We The PeopleWe The People All eyes are on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is expected to use a flurry of victories the state legislature handed him during the state’s 2023 session as momentum to announce his bid in the upcoming 2024 presidential election.
Republicans held a supermajority in the Florida Legislature during the two-month session, affording DeSantis and his allies the opportunity to approve a sweeping abortion ban, permitless concealed carry for guns, lowering the death penalty threshold, and push several anti-immigration, anti-diversity and other anti-”woke” measures.
DeSantis’ accomplishments in Florida helped position him as a top rival to former President Donald Trump, and could serve as the blueprint for his presidential campaign. However, his stance on abortion and feud with Disney has sparked concern and doubt among donors, GOP officials and moderate voters.
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“His unrelenting focus on the cultural issues more than the economic issues gets to be tiresome,” Republican donor Bobbie Kilberg told the Associated Press. “I think people over time will want someone who does not add to the scenario of pushing people further and further and further apart.”
Those sentiments seemed to have manifested in national polls showing the divide between DeSantis and Trump steadily growing in Trump’s favor. As of May 7, FiveThirtyEight shows Trump leading DeSantis as the leading Republican candidate in 2024 by an average of 29.2 points — a 12.9-point increase since March 1.
Reuters reported that DeSantis will likely announce his presidential run sometime later this month, with a more formal event planned in June. Some of DeSantis’ backers are urging the governor to declare as soon as May 11, according to NBC News.
Six-week abortion ban
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a new six-week abortion ban (SB 300), also called the "Heartbeat Protection Act," into law on April 13 after Florida House Republicans fast-tracked the bill through the Legislature.
SB 300 allows an exception if the procedure would save the woman’s life and in cases where pregnancy was the result of rape or incest — but only until 15 weeks
Women would need to provide documentation such as medical record, restraining order or police report.
Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law expanded
Florida’s controversial Parental Rights in Education Act, also called the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, was expanded to include fourth through 12th grades. The bill originally only banned instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity from kindergarten through the third grade.
The Parental Rights in Education Act, HB 1557, was signed into law by DeSantis on March 28, 2022. It prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida classrooms. The bill originally only targeted kindergarten through third grade, and limited similar discussions is higher grades to what is “age-appropriate or developmentally appropriate for students in accordance with state standards.”
Permitless concealed carry for guns
In March, DeSantis quietly signed a new gun bill that eliminates licensing requirements to carry a concealed firearm in most public places.
The bills SB150/HB543 eliminate the need for a concealed weapons license, which required a mandatory background check and a firearms training course, before you can carry hidden weapons or firearms on your person or in a vehicle in Florida, provided you still meet other gun ownership requirements.
The bill also adds private schools to the list of educational facilities that can ask the local sheriff for help establishing a guardian program, requires law enforcement agencies to develop an active assailant response policy, requires the Office of Safe Schools to develop a behavioral threat management operational process and develop a threat management portal, authorizes the state Department of Education to adopt emergency rules, requires the Department of Education to establish the Florida Safe Schools Canine Program, and more.
Florida death penalty
On April 20, DeSantis signed a new death penalty law that allows juries to recommend a death sentence with an 8-to-4 vote, a change from the previous requirement of an unanimous decision from all 12 jurors.
The new law differs from Florida's previous law, which required a unanimous decision from a jury in order to recommend the death penalty. Supporters of the new law argue that it will make it easier for prosecutors to seek justice for victims and their families, while opponents worry that it will lead to more wrongful convictions and executions.
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On May 1, Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed into law a measure making child rape subject to the death penalty, defying a United States Supreme Court ruling.
The measure, House Bill 1297, allows a jury by a vote of at least 8-4 to recommend a death sentence for sexual battery on a child under the age of 12. It takes effect on Oct. 1.
Chinese influence bill
Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill into law that targets United States-adversarial countries, but has many Florida Chinese groups worried it will lead to discrimination.
SB 264, which goes into effect on July 1, bounced between the Senate and House with different amendments and different Democrats expressing concerns last week, until it finally passed Thursday evening.
The touted goal of the bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Republicans and Democrats, is protecting national security. It targets “foreign countries of concern,” including Russia, Cuba, Iran and North Korea. It puts the biggest spotlight on China, carving out a part specifically devoted to how the legislation applies to its government and those connected with it.
Lawmakers are aiming to prevent Florida governmental entities from entering into contracts with these countries of concern if personal identifying information is in play. They also want to prevent economic incentives contracts from going to these countries.
It’s also intended to prevent the foreign governments and their officials from buying land within 20 miles of a U.S. military installation or critical infrastructure facility.
Immigration
A sweeping immigration bill (CS/SB 1718) that would make Florida's immigration laws some of the toughest in the country was sent to DeSantis' desk before the session closed.
The new legislation strengthens employment requirements, bans local governments from contributing money to organizations creating identification cards for undocumented immigrants, bars driver’s licenses issued to non-citizens in other states from use in Florida and requires that companies with 25 or more employees use the federal E-Verify system when hiring workers to verify their employee's status.
Drag shows, LGBTQ community, and diversity, equity and inclusion
Republican lawmakers filed more than a dozen bills that directly or indirectly target transgender Floridians and in some cases the broader LGBTQ community, a group that makes up less than 5% of Florida’s adult population, according to a 2019 Gallup/Williams poll.
The majority of the bills target national hot-button topics, like what public bathrooms transgender people are allowed to use, targeting drag shows and restricting access to gender-affirming care for minors.
SB 1438 bans children from attending live performances that aren’t “age-appropriate.” Critics say that the bill’s vague language would be used to target family-friendly drag shows and Pride events. Some Pride events have already been canceled.
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HB 1521 criminalizes transgender Floridians from using public bathrooms matching their gender identity.
SB 1580 allows state medical professionals to refuse to carry out health care services if they conflict with their religious beliefs or moral convictions. Opponents worry the measure could lead to medical discrimination, especially against the LBGTQ community.
And SB 254 puts more teeth to Florida’s ban on gender-affirming care for minors and adds some restrictions to the care for adults. Critics call this bill the Florida “abduction” bill because it would effectively let courts modify out-of-state custody agreements by allowing dissenting parents to petition courts to take “emergency jurisdiction” of their child if they received gender-affirming care or are “threatened” with gender-affirming care.
Florida House Republicans also approved SB 266, a bill that bans funding for diversity, equity and inclusion programs and restricts teaching about race and gender on college campuses.
DeSantis has yet to sign any of these measures.
DeSantis versus Disney
DeSantis’ feud with Disney requires its own story, and even that might be too long for most to read through in a single sitting.
The feud between DeSantis and Disney began in March 2022 after he signed the Parental Rights in Education Act, also dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill by opponents.
Soon after, Disney, who is one of Florida’s top employers, came under fire from the Florida Democratic Party and its LGBTQ employees who staged a walkout due to the company’s silence on the issue.
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Disney relented and became a target after then-CEO Bob Chapek began to lobby against the legislation.
"I called Governor DeSantis this morning to express our disappointment and concern that if legislation becomes law it could be used to target gay, lesbian, nonbinary and transgender kids and families," Chapek told Disney shareholders in a March 2022 meeting.
Afterward, DeSantis lashed out at Disney to a group of supporters in a video obtained by Fox News Digital. "You have companies like a Disney that are gonna say and criticize parents' rights, they're gonna criticize the fact that we don't want transgenderism in kindergarten and first grade classrooms,” he said. "If that's the hill that they're gonna die on, then how do they possibly explain lining their pockets with their relationship with the Communist Party of China?”
Disney announced that it was pausing all political donations in the state of Florida and pledged to fight the bill in a Tweet on March 28.
The fight heated up in April when DeSantis announced a special session to repeal Disney’s special district, the Reedy Creek Improvement District, a 25,000-acre district spanning two counties that was created in 1967 to give Disney control over their property and allowed Disney to collect taxes, follow its own building codes and provide emergency services for its six theme parks and resorts.
The Legislation took 48 hours to write, debate and approve the bill SB 4, which dissolves Disney's Reedy Creek Improvement District as of June 1, 2023. DeSantis signed it the next day and warned of more consequences if Disney did not also dismantle its diversity and inclusion program.
The feud continued to escalate, resulting in Disney suing DeSantis for ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘retaliatory’ acts on April 26. The lawsuit alleges five different violations of Disney’s constitutional rights by DeSantis, including two free speech violations, a property rights violation, a due process violation and a violation of the contracts clause.May 10, 2023 We The People A jury in Manhattan federal court found Donald Trump liable for defamation in a civil lawsuit brought by writer E. Jean Carroll.
Trump should pay nearly $3 million in damages to Carroll for successfully proving her defamation claim against him, the jury found.
It also found that Trump should pay about $2 million in damages for her civil battery claim, bringing the total to $5 million.
NEW YORK —
A jury in New York City began deliberating Tuesday in the lawsuit brought by columnist E. Jean Carroll, who alleges that Donald Trump raped her in a luxury Manhattan department store in 1996.
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan read instructions on the law to the nine-person jury for about an hour before the panel began discussing Carroll’s allegations of battery and defamation.
If they believe Carroll, jurors can award compensatory and punitive damages. Trump, who did not attend the trial, has insisted he never sexually assaulted Carroll or even knew her.
Kaplan told jurors that the first question on the verdict form will be to decide whether they think there is more than a 50% chance that Trump raped Carroll inside a store’s dressing room. If they answer yes, they will then decide whether compensatory and punitive damages should be awarded.
Otherwise, the judge instructed, they will decide whether Carroll had proven there was a more than 50% chance that Trump subjected her to sexual contact without her consent or whether he forcibly touched her to degrade her or gratify his sexual desire. If they answer yes, they will weigh if damages are appropriate.
On defamation allegations stemming from a statement Trump made on social media last October, Kaplan said jurors will have to reach a conclusion based on a higher legal standard — clear and convincing evidence. He said that means they will have to agree it was “highly probable” that Trump’s statement was false and was made maliciously with deliberate intent to injure or out of hatred or ill will with reckless disregard for Carroll’s rights.
Trump’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina, told the jury in closing arguments Monday that Carroll’s story is too far-fetched to be believed. He said she made it up to fuel sales of a 2019 memoir in which she first publicly revealed her claims and to disparage Trump for political reasons.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, cited excerpts from Trump’s October deposition and his notorious comments on a 2005 “Access Hollywood” video in which he said celebrities can grab women’s genitals without asking.
She urged jurors to believe her client.
“He didn’t even bother to show up here in person,” Kaplan said, referring to Trump’s absence from court during the two weeks of trial. She said much of what he said in his deposition and in public statements “actually supports our side of the case.”
“In a very real sense, Donald Trump is a witness against himself,” she said. “He knows what he did. He knows that he sexually assaulted E. Jean Carroll.”
Carroll, 79, testified that she had a chance encounter with Trump at the Bergdorf Goodman store across the street from Trump Tower. She said it was a lighthearted interaction in which they teased each other about trying on a piece of lingerie before Trump became violent inside a dressing room.
Tacopina told jurors there was no reason to call Trump as a witness when Carroll can’t even recall when the alleged encounter with Trump happened.
He told the jury Carroll made up her claims after hearing about a 2012 “Law & Order: SVU” episode in which a woman is raped in the dressing room of the lingerie section of a Bergdorf Goodman store.
“They modeled their secret scheme on an episode of one of the most popular shows on television,” he said of Carroll.
Two of Carroll’s friends testified that she told them about the encounter with Trump shortly after it happened, many years before the “Law & Order” episode aired.May 9, 2023 We The People We The People The three Tennessee state lawmakers who faced expulsion votes after participating in protests over last month’s school shooting in Nashville met with President Biden on Monday for what the White House billed as a conversation about “common-sense gun reform.”
Biden welcomed Reps. Justin Pearson, Justin Jones and Gloria Johnson to the Oval Office. Pearson and Jones, who are Black, were expelled by the Republican-led legislature after protesting on the house floor but later reinstated by local officials on an interim basis. Johnson, who is White, narrowly survived an expulsion vote. Vice President Harris joined them at the meeting.
“You’re standing up for our kids, you’re standing up for our communities,” Biden told the Tennessee lawmakers, adding, “What the Republican legislature did was shocking, it was undemocratic.”
“It’s just tragic to see what’s happening in your state, in particular your city, but also across the country,” the president said. “Nothing is guaranteed about democracy. Every generation has to fight … you are doing just that.”
Biden said his administration and Congress had “passed the most significant gun laws” in decades, “but there’s more to do.”
Harris visited Nashville this month to show the administration’s support for the “Tennessee Three” — all Democrats — and their calls for greater gun control.
Who are the ‘Tennessee Three’? Here’s what to know.
After the White House meeting, Pearson said that “people power” can work to find solutions to the gun violence issues plaguing the country.
“We talked to the president about how this is a moral issue, an issue of conscience, an issue in the South where we are trying to build our multiracial democracy and challenge these extreme voices that rather than passing an assault weapons ban, they assaulted our democracy as we saw, we were expelled from the state legislature,” Pearson said. “So we talked to the president, vice president, about why it’s so critical for us to continue to lift up this movement in the South, to continue to try to lift up this multiracial movement, to reconstruct, too, that we’re experiencing right now in Tennessee. And as I was sitting in the Oval Office, I saw the bust of [the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.]. I saw the bust of Rosa Parks on the bus and Cesar Chavez. And what they did, all those people did it because they acted outside of the political paradigm of what was possible and they changed political realities.”
Jones echoed Pearson’s optimistic outlook on change happening in Tennessee and beyond.
“We can get common sense gun laws passed in the South,” Jones said. “We can get them passed in this nation. … It’s going to be a point where we are on the right side of history.”
The lawmakers came to Washington after a legislative session in Nashville that was deeply disappointing for them. On Friday, close to a month after the shooting at a Nashville Christian school, Republicans cut short the year’s session without taking any action explicitly on guns despite the extended presence of hundreds of students, parents and teachers calling for an assault weapons ban and other measures.
The March 27 shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville left three children and three staff members dead.
In a social media post before the White House meeting, Jones said the purpose of the session was to “lift up the call for an assault weapons ban” and “challenging the assault on our democracy.”
In June, Biden signed into federal law bipartisan legislation that he touted as the most significant gun-control bill in decades while acknowledging that it was well short of what he has advocated.
The law provided funding for mental health services and school security initiatives, expanded criminal background checks for some gun buyers, barred a larger group of domestic-violence offenders from purchasing firearms and funded programs that would allow authorities to seize guns from troubled individuals.
It did not include a reinstatement of a ban on assault weapons, which Biden has urged Congress to pass over the past year.
Jones told media in Tennessee that he will ask Biden to declare a public health emergency related to gun violence.
“I think that we need emergency response [because] we’re facing a crisis situation,” he said, according to WTVF. “In states like ours, we need help from our national leaders, because we’re in a state where the only action that our colleagues took in response to the mass shooting in Nashville was to expel the two youngest Black lawmakers and then to pass a law to protect gun manufacturers. That’s all they passed this session.”Apr 25, 2023 We The People We The People Two Texas cheerleaders were shot after one of them said they had mistakenly got into the wrong vehicle in a parking lot early Tuesday morning after practice, officials said.
Elgin Police Department officials said in a statement that a 25-year-old man was arrested for the shootings. Houston ABC station KTRK verified the information with Bastrop County authorities.
One of the victims was treated and released at the scene, the other was helicoptered to a hospital and is in critical condition, according to Elgin police.
Elgin Police said they arrested Pedro Tello Rodriguez Jr., 25, and charged him with deadly conduct, a third-degree felony.
Heather Roth, a cheerleader with the Woodlands Elite Cheer Co., said on Instagram Live that she and three other cheerleaders had completed practice when they went to a carpool lot just after midnight Tuesday.
Roth said she got out of her friend's car and opened the door to a car she thought was her own, but a man was in the passenger seat. She said she got out of the car and back into her friend's vehicle.
When the man approached their vehicle, Roth rolled down the window to apologize and the man started shooting, she later said.Apr 19, 2023 We The People SAN ANTONIO - It has been 328 days since 21 lives were lost in Uvalde.
Since then, the families of the victims have fought for change.
"What these people are fighting for are common sense laws to where it never happens to any other child again,” Senator Roland Gutierrez, who’s district includes San Antonio and Uvalde, said.
At 9 a.m. on Tuesday, the House Community Safety Committee, which was created in the aftermath of the massacre, will hear and debate 18 bills - including HB 2744 which would raise the minimum age to buy certain assault rifles to 21.
“Many people in leadership right now are stuck having cultural wars in the United States,” Gutierrez said. Gutierrez has been a confidant and mentor for the families as they learn to navigate the political waters. “This is a problem, we have 18-year-olds buying assault rifles, and that needs to change.”
Most of the families supported and lobbied for by the Uvalde families.
"The families have worked really hard,” Gutierrez said. “Lobbying members of the House, lobbying a few in the Senate, and lobbying a few on this committee."
Two members of this committee know the Uvalde families and situation better than others: Reps. Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, and Democrat Joe Moody, D-El Paso.
Moody and Burrows were on the Robb Elementary Investigative Committee which produced a report that, even 8 months later, is still the most complete account of what happened on May 24th.
“The people of Uvalde went through an unimaginable tragedy, and while the state has reacted to it, this week’s hearing is our first opportunity to be proactive on it,” Moody said in a statement. “This is where we have an opportunity to show the families still mourning that we’ve heard them, we’re fighting for them, and we’re going to do something to keep something like this from happening again.”
But political science chair at the university of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Jon Taylor says, with the way the states politics are situated, it is going to be hard for these bills to get very far.
"I don't think any of them are going to make it out of committee,” Taylor said. “And even if they make it out of committee, I don't think they are going to see Abbott's desk."
Taylor said getting a hearing in general is a win because it starts conversation even if the legislation does not pass.
“Is it going to get not just emotional but possibly charged and heated? Absolutely,” Taylor said. “But that, in turn, plays to at least to people's emotions, to people that think about perhaps, if it's not this time around, perhaps next time around when the legislature comes [back] or even nationally that there are certain things that we should be doing to try to get a handle on certain kinds of firearms.”
Taylor also says, though, that this could be an attempt to pacify the families.
"One could make that argument that they are throwing them a bone, and this is them saying 'we are giving you a day. Here is your day to talk about this legislation. You know and we know that it's not going to pass but we are giving you the chance to air your grievances.’"
Ahead of the vote on Tuesday, Rep. Tracy King, D-Uvalde, is telling everyone to call their representatives and urge them to vote yes on HB 2744.
“When the tragedy in Uvalde occurred last year, I heard loud and clear what the families had to say: that an 18-year-old should never have been able to even get his hands on an AR-15 in the first place – and that this needs to change,” said Rep. Tracy King, author of the #RaiseTheAge Act. “We need to protect Texas children and raise the age to buy an assault rifle in our state – just as we have with handguns – from 18 to 21.”Apr 18, 2023 We The People Kaylin Gillis, 20, was looking for a friend's house in the area, officials said.
Woman fatally shot after going up wrong driveway
A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a young woman who was in a car that mistakenly pulled into his driveway in rural upstate New York.
A man has been charged with murder after he allegedly shot and killed a young woman who was in a car that mistakenly pulled into his driveway in rural upstate New York, authorities said.
The incident occurred on Saturday night just before 10 p.m. ET in the small town of Hebron, some 60 miles northeast of Albany. A group of four young adults were looking for a friend's house in the area when they drove their car up the wrong driveway. They were turning around upon realizing their error when the homeowner -- identified as 65-year-old Kevin Monahan -- came outside with a gun and fired at their vehicle, according to Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy.
"It's a very rural area, it's dirt roads, there's not a lot of cellular service or any type of internet," Murphy said during a press conference on Monday. "It's easy to get lost."
Monahan fired at least two shots, one of which struck one of the passengers in the car -- identified as 20-year-old Kaylin Gillis of Schuylerville, New York. The group drove away and, due to poor cellphone reception, wasn't able to contact 911 until reaching the nearby town of Salem. First responders arrived on scene and attempted to perform lifesaving measures on Gill, but she was pronounced dead, according to Murphy.
The sheriff described Gill as "an innocent, young girl" and said she comes from "a very good family," whom he knows "personally."
"This is a very sad case," he told reporters. "There was no reason for Mr. Monahan to feel threatened, especially as it appears the vehicle was leaving at the time."
Murphy said there was no known interaction between the group and Monahan and that investigators believe the car was only in his driveway for a "very short time" before shots were fired. The sheriff would not disclose what type of firearm was used.
When investigators determined that Monahan was the owner of the residence in Hebron, they attempted to make contact with him but he refused to leave his home to speak with them, according to Murphy.
"He was uncooperative with patrols on the scene," the sheriff told reporters. "After approximately more than an hour of talking back and forth through 911 and trying to talk to him in person on the scene, he was taken into custody."
Monahan, who Murphy said has no known criminal history, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He is currently being held in the Warren County Jail in Queensbury, New York, and will have an initial court appearance "in the near future," according to Murphy.Apr 18, 2023 We The People Several attorneys general announced a new $462 million settlement from e-cigarette manufacturer JUUL Labs on Wednesday.
The settlement is the largest multistate settlement which includes the most "stringent restrictions on the company's marketing and sales to protect and to prevent minors from vaping," New York Attorney General Letitia James said during a press conference.
James added "JUUL's lies lead to a nationwide public health crisis and put addictive products in the hands of minors who thought they were doing something harmless," James said at the press conference alongside attorneys general for Washington, D.C., California, Illinois and Massachusetts. Two other states, Colorado and New Mexico, are also recipients of the funds from the settlement.
"There is no doubt that JUUL played a central role in the youth vaping epidemic. Today, Juul is paying for the widespread harm it caused and will undergo severe restrictions on its marketing and sales practice," James continued.
JUUL's decision to target underaged students was widespread, the attorneys general said on Wednesday. In New York, James alleged that the e-cigarette company targeted middle and high school students in New York using "colorful ads featuring young models and flashing parties in New York City and the Hamptons, all while downplaying the harmful effects of vaping."
D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb claimed JUUL's "online verification systems were riddled with flaws and loopholes that allow kids of any age to purchase the products it knew but did not care," and Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Cambell said JUUL's "targeting of young people rolled back decades of progress in combating underage tobacco and nicotine use and has led to a nationwide public health crisis for young people all across this country."
Juul said the settlement marks nearly "total resolution of the company's historical legal challenges."
"With this settlement, we are nearing total resolution of the company's historical legal challenges and securing certainty for our future. We have now settled with 47 states and territories, providing over $1 billion to participating states, in addition to our global resolution of the U.S. private litigation. Since our company-wide reset in the fall of 2019, underage use of JUUL products has declined by 95% based on the National Youth Tobacco Survey," a spokesperson for JUUL told ABC News.
"Now we are positioned to dedicate even greater focus on our path forward to maximize the value and impact of our product technology and scientific foundation," the spokesperson continued, noting its priorities are "to secure authorization of our PMTAs based on the science and lead the category with innovation to accelerate our mission and advance tobacco harm reduction for over 31 million adult smokers in the U.S. and over 1 billion adult smokers worldwide."
In D.C., JUUL's $15.2 million settlement is the largest litigated settlement negotiated under the Consumer Protection Procedures Act, according to Schwalb. At least half of the settlement from Juul, which "marketed nicotine products to District youth and misled District consumers about the product's highly-addictive qualities," will be aimed at mitigating public health damages that JUUL caused, the attorney general says. Under the agreement, "JUUL must abide by strict advertising restrictions that prevent it from engaging in harmful marketing practices in the future."
Many of the funds acquired in the settlement will be aimed at education to lessen the effect of JUUL's vaping in the next generation. James told ABC News that her state's $112 million will be used to "help government agencies and educational organizations to prevent young vaping to support community and school based anti vaping programs to help individuals quit vaping to help localities and counties enforce vaping laws and regulations and monitor and research efforts to read to reduce vaping."Apr 12, 2023 We The People Five people were killed and eight others were injured in a mass shooting at a bank in Kentucky's largest city on Monday morning, according to police.
The suspect was killed by officers responding to the scene at Old National Bank in Louisville, police said.
Hospitalized Louisville cop 'slowly improving,' but still critical
Nickolas Wilt, the rookie Louisville police officer shot in the head while responding to Monday's shooting at Old National Bank, is "slowly improving," city authorities told ABC News Wednesday morning.
Wilt remains in critical condition, however. He was the only victim still listed in critical condition.
Suspect's family issues statement
The family of the suspected gunman, 25-year-old Connor Sturgeon, issued a statement Monday night expressing their sorrow, also saying "there were never any warning signs or indications he was capable of this shocking act."
"No words can express our sorrow, anguish, and horror at the unthinkable harm our son Connor inflicted on innocent people, their families, and the entire Louisville community," the Sturgeon family said. "We mourn their loss and that of our son, Connor. We pray for everyone traumatized by his senseless acts of violence and are deeply grateful for the bravery and heroism of the Louisville Metropolitan Police Department."
"While Connor, like many of his contemporaries, had mental health challenges which we, as a family, were actively addressing, there were never any warning signs or indications he was capable of this shocking act," the family said. "While we have many unanswered questions, we will continue to cooperate fully with law enforcement officials and do all we can to aid everyone in understanding why and how this happened."
Timeline of police response
Louisville Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey provided a timeline of the police response to Monday's shooting while sharing body camera footage from the responding officers:
--8:38 a.m.: Officers dispatched.
--8:41 a.m.: Officers Nickolas Wilt and Cory Galloway pull up to an entrance to the bank. Gunshots are immediately fired in their direction, forcing them to back up the car.
--8:42 a.m.: They exit the vehicle.
--8:44 a.m.: Wilt is struck and officers return fire. When Wilt is struck, Galloway is heard yelling, "He’s down! Get the officer!”
--8:45 a.m.: After a short barrage of gunfire, officers make entry to the bank and confirm the suspect is down.
Body camera footage released
Louisville police have released body camera footage from Monday's mass shooting.
The footage shows the interaction between the shooter and responding officers, including Nickolas Wilt, who was shot and remains in critical condition.
"You will see he never hesitates," Deputy Chief Paul Humphrey said of Wilt during a press briefing on the footage. "This young man went back in to the line of fire."
Humphrey said the suspect "lied in wait" for officers to respond to the bank shooting.
Louisville Metro Police DepartmentPolice body camera footage from the recent bank shooting in Louisville, Kentucky, releas...Read More
The officers could not see inside the building on their approach, and the footage conveys the "tension" of the scene, Humphrey said.
Officers and EMS treated victims at the scene of the shooting. The actions of first responders "absolutely saved lives," Humphrey said.
Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said authorities plan to release 911 audio of the incident within the next 24 hours.
"We know there are still a lot of unanswered questions," Greenberg said at the briefing. "We will continue to provide information as soon as it is available."Apr 12, 2023 We The People We The People We The People The ban made providing abortion a felony punishable by a fine and prison time.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a bill Wednesday repealing the state's nearly century-old abortion ban.
Last month, the state's House and Senate passed HB 4006, a single-sentence bill, which revokes the 1931 law that criminalized abortion.
Specifically, the bill repealed Section 750.14, which makes it a felony -- punishable by up to four years in prison and/or a fine of up to $5,000 -- to administer drugs that induce a miscarriage unless the mother's life is in danger.
It also repealed Section 750.15, which makes it a misdemeanor to advertise, publish or sell "any pills, powder, drugs or combination of drugs" that can cause an abortion.
After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last summer, questions remained about whether or not the 1931 law would be put back in place.
"Obstetricians, including myself, we were very concerned because we understand that there are a lot of appropriate medical indications for providing medical and surgical abortion for women across the state of Michigan," Dr. Omari Young, an obstetrician-gynecologist and abortion provider in Michigan, told ABC News. "So, we were not only concerned for the autonomy of women, but also the quality and safety of care because we know that not having access to safe and legal abortion can lead to significant poor health outcomes for women across the state of Michigan."
Young was part of a team of doctors that advocated for the repeal of the bill and for reproductive access to be protected in the state.
A Michigan state judge ruled in September that the ban is unconstitutional, barring any state prosecutors from enforcing it.
Two months later, in the November mid-term elections, Michiganders voted in favor of a constitutional amendment that would add protections for reproductive rights.
The amendment defines reproductive freedom as "the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management and infertility care."
Young and several other physicians involved in repealing Michigan's abortion ban were on hand to watch Whitmer sign the bill.
"It's a surreal moment but, ultimately, it's like icing on the cake for all the hard work that Gov. Whitmer, all the policymakers, the advocates, the grassroot workers, and most importantly, the women and patients in the state of Michigan, all that hard work is culminating into this great event, we formally signed a bill to repeal the 1931 ban," Young said.
Whitmer has openly expressed her support for abortion access in and out of Michigan and signed an executive order in July refusing to extradite women who come to Michigan from other states seeking abortion and refusing to extradite providers for offering the procedure.
In November, Michiganders sent a clear message: we deserve to make our own decisions about own bodies," Whitmer said in a statement provided to ABC News. "Today, we are coming together to repeal our extreme 1931 law banning abortion without exceptions for rape or incest and criminalizing nurses and doctors for doing their jobs."
The statement continued, "Standing up for people's fundamental freedoms is the right thing to do and it's also just good economics. By getting this done, we will help attract talent and business investment too."Apr 6, 2023 We The People We The People We The People We The People We The People We The People 
