Outrage over expelled student returning to class
The student allegedly wrote a kill list a year ago and is now being sent back to school to join former classmates.
The student allegedly wrote a kill list a year ago and is now being sent back to school to join former classmates.
The Department of Justice will help conduct a review of the Memphis Police Department following the fatal beating of Tyre Nichols, city officials said. Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland announced Friday that the DOJ's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, along with the International Association of Police Chiefs, will conduct an "independent, external review" that will include assessing the department's special units and use-of-force policies "to honor Tyre and help make sure this type of tragedy does not happen again." "While we no doubt have a long way to go on the road to healing, hopefully through our actions, citizens will see we are working to be better and that we are heading down the right path," Strickland said in a bulletin.
The Democratic National Committee near unanimously approved a reconfigured presidential primary calendar rubber-stamped by the White House at the group's winter gathering on Saturday. Under the new calendar, the 2024 Democratic presidential primary begins in South Carolina -- the state that revived President Joe Biden's campaign in the 2020 contest -- on Feb. 3. Modernization and representation were two key guiding pillars for the DNC as they strategized changing their early nominating window.
Government officials are closely tracking a massive surveillance balloon believed to be from China as it travels across the U.S. The white balloon, which China's foreign ministry has claimed to be used for meteorological purposes, is at an altitude of around 60,000 feet with a vessel described as the size of three buses, officials said. According to U.S. officials, the balloon traveled west of Alaska, south over the Aleutian Islands, over water into southwest Canada and then over Montana.
Local officials in East Palestine, Ohio, have ordered roughly 2,000 residents, about half the town's population, to evacuate their homes after a Norfolk Southern train derailed and caught fire. A Norfolk Southern train traveling from Illinois to Pennsylvania derailed around 9 p.m. Friday, ignited, and prompted a response from over 50 fire departments across three states, according to East Palestine Mayor Trent Conaway. In an interview with ABC News early Saturday morning, Conaway said residents living in a one-mile radius of the fire have been asked to evacuate or shelter in place voluntarily.
Jerry Mata, whose 10-year-old daughter Tess was killed in the Uvalde, Texas, school shooting last year, still returns to the campus of Robb Elementary to honor his child. Mata and other victims' families are waiting for the buildings to be torn down, while the community grapples with mixed emotions over plans to demolish the school and replace it with a new one elsewhere in Uvalde. Robb Elementary is the site of the second-deadliest elementary school shooting in American history, where 19 children and two teachers were killed on May 24, 2022.
How to respond to the Chinese balloon situation presents a diplomatic challenge for the Biden administration at a time when Washington is trying to stabilize relations with Beijing -- amid tensions over Taiwan, trade, COVID, technology and a U.S. warning not to support Russia's war in Ukraine. Secretary of State Antony Blinken indefinitely postponing his high-stakes trip to China, just hours before he was set to depart, was a clear indicator of Washington's outrage over the affront -- and an additional pull on the already strained ties between the two countries. "In light of China's unacceptable action, I am postponing my planned travel this weekend in China," Blinken said Friday, adding that the State Department concluded "conditions were not conducive for a constructive visit at this time" after reviewing the situation with officials across the government and with members of Congress.
Preston Hemphill, the white Memphis Police officer who was one of the first cops to confront Tyre Nichols, was fired from the force, the Memphis Police Department announced Friday evening. Hemphill encountered the 29-year-old during a traffic stop on Jan. 7 and allegedly deployed his Taser during the confrontation. In his own body camera video, Hemphill is seen chasing Nichols down the road, but then turns back to the scene of the initial traffic stop.
Shortly after Russia began its deadly invasion of Ukraine last March, Ukrainian officials and human rights groups warned that Russian forces had begun abducting and forcibly relocating thousands of Ukrainian children. A group of 15 Ukrainian orphans and their adult guardian say they were caught in that very limbo after they were taken by Russian soldiers, barred from evacuating, and forcibly transferred. The children, who were put on Ukraine’s missing persons list, shared their story for the first time with ABC News Live, detailing how a group of American volunteers eventually got them out.
Backstreet Boys singer Nick Carter has countersued Shannon Ruth, the woman who accused him of rape and sexual abuse in December, and others who accused him of sexual assault. In addition to countersuing Ruth, Carter named Melissa Schuman, of the former girl group Dream, and Schuman's father Jerome Schuman for what he alleged was the "culmination of an approximate five-year conspiracy ... to harass, defame and extort" him. Schuman accused Carter of rape in November 2017, alleging the assault happened in 2003, all allegations Carter has continually denied.
This Black History Month, one coach, one agent and two players will break barriers at Super Bowl LVII with historic firsts. Autumn Lockwood, Philadelphia Eagles assistant performance coach, will be standing on the sidelines at the big game on Sunday Feb. 12 -- the first Black woman in history to coach in a Super Bowl. Lockwood, who was hired by the Eagles in August 2022, is only the fourth woman to coach in a Super Bowl overall, with offensive assistant Katie Sowers coaching for the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LIV.
As what U.S. officials call a massive surveillance balloon believed to be from China continued to fly over the continental United States, President Joe Biden faced growing pressure Friday to address the situation as Republicans said he needed to take stronger action against Beijing. While Biden has, so far, decided against ordering military action, a U.S. official said late Thursday that the U.S. was closely monitoring the situation and "keeping all options open." It was left to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to take the lead on the matter Friday when speaking at the State Department.
Three bodies found in the basement of an abandoned apartment complex in Highland Park, Michigan, are confirmed to be three Detroit rappers who went missing last month, according to the Michigan State Police. The remains of 38-year-old Armani Kelly, 31-year-old Dante Wicker and 31-year-old Montoya Givens were found on Thursday. Michigan State Police on Friday called it a homicide investigation.
The FBI said it's looking for a man who walked into a San Francisco synagogue with a pistol and fired several rounds, believed to be blanks. No one was injured and no damage was reported during the Wednesday evening incident at the Schneerson Jewish Center, the San Francisco Police Department said. The man walked into the synagogue during a gathering and around 7:20 p.m. he "made a verbal statement, pulled out a firearm, and shot several times," police said.
Emily Ratajkowski has ditched her long brunette hair for a brand new look. The model was hard to miss at Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2023 show at the Park Avenue Armory in New York City on Thursday night, where she was seen with a fresh, wavy bob haircut and blunt bangs. Ratajkowski later posted her new look on her Instagram account, writing, "@themarcjacobs ily, incredible as always," in the caption.
When Rihanna released her signature Fenty fragrance a year and a half ago, scent lovers fell in love -- and haven't looked back. Originally launched in 2021, Fenty Eau de Parfum has continued to sell out again and again, but now it's back at Sephora as a permanent staple. The famed floral scent, which has been hard to keep in stock up until now, incorporates key notes of magnolia, musk and Bulgarian rose.
Employees at an Iowa medical care center mistakenly deemed a 66-year-old woman in hospice care dead and coordinated her transportation in a cloth bag to a funeral home, according to a report from the Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals. The report noted that when a staff member at the funeral home unzipped her bag, they witnessed her "chest moving and she gasped for air." The Iowa Department of Inspections and Appeals fined the Glen Oaks Alzheimer's Special Care Center $10,000 for violating a resident's dignity and for failing to "assume the responsibility for the overall operation of the residential care facility."
Two types of artificial tears eye drops have been voluntarily recalled following 55 reports of adverse use effects, including eye infections, vision loss and even a bloodstream infection that led to one death, according to federal officials. The affected eye drops were distributed by Aru Pharma, EzriCare and Delsam Pharma under Global Pharma Healthcare. Artificial tears are often used to relieve burning and irritation due to dryness of the eyes and provide lubrication while preventing further eye irritation.
Two suspects are in custody after six family members, including a 16-year-old mom and her baby, were gunned down in a targeted and likely gang-related "massacre," according to the sheriff. When the gunfire broke out on Jan. 16 in the farming community of Goshen, the 16-year-old grabbed her baby and ran, and placed her son over a fence to try to save him, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux said. The suspects and two members of the victims' family were in rival gangs, but the specific motive is not exactly clear, Boudreaux said.
Cases like that of Nikki Addimando, who was convicted of murdering her boyfriend, have come under scrutiny from domestic violence advocates who say survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence are sometimes criminalized for actions they take in order to defend their lives. Hudson Valley, a nonprofit that advocates for domestic abuse victims said that in Nikki Addimando’s trial, "There was lots of focus on the night of the incident and very little focus on how we got there." Addimando's conviction and initial sentencing sparked outrage from her supporters and domestic violence advocacy groups who say both the criminal and civil justice systems are not necessarily constructed for victims.
One year after the death of Amir Locke, a 22-year-old man shot and killed by Minneapolis police, attorneys Ben Crump, Antonio Romanucci and Jeff Storms announced Friday during a news conference that they've filed a civil lawsuit. Locke was fatally shot in February 2022 by Minneapolis police officers executing a no-knock search warrant on the apartment he was in.