Robin Roberts Inspires Grads at Emerson's Commencement Ceremony
The popular "GMA" co-host delivers words of wisdom to this year's graduating class of 2015.
A man accused of shooting two Alabama sheriff's deputies has been arrested after an overnight manhunt, authorities said. Austin Patrick Hall allegedly shot two Bibb County Sheriff's deputies Wednesday afternoon on Highway 25 in the Cahaba River Wildlife Management Area during the pursuit of a stolen vehicle, according to Bibb County District Attorney Michael Jackson. The deputies' conditions were not clear.
Police have released images of a person of interest wanted in connection to a mass shooting in Washington, D.C., that killed a 15-year-old boy. At about 8:48 p.m., as police were telling organizers to shut the event down, gunshots rang out, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department said. Teenager Chase Poole was killed and three others, including a D.C. police officer, were shot and injured, police said.
With Justice Stephen Breyer retiring from the U.S. Supreme Court at noon on Thursday, Ketanji Brown Jackson, his former law clerk, marked a milestone in American representation when she was sworn in as the first Black woman in history to sit on the nation's highest court -- officially taking on the title of justice. Chief Justice John Roberts, from the Supreme Court in Washington, administered the constitutional oath to Jackson, and Breyer administered the judicial oath. "It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments," Jackson said at the White House after her Senate confirmation, "But we've made it."
Toxic toads are returning to South Florida in growing numbers as the region falls back into its warm, rainy summer season, experts say, and they want people to be aware of the risk to pets. The bufo toad, also known as the cane toad, is a common summer sight in South Florida, but experts in the area believe the species is returning in larger numbers than in previous years. Jeannine Tilford, owner of local toad management company Toad Busters, said that the changing climate has impacted the population of bufo toads in the area.
Nick Cannon has formed a new pediatric cancer foundation in honor of his late son Zen, who died of brain cancer in December at just 5 months old. In a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, Cannon said he hopes the organization will help other families with children suffering from cancer. "I feel like hopefully the foundation's work will be able to help other families going through similar situations," he added.
After a remarkable career spanning nearly 50 years, STEM trailblazer, physicist and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute President Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson is retiring. In 1973, Jackson graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a doctorate in theoretical elementary particle physics, making her the first Black woman to receive a doctorate in any field from the renowned university. "I knew when I looked around, there weren't very many African Americans when I was an undergrad, and especially as a graduate," Jackson said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday limited the Environmental Protection Agency's power to fight climate change. The case involved how far the federal government could go in regulating greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The court held that Congress did not grant EPA the authority under the Clean Air Act to devise emissions caps based on the "generation shifting approach" the agency took in the Clean Power Plan, with Chief Justice John Roberts writing for the 6-3 conservative majority.
Ten gun distributors sold tens of thousands of illegal, unfinished frames and receivers later fashioned into untraceable handguns and assault-style rifles in violation of a New York public nuisance law, a new lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges. The defendants include some of the nation's leading gun distributors, including Brownells, Indie Guns, Primary Arms and Rock Slide. The lawsuit, filed by New York Attorney General Letitia James, accused the gun distributors of flooding the streets with ghost guns -- firearms that come packaged in parts, which can be bought online and assembled without much of a trace.
Luke Combs said that he’s struggled with his weight his whole life, but thinks about those struggles differently now that he’s a dad. While genetics are part of the reason for Combs' weight struggles, he said that’s not the whole picture.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Biden administration can end a Trump-era immigration policy known as "Remain in Mexico" that had forced thousands of asylum seekers to wait south of the border while their claims were adjudicated. The court ruled 5-4, with Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Brett Kavanaugh joining the three liberal justices in the majority. Officially termed the "Migrant Protection Protocols" -- or MPP -- the policy was created in 2019 to send unauthorized immigrants, including asylum seekers, back to Mexico while their cases are processed in immigration court.
Elizabeth Olsen can now officially add "children's book author" to her resumé. The Marvel Cinematic Universe actress and star of "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" has published a new children’s book, "Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective," which she co-authored with her husband, musician Robbie Arnett. The book, illustrated by Marissa Valdez, tells the story of Hattie Harmony, a feline who helps her friends manage their feelings -- and along the way figures out how to help herself.
An Amtrak train was traveling 87 mph when it plowed into a dump truck at a Missouri railroad crossing, killing four people and injuring 150, officials said. Jennifer Homendy, chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Wednesday that after analyzing information from its event recorder, federal investigators have determined that the train was traveling 89 mph about a quarter-mile out from the crash, when the horn started blowing, and 87 mph at impact. The collision caused the train to completely derail, sending the locomotive and cars toppling onto their sides, according to the NTSB.
President Joe Biden on Thursday blasted the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and said he would support carving out an exception to the 60-vote threshold required by the Senate filibuster rule to codify abortion rights and other privacy rights as well. "One thing that has been destabilizing is the outrageous behavior of the Supreme Court of the United States and overruling not only Roe v. Wade, but essentially challenging the right to privacy," he said at a news conference in Madrid at the end of a NATO summit.
The family of late Major League Soccer player Scott Vermillion is speaking out and trying to raise awareness after he became the league's first known case of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE. The diagnosis came nearly two years after his death after his brain was analyzed by doctors at Boston University's CTE Center. Doctors found evidence of the degenerative brain disease that's linked to memory loss, depression and aggressive or impulsive behavior.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping stepped off a high speed train into Hong Kong on Thursday to throngs of flag waving residents and a traditional lion dance performance, it marked his first trip outside the borders of Mainland China in nearly 900 days, since the very beginning of the pandemic and also the first time the Chinese leader has set foot in the Chinese territory since the 2019 anti-government protests paralyzed the city. “Hong Kong has withstood severe tests time and time again,” Xi said in brief remarks upon his arrival. “After ups and downs, Hong Kong has risen from the ashes and showed vigorous vitality.”
One of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' key legislative efforts against race education, called the Stop WOKE Act, has been given the green light after a federal judge declined to block it before it takes effect on July 1. The law, which easily moved through the GOP-controlled legislature, would ban lessons and training on race and diversity in schools and in the workplace. It was one of many nationwide attacks on education in schools under the guise of "critical race theory."
A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot in the head while pushing her 3-month-old baby in a stroller on New York City's Upper East Side on Wednesday night, police sources said. The killing appears to be targeted but a motive is not yet clear, police sources told ABC News. The unidentified woman was pushing a baby stroller on Lexington Avenue and East 95th Street around 8:25 p.m. when a man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt came up from behind and shot her in the head, police said.
The Russian military committed "a clear war crime" when its forces bombed a packed drama theater in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in March, Amnesty International said Thursday. The London-based international human rights group published a new report documenting how the deadly blitz on the Donetsk Academic Regional Drama Theater unfolded, citing interviews with numerous survivors and witnesses as well as "extensive digital evidence," which included photographs, videos, radio intercepts, satellite imagery and radar data. The report concluded that the evidence indicates the attack "was almost certainly an airstrike carried out by the Russian military," with the theater as "the intended target."
In response to the invasion of Ukraine, the West has imposed unprecedented sanctions on Russia, nearly crippling its economy and isolating it from all but a few allies. President Joe Biden and other government officials have said sanctions from the U.S. and its allies will make Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, pariahs on the world stage.
Last week, the United States became one of the only Western countries to roll back abortion access in the 21st century after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The ruling means about half of American women may lose access to legal abortions. Abortion rights groups and activists say women in the U.S. can look to Poland for a glimpse of what their futures might be -- and what can happen in the direst of circumstances.