Camp Mystic, site of deadly Texas flooding, files for bankruptcy

(NEW YORK) — Women’s liberation icon Gloria Steinem has died at 92.

“Yesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her,” a post on an official social media channel said. “Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end.”

The outspoken activist and journalist was born on March 25, 1934, in Toledo, Ohio. She studied government at Smith College in Massachusetts, and graduated magna cum laude in 1956.

Afterward, she spent two years studying and researching in India thanks to the Chester Bowles Fellowship, which inspired her grassroots activism later in life.

She would become known as one of the most prominent figures in the modern feminist movement, tackling politics, abortion, marriage and more through her writings and speeches.

“When humans are ranked instead of linked, everyone loses,” she said in her book, “My Life on the Road.”

In an interview with NPR, Steinem spoke about getting pregnant when she was 22 and seeking out an illegal abortion in 1957.

“I just knew that if I went home and married, which I would’ve had to do, it would be to the wrong person; it would be to a life that wasn’t mine, that wasn’t mine at all,” she said in the interview.

“My Life on the Road” is dedicated to the doctor who recommended her for the abortion, Dr. John Sharpe.

The dedication read: “Knowing that she had broken an engagement at home to seek an unknown fate, he said, ‘You must promise me two things. First, you will not tell anyone my name. Second, you will do what you want to do with your life.’ Dear Dr. Sharpe, I believe you, who knew the law was unjust, would not mind if I say this so long after your death: I’ve done the best I could with my life.”

At first, Steinem struggled to gain footing in the male-dominated journalism industry as a reporter on politics and social justice issues.

“I was angry because young men in politics were treated like rising stars and young women were treated like – well – young women,” she wrote.

She continued, “I was angry about the human talent that was lost just because it was born into a female body, and the mediocrity that was rewarded because it was born into a male one.”

She gained national attention in 1963 for her reporting on the working conditions at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Club.

In the exposé, she revealed the “not-so-glamorous, sexist, and underpaid life of the bunny/waitresses,” according to the National Women’s History Museum.

In 1968, she helped found New York magazine, and worked as an editor and political writer, largely focusing on the women’s liberation movement, the National Women’s History Museum reported. She also helped found the feminist magazine, “Ms.”

In 1971, she was one of the founders of the National Women’s Political Caucus, alongside other icons such as Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm.

The caucus remains the only “national organization dedicated exclusively to increasing women’s participation in all areas of political and public life,” according to the organization’s website.

It was founded after Congress failed to pass the Equal Rights Amendment, and was spurred by the belief that “legal, economic and social equity would come about only when women were equally represented among the nation’s political decision-makers.”

She continued her advocacy work throughout her life, through her books and lectures, uplifting the civil rights and anti-racism movements along the way.

“We are here and around the world for a deep democracy that says we will not be quiet,” she said at the 2017 Women’s March on Washington. “We will not be controlled. We will work for a world in which all countries are connected. God may be in the details but the goddess is in connections.”

Steinem was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1986. She overcame the disease after undergoing surgery and radiation treatment.

Her husband, entrepreneur and animal rights activist David Charles Howard Bale, died in 2003. Steinem, who famously denounced marriage as an institution, married Bale in 2000 and said her mind was changed because “marriage changed,” according to The New Yorker.

She continued, “We spent 30 years in the United States changing the marriage laws. If I had married when I was supposed to get married, I would have lost my name, my legal residence, my credit rating, many of my civil rights. That’s not true anymore. It’s possible to make an equal marriage.”

The post announcing her death said Steinem spent her recent years “being in community with others and writing.” It also included a quote, which is said was from the writer’s forthcoming book, “An Unexpected Life.”

“I have now lived for more than fifty years in this brownstone,” she wrote, “in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone.”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) — Jeffrey Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff told the House Oversight Committee Tuesday that the convicted sex offender was a “master manipulator” and that she was unaware of his crimes, according to multiple sources familiar with her closed-door testimony.

Groff is appearing as part of the committee’s ongoing inquiry into the federal government’s handling of investigations into Epstein and his alleged co-conspirators, which to date has included interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Epstein’s longtime personal assistant Sarah Kellen, and a prison guard who was on duty the night Epstein died in his jail cell.

Groff, who worked for Epstein in New York for more than 18 years, was once described by her boss as an “extension of my brain.”

Among her job requirements were scheduling Epstein’s frequent meetings with celebrities, scientists and politicians, booking Epstein’s daily massage appointments when he was in New York, and arranging travel for women linked to Epstein. She was one of four women listed as potential co-conspirators in Epstein’s controversial non-prosecution agreement in 2007.

According to federal prosecutors, “numerous victims [of Epstein] had indicated that she was responsible for scheduling massages during which they were sexually abused.”

Groff told lawmakers Tuesday that she never had a romantic or sexual relationship with Epstein and said the message appointments she scheduled for Epstein with young women and girls were with massage therapists, source said. Groff could not recall scheduling massages for anyone other than Epstein and former Goldman Sachs chief counsel Kathy Ruemmler at a spa, and said the masseuses were both male and female, sources said. She testified that she would receive the names of the massage therapists from Epstein, and that he instructed her to schedule the massages.

Sources said Groff told lawmakers that she scheduled most of the massages for Epstein’s New York residence. Groff testified that she never witnessed or knew of any sexual abuse.

Groff testified that she never met a single massage therapist in person and believes that Epstein — or Bella Klein, a one-time Epstein associate — would pay them with “petty cash,” sources said. Groff told lawmakers that she would occasionally send cash via couriers, said sources.

Groff testified that when Epstein was arrested in 2006, he told Groff that he was blackmailed, sources said. She told lawmakers that she did not know she was tied to the 2008 non-prosecution agreement as a listed co-conspirator, which she described that as a “scarlet letter” she wears to this day, according to sources.

Groff said Epstein told her again after the 2008 plea deal that he was blackmailed. Groff said she resigned in 2019 when Epstein was arrested again, sources said.

She described to lawmakers that her relationship with Epstein was strictly business, sources said. Epstein and his associate Ghislaine Maxwell told Groff that she should not associate with their friends or colleagues, and insisted their business was none of her business, sources added.

She told lawmakers that Epstein had a lot of people in his circle, and she did not find it odd that he had a “large” massage list for individuals across the world, sources said.

House Oversight Chairman James Comer said on his way in Tuesday morning that he believed Groff has “information that is very valuable to our investigation.”

“Hopefully, we’ll learn more today,” Comer said.

The chairman reiterated that the committee is conducting “the most thorough investigation ever of Epstein.”

“We’re bringing in the most important people in the whole Epstein criminal enterprise that are still alive, and hopefully we’ll get the truth to the American people. If there’s an opportunity for accountability, we sure want to see that happen,” he said.

Groff did not speak to reporters upon her arrival.

Last September at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, Epstein survivor Marina Lacerda specifically called out Groff, alleging that Groff had called her so many times to go to Epstein’s place for a massage that she dropped out of high school before the ninth grade.

Lacerda — who was one of the key witnesses that led to Epstein’s 2019 indictment for child sex trafficking — told ABC News in an interview this week that Groff was the conduit to Epstein.

“Anything that had to do with Jeffrey Epstein,” Lacerda told ABC News in an interview, “had to go through Lesley Groff.”   

Michael Bachner, a lawyer for Groff, declined comment in advance of her appearance on Capitol Hill. He previously told ABC News that Groff “never knowingly booked travel for anyone under the age of 18, and had no knowledge of the alleged illegal activity whatsoever.”

“Ms. Groff, a parent herself, is incredibly shocked and deeply upset about the alleged wrongdoings of Mr. Epstein,” Bachner said.

After Epstein’s arrest in July 2019, federal prosecutors included Groff in a list of potential co-conspirators and sent her a subpoena. Bachner informed the government, just four days after Epstein’s arrest, that his client “would invoke her Fifth Amendment privilege against compelled self-incrimination” if called to appear before a grand jury.

Groff, now 59, eventually interviewed with the investigators two years later, telling prosecutors that “making massage appointments was just another appointment she had to make” for Epstein, and said that scheduling massages was “around 1%” of her job.  

Groff, who was hired by Epstein in 2001, told the FBI she was immediately struck by Epstein’s lifestyle and the company he kept, describing it as “pretty incredible to see all the people Epstein dealt with in politics, television, et cetera.”   

“Groff felt, ‘Wow,'” according to an FBI account of her interview.

Groff was initially paid a salary of $60,000 a year, but saw it doubled to $120,000 by Epstein four years later, DOJ records show.

The New York Times reported in 2005 that Epstein bought Groff a new Mercedes and paid for a nanny to ensure she would keep working for him.

“There is no way that I could lose Lesley to motherhood,” Epstein said of Groff, according to the newspaper’s account.

Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.

Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”

When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.

“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.

According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.

Banking records included in the DOJ’s Epstein files indicate that Groff also received three payments of $100,000 and one for $110,000 from Epstein companies between 2016 and 2018, though the records do not indicate the reasons for the payments.

Bachner told the government that Groff stayed with Epstein after his first arrest in Florida in 2006 because she believed him when he said that “someone was trying to blackmail him.”

When he was again arrested in 2019, she resigned, her lawyer told prosecutors.

“She felt betrayed and disgusted once the indictment came out,” Bachner wrote.

According to documents released by the Justice Department in response to the passage of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, one victim — who was a minor at the time of her alleged abuse — told the FBI that she felt Groff “knew that the massage appointments were sexual” and “felt it was pretty obvious Lesley knew what was going on,” according to the DOJ records.

Federal prosecutors in 2021 informed Groff that she would not be charged, according to a statement from her attorneys.

“After a more than two-year investigation by the Department of Justice into Jeffrey Epstein’s conduct, which included lengthy interviews of witnesses and a thorough review of relevant communications, we have been informed that no criminal charges will be brought against Lesley Groff,” the statement said. 

Lacerda said she hopes the congressional investigators press Groff for answers.

“I just think that she should be honest about it so that we can have some accountability here,” she said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(NEW YORK) —  A former NYPD detective pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of misconduct and receipt of unlawful gratuities after he sent inappropriate messages to two women and had sex with a woman shortly after she was arrested.

Matthew Lambert resigned from the NYPD in December 2025.  He was sentenced to two years’ probation and is no longer eligible to be a police officer elsewhere in New York state.

“The defendant’s disturbing conduct is unacceptable for a member of law enforcement,” said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in a statement announcing the guilty plea. 

In March 2024, while investigating a missing package, Lambert texted the victim, “Not to be inappropriate, but do people tell you that you look way younger than you are.”  He also sent a message saying, “Celebration drinks when this is over?” and “If you say no, I’m still gonna work hard on your case. I promise.”

The woman eventually blocked Lambert’s phone number. Lambert and his lawyer did not answer questions going into and out of court.

During a separate investigation, Lambert texted an assault victim, “You are absolutely beautiful. I was shocked when I met you. I mean no disrespect to you and your relationship. I’m saying this in a respectful way. If that’s even possible.”

In May 2024, Lambert arrested a woman for petit larceny and told her he could “probably” issue her a desk appearance ticket and release her from custody.

Lambert also showed her a picture of his penis and, as they walked out of the station house, said, “I told you I was going to get you out,” prosecutors said.

Later that day, Lambert texted the woman, “If you want I could come say hello. Up to you. You tell me if you want me to.”

Lambert drove to the woman’s house, and they had sex in his car.  Afterward, he sent additional texts, including “You’re so cool,” and “Thanks for hanging out.”

“In addition to sending extremely inappropriate messages to victims while he was investigating their cases, he abused his power to engage in a sexual encounter with a woman he had arrested just hours earlier. This is not how anyone should be treated – whether a victim, witness, or person accused of a crime,” Bragg said.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.