Free Election Day childcare is being offered in some states for parents to vote
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.”
(WASHINGTON) — The largest pharmacy chain in America is accused of “unlawfully dispensing massive quantities of opioids and other controlled substances to fuel its own profits at the expense of public health and safety,” according to a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department, which was unsealed Wednesday.
The DOJ lawsuit alleges that CVS has, for more than a decade, knowingly filled sometimes-dubious prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, or were not valid.
Those prescriptions included “dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids” and “trinity cocktails” — a blend of “especially dangerous and abused combination of drugs made up of an opioid, a benzodiazepine and a muscle relaxant,” the suit stated.
The suit also accuses the company of filling “at least thousands of controlled substance prescriptions” penned by “known ‘pill mills.'”
In a statement to ABC News, CVS spokesperson Amy Thibault called the suit “misguided” and said company officials “strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative” described in the DOJ suit and will “defend ourselves vigorously.”
DOJ’s lawsuit says CVS “contributed to the opioid crisis, a national public health emergency with devastating effects in the United States.” The suit went on to say: “These included illegitimate prescriptions for extremely high doses and excessive quantities of potent opioids that fed dependence and addiction, as well as illegitimate prescriptions for dangerous combinations of opioids and other drugs.”
The suit accuses CVS of ignoring sometimes “egregious red flags” about prescriptions “bearing the hallmarks of abuse and diversion.” The lawsuit points to performance metrics and incentive compensation policies that allegedly pressured pharmacists to “fill prescriptions as quickly as possible, without assessing their legitimacy” and corporate policies that allegedly prioritized speed over safety.
The suit claims CVS refused to implement compliance measures recommended by its own experts to reduce the number of invalid prescriptions with red flags “primarily due to fear that they would slow the speed of prescription filling and increase labor costs,” according to the suit.
The government is seeking civil penalties, injunctive relief and damages to address what it called CVS’ unlawful practices and to prevent future violations.
In her statement, Thibault, the CVS spokesperson, said the company has been an industry leader in fighting opioid misuse.
“Each of the prescriptions in question was for an FDA-approved opioid medication prescribed by a practitioner who the government itself licensed, authorized, and empowered to write controlled-substance prescriptions,” Thibault’s statement said.
She said the DOJ lawsuit “intensifies a serious dilemma for pharmacists, who are simultaneously second-guessed for dispensing too many opioids, and too few.”
(ATHENS, Ga.) — Police questioned the man accused of killing Laken Riley about multiple scratches on his arms a day after the 22-year-old nursing student was found murdered on the University of Georgia’s campus, body camera footage played Monday during the suspect’s bench trial showed.
Police spoke to the defendant, Jose Ibarra, who is an undocumented migrant, at his apartment in Athens on Feb. 23, while investigating Riley’s death. The Augusta University student was found beaten in a wooded area on the Athens campus on Feb. 22 after she didn’t return from a run, authorities said. Her brutal death became a rallying cry for immigration reform from many conservatives, including President-elect Donald Trump.
Special prosecutor Sheila Ross said last week that Ibarra was “hunting” for women on the campus and encountered Riley while she was on her run. Ross said the evidence shows an extended struggle ensued and Riley “fought for her life” before dying due to blunt force trauma and asphyxiation. Ibarra’s DNA was found under Riley’s fingernails, according to Ross.
Officers questioned Ibarra in connection with the murder after a suspicious jacket was found in a dumpster near his apartment, Ross said. Ring camera footage captured a man discarding the jacket, which had Riley’s hair on it, in the dumpster at 9:44 a.m. on Feb. 22, about 16 minutes after she died, Ross said.
University of Georgia Police Sgt. Joshua Epps testified Monday that he noticed a scratch on Ibarra’s right bicep while questioning him at his apartment.
“On his left arm, he had a forearm scratch that was very similar, which in my mind, looked like fingernail scratches to me,” Epps said.
Epps said he also observed a fresh “puncture” on Ibarra’s left wrist.
Prosecutors entered into evidence on Monday photos of Ibarra’s scratches on his arms and bruising on his palm.
Body camera footage of the officers’ questioning Ibarra was also played in court.
When asked about what happened to his right bicep, Ibarra told officers that he had a scratch but “didn’t exactly explain from where or how,” University of Georgia officer Rafael Sayan, who was called to translate during the questioning, testified on Monday.
When asked what happened to his left wrist, Ibarra first said he didn’t have anything there, then said, “It’s just a scratch,” according to Sayan.
When asked why his knuckle was red, Ibarra said it was because of the cold, Sayan said.
Ibarra was detained following the questioning, Epps said. He was arrested that day on murder charges in connection with Riley’s death.
During testimony on Monday, one of Ibarra’s roommates identified Ibarra as the man discarding the jacket in the dumpster, based on his cap and loafers.
Ibarra, 26, has pleaded not guilty to malice murder and felony murder.
Police have said they believe Ibarra — a migrant from Venezuela who officials said illegally entered the U.S. in 2022 — did not know Riley and that this was a “crime of opportunity.”
Additional charges in the 10-count indictment include aggravated battery, kidnapping with bodily injury, aggravated assault with intent to rape, obstructing or hindering a person making an emergency telephone call and tampering with evidence. The latter charge alleged that he “knowingly concealed” evidence — including the jacket found in the dumpster — involving the offense of malice murder.
Ibarra waived his right to a jury trial. The case is being presented in the Athens-Clarke County courtroom to Judge H. Patrick Haggard, who will render a verdict.
(NEW YORK) — A University of Pennsylvania graduate has been charged with murder in the targeted attack of Brian Thompson, the CEO of major insurance group UnitedHealthcare who was fatally shot outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel ahead of an investor conference, according to the NYPD.
Luigi Mangione was charged in the fatal shooting after he was arrested Monday in Altoona, Pennsylvania, after an individual at a McDonald’s recognized him from the wildly circulated images of the suspect sought in the shooting.
Mangione faces charges in New York and Pennsylvania
Mangione faces second-degree murder, possession of a loaded firearm, possession of a forged instrument and criminal possession of a weapon charges in New York, according to according to an online court docket.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office confirmed the charges.
The forged instrument is the fake NJ driver’s license he allegedly used to check into the hostel on the Upper West Side.
Mangione remains in the custody of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections pending his extradition to New York.
Mangione, 26, was initially identified as a “strong” person of interest in the shooting death after he was apprehended at the McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during a press briefing in New York on Monday.
Mangione was eating at the McDonald’s Monday morning when an individual thought he looked suspiciously like the shooting suspect and alerted an employee, who called police, authorities said.
He was carrying a firearm and suppressor “both consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said during the press briefing earlier Monday. The gun “may have been made on a 3D printer,” police said.
He also had “multiple fraudulent IDs,” including a fake New Jersey ID matching the ID the suspect used to check into his New York City hostel before the shooting incident, Tisch said. He was carrying a U.S. passport that identified him as Luigi Mangione, police said.
Police also recovered clothing, including a mask consistent with those worn by the wanted individual, as well as a three-page “handwritten document that speaks to both his motivation and mindset,” she said.
He was in possession of a ghost gun capable of firing a 9mm round and will face gun charges in Altoona, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny told reporters during the briefing earlier Monday.
He has been charged in Pennsylvania with five crimes, including carrying a gun without a license, forgery, falsely identifying himself to authorities and possessing “instruments of crime,” according to a criminal complaint.
The charging document alleges that Mangione lied about his identity to police and carried the ghost gun without a license.
When Altoona police asked him if he had ever been to New York City, Mangione started shaking, according to the charging document. He didn’t answer the question directly, police said.
Police said they are working to develop a full sense of his timeline in Pennsylvania and how long he has been in Altoona.
The NYPD sent detectives to Altoona to interview him and are going through the recovered writings and his social media, police said.
“It does seem that he had some ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said.
A Goodreads account that appears to belong to Mangione left a four-star review on Ted Kaczynski’s “Industrial Society and Its Future” — more commonly known as the “Unabomber manifesto” — and described Kaczynski as “a violent individual — rightfully imprisoned — who maimed innocent people. While these actions tend to be characterized as those of a crazy Luddite, however, they are more accurately seen as those of an extreme political revolutionary.”
As investigators sift through Luigi Mangione’s online activity, they are examining multiple social media posts that suggest he may have suffered a major back injury including a photo of an x-ray of a spine posted on X and at least two books about back injuries on his Goodreads profile.
A source confirmed to ABC News that the Goodreads account is part of the law enforcement investigation.
Mangione has ties to San Francisco and his last known address was in Honolulu, Kenny said. In November 2023, Mangione was arrested in Honolulu for trespassing in a Hawaii State Park, court records show. He pleaded no contest and was ordered to pay a $100 fine.
He has no prior arrest history in New York, Kenny said.
Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, Kenny said.
Following his arrest on Monday, the Mangione family released a statement saying, “Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest.”
“We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved,” Maryland Republican Delegate Nino Mangione, who represents parts of Baltimore County, wrote on X on behalf of the family.
Luigi is a 2016 graduate of the Gilman School, a private high school in Baltimore, where he was the valedictorian of his graduating class, according to the school’s website. The school said in a statement that Mangione’s “suspected involvement in this case is deeply distressing news on top of an already awful situation.”
“Our hearts go out to everyone affected. Here on campus, our focus will remain on caring for and educating our students,” the statement continued.
Mangione is a May 2020 graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, according to a school spokesperson. He studied computer science and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in engineering from the Ivy League institution.
Following his graduation, Mangione worked as a data engineer at online car marketplace TrueCar, Inc. beginning in November 2020, according to a LinkedIn account that appears to belong to Mangione.
A representative for TrueCar said that Mangione stopped working for TrueCar in 2023.
A classmate who graduated from Gilman with Mangione, told ABC News that “he is the last person I expected to be involved in something like this.”
“He was an incredibly intelligent, humble and kind person,” the classmate said. “He seemed like a very bright guy with a bright future.”
About six months ago, the classmate said he was notified by other classmates that Mangione’s family was “inquiring about his whereabouts.”
“I didn’t hear anything about him until today when all the news dropped,” they said. “It really sucks for his family, who must be going through it right now.”
The Mangione family released a statement saying, “unfortunately, we cannot comment on news reports regarding Luigi Mangione. We only know what we have read in the media. Our family is shocked and devastated by Luigi’s arrest. We offer our prayers to the family of Brian Thompson and we ask people to pray for all involved. We are devastated by this news.”
New photos of suspect released
Police have said the suspect appeared to be lying in wait outside the Hilton hotel on Wednesday in what they said was a “premeditated” attack. The shooter arrived at the scene about five minutes before Thompson before shooting the victim in the chest around 6:40 a.m., police said. The suspect is believed to have left New York City following the shooting, police said.
NYPD officials released new images this weekend of the suspect being sought in the shooting in the back of a taxi, where he could be seen peering through the open slider in the partition between the seats.
Another photo appeared to show the man walking by the window of a cab.
Backpack contained Monopoly money
Police found a backpack believed to belong to the suspected shooter in Central Park on Friday evening, police sources told ABC News. The backpack contained fake money from the game Monopoly and a Tommy Hilfiger jacket, sources said.
The backpack was found after NYPD deployed an army of officers and drones to conduct a grid search, police sources said earlier.
As of Saturday, three days after the shooting, sources close to the investigation told ABC News the New York Police Department is making progress toward identifying the gunman but, as of now, still has not done so.
On Friday, police said they believed the gunman left New York City following the shooting — ditching his bike on the Upper West Side and taking a taxi to a Port Authority bus facility at 178th Street. Police said they believe he boarded a bus there because they did not see him on video leaving the facility.
Suspect stayed at hostel
The NYPD released on Thursday new photos of the suspect, seen without a mask, while asking for the public’s help in identifying him. The images were taken from a surveillance camera at the HI New York City Hostel on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Police had obtained a warrant to search after coming to believe the suspect stayed there, sources told ABC News.
Police were able to find an image of the suspect without his face mask because he was flirting with the woman who checked him into the hostel, police sources told ABC News.
As he stood at the check-in desk, the sources said the woman asked to see his smile. The suspected shooter obliged, pulling down his mask long enough for the surveillance camera to capture his face.
It appears the suspect shared a room with two other men, according to police sources.
The suspect likely checked into the hostel on Nov. 24, checked out and then checked back in again on Nov. 30, according to sources. It’s not clear when the surveillance image was captured.
The suspected shooter checked into the hostel using a New Jersey license that wasn’t his own, according to police sources. Detectives ran the name and found it did not resemble any known photos of the suspect or other evidence amassed so far, the sources said.
Suspect arrived in NYC 10 days before shooting: Sources
The suspect came to New York City on Nov. 24 on a Greyhound bus, when a surveillance camera at Port Authority Bus Terminal caught his arrival at 9 p.m., law enforcement sources told ABC News.
The inbound bus originated in Atlanta but it was not immediately clear where the suspect boarded. The sources said he was spotted on board in Washington, D.C., so he boarded there or somewhere between D.C. and Atlanta.
Both Greyhound and the parent company of the hostel, Hostelling International USA, said in a statement that they are “fully cooperating with the NYPD” but cannot comment further due to the active investigation.
The 10-day period has been the focus of investigative efforts. Police have collected a lot of video of the suspect all over the city — in the subway, in cabs, in a McDonald’s, according to sources. Each place he paid with cash and he made sure to keep his mask on, according to sources.
Whereabouts day of the shooting
Police have released photos of the suspect in a mask, captured at a Starbucks near the hotel before the shooting, according to New York ABC station WABC. He was described by police as wearing a light brown or cream-colored jacket, a black face mask, black and white sneakers and a “very distinctive” gray backpack.
Sources told ABC News the suspected shooter was also seen on video much earlier, at 5 a.m. the day of the shooting, near the hostel carrying what appears to be an e-bike battery.
New cleared CCTV video shows a man who appears to be the suspect walking west on 55th Street at 6:19 a.m. The video shows him stoop down as he appears to momentarily drop an object on the garbage before continuing to walk.
Writing discovered on shell casings
Detectives later discovered writing on the shell casings found at the scene where Thompson was gunned down, police sources told ABC News.
Detectives were working to determine whether the words were meant as a message from the shooter and a hint at his motive.
Written on the shell casings were the words “deny,” “defend” and “depose,” according to sources.
Other evidence: cellphone, water bottle, candy wrapper
After the shooting, the suspect fled on foot into an alley, where a phone was recovered, according to Kenny. He then fled on an e-bike and he was last seen riding into Central Park at 6:48 a.m., police said.
Police released photos of the suspect holding a firearm and on a bike.
Detectives have also retrieved a water bottle and candy wrapper from the area where he was apparently waiting, law enforcement sources said. After analysis, NYPD investigators believe the cellphone, candy wrapper and water bottle are linked to the shooter, police sources said.
Investigators believe they were able to score DNA samples from several pieces of the evidence, law enforcement sources told ABC News on Friday. The samples are currently at the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be run through databases for a possible match, the sources said. That process could take a couple days.
At the same time, NYPD detectives are working with the U.S. Marshals Service to try and track down the shooter along with the FBI, which has the most sophisticated technology for retrieving usable data from cellphones, sources said.
Professional killer appears unlikely
The victim’s hotel room has already been accessed by investigators, whose top priority is determining Thompson’s most recent conversations and movements, sources said.
The working theory among detectives right now is that the shooting was carried out by someone who is not a professional killer because too many “mistakes” were made, sources said. Hitmen typically don’t carry cell phones to their hits and the shots were fired from a distance that would be considered “too far” away from the victim, the sources said.
At this point, detectives are trying to determine whether Thompson was targeted because of some type of personal conflict or as a result of his work as an insurance executive, sources said. The killer apparently had some knowledge of Thompson’s schedule on Wednesday and the fact that he would be arriving at the Hilton well before the company meeting was to begin, the sources said.
Police are interviewing Thompson’s colleagues and family about any potential specific threats, Kenny said.
What we know about the victim
Thompson, 50, was in New York City for the UnitedHealthcare investors conference, which was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. The conference was being held at the Hilton outside of which he was shot, but he was not staying there, police said.
UnitedHealthcare’s parent company, UnitedHealth Group, the largest health insurer in the world, said in a statement, “We are deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague Brian Thompson.”
“Brian was a highly respected colleague and friend to all who worked with him,” the company said. “We are working closely with the New York Police Department and ask for your patience and understanding during this difficult time. Our hearts go out to Brian’s family and all who were close to him.”
This story has been updated.
ABC News’ Peter Charalambous, Madison Burinsky, Kate Holland, Chris Looft and Sabina Ghebremedhin contributed to this report.
