Falater faced the death penalty, but was sentenced to life in prison after his children pleaded for leniency. Son Michael Falater visits his father through a video call due to COVID-19 restrictions.
Senate Democrats have come to an agreement on unemployment benefits after initially hitting a snag early in the marathon voting session on the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief legislation. Democrat Joe Manchin had threatened to unravel an agreement on how to handle jobless benefits in the package, but after eight hours of discussions has agreed to a new proposal. Democrats on Friday unveiled what they thought was an agreement on unemployment insurance, sponsored by Sen. Tom Carper, D-Del., that would cut the weekly jobless benefit from the $400 allotment in the House bill to $300, while allowing the benefit to continue through September rather than through August.
A new study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that mask mandates were linked to a decrease in COVID-19 cases and deaths, while allowing dining at restaurants was linked to an increase in both. The findings come as some states, including Texas and Mississippi, have recently made moves to lift their mask mandates and other restrictions, like dining capacity. The CDC report, published Friday, examined the association of state mask mandates and orders allowing restaurants to reopen with COVID-19 cases and deaths.
Maia Chaka will become the first Black female on-field official in NFL history, the league announced on Friday. Chaka told ESPN she wants to inspire young girls both on and off the field. "It gives those girls an opportunity to see, 'OK, I can see my teacher works with people who don't look like her, and maybe it gives me an opportunity to work with people who don't look like me also,'" Chaka told ESPN.
Both chambers of the New York state legislature have passed a bill to limit Gov. Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers granted in the pandemic. The Friday vote fell along party lines in the Senate with 43 Democrats voting in favor against 20 Republican votes. The Assembly voted 107-43 several hours after the Senate’s approval to require more legislative oversight before directives are modified or extended.
Leo Castillo came to the United States from Honduras nearly 21 years ago with a bright future in mind. After settling in Washington, D.C., and starting a family, he started working toward a personal dream. Three years ago, Castillo finally bought his prized red semi truck and then drove it all around the country delivering essential construction supplies while soaking in the country’s beauty.
The magic is set to return to Southern California. Disneyland will be allowed to reopen next month, according to new rules announced by the state of California on Friday. The park will likely open April 1, when Orange County is expected to be moved into the red tier -- the state's second-highest level of precautions.
A new Washington debate has evolved over President Joe Biden accusing Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott and Mississippi GOP Gov. Tate Reeves of "Neanderthal thinking" for their decisions to repeal mask mandates. "And the last thing, the last thing, the last thing we need is the Neanderthal thinking that in the meantime everything’s fine, take off your mask, forget it," Biden said Wednesday. Since then, Republicans, pushing back, have rushed to the defense of Neanderthals, an ancient species of cave-dwellers who lived across Europe and Asia before going extinct 40,000 years ago.
Kim Kardashian is the latest celebrity to come out in support of Britney Spears after watching The New York Times documentary, "Framing Britney Spears." In her Instagram Stories on Friday, the reality star said she felt "empathy" for the pop singer after watching the doc, opening up about her own experiences with tabloids and the paparazzi. "The way the media played a big role in her life the way it did can be very traumatizing and it can really break even the strongest person," Kardashian wrote.
A software engineer who developed a website to help New Yorkers find available COVID-19 vaccines is using his new platform to speak out against the rise in anti-Asian racism linked to the pandemic. Huge Ma created the website TurboVax last month to help his community navigate the headache-inducing search for vaccine appointments in New York City. Ma's project was spotlighted in the New York Times earlier this month for offering "an easier way to spot appointments than the city and state’s official systems do."
An increasing percentage of Americans -- 69% -- say they've gotten or plan to get the COVID-19 vaccine, according to a new poll from the Pew Research Center. Infectious disease experts like Dr. Anthony Fauci have said the vast majority of Americans will need to get vaccinated to stop the COVID-19 virus from spreading and widespread uptake of the vaccine combined with keeping case numbers low could bring the country closer to a sense of normalcy later this year. The Pew poll found that 19% of adults have received at least one dose of the vaccine, 32% say they will definitely get the vaccine and 17% say they will probably get it.
In an interview with ABC News, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said the U.S. is still assessing who was responsible for the recent rocket attack on a base in Iraq that houses U.S. forces. On Wednesday, 10 rockets were fired at the sprawling Al Asad airbase in western Iraq that is home to many of the 2,500 American troops still in Iraq. No service members were wounded, but a civilian American contractor died from a heart attack while sheltering during the rocket attack.
YouTube said Friday it has removed videos and channels associated with Myanmar's military after protests over an apparent coup last month have erupted in deadly violence. "We have terminated a number of channels and removed several videos from YouTube in accordance with our community guidelines and applicable laws," a YouTube spokesperson told ABC News Friday. The spokesperson for YouTube, which is owned by Google's Alphabet Inc., did not specify how many videos or channels were removed related to the violence in Myanmar.
The House Oversight Committee on Friday sent letters to four large drug manufacturing and distribution companies to determine if they plan to use a COVID relief tax provision to boost deductions for the costs of opioid settlements. Under the CARES Act, passed by Congress last year to respond to the then-burgeoning coronavirus pandemic, companies could carry back operating losses between 2018 and 2020 for up to five years, to increase their tax refunds and provide more cash amid the pandemic, and the havoc it wreaked on the economy. In the letters to Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen, Democrats on the committee expressed concern that the change would be used by the companies against the reported $26 billion they agreed to pay to communities impacted by the opioid crisis.
Several states have dropped statewide mask mandates and loosened coronavirus restrictions over the past week. Texas and Mississippi announced Tuesday that businesses could operate at full capacity, joining fellow Republican-led states Iowa, Montana and North Dakota in dropping statewide requirements for face coverings. Local lawmakers have cited declining COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, and many have argued that their decisions are aimed at restoring power and freedom to their constituents.
A collision sent a car barreling into an outdoor dining area in New York City Friday morning, flinging debris and wounding eight people, officials said. Just after 8:30 a.m. in Midtown Manhattan, a man driving a white van collided with the back of a Toyota Camry, sending the Camry plowing into an outdoor dining area, which was unoccupied, law enforcement officials said. The white van then traveled another block before coming to a rest in scaffolding, law enforcement said.
“We all knew about it because people did make fun of [Heather] knowing that he was a married man,” said Brianna Kulzer, her former roommate and coworker. Elvis was a hostess at the restaurant where Moorer -- a then 37-year-old maintenance worker -- would stop while doing his rounds at area restaurants. Before his affair with Elvis in 2013, he had another one that made his wife especially suspicious of him, according to Chris Helms, who later prosecuted the Moorers.
After more than 30 years, "Coming 2 America," a sequel to Eddie Murphy's classic 1988 film, is here and UOMA Beauty has the perfect launch to help fans channel some of the movie's most iconic characters. The award-winning cosmetics company released its Black Magic Coming 2 America Collection and everything from the makeup products to the campaign imagery feel like a regal nod to the Black beauty captured in the classic film. The full collection includes three lipsticks, a 10-pan eyeshadow palette, two mini eyeshadow palettes, two eyeliners and a highlighter palette.
With educators and child care staff eligible to be vaccinated in Texas starting Friday, some counties in the state are working to ensure shots reach teachers who need it most. The Texas health department announced that teachers would be eligible for vaccination on Wednesday, the day after President Joe Biden directed states to prioritize educators for vaccinations. "We want every educator, school staff member, child care worker to receive at least one shot by the end of the month of March," Biden said during a White House press briefing Tuesday.
A household name in computer security software was charged Friday with securities fraud. Between November 2017 and February 2018, John McAfee leveraged his fame as a computer programmer to make more than $23 million by recommending a number of "initial coin offerings" to his Twitter followers, federal prosecutors alleged. The problem, according to federal prosecutors in New York, was that McAfee failed to disclose he was a paid pitchman.
The answers are all over the map -- from Texas and Mississippi governors declaring their states already open and lifting mask mandates, to health experts ominously warning the virus will always linger. "It'll be so gradual, we probably won't even notice it," said Howard Markel, a historian of medicine at the University of Michigan and a pediatrician. Markel said he favors 90% with a virus this stealthy.
