(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Thursday announced it had reached settlements with the families of victims murdered by Dylann Roof in the 2015 Charleston, South Carolina, church shooting.
Families had sued the federal government in 2016 because Roof was able to purchase a gun to carry out the shooting, despite having a prior criminal history.
The civil case has since made its way through the court system, with a federal appeals court ruling that families could sue the government.
The shooting, which took place in June 2015 at the Mother Emmanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, killed nine African American worshippers.
“These settlements will resolve claims by 14 plaintiffs arising out of the shooting. Plaintiffs agreed to settle claims alleging that the FBI was negligent when it failed to prohibit the sale of a gun by a licensed firearms dealer to the shooter, a self-proclaimed white supremacist, who wanted to start a “race war” and specifically targeted the 200-year-old historically African-American congregation,” the Justice Department said in a statement.
“For those killed in the shooting, the settlements range from $6 million to $7.5 million per claimant. For the survivors, the settlements are for $5 million per claimant,” the DOJ statement said.
Roof, an avowed white supremacist, was sentenced to death, the first person to get the death penalty for a federal hate crime.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
The Weeknd was nominated for six American Music Awards Thursday and is competing against his good friend Drake in two categories.
The two Toronto superstars are both up for Artist of the Year and Favorite Male Pop Artist. Drizzy received a total of five nominations. The Weeknd’s nominations also include Favorite Male R&B Artist.
Doja Cat and Giveon tied Drake with five nods. Artists with three nominations include Cardi B, Megan Thee Stallion, Silk Sonic, H.E.R., SZA, and the late Pop Smoke.
The 2021 American Music Awards will take place Sunday, Nov. 21 at 8 p.m. ET. The ceremony will broadcast live on ABC.
Here’s a list of the nominees in some of the major categories:
Artist of the Year
Taylor Swift
Ariana Grande
The Weeknd
Olivia Rodrigo
BTS
Drake
Favorite Male Hip-Hop Artist
Drake
Lil Baby
Moneybagg Yo
Polo G
Pop Smoke
Favorite Female Hip-Hop Artist
Cardi B
Coi Leray
Erica Banks
Megan Thee Stallion
Saweetie
Favorite Hip-Hop Album
Drake, Certified Lover Boy
Juice WRLD, Legends Never Die
Megan Thee Stallion, Good News
Pop Smoke, Shoot for the Stars Aim for the Moon
Rod Wave, SoulFly
Favorite Hip-Hop Song
Cardi B, “Up”
Internet Money ft. Gunna, Don Toliver & NAV, “Lemonade”
Lil Tjay ft. 6LACK, “Calling My Phone”
Polo G, “RAPSTAR”
Pop Smoke, “What You Know Bout Love”
Favorite Male R&B Artist
Chris Brown
Giveon
Tank
The Weeknd
Usher
Favorite R&B Album
Doja Cat, Planet Her
Giveon, When It’s All Said and Done… Take Time
H.E.R., Back of My Mind
Jazmine Sullivan, Heaux Tales
Queen Naija, missunderstood
Favorite R&B Song
Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak), “Leave the Door Open”
Chris Brown & Young Thug, “Go Crazy”
Giveon, “Heartbreak Anniversary”
H.E.R., “Damage”
Jazmine Sullivan, “Pick Up Your Feelings”
Favorite Gospel Artist
Kanye West
Kirk Franklin
Koryn Hawthorne
Maverick City Music
Tasha Cobbs Leonard
Favorite Music Video
Silk Sonic (Bruno Mars, Anderson .Paak), “Leave the Door Open”
Cardi B, “Up”
Lil Nas X, “MONTERO (Call Me By Your Name)”
Olivia Rodrigo, “drivers license”
The Weeknd, “Save Your Tears”
Collaboration of the Year
24kGoldn ft. iann dior “Mood”
Bad Bunny & Jhay Cortez “DAKITI”
Chris Brown & Young Thug “Go Crazy”
Doja Cat ft. SZA “Kiss Me More”
Justin Bieber ft. Daniel Caesar & Giveon “Peaches”
Favorite Male Pop Artist
Drake
Ed Sheeran
Justin Bieber
Lil Nas X
The Weeknd
Favorite Female Pop Artist
Ariana Grande
Doja Cat
Dua Lipa
Olivia Rodrigo
Taylor Swift
Favorite Pop Duo or Group
AJR
BTS
Glass Animals
Maroon 5
Silk Sonic
Favorite Pop Song
BTS, “Butter”
Doja Cat feat. SZA, “Kiss Me More”
Dua Lipa, “Levitating”
Olivia Rodrigo, “drivers license”
The Weekend & Ariana Grande, “Save Your Tears (Remix)”
The opening bands on All Time Low‘s ongoing tour have dropped off the bill following allegations of sexual misconduct against the “Monsters” group.
Bothnothing,nowhere. andMeet Me @ the Altar announced Wednesday that they will no longer be a part of the tour. Instead, the two groups will be playing a run of newly announced shows together throughout the next week.
The allegations against All Time Low first surfaced following a TikTok video in which someone states that a “famous pop punk band” invited them onto the group tour bus when they were only 13, and engaged in inappropriate behavior, including giving them alcohol. The person who posted the TikTok did not name All Time Low specifically, but heavily implied they were talking about the “Dear Maria” rockers.
The TikTok was then followed by an anonymous social media account specifically accusing guitarist Jack Barakat of grooming, abuse and sexual assault.
In a statement credited to all four band members posted this past Monday, All Time Low denied all allegations as “absolutely and unequivocally false.”
All Time Low’s tour is scheduled to continue Thursday in Des Moines, Iowa, and run through a November 12 date in San Diego.
(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court has a real opportunity this year to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark case that made abortion a federally protected right, or otherwise lessen the right to abortion.
The court will be hearing a case out of Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, that asks the justices to directly reconsider the landmark precedent in Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which many court watchers believe is closer to a possibility than ever with the current makeup of the court.
Should the court decide to overturn Roe, the right to abortion in the United States would be decided on a state-by-state basis. In that case, 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion, according to a new report published Thursday by the Guttmacher Institute, a pro-abortion rights research organization.
The domino effect of that in the extreme, according to Guttmacher’s report, would be that a person in Louisiana, where abortion would be banned, would have to drive 666 miles, one-way, on average to reach a provider. That’s a 1,720% increase from an average Louisianan’s current distance from a provider, which is 37 miles.
“Increases in driving distances would pose hurdles for many people,” Dr. Herminia Palacio, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, said in a statement. “However, research shows that some groups of people are disproportionately affected by abortion restrictions — including those with low incomes, people of color, young people, LGBTQ individuals and people in many rural communities.”
Twenty-one states already have laws on the books that would immediately ban abortion if Roe were overturned. This comes in the form of laws that predate Roe but were never removed from the books, so-called “trigger” laws that would go into effect in the event of the precedent being overturned, state constitutional amendments, and six- or eight-week bans that are not currently in effect but would ban nearly all abortions.
Five states in addition to those 21 are likely to ban abortion should Roe be overturned, the Guttmacher report says.
Those 26 states likely to ban abortion encompass a majority of the central United States, with the exception of Minnesota, Illinois, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. States on both coasts — excluding South Carolina, Georgia and Florida — are likely to keep abortion legal if Roe is overturned, according to the data. Guttmacher’s full report, including its data set and an interactive map, is available here.
However, that doesn’t mean people seeking abortions in states likely to keep the procedure legal would be unaffected. The Guttmacher report highlights that many of those states would become go-to destinations for people in states where abortion is banned. So a person seeking an abortion in Kansas could face a longer wait for an appointment because Kansas would be the nearest location for people from Texas, Oklahoma, Nebraska and other states to get an abortion.
This is already the case for people in Texas, where a near-total ban on abortion was allowed to go into effect in September. Since then, Texans have already traveled hundreds of miles to other states to obtain the procedure, as ABC News has documented. The Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to that law, focusing more on its enforcement mechanism than the right to abortion, next week.
The Supreme Court also does not need to fully remove protections to the right to abortion to have an impact. They could instead decide to weaken the stipulations of Roe, such as by limiting for how long into a pregnancy the right to abortion is protected.
The precedents of 1973’s Roe and 1992’s Casey encoded “the constitutionally protected liberty of the woman to decide to have an abortion before the fetus attains viability and to obtain it without undo interference from the State.”
“Viability” means a fetus can survive outside of a uterus, and that typically happens around 24 to 28 weeks. The Mississippi case the court is hearing in December is about a ban on abortion after 15 weeks. That is before viability, but after, say, the first trimester of a pregnancy.
The Guttmacher Institute report includes the impact if the right to abortion were still protected, but only up to 15 or 20 weeks.
According to the CDC’s latest data, 92.2% of abortions were performed at or before 13 weeks, and only 1% were at or after 21 weeks.
Elton John made a virtual appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon Wednesday night and shared a couple of stories about fellow musical icons.
In one of the stories, he talked about performing with John Lennon at Madison Square Garden in 1974, which turned out to be Lennon’s last live public performance before his death in 1980.
“It was one of the most magical moments of my life,” Elton said. “Probably for me, the memory of him coming onstage and getting so much applause. I think all the band, and myself, were moved to tears. And it was such a wonderful occasion.”
He also recalled the not-so-magical moment when he almost rejected a birthday surprise from Stevie Wonder. Elton was on board a private plane called the Starship and was bummed out about a performance he had.
“I went up front and sat on my own and they said, ‘Come up to the bow. We want to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you’ and I went, ‘I’m not interested in my birthday,’” he recalled. “And this happened about three or four times until my publicist burst into tears and said, ‘You have to come up there. Stevie Wonder is at the organ’ — of course the plane had an organ on it — ‘and he wants to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to you.”
Elton finally got to collaborate with Stevie on the song “Finish Line” from his new album, The Lockdown Sessions.
Volbeat has premiered a new song called “Becoming,” a track off the band’s upcoming album, Servant of the Mind.
“Becoming” is the fourth cut to be released from Servant, following the singles “Wait a Minute My Girl” and “Shotgun Blues,” and the song “Dagen Før,” featuring Stine Bramsen. The whole album is set to arrive December 3.
Servant of the Mind is Volbeat’s eighth studio album, and their first since 2019’s Rewind, Replay, Rebound.
Volbeat will hit the road in support of their new record next year on a co-headlining U.S. tour with Ghost, which kicks off January 25 in Reno, Nevada.
(LOS ANGELES) — A California school safety officer has been charged with murder in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old unarmed woman.
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced the charge against former Long Beach Unified School safety officer Eddie Gonzalez, whose arraignment is scheduled for Friday at the Los Angeles County Superior Court, Long Beach Branch. The case remains under investigation by Long Beach police.
“We must hold accountable the people we have placed in positions of trust to protect us,” Gascón said in a statement. “That is especially true for the armed personnel we traditionally have relied upon to guard our children on their way to and from and at school.”
On Sept. 27, Gonzalez was patrolling an area near Millikan High School in Long Beach when he noticed a physical altercation between the 18-year-old, Manuela Rodriguez, and a teenage girl.
Rodriguez tried to leave the scene and hopped into the rear passenger seat of a nearby car when Gonzalez allegedly fired his handgun at the vehicle and hit Rodriguez.
She was taken to a hospital, where she died Oct. 5. Rodriguez is said to have suffered brain damage before being declared brain dead and taken off life support, according to her family’s attorneys.
“Not only did he commit a horrible crime, he destroyed an entire family,” attorney Luis Carrillo said at a press conference.
Gonzalez was fired the following day by the Long Beach Board of Education for violating the district’s use-of-force policy.
According to school officials, the policy states that officers “shall not fire at a fleeing person,” “shall not fire at a moving vehicle” and “shall not fire through a vehicle window unless circumstances clearly warrant the use of a firearm as a final means of defense.”
In a statement, district school board officials said: “We will continue to monitor the progress of the criminal case and will defer questions on investigatory matters to law enforcement. We acknowledge the impact of this tragedy and we again extend our sincerest condolences to everyone who has been impacted, especially the family, friends and loved ones of the shooting victim, Manuela Rodriguez.”
(PHOENIX) — Arizona Cardinals defensive end JJ Watt will have season-ending shoulder surgery, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
The team had already ruled Watt out for Thursday’s game against the Green Bay Packers, and he was listed as Did Not Participate all week during practice.
Watt injured his shoulder during the second quarter of Sunday’s win over the Titans. He ends the year with ten tackles and one sack for the 7-0 Cardinals.
It is the latest injury for the 3-time Defensive Player of the Year. Watt missed 13 games in 2016 after two back surgeries, 11 games in 2017 with a fractured tibia, and eight games in 2019 with a torn pectoral muscle.
This latest injury will be his fourth season-ending injury in six seasons after starting all 80 games in his first five seasons as a member of the Houston Texans.
The team did get good news this week.
Arizona activated linebacker Chandler Jones and defensive lineman Zach Allen off the Reserve/COVID-19 list. Both players missed the past two games.
(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 4.9 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 740,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.
Just 67.3% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Oct 28, 10:11 am
5 states see hospital admissions jump by at least 15%
Hospital admissions have fallen by about 55% since late August, according to federal data.
But five states have seen at least a 15% increase in hospital admissions over the last two weeks: Alaska (21.7%), Colorado (15.9%), Maine (35.3%), New Hampshire (38.9%) and New Mexico (19.6%).
Alaska currently has the country’s highest infection rate, followed by Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Idaho.
The U.S. reported approximately 1,600 COVID-19 deaths on Tuesday alone. Deaths are about 1.5 times higher in non-metropolitan areas than in metropolitan areas, according to federal data.
Oct 28, 9:38 am
Colorado ICU beds at lowest point of pandemic
Colorado’s number of ICU beds is at the lowest point of the pandemic following a dramatic spike in hospitalizations and the winding down of extra beds added in the last surge.
Colorado currently has 1,191 COVID-19 patients, according to state data, and 29% of hospitals anticipate an ICU bed shortage in the next week.
State health officials told ABC News that hospitals in El Paso County have turned away transfer requests over the lack of beds.
“We are continuing to move very much in the wrong direction,” Scott Bookman, the state’s COVID-19 chief, said at a briefing.
Oct 27, 6:43 pm
New York City braces for possible mandate-related reduction in fire, EMS service
New York City Fire Commissioner Daniel Nigro said Wednesday he’s preparing to make major operational changes next week as significant portion of the city’s firefighters and EMS personnel haven’t complied with the city’s vaccine mandate.
“We will use all means at our disposal, including mandatory overtime, mutual aid from other EMS providers, and significant changes to the schedules of our members,” he said in a statement.
The mandate for all New York City public employees will go into effect at the end of day Friday. The FDNY said that 65% of its members were vaccinated as of Wednesday.
An FDNY official told ABC News that by Monday fire and ambulance services could be reduced by as much as 20%.
FDNY leadership has held virtual meetings with uniformed staff explaining the vaccine mandate and imploring them to comply, and will continue doing so throughout the week, the official said.
Oct 27, 3:29 pm
CDC advisers to vote Nov. 2 on pediatric vaccines
The CDC’s independent advisors plan to discuss and hold a non-binding vote on the recommendations for the pediatric vaccine on Nov. 2.
CDC Director Rochelle Walensky will likely endorse those recommendations for 5 to 11-year-olds following the vote that day.
Vaccinations can start as soon as Walensky sends out final recommendations.
Meanwhile, the FDA’s decision to authorize the pediatric vaccine is expected in the coming days.
Oct 27, 10:22 am
Nearly two-thirds of Americans have had at least 1 vaccine dose
Nearly two-thirds of all Americans — 220 million people — have had at least one vaccine dose, according to federal data.
But 111 million Americans remain completely unvaccinated, including about 48 million children under the age of 12, who are not yet eligible to get the shot.
National metrics continue to fall, according to federal data. About 51,000 Americans are currently hospitalized with COVID-19, down from 104,000 patients at the end of August
Deaths are are trending down, though numbers remain quite high at over 1,100 fatalities each day.
Costumes emulating both the players and the guards from Netflix’s smash Squid Game are flying off shelves for this Halloween season, but one New York school district has given them the red light.
According to local news site CNY Central News, principals at several upstate New York elementary schools have banned the costumes.
Administrators at Mott Road, Enders Road, and Fayetteville Elementary schools sent emails to parents about the restriction, which also applies to the kids “playing” Squid Game themselves during free time. The breakout South Korean import involves unwilling participants who play kids’ games to win a massive cash prize. But if they lose, they’re executed.
“We have observed that some students at recess have been playing a version of the squid game which is intended for mature audiences, ages 16 and older,” reads the email from Mott Road Elementary school that was apparently not proofread by the English department.
Superintendent Dr. Craig Tice also issued a message about it, reading in part, “Due to concerns about the potential violent nature of the game, it is inappropriate for recess play or discussion at school. Additionally, a Halloween costume from this show does not meet our school costume guidelines due to the potential violent message aligned with the costume.”
Looks like the kids will have to save their money from babysitting or paper routes instead of going for that 45.6 billion won cash prize.
