The Rundown: Top headlines today: June 21, 2022
Stay up to date on the developing stories making headlines.
Stay up to date on the developing stories making headlines.
At 86 years old, American Airlines flight attendant Bette Nash is the oldest and longest-serving flight attendant in the world, according to Guinness World Records. When she first started flying, she says passengers bought life insurance from a vending machine before boarding and the airline would check on her at home to ensure she wasn’t living with a man because flight attendants had to be single. Nash started flying with Eastern Airlines and through a number of mergers, including with Donald Trump’s airline in the late 1980’s, ended up at American Airlines.
A recent surge of U.S. labor organizing has spotlighted, above all, union campaigns at two high-profile corporations: Amazon and Starbucks. A succession of union wins at Apple stores across the U.S. is hardly assured and would likely take an extended period of time, since each Apple store employs far more workers than a typical Starbucks shop, making it more difficult and time-consuming to organize each location, the experts said.
Advocates and some relatives of Emmett Till are pushing for the arrest of Carolyn Bryant Donham after finding an unserved arrest warrant for kidnapping, an attached affidavit from Moses Wright, and court minutes from 1955 in the basement of a Leflore County courthouse. Keith Beauchamp, director of the movie, "Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till," told ABC News that he and a team from the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, including co-founder and Till's cousin Deborah Watts, went to Mississippi to check if the warrant had ever been rescinded, but came across the documents in an unmarked box, seemingly untouched for over sixty years. Beauchamp said he is looking to state law enforcement for prosecution on the kidnapping charge in an effort to hold Bryant Donham, 88, accountable for her alleged role in the lynching of 14-year-old Till.
A 49-year-old man is in custody after he allegedly gunned down two police officers and wounded several others in a mass shooting at his Kentucky home. The shooting unfolded in Floyd County at about 6:44 p.m. local time Thursday, Kentucky State Police said. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear called it a "barricade situation."
Brittney Griner appeared in a courtroom in Khimki, a suburb of Moscow, on Friday morning for the first day of the WNBA star's trial in Russia, where she has been in custody for 134 days. Griner was detained at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Russia on Feb. 17 after she was accused of carrying vape cartridges containing hashish oil, which is illegal in Russia. The first witness at Griner's trial was a customs officer who was at the airport when she was arrested.
The New York State Senate passed legislation Friday that would ban the concealed carry of guns in a "sensitive location," including Times Square and all mass public transportation. The bill now needs to be passed in the State Assembly before it heads to the governor's desk. The bill comes after a Supreme Court ruling overturned a state law that limited who could get concealed carry permits to people who had "proper cause."
Chris Hemsworth says his kids are unfazed by his Marvel fame. Thor is far from their favorite superhero, Hemsworth added. "I think Wonder Woman's their favorite character -- it's definitely my boys' favorite character," he said.
President Joe Biden on Friday met virtually with Democratic governors to talk reproductive health care amid some party disappointment over the administration's response to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. New York's Kathy Hochul provided a list to Biden of potential actions, including additional funding for family planning services more broadly so that providers can focus private dollars for abortion services. Hochul also asked Biden to give more consideration to his ability to "use federal facilities" for abortion care -- a move the White House has said would have "dangerous ramifications."
In the end, the Supreme Court justices didn't even take the bench to say goodbye. The most dramatic, divisive and impactful term in a generation came to a close with the six men and three women in the middle of it all staying far from public view, declining to read their final opinions aloud, holed up inside a courthouse wrapped in security fencing – while people chained themselves to it outside. Over the last nine months, the court's conservative majority -- emboldened by three appointees of former President Donald Trump – put its foot on the gas, unbowed by protests, the alleged attempted assassination of one of their own, a leaked draft opinion, and a chief justice urging them to slow down.
Former President Donald Trump's political action committee has paid nearly half a million dollars to multiple law firms that employ attorneys representing close allies of Trump who have been targeted by the Jan. 6 committee investigating the Capitol attack, according to a review of financial records by ABC News -- an arrangement that committee members say raises concerns about the possible coercion of witnesses. Trump's Save America PAC began paying hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple law firms and lawyers connected to his allies in the committee's crosshairs after the panel was first formed last summer, and continued the payments as the committee's investigation began issuing subpoenas throughout the year, according to multiple sources and a review of Federal Election Commission filings.
Fourth of July sales are in full effect, and retailers are slashing prices on everything from summer-ready accessories to athletic wear and beyond. Starting July 1, Sephora joins the long list of retailers offering 4th of July sales, slashing prices on beauty must-haves and essentials. This year's sale includes top brands like Fenty Beauty by Rihanna, Clinique, Pat McGrath Labs, KVD Beauty and many more.
A week after the U.S. Supreme Court voted to strike down Roe v. Wade, ending a nearly 50-year precedent, several governors are moving to protect abortion rights in their states. On Friday, New York is expected to pass a constitutional amendment guaranteeing access to abortion during a special session initially called to rewrite state gun permit laws in the wake of another Supreme Court decision that rolled back the state's concealed carry restrictions. The measure, which has been supported by Gov. Kathy Hochul, would codify the right to an abortion and the right to contraception in the state's constitution.
New York City became the first to launch a "Test to Treat" program that provides COVID-19 antiviral treatments, including Paxlovid, for people who test positive for the novel coronavirus, according to city health officials and White House response coordinator Dr. Ashish Jha. The select testing sites are managed by the New York City Test & Trace Corps. The program launch comes as the city's COVID test positivity rate is above 10% for the first time since January.
Prince William and Prince Harry honored recipients of the Diana Award this week on what would have been their late mother Princess Diana’s 61st birthday. On Friday, the Duke of Cambride and the Duke of Sussex each shared a message on Twitter honoring the 180 young awardees from the U.K. and around the world who have "demonstrated their ability to inspire and mobilise new generations to serve their communities and create long lasting change on a global scale." "You are part of an inspirational generation of young people who are changing the world through your actions, and I hugely admire your efforts," William wrote in his congratulatory letter to the recipients.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra told reporters Friday that the upcoming launch of the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline's new three-digit number, 988, on July 16, "will work, if the states are committed to it." The new number, which advocates envision as the mental health equivalent to 911, Becerra said, "Won't work well, if they're not [committed]." Despite an influx of federal funding from the Biden administration, states across the nation are still struggling to develop the infrastructure required to ensure all calls are answered.
One person in Illinois died after being infected with listeria, in a new outbreak that has infected a total of 23 people across 10 states, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The CDC said all but one of those infected were hospitalized. Listeria is an illness that typically affects pregnant women, newborns, older adults and people with weakened immune systems, according to the CDC.
If you're still planning out food for the Fourth of July festivities but worried about the hefty price tag this year, "Good Morning America" has some last-minute money-saving ideas to help curb costs. As sticker shock continues to stun shoppers nationwide -- with ground beef prices soaring 36%, pork prices up approximately 31% and potato salad up 19% from last year, according to to the American Farm Bureau Federation -- check out the below tips to keep any cookout budget from going up in smoke. Jeanette Pavini, author of "The Joy of Saving," told "GMA" that "even though the grocery store prices have gone up -- you don't have to pay the price."
The White House on Friday announced the next list of recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Olympic gymnast Simone Biles, gun control advocate Gabrielle Giffords and actor Denzel Washington are among the 17 individuals chosen to receive the nation's highest civilian honor. The ceremony will take place at the White House on Thursday, July 7.
In the early days of the coronavirus vaccine rollout, scientists were hopeful it might herald the long-awaited turning point of the pandemic, not only bringing the threat of severe disease, hospitalization and death to an end, but also completely halting the spread of the disease. Dr. Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to the White House, said in December 2020 that if the nation's COVID-19 vaccine campaign went well, the U.S. could approach herd immunity by summer’s end and “normality that is close to where we were before” by the end of 2021. In the months that followed the Provincetown outbreak, breakthrough infections would shift from a statistical anomaly to a regular occurrence.
"The Princess and the Frog" attraction at Disneyland Resort in California and Walt Disney World Resort in Florida has a name. The re-themed ride's new name was unveiled Friday at the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture in New Orleans, a fitting location since the Louisiana city is also Princess Tiana's hometown.