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Largest nursing strike in New York City history begins amid stalled contract negotiations

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The largest nurses’ strike in New York City history began Monday morning after the nurses’ union and hospitals officials failed to reach a tentative settlement.

Nearly 15,000 nurses at Mount Sinai, Mount Sinai Morningside and West, Montefiore and NewYork-Presbyterian walked of the job, according to the New York State Nursing Association (NYSNA), the union representing the nurses.

“Unfortunately, greedy hospital executives have decided to put profits above safe patient care and force nurses out on strike when we would rather be at the bedsides of our patients,” Nancy Hagans, NYSNA’s president, said in a statement early Monday. “Hospital management refuses to address our most important issues — patient and nurse safety.”

Strike lines began at 6 a.m. ET on Monday at Mount Sinai, with 7 a.m. ET lines forming at Montefiore Bronx locations and NewYork-Presbyterian locations, according to NYSNA.

“Unfortunately, NYSNA decided to move forward with its strike while refusing to move on from its extreme economic demands, which we cannot agree to, but we are ready with 1,400 qualified and specialized nurses — and prepared to continue to provide safe patient care for as long as this strike lasts,” a Mount Sinai spokesperson said in a statement.

Mount Sinai said many of the nurses had already been integrated into units across their hospitals. The health system added that all hospitals and emergency departments will remain open, and most appointments are expected to proceed as originally scheduled.

In a letter to employees, Mount Sinai said its Clinical Command Center was helping hospitals determine which patients can be safely discharged, as well transferring patients between hospitals and rescheduling appointments, an employee with knowledge of the matter told ABC News.

The letter also stated that officials had discussed with the NYSNA the financial pressures facing health care and that Mount Sinai has a fixed budget that could be used for pay increases and benefits or to operate amidst a strike, according to the employee.

The NYSNA said it is calling for an agreement that includes pay hikes, improving safe staffing levels, full health care coverage and pensions, and workplace protections against violence. The union further said hospitals have threatened to cut health care benefits for frontline nurses and to roll back safe staffing standards that were won by nurses in a strike two years ago.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency Friday in anticipation of a possible strike and appealed to the hospitals and nurses’ union to hammer out a last-minute deal, saying that a strike “could jeopardize the lives of thousands of New Yorkers and patients.”

“I’m strongly encouraging everyone to stay at the table, both sides, management and the nurses, until this is resolved,” Hochul said.

Several New York politicians, including Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have come out in support of the striking nurses. Mamdani on Monday called their fight a battle for dignity, fairness and the future of the city’s health care system and who benefits from it.

“There is no shortage of wealth in the health care industry,” Mamdani said. “The CEO of Montefiore made more than $16 million last year. The CEO of NewYork-Presbyterian made $26 million. But too many nurses can’t make ends meet.”

Mamdani also said nurses are not asking for millions, but for “pensions to be safeguarded, to be protected in their own workplace, and to receive the pay and health benefits they deserve.”

The mayor said the city is working to protect both patients and health care workers during the strike. He urged hospital executives and union leaders to return to the bargaining table immediately.

New York State Attorney General Letitia James also released a statement in support of the nurses, saying they often have to choose between patient well-being and their own well-being.

“As our state faces a historic flu surge, our communities are counting on New York’s hospitals for high-quality, reliable frontline care,” Jame said.Meanwhile, hospital management is threatening nurses’ health benefits, rolling back hard-won staffing protections, and doing too little to address workplace violence. I am proud to stand with New York’s nurses in calling on hospitals throughout this city to put patients over profits and ensure safe workplaces for our frontline health care workers.”

Hospital officials said they are prepared to continue offering care despite any pending work interruptions. They added that patients should not avoid or delay seeking help for any medical emergencies.

The NYSNA said during an video conference update Sunday morning that there was been no movement in the labor talks with the five hospitals.

The nurses’ contract, reached in 2023 after a three-day strike, expired on Dec. 31.

“We continue to bargain in good faith in the hopes of reaching an agreement that is fair, reasonable, and responsible,” a spokesperson for the Mount Sinai Healthcare system said in a statement on Saturday. “While we know a strike can be disruptive, we are prepared for a strike that could last an indefinite amount of time and have taken every step to best support our patients and employees in the event NYSNA forces our nurses to walk away from the bedside for the second time in three years.”

“NYSNA leadership’s reckless and irresponsible demands totaling $3.6 billion, including a nearly 40% wage increase, and taking issue with our reasonable measures like rolling out panic buttons for frontline staff in the Emergency Department, clearly put patients at risk,” Joe Solmonese, senior vice president of strategic communications for Montefiore Einstein hospital, said in a statement.

“We are preparing for what we anticipate could be a multi-week strike, and are resolute in devoting whatever resources are necessary to safe and seamless care for our community,” the statement continued.

The impasse between the NYSNA and management of the private New York City hospitals continued even as the union announced tentative settlements last week that diverted strikes at four so-called safety-net hospitals in the New York City area.

Nurses at three major Northwell Health hospitals on New York’s Long Island reached a tentative contract agreement on Thursday and called off a strike, according to the NYSNA. Nurses at Brooklyn Hospital Center and Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, and those who work for the BronxCare Health System, also rescinded strike notices when they reached a tentative contract, the NYSNA said.

“That leaves New York City’s wealthiest hospitals as the outliers who have refused to settle fair contracts that protect patients and nurses,” the NYSNA’s Hagans said in a video statement on Saturday.

“Instead of guaranteeing health care for nurses, these wealthy hospitals are pushing to cut health care benefits for nurses who put their own health on the line to care for New Yorkers during this historic flu surge, the COVID-19 pandemic and everyday injuries and hospital violence,” Hagans added.

Hagans pointed to a police-involved shooting last week at a Brooklyn hospital as the latest example of the violence hospital workers face.

On Thursday, a 62-year-old former NYPD officer, allegedly wielding a sharp object, was fatally shot by New York City police officers at New York-Presbyterian Brooklyn Methodist Hospital. The man, according to police, was shot after he allegedly barricaded himself in a room with an adult patient and a hospital security worker and threatened to hurt himself and others.

The NYSNA on Monday said those who need health care should still be able to get it.

“We want to be absolutely clear: If you are sick, please do not delay getting medical care, regardless of whether we are on strike,” the union said. “We invite you to come join us on the strike line after you’ve gotten the care you need. We are out here so we can provide better patient care to you!”

ABC News’ Rhiannon Ally, Ahmad Hemingway and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

Ex-husband charged with aggravated murder in slaying of Ohio couple due in court

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(COLUMBUS, Ohio) — A man is due in court on Monday for allegedly gunning down his ex-wife and her husband in their Ohio home and leaving their two young children alive, authorities said.

Dentist Spencer Tepe and his wife, Monique Tepe, were found shot to death on Dec. 30, according to Columbus police, and the mysterious case quickly garnered national intrigue.

On Saturday, police announced the arrest of Monique Tepe’s ex-husband, Michael McKee, after he was linked to a car seen on surveillance footage in the neighborhood, according to court documents.

McKee, a Chicago resident, was taken into custody in Illinois and is charged with premeditated aggravated murder, according to records.

McKee and Monique Tepe were married in 2015 and divorced in 2017, according to divorce records obtained by ABC Columbus affiliate WSYX. They did not have any children together, according to the records.

Spencer and Monique Tepe married in December 2020, according to their obituary.

The arrest came one day before the scheduled celebration of life service for the couple.

“Today’s arrest represents an important step toward justice for Monique and Spencer,” the family said in a statement. “Nothing can undo the devastating loss of two lives taken far too soon, but we are grateful to the City of Columbus Police Department, its investigators, and assisting law enforcement community. … As the case proceeds, we trust the justice system to hold the person responsible fully accountable.”

“Monique and Spencer remain at the center of our hearts, and we carry forward their love as we surround and protect the two children they leave behind,” the family said. “We will continue to honor their lives and the light they brought into this world.”

ABC News’ Matt Foster, Victoria Arancio and Nadine El-Bawab contributed to this report.

Stocks fall after Trump’s DOJ opens criminal probe into Fed Chair Powell

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Stocks slid in early trading on Monday hours after reports that the Department of Justice had opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell centered on the central bank leader’s remarks to Congress about an office renovation project.

Powell, who was appointed by Trump in 2017, issued a rare video message rebuking the investigation as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 290 points, or 0.6%, while the S&P 500 fell 0.4%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq declined 0.3%.

The selloff on Monday also appeared to include reaction to a social media post from President Donald Trump advocating for a 10% cap on credit card interest rates for one year. Shares of several major banks fell in early trading.

The DOJ’s criminal probe follows a a monthslong influence campaign undertaken by Trump as he has frequently slammed the Fed for what he considers a reluctance to significantly reduce interest rates.

The criminal probe appears to center on allegations of false remarks made by Powell about a renovation of the Fed’s headquarters during a congressional hearing in June.

Trump has repeatedly denounced Powell for alleged overspending tied to the central bank’s $2.5 billion renovation project. The Fed attributes spending overruns to unforeseen cost increases, saying that its building renovation will ultimately “reduce costs over time by allowing the Board to consolidate most of its operations,” according to the central bank’s website.

Federal law allows the president to remove the Fed chair for “cause” — though no president has ever done so. Powell’s term as chair is set to expire in May, but he can remain on the Fed’s policymaking board until 2028. Powell has not indicated whether he intends to remain on the board.

Luigi Mangione latest: Judge orders hearing over seizure of backpack

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A federal judge on Monday changed her mind and decided there should be a hearing to determine whether Luigi Mangione’s backpack was lawfully seized and searched during his arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania.

Judge Margaret Garnett said she considered “both the arguments made by counsel” during a hearing on Friday and “the seriousness of the charges the Defendant is facing” in deciding to hold the evidentiary hearing after previously saying a hearing was unnecessary.

The brief hearing should include testimony from an Altoona police officer about the department’s procedures for securing, safeguarding and inventorying the personal property of a person arrested in a public place, the judge said. She noted that the witness did not need to be one of the dozen officers involved in Mangione’s arrest.

Several Altoona officers testified during a three-week hearing in state court where Mangione is seeking to exclude evidence police seized from his backpack, including the alleged murder weapon, a notebook and writings.

Defense attorneys are also trying to eliminate those items from the federal case, which could result in a possible death sentence if Mangione is convicted. He has pleaded not guilty in both courts.

Mangione is accused of stalking and killing UnitedHealthcare chief executive Brian Thompson on a New York City sidewalk in 2024.

Iranian leader, Trump trade threats as activists say protest deaths rising

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday hit back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s threats of military action in Iran in support of anti-government protests there, shortly before Trump told reporters that Tehran wants “to negotiate” with the U.S.

In a message on his official Farsi-language X account on Sunday, Khamenei posted an image of a crumbling statue with Trump’s likeness.

“That father figure who sits there with arrogance and pride, passing judgment on the entire world, he too should know that usually the tyrants and oppressors of the world, such as Pharaoh and Nimrod and Reza Khan and Mohammad Reza and the likes of them, when they were at the peak of their pride, were overthrown,” Khamenei wrote.

“This one too will be overthrown,” the ayatollah added.

Khamenei’s post came shortly before Trump spoke with reporters aboard Air Force One, first suggesting he may follow through on his threats of new strikes on Iran before revealing that fresh negotiations with Tehran may soon be underway.

Trump said it “looks like” Iran may have crossed the administration’s red line of killing protesters, adding that the U.S. military has “strong options” at its disposal. “We’ll make a determination,” he said.

Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against the use of force to suppress the protests. On Saturday, Trump wrote on social media, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

According to a U.S. official, the president will be briefed Tuesday to review possible U.S. responses to the situation in Iran.

Trump also said Sunday that Iranian leaders contacted him on Saturday and that a meeting is being set up between them. The president cautioned that the U.S. may take action before a meeting takes place.

“They do. They called,” Trump said when asked if he thinks Iran wants to engage diplomatically.

“Iran called to negotiate yesterday — the leaders of Iran called yesterday. They want to negotiate. I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” he said.

“We may meet with them,” he added. “A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act — because of what’s happening — before the meeting, but a meeting is being set up,” Trump said.

Protests have been spreading across the country since late December. The first marches took place in downtown Tehran, with participants demonstrating against rising inflation and the falling value of the national currency, the rial. As the protests spread to cities across the nation, they took on a more explicitly anti-government tone.

The death toll from the protests had risen to 544 as of Sunday, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA).

At least 10,681 people have been arrested, according to HRANA. Protests have taken place at 585 locations across the country, in 186 cities, spanning all 31 provinces, according to activists.

The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country. ABC News cannot independently verify the figures provided by the group.

The Iranian government has not provided any casualty figures for protesters related to the ongoing protests. State television has broadcast images of people attending morgues to identify bodies of friends and relatives.

The state-aligned Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.

Widespread and sustained internet outages have been reported across the country amid the deepening protests and reported government crackdown. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said early on Monday that Iran’s “national internet blackout” had surpassed 84 hours.

Khamenei and top Iranian officials have said they are willing to engage with the economic grievances of protesters, though have also framed the unrest as driven by “rioters” and sponsored by foreign nations, prime among them the U.S. and Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday described the wave of protests as a “terrorist war” while speaking to foreign diplomats in Tehran.

Araghchi said that the situation is “under control” and that internet access would be restored.

The foreign minister also claimed that Tehran had gathered extensive evidence showing U.S. and Israeli involvement in the protests over recent days. “We believe what took place after 8th of January was infiltration,” he said, suggesting that “Mossad agents” are leading the demonstrations.

Araghchi also criticized Western nations for failing to condemn what he called “terrorists.”

On Monday, state television broadcast footage of pro-government rallies organized in Tehran and other major cities.

The footage showed crowds waving Iranian flags in the capital’s Revolution Square, shouting slogans including “death to America,” “death to Israel,” and “I’d sacrifice my life for the leader.”

State television described the Tehran demonstration as an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism.”

Dissident voices abroad, meanwhile, have encouraged further demonstrations. On Sunday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed protesters in a post to X, announcing what he said was “a new phase of the national uprising to overthrow the Islamic Republic and reclaim our beloved Iran.”

“In addition to taking and holding the central streets of our cities, all institutions and apparatuses responsible for the regime’s propaganda and for cutting communications are to be regarded as legitimate targets,” Pahlavi wrote.

“Employees of state institutions, as well as members of the armed and security forces, have a choice: stand with the people and become allies of the nation, or choose complicity with the murderers of the people — and bear the nation’s lasting shame and condemnation,” he added.

“We are not alone. International support will soon arrive,” Pahlavi wrote.

Transgender athlete bans get Supreme Court review in landmark case

January 12, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday will for the first time wade into the heated national debate over whether transgender girls should be allowed to participate in girls’ and women’s sports.

The justices will hear arguments in a pair of cases from Idaho and West Virginia, where federal courts have blocked state laws that would prohibit trans girls from participating on teams consistent with their gender identity.

The outcome of the cases will determine the fate of those laws and similar measures in 27 other states. There are an estimated 122,000 transgender American teens who participate in high school sports nationwide, according to the Williams Institute at UCLA Law School.

Lower courts have concluded separately that the bans discriminate “on the basis of sex” in violation of Title IX, the landmark civil rights law that has promoted equal opportunities for women and girls in athletics, and the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause.

The states are asking the justices to overturn those decisions and reinstate their laws, arguing that sex and gender identity are not synonymous when it comes to women’s athletics and that allowing transgender girls to compete against cisgender girls is unfair and unsafe.

“It really comes down to one simple question,” said West Virginia Attorney General John McCuskey in an interview with ABC News. “Is it legal and constitutional for states to delineate their athletic playing fields based on the immutable physical characteristics that people have that are associated with their sex that’s assigned at birth?”

Becky Pepper Jackson, a high school sophomore from Bridgeport, West Virginia, who competes in discus and shot put on the track and field team, brought the legal challenge to her state’s law in 2021. She is the only known openly trans athlete in West Virginia in any sport.

“Someone has to do it. Someone has to do this for all of us,” Becky, 15, told ABC News in an exclusive interview. “Otherwise these laws and bills are just going to stand.”

Transgender athletes make up just over 1% of the more than 8 million teenage student athletes nationwide, according to the Williams Institute.

Idaho college student Lindsay Hecox, a former track and cross-country runner who was barred from trying out for her school teams, sued over her state’s ban in 2020. Last year, she asked the court to drop her case because she no longer wished to compete in sports and didn’t want to be in the spotlight. However, Idaho fought to keep the case alive.

“Everyone has had the experience of being told, look, you can’t play. You have to sit on the bench, or you can’t make the team. And everyone knows how that feels,” said Sasha Jean Buchert, an attorney with Lambda Legal, an LGBTQ advocacy group involved with the cases.

“That’s what’s happening to transgender kids right now,” Buchert said. “And the scope of [these bans] is absolutely absurd.”

Becky, who has openly identified as a girl since third grade, said she has never undergone male puberty, thanks to puberty-blocking medication, and has no physiological advantage over her peers.

“She has testosterone from her adrenal glands just like every female out there, but that’s the only testosterone she has,” said her mother, Heather Jackson. “She’s actually not the biggest person on her team. There’s people taller than her; there’s people shorter than her. She’s just an average female teenager.”

As a young cross-country runner, Becky was consistently at the back of the pack. More recently, she earned a spot in the state championship for discus and shot put, where she placed third and eighth, respectively.

“I put in time over the summer and after practices just trying to improve my technique and get better,” she said.

Her performance at an eighth grade track meet in 2024 drew protests from other athletes who claimed she made them uncomfortable in the locker room and on the field.

“I just didn’t think it was right,” said Sabrina Shriver, 16, a former discus thrower who refused to compete against Becky at the meet and later quit the sport because of her participation in the league. “It was just, I don’t know, we all just felt uncomfortable and we’re just, we didn’t want any part of it.”

The competitive advantage boys and men have physically over girls and women has been well established in physically demanding sports by medical research and serves as a primary basis for distinctions between the sexes in athletics.

Studies have shown testosterone produced during male puberty does lead to more muscle mass, larger hearts and lungs, greater body height and longer limbs on average for boys and men, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

Before puberty, however, “sex differences in athletic performance are minimal,” the group says research shows.

A key issue in the West Virginia case is a dispute over whether Becky, 15, possesses an advantage at all, given she has not undergone male puberty, takes estrogen supplements and does not produce high levels of testosterone.

“If [sports leagues] look at the medical records of individuals like the Olympic committee does, testing people — they test for performance enhancing medications or drugs that their athletes take — so if we can look at those levels, let’s look at her levels,” Heather Jackson said.

McCuskey says a testing regimen is just not practicable and that Becky can still compete, but on a boys team. “We have to be able to draw a line here,” he said.

“Becky is bigger and stronger and faster than the females that she’s competing against,” said the attorney general.

He has urged the Supreme Court to stay out of the debate, arguing in a court brief that West Virginia’s law “implicates ‘fierce scientific and policy debates’ that elected legislators are best able to resolve.”

The U.S. Olympic Committee, the NCAA and 29 states ban transgender girls and women from competing on teams consistent with their gender identity. The other 21 states do not have bans, including California and New York, which have laws explicitly allowing trans athletes to compete.

Last year, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority upheld a Tennessee law banning some gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender minors, rejecting claims that the law discriminated “on the basis of sex” and saying that states should have leeway to regulate health care in an area of scientific uncertainty.

In 2020, however, the Court concluded in a landmark decision that a Michigan transgender woman fired by her employer for being transgender was discriminated against “on the basis of sex” under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Justice Neil Gorsuch explained in his majority opinion that her termination was “for traits or actions it would not have questioned in members of a different sex.”

Becky, Lindsay, and their attorneys with the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal say the same reasoning should be applied to sports bans.

“There’s been a number of setbacks that we’ve experienced over the last few years in the courts, but I do have a sense of optimism with this case in light of the fact that the legal issues at play here are some of the same issues at play five years ago,” said Buchert, the Lambda Legal attorney.

Notwithstanding the legal arguments, 69% of Americans say transgender girls should only be allowed to play on boys teams, according to a June 2025 Gallup survey.

The Trump administration also supports the exclusion of transgender athletes from sports teams. An executive order signed in February 2025 says “it is the policy of the United States to rescind all funds from educational programs that deprive women and girls of fair athletic opportunities.”

Becky says, while she understands public opinion, she is unable to “go against who I am.”

“I’ve been a girl forever,” she said, “and playing on the guys’ team is going backwards.”

Iran protests continue with 538 people killed, activists say

January 11, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The death toll from mass protests in Iran has risen to 538, according to data compiled by the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) on Sunday.

The group says it has confirmed the deaths of 490 protesters and 48 members of security forces. 10,600 people also are recorded as having been arrested, according to HRANA.

The HRANA data relies on the work of activists inside and outside the country.

ABC News cannot independently verify these numbers. The Iranian government has not provided any death tolls during the ongoing protests.

Video footage shot by locals and posted to social media appeared to show thousands of people protesting in Tehran’s Punak Square on Saturday night despite reported efforts by government security forces to disperse crowds. Elsewhere, videos showed large crowds gathered in the northeastern city of Mashhad.

HRANA said in its Saturday update that it had recorded 574 protest locations across 185 cities and all 31 provinces of the country. Saturday marked the fourteenth day of protests, HRANA said.

The Iranian government has not released detailed statistics on casualties sustained among protesters. The state-aligned Tasnim news agency reported on Sunday that 109 security personnel had been killed in the protests.

HRANA and other human rights groups reported widespread and sustained internet outages across the country as the protests spread. Online monitoring group NetBlocks said early on Sunday that Iran’s “internet blackout” had surpassed 60 hours.

As the protests spread, some have taken on a more explicitly anti-government tone, with some protesters chanting slogans including “student, be the voice of your people,” and “death to Islamic Republic.”

The theocratic government in Tehran — headed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — moved to tame the protests, with security forces reportedly using tear gas and live ammunition to disperse gatherings.

In comments carried by Iranian state media, President Masoud Pezeshkian on Sunday blamed foreign “terrorists” for the protests but also addressed some of the issues that originally brought protesters out onto the streets.

“We are determined, and have decided, to resolve economic problems by any means possible,” Pezeshkian said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of his weekly cabinet meeting Sunday that “Israel is closely following what is happening in Iran” and the ongoing “demonstrations for freedom” there.

“Israel supports their struggle for freedom and strongly condemns the mass massacres of innocent civilians,” Netanyahu further said. “We all hope that the Persian nation will soon be freed from the yoke of tyranny, and when that day comes, Israel and Iran will once again be loyal partners in building a future of prosperity and peace for both peoples.”

Dissident figures abroad, meanwhile, have urged Iranians to take to the street and overthrow the government. On Sunday, Iran’s exiled Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi addressed protesters in a post to X, saying, “Do not abandon the streets. My heart is with you. I know that I will soon be by your side.”

U.S. President Donald Trump has repeatedly warned Tehran against the use of force to suppress the protests. On Saturday, Trump wrote on social media, “Iran is looking at FREEDOM, perhaps like never before. The USA stands ready to help!!!”

An Israeli official told ABC News on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke on Saturday about events unfolding in Iran.

Tehran, meanwhile, has warned against outside intervention. On Sunday, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf — the speaker of the Iranian parliament — said that the U.S. military and Israel will be “legitimate targets” in the event of American strikes on Iran.

Minnesota senator: White House ‘attempting to cover up’ Good shooting

January 11, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Minnesota Democratic Sen. Tina Smith said Sunday that the Trump administration was “attempting to cover up what happened” in the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a U.S. citizen and mother of three, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent in Minneapolis on Wednesday.

ABC News obtained cell phone video of the incident that was taken by the ICE agent who fired the shots.

“I think what we are seeing here is the federal government — [Department of Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem, Vice President [JD] Vance, [President] Donald Trump — attempting to cover up what happened here in the Twin Cities, and I don’t think that people here and around the country are believing it,” Smith told ABC News’ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz.

Trump administration officials have asserted that Good was attempting to run over the ICE officer with her car, prompting the officer to shoot her in what they say was self-defense. Noem said Good’s actions were an act of “domestic terrorism.”

Local officials and many Democratic lawmakers have disputed DHS’s assessment of the incident.

“You are saying the administration is trying to cover up this shooting. That’s a pretty serious charge. What do you mean exactly,” Raddatz asked.

“What I mean by that is that you can see everything that they are doing is trying to shape the narrative, to say what happened, without any investigation,” Smith said.

Smith went on to criticize the administration for its response to the shooting.

“What I think is essential to keep in mind here is that if we’re going to trust the federal government, how can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiassed investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened.”

Smith said she has “seen nothing in any of the eyewitness videos, nor in any of the eyewitness reports from this tragic day, that would suggest that [Good] was in any way a threat to these officers.”

“Legally, do you think the ICE officer — certainly said he feared bodily harm. Is that possible in your eyes?” Raddatz pressed.

“It’s hard for me, looking at the evidence that I have seen, to imaging how he could feel bodily harm,” Smith said.

The FBI is investigating the shooting, but Minnesota officials said that the federal government has cut them out, blocking state agencies from accessing case material.

“And then they bar, from participating in the investigation, the unbiased state investigators who frequently collaborate with federal investigators on — when there are things that need to be looked into. So, I mean, I think they have just completely destroyed any credibility as they have so quickly rushed to judgement.”

The fatal shooting of Good sparked country-wide protests against ICE presence in American cities. In Minneapolis, local officials maintain that the protests have been mostly peaceful.

Here are more highlights from Smith’s interview:

On the actions of the ICE officer around the shooting, as captured by videos
Smith: I understand how law enforcement, professional law enforcement, is trained. They are trained to deescalate situations, not make some worse, not make conflict worse. They are certainly trained to step out of the way of a moving vehicle, not place themselves in the middle of a moving vehicle. And no professional law enforcement would like, exchange words or banter with somebody who is engaged in their legal right to protest and then lose control, which is, you know, which looks to me like what happened here.

Message to people protesting shooting, ICE’s presence in communities
Smith: Of course it is essential that we have peaceful protests. And what I have been saying to people, in all the opportunities I have when I talk to people on the street is that, that the Trump administration wants to foment chaos and division and fear and even violence. And it is essential that we do not fall into that trap, that our, our strength is in our unity, our strength is in our peaceful demonstrations. And, you know, we will not give in. We will not sort of cave in to the fear and the chaos that they are trying to create, they are creating, but we will meet that with unity and with peace.

Largest nursing strike in New York City history looming as contract negotiations continue

January 11, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The largest nurses’ strike in New York City history could begin on Monday morning if a tentative settlement isn’t reached between the nurses’ union and hospitals.

Nearly 16,000 nurses are threatening to walk off their jobs on Monday morning, according to the New York State Nursing Association (NYSNA), the union representing the nurses.

“I’m strongly encouraging everyone to stay at the table, both sides, management and the nurses, until this is resolved,” Hochul said.

Five privately-run major hospitals in New York City would be affected by a strike. The hospitals, according to the union, are the wealthiest in the city and include Mount Sinai Hospital, Mount Sinai Morningside, Mount Sinai West, Montefiore Einstein, and New York-Presbyterian.

The hospitals are prepared to continue offering care despite any pending work interruptions, according to officials, who said patients should not avoid or delay seeking help for any medical emergencies.

The NYSNA said during an video conference update Sunday morning that there has been no movement in the labor talks with the five hospitals, affecting more than 15,000 nurses.

The NYSNA is calling for an agreement that includes pay hikes, safe staffing levels, full health care coverage and pensions, and workplace protections against violence.

A source familiar with the labor negotiations told ABC News that the nurses are expected walk off their jobs beginning at 6 a.m. Eastern time on Monday.

The nurses’ contract, reached in 2023 after a three-day strike, expired on Dec. 31.

“That leaves New York City’s wealthiest hospitals as the outliers who have refused to settle fair contracts that protect patients and nurses,” NYSNA President Nancy Hagans said in a video statement on Saturday.

Hagans added, “Instead of guaranteeing health care for nurses, these wealthy hospitals are pushing to cut health care benefits for nurses who put their own health on the line to care for New Yorkers during this historic flu surge, the COVID-19 pandemic and everyday injuries and hospital violence.”

Hagan pointed to a police-involved shooting last week at a Brooklyn hospital as the latest example of the violence hospital workers face.

More severe thunderstorms including tornadoes, flash flooding possible in the South

January 10, 2026 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A severe weather threat continues over the Deep South on Saturday with tornadoes and flash flooding possible. A Flash Flood Watch remains in effect for more than 8 million Americans in parts of Alabama and Georgia until Saturday evening.

Early Saturday morning, there were already active storms over parts of the South, primarily in Mississippi. The main threat will be in the morning into the afternoon hours where conditions will be more favorable for severe development.

These storms will continue into the afternoon from New Orleans to Clemson, South Carolina — including cities like Atlanta and Pensacola. Damaging wind, tornadoes, and some large hail are the primary threats Saturday morning and into the day.

The threat will die down later in the afternoon and into the early evening but rain continues to push east and northeast from the late evening into the overnight hours.

Another few rounds of heavy rain are likely and could inundate areas of the South again, leading to a widespread additional 1 to 3 inches, with some localized areas of Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee getting up to 3 to 4 inches of additional rain.

Rain is expected to fall in Philadelphia starting at 11 a.m., New York City after 12 p.m. and Boston and further up the I-95 corridor later in the afternoon. Rain will continue through much of the day across most of the Northeast down to the Mid-Atlantic.

On the northern side of the storm, some light snow — quick dusting up to 3 inches — could fall in Chicago on Saturday morning, but will be clear before the NFL Wild Card Matchup this evening.

Parts of Wisconsin and especially Michigan could see 3 to 6 inches of fresh snow on Saturday, while northern New England could be cold enough to see a dusting to 3 inches of snow and up to a tenth of an inch of ice.

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