(NEW YORK) — New York State reported 21,027 positive COVID test results on Thursday, a new single-day record, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday.
This brings the positivity rate in New York to 7.98%. The state also reported 60 new COVID-related deaths over the last two days.
“The winter surge in COVID-19 cases is a reminder that the pandemic is not over yet, and we must take extra care to keep ourselves and each other safe,” Hochul said in a statement. “The vaccine is still our best weapon to defeat the virus and ensure we are safe from serious illness. Get the shot if you haven’t yet and the booster if you have, mask up, and wash your hands.”
The state also reported 178 confirmed omicron cases. It’s likely there are more because only a fraction of positive results are sequenced to determine which strain of the virus it is.
Last week, as the number of cases began to rise, the state reinstated its indoor mask mandate for businesses or venues that don’t implement a vaccine requirement.
According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering, more than 5.3 million people have died of COVID around the world. The approximately 805,000 Americans are the most in a single country.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan on Thursday to help fight this latest surge. Measures will include distributing half a million rapid home tests through community organizations in addition to 1 million KN95 masks.
“We have seen a very substantial increase in COVID cases in the past few days,” the mayor said. “It is clear that the omicron variant is here in NYC, in full force.”
“This variant moves fast — we need to move a lot faster,” de Blasio added.
Legendary British Invasion band The Dave Clark Five‘s 1964 debut U.S. album Glad All Over was reissued today as a limited-edition white vinyl LP.
This marks the first time Glad All Over has been available on vinyl since 1964.
The album reached #3 on the Billboard 200 chart, and yielded three hit singles — the title track, “Bits and Pieces” and “Do You Love Me,” which peaked at #6, #4 and #11, respectively, on the Billboard Hot 100. The song “Glad All Over” also was a #1 hit in the U.K.
In 1965, the Glad All Over album was certified gold by the RIAA for sales of 500,000 copies in the U.S.
The reissue was remastered at London’s Abbey Road Studios by band leader and drummer Dave Clark himself.
The Dave Clark Five went on to score six more top-10 hits during the 1960s — “Can’t You See That She’s Mine,” “Because,” “I Like It Like That, “Catch Us If You Can,” “You Got What It Takes” and the chart-topping “Over and Over. The group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.
Here’s the full Glad All Over track list:
Side A
“Glad All Over”
“All of the Time”
“Crying Over You”
“Stay”
“Chaquita”
“Do You Love Me”
Side B
“Bits and Pieces”
“I Know You”
“3406”
“Time”
“Who Do You Think You’re Talking To”
(FORT MYERS, Fla.) — Police in Fort Myers, Florida, issued a missing child alert for 12-year-old Edilsy Roca from Lee County.
According to police, Edilsy was last seen in Fort Myers at approximately 10:30 pm Monday walking in the area of Gardenia Ave.
In an updated alert, the Fort Myers Police Department said Friday afternoon that detectives believe Edilsy could be with her mother and her mother’s boyfriend in Lehigh Acres, an area in Lee County, and if the child is found in her mother’s custody, “she could potentially be in danger.”
Along with a photo of the child, police released pictures of her mother, Imilsy Medina, and her boyfriend, Fabio Miguel Costa Araujo, on the Fort Myers Police Department Facebook page and urged anyone with information about Edilsy’s whereabouts to contact the police.
Medina, 30, has brown hair and brown eyes, while Araujo, 31, has brown hair and gray eyes.
Police said that Imilsy Medina may be wearing glasses and urged members of the public not to approach either Medina or Araujo but to contact police immediately.
According to the missing child alert, Edilsy was wearing a gray crop top, black sweatpants and black sandals when she was last seen.
Edilsy, who is Black, has brown hair and hazel eyes, is 5 feet tall and weighs 110 lbs.
It is unclear who reported Edilsy missing and when police were first notified.
A spokesperson for the Fort Myers Police Department told ABC News on Friday afternoon that no further information is available as this is an ongoing investigation.
Anyone with information about Edilsy’s location can contact the Fort Myers Police Department at (239) 321-7700 or SWFL Crime Stoppers.
On Sunday afternoon, VH1 is airing an encore presentation of its recent release, Hip Hop Family Christmas, as we get closer to the big day. If you miss it then, it’s also playing on Christmas Eve, and streaming on demand on VH1.
Double-platinum recording artist Keri Hilson explains that like most plans during the holidays, her character’s big family plans go sideways.
“Hip Hop Family Christmas is about a family who is royalty in hip hop,” Hilson tells ABC Audio. “My character, Jessica Nixon, I work in television and I get this bright idea to help our family, who is in the midst of a lot of turmoil in the public eye, a lot of negativity and bad press. So I get the bright idea to create a special, you know that we can…I guess, show our family in a new light.”
MC Lyte plays my mother, Redman plays my dad, Serayah and [Demetrius Shipp, Jr.] play my sister and brother, Ne-Yo plays my fiancée, and we get to see how this family reacts to my idea.”
Keri adds with a laugh, “It’s a quite it’s quite a regrettable idea that my character…has, and we get to just watch it all ensue.”
(NEW YORK) — With a rise in COVID-19 cases across the nation alongside spread of the new omicron variant, several major events this week have been rescheduled or canceled.
New York and Washington, D.C., on Friday and Wednesday, respectively, reported the most COVID-19 cases in a single day, breaking their pandemic records.
In sports
The NFL on Friday rescheduled its Saturday game between the Cleveland Browns and the Las Vegas Raiders to Monday 5 p.m. ET.
According to a statement from Cleveland Browns Senior Vice President of Communications Peter John-Baptiste, all members of the organization who recently tested positive were vaccinated.
Sunday’s games between the Washington Football Team and Philadelphia Eagles, and between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks were also postponed to Tuesday.
In a statement, the NFL said they made these schedule changes “based on medical advice” after “seeing a new, highly transmissible form of the virus.”
This trend is observable in other sports as well, as the NHL earlier announced it was rescheduling all games for the Colorado Avalanche and Florida Panthers through at least the Christmas weekend amid a COVID-19 outbreak.
The organization pointed to rising positive cases within the last two days and the continued spread of COVID-19 as a concern.
A shutdown on the Calgary Flames, which has already had six games postponed, has been extended through Dec. 23.
In entertainment
Rising cases have also affected events within the entertainment sphere. Shows like “A Christmas Carol” in Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre were canceled due to breakthrough infections among the show’s cast.
In New York, The Rockettes canceled four shows of “The Christmas Spectacular Starring the Radio City Rockettes” scheduled for Friday also due to “breakthrough COVID-19 cases in the production,” a representative said.
On New York’s Broadway, “Moulin Rouge! The Musical on Broadway” also canceled its Friday show due to positive cases within the show company.
Earlier this week, several other Broadway shows like “Hamilton” and “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” had also canceled shows due to infections, local ABC affiliate WABC-TV reported.
On Dec. 12, singer-songwriter Doja Cat pulled out of future iHeartRadio’s Jingle Ball Tour performances after testing positive for COVID-19.
She announced on Instagram that she tested positive after a few members of her production team also tested positive.
(WASHINGTON) — Russia published a list of sweeping new security guarantees it wants from the United States and NATO on Friday — including a promise not to expand the alliance — staking out demands for de-escalating the crisis it has stoked around Ukraine.
The radical proposals would rewrite the post-Cold War security order in Europe, obliging the U.S. and NATO to commit to not admitting any new members, including Ukraine, but also effectively prohibiting any NATO military activity in Eastern Europe and most of the former Soviet Union.
The demands were presented in two draft treaties that Russia’s foreign ministry published on Friday, with Russia saying it had passed them to the Biden administration earlier this week.
But the U.S. and NATO countries have already previously ruled out Russian demands for a veto on the alliance’s expansion and on Friday a senior Biden administration official immediately rejected the two key Russian proposals to bar Ukraine from ever joining or NATO expanding farther eastward.
“We will not compromise on key principles on which European security is built,” the administration official told reporters, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
“All countries have the right to decide their own future and their own foreign policy, free from outside interference, and that goes for Ukraine and it also goes for NATO allies and the alliance itself,” the senior administration official said, adding President Joe Biden made that clear to Russian President Vladimir Putin during their call last week.
Russia made the proposals against the backdrop of its military buildup near Ukraine, where the U.S. says Russia has massed over 100,000 troops, with the implicit threat it could use force if its demands are not met.
Western countries fear Putin may be preparing a new major military incursion against Ukraine and have been trying to understand whether the Russian leader is really prepared to escalate the conflict this winter.
Friday’s proposals addressed a grievance the Kremlin has nurtured for nearly three decades about NATO’s expansion since the Cold War — into what Moscow views as its sphere of influence.
The Russian draft treaties call for NATO to remove any troops or weapons from countries that joined the alliance after 1997, meaning most of Eastern Europe, including Poland, the Baltic states and Balkan countries. It also calls for the U.S. and Russia to refrain from deploying troops in areas where they could be perceived as a threat to each countries’ national security, and a ban on sending their aircraft and warships into areas where they could strike each other’s territory. The treaty would also ban the deployment of intermediate-range missiles in Europe.
The limits on NATO in Eastern Europe are seen as a non-starter by most experts. Most analysts in Moscow believe the Kremlin itself is aware that the proposals are unrealistic. Some said that rather than real goals, they may represent an opening gambit aimed at winning some concessions.
“This is a bargaining position — [the Kremlin] is trying to get some degree of partial acceptance,” Andrey Kortunov, head of the Russian International Affairs Council, told The Moscow Times.
The senior Biden administration official said that while it rejected out of hand the proposed limits on NATO membership for Ukraine and others, it was reviewing the other Russian proposals, hinting it was possible there might be some areas for discussion.
The official noted that several of the issues raised by Russia — arms control for example — were already being dealt with in different talks between the U.S. and Russia. The official said the U.S. would respond with a “more concrete” proposal to the Russians next week after consulting with allies, but added it will include a list of their own concerns “about Russia’s posture and behavior.”
But other analysts found the unrealistic nature of Russia’s demands disturbing, interpreting them as perhaps a sign the Kremlin is laying the groundwork now to justify an invasion that it will paint as the result of failed negotiations.
“I don’t see this as something aimed at a productive negotiation, even if some parts of this could have been discussed and considered privately,” Vladimir Frolov, a former Russian diplomat and current foreign affairs commentator, told ABC News.
Dmitry Trenin, the director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, wrote on Twitter that Russia publishing the demands now “may suggest that Moscow (rightly) considers their acceptance by west unlikely.” That means Russia is more likely to use military force to ensure they are realized, he said.
Russia’s buildup has not stopped since Biden and Putin’s call last week, with satellite imagery showing vehicles and equipment continuing to appear at new sites near Ukraine. Most experts believe the Russian troops will not withdraw while the Kremlin continues its diplomatic push for concessions.
Interestingly, Clapton co-wrote the song with Robin Monotti, an Italian film producer and architect who identifies as a pro-vaccine-safety advocate, and who apparently espouses similar anti-lockdown views to Eric.
“Heart of a Child” was co-produced by Clapton and his longtime studio collaborator Simon Climie. Musicians joining Eric on the track include Sonny Emory on drums, Nathan East on bass, Dirk Powell on mandolin, Daniel Santiago and Pedro Martins on guitar, Climie on keyboards and percussion, and Sharon White and Katie Kissoon on backing vocals.
Strings on the track were arranged and conducted by Nick Ingman, and the strings were led by violinist Everton Nelson. Ingman also arranged and conducted strings on Clapton’s recent single “This Has Gotta Stop.”
Reese Witherspoon and her Legally Blonde series co-star Jennifer Coolidge sat down via Zoom with Backstage, and dished not only about their respective hit shows, The Morning Show and White Lotus, but also teased a third Legally Blonde movie.
Coolidge explained Reese is “the keeper of the keys” when it comes to the long-gestating threequel. But rest easy, Elle Woods fans, Reese is as eager to get going on Legally Blonde 3 as you are.
Saying she’s “dying to know more,” Coolidge sat intently while Reese teased out an update. “I wish I could take a poll of everybody watching and say like, ‘What do you wanna see us do?'” Reese joked. “I mean, just the idea of being anywhere with Jennifer would be the greatest,” the actress and producer explained, as was the idea of “visiting characters 20 years later to see what’s changed about them and what hasn’t.”
Mindy Kaling is currently “in the process of writing it,” Reese explained.
As for Legally Blonde‘s longevity, Witherspoon opined, “The movie is such a feminist movie, too, at the time, about really that your life doesn’t have to be defined by your romantic relationships; it can be defined by your girlfriends, by your sense of self-worth, by your job, your education, your accomplishments.”
(PARIS) — After 2 1/2 years of cleaning and consolidating — and a pandemic that halted French workers for a few months — the restoration phase of the Notre Dame cathedral is set to kick off this winter.
The night of April 15, 2019, a massive fire tore through the roof of world famous cathedral in Paris, collapsing the spire. The first block of wood to be used in the new spire — at the very base of a structure that should rise 255 feet above ground — was produced in a lumbermill in the western France town of Craon on Thursday.
Rebuilding Notre Dame is a colossal national project. Mickael Renaud, owner of a lumbermill called The Giants, told ABC News, he was proud to play a part, adding that his lumber mill had to expand storage capacity simply to house the huge blocks of wood required.
French President Emmanuel Macron promised in July 2020 that everything lost in the fire would be rebuilt in its original form — over 1,000 centennial trees were carefully selected from French forests and sent to sawmills across the country.
According to the head of the establishment for the conservation and the restoration of Notre Dame, Gen. Jean-Louis Georgelin, the plan is to reopen the church to the public in 2024.
While hundreds of artisans are focused on reproducing an exact replica of the cathedral, there also are plans to change the interior lighting and liturgic design. Those plans include a different entrance for the public, adding holograms of biblical phrases in several languages and integrating contemporary art, changes that are causing a stir among some critics. The plan was partially validated by the National Commission for Heritage and Architecture on Dec. 9.
For Monseigneur Aumônier, the bishop in charge of the interior design of the cathedral on behalf of the Catholic Church, the updates are part of an effort to recognize the building’s value not just for France but the whole world.
“The Catholic liturgy will be celebrated in Notre Dame as ever,” he told ABC News. “But, naturally with the new visibility of Notre Dame, it’s very helpful for us to guide people who will visit.”
Art Historian Didier Rykner told ABC News that such major changes threatened the integrity of the medieval structure.
“Nobody wants this — we want Notre Dame back as before,” he said. Tourists “will want to see Notre-Dame like it was before, not like it will be now.”
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Just months after sustaining serious injuries in a car accident, Tiger Woods made his return to competitive golf on Friday.
Woods, who suffered comminuted open fractures to his right tibia and fibia in February, hit the links with his 12-year-old son, Charlie.
The father-son duo are participating in the PNC Championship, a tournament in Orlando, Florida, that allows former major champions to compete alongside their family members.
“To be out here with my son like this, it’s the best,” he said in an interview with the Golf Channel. “We’re here to have fun.”
Woods played with his son in the tournament for the first time last year, finishing seventh out of 20 pairs.
Woods, 45, told Golf Digest last month that the idea of playing with Charlie has been a motivating factor in his recovery. Charlie is the golfer’s youngest child with his ex-wife, Elin Nordegren; the former couple also share a 14-year-old daughter, Sam.
For Woods, who has won the Masters five times and the PGA Championship four times, seeing his son follow in his footsteps has been a gratifying experience. He’s also been able to impart some of the wisdom he’s picked up from his years as a golfer.
“I went to golf tournaments to watch him play, and I’m looking at some of these scores he’s shooting and I said, ‘How the hell are you shooting such high scores? I gotta go check this out,'” he said. “So I’d watch him play and he’s going along great. He has one bad hole, he loses his temper, his temper carries him over to another shot and another shot and it compounds itself.”
Woods continued: “‘Son, I don’t care how mad you get. Your head could blow off for all I care just as long as you’re 100% committed to the next shot. That’s all that matters. That next shot should be the most important shot in your life. It should be more important than breathing. Once you understand that concept, then I think you’ll get better.’ And as the rounds went on throughout the summer, he’s gotten so much better.”
