Gov. Gavin Newsom urges California schools to restrict cellphone usage in classrooms
(NEW YORK) — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is urging schools across the state to restrict students’ cellphone usage in classrooms, he said in a letter to schools.
Los Angeles Unified School District — the second largest district in the U.S. — and Santa Barbara Unified have already implemented restrictions on the use of cellphones in schools.
In 2019, Newsom signed a bill into law granting districts the authority to regulate the use of the devices during school hours.
“Excessive smartphone use among youth is linked to increased anxiety, depression, and other mental health issues. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 72% of high school and 33% of middle school teachers report cell phone distractions as a major problem,” Newsom wrote in the letter.
“Combined with the U.S. Surgeon General’s warning about the risks of social media, it is urgent to provide reasonable guardrails for smartphone use in schools,” the letter said.
Newsom also argued that reducing the use of phones in class leads to improved concentration, better academic outcomes and enhanced social interactions.
The push for limited cellphone usage in schools comes amid concerns from public health leaders that social media platforms are contributing to a mental health crisis among young people. In June, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek H. Murthy called for a warning label to be added to social media platforms stating that social media usage can be associated with significant mental health harms for adolescents.
Virginia also announced it will restrict cellphone use in public K-12 schools. Restrictions in that state are set to go into effect starting 2025.
(NEW YORK) — The former Illinois sheriff’s deputy who fatally shot Sonya Massey in her home after she called 911 to report a prowler was the subject of a complaint alleging inappropriate conduct following a 2022 arrest, according to Sean Grayson’s disciplinary paperwork obtained by ABC News.
A woman arrested by Grayson stated that he asked her to remove drugs from her vaginal area in front of him and another officer when he was employed with the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, according to police records. Grayson worked at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office full time from May 2022 until he resigned in April 2023. He was hired in May 2023 by the Sangamon Sheriff’s Office, where he remained until he was fired following the Massey killing.
“I went to do as he had instructed me to do feeling very afraid and forced to do such action,” the detainee stated in her complaint against Grayson. “The C.O., Aaron (Female C.O.) stopped me and informed officer Grayson that I was not to do that in front of them because they are male officers.”
According to the report, the female officer then took the woman away from the male officers, so the detainee could attempt to extract the narcotics, but she was not able to retrieve them. The detainee was then transported to a hospital to have the drugs removed.
The woman then claimed that when she was on a hospital bed “completely exposed” during the procedure, Grayson flung the curtain back, causing her to be visible to him and, what she believed were two other male officers, before the doctor immediately shut the curtain and told the officers not to enter again.
“I knocked on the door and walked into the room,” Grayson claimed in a police report, explaining that he entered to deliver a plastic evidence bag for the extracted narcotics. “As I entered the room I observed [name extracted by ABC News for the former detainee’s privacy] laying on the bed fully clothed in a gown and with a blanket on her.”
Grayson stated in the report that when police originally told the woman to remove the drugs, he handed her a plastic glove and asked her to extract the narcotics. A “female jailor” then took the woman “into the jail” to attempt to remove the narcotics, according to the former deputy.
“In conclusion of this I was never in physical contact with [name extracted by ABC News],” Grayson stated. “I was never alone with [name extracted by ABC News]. I did not talk to [name extracted by ABC News] alone at any point.”
Grayson resigned in “good standing” from the Logan County Sheriff’s Office to join Sangamon County law enforcement before the complaint could be officially investigated, according to a police record.
The former deputy has been charged with first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm and official misconduct in Massey’s death. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges and remains in custody.
A review by Illinois State Police found Grayson was not justified in his use of deadly force. He was fired from his position with the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office on July 17, the same day the charges were filed against him.
Grayson’s job with Sangamon County was one of six different police jobs he held over the past four years.
Miller, Grayson’s boss at the Logan County Sheriff’s Office, expressed concerns over Grayson violating department policy and submitting inaccurate reports while discussing his mishandling of a traffic case, according to audio files previously obtained by ABC News.
Prior to his time in public law enforcement, Grayson was discharged from the U.S. Army for unspecified “misconduct (serious offense),” according to documents obtained by ABC News. The U.S. Army, citing the Privacy Act and Department of Defense policy, said it is prevented from releasing information relating to the misconduct of low-level employees or characterization of service at discharge.
ABC News also learned that Grayson was charged with two DUI offenses in Macoupin County, Illinois, in August 2015 and July 2016, according to court documents. He pleaded guilty to both charges. He paid over $1,320 in fines and had his vehicle impounded as a result of the 2015 incident. In 2016, Grayson paid over $2,400 in fines, according to court records.
Grayson and a second, unnamed deputy responded to Massey’s 911 call on July 6 reporting a possible intruder at her Springfield home.
Body camera footage shows Massey, who was unarmed, telling the two responding deputies, “Please, don’t hurt me,” once she answered their knocks on her door.
Grayson responded, “I don’t want to hurt you, you called us.”
Later in the video, while inside Massey’s home as she searches for her ID, Grayson points to a pot of boiling water on her stove and says, “We don’t need a fire while we’re in here.”
Massey then pours the water into the sink and tells the deputy, “I rebuke you in the name of Jesus.”
Grayson then shouts at Massey and threatens to shoot her, the video shows, and Massey apologizes and ducks down behind a counter, covering her face with what appears to be a red oven mitt. She briefly rises, at which time Grayson shoots her three times in the face, the footage shows.
Grayson said he feared for his life during his encounter with Massey, according to documents released by the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office last week.
“While on scene, I was in fear Dep. (redacted) and I were going to receive great bodily harm or death. Due to being in fear of our safety and life, I fired my duty weapon,” Grayson wrote in his field case report.
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell, who hired Grayson, will be retiring later this month, he announced Friday in a statement.
“As elected leaders, we must always put the overall good of the community above ourselves; and I will not risk the community that I swore to protect. For this reason, I am announcing my retirement as Sheriff of Sangamon County, effective no later than August 31st,” Campbell said in the statement.
(BEL AIR, Md.) — Two people were found dead and another was injured after an explosion Sunday morning leveled a home and damaged multiple neighboring residences in a suburban Baltimore neighborhood, authorities said.
The blast was reported around 6:42 a.m. on Arthur Woods Drive in the Harford County city of Bel Air, about 32 miles north of Baltimore, according to officials.
A 35-year-old contractor for Baltimore Gas and Electric was confirmed as the person killed by the explosion, Master Deputy Fire Marshal Oliver Alkire said Sunday. The name of the BGE contractor was not immediately released. A female neighbor living adjacent to the home that exploded was also injured, suffering cuts and bruises, and treated at the scene, Alkire said.
At 6:00 p.m. Sunday, Harford County officials said another victim was found dead in the rubble, bringing the death toll to two.
The identity of the second individual will be released by the medical examiner’s office, officials said.
At least 12 families have been displaced by the blast, according to officials, who noted the total number of damaged structures is still being counted.
A photo posted on X by Harford County Fire and Emergency Medical Services showed firefighters battling a small fire and searching the remains of the home, which was reduced to splintered pieces of wood, insulation and other debris.
“I’ve been on the job for 18 years and this was one of the largest explosions I’ve seen,” Alkire said during a news conference earlier Sunday.
Alkire said firefighters from the Harford County Fire Department were responding to a report of a gas leak in the area when the explosion occurred.
Jeffrey Sexton, a spokesperson for the Harford County Fire and EMS Association, confirmed that the remains of the BGE worker were found in a large debris field caused by the explosion.
Search-and-rescue crews on Sunday afternoon were still combing “piece by piece” through the rubble, which stretched across multiple blocks, officials said.
Alkire said that at least two BGE contract workers had also responded to the area before the explosion to investigate an electrical issue. He said the workers were aware of reports of an odor of gas in the area when the explosion occurred.
Multiple homes were damaged and a damage assessment was being conducted, according to Alkire. He said no evacuations have been ordered.
Alkire confirmed the house that exploded was for sale, but it was unclear if anyone was inside the house when it exploded. Officials described the house as being a “total loss.”
The cause of the explosion is under investigation by the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, the Harford County Sheriff’s Department and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Residents in the neighborhood reported hearing the loud explosion and feeling their houses shake, authorities said.
Jefferey Beyers, who lives near the home that was destroyed by the blast, told ABC News that he and his wife were awakened by a “deafening explosion coupled with the kind of feeling of an earthquake.” Beyers pointed out windows in his house that he said were blown out from the frames.
“I think it’s important to get to the bottom of it, like understand what happened so that this kind of thing doesn’t happen again,” Beyers said.
Another neighbor, Marshall Garrett, who also lives nearby, told ABC News that he immediately rushed to the scene, beating the fire engines there. He described the scene as complete devastation and said it looked like something out of a movie.
“At first, we saw, we just saw the rubble,” Garrett said. “And then we started to see the flames streak out, and the smoke goes in the air.”
(MOUNTAINVIEW, Colo.) — A 17-year-old was shot in the face while he was looking for a location to take homecoming pictures in Colorado, according to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.
Deputies responded to a report of two trespassers on a property at around 4 p.m. Tuesday. The homeowner also called her boyfriend to report the trespassers, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies arrived on the scene to find a teenager bleeding heavily from his face as his friend applied pressure to the wounds with a T-shirt. A man identified as Brent Metz, 38, was standing with the two boys, according to the sheriff’s office.
The injured boy told a responding deputy that Metz shot him in the face through the windshield of his car, the sheriff’s office said.
The teen told the deputy he and his friend had driven to the property to see if they could take their homecoming pictures there. The boys parked at the gate, jumped the fence and walked up to the driveway to speak to the homeowner, but it appeared no one was home, according to the sheriff’s office.
The boys then walked around the property trying to find the homeowner, but were unable to, authorities said. They then walked to their car and began writing a note to the homeowner asking for permission to use the property, according to the sheriff’s office.
As they wrote the note, a man they had never seen before pulled up next to them, exited the truck he was driving and fired a round through the windshield, striking the 17-year-old driver in the face, according to the sheriff’s office.
The boy was taken by ambulance to the hospital, according to the sheriff’s office. The teen’s current condition is not known.
Deputies found the weapon used in the shooting in Metz’s truck, according to the sheriff’s office.
Metz was arrested and transported to the sheriff’s office, where he was booked into jail for first degree assault, felony managing, illegal discharge of a firearm and reckless endangerment, according to the sheriff’s office.