Is the American Dream of owning a home still attainable?: Colorado couple finds out
Low inventory and high interest rates are creating a perfect storm for first-time home buyers nationwide.
Low inventory and high interest rates are creating a perfect storm for first-time home buyers nationwide.
In two court rulings Monday night, federal judges in Kansas and Missouri halted key aspects of President Joe Biden's sweeping student loan repayment program. The SAVE plan, a student loan repayment plan that ties how much someone pays each month to what their income is, has been in place for almost a year and is the jewel of Biden's surviving student loan efforts -- one that he has touted heavily in his re-election campaign. The rulings Monday will stop the Biden administration from any further implementation of the program -- in which 8 million are enrolled -- but allow people who are enrolled to keep using SAVE as is until the cases are fully litigated.
Middle-age and older adults with long-term loneliness are at higher risk of stroke than those who do not report being lonely, according to a new study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine on Monday. Researchers found the risk of stroke among lonely adults was higher regardless of co-existing depressive symptoms or feelings of social isolation. "Especially when experienced chronically, our study suggests loneliness may play an important role in stroke incidence, which is already one of the leading causes of long-term disability and mortality worldwide," Soh continued.
The Justice Department has reached an agreement with Julian Assange to plead guilty to a single felony count of conspiring to unlawfully obtain and disseminate classified information, in a deal that is expected to resolve the WikiLeaks founder's charges in the U.S. with no further time in prison, according to court documents unsealed Monday evening. The deal is expected to effectively bring to an end to a yearslong legal battle by the U.S. to prosecute Assange over the publishing of classified military and diplomatic materials that were leaked by former American soldier Chelsea Manning in 2010, including some that showed possible war crimes committed by American forces in Iraq. According to a letter posted by U.S. prosecutors, Assange will plead guilty in U.S. federal court in the Northern Mariana Islands and is expected to return afterward to Australia, indicating prosecutors will not be requesting a judge sentence him beyond the term of time served for the five years he has spent in London's Belmarsh prison fighting extradition.
Infant mortality increased by 12.9% from 2021 to 2022 in Texas after Texas' near-total ban on abortion was enacted, according to a new study published today in JAMA Pediatrics. A total of 2243 Texas infants, or children under 1 year, died in 2022 compared to 1985 Texas infant deaths in 2021. This study, "basically confirms what we've suspected for a long time," said Dr. Richard Ivey, a practicing OB/GYN in Houston.
The judge in Donald Trump's federal classified documents case did not rule from the bench Monday on special counsel Jack Smith's request to impose a limited gag order on the former president's rhetoric toward law enforcement involved in the case, but appeared skeptical of prosecutors' arguments. Prosecutors argued that a limited gag order was necessary to prevent the former president from inviting a "violent act" on law enforcement agents, claiming that was aware of the "predictable response of some of his supporters" when he made false statements about the FBI's August 2022 search of Mar-a-Lago -- including a campaign statement that President Joe Biden was "locked & loaded ready to take me out & put my family in danger."
A 14-year-old boy is recovering after a shark bit him on the leg at a North Carolina beach, authorities said. The attack unfolded around 12:30 p.m. Sunday, North Topsail Beach Police Chief William Younginer said. Officers and emergency medical technicians were already at the beach responding to another call, so the response time was about two minutes, Younginer said.
Nearly two weeks after President Joe Biden's son Hunter Biden was convicted on three felony gun counts, he is waging a long-shot bid to fight that outcome. Attorneys for Hunter Biden requested a new trial in court papers filed Monday, arguing that his "convictions should be vacated" because the trial commenced before a circuit court formally issued a mandate denying his appeal -- a technical argument disputing not the merits of the case, but a procedural claim. "Here, no mandate was issued during the trial or even now," attorneys for Biden wrote.
As the Israel-Hamas war continues, negotiations have stalled to secure the release of hostages taken by the terrorist organization, and Israeli forces continue to launch incursions in the southern Gazan town of Rafah ahead of a possible large-scale invasion. While addressing Israel's parliament on Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he remains "committed" to the Israeli hostage/cease-fire proposal that President Joe Biden had presented.
The body of a woman believed to be a missing 50-year-old hiker was found Monday, a day after she went missing on a trail in a wilderness area in San Diego, according to police. The hiker, identified by police as Diem Le Nguyen, vanished Sunday morning after she became separated from her hiking group of about 100 people while on the Nighthawk Trail in Black Mountain Open Space Park in the Rancho Peñasquitos area of north San Diego, according to the San Diego Police Department. A search helicopter spotted a body Monday morning in the area Nguyen was hiking in, police said.
During a two-hour hearing Monday morning, the judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's classified documents case pressed government attorneys to provide more information about the funding of special counsel Jack Smith's investigation, at one point remarking that the funding presents a "separation of powers concern." The hearing, conducted by U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, was a continuation of Friday's hearing in which defense attorneys sought to have the documents case dismissed on the grounds that Smith was unlawfully appointed as special counsel. Trump pleaded not guilty last year to 40 criminal counts related to his handling of classified materials after leaving the White House, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information and took steps to thwart the government's efforts to get the documents back.
Sixty-five million Americans from coast to coast are under heat alerts as the life-threatening heat dome continues for the second week. The Northeast, Southeast and West all saw daily record temperatures shattered this weekend, including 98 degrees in Philadelphia; 100 degrees in Greenville, Mississippi; and 108 degrees in Merced, California. This weekend, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore hit 100 degrees for the first time in June in 12 years.
Chicago's famed landmark Cloud Gate, commonly referred to as "The Bean," has reopened after 10 months, just in time for summer travelers to snap photos of the reflective sculpture and capture the city's iconic skyline. The mercury-inspired curved stainless steel structural wonder in Millennium Park was designed by London-based artist Anish Kapoor, in collaboration with a design and construction firm, and was first unveiled in 2004. The enormous sculpture stands at 33 by 66 by 42 feet, and is made of "168 massive stainless-steel plates" cut into "precise shapes which were then pieced together like a puzzle and welded shut," according to the Millennium Park website.
Added to the lineup of the upcoming BET Awards 2024 is Grammy-winning actor and recording artist Will Smith. "From his start as a rapper to The Fresh Prince to being a box office king as one of the Bad Boys, Will Smith is truly a global icon, and we are honored to welcome him back to grace the BET Awards stage," Connie Orlando, EVP of specials, music programming & music strategy at BET, said in a statement Monday. Smith, who stars in the recently released "Bad Boys: Ride or Die," joins performers GloRilla, Ice Spice, Latto, Ms. Lauryn Hill & YG Marley, Muni Long, Sexyy Red, Shaboozey, Tyla, Victoria Monét and BET Amplified stage performer Tanner Adell.
More research is emerging to show how much more severe wildfires have become in recent decades. The frequency and magnitude of extreme wildfires -- the ones that cause the most damage to ecosystems, society and the climate -- appear to have doubled over the past 20 years, according to a study published Monday in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution. Researchers at the University of Tasmania in Australia used satellite data from 2003 to 2023 to identify active hot spots and calculate the summed intensity of a fire event.
The death toll from apparent coordinated terrorist attacks Sunday in southern Russia climbed to 20 on Monday, including 15 law enforcement officers, when militant terrorists wielding automatic weapons opened fire on synagogues and Orthodox churches in two cities miles apart in the Dagestan region, according to Russian officials. At least 46 people were injured in the two attacks, said Tatyana Belyaeva, the minister of health for the Republic of Dagestan.
A well-known surfer and lifeguard was killed in a shark attack near the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, emergency officials said. Tamayo Perry, 49, was attacked in the water off Goat Island midday on Sunday, the Honolulu Emergency Services Department said in a statement. Perry had been a lifeguard with Honolulu Ocean Safety since 2016.
The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will take up a constitutional challenge to state bans on gender-affirming care for minors in its next term. The case from Tennessee involves the 15-year-old transgender daughter of Samantha and Brian Williams of Nashville. The family alleges that Senate Bill 1, which prohibits certain types of medical treatments for minors with diagnosed gender dysphoria, violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
When President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump face off in Thursday's presidential debate, it will be a replay of 2020, but at the same time, much different now in 2024. Hosted by CNN, the debate comes at a crucial time as undecided voters work to decide how to cast their ballots in what's expected to be a close contest in November. It's also an opportunity for Biden and Trump to highlight their competing visions for the United States should they become president.
ABC News spoke with experts on how that could help, or hurt, each candidate -- and what difference it could make for American voters watching the showdown. The two rivals will face off in a studio at CNN's Atlanta headquarters in prime time on Thursday for the first presidential debate of the 2024 election. While it won't be the first time Biden and Trump have gone toe-to-toe on policy (the two sparred twice in 2020) it will look a lot different from debates past because of the guidelines established by CNN and agreed upon by both campaigns.
As Ryan Watson, an American tourist who had been charged with bringing ammunition to Turks and Caicos in April, boarded a plane after his release, he had only one thought on his mind. A judge last week fined Watson $2,000 for four bullets discovered in his luggage as he landed in the country in April, with the judge citing "exceptional circumstances" to avoid a potential minimum sentence of 12 years in prison. Watson would face 13 weeks imprisonment if he commits a crime in Turks and Caicos in the next nine months, the court said.