New York City to test platform barriers at 3 stations amid calls for subway safety

New York City to test platform barriers at 3 stations amid calls for subway safety
New York City to test platform barriers at 3 stations amid calls for subway safety
Sinisa Kukic/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — New York City will pilot a program to install platform barriers at three subway stations, Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials announced Wednesday, a month after a woman died when a stranger pushed her in front of an oncoming train.

The doors, which will create a barrier between the platform and track to prevent people from falling onto the tracks, will be installed at the Times Square station along the 7 line, the Third Avenue station on the L and the Sutphin Boulevard-JFK station stop on the E, MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber said on NY1’s “Mornings On 1” Wednesday.

“It’s going to take a while and we’re going to have to put the money together, which is a little complicated,” Lieber told NY1. “But our goal is to try out these technologies at different places in the system, including three stations, trying out platform doors.”

The pilot program is expected to cost more than $100 million, with the doors likely to be installed at the three locations in 2024, the MTA said. The project is scheduled to be discussed at Thursday’s MTA board meeting.

The announcement comes amid safety concerns in the nation’s largest public transit system. On Jan. 15, Michelle Go, 40, died after she was shoved in front of an oncoming train on the N/Q/R/W line inside the Times Square-42nd Street subway station in what police said was an unprovoked attack.

Following Go’s death, several city officials, including Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, called on the MTA to install the platform barriers, which are used in transit systems in cities including Paris, London and Hong Kong, as well as along the John F. Kennedy International Airport AirTrain.

Previously, the MTA had said installing platform barriers would be prohibitively expensive and complicated due to the age of the subway system. Last month, the agency released a 3,000-page report from 2020 that found that most of the city’s 472 stations can’t accommodate the protective barriers and that it would cost about $7 billion to install them at the 128 stations that could.

In recent weeks, though, Lieber said the MTA was revisiting the issue. On Wednesday, he said the MTA identified the three stations in the pilot as locations “where the engineering does work.”

Levine called the pilot program a “huge win for safety & efficiency.”

“Truly a milestone in the history of NYC’s subways. Congrats to all who fought for this,” he said on Twitter.

From January 2021 to July 2021, 37 people died after getting struck by a train, according to the MTA.

In 2021, 30 people were pushed onto the tracks, according to the New York Police Department’s public information office. So far this year, as of Jan. 23, five people have been pushed onto the tracks, the NYPD said. A further breakdown of injuries or fatalities was not available.

Among other safety measures, the MTA is looking at piloting new technologies, including thermal sensors and lasers, that would detect when someone has fallen onto the tracks, Lieber said.

The city also recently launched a subway safety plan in response to a spike in crime that involves sending more police, mental health clinicians and social service outreach workers into the subways.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Colorado to become the first state to accept cryptocurrency as payment for taxes

Colorado to become the first state to accept cryptocurrency as payment for taxes
Colorado to become the first state to accept cryptocurrency as payment for taxes
ozgurdonmaz/Getty Images

(DENVER) — Colorado will become the first state to accept cryptocurrency as payment for state taxes and fees, Governor Jared Polis announced Wednesday.

Polis said the state, which was also the earliest to use blockchain technology for government infrastructure, will take the digital coin payments and deposit the equivalent value in dollars into the state’s treasury.

“In Colorado, we’ve been laying the groundwork to be a center of crypto and blockchain innovation for a number of years,” Polis said in a statement. “We see it as a critical part of Colorado’s overall innovation ecosystem.”

The announcement comes as legislators in other states, including Arizona and California, are proposing laws which, if ratified, would deem cryptocurrency an accepted form of payment statewide, not just for tax purposes.

Governor Polis has long been a vanguard in the intersecting world of cryptocurrency and politics. In 2014, he accepted Bitcoin for campaign donations during his run for the U.S. Congress following a Federal Exchange Commission ruling that went in his favor.

Although Colorado will be the first state to officially welcome cryptocurrency payments for taxes, Ohio implemented a similar program for a test run in 2018, which was ultimately deemed unsuccessful and abandoned in 2019.

Outside the U.S., El Salvador has been on a similar path for the better part of nine months. In June 2021, the country’s Legislative Assembly passed a law that made Bitcoin legal tender, allowing it to be used for everyday purchases.

Critics of accepting cryptocurrency highlight the volatility of digital currencies and inflation fears as reasons the initiative could cause economic destruction in El Salvador. In January, the International Monetary Fund called for the Central American nation to reverse its decision.

Cryptocurrency investment and interest have skyrocketed throughout the pandemic, with Bitcoin—the original digital currency—seeing gains of more than 300% between March and December 2020, only to crash down almost 45% from an all-time high in November 2021.

Polis has expressed an interest in having the state be able to process and accept cryptocurrency by the summer, although he has yet to provide a more specific timeline.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

KISS, Judas Priest, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots part of 2022 Aftershock festival lineup

KISS, Judas Priest, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots part of 2022 Aftershock festival lineup
KISS, Judas Priest, Foo Fighters, Stone Temple Pilots part of 2022 Aftershock festival lineup
Danny Wimmer Presents

KISS, Judas Priest, Foo Fighters and Stone Temple Pilots are among the many acts that will be performing at the 2022 Aftershock festival, taking place October 6-9 in Sacramento, California.

STP are part of the lineup for the fest’s first day, which will be headlined by Slipknot and also will feature Rob Zombie, EvanescenceKillswitch Engage and Bad Religion, among others.

KISS will headline day two, October 7, which also will see performances by Judas Priest, Lamb of God, Chevelle, GWAR, Helmet, Alice Cooper band guitarist Nita Strauss, Bullet for My Valentine, and more.

Headlining on October 8 will be My Chemical Romance, while other performers that day will include Papa Roach, Halestorm, A Day to Remember, The Distillers and Theory of a Deadman.

Foo Fighters will headline Aftershock’s final day, while the bill also will feature Shinedown, Bring Me the Horizon, The Pretty Reckless, The Struts, Zakk Sabbath, and more.

For the full lineup and all ticket info, visit AftershockFestival.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Music notes: Dua Lipa, Pink, The Weeknd and Doja Cat

Music notes: Dua Lipa, Pink, The Weeknd and Doja Cat
Music notes: Dua Lipa, Pink, The Weeknd and Doja Cat
Jason Koerner/Getty Images

Dua Lipa is headlining the OSHEAGA Music and Arts Festival with Foo Fighters and Rihanna‘s boyfriend, A$AP Rocky. The show runs July 29 to July 31 in Montreal, with Dua performing on the final day. The Kid LAROICharli XCXMachine Gun Kelly and more will also be there. Weekend passes are available now and single-day tickets go on sale February 25 on the OSHEAGA website.

Pink can read your kid a bedtime story. The singer, who partnered with Calm, voiced a new story called The P!nk Sheet that’s available now. The story is about “Ring, a little girl with big dreams and an even bigger circus tent,” the app teases. Pink hopes the tale will help her young listeners feel “less afraid of the dark and of being alone” and let their “imaginations run wild as they drift off to peaceful rest.”

The Weeknd was kissing DJ Simi Khadra at his 32nd birthday bash in Vegas, reports TMZ. This isn’t the first time the “Save Your Tears” singer was spotted with Simi — the two were seen having dinner in Los Angeles on February 3. Previously, The Weeknd was romantically linked to Angelina Jolie, who’s believed to be the subject of his latest single, “Here We Go… Again,” in which he sings about his “movie star” girlfriend.

Doja Cat revealed her plans for 2022, telling Billboard that she is excited to perform at the upcoming Grammy Awards and doing nothing at home. “I cook and I play video games and I go on [Instagram] Live and I make an a** of myself,” she declared. Doja also revealed how she wastes time on Instagram — by looking “at pictures of makeup and fashion and cats, and that’s pretty much it.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“Ex to See”: Sam Hunt has written lots of songs about his wife, Hannah Lee Fowler

“Ex to See”: Sam Hunt has written lots of songs about his wife, Hannah Lee Fowler
“Ex to See”: Sam Hunt has written lots of songs about his wife, Hannah Lee Fowler
Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Earlier this week, country fans were shocked to learn that Sam Hunt’s wife, Hannah Lee Fowler, had filed for divorce from her superstar husband, as well as the fact that she’s about six months pregnant — something that the couple hadn’t shared before their divorce news broke.

Over the course of the couple’s five-year marriage, and the years of on-again, off-again dating that led up to it, fans got to know Hannah Lee through Sam’s music.

His first album, Montevallo, was named after her Alabama hometown, and lots of its songs — like “Take Your Time,” “Break Up in a Small Town” and “Make You Miss Me” — seem to point to their tumultuous love story and powerful connection.

But Sam took the guesswork out of who he was writing songs about on “Drinkin’ Too Much,” a heartbreak ballad presumably written during a period of separation. The lyrics call Hannah Lee by name, and read “I’m sorry I named the album Montevallo/ I’m sorry people know your name now/ And strangers hit you up on social media.”

The singer’s record-breaking mega-hit, “Body Like a Back Road,” isn’t nearly as obviously directed toward Hannah Lee, but it’s safe to say that she served as at least part of the inspiration behind it. When Sam performed it at the 2017 ACM Awards, Sam walked out into the crowd and sat beside her in the audience as he sang.

Hannah Lee filed for divorce late last week, according to TMZ. She cited adultery as her reason for requesting the divorce, and asked for primary custody of their unborn child. However, on Tuesday, she withdrew her divorce complaint, according to People. She asked that the petition be “voluntarily nonsuited without prejudice,” which means she can file for divorce again in the future. 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Machine Gun Kelly curates soundtrack for ‘WWE 2K22’ video game

Machine Gun Kelly curates soundtrack for ‘WWE 2K22’ video game
Machine Gun Kelly curates soundtrack for ‘WWE 2K22’ video game
ABC

Machine Gun Kelly is getting ready to rumble to rumble, virtually.

The “Bloody Valentine” rocker is curating the soundtrack for the WWE 2K22 wrestling video game. The playlist includes songs by Bring Me the Horizon, Motörhead, Royal Blood, Turnstile, Asking Alexandria and KennyHoopla.

Additionally, MGK will be a playable character in the game.

Kelly’s WWE 2K22 role was announced in a video co-starring wrestling legend The Undertaker, who suggests that the soundtrack “needs more gongs,” in reference to his intro music.

WWE 2K22 will be released March 11.

Kelly, meanwhile, is keeping his sports streak alive — in the past month, he performed at a pre-Super Bowl concert and during the NHL All-Star Game, and played in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Benedict Cumberbatch getting star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday

Benedict Cumberbatch getting star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday
Benedict Cumberbatch getting star on Hollywood Walk of Fame on Monday
Netflix

Marvel movie star and Academy Award-nominated The Power of the Dog actor Benedict Cumberbatch is getting that famously long famous name set in stone.

Cumberbatch will receive the 2,714th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Monday morning, in an award ceremony at which his Star Trek: Into Darkness director J.J. Abrams and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige will honor him.

“Benedict Cumberbatch career spans across genres,” says Hollywood Walk of Fame producer Ana Martinez in a statement. “[H]e is one of England’s prized exports, and we are proud to welcome him to the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”

The Doctor Strange lead’s star will be located at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard; the ceremony will be livestreamed exclusively at WalkofFame.com.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Maternal mortality rates increased during 1st year of COVID pandemic: CDC

Maternal mortality rates increased during 1st year of COVID pandemic: CDC
Maternal mortality rates increased during 1st year of COVID pandemic: CDC
JGI/Jamie Grill

(ATLANTA) — Maternal mortality rates in the U.S. rose during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and racial disparities that existed before the pandemic were perpetuated, according to a new report published Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report looked at data from the CDC’s National Centers for Health Statistics and compared 2020 rates to rates in 2018 and 2019.

Maternal deaths were defined as women who died either while pregnant or within 42 days of the end of pregnancy.

In 2020, 861 women in the U.S. died of maternal causes — a rate of 23.8 per 100,000 live births, the report found.

This is an increase of 14% from the 754 deaths that occurred in 2019 and up 30% from the 658 deaths that occurred in 2018. In 2019, the rate was 20.1 deaths per 100,000 and even lower in 2018 at 17.4 per 100,000.

The reasons for the increase during the first year of the pandemic were not stated in the report, although the author said the virus likely played a role.

Racial disparities continue

There were large disparities when it came to race and ethnicity. The report found that Black women died of maternal causes at nearly three times the rate of white women, up from around 2.5 times higher than in 2019.

The rate for Black women was 55.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2020 and the rate for white women was 19.1 deaths per 100,000. For black women, the rate increased nearly 26% from the year prior.

Black women also died at higher rates than Hispanic women, who had a rate of 18.2 deaths per 100,000 births in 2020 — a more than 40% increase from the previous year.

What’s more, increases from 2019 to 2020 among Black women and Hispanic women were statistically significant while the increase over the same time period for white women was not viewed as significant, the report said.

The report also looked at maternal mortality rates by age and found that the rates increased as women’s ages did.

The lowest rate was for women under age 25 at 13.8 deaths per 100,000 live births and the highest rate was for women aged 40 and over at 107.9 per 100,000 births, about 7.8 times higher. Older mothers also experienced an increase in mortality that was statistically significant, according to the CDC.

Several studies have found that women who become pregnant after age 35 are considered “high-risk” because they are at an increased risk for complications impacting either the baby or mom including premature birth, excessive bleeding during birth and eclampsia..

Dr. Donna Hoyert, a health scientist in the NCHS’s Division of Vital Statistics and author of the report, said this is likely one of the reasons for the higher mortality rates among older women.

“That and there are a smaller number of individuals who are at the end of reproductive ages, so the statistics become much more variable from year to year,” she told ABC News.

COVID-19 ‘likely’ contributed to rise

The report did not offer theories for why maternal mortality rates rose in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, previous studies have shown that pregnant women are at increased risk of severe complications and death from COVID compared to the general population.

It could also help explain the higher rates among Black women, with Black Americans more likely to suffer from severe effects of the virus than the white population.

“​​Yes, the pandemic likely contributed to the increase from 2019 to 2020 and beyond that,” Hoyert said. “As the pandemic plays out, we want to see how it affects overall mortality rates and our trend of comparable data over time.”

She continued, “There’s been other studies that have come out further documenting continuing morality from COVID-19 and excess mortality associated with that, so it will be something to look into.”

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Family files civil suit after woman dies in Chicago police custody in apparent suicide

Family files civil suit after woman dies in Chicago police custody in apparent suicide
Family files civil suit after woman dies in Chicago police custody in apparent suicide
Witthaya Prasongsin/Getty Images

(CHICAGO) — The family of Irene Chavez – a woman who died in Chicago police custody last December after an apparent suicide – filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the city and several police officers.

“What we know is Irene Chavez died in the care and custody of the Chicago police. The officers knew Irene had mental health challenges,” Andrew Stroth, the family’s attorney, said at a press conference on Tuesday.

Stroth referenced a video of Chavez released last week by the Chicago’s Civilian Office of Police Accountability, where Chavez is seen arguing with arresting officers and telling them that she is a military veteran who suffers from PTSD.

Those details are also documented in a police incident report released by COPA.

“CPD officers ignored this information and failed to modify standard arrest procedures to accommodate Irene’s mental health needs,” the lawsuit, which was obtained by ABC News, alleges.

“Not only did CPD officers refuse to accommodate Irene’s disability during the arrest, but they intentionally escalated the situation by mocking Irene and her friend, and using foul, aggressive language,” the lawsuit says.

The Chicago Police Department told ABC News that it does not comment on pending litigation and has referred all questions about the case to COPA.

The City of Chicago’s Law Department did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment but told the ABC station in Chicago, WLS, on Tuesday that “The City has not yet been served with a complaint and will have no further comment as the matter is now in litigation.”

The documents and videos related to the death of Chavez were released as part of an investigation by the civilian oversight agency looking into Chavez’s death.

Body camera video released by COPA shows Chavez arguing while being arrested hours before her death.

According to police, the 33-year-old woman died after an “attempted suicide” on Dec. 18, 2021, at the 3rd District Police Station. The official cause and manner of death are pending autopsy results, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office told ABC News.

Police said Chavez was taken into custody after her involvement in a bar fight at the Jeffery Pub Tavern and was belligerent during processing.

Chavez could be heard by police shouting in the holding cell, the report by COPA said. After about five minutes of silence, an officer went to check on her well-being by looking through the window, the report said. That’s when Chavez was found with her shirt wrapped around her neck, tied to a bench and had a “faint pulse,” according to the report.

Video released by COPA shows officers performing CPR before Chavez was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital. According to COPA, Chavez was in “critical condition” at the time and was pronounced dead at the hospital.

Iris Chavez, Irene’s sister, accused police of neglect and said officers should have recognized that her sister was struggling with mental health.

“[I’m] Looking at the video and saying to myself, why aren’t they doing this instead? Why didn’t they do this? Or why is he talking to her like that?” Iris Chavez said.

According to the lawsuit, Irene Chavez was a “queer Afro-Latina” woman from Chicago and was a “decorated military veteran” who served in combat zones.

“After her honorable discharge from the military, Irene developed serious post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”) and struggled with alcohol dependency,” the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, Chavez was “in the midst of a mental health crisis” when she was arrested and had relapsed to drinking that day after being sober for a month.

“Both Irene and her friend repeatedly told CPD officers that Irene was a veteran, that she had PTSD, and that she needed hospitalization,” the lawsuit says.

Irene Chavez is one of two women to die in Chicago police custody within less than two months.

COPA is also investigating the death of London Marquez, 31, who died on Jan. 27. According to Marquez’s family, she was pregnant at the time of her death.

Chicago police declined to comment on that case and referred questions regarding both cases to COPA.

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

“The end arrives sooner than you think” — Netflix announces ‘Ozark”s final seven episodes will drop April 29

“The end arrives sooner than you think” — Netflix announces ‘Ozark”s final seven episodes will drop April 29
“The end arrives sooner than you think” — Netflix announces ‘Ozark”s final seven episodes will drop April 29
Netflix

With an intense preview clip of the footage to come, Netflix has announced that the final seven episodes of its gritty drama Ozark will premiere on April 29. 

In the teaser, the series’ two-time Emmy winner Julia Garner, who plays Ruth Langmore, can be seen driving, tears in her eyes. As she speaks in a voiceover, flashes of upcoming scenes play out, including Ruth threatening Jason Bateman‘s and Laura Linney‘s characters, Marty and Wendy Byrde, with a shotgun.

We also see Ruth turning on a light to reveal a massive pile of likely laundered cartel cash.

In the voiceover, she says, “My childhood traumas are not like yours. You see, I’m a cursed Langmore. Long inured to violence and death. And in the case of a Langmore, not soon enough.” 

Having arrived at her destination, Ruth focuses on a pistol on the passenger’s seat, as the screen fades to black, replaced by a legend reading, “The end arrives sooner than you think.”

The first part of the hit show’s fourth and final season debuted on the streaming service January 21.

 

Copyright © 2022, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.