FOX Image Collection via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Last month, Glee star Naya Rivera tragically drowned in California’s Lake Piru; her four-year-old son was found safe in a boat. Gloria Estefan played the mother of Rivera’s Glee character, Santana, in two episodes of the hit Fox series and tells ABC Audio that while Rivera’s loss is “brutal,” she’s left behind “a wonderful legacy.”
“When I shot the first season, that show was at the peak of fame. So there was a lot of young people in that show that may have had a tougher time dealing with fame and weren’t that friendly,” Gloria recalls. “Naya always had her feet on the ground and was warm and welcoming and lovely.”
Praising Rivera as a “triple threat” who could sing, dance and act, Gloria says that Naya was discussing a possible music career with her husband, producer Emilio Estefan.
“She was talking to Emilio…about doing music and then she got married and had her baby, so she got sidetracked…,” notes Gloria. “But she was always lovely and warm and generous. We talked a lot on the set…[and] afterwards.”
The “Conga” singer says when Rivera first went missing, she held out hope that she’d survived.
“Because I’m a boater and I’m a mom, I was hoping that maybe what had happened is that after she put the baby on the boat, maybe she’d gotten pulled away by a current and could somehow find her way to the shore,” Gloria recalls.
“I can only imagine those last moments. It’s brutal,” she says sadly.
But, Gloria concludes, “She leaves behind a wonderful legacy. I’ve sent a lot of prayers and good thoughts to that baby boy and her family. She was very beloved on that [Glee] set and was a great human being.”
Samara Heisz/iStockBy MORGAN WINSOR and EMILY SHAPIRO, ABC News
(NEW YORK) — The novel coronavirus has now killed more than 750,000 people worldwide.
Over 20.6 million people across the globe have been diagnosed with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new respiratory virus, according to data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. The actual numbers are believed to be much higher due to testing shortages, many unreported cases and suspicions that some national governments are hiding or downplaying the scope of their outbreaks.
Since the first cases were detected in China in December, the United States has become the worst-affected country, with more than 5.2 million diagnosed cases and at least 166,148 deaths.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern.
12:50 p.m.: Florida tops 9,000 deaths
With 148 new deaths reported in hard-hit Florida on Wednesday, the state’s death toll has now surpassed 9,000, the Florida Department of Health said Thursday.
Over 557,000 people in the state have been diagnosed with the coronavirus, according to the Florida Department of Health.
Florida has the second-highest number of cases in the U.S., behind California.
12:15 p.m.: About 70% of Catholic schools will be reopened by end of next week
Many Catholic schools across the country are already up and running, and by the end of next week, about 70% of them will be reopened, Kathy Mears, the National Catholic Educational Association CEO and interim president, told ABC News on Thursday.
Most schools are offering some type of in-person instruction, she said.
“We are being very careful. We are following all local guidelines and the recommendations of many health care professionals,” Mears said. “We are making sure that the students are six feet apart in our schools, that they’re all facing one direction. Plexiglas has been put up.”
She said reopening decisions are being made at the local level.
“We pride ourselves on meeting individual needs and that requires different teachers at different times. So for high schools, many of them are using hybrid models,” Mears said.
She continued, “For the elementary, we can keep them better in one classroom because one teacher teaches all subjects and that teacher can differentiate. So at the elementary level, about 85% are going back in person full-time. About 15% of our students and their families are choosing to go online.”
11:25 a.m.: NCAA chief medical officer: ‘It’s a very narrow path to get fall sports right’
As some college athletic conferences postpone fall sports and others forge ahead, Dr. Brian Hainline, senior vice president and chief medical officer at the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association), warned Thursday, “It’s a very narrow path to get fall sports right.”
“In April, we were envisioning that there would be a continued downward trajectory of COVID-19 new infections and deaths, that there would be a national surveillance system national testing, and national contact tracing that would allow us to really navigate this pandemic into re-socializing both in sport and then the rest of society,” he said during a media briefing hosted by the Infectious Diseases Society of America on the impact of COVID-19 on college athletics.
“That hasn’t happened, and it’s made it very challenging to make decisions as we approach fall sport,” Hainline said.
Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine and global health at Emory University and a member of the NCAA’s COVID-19 advisory panel, recommended “that we hold off and we control this virus.”
“My advice to organizations that I’ve talked to is: if you cannot do it safely, you shouldn’t do it,” del Rio said at Thursday’s briefing.
The U.S. has “a quarter of the world’s total number of cases,” Del Rio stressed.
“I feel like the Titanic, and we have hit the iceberg, and we’re trying to make decisions of what time we should have the band play,” del Rio went on. “I think a lot of the discussions of whether we should have sports, [or] we shouldn’t have sports, should really be focused on getting control of the pandemic.”
The Pac-12, Big Ten and Big East conferences announced this week that they’re postponing all fall sports.
The Big 12 announced Wednesday that it will move forward with fall sports this year and will give athletes in high-contact sports including football three COVID-19 tests per week.
The SEC is also moving forward. SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said Tuesday, “We will continue to further refine our policies and protocols for a safe return to sports as we monitor developments around COVID-19.”
9:15 a.m.: At least 561 inmates test positive at Florida prison
At Florida’s Baker Correctional Institution, 561 inmates and 25 staff tested positive for the coronavirus as of Wednesday, reported Jacksonville’s WJXT-TV, citing the Florida Department of Corrections.
Another 294 inmate tests were pending.
One week ago, 20 inmates and 17 staff members had tested positive, WJXT reported.
All staff and inmates at Baker Correctional Institution were given face masks and everyone is required to wear one, a Department of Corrections spokesperson told WJXT.
Meals are now provided in cells and inmates’ temperatures are checked daily, the Department of Corrections told WJXT.
7:45 a.m.: New Zealand reports 13 more locally-transmitted cases
New Zealand confirmed 13 new locally-transmitted cases of COVID-19 on Thursday.
Authorities said the new cases are all in Auckland, the country’s most populous city, and are linked to the four people from the same family in Auckland who tested positive for the virus on Tuesday, breaking a 102-day streak without any locally-transmitted cases across New Zealand.
The fresh cluster of cases spreading within the community, which now totals 17, prompted New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to place Auckland under a three-day lockdown starting Wednesday and to reinstate some restrictions for the rest of the country.
“We are now treating these cases as a cluster — and what we know about clusters is that they grow,” New Zealand’s ministry of health said in a press release Thursday. “What is important is that we investigate these cases to their full extent, and that is exactly where people who are coming forward to be tested are helping us.”
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, New Zealand has reported 1,239 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 22 deaths. Thirty-six of those cases remain active, including the 17 linked to the recent outbreak, according to the health ministry.
6:39 a.m.: India reports highest single-day spike in infections
India registered 66,999 new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, its highest single-day spike in infections yet.
The country also recorded an additional 942 coronavirus-related fatalities, according to the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The nationwide total now stands at just under 2.4 million confirmed cases with at least 47,033 deaths. More than 653,000 of those cases remain active, after 1.6 million patients have recovered.
India has the third-highest number of diagnosed cases in the world, after the United States and Brazil.
5:12 a.m.: Newborn baby among Minnesota children recently hospitalized
A newborn baby is among the children recently hospitalized with COVID-19 in Minnesota, according to a report by Saint Paul ABC affiliate KSTP-TV.
Jenni Gibbens said her son, Harrison, was just 25 days old when he tested positive for COVID-19 and was hospitalized in July, making him one of Minnesota’s youngest coronavirus patients.
“I was in absolute shock,” Gibbens told KSTP. “Any time when it’s your child, it’s just heartbreaking.”
Gibbens’ entire family ended up contracting the virus, with her husband being the first to show symptoms in early July. Her 4-year-old son Deacon, who also tested positive, was asymptomatic, she said.
Baby Harrison spent three days at Children’s Minnesota hospital, where staff monitored his fever, oxygen levels and heart function.
“At 27 days old, he is officially taking the title of a COVID survivor, which seems unreal,” Gibbens told KSTP.
To date, more than 9,000 Minnesota residents under the age of 20 have tested positive for COVID019, including more than 1,400 children younger than 6, according to KSTP.
Patsy Stinchfield, a pediatric nurse practitioner and the senior director of infection prevention and control at Children’s Minnesota, said 72 children have been admitted to the hospital with COVID-19, with around 10 needing to be put on ventilators.
“Most of the kids that are coming in are in for support, IV fluids, observation, just making sure they’re not going to get worse,” she told KSTP. “We are seeing a very wide variety of symptoms.”
4:48 a.m.: Italy orders COVID-19 tests for travelers from four nations
Italy has ruled that people traveling to the country from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain must be tested for COVID-19 on arrival.
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced Wednesday evening that he had signed the new order, adding that anyone traveling from or through Colombia would be barred from entering Italy.
“We must continue along the line of prudence to defend the results achieved in recent months with everyone’s sacrifice,” Speranza wrote in a Facebook post.
Italy, once the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe, has so far reported more than 251,000 diagnosed cases of COVID-19 with over 35,000 deaths. The country has largely contained the spread of the virus in recent months, but now there are fears of a possible resurgence of infections.
Italy registered another rise in the number of new infections Wednesday, with 481 cases identified in the past 24 hours — up from 412 on Tuesday, according to data released by the Civil Protection Agency.
3:50 a.m.: US records nearly 56,000 new cases, over 1,500 additional deaths
There were 55,910 new cases of COVID-19 identified in the United States on Wednesday, according to a count kept by Johns Hopkins University.
An additional 1,504 coronavirus-related deaths were also reported — a jump of more than 400 from the previous day.
It’s the first time in four days that the nation has recorded over 50,000 new cases. But Wednesday’s caseload is still well below the record set on July 16, when more than 77,000 new cases were identified in a 24-hour reporting period.
A total of 5,197,377 people in the U.S. have been diagnosed with COVID-19 since the pandemic began, and at least 166,027 of them have died, according to Johns Hopkins. The cases include people from all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C. and other U.S. territories as well as repatriated citizens.
By May 20, all U.S. states had begun lifting stay-at-home orders and other restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus. The day-to-day increase in the country’s cases then hovered around 20,000 for a couple of weeks before shooting back up and crossing 70,000 for the first time in mid-July.
Many states have seen a rise in infections in recent weeks, with some — including Arizona, California and Florida — reporting daily records. However, the nationwide number of new cases and deaths in the last week have both decreased in week-over-week comparisons, according to an internal memo from the Federal Emergency Management Agency obtained by ABC News Wednesday night.
(NEW YORK) — A lawyer for an alleged child-sex trafficking victim contends in a new court filing that attorneys for Jeffrey Epstein’s $655 million estate are engaged in a “concerted and coordinated effort” to delay the woman’s lawsuit in an attempt to steer her claims into a private victim compensation fund established by the estate.
“They have done everything they can to make these cases as difficult as possible for the victims so the victims feel like they have no real choice but to submit to the fund and postpone the proceedings indefinitely,” Robert Glassman, an attorney for the alleged victim who sued under the pseudonym Jane Doe, wrote.
Doe filed the lawsuit against the estate in January. The complaint also names Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s alleged accomplice, as a co-defendant. Doe alleges she was recruited by the pair in 1994 when she was a 13-year-old music student at a summer camp in Michigan.
Of the more than 30 women who brought legal claims against Epstein’s estate following his death last year, Doe is the only accuser who has declined to put her lawsuit on hold to pursue an alternative resolution via the Epstein Victims’ Compensation Fund, a voluntary non-adversarial program that began evaluating claims in June.
In the seven months since Doe filed the lawsuit, estate lawyers have yet to turn over a single document in response to pretrial requests and have “resorted to belittling [Doe] … simply because she is exercising her constitutional right to pursue a legal claim against those responsible for causing her unimaginable harm,” according to Glassman’s claims in a letter to U.S. Magistrate Judge Debra Freeman.
“In short, since [Doe] has not agreed to stay her case and walk away, she is being punished by the Epstein estate for doing what she has a basic right to do. That is simply unacceptable and [she] is not walking away,” Glassman wrote.
Glassman declined to comment on the letter when reached by ABC News.
Lawyers for the estate did not respond to an email request for comment, but in a letter filed with the court late Wednesday, they disputed Glassman’s allegations that the estate had belittled the alleged victim as “completely untrue.”
“We have done no such thing, and the inclusion of this claim by plaintiff’s counsel further highlights their lack of good faith in these discussions,” Epstein estate attorney Mary Grace Metcalfe wrote.
The parties have been wrangling for months now over the estate’s insistence on a confidentiality order and a non-disclosure agreement being in place before they would turn over any relevant information in their possession to Doe’s lawyers, who have thus far declined to sign on to its terms. During a teleconference last week, estate lawyer Bennet Moskowitz told the court that Doe’s lawyer’s refusal to sign the agreement is the only thing standing in the way of the estate turning over documents to her legal team.
“It kind of boggles our minds because this case is brought by someone acting through an anonymous name. That is reason alone to have a confidentiality agreement,” Moskowitz said.
Moskowitz also advocated for putting the litigation on hold while Doe submits a claim to the compensation fund, arguing that it was “a very sensible thing to do.”
According to a spokesperson for the compensation program, forms were sent to over 100 potential claimants so far and more than 25 claims have been filed and are being reviewed.
Unlike a lawsuit, the claims process is designed to be confidential from start to finish, which may be a favored path for the vast majority of alleged Epstein victims. But the process, by its very nature, may also prevent disclosure of information about the scope of Epstein’s finances and his alleged sex-trafficking operation that might otherwise be revealed in public court records or proceedings. The only public reporting required of the program is a periodic aggregate accounting of the number of claims paid and the total amount of the awards.
Judge Freeman, who is overseeing the case, seemed to be nudging Doe’s lawyers during the telephonic hearing in the direction of staying the case, as dozens of other Epstein accusers had done.
“I’m not trying to twist anybody’s arms here. I just think you need to talk because I don’t want to see money unnecessarily spent,” Freeman said. “And I’m not saying you should agree to a stay, but I think you should consider it.”
But Glassman told ABC News in a brief interview last month that — while Doe may at some point opt to submit a claim to the compensation fund — she has no interest in delaying the lawsuit while that process runs its course. Glassman also said that he sees no need for the confidentiality agreement the estate wants in place because there is an existing court order which prohibits the disclosure of his client’s identity to anyone not involved in the case.
“We’re interested in taking this case to trial and getting the evidence that we need in order to prepare the case for that time,” Glassman said.
Doe’s lawsuit alleges that she is the first known child victim of Epstein and Maxwell. According to her civil complaint, after first meeting them at the music camp, a months-long grooming process continued after she returned home to Florida, where Epstein had a seaside estate on Palm Beach Island. Doe’s father had recently passed away, the complaint said, creating an opportunity for Epstein and Maxwell to fill the void.
“Epstein gave himself the name of Doe’s ‘godfather’ while Maxwell acted like an older sister to her,” her complaint said. “They took her to movies, went shopping with her and lounged around Epstein’s estate with her.”
Doe, now 40, alleges the abuse escalated over the next few years as Epstein and Maxwell asserted more and more control over her life and aspirations. Epstein paid for voice lessons, private high school tuition and even co-signed a lease on a New York City apartment for Doe and her mother, according to her complaint.
She claims the abuse occurred at Epstein’s homes in Florida, New York and his ranch in New Mexico, and that she would often travel to those locations with Epstein and Maxwell on one of Epstein’s private jets.
“Epstein’s system of abuse was facilitated in large part by his co-conspirator and accomplice, Maxwell, who helped supply him with a steady stream of young and vulnerable girls,” the complaint said, “many of whom were fatherless, like Jane Doe, and came from struggling families.”
The allegations in Doe’s complaint are substantially similar to the circumstances of one of the three child victims described in the criminal indictment filed against Maxwell last month. Maxwell has denied Doe’s claims in the civil suit and has pleaded not guilty to the charges in the criminal indictment. She is currently being held without bail in a federal jail in Brooklyn, New York.
In a letter to the court Wednesday, Maxwell’s attorney Laura Menninger indicated that she intends to ask the court to put Doe’s claims against Maxwell on hold, pending the outcome of her criminal case. Citing the difficulties she’s had communicating with Maxwell at the jail, Menninger asked for another week to consult with her client before filing a formal request.
Breonna Taylor FamilyBy ELLA TORRES, STEPHANIE WASH and SABINA GHEBREMEDHIN, ABC News
(LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — More than 150 days after the killing of Breonna Taylor, a young Black medical worker fatally shot in Louisville, Kentucky, by plainclothes officers who were executing a no-knock warrant, it’s still unclear whether any police will face charges, attorneys for Taylor’s family said.
Ben Crump and Lonita Baker said at a press conference on Thursday that the family met with the mayor and state attorney general on Wednesday but that no definitive answers emerged.
Crump did say he “absolutely” expects there to be charges in the case, but he didn’t provide additional details.
Baker said Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron personally extended his condolences to the family during the meeting, the first time he’s spoken with the family.
Cameron told them he didn’t reach out previously because he feared it could interfere with his investigation. His office is waiting on ballistics reports from the FBI and additional interviews before any decisions are made, Baker added.
“He wants to have the right answer at the end of this. He doesn’t want to rush through it,” Taylor’s mother, Tamika Palmer, who attended the meeting, said at the press conference.
But, Baker added, “We’re not going to wait forever. We do want this resolved quickly and accurately.”
Taylor was killed March 13 after officers executed a no-knock entry into her home, according to the arrest warrant obtained by ABC News. Police said she had been accepting packages for an ex-boyfriend whom police were investigating as an alleged drug trafficker.
Taylor and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, got out of bed around midnight when they heard commotion outside. After a short exchange with officers, Walker said he fired his gun in self-defense, saying he thought the home was being broken into, according to police.
The plainclothes officers returned multiple shots, including the ones that fatally struck Taylor. Police said the no-knock warrant was necessary “due to the nature of how these drug traffickers operate,” the arrest warrant states.
Attorneys for Taylor’s estate claimed that more than 20 shots were fired into her apartment, hitting her multiple times.
Crump said Thursday that in a separate meeting he and his co-attorneys challenged Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer “to make sure that he is courageous and responsible in trying to lead his city out of this tragedy.”
“He has that power and we want him to rise to the occasion,” Crump said.
Crump also said they discussed the officer who attorneys for Taylor’s family allege lied on a probable cause affidavit that “enticed” a judge to sign a no-knock warrant, calling for him to be fired.
“You have to admit the wrong that occurred, and then you have to have conscientious thoughts about how that wrong happened,” Crump said.
Baker added that they discussed with the mayor a number of things that they believe the city needs to change, including ordinances, the FOP contract, and the termination of other officers involved. There was a positive dialogue, she said, but now it’s time to turn it into action.
Taylor’s aunt, Bianca Austin, said that even though it’s been five months, each day still feels like March 13.
Wearing a T-shirt with Taylor’s face pinned to the left arm and a mask with her niece’s name, Austin said the family still has faith the city will do the right thing.
“We need to take our city back so there won’t be any more names,” she said.
Palmer said she hopes to see justice beyond just her daughter’s case.
“At this point it’s bigger than Breonna, it’s bigger than Black lives,” Palmer said. “It’s about bridging the gap between us and police.”
ABC/Image Group LA2020 has brought a rejuvenated push for equality, with nationwide protests in response to the death of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others, and a renewed momentum behind the Civil Rights movement.
That social climate has touched the country world, with The Chicks dropping “Dixie” from their name and country trio Lady A leaving “Antebellum” behind.
But as usual, Dolly Parton was a little ahead of the curve.
In 2018, she changed the name of her Dixie Stampede dinner attraction to Dolly Parton’s Stampede after becoming more aware of the painful connotations of the word “Dixie.”
“There’s such a thing as innocent ignorance, and so many of us are guilty of that,” the superstar tells Billboard in a new cover profile for the magazine’s Country Power Players 2020 issue. “As soon as you realize that [something] is a problem, you should fix it. Don’t be a dumba**. That’s where my heart is. I would never dream of hurting anybody on purpose.”
And while she hasn’t attended any of the protests or marches this year in person, Dolly says she stands firmly in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I understand people having to make themselves known and felt and seen,” she adds. “And of course Black lives matter. Do we think our little white a**es are the only ones that matter? No!”
During the pandemic and uncertainties that have been the hallmark of 2020, Dolly has prioritized sharing soothing messages with her fans. She released an uplifting new song called “When Life Is Good Again,” and recently announced that she’s about to release a holiday album called A Holly Dolly Christmas.
FOX Image Collection via Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Last month, Glee star Naya Rivera tragically drowned in California’s Lake Piru; her four-year-old son was found safe in a boat. Gloria Estefan played the mother of Rivera’s Glee character, Santana, in two episodes of the hit Fox series and tells ABC Audio that while Rivera’s loss is “brutal,” she’s left behind “a wonderful legacy.”
