Free Election Day childcare is being offered in some states for parents to vote

October 31, 2024

Kena Betancur/AFP via Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — With Election Day around the corner, American parents may be considering paying for childcare to ease the voting process. But in some states, heading to the polls while your child is being cared for can be free of charge.

In swing state North Carolina, 11-time Olympic track and field medalist Allyson Felix paired up with the nonprofit Chamber of Mothers to offer up to two hours of paid child care through Politisit.

In Western North Carolina, which was devastated by the impacts of Hurricane Helene, Politsit is offering parents reimbursement for up to a full day’s worth of childcare.

“You should never have to choose between your profession, your passions, and motherhood,” Felix said in a statement. “I’m honored to partner with Chamber of Mothers to tell moms that this election, you don’t have to choose between voting and motherhood. This election, you can do both.”

A Knight Foundation study released in 2020, which surveyed 12,000 non-voters, found that more than 60% of the most disconnected non-voters are women, and within that figure, many were single women with children.

For reimbursement, eligible parents can fill out this Politsit form and indicate how much the childcare will cost.

In California, the company Bumo, which offers education-based child care for children six months to six years of age, has donated $20,000 in free childcare services that are being offered in Los Angeles and San Francisco on Election Day.

Similarly, Los Angeles-based child care center Brella is offering up to a full day of free child care for kids three months to six years of age.

New York-based Vivvi child care centers are offering caregivers in New York City and Westchester who are headed to the polls a full day of free services.

Politisit and partner organizations are also offering free care opportunities in California, Houston, Texas, Chicago, Illinois, New York City and Brooklyn, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama.

“Childcare is expensive and shouldn’t be a barrier to voting,” the organization said on its website, adding, “We believe that parents shouldn’t have to choose between voting and care for their children.”

New species of titanosaur identified amid group of ancient skeletons found in Spain

Jose Antonio Penas Artero

(NEW YORK) — A new species of dinosaur has been identified more than a decade after a large number of ancient skeletons were found in Spain — and researchers expect more species to be discovered.

The discovery was made at the Lo Hueco fossil site near Cuenca, a mountainous town in central Spain. The site was being excavated for the construction of a high-speed train between Madrid and Valencia when crews began digging up numerous ancient skeletons of dinosaurs, crocodiles and turtles, Pedro Mocho, a paleontologist at the University of Lisboa’s faculty of sciences, told ABC News.

Researchers then spent the next three months extracting several skeletons of dinosaurs, mostly sauropods, a herbivore characterized by having a very long neck, long tail, large body and small head, Mocho said.

The haul of fossils derived from that paleontological expedition, estimated to be about 72 million years old from the late Cretaceous period, produced Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra, a new species of titanosaur, according to the paper, published Wednesday in Communications Biology.

The Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra is characterized by having a “weird” tail morphology, in which all of the vertebrates are “anteriorly clean,” a feature only noted in a specific group of titanosaurs found in South America, Mocho said.

The dinosaur, which the skeleton belonged to, likely died as a sub-adult because the vertebras are “completely sutured,” meaning the animal likely did not reach its full-grown size, Mocho said.

All sauropods are herbivores, so the new species likely subsisted on a plant-based diet.

Another reason why paleontologists are fascinated by the new species is because Europe was an “insular environment” during the late Cretaceous period, and it was rare for an animal to grow so big under those conditions.

“A lot of dinosaurs are small because they have small areas to live in, so they have a small amount of resources,” Mocho said. “So, generally, the animals associated to insular environments are relatively small in some cases, and others, the opposite happens.”

Researchers are trying to determine whether the lineage for this species of sauropod originated in Asia or North America.

The new species was named Qunkasaura pintiquiniestra, in reference to the town of Cuenca as well as the painter Antonio Saura and Queen Pintiquiniestra, a character from the 16th-century book, “Amadis of Greece,” which was later referenced in “Don Quixote,” the 17th-century Spanish novel by Miguel de Cervantes.

While the area where the train passes through was completely cleared of more ancient bones, the remainder of the Lo Hueco site was given protections by the Spanish government, Mocho said.

At least two different sauropods were found on the site, Mocho said, adding that they are still sifting through the skeletons that require examination.

Researchers expect to not only discover more species from the fossils that were collected but to find more skeletons if and when additional excavations commence.

“We don’t know exactly how many bones we still have over there, but we still have some remains to collect,” he said.

Why Milton is already a hurricane for the record books

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(SARASOTA, Fla.) — While it’s still hours away from making landfall and has yet to cause any damage, Hurricane Milton is already rewriting the record books, officials said.

“I think for the west-central coast of Florida, this has the potential to be the most impactful hurricane we’ve seen in living memory, given the scope of the impacts from the storm surge,” Mike Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center, told ABC News.

Milton is forecast to make landfall between 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET Wednesday near Sarasota as a Category 3 hurricane with wind gusts of over 100 mph. On Wednesday afternoon, Milton was a Category 4 hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico about 150 miles southwest of Tampa, and moving toward Florida’s west coast at 16 mph.

Once it makes landfall, the hurricane is expected to create a 10-to-15-foot storm surge in Sarasota and a storm surge of 8-to-12 feet from Tampa down to Fort Myers.

But the storm, the ninth hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season, has already made an impact on the record books.

Milton is the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin in terms of pressure since Hurricane Wilma, which hit Florida in 2005. The storm is also the strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin in terms of windspeed since Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

On Monday, Milton was producing maximum winds of 180 mph, making it the third strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin on record in terms of wind.

According to the National Hurricane Center records, Milton is one of the top rapidly intensifying hurricanes after increasing 95 mph in 24 hours this week. Only hurricanes Wilma and 2007’s Felix had a greater intensification, according to the records.

Milton is also the fifth strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Basin on record by pressure.

Brennan said Milton is a different beast from other hurricanes due to its “unusual” track.

“Often we see hurricanes approach Florida from the east or the southeast,” Brennan said. “But this track is somewhat unusual and is really a worst-case scenario for these very storm-sensitive areas along the west coast of Florida because the circulation of Milton is going to be pushing that Gulf of Mexico water right up onto dry land here in these vulnerable places.”

Anthony Fauci recovering after hospitalization for West Nile virus

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(NEW YORK) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, was hospitalized with a case of West Nile virus and is now recovering at home, a spokesperson said.

Fauci is expected to make a full recovery, the spokesperson told ABC News in a statement.

West Nile virus is the leading cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental United States, according to the CDC.

Mosquitoes typically become infected with the virus after feeding on infected birds and then spread it to humans and other animals, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cases typically begin rising in July and are highest in August and September, CDC data shows.

Several health departments in the U.S. say they have detected West Nile virus in mosquito samples this year. At least 216 cases of West Nile virus have been detected in 33 states, the CDC reports in it’s latest figures.

The majority of people with the virus do not have symptoms, but about one in five will experience fever along with headaches, body aches, joint pain, diarrhea, vomiting or a rash. Most symptoms disappear but weakness and fatigue may last for weeks or months.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.