Hochul offers support for in-person commencements
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul offered support for Columbia and other college commencements in the state to proceed in a statement addressing the campus protests.
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ABC NewsOregon man charged with murder in suspicious deaths of 3 women in 'complex' case: DA
An Oregon man has been charged in the murders of three women who were found dead under "suspicious circumstances" last year, officials announced Friday. Authorities have identified one suspect in the deaths of the three women – Charity Lynn Perry, 24, Bridget Leanne Webster, 31, and Joanna Speaks, 32 – the Multnomah County District Attorney's Office said Friday. Jesse Lee Calhoun, 39, has been charged with three counts of second-degree murder and three counts of second-degree abuse of a corpse in connection with the women's deaths, the district attorney's office said, after a grand jury returned the six-count indictment on Thursday.
- Good Morning America
Star golfer Scottie Scheffler arrested prior to start of PGA Championship's 2nd round: Report
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 golfer in the world, was arrested Friday morning for allegedly driving past a police roadblock at the Valhalla Golf Club, according to ESPN. Around 5 a.m., a man was fatally struck by a shuttle bus as he tried to cross a road near the course holding the PGA Championship, according to a statement released by Louisville Metro Police Department. The roadblocks and confusion over the accident allegedly led Scheffler to drive past police who were on site, according to reports from ESPN.
- Good Morning America
Houston storm: At least 5 killed, more than 600,000 without power
At least five people were killed when a powerful wind storm tore through Houston on Thursday night, officials said. The National Weather Service (NWS) in Houston said it determined this was a derecho event, based on the intensity and path length of the storm. A derecho is a powerful wind storm that produces straight-line winds that can cause major damage, and often accompanies rapidly moving showers or thunderstorms, according to the NWS.
- ABC News
Alabama State University receives Wall Street firm’s historic endowment assistance
Alabama State University is partnering with private equity firm Neuberger Berman to manage the school's $125 million endowment – making it the largest such partnership between a Wall Street firm and a public historically Black college and university (HBCU) ever. The new relationship is a "blessing," according to ASU President Quinton T. Ross, Jr. He called the partnership overwhelmingly impactful for ASU.
- ABC News
'I just want to graduate': Morehouse seniors want focus on students -- not Biden -- ahead of president's commencement speech
A few hundred seniors at Atlanta's Morehouse College gathered into the Martin Luther King Jr. International Chapel on campus on Friday to take their senior class photo -- just days before President Joe Biden is set to deliver their commencement speech, a controversial and high-stakes event that comes as the president works to make inroads with a key voting bloc in the swing state: young Black men. Last month's announcement that Biden would give the commencement address on Sunday led to threats of protests because of frustration over Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
- ABC News
Democrats look to band together after Maryland's bruising Senate primary
Angela Alsobrooks emerged as the victor in a bruising Democratic Senate primary in Maryland -- and now the state's Democratic Party faces the challenge of reuniting to take on a formidable Republican opponent in the general election. Alsobrooks, a county executive in a Maryland suburb outside the nation's capital, defeated Rep. David Trone and now faces the daunting task of taking on a popular Republican challenger, Larry Hogan, a two-term former GOP governor. While Maryland is a deep blue state, Alsobrooks is not on a glide path to a Senate win.
- ABC News
State Department issues travel alert for LGBTQ people, events abroad
The U.S. State Department issued a "Worldwide Caution" alert on Friday, warning U.S. citizens overseas to exercise increased caution due to "the increased potential for foreign terrorist organization-inspired violence against LGBTQI+ persons and events." According to an administration official familiar with the matter, the alert is connected to the recent announcement from the FBI and Department of Homeland Security that foreign terrorist organizations might seek to exploit "LGBTQIA+-related events and venues," including events during 2024 Pride month, which begins in June. The alert comes on the same day the State Department is commemorating the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia, and Transphobia.
- ABC News
Diddy allegedly seen assaulting former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in hotel surveillance video: Report
Sean "Diddy" Combs was allegedly seen physically assaulting his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in 2016 on hotel surveillance video obtained by CNN. In the footage, which was reportedly filmed in a Los Angeles hotel on March 5, 2016, a man identified by CNN as Combs was shown chasing Ventura down a hallway, grabbing her by the back of the neck, shoving her to the ground and kicking her as she lay on the ground. In November 2023, Ventura settled a lawsuit against Combs that had accused him of sex trafficking and sexual assault.
- ABC News
Man in custody for punching actor Steve Buscemi in Manhattan: Authorities
A 50-year-old man has been taken into custody for allegedly assaulting actor Steve Buscemi on a New York City street earlier this month, authorities said. Buscemi was walking down the street just before noon on May 8 when he was punched in the face, suffering bruising, swelling and bleeding to his left eye, according to the NYPD. Clifton Williams, who was identified as a suspect earlier in the week, was taken into custody in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood Friday afternoon, authorities said.
- ABC News
Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama vote against joining UAW, a blow to union's expansion in the South
Thousands of Mercedes-Benz workers in Alabama voted against joining the United Auto Workers (UAW) on Friday, delivering a significant defeat for the union one month after it prevailed at a Volkswagen facility in nearby Tennessee. Workers at two Mercedes-Benz plants near Tuscaloosa, Alabama cast ballots against joining the union by a margin of 2,642 to 2,045, or 56% to 44%, the National Labor Relations Board said. The result hinders the UAW's momentum as it seeks to organize additional plants throughout the South, where it has struggled for decades to gain a foothold.
- ABC News
US Airman Roger Fortson, killed by deputy in his own home, honored at funeral
Dozens of Air Force members came together at a suburban Atlanta church Friday with the family and friends of Senior Airman Roger Fortson to honor the serviceman, who was shot and killed in his Florida home by a sheriff’s deputy on May 3. Fortson, 23, was in his home in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, when he was shot by an Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office deputy, according to law enforcement authorities. At Friday's service, Fortson was laid out wearing his Air Force uniform and his coffin was draped with the American flag.
- ABC News
Trump attends son Barron's high school graduation on day off from court
Former President Donald Trump attended his son Barron's high school graduation at Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach on Friday, after the judge overseeing his hush money trial in New York granted him a day off court to allow him to go. The trial is usually in session on Fridays but Judge Juan Merchan canceled court this Friday to let Trump attend the graduation ceremony. Trump, who arrived at the school in a motorcade Friday morning sporting a black suit and a blue tie, sat in the front center row of the bleachers throughout the graduation ceremony, with former first lady Melania Trump, Barron's mother, sitting next to him and her father Viktor Knavs sitting next to her.
- Good Morning America
Judge to rule on Alec Baldwin's motion to dismiss charge in 'Rust' shooting next week
A New Mexico judge will rule next week on whether to dismiss Alec Baldwin's involuntary manslaughter charge stemming from the 2021 fatal shooting on the set of "Rust," following an hourslong hearing on Friday. The actor was practicing a cross-draw in a church on the set of the Western film when the Colt .45 revolver fired a live round, fatally striking 42-year-old cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Baldwin, 66, who was also a producer on the film, was indicted by a grand jury on involuntary manslaughter in connection with Hutchins' death earlier this year, after prosecutors previously dropped the charge.
- ABC News
Johnson slams raucous congressional hearing sparked by Marjorie Taylor Greene's 'fake eyelashes' comment
Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday said he is disappointed in the chaos and name-calling that happened during a raucous House Oversight Committee markup on Thursday night when Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez clashed over Greene's comments that Rep. Jasmine Crockett wore "fake eyelashes." "It was not a good look for Congress," the speaker told ABC News. Tensions flared Thursday night during the committee's markup of a resolution to hold Attorney General Merrick Garland in contempt of Congress for refusing to turn over the audio recording of President Biden's interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur. However, the drama had nothing to do with that, and led to a nearly hourlong disruption where lawmakers shouted over each other.
- ABC News
Democracy is a top concern for many voters. We asked them why.
While it's practically a given that economic issues rank as the most important to voters, and policy issues like immigration and public safety have surged in salience over the past year, there's another issue close on their heels — one that may be harder to define: American voters are worried and depressed about the state of their democracy. Voters were evenly split when asked in a January YouGov/CBS News poll whether having a strong economy or having a functioning democracy was a bigger concern in the coming years, and research from Ipsos suggests that concerns about threats to democracy might even be greater than many traditional issue polls capture. Overall, polls have consistently shown that both Democrats and Republicans think democracy is at risk in the coming election, but largely for different reasons.
- ABC News
Photo of upside-down flag at Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's house raises concerns: Report
The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday called on Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito to recuse himself from cases related to the 2020 election after a photo of an upside-down American flag flying at his home in January 2021 was published in The New York Times. Sen. Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, said in a statement Friday that, "Flying an upside-down American flag -- a symbol of the so-called 'Stop the Steal' movement -- clearly creates the appearance of bias." Since a mob of then-President Donald Trump supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, rioters and affiliated groups have been known to fly the American flag upside-down in protest of Joe Biden's election victory -- an expression of false claims that Biden stole the election.
- Good Morning America
Chris Pratt 'devastated' by former stunt double's death: See actor's tribute
Chris Pratt is paying tribute to his former stunt double, Antonio "Tony" McFarr. A cause and manner of death are pending toxicology results, the Orange County medical examiner's office in Orlando, Florida, told "Good Morning America." Pratt took to his Instagram story on May 16 to share a statement reflecting on his working relationship and friendship with McFarr over the years.
- ABC News
Biden announces new grants to further desegregate schools on Brown vs. Board of Education anniversary
President Joe Biden on Friday announced new grants aimed at further desegregating magnet schools, as he marked the 70th anniversary of the Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court ruling that desegregated America's public schools. "My Department of Education is investing $300 million, including another $20 million announced today to support diversity in our schools," Biden said in remarks at an NAACP event at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The $20 million in new grants is for school districts in Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina and Texas, to create magnet programs geared toward "attracting students from different social, economic, ethnic and racial backgrounds," the White House said.
- Good Morning America
What to know about Jamie Foxx and his 2 kids
Jamie Foxx is preparing to return to the small screen in the upcoming "Back in Action" movie with co-star Cameron Diaz. The movie marks Foxx's return since he was hospitalized during production for the film in April 2023 and will be the first major project for Diaz, who stepped away from acting for a decade. Aside from being an Oscar and Golden Globe-winning actor, Foxx is also a proud father.
- Good Morning America
Neuralink says they’re looking to implant next 2 participants in coming months
Neuralink is planning to implant two new study participants with the company's brain computer interface in the coming months, the company told ABC News. Noland Arbaugh, the first study participant to receive Neuralink's surgically implanted device, sat down with ABC News for a wide-ranging broadcast exclusive interview that aired Friday. Arbaugh, 30, said that the device has given him nearly full control over using a computer—using only his thoughts.