Tracking the virus: 1 year of life with COVID-19
The U.S. has been battling the coronavirus for over a year now with more than 400,000 deaths. Here's how the pandemic unfolded.
The U.S. has been battling the coronavirus for over a year now with more than 400,000 deaths. Here's how the pandemic unfolded.
The House late Wednesday night passed a sweeping ethics and voting rights package, first introduced in 2019. The "For the People Act of 2021" is something Democrats say is urgently needed as Republican-controlled state legislatures scramble to change voting laws in the wake of the 2020 presidential election. The House passed the election reform bill in a 220-210 vote.
A former Maryland police chief is facing more than a dozen attempted murder charges after he allegedly targeted a series of enemies in at least 12 arson cases going back a decade, officials said. David M. Crawford, the former police chief of Laurel, Maryland, was charged and arrested on Wednesday. The 12 fires took place in Prince George’s, Montgomery, Howard, Frederick and Charles counties from 2011 until late last year.
Mississippi legislators have passed a bill that would ban transgender athletes from competing on female sports teams in schools and universities -- one of over two dozen similar measures proposed by state lawmakers nationwide this year. The state House voted 81-28 Wednesday to pass the so-called Mississippi Fairness Act. The bill now heads to Gov. Tate Reeves for approval.
Chris Harrison is speaking out for the first time since stepping down from hosting duties on "The Bachelor" last month in an exclusive interview with "Good Morning America" airing Thursday. A sneak peek of the conversation shows "GMA" co-anchor Michael Strahan asking Harrison why he would defend Rachael Kirkconnell, a contestant on the current season of "The Bachelor" starring Matt James, the franchise's first Black male lead. Kirkconnell had previously been called out for past racist social media activity, specifically for a photo of her at an "Old South" college formal, a plantation-themed party, in 2018.
At a dinner with Black business leaders in October 2019, former President Barack Obama praised Elizabeth Warren, dismissed Pete Buttigieg as a candidate -- and forgot to mention now President Joe Biden, according to a new book on the 2020 election. "It's sort of a metaphor for where Obama's head was from the beginning of the campaign," Jonathan Allen, co-author of "Lucky: How Joe Biden Barely Won the Presidency," told Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl and Political Director Rick Klein on ABC’s “Powerhouse Politics” podcast Wednesday. "Lucky," which was released Tuesday, is a deep dive into the inner workings of Biden's campaign from Allen, a senior political reporter for NBC News Digital, and senior correspondent for The Hill Amie Parnes.
The 13 people killed in a crash between their SUV and a big rig in Southern California on Tuesday are suspected to have entered the U.S. illegally that morning, breaching a fence on the U.S.-Mexico border in a likely human smuggling attempt, according to Customs and Border Patrol. "A 10-foot breach" in a fence between the two countries was reported Tuesday morning, and agents reviewed surveillance video which showed two "vehicles leaving the area in proximity of the fence breach," border patrol said on Wednesday. Twelve people, including the SUV driver, died at the scene, and another person from the SUV died at a hospital, the highway patrol said.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday addressed the sexual harassment scandal he's facing and apologized for his actions. “I want New Yorkers to hear from me directly on this: First, I fully support a woman’s right to come forward and I think it should be encouraged in every way," Cuomo said. Cuomo pledged his full cooperation with the state attorney general’s investigation and urged New Yorkers to "wait for the facts to come out."
Gov. Greg Abbott's announcement that Texas would end a statewide mask mandate and allow businesses to reopen at full capacity has been met with harsh criticism. "Absolutely reckless," California Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote on Twitter shortly after the press conference Tuesday in which Abbott announced that it was "time to open Texas 100%." Abbott pointed to small business owners hurt by the pandemic.
Serena Williams and her 3-year-old daughter Alexis "Olympia" Ohanian Jr. made their modeling debut together for Stuart Weitzman Spring 2021 collection. The mother-daughter duo posed, twirled and laughed in matching looks for the shoe company's "Footsteps to Follow" ad campaign.. "The adventures of Serena and Olympia continue," Williams wrote in a caption alongside a heartwarming video of the two of them together.
As the COVID-19 vaccine becomes more widely available to people younger than 65 and outside of the health care community, it is raising questions for breastfeeding and pregnant people who must decide if the vaccine is right for them. Pfizer and BioNTech became the first vaccine maker to evaluate their COVID-19 vaccine in pregnant women when they announced a new trial Thursday. Moderna has not yet publicly released a timeline for including pregnant people in clinical trials.
President Joe Biden on Wednesday called Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's decision to end his state's mask mandate "Neanderthal thinking," echoing frustration from top COVID-19 response officials in his administration that case numbers are not low enough to relax restrictions before more Americans are vaccinated. Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott announced Tuesday the state would "100% reopen," ending the mask mandate and allowing businesses to operate without restrictions, a move that contradicts Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and public health experts from around the country.
Gary Oldman looked back on his struggle with alcoholism in a candid new interview and revealed he is nearly 24 years sober. The Oscar-winning actor said these experiences helped him better understand his character in his latest film, David Fincher's "Mank," in which he plays "Citizen Kane" screenwriter Herman Mankiewicz. Reflecting on being a "functioning alcoholic," Oldman confessed that "beneath the denial" he felt he was "getting away with" his drinking because of his career.
Ahead of International Women's Day, Mattel has introduced a new Barbie inspired by the life and legacy of Eleanor Roosevelt. The latest doll, featuring the former first lady, was revealed on Wednesday and is a part of the company's "Inspiring Women" collection. Dressed in a floral print dress, a pearl necklace and a black hat, the latest doll is a beautiful nod to the historical icon, United Nations spokesperson and human rights activist.
A Japanese billionaire is searching for eight members of the public to join him on a mission to orbit around the moon. Yusaku Maezawa, who made headlines in 2018 when he was unveiled as SpaceX's first private passenger to commission a trip around the moon, released a new video Tuesday to share updates on his pending mission. "I’m inviting you to join me on this mission, eight of you from all around the world," Maezawa said in the video.
U.S. Capitol Police officials said Wednesday they have "obtained intelligence that shows a possible plot to breach the Capitol by an identified militia group on Thursday, March 4" -- the date that far-right conspiracy theorists believe former President Donald Trump will return to power. The threats appear to stem from QAnon, the umbrella term for a set of disproven and discredited internet conspiracy theories that allege the world is run by a secret cabal of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles.
Drew Barrymore was hoping to get a head start on her spring cleaning and, on Tuesday, shared a hilarious video of her extreme decluttering efforts -- starting with her daughters' closet. "I am going to Marie Kondo my life," Barrymore dramatically announced as her two cats sauntered between the half-filled boxes. "I am going to do 'spring cleaning' and hope that it gives me a sense of control, because this is the only thing I can control."
Teachers and child care staff are now being offered vaccine appointments at some 9,000 pharmacy locations nationwide, even if their state hasn’t declared them eligible yet. The push to get every educator their first vaccine dose this month is part of President Joe Biden’s latest directive aimed at prying open classrooms by using a federally run program that ships doses directly to pharmacies. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which manages the program, announced the effort on its website.
As larger numbers of people recover from COVID-19, researchers are learning more about "brain fog" in those affected by the virus. One such symptom, generally referred to as "brain fog," can take the shape of confusion, difficulty thinking and concentrating, short-term memory loss, and in severe cases, has even been reported to cause delirium and psychosis. While scientists still don't know for sure what causes brain fog, they're zeroing in on a few theories.
Olympic sprinter Allyson Felix is lending her voice to educate people about life-threatening pregnancy complications after facing her own potentially deadly experience when she gave birth to her daughter in November 2018. Felix, whose daughter, Camryn, was born via emergency C-section at 32 weeks, has joined "Hear Her," a campaign launched by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last year to create public awareness of the warning signs of pregnancy emergencies to try to stop the ongoing public health crisis of maternal deaths in the United States.
Former first lady Michelle Obama is speaking out for the first time since the inauguration of President Joe Biden, sharing the "reality" that faced guests on the stage as they watched the former vice president be sworn on the same platform where two weeks earlier a mob of angry rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol. "But to watch our friend Joe Biden and Jill [Biden] stand there with their beautiful family, to see [Vice President Kamala Harris] and her family standing there, brave and bold, knowing that they were taking on a massive amount of responsibility to get this country back on track." Obama said she was "moved almost to tears" at one point in the inauguration, when 22-year-old Amanda Gorman made history as the youngest poet in recent history to perform at a presidential inauguration.