Category: News

Goddard_Photography/iStockBy MARK OSBORNE, ABC News (SAN DIEGO) — The San Diego Zoo announced on Thursday it was in the process of inoculating many of its great apes after several of its gorillas became sick with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in January. So far, four orangutans and five bonobos are in the process of being vaccinated, the San Diego Union Tribune reported. The zoo would only say “some of the members of the great apes” were being vaccinated. Zoetis, a producer of medicine and vaccinations for animals, provided the…

ABC Photo IllustrationBy NAM CHO and CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC News (NEW YORK) — A barrage of attacks on Asian Americans, reported to be fueled in part by biases pertaining to the coronavirus pandemic, have filled communities around the country with fear and rage. But they have also exposed old wounds as advocates implore their fellow Americans to see and hear what they call a long-standing plight of invisibility. “Our people are getting attacked, our people are getting harassed, spat on, beat up, you know, slashed,” Rep. Grace Meng, D-NY, told…

ABC NewsBy ASHLEY RIGGLE, MARJORIE MCAFFEE, and ANTHONY RIVAS, ABC News (LOS ANGELES) — As Los Angeles edges out of the most restrictive tier in its covid-19 reopening plan, small business owners who’ve struggled to stay afloat say that whatever hope it brings is mixed with feelings of frustration and anger. For many of the small business owners, the past year has been defined by sacrifice and heartbreak, and the constant concern that their business could go under as they try to keep up with the latest requirements. Jared “JP”…

BlakeDavidTaylor/iStockBy MARLENE LENTHANG, ABC News(DALLAS) — A Texas police officer was arrested Thursday on two counts of capital murder, authorities said. Bryan Riser, a 13-year veteran of the Dallas police force, was taken into custody and transported to the Dallas County Jail for processing, Police Chief Eddie Garcia said at a press conference. A man came forward in August 2019 and told investigators that Riser directed him to kidnap and kill two people in 2017, Garcia said. The murders took place when Riser was off-duty, Garcia added. Officials said his…

kali9/iStockBy Dr. MISHAL REJA, ABC News(NEW YORK) — Crisanna Tang, a New York-based health care worker, was just on her way to work. “A man got on the train without a mask,” said Tang, a 31-year-old Chinese American born in New Jersey and raised in Port St. Lucie, Florida, “and he sits across from me. He started saying, ‘Go back to China,’ and started spitting all over me, and said all these things about Chinese people causing the virus.” Tang is not alone. The advocacy group Stop AAPI Hate said…

pinkomelet/iStockBy CATHERINE THORBECKE, ABC News(AUSTIN, Texas) — Even as some states ease or end mask mandates, a handful of businesses say they will still require customers and staff to wear face coverings as the pandemic continues. The governors of Texas and Mississippi announced earlier this week that they were fully lifting mask mandates in their states. Texas’ mandate lifts on March 10, and Mississippi ended its mandate as of Wednesday. The moves drew ire from health officials and even President Joe Biden, who blasted the decisions as “Neanderthal thinking” amid…

Prince George’s County FireBy MARK OSBORNE, ABC News(LAUREL, Md.) — 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. Law enforcement said it had been unable to make a…

uschools/iStockBy BEATRICE PETERSON and BENJAMIN SIEGEL, ABC News(WASHINGTON) — As Capitol Police and National Guard troops were on high alert amid a potential threat tied to March 4, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi downplayed that the House changed its schedule so it wouldn’t be in session on Thursday. “I don’t think anybody should take any encouragement that because some troublemakers might show up that we changed our whole schedule,” Pelosi told reporters. “No, we just moved it a few hours,” she said, to accommodate Republicans headed to an issues retreat Thursday…

ALFSnaiper/iStockBy LUIS MARTINEZ, ABC News (WASHINGTON) — Two U.S. officials confirmed Thursday that the Capitol Police have requested a 60-day extension for the National Guard presence at the Capitol. One official said the request is being reviewed. The request came as the Capitol was on high alert after threats of another possible attack plot tied to March 4. There are currently more than 5,000 National Guard members still in the city from a peak of 25,000 present for security at the Jan. 20 inauguration. The scheduled end of the current…

DNY59/iStockBy AARON KATERSKY, ABC News (NEW YORK) — In the first case of its kind in New York, a Long Island doctor has been charged with murder for prescription practices that led to the deaths of five patients between 2016 and 2018. Dr. George Blatti ignored repeated warnings and prescribed “massive quantities of opioids” and other drugs that killed five patients and endangered the lives of six others, prosecutors said Thursday. Blatti is the first doctor charged in New York with depraved indifference murder for prescription abuses. “This doctor’s prescription…