show any signs of faith,” Kennedy said. “At the end of the game, I’m hoping to have victory but we’ll see how the courts rule.”
(ALEXANDRIA, Va.) — A British man accused of being one of the infamous quartet of ISIS terrorists nicknamed the “Beatles” by prisoners who they beat and executed was faced down in federal court this week by two of their victims’ mothers, and one man who survived their brutality.
El Shafee Elsheikh is accused of a direct role in holding hostage four Americans, several Britons, and other captives between 2013 and 2014 at several makeshift prisons in Syria.
At his trial this week in U.S. federal court in Alexandria, Virginia, prosecutors called as witnesses the mothers of two Americans who did not survive as hostages of ISIS, journalist James Foley and humanitarian aid worker Kayla Mueller.
Foley, of Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, was kidnapped in Syria in 2012 along with British journalist John Cantlie, and was held for nearly two years before he was shown beheaded in a gruesome video by the ISIS Beatle dubbed “Jihadi John,” whose real name was Mohammed Emwazi.
“Incredible shock, I didn’t believe it — I didn’t want to believe it,” Foley’s mother Diane testified about learning that her son was killed.
Foley’s brother Michael testified about the horror of seeing the ISIS video that showed the remains of his brother, a 38-year old a freelance journalist for Global Post and Agence France-Presse, after the killing that stunned the world on Aug. 19, 2014.
Her head tilted up to look at the ceiling rather than at the defendant, Diane Foley spoke in a clear, strong voice about her son, who had previously survived previous captivity by other militants in Libya.
She said when President Barack Obama “announced Jim had been beheaded, it sunk in.”
The Foley family subsequently established the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to assist hostages, their families and war journalists.
On Tuesday, it was Marsha Mueller’s turn.
She told of how her 27-year-old daughter Kayla, of Prescott, Arizona, had traveled to the Middle East and to Turkey and Syria, seeking ways to help refugees of the Syrian civil war.
Then on Aug. 4, 2013, after visiting a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Aleppo, Syria, to help her friend Omar Alkhani install satellite internet, Kayla and her colleagues were kidnapped by armed men.
Dressed in a black sweater, Marsha Mueller’s voice became stronger with each passing minute as she told of Kayla’s love for owls, music and books, and how Kayla had sought to provide aid to women and children refugees in need.
She described exchanging 27 emails with ISIS, in which they demanded the release of convicted terrorist Aafia Siddiqi or 5 million Euros in exchange for Kayla’s release. An ABC News investigation in 2015 found that the FBI and Obama White House had blocked the Foleys, Muellers and other families from paying ISIS’ ransom demands — though ransoms paid for European hostages had led to their release.
After U.S. special mission unit Delta Force raided a makeshift prison on Independence Day 2014, but missed rescuing the hostages by only two days because critics said the intelligence was not acted upon swiftly enough by the White House, ISIS sent an angry email about Kayla and threatened they would “put a bullet in her head.”
Her mother said they knew nothing about the U.S. raid, and reacted to the message with fear.
“They were going to kill her,” she recalled in court.
Marsha Mueller’s voice cracked when she read aloud one of three letters Kayla wrote from ISIS prisons, sending “hugs and kisses” to her niece, and signing it, “All my everything, Kayla.” The letters were addressed to her parents, her mentor the Rev. Kathleen Day, and her friends Halla and Orouba Barakat, mother-daughter journalists in Turkey who themselves were later murdered in Istanbul in 2017 and were the subject of an ABC News-Reveal investigation.
When Kayla was reported killed on Feb. 6, 2015, ISIS emailed Carl and Marsha Mueller three photos of their lifeless daughter.
“Her face looks like it is smeared with blood, her eyes are partly open, her mouth is slightly open,” Kayla’s mother told the jury.
The Muellers later learned that Kayla had stood up for and cared for other hostages, for which she had been repeatedly raped by Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the ISIS top leader and self-proclaimed “caliph” of all Muslims. Al-Baghdadi was subsequently killed by Delta Force in 2019 in a raid named “Operation Kayla Mueller” in Mueller’s honor.
After providing testimony on Tuesday, Marsha Mueller and Diane Foley held each other in comfort, beyond the eyes and ears of the jurors.
Another witness who faced Elsheikh in court was Spanish journalist Marc Marginedas, who was kidnapped in Syria and held with Mueller, Foley, Cantlie and others including American journalist Steven Sotloff, with whom Marginedas became close during their captivity.
Marginedas recounted in horrifying detail how the four “Beatles” — so named by Cantlie to keep track of their British-accented captors because their real names were unknown — inflicted savagery upon them.
As Sotloff’s parents Arthur and Shirley looked on in the courtroom, Marginedas recalled how the terrorists appeared to take particular joy in beating Sotloff, who was Jewish. Sotloff told Marginedas he believed that the beatings, some of which occurred in front of his fellow captives, had left him with broken ribs.
But the Jewish journalist never revealed his faith to his captors, and simply wore extra clothing to soften the blows.
“He was a very courageous man who didn’t complain much,” said Marginedas, who testified in the Virginia courtroom only a week after reporting from the front lines in Ukraine.
A decade after he was kidnapped, Cantlie’s whereabouts remain unknown, as do the whereabouts of New Zealand nurse Louisa Akavi, who was kidnapped by ISIS in 2013.
Other victims’ relatives who appeared in the courtroom were Paula and Ed Kassig, the parents of former U.S. Army Ranger Peter Kassig, an American aid worker who was killed by ISIS in 2014.
Elsheikh, dressed in a collared shirt and khakis, with black-framed glasses and a beard, sat motionless as each family member took the stand, slouching on his left elbow even as prosecutors played video of interviews he had voluntarily given.
In one clip filmed in 2019 in a Syrian prison where Elsheikh and fellow ISIS Beatle Alexanda Kotey were held following their capture, former ABC News contributor Sean Langan asked if Jihadi John, who the CIA later killed in a drone strike, had asked Elsheikh to get the Muellers’ contact information from their daughter to negotiate ransom.
“That was the first time I saw Kayla, I took an email from her,” he replied.
Elsheikh, who has admitted in media interviews to being an accomplice of ISIS, faces a life sentence if convicted. Prosecutors took the death penalty off the table in a deal with the British government, which opposes capital punishment.
On Tuesday, after the jury was dismissed for lunch and U.S. District Judge T.S. Ellis III had left the courtroom, Kayla Mueller’s friend Omar Alkhani delivered an insult in Arabic to Elsheikh while Elsheikh was being led out by a U.S. Marshal.
One day Elsheikh would meet his former ISIS bosses “in hell,” Alkhani shouted.
(BOYNTON BEACH, Fla.) — Community members voiced their concerns during a city commission meeting in Boynton Beach, Florida, on Tuesday evening after an investigation into the death of a 13-year-old boy, who died after his dirt bike crashed during an attempted traffic stop, determined that the officer will not face any changes.
Stanley Davis III, known as “SJ” to his family and friends, died on Dec. 26, 2021, after he lost control of his dirt bike and crashed into a curb while being pursued by a Boynton Beach police officer.
“I think it was a slap in the face, a disservice and a dishonor for highway patrol to come to that conclusion,” a community member told incoming city officials who were sworn into office during the meeting.
“You all right now have the opportunity to do the right thing — to make that determination to terminate him … this SJ movement is still what it’s about and we’re asking that you all pay attention to it,” the community member added.
Davis’ grandmother, Tina Hunter, told ABC News that her grandson received the dirt bike as a Christmas gift and was trying it out the day after Christmas when an officer attempted to pull him over. His death has been the subject of heated discussions during the bi-monthly city commission meetings over the past three months.
Under Florida law, a dirt bike is considered an “off-highway vehicle” and the operator of such a vehicle must be at least 16 years old.
According to the investigation report released by Florida Highway Patrol on March 31, the “investigation is complete, and no charges shall be filed because the at-fault person expired as a result of the crash.”
The report found that the crash occurred while Davis was traveling at approximately 85 miles per hour while “unlawfully fleeing an attempted traffic stop,” the Boynton Beach Police Department said in a statement.
Davis’ parents, Stanley Davis, Jr. and Shannon Thompson, urged city officials to hold police accountable for their son’s death and called for the officer’s termination during a press conference last month.
“It’s unfortunate that he was chased to his death and taken away from not only myself but the family and the community,” Thomson said during the press conference on March 1.
Attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the Davis family, has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment following the release of the FHP report,
The report, which was obtained by ABC News, also determined that there was no contact between Davis’ dirt bike and the police officer’s vehicle, confirming the initial findings of a police investigation.
“Now that the FHP traffic homicide investigation is completed, the Boynton Beach Police Department will conduct an internal affairs investigation to determine if any police department policies were violated by any Boynton Beach law enforcement officer involved in the incident,” Boynton Beach Police said in a statement.
According to BBPD policy, “Vehicular pursuits will be initiated only if the officer reasonably believes that the person(s) fleeing has committed a forcible felony.” Asked if the officer violated this law, a BBPD spokesperson said, “The investigation into this crash is ongoing.”
“There never should have been a high-speed pursuit and it never should have resulted in the death of a child,” Crump previously told ABC News. “The Boynton Beach Police Department’s own policy is that pursuits should only be initiated if the officer reasonably believes the person fleeing has committed a felony. We’re talking about a child.”
Amid pressure from the public to release the officer’s name, BBPD said it cannot because the officer invoked his right to Marsy’s Law.
“The law gives every victim the right to prevent the disclosure of information or records that could be used to locate or harass the victim or the victim’s family, or which could disclose confidential or privileged information of the victim,” a BBPD spokesperson previously told ABC News.
Thompson said that the invocation of Marsy’s Law and refusing to release the officer’s name is a “betrayal to not only myself, but to the community.”
“I was very disgusted with that as my son was the victim. Our family is the victim,” Thompson said.
The community also expressed concerns and anger over Davis’ death during a police community meeting on March 31 — the first of a series of meetings that are expected to take place once every two months.
At the meeting, which was held the day the FHP report was released, several people repeatedly pressed BBPD Police Chief Michael Gregory for answers regarding the investigation and directed questions at him about the department’s vehicular pursuit policy.
“We’re not allowed to comment on the case,” Gregory said, indicating that the investigation is ongoing.
Asked what police are doing to address mistrust in the community, Gregory pointed to the neighborhood officer program where police participate in activities with youth and to the newly launched community policing meetings.
“Every two months we’re gonna be here, hoping that you’ll come back,” he said.
(WASHINGTON) — Six oil company executives are set to testify Wednesday on Capitol Hill about skyrocketing gas prices amid a political messaging battle over pain at the pump.
BP America, Chevron and ExxonMobil executives are among the “Big Oil” leaders who will face questions from lawmakers on the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations.
The hearing comes as costs for gas rose following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which prompted the U.S. to put a ban on imports of Russian oil and gas. Though the price of gas has dropped slightly in recent days, Americans were still paying an average $4.17 as of Tuesday, according to American Automobile Association data.
Politicians on both sides of the aisle continue to fight over who’s to blame.
Democrats have worked hard to pinpoint Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as the source of the rise in gas prices, with President Joe Biden coining it “Putin’s price hike.”
Republicans, on the other hand, are quick to argue that the higher costs kicked in long before the war began and that Biden’s energy policies are what’s hurting Americans’ pocketbooks. Others are accusing oil companies of taking advantage of consumers by not lowering gas prices even though the price of oil has dropped.
Patrick De Haan, head of Petroleum Analysis at GasBuddy, told ABC News the reasons behind the cost of gas are more complex than any one of those narratives suggests.
“There’s too many political games being played in too many political points trying to be won. Neither side is portraying it accurately,” he said. “There’s a lot of factors that go into this and the politicians on both sides of the aisle are, you know, just using buzzwords and phrases and they’re using regurgitated, establishment talking points by their own parties … “
De Haan also noted the “extremely volatile” situation gas companies are in with regard to fluctuating oil prices.
“Stations are not eager to lower prices right now. Not necessarily because of, you know, they’re greedy or something but because the market is extremely volatile,” De Haan said, adding that “if they were to pass along a decrease one day, they may have to raise prices another 25 to 50 cents the day after if the market goes back up.”
Instead, he said the “stations are essentially smoothing out the incredible volatility and they’re cautiously passing along decreases once they are kind of certain that they’re not going to have to raise prices again.”
PolitiFact also noted that “experts who study the price of oil and gas said it can take weeks for gasoline prices to respond to changes in crude oil costs” and that “Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, increased labor costs, the pandemic and additional taxes and inflation have all contributed to rising gasoline prices.”
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit focused on climate policy and holding corporations accountable, says Democrats aren’t wrong to shift the blame onto Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“The Democrats aren’t making something up to point out how this is a really acute example of what dependency on oil and gas would get you. That’s exactly right. And the oil companies, they don’t care at all,” he said.
But Wiles noted the rising cost of gas started long before the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Oil companies are bad in war and peace,” he said.
ABC News reached out to all six oil companies expected to testify Wednesday but none provided a comment.
As the oil company executives face members of the House, lawmakers are also scrambling to pass legislation to provide immediate relief as a consequential midterm season quickly approaches.
Most recently, Biden announced the release of one million barrels of oil per day from oil reserves to combat high gas prices; though, senior White House administration officials couldn’t say how quickly Americans will start to feel relief from it.
At her weekly press conference last week, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Congress is looking to help as long as the benefit goes directly to consumers, likely in the form of a rebate card or a direct payment.
And some progressive Democrats are renewing their push toward more long-term investments in renewable energy to end oil dependency.
For their part, House Republicans on the Natural Resources Committee introduced a package of bills last week reversing the Biden administration’s moratorium on federal onshore and offshore lease sales.
(NEW YORK) — A mom of four from Indiana went from giving drawing prompts to her daughters to thousands of strangers online, inadvertently creating a community of what she describes as “amazing people” who have turned to art for a mental health break amid the pandemic.
In March 2020, Angie Carel’s job came to a standstill as the coronavirus pandemic upended her life.
“My business was shut down due to COVID and that’s when my daughter came home from college. My other daughters were doing remote learning, so everybody was in my house and that’s when we started drawing,” Carel, a marketing agency owner, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “It started with just myself and my daughters doing the drawings. And then we were sharing our drawings on social media and then that built up into a following on social media.”
Two years later, Simple Daily Drawing now boasts more than 30,000 followers and Carel has posted over 625 daily drawing prompts since April 2020. About 8,000 members worldwide also post their creations in a separate, private group every day, sharing stories to go along with their illustrations.
“It organically grew into what it is,” Carel said. “I wasn’t going to continue drawing past the COVID shutdown. It was something that I was just doing while we were shut down to disconnect, get out of my own head, get my daughters out of their own heads.”
“But then, so many people started joining and posting why they were drawing and how it was helping them and so that’s why I continued to do it. And now, almost every single day, somebody posts how much the daily drawings are helping them,” Carel said.
In the beginning, Carel asked her children to draw amusing, lighthearted sketches — a smiling turtle, a sunbathing hippo, and a thirsty camel.
“We were just drawing to have fun,” the 43-year-old mom said, adding that her husband and 3-year-old son also joined in on the drawing sessions.
The daily drawing prompts have grown more diverse, with abstract suggestions and ideas open for interpretation. Recent prompts have ranged from “Perspective: From Above” to “Nostalgia,” and one of Carel’s latest favorites includes a close-up drawing of a green eye.
Carel said she’s heard from all sorts of members who find their way to the drawing group and commented on how it has made a difference in their lives.
However, she’s also encountered unexpected stories from members as well about how art has helped them work through trauma.
“I get emotional about it because it’s like, I’m just giving you something to draw, but these stories that come out of it with mental health, in particular, are shocking and amazing,” said Carel. “And people, they’re vulnerable in the group and they share the stories with others. “
Carel, who has a graphic design background, added that she feels motivated to keep the drawing group going.
“I started drawing because of the way it helped me cope with COVID, but that translates into so many people’s lives for so many other reasons. And they started posting these stories and then I was like, I can’t just shut this group down,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — It’s been three years since Joey and Paula Reed have seen their son Trevor, a former Marine currently held in a Russian prison, and now they’re afraid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine means their chances for his return are dwindling.
The couple spoke with ABC News’ “Start Here” Tuesday and discussed the latest developments in their fight to bring their son home.
Joey Reed said the situation is going “downhill” as communications with their son have diminished since the start of the Russian invasion and on Monday he was reportedly sent to a prison hospital. He said he fears that Russian officials may take more action against his son and other Americans currently held in their prisons and is urging President Joe Biden to act.
“Our biggest fear right now is him getting home at all. We’re concerned that they’re going to put additional charges, false charges on him, which that’s typical FSB and or he will die,” Joey Reed told ABC News.
Trevor Reed’s detention began in 2019 when his family says he was visiting a girlfriend in Moscow. The 30-year-old was arrested after Russian authorities said he allegedly assaulted a police officer while drunk.
When asked by Reed’s attorneys for video from inside the car, Russian authorities did not present any evidence that he grabbed the wheel or assaulted the officers. But a year later Reed was sentenced to nine years in a Russian penal colony.
Paula Reed said her family tried to raise awareness for their son’s imprisonment, but they struggled to get any headway due to other topics taking up the headlines, including the start of the pandemic.
“It just seemed like Trevor couldn’t get a break because every time we thought we were going to get some news out there, something bigger was happening in the world that got the attention. So it took us a long time to get our feet running on getting publicity,” she told ABC News.
The Reeds have also been calling for the release of Paul Whelan, another ex-Marine who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2020 following a conviction. The family has picked up their calls for help, and last week protested outside the White House and asked to meet with the president.
“We just thought that they would see us and it would remind someone that they need to be together for a meeting,” Joey Reed said.
Biden met with the family after their protest.
The Reeds said during their meeting, which lasted over half an hour, they reiterated their calls to Biden for a prisoner exchange.
“We think that that’s the only way Trevor is going to get back with us any time soon,” Paula Reed said.
She added that her son is losing hope of ever returning home and picking up up his life where it left off.
“The longer he’s in prison, the harder that’s going to be for him to do,” she said.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement that, “during their meeting, the president reiterated his commitment to continue to work to secure the release of Trevor, Paul Whelan, and other Americans wrongfully held in Russia and elsewhere, and to provide all possible assistance until they and others are free and returned home to their families who are advocating so passionately for their release.”
The White House declined to comment about specific details discussed between Biden and Reed’s parents.
The Reeds said they felt the president was mindful of their requests.
“He’s a good man. He had a son in the military. He’s lost children and he’s compassionate,” Joey Reed said. “We believe that after hearing us out that I can’t imagine that he’s not doing something to speed up the process for bringing our son home.”
In the meantime, the Reeds said that the government needs to do more to defend and bring back Americans wrongfully imprisoned abroad.
“We just want to get him out of there alive and the sooner, the better,” Joey Reed said.
