Melissa McCarthy and Barbra Streisand in 2016; Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for BSB
While she was around when it was invented, Barbra Streisand still doesn't seem to understand how social media works. After being dragged online for a seemingly insensitive comment she made on a friend's post, she's now apologizing.
On April 29, actress Melissa McCarthy posted a couple of photos on Instagram of herself at an event with director Adam Shankman. Streisand responded by commenting, "Give him my regards did you take Ozempic?" She later deleted the comment, but not before it was captured by the Comments by Celebs account and captioned, "Babs!!"
One user responded, "Omg Babs, you can’t just ask people if they’re on Ozempic." Another addressed the legendary singer directly: "you’re such a boomer. I cringed reading your question."
Another user wrote, "Maybe STFU and keep these thoughts in your own head? It’s none of your business unless someone wants to share. My god. And as a woman in the industry completely judged for her looks, you think Babs would have some empathy."
"OMG - I went on Instagram to see the photos we'd posted of the beautiful flowers I'd received for my birthday! Below them was a photo of my friend Melissa McCarthy who I sang with on my Encore album."
"She looked fantastic! I just wanted to pay her a compliment," she continued. "I forgot the world is reading!"
But McCarthy doesn't seem to bothered. Asked by a TMZ photographer what she thought of Babs' Ozempic comment, the Bridesmaids star said, "I think Barbra is a treasure and I love her."
RUSK COUNTY, Texas – Texas DPS released a report announcing that two men are dead after being in consecutive crashes involving a cow six miles west of Tatum. According to our news partner KETK, Jerry Moore, 58 of Tatum, was traveling on CR 2142 when he struck a cow on the road at approximately 2:23 a.m. on April 23. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Five minutes later, the same cow was struck by Michael Moore, 53 of Tatum, along the same road. He was also pronounced dead at the scene.
(NEW YORK) -- In the race to understand the potential habitability of Saturn's icy and active moon, Enceladus, scientists could have a newfound understanding of the moon's defining stripes and eruptions.
Enceladus harbors a global, subsurface ocean more than 30 miles deep, that periodically erupts jets of ice crystals and plumes of gas above its South Pole, which were first recognized by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in 2005.
During the 13-year mission studying Saturn and its 146 moons, the Cassini spacecraft was able to capture material ejected into space by Enceladus' jets.
Enceladus, named after a giant in Greek mythology, is the sixth-largest of Saturn's many moons and spans approximately 310 miles in diameter, according to NASA.
Over nearly 20 years, scientists have explored the chemical makeup in Enceladus' jets, and in a June 2023 study, researchers determined that the salt-rich frozen liquid and gas plumes contain the key ingredients needed to sustain life: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulfur and phosphorus.
On Monday, another piece of the Enceladus puzzle was announced by a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in a paper published in Nature.
Researchers found Enceladus' eruptions, which vary in brightness, stem from four distinct fractures on the surface of the celestial body, referred to as "tiger stripes."
The study, led by Alexander Berne, a PhD candidate at Caltech, analyzed the brightness of Enceladus' jets and determined they were in sync with his hypothesized, sliding side-by-side motion of the moon's tiger stripes.
The study suggests Enceladus' tiger stripes open differently than previously understood, and to put it simply, Berne likened the movement of Enceladus' tiger stripes to that of California's San Andreas fault line.
"In our study, we propose that strike-slip or side-to-side motion, similar to what happens on the San Andreas Fault when there's an earthquake, could regulate Enceladus' jets," Berne told ABC News, adding that tides in Enceladus' ocean drives the movement of the tiger stripes.
"To explain the correlation between strikes that motion jet activity, we have these little bends and faults at the South Pole, which periodically open and close in response to tides, and allow for material to rise through Enceladus' shell and spew into space," Berne said.
So how does this newfound information further the investigation into one of the most compelling celestial bodies in our solar system?
Berne explained that understanding the transport history of Enceladus' mineral-rich expulsions is instrumental to understanding the potential habitability of the moon.
"There's a lot of interest in going back to Enceladus and sampling this material for life detection purposes," Berne said.
"To understand what we're sampling, we need to have an understanding of the transport history of that material," Berne continued, adding, "This study provides a framework for understanding that transport history."
(AUSTIN, Texas) -- Officials in Austin, Texas, are investigating an "outbreak" of deadly drug overdoses spreading across the city.
Austin-Travis County Emergency Medical Services (ATCEMS) and the Austin Police Department (APD) said they received a total of 51 calls for suspected overdoses as of Tuesday afternoon, with four suspected deaths related to the surge, according to local ABC News affiliate KVUE.
APD said overdose patients range in age from 20s to 50s and across racial/ethnic groups, KVUE reported. Those who died from overdoses have not been identified but their ages range from mid-30s to mid-50s.
The surge of calls began around 9:00 a.m. CT Monday morning and were concentrated in the downtown area, Angela Carr, EMS division chief at ATCEMS, said during a Monday evening press conference. Calls later began coming in from around the city, including residences, businesses and in areas accessible to the general public.
Carr said a team was immediately deployed to the area, and Narcan rescue kits were distributed. Narcan is given as a nasal spray and the active ingredient in the medication -- naloxone -- can quickly restore breathing if someone is experiencing an opioid overdose.
ATCEMS said it usually receives two or three overdose calls per day, but the number of calls on Monday equated to a 1,000% increase in call volume, according to Dr. Heidi Abraham, deputy medical director for ATCEMS.
"The trend that we're seeing in this group of overdoses is that it is unusually deadly," she said during the press conference. "We've not experienced overdoses of this volume in several years."
Abraham said the overdose patients reported using several different types of drugs but did not elaborate on the specific drugs.
Christa Steadman, ATCEMS public information officer, said officials suspect the "outbreak" is due to "a new batch in town" likely from the same source or same couple of sources due to the similarities of symptoms among patients.
Officials said they will continue to provide updates as they become available. ATCEMS did not immediately reply to ABC News' request for comment.
It comes as a record number of Americans have died from drug overdoses. In 2022, there were nearly 108,000 drug overdose deaths, according to provisional data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1% higher than the nearly 107,000 overdose deaths recorded in 2021.
In Texas, drug poisoning-related deaths for 2022 sit at 15.4 per 100,000, which is the highest rate since at least 2011, according to provisional data from the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS).
Travis County had the fifth-highest number of provisional drug overdose deaths with 308 in 2022, mostly among white residents.
States have previously said fentanyl, the synthetic opioid 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine, may be driving an increase in overdoses and overdose deaths.
TDSHS says preliminary data shows Travis County had 188 fentanyl poisoning-related deaths, the second-highest number behind Harris County, where Houston is located.
First-look images for the highly anticipated film It Ends With Us have arrived.
Images from the movie featuring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni were released Tuesday, and show the two stars in a passionate moment in one image and singing karaoke in another.
The photo stack from Sony Pictures and the film also includes behind-the-scenes moments of Baldoni in the director's seat and another with author Colleen Hoover, who penned the novel of the same name in 2016.
According to a synopsis for the film, the story follows Lily Bloom, played by Lively, "a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood to embark on a new life in Boston and chase a lifelong dream of opening her own business."
"A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Baldoni) sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents' relationship," the synopsis continues.
"When Lily's first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future," it concludes.
Baldoni is the director and an executive producer for the film, while Alex Saks, Jamey Heath and Christy Hall are co-producers. Hall also wrote the screenplay for the film.
Lively and Hoover serve as co-executive producers; the cast also includes Jenny Slate, Hasan Minhaj and Amy Morton.
It Ends With Us will arrive in theaters on August 9.
(JERUSALEM) -- As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated Tuesday that Israel would proceed with a military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah "with or without a deal," the Biden administration -- which has repeatedly warned against a Rafah offensive -- appears to be holding out hope for a cease-fire agreement.
"We will enter Rafah because we have no other choice," Netanyahu said Tuesday in comments translated from Hebrew. "We will destroy the Hamas battalions there, we will complete all the objectives of the war, including the repatriation of all our hostages."
Netanyahu said there would be an evacuation of the civilian population. No timeline has been given for an operation in Rafah, where it's believed more than 1.4 million Palestinians have gathered in the wake of Israel's bombardment of the Gaza Strip.
Since the Hamas terrorist group's unprecedented attack on Israel on Oct. 7, more than 34,000 people have been killed in Gaza and at least 77,000 others injured, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health. In Israel, at least 1,700 people have been killed and 8,700 others injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
"The idea that we will stop the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question," Netanyahu said in a statement from his office Tuesday, The Associated Press reported. "We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate Hamas’ battalions there -- with or without a deal, to achieve the total victory."
President Joe Biden has previously called invading Rafah a "red line." Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a trip to the Middle East in March, said a major military operation there would be a "mistake" that would result in more civilian deaths and worsen an already dire humanitarian crisis.
And Vice President Kamala Harris previously told ABC News in an interview that the administration was not ruling out consequences if Netanyahu went ahead with an offensive despite U.S. concerns.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby tried to steer clear of Netanyahu's comments Tuesday.
"I'll let the prime minister speak for himself," Kirby told reporters. "Our position on Rafah is absolutely the same. We don't want to see a major ground operation in Rafah. Certainly, we don't want to see operations that haven't factored in the safety and security of those 1.5 million folks trying to seek refuge down there. And we conveyed that to our Israeli counterparts certainly privately, absolutely publicly, and nothing's changed about that."
Meanwhile, speaking with reporters Tuesday in Jordan amid another trip to the Middle East, Blinken said he'd want to see a hostage deal come together in the "coming days."
Blinken, who will head to Israel next, seemed to echo Kirby's earlier comments Tuesday morning that the hostage deal has to become a reality because there’s simply no good alternative.
"Our focus right now is on getting a cease-fire and hostages home. That is the most urgent thing," Blinken said. "It's also, I think, what is achievable because the Israelis have put a strong proposal on the table. They've demonstrated that they're willing to compromise, and now it's on Hamas. No more delays. No more excuses. The time to act is now. So our focus is on this and we want to see in the coming days, this agreement coming together."
The United States has repeatedly called for Israel to present a plan regarding Rafah. Vedant Patel, the State Department's principal deputy spokesperson, said Tuesday the U.S. still has not seen a humanitarian plan presented by Israel and that it continues to oppose large-scale offensive operations in the Rafah region.
"We have been unambiguous about the concerns that we have when it comes to the more than a million people seeking refuge in that region," Patel said. "So any kind of operation that does not address these concerns would be a nonstarter for us."
Israel will not send a delegation to Cairo until Hamas provides an answer on the proposal Israel has offered them, an Israeli source told ABC News on Tuesday.
During a weeklong cease-fire between Hamas and Israel in late November, Hamas freed more than 100 people. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
There are 129 hostages still believed to be held in Gaza, according to the Israeli Prime Minister's Office, the Israel Defense Forces and the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Of the 129, at least 34 are believed to be dead, with their bodies still held by Hamas in Gaza, Israeli officials say.
ABC News' Anne Flaherty, Molly Nagle and Jordana Miller contributed to this report.
PALESTINE – Multiple citations have been issued after Palestine PD said they conducted a tobacco/vape sales compliance check on Saturday at various locations according to our colleagues at KETK. The operation consisted of a minor decoy going to the following businesses, where police officials said they were sold a tobacco product by an employee: Continue reading Citations issued after compliance check of tobacco sales
(ATLANTA) -- Rural Americans are more likely to die early from one of the five leading causes of death than those who live in urban areas, according to new federal data.
Researchers looked at the number of potentially preventable deaths from 2010 through 2022. The report was published Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Rural Americans were more likely to die from heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries, stroke and chronic lower respiratory disease before age 80 compared to urbanites, researchers said.
"There is a well-described, rural-urban divide in the United States, where rural residents tend to be sicker and poorer and to have worse health outcomes than do their non-rural peers," Dr. Macarena Garcia, a senior health scientist in the CDC's Office of Rural Health, said during a press conference on Monday.
About 20% of the U.S. population lives in rural areas while the remaining 80% live in urban areas, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Previous research has indicated that rural Americans face numerous health care challenges including long travel distances to special and emergency care and are less likely to have health insurance. Additionally, rural Americans have higher rates of high blood pressure and obesity.
For the report, researchers identified premature deaths as occurring before age 80. The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 79 in 2010. The number of preventable early deaths was calculated by subtracting the number of expected deaths by the number of actual deaths.
Although COVID-19 has been the third- or fourth-leading cause of death since 2020, the CDC said deaths from the virus were "excluded to maintain consistency and facilitate the assessment of trends over time."
Since 2010, an estimated 6.37 million Americans have died prematurely from the five leading causes over the 12-year study period. Researchers found that about 64% of deaths from unintentional injury -- which includes car accidents, falls, accidental shootings, unintentional poisonings, overdose deaths and drownings -- could have been prevented.
The report found 34% of stroke and heart disease deaths were preventable as were 26% of deaths from chronic lower respiratory disease.
Results showed the percentage of preventable deaths were highest in rural counties versus urban ones.
For example, 44% of heart disease deaths among people below age 80 in rural areas were potentially preventable compared with 27% in urban areas. More than half of early deaths from unintentional injury and chronic lower respiratory disease in rural areas were preventable.
For deaths from cancer, less than 20% of deaths were preventable in rural counties.
"We have to remember that screening prevention services as well as treatment services are much more accessible in urban areas," Garcia said. "So that means they are limited in rural areas. Sometimes people have to drive two, three hours to the nearest center that provides specialty care."
She went on, "So that means people go without preventive services. People in rural areas likely have lower rates of screening and certainly have less access to treatment."
When it came to geographic variation, Garcia said the CDC analysis showed consistently that the southeastern U.S. was the region with the highest prevalence of preventable early deaths.
In 2022, for example, the CDC found that when in came to unintentional injuries, between 70% and 100% of early deaths in several southeastern states including South Carolina, Louisiana, Mississippi, Kentucky and Tennessee could have been prevented. By comparison, between 30% and 66% of deaths could have been prevented in the majority of states.
The CDC said it is trying to improve rural health by funding and guiding public health programs in rural communities such as increasing cancer screenings for women and promoting physical education in schools.
"We believe these findings can help guide focused public health interventions at the local and community levels to effectively reduce the risks of premature death," Garcia said during the press briefing. "The findings also suggest a need to better understand potential shifts in social, environmental and structural inequities contributing to disparities in preventable early deaths between rural and urban areas."
TRINITY — Our news partners at KETK report that the National Weather Service has confirmed that a EF1 tornado hit Trinity County on Sunday. According to a release, the NWS meteorologists are surveying storm damage near Trinity and a preliminary survey shows an EF1 struck the Rock Creek Subdivision. An EF1 tornado is described as having 86-110 mph wind that can cause roof’s edges or corners to be torn off. The Trinity Fire and Rescue responded to multiple storm related calls including a home that was destroyed by a tornado, multiple flooded roads and calls of people trapped in flooded cars and houses. City of Conroe Chief of Police Jeff Christy said that on Sunday evening, Lieutenant James Waller and his wife were at their Trinity County property when their home was hit by a suspected tornado. Continue reading EF1 tornado confirmed in Trinity County, lieutenant and wife injured
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to block a Texas law requiring pornographic websites to verify the age of their users.
The justices rejected an emergency appeal filed by the Free Speech Coalition, a trade association for the adult entertainment industry. The provision of House Bill 1181, signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott, remains in effect even as the association’s full appeal is weighed by the Supreme Court.
There were no noted dissents from the court’s one-sentence order.
Similar age verification laws have passed in other states, including Arkansas, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, Oklahoma, Utah and Virginia.
The Texas law carries fines of up to $10,000 per violation that could be raised to up to $250,000 per violation by a minor.
Last year, a federal judge blocked the law’s age verification requirement and health warnings, finding that they likely violated the Constitution. But in March, a divided panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the age verification ruling, although it upheld the health warnings ruling that adult sites can’t be forced to publish statements with which they disagree.
The health warnings, disputed by the industry, included that pornography is addictive, impairs mental development and increases the demand for prostitution, child exploitation and child sexual abuse images.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Louisiana is steps closer to getting a new city.
The Louisiana Supreme Court ruled 4-3 on Friday in favor of the proposed City of St. George, saying organizers followed the proper process for incorporation, overturning rulings by lower courts. The state’s highest court ruled that St. George’s plan for incorporation was reasonable and would be able to provide its residents with proper public services, The Advocate reported.
At a news conference Monday, St. George organizers said work is already underway on building out the new city government, the Advocate reported.
In 2020, the state Legislature created a five-member St. George Transition District that will serve as the taxing authority until an election is held to impose its municipal tax. Gov. Jeff Landry will select an interim mayor along with five council members. Following the first term, St. George residents will vote for its leaders.
“We’ve celebrated. Today is the end of that celebration,” said Andrew Murrell, a spokesperson for the group. “We’re going to work.”
Baton Rouge leaders took St. George organizers to court in 2019, just two weeks after 54% of voters living within the proposed city’s limits voted “yes” on the incorporation in a November election. Baton Rouge leaders argued that the new city would financially cripple city-parish services and force layoffs by stripping an estimated $48.3 million in annual tax revenue. They also argued that St. George’s proposed budget would operate with a deficit.
Twice the courts shot down the proposed city, once in 2022 when a district judge ruled that St. George couldn’t operate with a balanced budget and was “unreasonable,” and again last year when the First Circuit Court of Appeal ruled that St. George organizers hadn’t followed state law for getting the issue on the election ballot.
The fight for St. George originally started as a movement to create a separate, independent school district before evolving into a full campaign to create a new city.
Few new details were provided beyond what organizers had laid out before the 2019 vote, the newspaper reported. Organizers did say they were considering a push to force East Baton Rouge Parish to turn over tax money from the past five years, while incorporation was delayed due to legal fight.
“Well, I’ll tell you, everything’s on the table,” Murrell said. “That’s the easiest answer I can give you without going into further details.”
Organizers for St. George, who live in the predominantly white and affluent Southeast corner of the parish, said for years that the city-parish government and school system were poorly run and that they wanted more localized control of tax dollars.
The proposed city comprised 68,000 residents at the time of its election, of which about 12% are Black. By contrast, East Baton Rouge Parish is about 47% Black, according to the United States Census. The boundaries of the proposed city include nearly 100,000 residents making it similar in size to Lake Charles or Lafayette. It will be East Baton Rouge Parish’s fifth city, along with Baton Rouge, Central, Baker and Zachary.
Opponents have argued that the St. George movement is inherently racist as it creates legal lines of segregation. St. George organizer have vehemently denied that claim, saying their focus is to create more localized control of tax dollars.
St. George organizers have long claimed the creation of the city would not require any additional taxes for its residents, as the city would collect revenue from an existing 2% sales tax.
Don't Worry Darling director Olivia Wilde and X-Men movie producer Simon Kinberg are teaming up with Barbie star and producer Margot Robbie for a big-screen bow of the comic book Avengelyne.
According to Variety, the project will have Robbie appearing as the heroic avenging angel who was brought to life by Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld and Cathy Christian in 1995; Warner Bros. is reportedly eyeing a seven-figure deal to bring it to theaters.
Avengelyne will have even more star power behind the scenes: The trade says Oscar-nominated Poor Things screenwriter Tony McNamara will be behind the keyboard.
In an exclusive statement to the trade, Liefeld revealed Kinberg "told me he had a perfect fit for the material and asked me to trust him."
The artist continues, "Next thing I'm meeting with Margot Robbie and Olivia Wilde and the connection was electric! They told me that they wanted Tony McNamara to write it, and after a pair of meetings Tony is onboard and things could not be more exciting."
"It's all a result of Margot, Olivia and Simon working their magic to assemble this incredible team of creatives, all intent on creating a cinematic experience like no other," Liefeld concluded.
The heavenly heroine from the pages of Image Comics often tangled with supernatural forces of evil, and was tasked with maintaining a balance between Heaven and Hell.
(NEW YORK) -- Weekly COVID-19 hospitalizations have hit their lowest level ever reported since the pandemic began, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There were 5,615 COVID hospitalizations in the most recent week data that is available. In comparison, there were over 150,000 weekly admissions at the peak of the Omicron variant circulating in early 2022.
"The significant decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths to these new lows is encouraging, showing that our public health measures and vaccination efforts have paid off," said Dr. John Brownstein, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and an ABC News medical contributor.
Forecasts of new hospitalizations from the CDC indicate that admissions will likely remain stable for the next four weeks.
"It’s important to continue monitoring for new variants and maintaining protective health behaviors to prevent possible surges," Brownstein added.
The news comes as the requirements for hospitals to report respiratory illness data, like COVID hospital admissions, expire at the end of April. Federal officials plan to use other data sources such as wastewater, laboratory tests and emergency department data to stay informed about the spread of illnesses.
"A key lesson we learned from the COVID-19 pandemic is the importance of having reporting systems in place before an active emergency," a CDC spokesperson said in part of a statement. "These data have a significant and ongoing value for protecting patient health and safety as well as public health," the statement continued.
Data from the CDC shows that about 22.6% of adults as well as 14% of children have received the updated COVID vaccine, which is formulated to better protect against current sub variants. Older adults over the age of 65 were recommended to receive an additional updated COVID vaccine this spring due to their increased risk of severe disease, according to the CDC.
The Food and Drug Administration’s independent panel of advisors is set to meet in mid-March to discuss the recommended strains to be selected in the next formulation of COVID vaccines. As the virus has evolved since the beginning of the pandemic, vaccines have been adjusted to better protect against current strains.
COVID deaths have also been steadily declining this year, reaching new lows. There were an estimated 231 deaths from COVID in the most recent week data that is available, according to the CDC. However, death data are delayed and may be incomplete.
At the height of the pandemic, there were over 25,000 Americans dying weekly from the virus as the Delta variant swept across the country.
"It's crucial that we maintain robust surveillance and data collection to quickly respond to any changes in the virus's behavior," Brownstein said.
(WASHINGTON) -- Speaker Mike Johnson and other House Republicans are stepping up their criticism of the college protests happening nationwide in connection to the Israel-Hamas war.
Johnson, speaking on Tuesday alongside other GOP leaders at their weekly press conference, denounced the latest developments at Columbia University and called on President Joe Biden to speak more forcefully on the issue.
"Columbia is out of control," he claimed, citing overnight developments of students occupying a campus building and defying the university's order to disperse.
"They're unable to operate the university at a time when the students are prepared for their final exams," Johnson said. "It's unfair, it's unright, it's unsafe and it must stop."
Biden has tried to balance support for Israel with sympathy for Palestinians killed and suffering in Gaza, but has faced criticism from some in his own party and many Republicans on his approach to the fraught Israel-Hamas war. Last week, Biden said he condemned "antisemitic protests" but also condemned "those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians."
The speaker and some of his New York Republican colleagues visited the New York City campus last week and met with Jewish students. Johnson was heckled and booed when he delivered remarks in front of protesters calling on Columbia University President Minouche Shafik to resign and suggested the National Guard be called to tamp down the demonstrations.
The college protests have been largely peaceful, officials say, but escalated in recent days following arrests and suspensions at some schools. Pro-Palestinian students and protesters have called for their colleges to divest from funding Israeli military operations as the humanitarian crisis worsens in Gaza. Some Jewish students have called the demonstrations antisemitic and said they fear for their safety.
Congressional Republicans have seized on the protests to politically hit Democrats on the issue and show strong support for Israel. Many have called for colleges with these protests to lose federal funding.
House Republicans on Tuesday also unveiled the framework of a new congressional investigation examining how university leadership has dealt with the protests. House Committee on Education and Workforce Chair Virginia Foxx, joined by GOP leadership and committee chairs at a press conference Tuesday, said she's notified the presidents of Yale, UCLA and the University of Michigan to appear before the Education Committee on May 23.
“American universities are officially put on notice that we have come to take our universities back,” Foxx said.
Johnson said Congress has "a role" to play in this issue, but also called on Biden to do more.
"We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong. What's happening on college campuses right now is wrong," Johnson said. "It is un-American. It is not who we are. The president seems unable or unwilling to do this."
The White House said on Tuesday that it believed that protesters "forcibly taking over a building on campus is absolutely the wrong approach."
"That is not an example of peaceful protest. And of course, as we've rightly noted, hate speech and hate symbols also have no place in this country," said National Security Council spokesman John Kirby, who told ABC News the administration was "watching this carefully."
Kirby previously said Biden respected the rights of demonstrators to peacefully protest, but made clear they "don't want to see anybody hurt in the process."
"The president knows that there are very strong feelings about the war in Gaza. He understands that, he respects that, and as he has said many times, we certainly respect the right of peaceful protest," Kirby said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.
Kirby added that the administration also condemned "the antisemitism language that we've heard of late and certainly condemn all the hate speech and the threats of violence out there."
This week, the House is expected to vote on legislation titled the "Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023." The bill, backed by Republicans and some Democrats, would require the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism when applying anti-discrimination laws.
But several Democrats have taken issue with the alliance's definition of antisemitism and some of the contemporary examples on antisemitism listed by the group. Democratic Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is Jewish, said he took issue with the bill because it would put the "thumb on the scale" in favor of one definition of antisemitism and could "chill" constitutionally-protected free speech.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries urged Johnson to consider a different bipartisan bill targeting antisemitism introduced by North Carolina Democrat Kathy Manning and New Jersey Republican Chris Smith titled the "Countering Antisemitism Act." The legislation would establish within the White House a national coordinator to counter antisemitism; require the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and National Counterterrorism Center to jointly produce an annual threat assessment of antisemitic violent extremism; and require the Department of Education to designate a senior official to advise on countering antisemitic discrimination in higher education.
"There is nothing scheduled on the floor this week that would accomplish the concrete, thoughtful strategies outlined by the Biden administration, set forth in the legislation and echoed by leading Jewish organizations across the country," Jeffries said in a letter to Johnson on Monday.
"The effort to crush antisemitism and hatred in any form is not a Democratic or Republican issue. It's an American issue that must be addressed in a bipartisan manner with the fierce urgency of now. In this spirit," Jeffries added.
ABC News' Arthur Jones and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.
'Furiosa' stars Anya Taylor-Joy and Hemsworth -- Disney/Greg Williams)
In an extensive cover piece, Chris Hemsworth goes deep with Vanity Fair about leaving Hollywood for his native Australia, his disappointment over Thor: Love and Thunder and how — for the last time — he does not have Alzheimer's.
On the latter point, Hemsworth found out through his 2022 Disney+ show Limitless that his DNA showed a risk for the disease. But that revelation, plus a planned break from making movies — partly to nurse an injured back — had the rumor mill spinning.
"It really kind of p***** me off because it felt like I had been vulnerable with something personal and shared this," the Marvel movie star admits.
"No matter how much I said, 'This is not a death sentence,' the story became that I have dementia and I'm reconsidering life and retiring and so on."
However, he did allow, "I did read a really funny comment at the bottom of one article: 'I hope Chris forgets he's retiring and comes back.'"
The star also looked back at his final film as Thor: 2023's Love and Thunder, in which the acclaimed humor from director Taika Waititi's blockbuster predecessor Thor: Ragnarok went off the rails for both critics and audiences.
"I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself," Hemsworth says. "I didn't stick the landing."
The actor will next be seen in the Mad Max: Fury Road prequel Furiosa for one of his filmmaking idols, fellow Aussie George Miller.
The filmmaker explains Hemsworth became unrecognizable as the warlord Dementus. "When I saw Chris many months later, my first instinct was, 'Wait a minute, this is not Chris Hemsworth. This is a fraud!" Miller says.
