Jeffrey Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Students at a historically Black college received a huge parting gift from their school during commencement ceremonies Saturday.
Larry Robinson, the president of Florida A&M University, announced the school spent over $16 million to cover fees, tuition and unpaid student account balances during the 2020-2021 school year.
“This is an indication of our commitment to student success and our hope that your time on the ‘Hill’ has been transformative as you take on the challenges of the day, go out and make a difference,” he told the graduates.
The university was able to use money from the federal Cares Act, which provides COVID-19 relief to organizations, to pay for the students’ costs.
FAMU Vice President for Student Affairs William E. Hudson, Jr told students the school wanted to give them some assistance given the struggles caused by the pandemic.
“Clearing student account balances from the previous school year was a way of practicing our motto of “Excellence with Caring” by supporting students and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said in a statement.
Florida A&M University is the latest HBCU to pay off their students’ debts and costs with the federal relief money.
Other schools that have announced similar plans include Johnson C. Smith University in North Carolina, South Carolina State University and Spelman College.
(NEW YORK) — A pair of masked men unleashed a fusillade of gunfire on a crowded street in a New York City neighborhood Saturday night, wounding 10 people before getting on mopeds and speeding away, police said.
New York Police Department investigators said the episode appeared to be tied to gang violence, but that seven of the shooting victims were innocent bystanders, including a 72-year-old man.
“This was, as I can most accurately describe it, a brazen, coordinated attack,” NYPD Chief of Detectives James Essig said at a news conference on Sunday.
No arrests have been made.
The shooting occurred about 10:38 p.m. outside a barbershop and a restaurant in the city’s Queens borough.
The NYPD released a chilling surveillance video showing two men wearing masks and hooded sweatshirts walking east on 37th Avenue near 97th Street in Corona, Queens, both with their arms extended and firing handguns.
The video shows the pair of gunmen being trailed on the sidewalk by two other masked men, also wearing hooded sweatshirts, driving mopeds. Following the shooting, the gunmen calmly climbed onto the back of the mopeds and sped away.
At least 37 bullet shell casings were recovered, but Essig said police were combing the crime scene for evidence and suspect more shots were fired.
He said three of the people shot are members of the Trinitarios street gang and are believed to have been the intended targets of the shooting.
Essig said the shooting followed “reoccurring themes” police have recently noticed as the city has seen an alarming surge in gun violence.
“That’s gang members, that’s guns, multiple guns on the scene, scooters being used, masks and, lastly, unintended targets getting hit,” Essig said. “This is unacceptable in our streets in New York City, and it has to stop.”
He said the seven innocent bystanders left with non-life-threatening wounds ranged from age 19 to 72 and included two women.
He said the gunmen appeared initially to open fire on a group of people standing in front of a barbershop, but other people wounded were attending a party at a restaurant a few doors away.
NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes pleaded with the public to help police catch the gunmen and their getaway drivers.
“We need the community’s help on this one,” Holmes said.
She asked people to closely review the security video of the shooting that showed both gunmen wearing dark masks and dark hooded sweatshirts. One gunman was wearing white pants and Nike sneakers, while the other was wearing dark pants and dark sneakers.
One of the moped drivers was wearing a red hooded sweatshirt and white pants, while the other driver had on what appeared to be a gray sweatshirt with a white hood and an American flag on the chest emblazoned with the letters “USA.”
“They know the area. That’s why they were wearing masks,” Holmes said. “They know the area, they come over here. Someone’s going to see that video, they’re going to see those still photos, they’re going to say, ‘Oh, I know that clothing … I know so-and-so walks that way.’ And that is why we are really, really appealing to the public. Our biggest asset is the public when it comes to solving crimes like this.”
A new Beatles tribute album featuring an eclectic variety of well-known artists, including Heart‘s Ann Wilson, late Cream bassist Jack Bruce and Southern rockers Molly Hatchet, performing classic songs by the Fab Four will be released this Friday, August 6.
The album, which can be pre-ordered now, features Wilson’s rendition of “Across the Universe,” Bruce’s version “Eleanor Rigby” and Molly Hatchet performing “Back in the USSR.”
Other artists contributing tunes to the record include late Asia frontman John Wetton, ex-Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes, folk legend Judy Collins, ’80s synth-pop artist Howard Jones and longtime Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse, the latter of whom teams up with Mr. Mister‘s Richard Page for a cover of “Here Comes the Sun.”
Here’s the full track list of Legends Play The Beatles:
“Here Comes the Sun” — Richard Page & Steve Morse
“Across the Universe” — Ann Wilson
“Penny Lane” — John Wetton
“Back in the USSR” — Molly Hatchet
“Norwegian Wood” — Andrew Gold
“The Long and Winding Road” — Air Supply
“Tomorrow Never Knows” — Electric Moon
“Rain” — Sugar Candy Mountain
“Eleanor Rigby” — Jack Bruce
“And I Love Her” — Howard Jones
“Yesterday” — Judy Collins
“Let It Be” — Glenn Hughes
A new Beatles tribute album featuring an eclectic variety of well-known artists, including Heart‘s Ann Wilson, Mr. Mister‘s Richard Page and late Asia frontman John Wetton performing classic songs by the Fab Four will be released this Friday, August 6.
The album, which can be pre-ordered now, features Wilson’s rendition of “Across the Universe,” Page teaming up with longtime Deep Purple guitarist Steve Morse for a cover of “Here Comes the Sun,” and Wetton performing “Penny Lane.”
Other artists contributing tunes to the record include Air Supply, ’80s synth-pop artist Howard Jones, folk legend Judy Collins, late Cream bassist Jack Bruce, late pop singer/songwriter Andrew Gold, Southern rockers Molly Hatchet and ex-Deep Purple bassist/singer Glenn Hughes.
Here’s the full track list of Legends Play The Beatles:
“Here Comes the Sun” — Richard Page & Steve Morse
“Across the Universe” — Ann Wilson
“Penny Lane” — John Wetton
“Back in the USSR” — Molly Hatchet
“Norwegian Wood” — Andrew Gold
“The Long and Winding Road” — Air Supply
“Tomorrow Never Knows” — Electric Moon
“Rain” — Sugar Candy Mountain
“Eleanor Rigby” — Jack Bruce
“And I Love Her” — Howard Jones
“Yesterday” — Judy Collins
“Let It Be” — Glenn Hughes
ZZ Top in 2015; Randy Holmes/Walt Disney Television via Getty Images
Following the unexpected death of bassist Dusty Hill earlier last week, ZZ Top returned to the stage on Friday in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Billboardreports that the Rock & Roll Hall of Famers honored their late band mate before getting into the thick of their performance.
Frontman Billy Gibbons introduced Elwood Francis — who has served as the band’s guitar tech for the past two decades — as Hill’s temporary replacement. Francis had previously filled in for the late bassist prior to his death.
“We’re gonna have a good time in here tonight,” promised Gibbons. “Got a new guy up here, as you know. Dusty gave me the directive. My friend, your pal, Elwood Francis is gonna hold it down behind me.”
Mid-performance, Gibbons addressed the crowd again on behalf of Hill, shouting at the revelers, “How about that Elwood? Tearing up that bottom there for Dusty.”
Gibbons previously confirmed that Hill wanted the band to continue without him, according to tweets shared by rock radio personality Eddie Trunk.
“As Dusty said upon his departure, ‘Let the show go on!’ and…with respect, we’ll do well to get beyond this and honor his wishes,” a reported text from Gibbons said.
The 71-year-old singer/guitarist added, “Dusty emphatically grabbed my arm and said, ‘Give Elwood the bottom end and take it to the Top.’ He meant it, amigo. He really did.”
Last Wednesday, ZZ Top announced that Hill “passed away in his sleep at home in Houston” at age 72. No cause of death has yet been publicly revealed.
(NEW YORK) — Here are the scores from Sunday’s sports events:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
INTERLEAGUE
NY Yankees 3, Miami 1
St. Louis 7, Minnesota 3
San Francisco 5, Houston 3
AMERICAN LEAGUE
Toronto 5, Kansas City 1
Detroit 6, Baltimore 2
Chi White Sox 2, Cleveland 1
Texas 4, Seattle 3
Oakland 8, LA Angels 3
Tampa Bay 3, Boston 2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
Milwaukee 2, Atlanta 1
Cincinnati 7, NY Mets 1
Washington 6, Chi Cubs 5
Philadelphia 15, Pittsburgh 4
San Diego 8, Colorado 1
LA Dodgers 13, Arizona 0
MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
Chicago 1, Philadelphia 1 (Tie)
Nashville 1, Toronto FC 1 (Tie)
As an actor, sometimes you may have to cuddle up with someone who isn’t your significant other — and for Ellen Pompeo‘s husband, that was something that took some getting used to.
Pompeo, who stars as Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy, recalled how her husband reacted to her on-screen affairs with love-interest-turned-husband Dr. Derek Shepherd aka McDreamy — played by Patrick Dempsey. The actress, who’s going on 14 years of marriage with Chris Ivery, said her spouse “had no idea what he was getting into.”
“I remember in the beginning it was really hard for him,” Pompeo admitted while on July 27th episode of the Ladies First with Laura Brown podcast. “He was like, ‘This is not what I signed up for. You go to work and make out with that? I like Patrick and everything, he’s a good dude, but like really?'”
Dempsey left the popular medical drama in 2015 after 11 seasons, however, he did return as a guest star during season 17.
An 18th season of Grey’s Anatomy is set to premiere in September.
(NEW ORLEANS) — A barrage of gunfire erupted in the heart of New Orleans’ French Quarter early Sunday leaving at least five people wounded and a panicked crowd running for cover.The shooting broke out about 3 a.m. on Bourbon Street at Orleans Avenue, about two blocks from Jackson Square and around the corner from the famed Preservation Hall, according to police.
The New Orleans Police Department said one person was detained and was being questioned about the shooting, but released no further details.
“The investigation remains active and ongoing,” police said in a statement on Twitter.
An EarthCam video camera mounted on Cat’s Meow Karaoke Bar, which normally provides a live feed of the party scene on Bourbon Street, captured the sound of multiple gunshots followed by chaos with panicked people running for cover in all directions. Several people narrowly avoided being hit by cars crossing Bourbon Street.
New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell and Superintendent Shaun Ferguson of the New Orleans Police Department both went to the scene of the shooting but did not make any public comments.
Around 4:40 a.m. Sunday, New Orleans police responded to another shooting scene in the adjacent Iberville neighborhood just northeast of the French Quarter in which at least four people were shot, including a juvenile who was killed, authorities said. No other information was available on the Iberville incident.
Like other major cities across the country, New Orleans has seen a surge in shootings and homicides in the first seven months of 2021.
New Orleans has recorded more than 250 shootings and more than 100 homicides already this year. In all of 2020, New Orleans police investigated 195 homicides, a 63% increase from 2019.
In April, Cantrell announced the city was creating the Office of Gun Violence Prevention to focus on ways to intervene and mediate conflicts before they result in shootings. The program also focuses on providing jobs and job training programs for young people in the city.
“Nothing stops a bullet like a job,” Cantrell said at the time.
The weekend gun violence in New Orleans came as the Grant Parish Sheriff’s Office in Colfax, about 200 miles north of New Orleans, continue to investigate a shooting that occurred on Friday at the Louisiana Mud Fest music festival. Chris Ardon, a Zydeco accordionist and singer, was shot and wounded on stage as his group was performing, according to ABC affiliate station WGNO-TV in New Orleans.
Ardon and a 14-year-old child in the crowd suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
In the aftermath of the shooting, thousands of people attending the music festival immediately began diving for cover and running for the exits, detectives told WGNO.
(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Sunday he supports issuing subpoenas to anyone who has information about the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and what action former President Donald Trump took — even members of his own party, including House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.
“I would support subpoenas to anybody that can shed light on that, if that’s the leader that’s the leader,” Kinzinger told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “Anybody with parts of that information, with inside knowledge, can probably expect to be talking to the committee.”
“I would expect to see a significant number of subpoenas for a lot of people,” Kinzinger added.
Kinzinger, R-Ill., said that while some members of Congress attempt to brush off the events of Jan. 6 because it’s “politically inconvenient,” the committee is determined to get a full account of the truth.
“If anybody’s scared of this investigation I ask you one question, what are you afraid of? I mean, either you’re afraid of being discovered, of having some culpability in it or, you know what? If you — if you think it wasn’t a big deal, then you should allow this to go forward,” he said.
Kinzinger and Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., are the only two Republicans appointed by Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the House select committee spearheading the investigation into the Jan. 6 insurrection. The panel held its first hearing Tuesday, with emotional witness testimony from four police officers who responded to the attack.
The committee plans to meet on Zoom during the August recess to plan next steps, including issuing “quite a few” subpoenas, Chairman Bennie Thompson, R-Miss., said on Friday. He added that staffers will meet with Justice Department officials next week and members have requested a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“This cannot continue to be a partisan fight,” Kinzinger said during Tuesday’s hearing. “I’m a conservative, but in order to heal from the damage caused that day, we need to call out the facts. It is time to stop the outrage and the conspiracies that fuel the violence and division in this country and — most importantly — we need to reject those that promote it.”
Karl pressed Kinzinger on how the committee intends to enforce subpoenas on fellow members of Congress if they refuse to comply.
“I intend, at least, on the committee, to get to a full accounting of the truth,” Kinzinger responded. “And if somebody thinks that they can stand up and use — maneuvers to try to string this investigation out and hope that people lose interest — at least me, and I know the other members of the committee, are determined that we are going to get to that answer.”
“So it may cost you a lot in legal fees to try to resist, but we’re going to get to that answer,” Kinzinger continued.
Karl also asked Kinzinger whether the committee would subpoena the former president.
“It seems clear that you would want to talk to Donald Trump himself, am I right?” Karl asked.
“We may not even have to talk to Donald Trump to get the information,” Kinzinger responded. “There were tons of people around him.”
The Republican House Leadership held a press conference an hour ahead of the hearing on Tuesday where members tried to blame Pelosi for the attack on the Capitol.
“The American people deserve to know the truth that Nancy Pelosi bears responsibility as speaker of the House for the tragedy that occurred on January 6th,” Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., said.
Karl asked Kinzinger about it Sunday.
“They protected Donald Trump from blame here and they’re blaming Nancy Pelosi for the fact that Trump supporters invaded the Capitol, and — including her office. Can you explain to me what they’re talking about?” Karl asked.
Kinzinger called Stefanik’s comments “insane.”
“To me it’s mind blowing and it basically shows the desperation to try to derail this,” Kinzinger said.
(WASHINGTON) — As the country grapples with a surge in the delta variant of the COVID-19 coronavirus, Dr. Anthony Fauci believes that lockdowns the country saw last year are likely to not return, though he warned “things will get worse” during an interview on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I don’t think we’re gonna see lockdowns. I think we have enough of the percentage of people in the country — not enough to crush the outbreak — but I believe enough to not allow us to get into the situation we were in last winter. But things are going to get worse,” the nation’s top infectious disease expert told “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl on Sunday.
“If you look at the acceleration of the number of cases, the seven-day average has gone up substantially. You know what we really need to do, Jon, we say it over and over again and it’s the truth — we have 100 million people in this country who are eligible to be vaccinated who are not getting vaccinated. We are seeing an outbreak of the unvaccinated,” he added.
“From the standpoint of illness, hospitalization, suffering and death, the unvaccinated are much more vulnerable because the vaccinated are protected from severe illness, for the most part, but when you look at the country as a whole. And getting us back to normal, the unvaccinated, by not being vaccinated, are allowing the propagation and the spread of the outbreak which ultimately impacts everybody,” Fauci said.
Concerns over the coronavirus resurged this week, as research about the outbreak of the virus in Provincetown, Massachusetts, indicated that the now-dominant delta variant may be able to spread among fully vaccinated people.
During an investigation of the outbreak, researchers learned that the amount of virus in the noses of vaccinated people experiencing a breakthrough infection was the same as in an unvaccinated person — a concerning sign that vaccinated people can also spread the virus.
The data helped the CDC make its decision to bring mask guidelines back for vaccinated individuals in areas of high or substantial spread of the virus — despite the fact that breakthrough cases in vaccinated individuals are overwhelmingly mild and do not result in hospitalization or death.
“That has much more to do with transmission,” Fauci said of the new guidelines.
“You want them to wear a mask, so that if in fact they do get infected, they don’t spread it to vulnerable people, perhaps in their own household, children or people with underlying conditions,” Fauci said of the new guidance for the vaccinated.
President Joe Biden on Thursday also announced a new vaccine policy for all federal workers and onsite contractors, requiring them to “attest to their vaccination status,” and will require anyone not fully vaccinated to wear a mask at work, regardless of where they are located, social distance and get tested once or twice a week.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who also spoke with Karl Sunday morning, pushed back on criticism from some unions representing those workers, who argue the new requirement is a violation of civil liberties.
“Well, this is about protecting lives. This is about setting a good example. And to be clear, employees have a choice,” Buttigieg said in a separate interview on “This Week.”
“Look, we have so many obligations in so many dimensions of employee safety, to make sure that this is a safe workplace. This is part of that. But it’s also important, I think, for our federal workforce to lead by example because we’re asking the whole country to do what it takes to make sure that we get beyond this pandemic. And this is a very important part of how to do it,” he added.
But the new guidance and the president’s acknowledgement Friday that “in all probability,” the country could see new guidance and restrictions due to the surge has drawn the continued ire of some Republican governors, including Arizona’s Doug Ducey, and Florida’s Ron DeSantis, who argue that individuals should be able to make decisions about masking and vaccines for themselves.
“What is your answer to these … Republican governors in some of the largest states in our country?” Karl asked Fauci.
“I respectfully disagree with them,” Fauci said. “The fact is, there are things that are individual responsibilities that one has. And there are things that have to do with you individually, which also impact others and get the spread of infection that we’re seeing now — the surge in cases, Jon, is impacting everyone in the country.”
“So in essence, you are encroaching on their individual rights because you’re making them vulnerable. So you could argue that situation both ways,” he added.
ABC News’ Sony Salzman contributed to this report.
