CAMP COUNTY — A crash that happened on U.S. Highway 271 Sunday afternoon left two siblings dead, after a vehicle collided head-on with an 18-wheeler in Camp County, officials say. According to Texas Department of Public Safety Sgt. Adam Albritton, troopers responded to the two-vehicle crash just south of the Titus County line at approximately 2:32 p.m. According to our news partner KETK, preliminary investigation found that a white Nissan Altima, driven by 16-year-old Gavin Brooks of Mt. Pleasant, was traveling northbound on Hwy 271 when the Nissan crossed over into the southbound lane and collided with a semi-trailer.
Brooks and the passenger of the Nissan, 21-year-old Morgan Brooks were both pronounced deceased on the scene, DPS said. The driver of the semi-trailer was transported to a local hospital for their injuries.
Mount Pleasant ISD, where both Morgan and Gavin attended, released a statement on Monday following the tragic crash.
“Our hearts are broken at the loss of our students, Morgan Brooks, who graduated in 2023, and her brother Gavin Brooks-Thompson, a Class of 2027 senior,” the district said. “MPISD extends our deepest condolences to their family, friends, teachers, and classmates and the entire community of Mount Pleasant.” Continue reading Two students killed in car crash
KILGORE – As the new Kilgore ISD High School nears completion, the district was awarded nearly $50k from Southwestern Electric Power Company (SWEPCO) on Monday for energy-saving initiatives recently installed on campus. According to our news partner KETK, the incentive donation follows the district’s installation of energy-efficient systems, including LED lighting and an advanced HVAC system. SWEPCO stated that the energy saved by these initiatives can power 30 East Texas homes for one year.
“We are grateful for the partnership with SWEPCO and the Compass for Schools team throughout the construction of our new Kilgore High School,” assistant superintendent of administrative services for Kilgore ISD April Cox said. “These incentives will provide long-term operational savings while supporting an exceptional learning environment for our students and staff for years to come.”
LONGVIEW – A man was arrested in Longview on Monday after he was involved in a crash on Mobberly Avenue that left a 44-year-old woman dead. According to the Longview Police Department, officers responded to a report of suspicious activity when they found a vehicle that was allegedly in a crash at around 12:30 a.m. When officers tried to make contact with the driver, he fled in the vehicle. Longview PD said he was later stopped and arrested for evading arrest with a vehicle.
According to our news partner KETK, the officers continued to investigate the crash and later found the body of 44-year-old Taneka Shepard near the intersection of Mobberly Avenue and Level Street. The driver, identified by Longview PD as Danny Bozarth Jr. of Longview, was then also charged with collision involving death.
Longview Police Department is currently investigating the crash and anyone with information is urged to contact them immediately at 903-237-1188.
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks drifted through a mixed day of trading on Monday after oil prices eased and falling Big Tech stocks weighed on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.4%, coming off its 11th winning week in the last 12, and pulled 1.8% below its all-time high set early this month. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148 points, or 0.3%, and the Nasdaq composite slumped 1.3%.
In the oil market, prices fell following talks over the weekend between the United States and Iran on their war. U.S. Vice President JD Vance said they created a “good foundation for a successful final deal.”
An end to the war could clear the Strait of Hormuz for oil tankers and allow for the undisputed resumption of deliveries from the Persian Gulf. Iran’s military had said Saturday that it closed the Strait of Hormuz again, though U.S. Central Command has disputed that.
U.S. stocks are drifting near their records.
The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil fell 3.2% to $77.52, closer to its roughly $70 price from before the war. Benchmark U.S. crude oil fell 2.6% to $73.86 per barrel.
The lower oil prices, though, did not pull down Treasury yields in the bond market. Yields have been climbing because of speculation the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates this year to keep a lid on inflation, which has been accelerating because of expensive oil caused by the Iran war. Economists expect a report on Thursday to show a measure of inflation for U.S. consumers sped up to 4.1% in May from 3.8% in April.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury climbed to 4.50% from 4.46% late Thursday and from just 3.97% before the war.
Traders are betting on a nearly 90% chance the Fed will raise its federal funds rate at least once by the end of the year, with a small minority calling for four increases. That’s up from the 57% chance seen just a week ago, according to data from CME Group.
High yields in bond markets worldwide caused by worries about inflation are threatening to slow economies, and they have already sent rates higher for mortgages and other kinds of loans. High yields also hurt prices for investments, particularly those seen as the most expensive. That raises the pressure on companies whose stock prices have soared in the mania around artificial-intelligence technology.
SpaceX fell 16.4% to $154.60. It’s the third straight drop for the company behind xAI since a big three-day run following its ballyhooed debut on the U.S. stock market, when it initially sold its stock at $135 per share.
The day’s heaviest weights on the S&P 500 included drops of 5% for Alphabet, 4.7% for Amazon and 4.5% for Broadcom.
Elsewhere on Wall Street, AbbVie climbed 6.2% after saying it agreed to buy Apogee Therapeutics and its potential treatments for patients with dermatologic, respiratory and other related inflammatory and immunological diseases.
Apogee Therapeutics soared 46.7% following the announcement of the deal, valued at roughly $10.9 billion.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 27.79 points to 7,472.79. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 148.01 to 51,712.71, and the Nasdaq composite fell 351.33 to 26,166.60.
In stock markets abroad, the United Kingdom’s FTSE 100 rose 0.7% after Keir Starmer said he was stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks.
In Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 jumped 1.5% and ended at another all-time high, led by AI stocks. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7% to its own record, helped by AI-related companies.
This image provided by the FBI on Feb. 5, 2026, shows missing person Nancy Guthrie. (FBI)
A second ransom note received by a Tucson, Arizona, television station following the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie said she died shortly after her abduction, sources familiar with the investigation told ABC News.
Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Today show host Savannah Guthrie, was kidnapped from her Tucson, Arizona, home in the early hours of Feb. 1.
In the days after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, various ransom notes were sent to the media.
The Guthrie family received two notes that were sent to Tucson media outlets that investigators deemed potentially credible and the FBI had tried to trace their origin.
The first note demanded cryptocurrency for Nancy Guthrie's return. The second note, according to sources, said she had died shortly after she was taken and was buried in nature.
The notes were received within days of Nancy Guthrie's disappearance, but ABC News has not previously disclosed the contents of the second note.
Shortly after receiving the second note, Savannah Guthrie posted a statement in a Feb. 7 Instagram post.
"We received your message and we understand," Savannah Guthrie said at the time. "We beg you now to return our mother to us. ... This is very valuable to us, and we will pay."
Images from Nancy Guthrie's doorbell camera showing a masked man at her house were released early on in the investigation, but the 84-year-old's whereabouts remain unknown and the suspect remains unidentified.
In March, Savannah Guthrie spoke out in her first interview, telling her friend and former co-host Hoda Kotb, "Honestly, we don't know anything."
Savannah Guthrie said her family "cannot be at peace" without answers and she pleaded for anyone with information to come forward.
"Someone can do the right thing, and it is never too late to do the right thing," she said.
Anyone with information is urged to call 911, the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI, or the Pima County Sheriff's Department at 520-351-4900.
Tyler – As families across East Texas prepare to celebrate Independence Day, UT Health East Texas is reminding the community to put safety first. Each year, thousands of people nationwide require medical treatment for fireworks-related injuries during the July 4 holiday, with children and young adults among those most affected.
While many serious injuries involve professional-grade or illegal fireworks, even small devices like firecrackers and sparklers can cause significant harm.
“We see a wide range of injuries in the emergency room during the Fourth of July holiday,” said Brittany Ray, RN, trauma services education and injury prevention specialist. “Even sparklers burn at about 2,000 degrees, hot enough to melt some metals, making them especially dangerous for children.” Continue reading July 4th safety tips
Ebola survivors leave the ALIMA Ebola Treatment Center at Rwampara General Hospital following their recovery from the disease, as a health worker sits beside a disinfectant sprayer and disinfects their shoes during discharge procedures on June 16, 2026 in Rwampara near Bunia, Democratic Republic of Congo. (Michel Lunanga/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) -- The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has surpassed 1,000 Ebola cases as the country's deadly outbreak continues.
The DRC Ministry of Health reported 1,003 confirmed cases and 254 confirmed deaths as of Sunday evening. There are 365 patients either hospitalized or in isolation, according to the ministry.
Contact tracing remains a concern, officials said. The Ministry of Health said only 58% of identified contacts have been followed up with, far below the desired 90% to 95% target needed to contain the outbreak, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Bonheur Baeni, project manager for the Ebola emergency for the humanitarian NGO CARE, told ABC News that there has been a great amount of misinformation in affected communities that has made it difficult to contain the virus.
"It is in fact among the great challenges, the misinformation that is characterized by rumors, rumors that circulate on social networks, rumors that also circulate mouth-to-mouth," he told ABC News in French. "It really makes the population resistant."
Baeni said the group is working with the Ministry of Health and other partners to engage with the community and answer questions that people have. They are also working with trusted leaders within the community to help combat the misinformation.
"You see that it creates a climate of trust," Baeni said. "It creates a confidence climate because it's their brother, it's a member of the community."
The Ministry of Health wrote on X that "response teams continue active investigations, epidemiological surveillance, and prevention actions in affected areas."
Health officials added that eight more people have recovered from Ebola, bringing the total number of recoveries to 100.
Meanwhile, UNICEF warned on Monday that an estimated 2.95 million children and adolescents aged 18 and under -- representing 54% of the population in 31 affected health zones -- are at risk from Ebola and the breakdown of essential services in the eastern DRC.
"Our teams in Ituri [province] have met children who have lost their mothers, and in some cases both parents, to Ebola," Catherine Russell, UNICEF executive director, said in a statement. "Children are trying to make sense of the threat while surrounded by rumors and online misinformation."
UNICEF said children and adolescents make up about 15% of confirmed Ebola cases and more than 25% of confirmed deaths in the eastern DRC as of June 19, and that children and adolescents with confirmed Ebola are almost twice as likely to die as adults
In Ituri province, which is the epicenter of the outbreak, dozens of children have been orphaned, according to UNICEF. The agency said that 135 of those children are receiving support, including psychosocial care.
In neighboring Uganda, there are at least 20 confirmed cases, in large part linked to cross-border transmission from the DRC, and two deaths, according to UNICEF. The agency said children have also been affected in Uganda, with at least one child who has tested positive and 19 children under quarantine monitoring.
"Children are especially vulnerable because they depend on caregivers and cannot distance themselves from a sick parent or sibling in the same way that an adult can," Russell said. "To better protect children, we need sustained access, and the resources needed to reach every affected community."
ABC News' Dada Jovanovic and Zoe Magee contributed to this report.
Keanu Reeves attends the 78th annual Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 8, 2025, in New York City. (Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)
Keanu Reeves is looking to enter the world of Lego.
The actor is in negotiations to star in a live-action and animation hybrid Lego film, ABC Audio has learned. His Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley will direct him in this new film for Universal Pictures based on the popular toy franchise.
Universal Pictures had no comment when reached by ABC Audio.
While plot details are being kept under blocks, the film is said to combine animation and live-action. Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians are set to produce it through The Lego Group.
Universal landed the rights to Lego in 2020. Several Lego films, including 2014's The Lego Movie and 2017's The Lego Batman Movie, were released through Warner Bros. Pictures and remain part of that studio's library.
Reeves voices the Toy Story character Duke Caboom, who first appeared in Cooley's 2019 sequel Toy Story 4. The actor reprised the role in the franchise's fifth film, which is currently in theaters after its June 19 debut.
BOSTON (AP) — A Delta Air Lines jet was roughly 300 feet (90 meters) from an American Airlines plane during a close call at Boston’s airport that forced the Delta aircraft to abort a weekend landing attempt, an aviation expert said Sunday.
The Federal Aviation Administration said it was investigating the incident between two commercial flights that happened Saturday at Boston Logan International Airport.
Todd Curtis, a former safety engineer at Boeing, estimated the distance between the two jetliners using Flightradar24, a website that tracks flights. Curtis now coproduces a podcast about flight safety issues.
“This is a significant incident,” Curtis said, adding that it was particularly concerning because it involved two professional airline crews.
He said federal aviation officials have been concerned about such runway incursions for a while now and will scrutinize Saturday’s close call.
Near-misses and runway incursions at U.S. airports will be the subject of a hearing on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. The Senate Commerce?Subcommittee?on?Aviation, Space,?and Innovation will?seek ways to strengthen safety across the national airspace system.
The Delta flight from Dallas had to execute a go-around, or aborted landing, to avoid the American plane departing from an intersecting runway, according to the FAA and flight logs.
The crew of Delta flight 2351 coordinated with air traffic control to perform the go-around, an airline spokesperson said. The plane, which had 129 passengers and six crew members on board, landed safely and deplaned normally, according to the spokesperson.
Go-arounds are safe, routine procedures performed at the discretion of the pilot or air traffic controllers, according to the FAA.
LONGVIEW – A person is in the hospital after crashing into a Longview residence and causing significant damage, according to our news partner KETK. The accident occurred Monday morning officials say. The driver is facing “priority 1 injuries” and has been transported to the hospital after being pulled from the vehicle according to the Longview Fire Department. The department says they have stabilized the structure with the help of 16 personnel that responded to the scene.
KATY (AP) – A driver in a Tesla vehicle that was allegedly in driver-assist mode crashed into a Texas house Friday night, killing a woman who was inside the home, investigators said.
Michael Butler was traveling in his Tesla Model 3 around 8 p.m. local time in Katy, Texas, and was operating the vehicle “with an automated driving assistance system,” the Harris County Sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Butler allegedly failed to drive in a single lane, left the roadway and struck the residence, according to the sheriff’s office.
“Butler’s Tesla entered through the brick residence, at a high rate of speed, and struck M. Avila who was inside the residence,” the sheriff’s office said in a statement.
Avila was airlifted to a hospital where she was later pronounced dead, the sheriff’s office said.
Investigators said Butler, who was injured, showed no signs of intoxication and he was cooperating with officers. Attorney information for the driver wasn’t immediately available.
The investigation is ongoing and as of Saturday afternoon there were no charges.
HOUSTON – Monday, Chevron Corporation announced that a 20-year power purchase agreement has been signed between Microsoft Corp. and Energy Forge One LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary, to develop a co-located power facility in West Texas that will supply dedicated electricity to a Microsoft-operated data center. Project Kilby is the development that Chevron and Engine No. 1 have been working on together.
Kilby is anticipated to provide roughly 2.67 gigawatts of capacity, constructed using a modular, phased architecture that allows for gradual expansion. Large GE Vernova turbines and related electrical infrastructure will provide the majority of the generation, with Solar Turbines, a fully owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., contributing additional capacity. By utilizing America’s natural gas edge, this places Kilby among the biggest co-located natural gas power and data center expansions in the United States and supports the next stage of American AI growth.
How would you like to have your music collection in the palm of your hand? Go get David Rancken’s App Of The Day. It’s called Record Club. You can find Record Club in the Apple Store and Google Play below.
A man cools himself at a public fountain on June 21, 2026 in Seville, Spain. (Marcelo del Pozo/Getty Images)
(LONDON) -- The number of people who experience heat stress around the world every year has increased exponentially in the last several decades due to climate change, according to new research.
One billion more people are currently facing at least one day of "extreme heat stress" annually compared to the 1970s, according to a study published Monday in Nature Climate Change.
Heat stress is defined as the net heat load on an individual and can be influenced by temperature, humidity, wind and radiation, according to the paper. Heat stress is the leading cause of weather-related deaths and can exacerbate underlying illnesses, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mental health and asthma, according to the World Health Organization.
"Heat is a leading cause of weather-related mortality at the global scale," Rebecca Emerton, senior scientist for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, in Reading, U.K., and lead author of the paper, told ABC News.
Researchers quantified the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), a thermal stress index, essentially a feels-like temperature that accounts for temperature, humidity, wind speed, solar radiation and how the human body reacts to the environment, Emerton said.
The scientists analyzed a global dataset of human heat stress from 1950 to 2024 to determine that the hottest days of the year looked like in decades past, especially in the 1970s, when the global feels-like trends started to rise, Emerton said. They then compared those figures to maximum UTCI values that are being seen today.
They found that the 10 warmest nights of each year have warmed faster than the 10 warmest days -- by about a global average rate of .58 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the paper.
Extreme feels-like temperatures are also more frequent on every continent, the new research shows. Subtropical regions, including southern North America, southern Europe and northern and southern Africa, now experience up to 50 additional days annually with "strong to extreme heat stress," defined by researchers as a UTCI greater than or equal to 89.6 degrees and 114.8 degrees Fahrenheit, respectively.
Exposure to at least one day of extreme heat stress has risen from 16% to 22% of the global population, equivalent to about one billion people, according to the paper.
As a result, global heat stress is increasing in frequency, severity and duration -- both during the day and at night, the researchers found.
Nighttime heat is especially significant for health, because if the temperatures remain high overnight, the human body doesn't have as much of an opportunity to recover from the heat of the day, Emerton noted.
Extreme heat stress, now occurs 2.5 times more often in Europe and South America, twice as often in North America and 1.8, 1.7 and 1.2 times more often in Africa, Oceania and Asia, respectively, according to the paper.
The increased instances of heat stress experienced by modern populations is a direct result of climate change, Emerton noted.
While empirical evidence shows that heatwaves are becoming more frequent, longer and more intense, the changes experienced by people around the world -- including how the heat impacts them both during the day and at night -- has not yet been well-studied, the researchers said.
Action plans for heat health, as well as early-warning systems, urban cooling interventions and the integration of heat stress metrics in climate risk assessments, will be necessary to protect populations from increased heat stress, according to the paper.
"We hope this helps people across the world understand the changes that are happening, and we hope that information can support decision-making on how to plan and adapt for the future," Emerton said.
The Lincoln Memorial is seen on June 20, 2026 in Washington, DC. The National Park Service continues to work to control and remove the algae bloom that has turned the pool green following the Trump Administration's recent $14 million repair, resealing and painting project. (Photo by Anna Rose Layden/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) -- Three-time U.S. Olympian David Hearn told ABC News that police arrested him on Friday after he touched a piece of blue coating that was partially detached from the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
Hearn said he went on a bike ride on Friday afternoon and stopped by the Reflecting Pool as a “curious, concerned citizen”. Given his background in materials science, Hearn says he was interested to see the situation for himself after reading about reports of algae in the water and paint peeling off.
“I saw a piece of this loose end of this blue coating … I reached out and touched the end of that piece that was loose but still attached to the bottom,” Hearn told ABC News. “I was able to reach out and touch the edge of that that was still attached at the bottom and handled it a little bit.”
Hearn, who represented the U.S. in canoeing, said he was able to feel and bend the coating a bit.
“I did not remove, I did not damage, I did not rip, tear, break, destroy or harm any part of the Reflecting Pool,” Hearn said.
“The condition of that part and all other parts of the Reflecting Pool were in the same condition after I walked away as they were before I walked up to it.”
Hearn said as he was touching the material, a National Park Service employee told him to stop touching it. He said he then walked back to his bike where National Guardsmen told him that the Park Police wanted to talk to him.
“I had no idea I was about to be arrested,” Hearn said. “They didn’t say they were charging me, but they did start to handcuff me. They did not ever read me my rights. They did not allow me any phone calls for the ensuing five hours, and they did not detail the charges that were going to be leveled against me.”
The National Park Service has not replied to a request from ABC News about Hearn's arrest or any others.
Hearn is set to appear in court on July 9.
Hearn said he was “fully cooperative” the whole time, did not resist and was held for five hours before being released Friday night.
Asked whether he is worried about what will happen to him next, Hearn said: “I am concerned. I’m very wary of our current government; I’m a single citizen being singled out in this way by my government. It’s not fair, and it’s not right.”
The Reflecting Pool has been plagued with algae and peeling paint in the days since the Trump administration completed a $14.65 million renovation. Visitors have been flocking to the pool over the weekend and some have taken to social media with photos and videos showing the algae and peeling paint.
President Donald Trump claims, without evidence, that the damage was committed by vandals, saying Saturday in a lengthy post on his social media platform that the pool would need to be partially drained to repair the peeling lining.
Trump said multiple people had been arrested for vandalism and blamed the condition of the pool on someone pouring "corrosive and destructive chemicals" into the pool and that "They took some form of knife or blade, and put a 250 foot long gash into the beautiful facade of what took so much work, competence, and money to build and complete."
An administration official said on Sunday that as of Saturday night, five individuals had been arrested for vandalism, and five others had been issued citations.
The official added that 14 police reports had also been filed for alleged vandalism, including the alleged crime Trump described.
Hearn said he has "a lot of support.”
“I have several very respectable law firms who are offering to provide pro bono counsel, and we will be vigorously defending against these charges," he said.
JACKSONVILLE – Jacksonville police are looking into two shooting incidents that happened on Sunday night, including one near a nearby park that injured three. The Jacksonville Police Department reports that at approximately 9:35 p.m., several 911 calls reported a shooting near MB Davis Drive and Holloway Ave. in Lincoln Park. Three men with gunshot wounds were discovered. Private vehicles transported them to nearby hospitals for medical care. Continue reading Three hospitalized in shootings
In this June 27, 2016 file photo Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve and president and founder of Greenspan Associates, speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Washington, D.C. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) -- Alan Greenspan, the longtime chairman of the Federal Reserve, has died, his wife confirmed. He was 100 years old.
"Alan passed away at our home this morning at the age of 100 from complications of Parkinson’s Disease,” Andrea Mitchell, his wife and a chief correspondent at NBC News, said in a statement published by the network on Monday.
The economist is remembered for leading the American central bank amid periods of historic U.S. economic expansion, while critics have also said his policies contributed to and exacerbated the mortgage crisis and financial crash of 2008.
Greenspan, a libertarian Republican, became the 13th chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System two months before the stock market crash on Oct. 19,1987, known as Black Monday. He was credited with moving quickly to alleviate investors' fears after the crash and was instrumental in ensuring the Federal Reserve made plenty of money available to alleviate the impact on financial markets. Stocks quickly rebounded.
He was appointed Fed chair by four different presidents during his career, first by Ronald Reagan in 1987. Greenspan continued to serve as Fed chairman under presidents George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. He steered the U.S. economy through the economic boom in the 1990s, the dotcom bubble, and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. His final term as chair ended on Jan. 31, 2006.
Under his leadership, the Fed fostered a distaste for regulation and promoted very low interest rates in the early 2000s -- two phenomena critics say encouraged a bubble in housing prices that eventually burst with disastrous effects on the global economy.
During his tenure, and before the financial crisis began, the nation experienced one of the longest periods of economic growth in its history.
A decorated economist, first inspired by music
Greenspan was born on March 6, 1926, in New York City, the only child of Herbert Greenspan, a stockbroker, and Rose Goldsmith Greenspan, a retail worker. His parents divorced when he was 4 years old, and he was raised mainly by his mother and his grandparents.
An aspiring musician, Greenspan attended Juilliard for a year and played saxophone and clarinet before dropping out and enrolling at New York University. He went on to gain his bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees in economics from New York University. He also engaged in some advanced graduate work at Columbia University in New York, where he studied under the influential economist Arthur Burns.
Though short-lived, his music career was an influential portion of Greenspan's life, and he considered the move into economics a logical progression. He saw the organization of economic data into sound fiscal modeling as analogous to the organization of musical notes into tunes, according to Greenspan biographer Justin Martin in his book, "Greenspan: The Man Behind Money."
"I get the same kind of joy from solving a hard mathematical problem as I do from hearing a Haydn quartet," Greenspan once told The New York Times Magazine.
Greenspan taught economics at NYU between 1953 and 1955 and then founded the economic consulting firm Townsend & Greenspan, where he served as chairman and president from 1954 to 1974. He returned to the firm in 1977 and stayed until 1987.
President Richard Nixon nominated Greenspan to chair the President's Council of Economic Advisers in 1974, the first of many government economic positions he would hold. Nixon resigned as president hours after Greenspan was nominated, but he continued to serve under President Gerald Ford. Greenspan also served as a member of President Ronald Reagan's Economic Policy Advisory Board and was a consultant to the Congressional Budget Office.
In the private sector, Greenspan served as corporate director for many companies, including Alcoa, General Foods and J.P. Morgan & Co. He also served as a member of Time magazine's Board of Economists and a senior adviser to the Brookings Panel on Economic Activity.
In 2002, Greenspan received an honorary knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in recognition of his contribution to global economic stability. In 2005, President George W. Bush presented Greenspan with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
He held the position of Fed chairman from the time Reagan appointed him in 1987 until 2006, serving an unprecedented five terms under four presidents before being succeeded by Ben Bernanke.
Greenspan is credited by many with facilitating the longest economic expansion in U.S. history. One day after the Black Monday stock crash, Greenspan affirmed the Fed's "readiness to serve as a source of liquidity to support the economic and financial system" and the central bank moved to encourage banks to lend on their normal terms. Unlike prior financial crises, the events of Black Monday notably were not followed by an economic recession or a banking crisis and less than two years later, the U.S. stock market surpassed its pre-crash highs.
During his tenure, Greenspan developed a reputation for being a consensus-builder and for his strong anti-inflation stance, focusing more on controlling prices than on promoting full employment. He led the Federal Reserve through several events with major economic consequences, including two U.S. recessions, the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
'How could we have possibly got it so wrong?'
Starting in June 2003, the Federal Reserve set the federal funds rate, the rate at which banks typically borrow from each other, to one percent for a year. Though its intention was to lower the cost of borrowing and stimulate the economy, critics said the rate was too low and encouraged investments in risky subprime mortgage-backed securities, which they say contributed to the financial crisis in 2008.
The National Bureau of Economic Research, a research organization seen as an authority on measuring economic performance, later said that the recession officially began in December 2007.
In September 2007, Greenspan published a book that was both a memoir and economic commentary, "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World," in which he criticized the George W. Bush administration for overspending and admitted that he supported the administration's tax cuts without stressing the need for spending cuts.
In an interview with Bloomberg Businessweek in August 2012, Greenspan said, "one day before Lehman Brothers crashes, conventional wisdom was not even certain that we would fall into a recession."
"In fact, we learned many months later that the downward trend had actually started," Greenspan said. "How could we have possibly got it so wrong? I mean, I actually was saying, 'Yes, recession is coming, not that we're here yet.' We didn't know that it had already hit."
In October 2008, Greenspan acknowledged to a congressional committee discussing financial regulation that, "I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms."
After Greenspan finished his term as chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2006, he established Greenspan Associates, an economic consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
With Greenspan as president, the firm had four employees as of October 2012. His client list has included giant finance clients like German firm Deutsche Bank and hedge fund Paulson & Co.
Personal life
Greenspan married artist Joan Mitchell in 1952. The couple divorced in 1953 after less than a year of marriage, and the marriage was later annulled. The two remained friends.
His first wife is remembered for introducing him to novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, with whom Greenspan shared a friendship, a belief in free-market economic ideals and a philosophy of objectivism. In his 30s and early 40s, Greenspan spent many hours sitting with Rand's band of followers, known as the "Collective," discussing topics including politics philosophy, current events and economics.
In addition to Burns at Columbia, Rand and her group were instrumental in helping hone Greenspan's capitalist, free-market economic philosophy, according to Martin, Greenspan's biographer.
The group's open style of debate and discussion served Greenspan well in his various governmental roles. During his career in public service, he became known for a well-developed ability to communicate with Congress without offending those with opposing viewpoints or politicizing his messages.
Though he was said to back revamping the Social Security system and raising the retirement age, Greenspan was wary of how his public statements as Fed chairman might move markets. He rarely granted interviews. He was known for making openly ambiguous public statements about the state of the U.S. economy, once telling Congress, "If I've made myself too clear, you must have misunderstood me."
Greenspan married NBC News correspondent Mitchell in 1997. Their marriage was officiated by the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
"We've had the most wonderful marriage," he told Bloomberg Businessweek in August 2012. "It gets better every year. We're still very much together in love."
EAST TEXAS – Some rescued dogs and cats from East Texas are being prevented from leaving the state on transport flights due to New World screwworm concerns in Texas. More than sixty animals from East Texas shelters were scheduled to be transported by Wings of Rescue to adoptive homes and out-of-state partners, but as a precaution, some destination states are no longer accepting animals from Texas. Shelters claim that because fewer animals can be placed out of state as a result of the change, overcrowding may get worse. Continue reading Screwworm preventing pet flights
HAWKINS – Candidates running for Hawkins City Council seats informed voters a month ago that, if elected, they would deal with a number of issues, including the lack of a police department. They started the process of doing just that this month. Kayla Ross and her fellow council members unanimously decided to start accepting applications for the position of city police chief during her first full meeting as mayor on Monday night. That is the first step toward reviving the city’s police force, which was shut down a year ago by council members and former mayor Deb Rushing.
LINDALE – A firefighter from the Lindale Fire Department had surgery on Saturday after being struck by a burning tree that fell on him on Friday while they were responding to a call. Firefighters were dispatched to the 14000 block of County Road 496 at approximately 5:53 p.m. on Friday due to a reported burning tree, according to the Lindale Fire Department. A firefighter was struck in the arm when the tree suddenly collapsed while they were attempting to put it out. He received emergency care on the spot before being transported by ambulance to a nearby hospital. Garrett Rose was identified by the department as the injured firefighter. He will probably require another surgery in the future, according to a family friend.
HOUSTON COUNTY – After heavy rains swept through the area overnight on Saturday, several roads near Crockett and across Houston County have been left flooded or damaged.
The Crockett Fire Department issued a public safety alert on Saturday morning after heavy rainfall caused flooding on several roadways throughout the area, making many roads completely impassable.
The Texas Department of Transportation shared that they’ve closed FM 228 in Houston County after it was damaged and partly washed out by heavy rainfall on Saturday. They said repairs are underway and are expected to be finished on Saturday night.
The Crockett Fire Department gave the following safety tips for anyone on the road during flooding and heavy rains:
Stay home unless travel is absolutely necessary.
Do not drive through flooded roadways.
Turn around, don’t drown.
Use extreme caution if you must be on the roads.
Monitor local weather and emergency updates.
HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) – The body of a teenage driver from near Houston was recovered from a creek near Crockett on Saturday after his car left the roadway.
Flooding leaves Houston County roads damaged, blocked
The Houston County Sheriff’s Office said they got a call at around 11 a.m. on Saturday about a young teen who was overdue at his home near Houston after he left Houston County Lake.
Deputies started searching along FM 229 in the areas that usually flood during times of heavy rain like the storms that moved through Houston County on Saturday morning. At around 1:45 p.m., the Houston County Emergency Management Coordinator was travelling on FM 229 when they noticed a damaged guardrail.
That damaged guardrail runs along FM 229 and over a creek which is just off of Loop 304, to the northwest of Crockett. The coordinator and a deputy went around 70 yards down the creek and found a front bumper of a car that had the missing teen’s license plate on it and then they found the roof of a car submerged about 30 yards further down the creek.
A Texas Parks and Wildlife Search and Rescue team that was in the area to help with flooding and the Houston County Search and Rescue team both responded to the scene and they were able to remove the young man’s body from the submerged car.
“This is a tragic event that will affect many of this young man’s family and friends,” Houston County Sheriff Zak Benge said on Saturday.
The cause of the crash is currently under investigation by the Crockett Police Department.
PANOLA COUNTY – One man was shot and a woman was injured after she reportedly jumped from a vehicle that was involved in a pursuit near the Texas-Louisiana border in Panola County on Friday.
According to our news partner KETK, dispatchers got an open-line 911 call at around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. In the background of the call, they could hear a man and a woman arguing. The woman on the call then reportedly told dispatchers that she had jumped from the moving vehicle and was injured. Sheriff’s office deputies, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper, the Flatwoods Volunteer Fire Department and UT Health EMS were all sent to where the woman’s phone was pinged on FM 2517 near County Road 4702 and the state border with Louisiana.
A deputy and sergeant with Panola County Sheriff’s office stopped the vehicle on FM 2517 near County Road 470. The driver was identified as the woman caller’s brother, Napolean Cordell “Polie” Lockett of Beckville. The sheriff’s office said Lockett then fled in his vehicle by turning onto FM 3359 and heading towards Louisiana before he reportedly turned onto County Road 455 where his vehicle crashed and rolled over. Continue reading One shot, one injured in police chase
KAUFMAN COUNTY – Nine people were sent to local hospitals on Saturday after a 13-vehicle crash happened near FM 2965 on Interstate 20 westbound in Kaufman County.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a multi-vehicle crash happened in the westbound lanes of Interstate 20 leaving several people injured.
The nearby Elmo Fire Department reported that multiple crashes happened on I-20 westbound near mile marker 511 at around 10:55 a.m. on Saturday. They also reported several other minor crashes on the eastbound side of I-20 from mile marker 509 to mile marker 511.
Video courtesy of Bonnie Rose.
In total, the Elmo Fire Department said 24 people were assessed for injuries at the scene and nine of those people had to be transported to local hospitals to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. They said the crashes at the scene involved a total of 13 vehicles and four 18-wheelers.
The Elmo Fire Department added that mass casualty incident triage had to be established to help treat those injured at the scene. DPS said the roadway was reopened to traffic at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
FRISCO (AP) — Newly released video from an officer’s body camera and a surveillance camera at a Texas running track captures the moments after a teenage athlete fatally stabbed another teen from a rival team in the stadium bleachers during a high school meet last year.
Karmelo Anthony, 19, was convicted of murder on June 10 in the death of Austin Metcalf, 17, and sentenced to 35 years in prison. A jury rejected Anthony’s claims of self-defense. The videos were included in a batch of evidence released by the Collin County court following the conclusion of the trial.
The surveillance video shows the track and bleachers on a rainy day. Suddenly a figure wearing a gray sweatshirt is seen popping up from behind a yellow tent and then running down the steps. The video has no sound.
He got to the bottom of the bleachers, tripped and fell on the ground, and then kept running along the edge of the fencing that separates the bleachers from the running track. He stopped briefly, turned to look at what appeared to be someone chasing him, and then kept running.
After making his way part way around the track, he was joined by an unidentified person. They stopped to talk and then hugged. They started walking again and were joined by another person. After talking more, Anthony walked toward the fence where he appeared to meet up with a police officer.
The officer put him in handcuffs and walked him toward the police cruiser. Anthony obeyed the officer’s commands and then started crying.
“He put his hands on me,” Anthony said in a broken voice. “I told him not to. He put his hands on me.”
The officers escorted him to the police cruiser and placed him inside.
HOUSTON COUNTY (KETK) – After heavy rains swept through the area overnight on Saturday, several roads near Crockett and across Houston County have been left flooded or damaged.
The Crockett Fire Department issued a public safety alert on Saturday morning after heavy rainfall caused flooding on several roadways throughout the area, making many roads completely impassable.
The Texas Department of Transportation shared that they’ve closed FM 228 in Houston County after it was damaged and partly washed out by heavy rainfall on Saturday. They said repairs are underway and are expected to be finished on Saturday night.
The Crockett Fire Department gave the following safety tips for anyone on the road during flooding and heavy rains:
Stay home unless travel is absolutely necessary.
Do not drive through flooded roadways.
Turn around, don’t drown.
Use extreme caution if you must be on the roads.
Monitor local weather and emergency updates.
KAUFMAN COUNTY (KETK) – Nine people were sent to local hospitals on Saturday after a 13-vehicle crash happened near FM 2965 on Interstate 20 westbound in Kaufman County.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), a multi-vehicle crash happened in the westbound lanes of Interstate 20 leaving several people injured.
The nearby Elmo Fire Department reported that multiple crashes happened on I-20 westbound near mile marker 511 at around 10:55 a.m. on Saturday. They also reported several other minor crashes on the eastbound side of I-20 from mile marker 509 to mile marker 511.
In total, the Elmo Fire Department said 24 people were assessed for injuries at the scene and nine of those people had to be transported to local hospitals to be treated for non-life-threatening injuries. They said the crashes at the scene involved a total of 13 vehicles and four 18-wheelers.
The Elmo Fire Department added that mass casualty incident triage had to be established to help treat those injured at the scene. DPS said the roadway was reopened to traffic at around 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.
PANOLA COUNTY – One man was shot and a woman injured after she reportedly jumped from a vehicle that was involved in a pursuit near the Texas-Louisiana border in Panola County on Friday, according to a news release and our news partner, KETK.
Panola County Sheriff Cutter Clinton said dispatchers received a 911 call at around 10:30 p.m. on Friday. In the background, they could hear a man and a woman arguing. The woman on the call then reportedly told dispatchers that she had jumped from the moving vehicle and was injured.
Sheriff’s office deputies, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper, the Flatwoods Volunteer Fire Department and UT Health EMS were all sent to where the woman’s phone was pinged on FM 2517 near County Road 4702 and the state border with Louisiana.
A deputy and sergeant with Panola County Sheriff’s office stopped the vehicle on FM 2517 near County Road 470. The driver was identified as the woman caller’s brother, Napolean Cordell “Polie” Lockett of Beckville.
The sheriff’s office said Lockett then fled in his vehicle by turning onto FM 3359 and heading towards Louisiana before he reportedly turned onto County Road 455 where his vehicle crashed and rolled over.
Deputies helped remove Lockett from the crashed vehicle and discovered that he had been shot in the abdomen. The deputies arrested him for evading arrest with a vehicle, violation of conditional bond in a family violence incident and an unrelated grand jury indictment for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Lockett was taken to a hospital in Shreveport to be treated for his non-life-threatening gunshot wound and was booked into the Panola County Detention Center after he was discharged from the hospital on Saturday morning.
The woman caller was transported to a hospital in Longview to be treated for her injuries from jumping out of the vehicle. The case is currently under investigation by the Panola County Sheriff’s Office, which has contacted the De Soto Parish Sheriff’s Office since part of the case took place in Louisiana.
The Texas Highway Patrol is investigating the crash and the sheriff’s office said more charges will be filed in this case.