Lena Badr’s grandmother, Aziza Badr, was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Az-Zawayda neighborhood in Gaza on Dec. 23, 2023. (Lena Badr)(NEW YORK) When Palestinian American Lena Badr learned about the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, she said she was "horrified and immediately concerned" about what Israel s retaliation would mean for the Gaza Strip where part of her family resides.Badr scrambled to reach her family, to send money in anticipation of the hardships ahead: "I knew it would be bad. I did not – I couldn t have envisioned that it would be this bad," said Badr.Since Israel began its retaliatory bombardment of the Gaza Strip, she said two of her family s homes have been hit with airstrikes.The massive loss of life in the Israel-Hamas war has wiped out swaths of family lines and gone with them are parts of the culture they carried, Palestinians say. The loss has become all the more poignant as Arab American Heritage Month celebrations come to an end, wh
Courtesy of Curb RecordsWith "This Town s Been Too Good to Us" making its way up the country charts, Dylan Scott shares why he chose it as a single and the significance of this hometown ode."It s about where I grew up. It s something else I ve lived. . Everybody s from a town somewhere, right? So I feel like people can relate to it," Dylan tells the press in an interview."It s another song [where] we put it out and [it] started streaming well and people wanted to hear it. So we knew we had to take it to radio as the follow-up to Can t Have Mine and it s doing well for us," he says."I don t know if it s the back-to-back from coming off the #1 of Can t Have Mine to that song, but it s just really strong right now," adds Dylan. "Everything feels good." You can find "This Town s Been Too Good to Us" on Dylan s Livin My Best Life (Still), the deluxe version of 2022 s
ABC NewsAs protests over Israel s war against Hamas in Gaza and the treatment of civilians continue at dozens of colleges and universities across the country, the White House says that President Joe Biden respects the right of demonstrators to make their voices heard peacefully but "we don t want to see anybody hurt in the process" as some protests are met with police crackdowns."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. People should have the ability to air their views and to share their perspectives publicly, but it has to be peaceful," White House national security communications adviser John Kirby told ABC News "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday.Kirby did sound a warning, though, that some language heard in the mushrooming demonstrations crossed a line with the administration.
ABC NewsSevere weather left a trail of destruction in the Heartland on Friday with 83 reports of tornadoes across five states.The multi-day tornado outbreak continued Saturday, with powerful storms expected from Texas to the Great Lakes.Emergency officials in Hughes County, Oklahoma, confirmed one death due to storms in Holdenville.There is a tornado watch in effect for parts of six states, from Texas to Iowa into the late evening. This watch will likely expand east slightly as the day wears on.A moderate risk level 4 out of 5 is in the outlook for parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri Saturday, with storms expected to flare up again in the afternoon and evening across a huge area of the country. There is a chance for strong long-track tornadoes as well as very large hail up to 3 inches in diameter and thunderstorm winds up to 80 mph.In addition to dozens of tornado reports, Friday saw 33 damaging wind reports and 60 large hail reports.In Iowa, four people were injured Frid
Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images(NEW YORK) Southwest Airlines famously allows passengers to select their own seats upon boarding, but the low fare carrier could be changing course.Earlier this week, after the Dallas-based carrier reported a $231 million net loss from the first quarter of 2024, CEO Bob Jordan commented on the "disappointing" results and said they are "evaluating options to enhance our Customer Experience" which he said includes "onboard seating.""We are focused on controlling what we can control and have already taken swift action to address our financial underperformance and adjust for revised aircraft delivery expectations," he continued.On a webcast recording of the earnings call, Jordan said, "It s been several years since we last studied this in-depth, and customer preference and expectations change over time."Jordan later spoke about the potentially massive shift to its open seating cabins as a means to d