Author: CNN

New York
CNN
 — 

Egg prices are still going up — way up — in the grocery store.

In January, egg prices rose 8.5% compared to the month before, according to inflation data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Tuesday. In the year through January, egg prices soared 70.1%.

A highly-contagious, deadly avian flu has wreaked havoc in the egg market, constraining the national egg supply. That, plus higher feed and transportation costs for producers, has raised prices. And some producers are also raising their own profits amidst the turmoil, causing some to demand a federal investigation into possible price gouging.

In the wholesale market, egg prices hit a record peak in December and have been steadily falling since then. But so far, those declines haven’t reached consumers, as seen in January’s numbers.

And compared to other grocery items, egg prices rose most dramatically.

But plenty of other foods got more expensive this year as well. Some dairy product prices increased sharply: Butter spiked 26.3% and margarine rose a startling 44.7%.

Many other staples got way more expensive over the past year. Flour jumped 20.4%, bread got 14.9% pricier, sugar went up 13.5% and milk rose 11%. Chicken prices went up 10.5% and, together, fruit and vegetable prices increased 7.2%. Hot dogs got 11.4% more expensive. Breakfast sausages went up 10.1%.

But there were some items that got less expensive. Bacon prices dropped 3.9%, and uncooked beef steaks fell 3%.

Overall, groceries got 11.3% pricier over the course of the year, while menu prices grew 8.2%. Together, food prices went up 10.1% for the year, eclipsing overall inflation of 6.4%.

The government uses certain tools, like interest rates, to try to stem price increases in general. But it has made limited attempts to control food prices.

In addition to disease, food prices are impacted by climate change, as well as international crises like the war in Ukraine, which has affected the global grain supply.

In the month of January, grocery prices went up 0.4% compared to December, adjusting for seasonal swings. Menu prices rose 0.6%, for an overall monthly food increase of 0.5%.

Some individual items got more expensive. Ham prices jumped 3%, citrus fruit jumped 2.8% and packaged cookies got 2.5% more expensive. Bananas ticked up 1.5%, and rice went up 1.4%. Fresh fruit rose .8%.

But it’s not all bad news. There were plenty of items that got cheaper last month.

Pork chops and hot dogs each fell by 3.5%, and fresh vegetable prices went down 2.3%. Tomatoes in particular saw a sharp decline, dropping 7.7%. Butter fell 1.7%, and milk 0.4%.

CNN
 — 

An attorney for the family of Darryl Tyree Williams, who died in police custody last month, says Williams was racially profiled and harassed by Raleigh, North Carolina, police officers during a stop and frisk procedure and that he was “electrocuted to death for nothing.”

Williams was tased twice by two separate officers in the span of 50 seconds during an attempted arrest in January, according to the Raleigh Police Department.

Williams can be heard in bodycam footage released Friday warning police that he had heart problems. The footage shows that shortly after being tased, officers could not detect his pulse and started performing CPR on him while waiting for EMTs to arrive. Wiliams was pronounced dead almost exactly one hour later at a local hospital.

Attorney Dawn Blagrove, the executive director of Emancipate NC, a criminal justice advocacy group advocating for Williams’ family, is calling for the six officers involved in the death of Williams to be fired and prosecuted by an independent prosecutor, among other demands. Blagrove is also calling for RPD to immediately stop their use of tasers.

“It’s heartbreaking to think about any person being electrocuted to death for nothing. In a parking lot, alone, begging, screaming and pleading for mercy that the Raleigh Police Department could not and would not offer him. They need to be held accountable for that,” Blagrove told CNN.

“What we know for sure is that in that moment, he was doing nothing. He was sitting in a car, he was not bothering anyone. He had not done anything that warranted police involvement or police attention,” Blagrove said.

Williams’ family has also retained renowned civil rights and personal injury attorney Benjamin Crump, Crump’s office said in a news release.

“Yet again, we see a life lost too soon due to excessive and unreasonable police force,” Crump said in the release. “To continue to deploy a taser on someone who discloses a heart condition and begs for mercy reflects an immense amount of apathy and blatant disregard for life, as we saw in the video footage.”

CNN previously reported that Raleigh Police Chief Estella Patterson sent a memo to City Manager Marchell Adams-David several days after Williams’ death saying RPD officers allegedly saw an open container of alcohol and marijuana in the car and decided to arrest Williams for possession of a controlled substance.

However, bodycam footage shows Williams repeatedly asking why he and an unidentified passenger were being removed from the car. CNN has detailed the entire police encounter according to the memo, which includes one of the officer’s locating a folded dollar bill in Williams’ pocket containing a “white powdery substance consistent with the appearance of cocaine,” which led to the decision to arrest Williams.

According to the memo and body camera footage, officers were conducting “proactive patrols” of businesses in an area that police said has a history of criminal violations.

Blagrove argues, “There is no question that he should have been read his rights, he should have been informed as to why he was being arrested or detained, none of that happened.”

“This was a harassment of Darryl and his companion,” Blagrove said. “The fact that they claim to have seen an open container and marijuana in the car sounds good and is a practice that we see repeatedly, not just from Raleigh Police Department but from police departments across the country, where they retroactively create scenarios that protect them from the accountability and appearance of impropriety.”

Blagrove has been in touch with Williams’ mother and said her reaction to the bodycam footage has been deeply moving, saying her son “was electrocuted in a parking lot for an open container. She sees that. She feels the outrage that comes with that. And the deep, deep hole that a mother has ripped in her soul when she has to bury a child.”

“While the rest of us see a police interaction that was necessary, what she sees and hears is her baby’s dying breath. His last words. His cry for help,” Blagrove said. “His notification to law enforcement that he had a heart condition. His being completely confused as to what was going on. And his justifiable fear for his life, as evidenced by the fact that his life was taken that night.”

CNN has not been able to reach Williams’ mother, but Blagrove communicated on her behalf that “Darryl was part of the community, he was the heart of his family. He was a man who was loved who was cared for, who was sensitive, who was generous, who was giving and who did not deserve to die on a dirty parking lot ground.”

The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation is conducting an independent criminal investigation and will present its findings to the Wake County District Attorney, according to Chief Patterson. The six officers have been placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.

Blagrove told CNN the investigation will determine whether charges will be filed. She is also waiting for a completed report from the medical examiner to determine the official cause of death.

CNN reached out Monday to the Raleigh Police Department and the Raleigh Police Protective Association for a response to Blagrove’s allegations of the police failing to follow protocol. Neither entity responded to CNN’s direct questions, but RPD said it does not comment on ongoing investigations, and that “all investigations are ongoing, will be thorough, and will follow the available facts and evidence wherever they lead.”

Raleigh’s Police Protective Association said Saturday, that it “could not determine any criminal actions or policy violations of the officers involved. We respect the process and recognize this incident is currently under investigation by the SBI.”

Lawmakers are calling on the Biden administration to divulge more information about the downed objects, saying they have received little so far.

“I think there ought to be more transparency — and I believe it can be offered in a way that protects national security and sources and methods,” Sen. Ron Wyden, a Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Monday.

Sen. Gary Peters, who chairs the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, said he spoke three times with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas over the weekend along with Pentagon officials. He said he learned nothing more than what has already been reported by the news media.

“We still have questions outstanding as to what we know,” he said. “We’ll be asking probing questions tomorrow when they come in a classified setting,” Peters added, noting his calls over the weekend were unclassified.

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, who chairs the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said he doesn’t believe there’s a protocol for how the US handles these objects and he plans to use the appropriations process to find out “what they knew, when they knew it and what the plan is.”

Senate Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Marco Rubio, a Republican, said he thinks “the communication disclosure has been poor” and called for President Joe Biden to address the unidentified objects.

Republican Sen. Mitt Romney warned against getting “too excited” about balloons and unidentified objects when there are still so many questions about what they are. 

“I think we get a little hyped up over objects that don’t quite understand what they are — balloons, weather balloons — and let’s find out what they are before we get too excited,” he said.

Another Republican, Sen. Todd Young, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said there’s “a lot more to learn” before assessing if the shooting down of the objects was handled properly.

Russia’s Human Rights Ombudsman Tatyana Moskalkova on Monday asked the Chief of the Russian General Staff Valery Gerasimov to investigate the information that mobilized men from Tatarstan were allegedly sent to fight in Ukraine “practically without weapons.”

This follows a video published on social networks in which about two dozen men in camouflage uniforms say that upon arrival to Ukraine, they were divided into different units, transferred to the command of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and sent on a mission without any equipment or support.

Moskalkova said in a statement on Monday, “I sent an appeal to the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov, with a request to investigate the information that appeared on the network that soldiers mobilized from the Republic of Tatarstan were sent to perform combat missions as part of a special military operation with virtually no weapons.”

The Russian Human Rights Council — serving under Russian President Vladimir Putin — also reported that they will look into another case regarding mobilized men from Smolensk, who turned to the council with a complaint about the actions of the military command.

“I received such an appeal, and I managed to give it a go through the HRC channels: an inspection has been scheduled. Therefore, if any of you are faced with similar issues, reach out. At least we will help someone,” said Eva Merkacheva, a member of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.

According to Merkacheva, the mobilized soldiers from Smolensk were immediately sent to the front lines, where they stayed for three months. Following that, they were briefly sent to the rear and returned back to the front lines. They were not allowed “neither physically nor mentally to rest.”

The Human Rights Council said in a statement that they “will monitor this egregious situation with the mobilized.”

What former Wagner fighters saying: Two former fighters of the Russian private military company Wagner have told CNN of their horrific experiences on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, and how anyone who faltered was immediately shot by their own commanders.

The two fighters were captured by Ukrainian forces late last year. CNN is not disclosing their identities for their own safety. Both are married with children and were recruited while in prison. One was serving a 20-year sentence for manslaughter.

CNN’s Tim Lister and Frederik Pleitgen contributed reporting to this post.

CNN
 — 

A dual US-Jordanian citizen convicted on sedition charges in Jordan is calling on the US government to demand his return to the United States and launching a hunger strike to protest his imprisonment.

Bassem Awadallah, a dual US-Jordanian citizen, was arrested in April 2021 and sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges of incitement against the state and sowing sedition in connection to an effort Jordanian authorities allege was led by Prince Hamzah bin Al Hussein to “destabilize” the kingdom. Representatives for Awadallah called the charges “fabricated,” and Hamzah has denied the allegations.

Awadallah, a former Jordan finance minister, is launching a hunger strike to call attention to his “unjust imprisonment” and urging both Biden administration officials and Republican lawmakers in Congress to advocate his release, his US lawyer Michael Sullivan said in a statement released by representatives for Awadallah.

“The U.S. Government should make it clear to King Abdullah and his government that continued support depends on Jordan’s commitment to human rights especially when it concerns the rights of U.S. citizens,” Sullivan said.

“It is our hope that the new Republican leadership of the House of Representatives will seek answers from the Biden Administration on what steps are being taken to secure Bassem’s release,” he added.

Awadallah is also a former adviser to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. CNN has previously reported that shortly after his arrest, Saudi Arabia sent a delegation to Jordan headed by Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. Both the Saudi and Jordanian governments have denied that the meeting was related to Awadallah’s arrest.

The statement from Awadallah’s representatives said he has been subjected to “physical, psychological and emotional torture” while detained in Jordan and has spent his entire 22-month detention in solitary confinement. A State Department report from 2020 said international and local organizations have reported incidents of torture in detention centers in Jordan.

Jordan’s Public Safety Public Security Directorate, Rehabilitation and Correction Centers Department released a statement on Monday denying that Awadallah had been “mistreated in any way.”

“Bassem Awadallah is a Jordanian citizen and a former Jordanian official who was tried in Jordan and found guilty of incitement against the political regime and engaging in actions that would threaten the safety and security of society and create sedition,” the statement said.

“Mr. Awadallah was guaranteed due process, in accordance with Jordanian laws and regulations. He has not been mistreated in any way, and allegations of torture of any kind are patently false. Mr. Awadallah’s statements to the court during his trial were given voluntarily with no coercion,” it went on to say.

“Allegations that Mr. Awadallah has been on hunger strike for three days are inaccurate, as he has been eating the meals provided to him over the past three days. He had breakfast and lunch on Sunday, February 12th, and has been allowed to bring in additional food supplements. On the morning of Monday, February 13th, Mr. Awadallah refused his meals, but up until the evening of February 13th, he had not submitted a written statement to prison authorities declaring his intent to go on hunger strike, as required by Jordanian law and procedures,” it added.

A State Department spokesperson said the US is following the situation.

“We are closely tracking reports of Bassem Awadallah’s hunger strike. One of the most important priorities of the Department of State and US embassies and consulates abroad is to provide assistance to US citizens incarcerated or detained abroad, and we take allegations of mistreatment seriously. We always raise the importance of humane treatment directly with the host government. Further, the Embassy has visited Mr. Awadallah at least monthly since April 12, 2021. The last visit was yesterday, February 12, 2023, and we continue to monitor his situation closely. Senior State Department officials, including US Embassy personnel, remain in contact with the family of Mr. Awadallah,” the spokesperson said in a statement.

Awadallah’s hunger strike comes weeks after Siamak Namazi, an American wrongfully detained in Iran, went on a seven-day hunger strike in an attempt to urge President Joe Biden to push for his release. Namazi has been detained in Iran since 2015. During his hunger strike, a US National Security Council spokesperson said the administration remained “committed to securing the freedom of Siamak Namazi and we are working tirelessly to bring him home along with all US citizens who are wrongfully detained in Iran, including Emad Shargi and Morad Tahbaz.”

While both are dual US nationals, the cases of Namazi and Awadallah are very different. Awadallah – a former Jordanian finance minister and former chief of the royal court – was convicted for his role in an alleged conspiracy against key US ally King Abdullah II.

Namazi’s detention, however, is widely seen as part of a long-running strategy of using foreign and dual nationals as political pawns in Tehran’s negotiations with the US and other Western governments.

New York
CNN
 — 

Eight people were injured after someone drove a U-Haul truck into pedestrians in New York City on Monday morning, an official with the New York Fire Department told CNN.

One of the injured victims, a 44-year-old, has since died, a law enforcement source with knowledge of the case confirmed to CNN.

The incident began when police pulled over the rented truck about 10:49 a.m. in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the New York Police Department said. The driver evaded police, striking several pedestrians. He was taken into custody shortly after a few blocks away.

Two people were critically injured and two seriously, the FDNY official said. The other injuries were minor. One of the injured victims was a police officer, authorities said at a news conference.

Police believe the driver, a 62-year-old man, might have been the subject of a call regarding an emotionally disturbed person recently.

Out of an abundance of caution, officials said, the bomb squad searched the back of the truck. It was filled with items indicating the suspect may have been living out of it in recent days. A law enforcement source told CNN the items included boxes of the man’s clothes.

Investigators tell CNN they are going through the man’s background and do not believe this was a planned attack, but more likely an attempt to escape.

There is no initial indication of terrorism, NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell told reporters.

Gov. Kathy Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams tweeted that they had been briefed on the incident. Additionally, Adams said there are no further credible threats related to the incident.

In a second tweet, Hochul said: “I am praying for everyone who was injured today in Brooklyn. Grateful for the swift response of @NYPDnews to apprehend the suspect and of our first responders to tend to those injured.

“@nyspolice (state police) are in Brooklyn providing necessary assistance as the investigation unfolds.”

CNN
 — 

The testing organization behind a new college-level African American studies course for high schoolers is hitting back at Florida officials’ comments about the Advanced Placement class, accusing the state Education Department of “slander” and spreading misinformation about it for political gain.

The College Board also admitted it “made mistakes in the rollout” of the course framework “that are being exploited,” according to a lengthy statement published Saturday. And it disputed how Florida officials – who have asked that the course be resubmitted for consideration after initially rejecting it – have characterized their dialogue and influence with the testing non-profit.

“There is always debate about the content of a new AP course. That is good and healthy; these courses matter. But the dialogue surrounding AP African American Studies has moved from healthy debate to misinformation,” the statement said, citing the administration of Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis, a potential front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

“We deeply regret not immediately denouncing the Florida Department of Education’s slander, magnified by the DeSantis administration’s subsequent comments, that African American Studies ‘lacks educational value,’” it said. “Our failure to raise our voice betrayed Black scholars everywhere and those who have long toiled to build this remarkable field.”

The College Board’s statement comes after the Florida Education Department asserted the AP African American Studies course “lacks educational value” and violates state law amid a national debate over how topics like racism and history are taught in public schools. Under DeSantis, Florida has banned the teaching of critical race theory and passed new legislation barring instruction that suggests anyone is privileged or oppressed based on their race or skin color.

DeSantis last month said the state was rejecting the course because it imposed a “political agenda,” with a preliminary framework that included the study of “queer theory” and political movements that advocate for “abolishing prisons.”

“That’s the wrong side of the line for Florida standards,” the governor said at a news conference. “We believe in teaching kids facts and how to think, but we don’t believe they should have an agenda imposed on them when you try to use Black history to shoehorn in queer theory, you are clearly trying to use that for political purposes.”

DeSantis doubled down Monday in response to a reporter’s question about the College Board’s statement.

“Our Department of Education looked at that and said: In Florida, we do education not indoctrination, and so that runs afoul of our standards,” he said at a news conference in Naples. “We were just the only ones that had the backbone to stand up and do it – because they call you names and they demagogue you when you do it.

“But look, I’m so sick of people not doing what’s right because they’re worried that people are going to call them names. We’re doing what’s right here.”

The state Education Department had concerns about six topics of study in the yearlong course, such as the Movement for Black Lives, Black feminism and reparations, it earlier told CNN. Many of the objections were tied to the inclusion of texts from modern Black thought leaders and history teachers, whose writings the DeSantis administration believes violate state laws, it said.

The College Board later released the official framework for the course with many of the topics DeSantis objected to removed. Under the official framework, students can study those topics as part of a required research project.

The Florida Education Department last week said it had met several times and exchanged emails over months with the College Board to discuss the course and was “grateful” to see the changes, according to a letter it wrote to the testing organization. The department asked the board to resubmit the class for consideration and indicated it had not yet decided whether to approve it.

The College Board, however, denied that characterization of the exchanges, calling it “a false and politically motivated charge,” according to its statement Saturday.

“In Florida’s effort to engineer a political win, they have claimed credit for the specific changes we made to the official framework,” the College Board said. “In their February 7, 2023, letter to us, which they leaked to the media within hours of sending, Florida expresses gratitude for the removal of 19 topics, none of which they ever asked us to remove, and most of which remain in the official framework.”

The College Board reached out to Florida officials for details about how the proposed course framework violated state law but didn’t receive any of that information in subsequent phone calls with the department, the testing organization said.

“These phone calls with FDOE were absent of substance, despite the audacious claims of influence FDOE is now making,” the College Board’s statement reads. “In the discussion, they did not offer feedback but instead asked vague, uninformed questions like, ‘What does the word ‘intersectionality’ mean?’ and ‘Does the course promote Black Panther thinking?’”

“We had no negotiations about the content of this course with Florida or any other state, nor did we receive any requests, suggestions, or feedback,” the statement said.

In the wake of the debate, Florida’s relationship with the College Board – which also administers the SAT college admissions test – may change, DeSantis said Monday.

“I think the legislature is going to look to reevaluate, kind of, how Florida” selects vendors for college-credit courses, he said. “Of course, our universities can or can’t accept College Board courses for credit, and maybe they’ll do others.

“And then also just whether our universities do the SATs versus the ACT. I think they do both, but we’re gonna evaluate kind of how all that, that process goes. But at the end of the day, we highlighted things that were very problematic.”

The College Board stressed its commitment to AP African American Studies is “unwavering” and admitted it should have spoken up sooner to counter statements from Florida officials, its statement reads.

The College Board also should have made clear the course framework is an outline meant to be filled in with scholarly articles and video lectures, it said. “This error triggered a conversation about erasing or eliminating Black thinkers. The vitriol aimed at these scholars is repulsive and must stop,” the non-profit said.

The statement praised the work of teachers and students involved in piloting the course and noted teachers in some states have more room to maneuver in their studies than others.

“But we must resist the narrative that teachers in states with restrictions are not doing exceptional work with their students, introducing them to so much and preparing them for so much more,” the statement said.

“By filling the course with concrete examples of the foundational concepts in this discipline, we have given teachers the flexibility to teach the essential content without putting their livelihoods at risk.”

CNN
 — 

Here’s a look at the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League.

February 12, 2023 – Super Bowl LVII takes place at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. The Kansas City Chiefs defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38-35. This is the first Super Bowl to feature two Black starting quarterbacks.

February 13, 2022 – Super Bowl LVI takes place at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Rams defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20. It is the second time in Super Bowl history a team played on its home field. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers were the first team to do so, last year at Raymond James Stadium.

2023 – Rihanna performs during the halftime show. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph performs “Lift Every Voice and Sing” and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds sings “America the Beautiful.” Chris Stapleton sings the national anthem while actor Troy Kotsur signs an ASL version.

2022 – Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre perform with Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. Jhené Aiko performs “America the Beautiful,” and Mickey Guyton sings the national anthem.

1967 – A 30-second commercial costs about $40,000 during the first Super Bowl.

2023 – A 30-second spot costs about $7 million.

2015 – Super Bowl XLIX (49) is the most watched US telecast of all time, with an average viewership of 114.4 million.

First Super Bowl – January 15, 1967 – The first Super Bowl championship game was between the NFL (Green Bay Packers) and AFL (Kansas City Chiefs) champions at Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles. The score was Green Bay, 35 and Kansas City, 10. Attendance was 61,946. Bart Starr, the quarterback for Green Bay, was named the MVP.

Lowest Winning Score – February 3, 2019 – Lowest scoring winner – New England Patriots 13, Los Angeles Rams 3 – Super Bowl LIII, at Mercedes Benz Stadium in Atlanta.

Highest Winning Score – January 28, 1990 – Highest scoring winner – San Francisco 49ers, 55, Denver Broncos, 10 – Super Bowl XXIV, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. This was also the largest margin of victory to date.

Most Played – New England Patriots, 11

Most Wins – The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers are tied with six.

Most Losses – Denver Broncos and New England Patriots are tied with five.

The NFL pays for up to 150 rings at $5,000 per ring (plus adjustments for increases in gold and diamonds).

The NFL also pays for 150 pieces of jewelry for the losing team, which may not cost more than half the price set for the Super Bowl ring.

The Vince Lombardi Trophy is made from sterling silver by Tiffany & Co.

February 1, 2004 – Janet Jackson’s breast is exposed during the halftime performance at Super Bowl XXXVIII (38) when fellow performer Justin Timberlake rips away a piece of her bodice. She later claims it was a “wardrobe malfunction.”

February 6, 2011 – Cowboy Stadium seating problems, “incomplete installation of temporary seats in a limited number of sections made the seats unusable,” leaves 1,250 ticket holders without seats. 850 were distributed around the stadium to other seats, 400 were left with no options. NFL promises triple refunds for the $800.00 ticket for all 1250 people.

February 3, 2013 – A power failure at the Super Dome halts the game and leaves half of the stadium in the dark for 34 minutes. Super Bowl XLVII (47) is played in New Orleans at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome. The Baltimore Ravens defeat the San Francisco 49ers 34-31. Beyoncé is the half-time performer.

2024 – New Orleans, Louisiana

CNN
 — 

U2 announced during a Super Bowl commercial on Sunday that they will soon play a residency in Las Vegas.

This fall the band will help launch the MSG Sphere at The Venetian with a show called “U2: UV Achtung Baby Live at the Sphere.”

The globe-shaped performance center holds 17,500 people and will feature 4D technology and a special screen that wraps around the seats.

In a statement, U2 said they are ready to rock.

“We’re the right band, ‘Achtung Baby’ the right album and the Sphere the right venue to take the live experience to the next level,” they said in a press announcement.

The band’s drummer Larry Mullen Jr. will miss shows, however, because he needed surgery to keep playing and the band told fans that concerts played in 2023 would be filled by different drummers. Bono, The Edge and Adam Clayton are set to play the Las Vegas shows.

“It’s going to take all we’ve got to approach the Sphere without our bandmate in the drum seat, but Larry has joined us in welcoming Bram van den Berg, who is a force in his own right,” said the band.

CNN
 — 

Teen girls in the United States experienced record high levels of violence, sadness and suicide risk in recent years, amid “significant” declines in youth health and well-being overall, according to data published Monday by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Responses for the CDC’s bi-annual Youth Risk Behavior Survey were collected in the fall of 2021, offering the first look at trends since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The survey found increasing mental health challenges, experiences of violence, and suicidal thoughts and behavior among all teens. More than 40% of high school students said that feelings of sadness or hopelessness prevented them from engaging in their regular activities for at least two weeks of the year.

Girls broadly fared worse than boys, and there is “ongoing and extreme distress” among teens who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning (LGBQ+).

Most teen girls (57%) felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, double the rate for teen boys (29%). Nearly one in three teen girls seriously considered attempting suicide. Both rates “increased dramatically” over the past decade, according to the CDC.

Most LGBQ+ students (52%) have also recently experienced poor mental health and more than one in five attempted suicide in the past year.

Few measures of adolescent health and well-being showed continued improvement, including declines in risky sexual behavior, substance use and bullying at school. But most other indicators “worsened significantly,” according to the CDC report.

The latest data show increases in the proportion of youth who did not go to school because of safety concerns. There were also increases in teen girls experiencing sexual violence and teen boys experiencing electronic bullying.

Nearly one in five teen girls (18%) had experienced sexual violence in the past year and about one in seven (14%) had ever been forced to have sex.

“Young people are experiencing a level of distress that calls on us to act with urgency and compassion,” said CDC Division of Adolescent and School Health Director Kathleen Ethier. “With the right programs and services in place, schools have the unique ability to help our youth flourish.”