ABC News’ Linsey Davis speaks with linguist and author John McWhorter about his new book “Woke Racism: How a New Religion Has Betrayed Black America.”
U.S. forces killed a senior terrorist leader in an airstrike in Syria on Monday, according to military officials. U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said the target of the strike, Abu Hamzah al Yemeni, was a senior leader of an al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist group known as Hurras al-Din. The leader was riding alone on a motorcycle in Idlib province at the time of the attack, CENTCOM said.
In his speech responding to last week's landmark Supreme Court decision reversing the guarantee to abortion access, President Joe Biden urged Americans to vote on the issue -- to both elect local leaders who would ensure the availability of abortion in their states as well as Democrats to Congress where he would like to see a law passed cementing a nationwide right to an abortion. Within minutes of Biden's remarks, there was a collective eye roll from many progressive activists, reproductive health care advocates and even fellow Democratic lawmakers online. Across the country, there were scenes over the weekend of pro-abortion access protesters chanting lines like "Democrats we call your bluff, voting blue is not enough" and backlash on the far-left over fundingraising emails and texts sent by the Democratic National Committee asking for "rush" donations to support candidates who would fight back against abortion opponents.
Dr. Janet Cathey, the lead physician at the Planned Parenthood in Little Rock, Arkansas, said her team spent weeks prepping for the end of legal abortions in her state in anticipation of the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade, but she still couldn't quite wrap her head around how quickly it all ended with the ruling Friday morning. The Little Rock Planned Parenthood scheduled its first appointment that day at 10 a.m., but within minutes patients were being told their appointments were canceled.
Three people are dead and dozens are injured after an Amtrak train derailed after hitting a dump truck that was in an uncontrolled public crossing in Mendon, Missouri, according to Amtrak and officials. Eight passenger cars and two locomotives, which is where the engines are, derailed at about 12:42 p.m. local time, Amtrak said. Justin Dunn said two of the train passengers were killed, along with someone who was in the dump truck.
A Texas trail ride, a barbecue in New York City and a stone bridge in Minneapolis were among the settings for at least 10 mass shootings that erupted across the country between Friday and late Sunday, marking the fifth consecutive weekend U.S. law enforcement officers have responded to multiple incidents, each involving four or more victims shot. The website defines a mass shooting as a single incident involving four or more victims, which differs from the FBI's definition as a single incident in which four or more people, not including the suspect, are killed. The string of consecutive weekend mass-casualty incidents began over the Memorial Day holiday, when at least 17 shootings left a total of 13 dead and 79 injured in cities across the country.
The House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol will hold a hearing this Tuesday, June 28, after previously revising its schedule to postpone the hearings for "several weeks." The hearing will begin at 1 p.m. ET and members will "present recently obtained evidence and receive witness testimony," the committee said in a release. The new scheduling comes after British documentary filmmaker Alex Holder, who had substantial access to then-President Donald Trump, his family and closest aides around the Jan. 6 attack, sat for an interview with the committee behind-closed-doors last week and handed over footage which includes interviews with Trump, Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, son-in-law Jared Kushner and Vice President Mike Pence.
Cheryl Burke shared a powerful reaction to the Supreme Court's decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, revealing she received an abortion when she was 18. The "Dancing With the Stars" pro, 38, posted a TikTok video on Friday in which she said she was "saddened" by the news that the court struck down the 1973 landmark decision, which made abortion a constitutionally protected federal right. Burke said this news weighed heavy on her heart and was "really hard" for her to talk about.
Noncitizens cannot vote in municipal elections, a Staten Island judge ruled Monday, invalidating a recently enacted New York City law that made more than 800,000 adults eligible to vote for mayor, public advocate and other city posts beginning next year. The New York City Council passed the "Our City, Our Vote" bill in December 2021 which then-Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to sign. “I believe that New Yorkers should have a say in their government, which is why I have and will continue to support this important legislation,” Adams said in a statement after the law became enacted.
Onlookers were delighted to see a head-turning appearance from Lourdes Leon during Paris fashion week. Madonna's daughter, 25, was photographed as she walked along the runway for the Marine Serre Spring/Summer 2023 fashion show this weekend. This season's extravaganza was held at an outdoor track.
Daniel Gill was still wearing his ShopRite uniform when he was arraigned Monday in Staten Island on misdemeanor charges of assault in the third degree, menacing in the third degree and harassment in the second degree. According to prosecutors, Gill called former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani an expletive after smacking him on his back inside the ShopRite grocery store, located in the Charleston neighborhood, on Sunday. The smack caused Giuliani “to stumble forward” and caused “redness, swelling and substantial pain to the back and left side of his body,” according to the complaint filed by the Staten Island district attorney.
A 3-year-old boy has died after he was left in a hot car in Columbus, Georgia, the coroner said. Officials believe the boy, Kendrick Engram Jr., had been in the car for about 2 hours and 45 minutes by the time he was pronounced dead Sunday evening, Muscogee County Coroner Buddy Bryan told ABC News. Kendrick had spent Sunday with his grandmother and three sisters, Bryan said, and they arrived home at about 5:30 p.m.
WNBA star Brittney Griner's detention in Russia has been extended through Dec. 20, according to reports. The decision was made during a preliminary hearing that Griner attended on Monday, Russia's state-run TASS reported. Griner is expected to remain in custody throughout this time, according to The Associated Press.
The United States is working to finalize the purchase of an advanced air defense system bound for Ukraine, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said at the G-7 summit in Germany Monday. Developed in Norway, the NASAMS is an anti-aircraft medium-to-long-range surface-to-air missile that can reportedly strike targets 100 miles away. Sullivan confirmed to reporters that the U.S. is finalizing the purchase but has yet to sign a contract making the purchase official.
Keith Urban and Nicole Kidman are celebrating 16 years of wedded bliss. The couple commemorated its 16th wedding anniversary over the weekend by sharing a pair of adoring Instagram posts that show them then vs. now. Kidman shared a throwback photo from their wedding day in 2006 that shows them lighting a ceremonial candle together at the chapel where they married in Sydney, Australia.
In the weeks leading up to last month's elementary school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, the 18-year-old gunman made a number of disturbing comments to users on various social media platforms, leading the head of Texas' top law enforcement agency to say last week that those comments "should have been reported." "Regardless of how many times he was reported ... he would still come back," a user who lives in Greece and asked to remain anonymous, told ABC News regarding her multiple attempts to report the gunman, identified by authorities as Salvador Ramos. Among Ramos' online comments were possible signs that troubling behavior was ahead: He referenced school shootings, alluded to a possible upcoming incident, and shared pictures and videos of guns, users who communicated with him told ABC News.
A Subway sandwich customer allegedly shot two employees after he reportedly became angry over too much mayonnaise on his food, officials said. One employee, a 26-year-old woman, was killed and the other, a 24-year-old woman, was injured in the Sunday evening shooting, Atlanta police said. The 24-year-old is in critical condition, Atlanta Police Deputy Chief Charles Hampton Jr. said at a news conference Monday.
The Supreme Court on Monday said separation of church and state does not prohibit public school employees from praying aloud on the job near students. The case involved a high school football coach praying post-game at the 50-yard line, joined by his players. The court held that the Free Exercise and Free Speech Clauses of the First Amendment protect an individual engaging in a personal religious observance from government reprisal; the Constitution neither mandates nor permits the government to suppress such religious expression.
A person in South Carolina was killed after being dragged into a retention pond by an alligator near Myrtle Beach on Friday, authorities said. This is the first deadly alligator attack in the state since May 2020, according to authorities. Once officers arrived on the scene, officials determined that "an alligator had taken hold of a neighbor and retreated into a nearby retention pond," a statement from the Horry County Police Department said.
Millions of Americans had already been given a taste of sweltering temperatures by the time the summer solstice -- the longest day of the year and the official start of the summer season -- arrived last week. Following back-to-back dangerous heat waves that impacted a large swath of the nation over the past two weeks, much of the country will be bracing for more rounds of intense heat as summer continues. The final days of June and first days of July will likely bring above-average temperatures along the Gulf Coast, with building heat in the West.
This Fourth of July is expected to be the second-busiest for travel since 2000, with 47.9 million Americans taking trips, according to AAA. Friday, July 1 is shaping up to be the busiest day for air travel during the holiday weekend. Monday, July 4 will likely be the lightest, according to AAA booking data.
