Pandemic’s devastating effect on the restaurant industry
President of the National Restaurant Association Tom Bené talks about the stimulus plan, permanent changes to the industry and more.
President of the National Restaurant Association Tom Bené talks about the stimulus plan, permanent changes to the industry and more.
Eight people were shot and killed and several others injured in a mass shooting Thursday night at a FedEx facility in Indianapolis, according to local authorities. When officers arrived at the FedEx facility near the Indianapolis airport just after 11 p.m. local time, it was an active shooter situation, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department Officer Genae Cook said during a media briefing. "This is a sight that no one should see," Cook said during a media briefing.
An April snowstorm is raging in the Rockies, Plains and the Northeast, with some areas getting more than a foot of snow. Snow will continue Friday in the central and southern Rockies, all the way to New Mexico, where some areas could see up to a foot of snow. Meanwhile in the Northeast, a nor’easter is bringing heavy snow from upstate New York into New England, where a winter storm warning and winter weather advisory have been issued.
The Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause, likely to last another seven to 10 days while a federal advisory committee evaluates a possible link to a rare but severe blood clotting disorder, may deal a blow to vulnerable populations -- the homebound, homeless and incarcerated among them -- because it had been easier to get those individuals one shot than two, health experts said. In addition to being a single dose, the J&J vaccine "is easier to store than the two mRNA vaccines that require freezing," said Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, a professor of epidemiology and medicine at Columbia University. "That adds to the complexity of trying to set up vaccinations in settings that are not clinical."
Stun guns -- less lethal use-of-force electroshock weapons that use up to 50,000 volts of electricity to temporarily incapacitate and immobilize targets -- are widely used by police departments around the country. Critics say stun guns may also be at odds with police de-escalation policies, which the Department of Justice defines as "using the least amount of force necessary to resolve a situation." The use of stun guns has come into focus once again in the case of the shooting of Daunte Wright, who was killed by an officer in Minnesota who may have mistaken her firearm for a stun gun during a traffic stop.
When the pandemic hit more than a year ago, rates of depression soared, with 28% of respondents in one survey reporting depressive symptoms compared with 9% before COVID-19. As levels of depression rise, public health experts typically expect suicide rates to follow. After one study, published in JAMA, found that suicide rates declined in the United States from 2019 to 2020, a second study, published in Lancet Psychiatry and which included data from 21 different countries, suggested that suicide numbers were unchanged or lower in the pandemic's early months.
When President Joe Biden sat down with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos last month, Biden said Russian president Vladimir Putin would "pay a price" for involvement in the far-reaching SolarWinds cyber hack and election interference. In brief, careful remarks on Thursday, the president addressed those new sanctions imposed on Russia, emphasizing that the actions aren't intended to be overly inflammatory.
A traffic stop quickly turned deadly Sunday when a white Minnesota police officer fatally shot Daunte Wright, a 20-year-old Black man. Kim Potter, 48, meant to deploy her Taser instead of her gun when she fatally shot Wright in his car, according to then-Brooklyn Center Police Chief Tim Gannon. Two days after the incident, both she and Gannon resigned, and Potter has since been charged with second-degree manslaughter.
"It becomes a burden because you have to buy more air filters for each room," she said. Oliver, a field organizer for Moms Clean Air Force, lives in north Denver, which at one point was one of the most polluted zip codes in the U.S. The Suncor refinery, located just north of where she lives, is located in a predominantly Black and brown community. Dr. Myrriah Gómez, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico, said to understand environmental racism, it's important to understand precedent.
You might not know Chris Housman's name yet, but the independent country music singer-songwriter is making waves with his new song, "Blueneck" -- one he said he wishes he had heard when growing up. The song, which dropped April 7, features progressive lyrics -- especially for one in the genre -- such as: "Can't a country kid wanna see the glass ceiling shatter / Wanna see a world where Black Lives Matter." In "Blueneck," Housman, who is gay, describes a person like himself, who is a "liberal redneck," someone who is liberal in political and social ideology but lives or grew up in a conservative setting or a "red state."
April 11-17, 2021, is Black Maternal Health Week, a time to put a spotlight on and have a national conversation about Black maternal health in the U.S., according to Black Mamas Matter Alliance, a nonprofit organization that founded the initiative four years ago. Dr. Sharon Ingram, a board-certified OBGYN in Florida, was in medical school when her four-month-old son, Alton Jr., died of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) while at a day care center. The death of Alton Jr., who was called A.J., was considered a case of infant mortality because he died before his first birthday.
Body camera footage of the fatal Chicago police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo was released Thursday by the city's Civilian Office of Police Accountability. The March 29 footage shows an unidentified officer chasing Toledo down a street. Cook County Assistant State's Attorney James Murphy initially claimed that Toledo had a gun in his hands, but Cook County State's Attorney spokesperson Sarah Sinovic later told ABC News that Murphy "failed to fully inform himself before speaking in court" and that "the video speaks for itself."
The United States on Thursday announced a sweeping series of sanctions against Russia over election interference, cyber hacking and other "harmful foreign activities," it said, including reports of Russia offering "bounties" for Taliban attacks against U.S. troops, and Russia's occupation and alleged human rights abuses in Crimea. "I was clear with president Putin that we could have gone further, but I chose not to do so, I chose to be proportionate," President Joe Biden said Thursday afternoon from the East Room of the White House.
Police shot and killed an individual who began firing indiscriminately at people outside San Antonio International Airport in Texas on Thursday, police said. The person, described as being in his 40s, drove up to Terminal B at about 2:30 p.m. local time and was confronted by a police officer, who had been warned of the vehicle driving the wrong way into the terminal. When confronted by the officer, the man got out of the car and started shooting wildly at the officer, the terminal and behind him, according to San Antonio Police Chief William McManus.
Everlane, the creator of eco-chic apparel, is now diving into the world of swimwear. The beach-ready lineup includes three bikini top styles (square-neck, tie-front and triangle), two bikini bottoms (hipster and traditional bikini style) and two one-pieces (square-neck and V-neck). Everlane fit-tested the bathing suits on 112 different women to make sure each one felt comfortable, looked flattering and stayed put, making for an inclusive sizing range of XXS through XXL.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, pressed by a Republican lawmaker Thursday over when Americans will "get their liberties back," gave his clearest explanation yet as to when COVID-19 restrictions could be safely lifted, saying the U.S. must get its infection rate under 10,000 new cases a day. When asked by Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, at a congressional hearing to give an answer about when Americans can return to their pre-pandemic lives, Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, explained that the nation has a lot of work to do before it reaches that point. "That would be that the number of infections per day are well below 10,000 per day," Fauci said.
With only a few months left to go before the Tokyo Olympics are set to begin, one of Japan’s top officials suggested that the games could be canceled or carried out without fans. “If it seems impossible to go on with the games, they must be definitely canceled,” Toshihiro Nikai, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said on Thursday. The delay was due to requiring extra clinical trials for the Pfizer vaccine to aid historically low vaccine confidence in the country, according to the Associated Press.
The mother of Daunte Wright, the 20-year-old Black man shot dead by a Minnesota police officer at a traffic stop, said she "wants 100% accountability" in the wake of the officer's arrest. "If that even happens, we're still going to bury our son," Wright's mother, Katie Wright, said at a Thursday news conference. "I have anger, hatred, sadness," Katie Wright told ABC News Thursday.
Congressional Democrats introduced legislation Thursday to expand the Supreme Court from nine justices to 13, arguing that doing so would restore the court's integrity and reverse what they said were wrongs perpetrated by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, his GOP colleagues, and then-President Donald Trump whose three nominees cemented a conservative majority, potentially for generations. "The court is broken, and make no mistake about it -- the court is broken because Sen. Mitch McConnell, his Senate Republican colleagues, and Donald Trump broke it," said Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in introducing the Judiciary Act of 2021.
After writing a scathing report on Capitol Police preparedness for the Jan. 6 riot, Capitol Police Inspector General Michael Bolton testified Thursday before the House Administration Committee. "Our objective for this review is to determine the department established adequate measures for ensuring the safety and security to members of Congress, their staff and the Capitol Complex," Bolton said before the committee, calling for a "cultural change." Bolton's report, reviewed by ABC News, said Capitol Police were ill-prepared for the events on Jan. 6, had faulty equipment and did not share intelligence.
The evidence phase in the murder trial of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, who is accused of killing George Floyd, wrapped up on Thursday morning with the judge telling the jury to be prepared to be sequestered on Monday following closing arguments. Prior to the jury being called into the courtroom on Thursday, Chauvin addressed the court, telling Judge Peter Cahill that would not testify in his own defense. "I will invoke my 5th Amendment privilege today," Chauvin said, using a microphone in court.