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When is the next total solar eclipse in US after April 8, 2024?

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — “Eclipse Across America” will air live Monday, April 8, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on ABC, ABC News Live, National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo WILD, Disney+ and Hulu as well as network social media platforms.

If experiencing totality during the April 8 total solar eclipse makes you hungry for another celestial spectacle, you may have to wait decades.

“Solar eclipses are sort of like potato chips — once you eat one, you want another one,” Fred Espenak, a former astrophysicist from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and author of “Road Atlas for the Total Solar Eclipse of 2024,” told ABC News.

“Every eclipse is unique and exciting,” Espenak continued. “I would say it’s the most spectacular, natural phenomenon that you can see with the naked eye.”

On Monday, the total solar eclipse plunged a path through the contiguous United States into an eerie twilight showcasing the sun’s corona and the atmosphere’s array of stars as the moon passed in front of the sun.

For the 31 million Americans who live inside the eclipse’s path of totality, the experience was brought right to their doorstep, while millions of other eclipse chasers traveled to the 115-mile-wide path for the historic day.

“Many people will definitely get the bug and join the cohort of eclipse chasers, who go to any reasonable means of traveling around the world to see nature’s most dramatic sight,” Michael Zeiler, expert solar eclipse cartographer and founder of Greatamericaneclipse.com, told ABC News.

Next total solar eclipse in the U.S. after 2024
The next total solar eclipse to occur in the contiguous U.S. won’t be until Aug. 23, 2044, and will only shadow three states in its path, Montana and North and South Dakota, according to NASA.

In Canada, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan will also experience totality, according to the agency.

Next coast-to-coast total solar eclipse
The next year, on Aug. 12, 2045, a total solar eclipse will span coast to coast, according to NASA.

The far-reaching path of totality will cover parts of California, Nevada, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida and Georgia, the agency reports.

Similar to the total solar eclipse in 2017, the 2045 eclipse offers a chance for many Americans to experience totality within their states.

Adding to the decades-away excitement, since the 2044 and 2045 eclipses are slated for August, the summer season increases the likelihood of clear, cloudless skies during the event.

Next total solar eclipse internationally
If you can’t wait two decades for the next chance to experience totality, another total solar eclipse will take place in Europe in 2026.

On Aug. 12, 2026, a total solar eclipse is set to sweep over the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, Iceland, Atlantic Ocean, Portugal and northern Spain, according to the National Solar Observatory.

“Witnessing a total solar eclipse is a deeply emotional experience for anyone,” Zeiler said. “And the first question you may ask after the eclipse is: When is the next one? And you may want to go see the very next eclipse in Spain in 2026.”

Report: LGBTQ content drove book banning efforts in 2023

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The American Library Association released its annual list of the top 10 most targeted books of 2023 on Monday, the majority of which were challenges because of their LGBTQ content.

“Gender Queer” by Maia Kobabe topped the list for the third year in a row. The graphic memoir, which chronicles the author’s experience with sexuality and gender from childhood to adulthood, was challenged for its LGBTQ content and for claims that it is sexually explicit.

“At ALA, we are fighting for the freedom to choose what you want to read,” said ALA President Emily Drabinski in the announcement. “Shining a light on the harmful workings of these pressure groups is one of the actions we must take to protect our right to read.”

In 2023, the ALA recorded 4,240 unique titles that have been targeted for removal or restriction in libraries and schools. It’s a record-breaking 65% increase from 2022, the highest totals recorded by the ALA since it began collecting data more than 20 years ago.

Jennie Pu, ALA member and Hoboken Public Library Director, told ABC News that “this list affirms the pattern that we’re seeing, that it’s a small group of people who don’t want their stories to be told and the retargeting of historically underrepresented and marginalized voices.”

Hoboken’s library system was declared a book sanctuary in 2023.

Across the country, classroom and library content has been at the center of contentious debates between educators, librarians, parents and politicians. Conservative-led legislative efforts to restrict what discussions and content could be had in classrooms regarding race, gender, sex, and sexual orientation has ignited a debate about the materials students and their families have access to.

Advocates of such legislation say these policies ensure that “inappropriate” content is weeded out of classrooms to protect children from “indoctrination,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott have said.

Politicized groups or individuals have been at the center of large swaths of book challenges nationwide, sometimes demanding the censorship of multiple titles — often dozens or hundreds at a time. This helped drive the surge in book challenges, according to the ALA.

The other most-targeted titles, in order of the number of challenges, are:

2. “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” by George M. Johnson, for LGBTQ content and claims of sexually explicit content.

3. “This Book is Gay,” by Juno Dawson, for LGBTQ content, sex education, and claims of sexually explicit content.

4. “The Perks of Being a Wallflower,” by Stephen Chbosky, for LGBTQ content, rape, drugs, profanity and claims of sexually explicit content.

5. “Flamer,” by Mike Curato, for LGBTQ content and claims of sexually explicit content.

“The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison
6. “The Bluest Eye,” by Toni Morrison, for themes about rape, incest, DEI content and claims of sexually explicit content.

7. “Tricks,” by Ellen Hopkins, for LGBTQ content, themes concerning drugs, rape, and claims of sexually explicit content, tied with “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” by Jesse Andrews for claims of sexually explicit content.

9. “Let’s Talk About It,” by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan, for LGBTQ content, sex education, and claims of sexually explicit content.

10. “Sold,” by Patricia McCormick, for claims of sexually explicit content and themes concerning rape.

The ALA compiles its data from reports filed with its Office for Intellectual Freedom by library professionals and news reports. However, the organization says the data is only a “snapshot” of book censorship attempts because it’s not likely that all attempts are reported to the ALA or covered by the press.

The latest report marks the start of the organization’s National Library Week.

Solar eclipse live updates: Millions prepare to watch from Texas to Maine

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A total solar eclipse is passing over North America on April 8, creating a path of totality that will cast some parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada in darkness.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Apr 08, 9:47 AM
What to know about the total solar eclipse

A total solar eclipse is passing over North America on April 8, creating a path of totality that will cast some parts of Mexico, the United States and Canada in darkness.

During a total solar eclipse, which is a rare celestial event, the moon passes between the sun and Earth. The moon slowly covers and, for a brief period, completely blocks the face of the sun.

In the U.S., the path of totality begins in Texas and will travel through Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Some parts of Tennessee and Michigan will also experience the total solar eclipse, according to NASA.

April 8’s solar eclipse will be the last of its kind to occur in North America for the next 20 years. There will not be another total solar eclipse in North America again until 2044.

The best time to view totality will depend on where you are in the U.S. In Eagle Pass, Texas, totality will occur at 1:27 p.m. CDT and last 4 minutes and 23 seconds. In Presque Isle, Maine, totality will occur at 3:32 p.m. EDT and last 2 minutes and 47 seconds.

Actor Jonathan Majors to be sentenced Monday in domestic violence case

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Actor Jonathan Majors is scheduled to be sentenced on Monday after a jury found him guilty late last year of assaulting and harassing his ex-girlfriend.

His sentencing had been postponed two months after his attorneys filed a motion to set aside his conviction in February. A Manhattan criminal court judge denied the motion last week, allowing the sentencing to move forward.

Majors, 34, was convicted of one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment, but acquitted of two other counts of assault and aggravated harassment in a split verdict following a trial in December 2023.

The mixed verdict signaled the jury believed Majors recklessly assaulted his ex-girlfriend but did not intentionally do so.

He faces up to a year in jail on the two counts.

The charges stemmed from a March 2023 altercation with his then-girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, in a for-hire SUV in Manhattan.

Jabbari testified during the trial that she tried to grab his phone after seeing a message pop up saying, “I wish I was kissing you.” She described in court Majors pulling her right hand behind her back while holding the phone in her left.

“It just felt like he was twisting my arm and my hand and trying to make me feel pain,” she said in court.

Prosecutors said Jabbari fractured her finger and showed jurors photos taken by police of her injuries, including a cut to her ear and the bruised and swollen finger.

Majors declined to testify in his defense during the trial. In a sit-down interview with ABC News Live’s Linsey Davis in January, his first after his conviction, he denied twisting her arm and causing those injuries.

“She went to grab the phone. I held the phone. I pulled the phone back. She came on top of me, squeezed my face, slapped me. That’s all I remember,” he said.

Jabbari sued the actor for defamation and other alleged injuries last month, according to the civil complaint.

She is seeking damages for physical injuries she said she suffered as a result of the incident. She also claimed Majors committed “intentional infliction of emotional distress” against her and “made knowingly false statements” about her during the interview with Davis, according to the civil complaint.

Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said in a statement to ABC News following the filing that he is preparing counterclaims against Jabbari.

Majors played the role of Kang in several Marvel films and TV shows, including the Disney+ series Loki, and was set to return to the role in Avengers: Kang Dynasty, slated for a 2026 release date.

Following the verdict, Marvel dropped Majors from future productions as the Marvel villain.

He was nominated for an Emmy for his lead role in the 2020 HBO series Lovecraft Country.

Disney is the parent company of ABC News and Marvel.

Witnesses in Trump’s hush money trial likely to include former members of his inner circle, sources say

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — To try to prove their criminal hush money case against former President Donald Trump, prosecutors in New York are expected to rely on several witnesses who are or were part of Trump’s inner circle, including his longtime assistant, Rhona Graff, his former director of Oval Office operations, Madeleine Westerhout, and longtime trusted aide, Hope Hicks, sources familiar with the case told ABC News.

The sources said prosecutors with the Manhattan district attorney’s office are also expected to call Deborah Tarasoff, who worked in the Trump Organization’s accounting department, and Jeffrey McConney, the Trump Organization’s former controller, as well as Trump’s former attorney and so-called “fixer,” Michael Cohen. McConney is also expected to testify in Trump’s defense, sources said.

Other former Trump aides who appeared before the grand jury that probed the case are not expected to be called as trial witnesses, including Trump’s longtime adviser Kellyanne Conway, the sources said.

Westerhout — who also served as Trump’s executive assistant for the first two-and-a-half years of his presidency — was subpoenaed to testify by the Manhattan district attorney, according to her lawyer Jason Wright. He told ABC News that Westerhout does not know when or if she will be called to the witness stand.

Prosecutors have not publicly released a witness list, and the sources cautioned the decision to call someone to testify is subject to change before the trial, which is set to begin April 15. A spokeswoman for the Manhattan district attorney’s office declined to comment to ABC News about the prospective witnesses. Lawyers for the other potential witnesses either declined to comment or did not return requests for comment.

Trump has pleaded not guilty to a 34-count indictment charging him with falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment Cohen made to adult film actress Stormy Daniels just days before the 2016 presidential election.

“It’s a disgrace that it can happen,” Trump said last month. “This was a case could have been brought three and a half years ago, and they decided to wait now just during the election so that I won’t be able to campaign.”

Former American Media Inc. executive David Pecker is also expected to testify, and National Enquirer editor-in-chief Dylan Howard could also be a prosecution witness, sources said. Both played an integral role in what prosecutors say was a “scheme” to “catch and kill” negative stories about Trump during his first campaign for president.

“[Pecker] agreed to help with the Defendant’s campaign, saying that he would act as the ‘eyes and ears’ for the campaign by looking out for negative stories about the Defendant and alerting [Cohen] before the stories were published,” prosecutors alleged in a filing.

Attorneys for Trump have hammered at the credibility of prosecution witnesses, including Cohen, in recent court filings.

“Cohen is not a truth teller, he is a serial liar,” defense lawyers wrote in a February motion to argue that the judge should limit testimony from Cohen, Daniels and others.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the federal probes into Trump’s handling of classified documents and his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is also relying on some of Trump’s closest aides, advisers and allies to build those two criminal cases. The indictments in both of those cases are structured using the words of people around Trump during his waning days in office.

In the New York case, the sources also said both Daniels and Karen McDougal — a former Playboy model who received a $150,000 payment from AMI for rights to her story about an alleged affair with Trump — are also expected to testify at trial. Trump has denied having affairs with both McDougal and Daniels.

“I’m absolutely ready. I’ve been ready,” Daniels told ABC’s The View last month. “I relish the day that I get to face him and speak my truth.”

Dino Sajudin, a former doorman who was paid $30,000 to stay quiet after shopping claims, later discredited, that Trump had a love child with a building employee, was a prospective witness in the case but is no longer expected to testify at the trial, according to sources familiar with the matter.

In a ruling last month, Manhattan Judge Juan Merchan cleared the way for witnesses including Daniels, McDougal and Sajudin to testify because their actions “flow directly from the 2015 meeting at Trump Tower where Pecker, Cohen” and Trump agreed to the catch-and-kill scheme, the judge said.

“[T]he evidence and testimony surrounding these individuals is inextricably intertwined with the narrative of events and is necessary background for the Jury,” Merchan wrote.

Suspect nabbed in arson fire at Sen. Bernie Sander’s office

April 8, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(BURLINGTON, Vt.) — Federal charges were filed Sunday against a 35-year-old man who allegedly set fire to the door of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office in Burlington, Vermont, while staff was working inside, police and prosecutors said.

Shant Soghomonian, formerly of Northridge, California, was arrested on Sunday after investigators reviewed surveillance camera footage that captured him allegedly spraying a liquid on the outer door of Sanders’ office in downtown Burlington, U.S. Attorney Nikolas P. Kerest said in a statement.

The fire unfolded around 10:45 a.m. Friday outside Sanders’ third-floor Church Street office, which is in a building that is also used in interstate commerce, Kerest said.

Sanders was not at the office at the time of the blaze, authorities said.

“A significant fire engulfed the door and part of the vestibule, impeding the egress of staff members who were working in the office and endangering their lives,” according to a statement from the Burlington Police Department.

The Burlington Fire Department fire crews quickly responded to the fire and extinguished the flames, officials said.

“Along with fire damage to Senator Sanders’s door and vestibule, water from the sprinkler systems caused significant damage to that space and other areas of the building,” police said.

Surveillance video, according to police, showed the suspect entering the building and proceeding to the third floor.

“Soghomonian was recorded on a security video spraying a liquid near the outer door of the office and then lighting the area with a handheld lighter. A blaze quickly began while Soghomonian departed via a staircase,” Kerest said.

Soghomonian, who also goes by the name Michael Soghomonian, was arrested after police released surveillance photos of the suspect and asked for the public’s help in identifying him, according to police.

A motive for the incident remains under investigation, according to police.

The suspect was charged with using fire to damage a building used in interstate commerce and as a place of activity affecting interstate commerce, according to a federal complaint.

If convicted of the charges, Soghomonian could be sentenced to 5 to 20 years in federal prison and face a fine of up to $250,000, according to Kerest.

It was unclear Sunday whether Soghomonian has hired an attorney. The suspect is awaiting his first court appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin J. Doyle, officials said.

“I am deeply grateful to the swift, professional, coordinated efforts of local, state, and federal law enforcement in response to the fire at my Vermont office on Friday,” Sanders said in a statement. “I am also thankful that none of the many people who were in the office building at the time of the fire were injured. I appreciate the outpouring of support and well-wishes for me and my staff. We are proud to be able to continue to serve Vermonters during these challenging times.”

Southwest flight from Denver makes emergency landing after ‘mechanical issue,’ airline says

April 7, 2024 by WDNY Radio

A Southwest Airlines flight had to make an emergency landing Sunday morning after the engine cover detached during takeoff, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which had been scheduled to fly from Denver to Houston, landed safely back at Denver International Airport just after 8:00 a.m. and was towed to the gate, according to the airport and airline.

According to the FAA, which is now investigating the incident, crew members aboard the flight said “the engine cowling fell off during takeoff and struck the wing flap.”

In a statement, Southwest Airlines said the flight “landed safely after experiencing a mechanical issue.” Customers were rebooked on other flights, and maintenance teams are now inspecting the plane, the airline said.

Footage taken by some passengers showed what appeared to be part of the plane hanging off and flapping in the breeze.

“It all blew away,” one person can be heard saying in a video taken by passenger Lisa C., after which several people on board can be heard breaking out in cheers as the plane touches back down.

The engine cowling “peeled off within the first 10 minutes” of the flight, Lisa C. told ABC News.

“We all felt kind of a bump, a jolt, and I looked out the window because I love window seats, and there it was,” she said.

Another passenger, Cooper Glass, told ABC News the experience was “frightening.”

“People in the exit row across from me started yelling up to the flight attendants and showed them the damage,” Glass said.

Glass praised the pilot, whom he said “did a great job on landing.”

ABC News’ Sam Sweeney, Samira Said, and Helena Skinner contributed to this report.

Suspect in fire at Sen. Bernie Sander’s Vermont office hit with federal charges

April 7, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Federal charges were filed Sunday against a 35-year-old man who allegedly set fire to the door of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ office in Burlington, Vermont, while staff was working inside, police and prosecutors said.