Tampa Bay Buccaneers star surprises health care workers
Rob Gronkowski told Florida health care workers in a video message that they are invited to the Super Bowl as honorary guests to thank them for their work.
Rob Gronkowski told Florida health care workers in a video message that they are invited to the Super Bowl as honorary guests to thank them for their work.
Over 520,000 American families are grieving the loss of a loved one to COVID-19 -- but one of the first was the Kruegers. Marion Krueger, an 85-year-old mother of five, died on Feb. 26, 2020, becoming one of the first COVID-19 victims in the U.S.
"The Handmaid's Tale" author Margaret Atwood wrote poems that were set to music by composer Jake Heggie for the new song cycle, "Songs for Murdered Women." The idea originated from Canadian baritone Joshua Hopkins, who performs the songs. Hopkins' sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, was one of three women murdered in September 2015 by a man they had each previously dated.
The Javits Center in New York City is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, after the approval of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine a week ago. The convention center in Manhattan is accepting appointments around the clock in a sweeping effort to inoculate New Yorkers as quickly as possible. The effort began at 9 p.m. Friday, with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine only being distributed overnight, from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m.
Pope Francis gathered members of the prominent faiths in Iraq at Ur, the birthplace of the prophet Abraham, for an inter-religious convocation meant to promote unity among Iraqi's diverse religious communities. "Today we, Jews, Christians and Muslims, together with our brothers and sisters of other religions, honor our father Abraham," the pope said. ISIS vowed to establish the headquarters of the caliphate in Iraq and bring their campaign to Rome.
Amanda Gorman, the young poet who made history at President Joe Biden's inauguration in January, opened up about being racially profiled by a male guard while she was on her walk home. On Twitter Friday night, the 22-year-old said she was walking to her apartment when a guard followed her, assuming she was a threat.
The amendment, passed by Democrats in the early hours of Saturday morning, superseded an earlier Republican victory on unemployment insurance. Democrats came 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, he agreed to a new proposal.
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.