ABC News' senior investigative reporter Aaron Katersky on the demand for answers from law enforcement and the latest on the investigation into the deadly school shooting.
President Joe Biden departs for Europe on Saturday in an effort to stave off cracks in the Western alliance against Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- and shore up the global economy -- amid domestic turmoil over abortions and guns. There, he'll seek to gain Turkey's approval of Finland and Sweden's bid to join the alliance in the face of Russia's attack.
The U.S. Supreme Court voted Friday to strike down Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion. Abortion laws and restrictions vary by state and, now the federal protection has been overturned, abortion will not be accessible everywhere in the U.S. Here is where abortion laws stand in each state, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group that focuses on sexual and reproductive health, and further reporting.
The Supreme Court's ruling Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade sent shockwaves throughout the country as it gave power back to states to decide whether or not abortion is legal. Instead of being a constitutionally protected federal right, abortion access will now come down to where a person lives across the United States. "This is one of the most important decisions the Supreme Court has handed down in this century, certainly in the past half-century," said Kate Shaw, ABC News contributor and professor of law at Cardozo Law School.
Ali Alexander, the conservative activist behind the "Stop the Steal" movement, appeared Friday before a federal grand jury investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Alexander's attorney confirmed to ABC News. Alexander provided nearly three hours of testimony to one of the grand juries impaneled in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., as part of the Department of Justice’s criminal probe into the events of Jan. 6, Alexander’s attorney, Paul Kamenar, said. The appearance came six months after Alexander testified before the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack.
First lady Jill Biden spoke Friday morning at the site of the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, on the one-year anniversary of the tragedy. Joining Biden at the event were Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, local officials, and religious leaders. In the early morning hours of June 24, 2021, the Surfside condominium collapsed, killing 98 people.
Major U.S. companies, including Meta and JPMorgan Chase, on Friday said they will cover travel costs for employees who seek legal abortions outside their home state after the Supreme Court released a ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. Several corporations in recent weeks, including Amazon and Starbucks, had announced expanded health benefits to pay for travel fees incurred by workers seeking an abortion if the procedure is unavailable near where they live. JPMorgan Chase, one of the nation's largest banks, informed U.S. employees that it will cover the costs of travel for those seeking an abortion who cannot access the procedure legally in their home state, according to a memo sent to employees on June 1 and obtained by ABC News.
The federal case against Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani, a former Theranos executive accused of defrauding investors and patients, is now in the hands of a jury. Prosecutors say Balwani and Holmes, who touted her startup's technology as capable of accurately and reliably running any blood test, fraudulently raised hundreds of millions of dollars from investors. Balwani joined the company in 2009, guaranteeing a $10 million loan and quickly rising to the post of president and COO of Theranos.
The Department of Homeland Security expects violence could occur "for weeks" from domestic violent extremists following the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, according to a bulletin obtained first by ABC News. "We base this assessment on an observed increase in violent incidents across the United States following the unauthorized disclosure in May of a draft majority opinion on the case," the bulletin said. In the May bulletin, DHS warned that extremists might infiltrate the abortion debate.
The once-a-decade process of redrawing the country's congressional districts has given Republicans a major edge -- but that's not the only consequence. Potential red wave aside, this new slate of maps has reduced competition for congressional seats and, in turn, put unbalanced focus on primary races over general elections -- potentially forcing candidates to play to their parties' more partisan edges to lock up the vote, including supporting the baseless "big lie" that former President Donald Trump was the legitimate winner of the 2020 election. "The decline of competitive districts due to redistricting has created a little more opportunity for election deniers to get elected," said FiveThiryEight's Nathaniel Rakich in an email.
Louis Vuitton's men's spring-summer 2023 fashion show was full of electrifying moments, and the monumental presence of Florida A&M University's Marching 100 was one of them. Located at Paris' famed Carré du Louvre, the fashion house transformed the venue into a supersized toy racetrack that featured rich neon hues, a yellow brick road-like runway and huge Louis Vuitton logo-printed red balloons. Reflecting upon his experience ahead of the show, FAMU drum major/field commander Jadon Roberts told ABC News that he was more than excited to be a part of it all.
The Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade and the constitutional right to abortion that has been the law nationwide for almost 50 years. The court ruled 5-4, in an opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, who called Roe "egregiously wrong from the start." At the same time, the court voted 6-3 to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks, with very few medical exceptions.
With the overturning of Roe v. Wade Friday by the Supreme Court, the power to decide abortion access now depends on individual states. As of today, nearly half of the nation's 50 states are prepared to ban all or nearly all abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health policy research organization. The increasing likelihood of abortion restrictions across the country has put the attention on medication abortions, which rely on pills, rather than surgery, to terminate the pregnancy.
As reactions to the Dobbs decision roll in, congressional Democrats are outraged. Any effort to codify a woman's right to choose would need to clear the Senate filibuster. Undoubtedly, the Supreme Court decision Friday will reignite discussion among some progressives about overturning the filibuster to try to codify the rights previously enshrined in Roe v. Wade.
For people in jails and prisons across the country, where reproductive health care is already abysmal, the end of Roe v. Wade is a haunting prospect. "It's hard to predict the depths of trauma and adverse health effects that we might see with this, but I think we can imagine that it's going to be profound." Estimates show that at least 58,000 pregnant women enter the carceral system each year, according to The Sentencing Project and the Prison Policy Initiative.
Kendrick Lamar made an appearance at Paris Fashion Week, performing at the Louis Vuitton Men's Spring/Summer 2023 collection show on Thursday. During that performance, the award-winning rapper and songwriter paid tribute to the late designer Virgil Abloh, former creative director of menswear for the iconic luxury fashion house, who died in 2021. While sitting with other front row attendees of the show, Lamar performed a number of songs, including hits from his new album "Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers."
As Pride Month nears its end, the House has passed the LGBTQI+ Data Inclusion Act, which will require over 100 federal agencies to improve data collection and surveying of LGBTQ communities. Data collection is vital to understanding the needs of a community, sponsors of the bill say. The legislation states that complete and accurate information about LGBTQ identities is needed to “inform public policy and federal programs,” allowing legislators to direct resources where they are needed and better serve the community.
The House voted Friday afternoon to pass a bipartisan gun safety package. The bill, crafted in the wake of devastating mass shootings and on the one-month anniversary of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Texas that left 19 young children and two teachers dead, is the first major piece of gun reform to clear Congress in decades. Applause could be heard in the chamber when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the vote.
President Joe Biden on Friday harshly criticized the Supreme Court's decision upending abortion rights and called on Congress to enshrine access in federal law. "It's a sad day for the court and the country," Biden said as he delivered remarks from the Cross Hall of the White House. "Today the Supreme Court of the United States expressly took away a constitutional right from the American people that it had already recognized," he said.
The director and star of the new Disney+ film "Rise," which premiered Friday on Disney+, are opening up about what the movie means to them and what they hope viewers take away from the story. "Rise" tells the true story of the Antetokounmpo family who, after years of hard work and struggle, found incredible success in the world of professional basketball, with three of their five children -- Giannis, Thanasis, and Alex -- eventually playing for the NBA. Dayo Okeniyi plays Charles Antetokounmpo, the patriarch of the family, in the movie and spoke with ABC Audio about how much he admired his character's strength.
If you're a fan of Selena Gomez's viral beauty brand, Rare Beauty, we have exciting news: The company is launching new lip products on July 7. In a TikTok video on Thursday, Gomez teased the two new products with a simple lip and lipstick emoji, along with the caption "coming soon." The same day, Rare Beauty began posting imagery of the new Kind Words Matte Lipstick and the Kind Words Matte Lip Liner, which will be available in 10 made-to-match shades.
