Three members of a fringe paramilitary group were convicted on Wednesday of aiding a plot to kidnap the Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer in 2020 over COVID-19 restrictions they viewed as oppressive.
The plotters – Paul Bellar, Joseph Morrison and Pete Musico – were convicted of trying to help Adam Fox carry out the kidnapping after a state court trial.
The prosecution in Jackson County, a Republican stronghold west of Detroit, grew out of a sprawling state and federal investigation into the plot.
Fox and another defendant, Barry Croft, were convicted on federal charges in August – after another jury acquitted two other defendants and deadlocked on charges against the pair.
In the state prosecution of Bellar, Morrison and Musico, Sunita Doddamani, an assistant attorney general in Michigan, told jurors the trio were an “organized” gang who were planning for action.
The three far-right plotters were convicted of providing “material support” for a terrorist act as members of the fringe militia group, the Wolverine Watchmen.
In a statement after the verdict, Whitmer said the convictions “are further proof that violence and threats have no place in our politics.”
“Those who seek to sow discord by pursuing violent plots will be held accountable under the law,” she added.
Matthew Perry is revealing why he never appeared in Adam McKay‘s 2021 Netflix comedy Don’t Look Upafter he was spotted filming scenes for the movie, but didn’t make the final cut. In an excerpt from his memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing published in Rolling Stone, Perry said a health scare prevented him from carrying out his cameo.
While Perry was slated to star in the climate crisis satire alongside Meryl Streep, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, a heart issue and the damage following prevented him from appearing in the movie, Perry writes in his new book.
The Friendsstar was being treated at a rehab center in Switzerland at the time he was filming Don’t Look Up, Perry recalls in his memoir, and had been lying to doctors about the severity of his stomach pain so he could be prescribed more drugs. While Perry was taking hydrocodone provided by his doctors, he was also set to have a “medical device” placed in his back through surgery to help manage his pain.
When the day came for his surgery, Perry had been up the night before taking hydrocodone, and was given a shot of propofol at 11 a.m. that morning.
“I woke up eleven hours later in a different hospital. Apparently, the propofol had stopped my heart,” Perry writes. “For five minutes. It wasn’t a heart attack — I didn’t flatline — but nothing had been beating.”
He continues, “I was told that some beefy Swiss guy really didn’t want the guy from Friends dying on his table and did CPR on me for the full five minutes, beating and pounding my chest. If I hadn’t been on Friends, would he have stopped at three minutes? Did Friends save my life again?”
Perry adds, “He may have saved my life, but he also broke eight of my ribs.”
After the pain of breaking his ribs, Perry had to pull out of Don’t Look Up in a “heartbreaking” choice. While he filmed one group scene — during which he was “on 1,800 milligrams of hydrocodone,” per Rolling Stone — it was never included in the final edit of the film.
Perry’s character, a republican journalist, was supposed to share three scenes with Streep’s delusional president in the film, but Perry never filmed with the Oscar-winning actress after leaving what he calls the “biggest movie I’d gotten ever.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. opened up about having his son Conor Kennedy voluntarily head into a war zone not knowing when — or if — he’ll be back.
The 28-year-old blue blood traded the luxurious life of Hyannis Port, Mass., and the Hamptons for the trenches by bravely heading into combat for Ukraine amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked war.
“He felt that he shouldn’t be arguing about it unless he was willing to have skin in the game and take his own risk,” Kennedy said on “The Megyn Kelly Show” of his son’s decision to go to the war-torn country.
Kennedy said his son signed up for the Foreign Legion at the Ukrainian Embassy and was a drone pilot before he was promoted to a “machine gunner.”
“He didn’t have any military experience and kind of talked his way into the unit,” he added. “He’s been in firefights, mainly nighttime, and a lot of artillery fights with the Russians.”
Conor Kennedy fought anonymously in Ukraine, as he kept it a secret from his father before he eventually found out.jconorkennedy/Instagram
Conor Kennedy — the grandson of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy — fought anonymously, telling only one American he was going over to fight, and one person on the ground overseas his real name.
“He had a job for a law firm, a really good law firm in Los Angeles, and I was looking forward to him living with me for the summer,” he said of his son’s initial plans.
When probing him further about Conor Kennedy’s plans, his son said, “I’m not going. I want to talk to you. I don’t want you to ask me what I’m doing.”
“I was like, ‘Um…,’” he explained. “And he said, ‘I will explain it to you at some point, but I do not want you to ask me now, and if you could just respect that it would mean a lot to me.’ So I did.”
After Conor Kennedy was no longer active on his phone, Robert Kennedy said he and his wife actress Cheryl Hines began to investigate where he could be. The pair searched for clues that could give them an idea of his whereabouts.
The worried father stumbled upon his son’s credit card bills.
“The last one we saw was in Poland and then there was one in Ukraine and then they just stopped,” he remembered. “He didn’t tell anyone where he was going or what he was doing.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky set up the International Legion in February asking foreigners to help fight Russia. According to a report, 20,000 people from 52 countries signed up within a week.
Connor Kennedy only told one American he was fighting in Ukraine, where one person on the ground looked after his real name.jconorkennedy/Instagram
Robert Kennedy said Conor Kennedy “came back a couple of days ago.”
“I flew out to the East Coast to meet him and I heard about what he done,” Kennedy said. “I’m very glad I didn’t know what he was up to.”
Conor Kennedy announced earlier this month that he served in Ukraine, taking to Instagram to pen a poignant caption about his experience on the ground.
“I was deeply moved by what I saw happening in Ukraine over the past year. I wanted to help,” he wrote in part. “When I heard about Ukraine’s International Legion, I knew I was going, and I went to the embassy to enlist the next day.”
He also lauded his fellow warriors and the Ukrainian civilians.
“The people I met were the bravest I have ever known. My fellow legionnaires — who came from different countries, backgrounds, ideologies — are true freedom fighters. As are the citizens I knew, many of whom have lost everything in their long struggle against oligarchy, and toward a democratic system. They know this isn’t a war between equals, it’s a revolution.”
Former “Scrubs” producer Eric Weinberg was jailed Tuesday after bail was revoked in his sex crimes case that includes more than a dozen charges against him.
Weinberg, 62, was previously free on $5 million bail after he was arrested earlier this month on 18 felony counts in connection to the alleged sexual assault of five women in the Los Angeles area.
He pleaded not guilty to the charges Tuesday and Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Victoria B. Wilson sided with prosecutors when they called Weinberg a potential danger to society. The judge remanded him until his next court date on Nov. 15.
Weinberg fell to a wooden bench behind him as Wilson said “the defendant has engaged in a pattern of violence towards women for over six years,” according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The outlet reported Deputy District Attorney Marlene Martinez said in a court he goes up to any young women “and uses his status as a writer-producer to manipulate these women.”
Prosecutors have said he lured the alleged victims to his home under the guise of photo shoots before allegedly assaulting them.
Hollywood producer Eric Weinberg, middle, is taken into custody, at his arraignment in Superior Court on Tuesday.AP
The crimes that he’s charged with span from 2014 to 2019, though investigators said there could be other assault victims dating back to the 1990s, Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascon said earlier this month at a news conference.
During the arraignment Tuesday, defense attorney Philip Cohen proposed allowing his client free on bail, but without access to social media and prohibition on talking to women he doesn’t know and from going certain places, according to Hollywood Reporter.
He even suggested home arrest, but Judge Wilson shot back the “offenses occurred in the safety and privacy of his home,” the outlet reported.
Weinberg co-executive produced almost 100 “Scrubs” episodes and wrote nearly a dozen episodes of the comedy-drama, according to his IMDb profile.
He also worked on the show “Californication” as a co-executive producer and had various involvement in shows like “Anger Management” and “Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher.”
Documents filed in Weinberg’s divorce and child custody proceedings alleged that he sexually assaulted three women during photo shoots, the Los Angeles Times reported.
One woman said she met Weinberg at a coffee shop in 2014 when she was 22 and went back to his place for a photo shoot where she stripped to her underwear before he began the photo shoot. But during the shoot, he sexually assaulted her, including rape, the documents obtained by the LA Times alleged.
He was originally arrested in July and freed on a $3.5 million bond before he was arrested again on more expansive charges in early October, according to the Los Angeles Times.
He currently faces charges including rape, oral copulation, forcible sexual penetration, sexual battery by restraint, false imprisonment by use of violence, assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury, and attempted forcible penetration with a foreign object, the district attorney’s office said.
Virginia State Police (VSP) say 32-year-old Michael Lee Malone, who also went by the aliases Christopher Feagin and Christopher Feagih, escaped Eastern State Hospital in Williamsburg, Virginia.
James City County Police “were alerted to an individual fitting the description of Christopher Feagin, 32, inside a convenience store in the 6400 block of Richmond Rd/Route 60,” VSP said in a Tuesday Facebook post. “James City County Police and state police immediately responded and took Feagin into custody nearby without incident.”
Authorities are processing Feagin on a felony warrant for escaping the hospital, VSP said.
Further investigation revealed that Feagin’s real name is Michael Lee Corey Malone.
Authorities believe Feagin escaped the hospital around 1:40 a.m. Monday but did not say how.
Michael Lee Malone was apprehended by Virginia police Tuesday. Virginia State PoliceMalone faces multiple charges dating back to March 2021. Virginia Beach Sheriff’s Office
He faces numerous criminal charges dating to March 2021 of violating probation, simple assault on a first responder, public masturbation, property damage in and outside prison and multiple counts of unauthorized possession of a deadly weapon, according to Virginia Beach records under the name “Christopher Feagin.”
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call VSP at 757-424-6800 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov.
Adidas plans to sever ties with Kanye West after facing mounting pressure to do so in the wake of the rapper’s bizarre anti-Semitic outbursts and public meltdowns, a report revealed Tuesday.
Adidas is the latest high-profile brand, including Balenciaga and Vogue, to cut ties or reconsider their relationships with the rapper-turned-designer following his slew of controversial remarks in recent weeks.
The shoemaker’s decision came after they faced heavy backlash for staying silent when the outrage against West first erupted.
Some accused the retailer of putting profits over ethics for not publicly condemning the 45-year-old’s string of anti-Semitic tweets.
The #boycottadidas hashtag also started trending at one point.
Adidas has revealed it is now severing ties with Kanye West in the wake of his anti-Semitic outbursts. Stefan JeremiahThe apparel brand’s decision comes after they announced last week their 10-year relationship with Kanye West, now known as Ye, was “under review.”@CelebCandidly / MEGA
West, who has legally changed his name to Ye, has been releasing his Yeezy sneaker lines with Adidas since 2015.
Upcoming Yeezy collections, which are set to retail between $200-$300, are already scheduled to drop later this year.
West had addressed the possibility of Adidas dropping him ahead of the official announcement, telling TMZ over the weekend that the brand is “going through legal right now so anything can happen.”
Elsewhere in that interview, the father-of-four was adamant he didn’t think he would be canceled — despite being dropped by the big-name brands.
“I ain’t losing no money,” he said. “The day I was taken off the Balenciaga site, that was one of the most freeing days.”
Kanye West has been releasing his Yeezy sneaker collections with Adidas since 2015.LightRocket via Getty Images
West added that businesses were only cutting ties with him to simply “score points.”
“We here, baby, we ain’t going nowhere,” he insisted.
West briefly hired Johnny Depp’s lawyer Camille Vasquez to oversee all of his businesses, but she dropped him in a matter of days after he refused to retract his words.
“I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE,” West wrote in an Oct. 9 tweet — making an erroneous reference to the military term “defcon,” short for Defense Readiness Condition, or how fast the U.S. armed forces could be deployed in response to a threat.
He earlier shared a since-deleted screenshot on Instagram of an iMessage exchange in which he accused Sean Combs, aka Diddy, of being controlled by Jews.
A number of brands quickly moved to end their partnerships with him, including Balenciaga, who said they “no longer any relationship nor any plans for future projects related to this artist.”
A Vogue spokesperson told Page Six last week that they, too, had no plans to work with the rapper again.
Children’s hospitals in parts of the US are seeing a surge in a common respiratory illness that can cause severe breathing problems for babies.
RSV cases fell dramatically two years ago as the pandemic shut down schools, day cares and businesses. With restrictions easing in the summer of 2021, doctors saw an alarming increase in what is normally a fall and winter virus.
Now, it’s back again. And doctors are bracing for the possibility that RSV, flu and COVID-19 could combine to stress hospitals.
“I’m calling it an emergency,” said Dr. Juan Salazar of Connecticut Children’s Hospital, where RSV has caused a shuffling of patients into playrooms and other spaces not normally used for beds. The institution explored using a National Guard field hospital, but has set aside that option for now.
A look at RSV and what the recent surge may mean:
What is RSV?
It stands for respiratory syncytial virus, a common cause of mild cold-like symptoms such as runny nose, cough and fever. Nearly all US children normally catch an RSV infection by age 2.
People infected are usually contagious for three to eight days. Babies and people with weakened immune systems can spread RSV for up to four weeks. There is no vaccine for it, though several candidates are in testing.
Who does it affect?
Everyone can get RSV. But it causes the most threat to infants, older adults and other vulnerable people, who can get serious airway and lung infections.
Among US kids under age 5, RSV typically leads to 58,000 hospitalizations and up to 500 deaths in a year.
Doctors are calling the RSV surge “an emergency” and are bracing for a dramatic increase in cases.AP Photo/Elaine Thompson, File
For adults 65 and older, RSV causes 177,000 hospitalizations and 14,000 deaths yearly.
For babies, the struggle to breathe can interfere with eating. “And that’s really when we start to worry,” said Dr. Melanie Kitagawa of Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where more than 40 children have RSV.
“They’re breathing fast, breathing deep. We see them using muscles in their chest to help them breathe,” Kitagawa said. “These are kids who are having difficulty taking a bottle because their breathing is being impacted and they can’t coordinate both at once.”
Why is there an increase now?
The virus is encountering a highly vulnerable population of babies and children who were sheltered from common bugs during the pandemic lockdowns.
Immune systems might not be as prepared to fight the virus after more than two years of masking, which offered protection, according to Dr. Elizabeth Mack of Medical University of South Carolina.
“South Carolina is drowning in RSV,” Mack said in a news release. The surge arrived earlier this year than normal, she said.
For babies, their mothers may not have been infected with RSV during pregnancy, which could have given the children some immunity.
US health officials have noted a rise this month in national reports of respiratory illnesses, which they say is at least partly due to the early spread of flu in much of the South.
Last week, more than 7,000 tests came back positive for RSV, according to CDC figures. That’s more than in previous surges.
Is there a treatment?
There’s no specific treatment, so it’s a matter of managing symptoms and letting the virus run its course. Doctors may prescribe oral steroids or an inhaler to make breathing easier.
In serious cases, patients in the hospital may get oxygen, a breathing tube or a ventilator.
What do doctors recommend?
Prevent the spread of viruses by washing hands thoroughly and staying home when you’re sick.
During RSV season, an injection of an antibody-based medicine is sometimes prescribed to protect premature infants and other very vulnerable babies.
If you’re worried your child is having a severe breathing problem, “do not hesitate” to go to an emergency department or call 911, said Dr. Russell Migita of Seattle Children’s Hospital, where RSV is on the rise.
For less severe medical problems, Migita said, call your regular health care provider for advice, use telehealth or go to urgent care.
In Chicago on Saturday, Dr. Juanita Mora saw a family of five kids all with RSV, ranging from a 3-year-old to a teenager. Fearing what’s ahead this winter, she’s telling everyone to get a flu shot and a COVID-19 booster.
“We don’t want a triple whammy, a triple pandemic,” Mora said.
New UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is a former hedge-fund boss who previously helmed the nation’s Treasury and has promised to restore “integrity, professionalism and accountability” to Britain after months of political upheaval.
Sunak, a 42-year-old multimillionaire, beat out the leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt, for the top job, making him the first non-white prime minister of the UK and the youngest to hold the position in more than 200 years.
His meteoric rise through politics has earned him the moniker “Dishy Rishi” thanks to his youthful looks, sharp suits and smooth manner.
Rishi Sunak beat out his only competitor after Boris Johnson bowed out of the race. Getty ImagesRishi Sunak waves at Conservative party headquarters in London after the big win.AP
“It is the greatest privilege of my life to be able to serve the party I love and give back to the country I owe so much to,” Sunak said in a statement after his win.
“The United Kingdom is a great country. But there is no doubt we face a profound economic challenge. We now need stability and unity, and I will make it my utmost priority to bring our party and our country together.”
Here’s everything we know about the UK’s new top boss.
Family and personal life
Sunak was born in 1980 on the southern English coast in Southampton to a father who was a family doctor and a mother who ran a local pharmacy.
His parents, both of Indian descent, emigrated to the country from East Africa in the 1960s. Sunak’s grandparents were originally from the Punjab region.
The new prime minister has spoken often about the sacrifices his parents made to afford sending him to Winchester College as a teenager, a boarding school in Hampshire that’s considered one of the most prestigious in the world.
Sunak went on to Oxford University, where he studied philosophy and economics before heading to California to get an MBA from Stanford University as a Fulbright Scholar.
It was there that he met his fashion-designer wife, Akshata Murthy, whom he married in 2009 and with whom he shares two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.
Rishi Sunak was born in Southampton and schooled at Oxford and Stanford. ZUMAPRESS.comSukan’s father-in-law, Narayana Murthy, is seen accepting an award in 2008.Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Murthy is the daughter of Narayana Murthy, the co-founder behind major tech giant Infosys and one of India’s richest men.
Thanks to a .91% stake in her father’s company, Murthy’s net worth is valued at roughly £690 million, or about $778 million, making her and Sunak one of the richest couples in Britain, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
Sunak’s net worth alone is worth about £40 million, or $45 million.
Rishi Sunak with his wife, Akshata Murthy, and their two daughters, Krishna and Anoushka.Instagram / @rishisunakmpRishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, attending a campaign event.REUTERS
When Sunak first met Akshata Murthy, his now-father-in-law admitted he was a bit jealous of the relationship, but his feelings changed once he met him, the Independent reported.
“I … found him to be all that you had described him to be — brilliant, handsome and, most importantly, honest. l understood why you let your heart be stolen,” Murthy’s father wrote to her in a letter that was published in “Legacy: Letters from Eminent Parents to their Daughters.”
Professional life
Sunak became a multimillionaire as a hedge-fund manager when he worked at Goldman Sachs and later co-founded a large investment firm, where he worked with companies all over the world, according to his Parliament bio.
“Then I used that experience to help small and entrepreneurial British companies grow successfully,” he wrote in the bio.
“From working in my mum’s tiny chemist shop to my experience building large businesses, I have seen first-hand how politicians should support free enterprise and innovation to ensure our future prosperity.”
Rishi Sunak is the youngest UK prime minister is more than 200 years.AP
In 2015, Sunak ditched the private sector after he was elected Conservative MP for Richmond and served as a parliamentary private secretary at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
In 2018, he became a minister for local government and in 2019, he became chief secretary to the Treasury.
Most recently, he served as the chancellor of the Exchequer, Britain’s chief financial minister.
Scandals
Sunak came under scrutiny in April after it was revealed he held a US green card, which gave him permanent residence in the States, while he was chancellor, the BBC reported at the time.
While some opponents accused him of keeping the green card for tax purposes or as a backup plan in case things went south in the UK, his spokeswoman claimed it was returned in October 2021 and had been previously used in accordance with the law.
“As required under US law and as advised, he continued to use his green card for travel purposes. Upon his first trip to the US in a government capacity as chancellor, he discussed the appropriate course of action with the US authorities,” the spokeswoman said at the time.
“At that point, it was considered best to return his green card, which he did immediately.”
Rishi Sunak’s wife, Akshata Murthy, bringing tea to the media staking out their home.ZUMAPRESS.com
While Sunak held the green card, he did file US tax returns, “but specifically as a non-resident, in full compliance with the law,” the spokeswoman said.
The news around Sunak’s green card broke around the same time his wife found herself in the throes of a tax scandal, the Washington Post reported.
It was revealed that Akshata Murthy had been filing taxes in the UK as a “non-domiciled” resident, which saved her from paying taxes on the millions of dollars she was earning in India from her father’s company, the outlet said.
At the time, Sunak and his family had been living on Downing Street.
Former UK Treasury chief Rishi Sunak won the race to become the new prime minister on Monday, the third since the summer and the nation’s first non-white leader.
Sunak won the latest leadership battle after his only remaining rival, Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt, conceded and withdrew.
Sunak will now be invited by King Charles III to form a government.
The results of the race will make the multi-millionaire former hedge fund boss Britain’s first non-white leader and the first Hindu to take the top job.
At 42, he’s also the youngest prime minister in more than 200 years, a political prodigy dubbed “Dishy Rishi” thanks to his youthful looks, sharp suits, and smooth, confident manner.
Sunak has already promised “integrity, professionalism and accountability” — a contrast to the chaos of his two recent predecessors, both of whom he had sounded alarm over.
“Dishy Rishi” Sunak is the UK’s first non-white prime minister and, at 42, the youngest in more than 200 years.AP
When he came second to Liz Truss in the battle to take control after Johnson, Sunak had correctly warned that her plans to slash taxes on wealthy Britons would result in the fiscal chaos which led to her humiliating exit last week as the shortest-serving UK leader.
Sunak was a runner-up to Liz Truss in the last leadership battle, and had warned against the economic policies that led to her humiliating downfall after just 6 weeks.AP
That prescient warning and earlier support quickly helped make him an early favorite for the current job.
Despite being forced to resign in July amid a series of scandals, Johnson received strong backing from senior Conservative Party leaders, leaving him appearing set for a potential return to power.
However, he is said to have withdrawn after a face-to-face meeting with Sunak, who persuaded him to pull out for the sake of the party, according to numerous UK reports.
Sunak had served as Johnson’s Treasury chief, with his resignation over the doomed leader’s scandals a key moment leading to Johnson’s own resignation days later.AP
Johnson returned early from a Caribbean getaway for the contest, but said he was ending his bid because “you can’t govern effectively unless you have a united party in Parliament.”
Johnson did, however, hint at a return as he insisted he was “well placed to deliver a Conservative victory” in the next national election, due by 2024.
“I believe I have much to offer but I am afraid that this is simply not the right time,” he said Sunday.
The majority of Johnson’s backers switched to Sunak, leaving third-place hopeful Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the House of Commons, far short of the 100 nominations by the ruling party’s lawmakers she needed.
The son of middle-class parents of Indian descent who were both born in East Africa, Sunak takes the helm with a daunting set of challenges, including a fractured party and an economic crisis sparked largely by the policies of his predecessor that he tried warning against.
He had insisted he wanted to take control to repair the “breakdown of trust” in politics.
Math progress ground to a halt during the pandemic, new data showed Monday.
No state or big city notched any improvements on national math tests — while kids on the cusp of high school were particularly impacted, according to results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress.
Eighth grade math scores plummeted in all states but Utah, where they held steady — with roughly 38% of the age group performing below basic achievement levels in math, the dubbed “nation’s report card” found.
“These mathematics results are historic,” said Peggy Carr of the National Center for Education Statistics, the research branch of the US Department of Education that administers the test.
“]T]hey are the largest declines in mathematics we have observed in the entire history of this assessment.”
Overall, the national average math score for fourth grade fell five points since 2019, from 241 to 236 out of a possible 500, and eight points for eighth grade, from 282 to 274. In reading, average scores dropped by three points at both grade levels — from 220 to 217 in the fourth grades and 263 to 260 in the eighth grades.
Eighth grade math scores plummeted everywhere except for Utah.Getty Images
The new findings show math scores dropped in 43 states and jurisdictions in fourth grade, and in 51 of them in eighth grade.
Still, cities including Dallas, Austin, Tampa, Miami, Los Angeles, New York and Philadelphia bucked the trend, holding steady in either fourth or eighth grade math — though they were still were not improving, the report found.
Federal officials were particularly worried about possible ramifications for kids now in high school falling behind in math. Carr described that grade as the “gateway” to more advanced math, from high-level classes to STEM careers, which could put the US behind the global competition.
“This is the moment of truth for education,” said Education Secretary Miguel Cardona at a briefing with reporters. “How we respond to this will determine not only our recovery, but our nation’s standing in the world.”
Reading scores also declined in 30 states and jurisdictions in fourth grade and 33 of them in eighth grade — a less widespread drop than in math but still worrisome.
Students seem to struggle without having math classes in schools.Getty Images/iStockphoto
“Math is just simply more sensitive to schooling. You really need teachers to teach math. Reading, on the other hand, is something that parents and community, they are more comfortable … helping students with,” Carr said.
“That doesn’t mean it didn’t have an effect, but it cannot be solely or primarily attributable to these findings that we see today,” she said.
Big city students nearing high school actually broke with national and most states’ trends of tanking reading scores — performing similarly to how they did before the pandemic, though not improving. One exception was Los Angeles, where eighth graders made gains on the federal reading test.
“While the pandemic was a blow to schools and communities, we cannot use it as an excuse,” Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District, said in a statement.
“We have to stay committed to high standards and expectations and help every child succeed,” said Carvalho, who also sits on the National Assessment Governing Board, a nonpartisan panel of governors, legislators and education officials that set policy for NAEP.
New York City math scores for soon-to-be high schoolers, which stayed about the same, also weathered the pandemic better than other big cities. And, like most large city school districts, New York City’s reading scores were comparable with pre-pandemic levels.
Math scores dropped in 43 states.Getty Images/iStockphoto
“The fact that cities were able to hold steady in the wake of all that we went through does strike me as resilience, as a bright spot,” Carr said.
New York state scores declined on the fourth grade reading and math tests, and on the eighth grade math — but stayed about the same on the eighth grade reading test.
The state snapshot shows fourth graders in the Empire State performed below the national average on math, but roughly the same as kids in other states on the other three federal tests.
Math scores for that age group — an average of 227 — were lower than the national average of 235, and below those of 38 other states and jurisdictions.
But more than four in 10 students across New York state did not demonstrate basic reading achievement levels in the fourth grade, the snapshot showed. Research has shown the importance of kids learning how to read by the third grade, or otherwise face an uphill battle to reach proficiency.
Long-awaited state test scores are expected in the next couple of weeks and, alongside the federal data, could provide more detail on how New York’s students fared during the pandemic.
The US Department of Education also polled teachers on their confidence helping kids rebound from pandemic school closures, finding just half of them reported feeling “quite” or “extremely” confident in their ability to address learning gaps.
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