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Secret Service ends investigation into cocaine found in White House without identifying a suspect

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Secret Service on Thursday said its investigation into how cocaine ended up at the White House is now closed without identifying a suspect.

The agency statement came after congressional Republicans said they were told in a classified Secret Service briefing that the investigation into the cocaine found in the White House West Wing earlier this month was concluding without a determination of who was responsible.

“There was no surveillance video footage found that provided investigative leads or any other means for investigators to identify who may have deposited the found substance in this area,” the agency said in a lengthy statement. “Without physical evidence, the investigation will not be able to single out a person of interest from the hundreds of individuals who passed through the vestibule where the cocaine was discovered. At this time, the Secret Service’s investigation is closed due to a lack of physical evidence.”

The Secret Service said the packaging was “subjected to advanced fingerprint and DNA analysis,” by the FBI crime lab.

“The investigation included a methodical review of security systems and protocols,” the agency statement said. “This review included a backwards examination that spanned several days prior to the discovery of the substance and developed an index of several hundred individuals who may have accessed the area where the substance was found. The focal point of these actions developed a pool of known persons for comparison of forensic evidence gleaned from the FBI’s analysis of the substance’s packaging.

“On July 12, the Secret Service received the FBI’s laboratory results, which did not develop latent fingerprints and insufficient DNA was present for investigative comparisons,” the statement said.

Following Thursday’s closed-door briefing to members and staff of the House Oversight Committee, Republicans said they viewed the development as a “failure” of the agency and said the briefers said the investigation was concluding.

“And to say that they don’t know who it is, to me, somebody should lose their job over this. This thing’s a trash can. Everybody wants to pick and choose they need to shut the whole thing down put the garden hose to it and clean it out,” Rep. Tim Burchett said, adding that the Secret Service told members in the briefing the bag contained less than a gram of cocaine.

Members told reporters the Secret Service informed them they narrowed down the list of suspects to 500 people during the weekend that cocaine was found and said that group included a mix of staffers and visitors who were on a tour. West Wing tours are invitation only.

Members said they were told there are 182 lockers on the wall where visitors are typically told to store their electronics and cell phones. They said they were told the cocaine was found in locker 50.

GOP Rep. Lauren Boebert said the key to that locker is missing.

“There’s no collateral system in place. There’s no assigning of the lockers. And this was one of the concerns I raised to Secret Service. We need to be able to track individuals and which locker they are using,” she said.

CNN first reported the Secret Service’s conclusion.

Committee chair James Comer, R-Ky., said the discovery raises questions about security at the White House when he requested the briefing in a letter sent to Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle on July 7.

“This alarming development requires the Committee to assess White House security practices and determine whose failures led to an evacuation of the building and finding of the illegal substance,” Comer wrote.

The briefing took place behind closed doors in a SCIF — a sensitive compartmented information facility used to handled classified information.

The Secret Service has been investigating since the drug was found at the White House complex on July 2. So far, no one has been blamed for bringing in the illegal substance.

The White House was briefly shut down and the D.C. Fire Department was called to the scene when a powdery, cocaine-like substance was found inside a work area. Testing later confirmed the substance was cocaine.

A source familiar with the matter told ABC News the drug was located inside a cubby near the West Executive entrance where visitors typically drop off their cell phones and other belongings.

As part of the probe, the Secret Service was reviewing the security footage and visitor logs.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there had been tours conducted the Sunday the substance was found as well as the two days prior, and described the area as “highly traveled.”

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and other Biden family members left the White House Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at Camp David.

The White House has declined to extensively comment on the incident. Jean-Pierre was peppered with questions during a press briefing last week, but only told reporters that Biden had been briefed on the matter and the White House was confident the Secret Service would “get to the bottom of this.”

“We are not involved in this,” Jean-Pierre said. “This is something that the Secret Service handles. It’s under their protocol.”

ABC News’ Laren Peller, Will Steakin and Molly Nagle contributed to this report.

Founder of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network arrested

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The founder of cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network was arrested Thursday on federal charges.

Alexander Mashinsky founded Celsius in 2018 and positioned it as a stable, safe alternative to traditional financial institutions that would provide investors who held crypto assets financial freedom and economic opportunity.

Instead, federal prosecutors alleged he was misrepresenting the company’s financial health before it collapsed into bankruptcy a year ago.

The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission filed companion lawsuits Thursday that said Mashinsky and Celsius “falsely promised investors a safe investment with high returns” but misled investors about the financial success of Celsius’ business and the price of Celsius’ own crypto asset security was fraudulently manipulated.

“Defendants also falsely claimed that Celsius had 1 million active users on Celsius’s platform. It did not. Celsius’s own internal data—which was regularly shared with Mashinsky — showed that the company only had approximately 500,000 users who had ever deposited crypto assets on the company’s platform and that many were no longer active users,” the SEC lawsuit said.

The alleged scheme unraveled in June 2022, leaving investors unable to withdraw billions of dollars in crypto assets from Celsius’ online platform. Celsius filed for bankruptcy a month later.

“By 2022, Celsius’ business was unsustainable, and it became clear internally that the company would fail. One employee called Celsius a ‘sinking ship,’ while another wrote that ‘there is no hope … there is no plan’ and that Celsius’s business model ‘is fundamentally broken.’ On May 21, 2022, a Celsius executive candidly acknowledged in an internal message: ‘We don’t have any profitable services,'” the lawsuit said.

According to the regulators, Celsius told the public a different story: “That [a]ll user funds are safe, and that it continue[s] to be open for business as usual.”

Pittsburgh Tree of Life synagogue mass shooting: Jury reaches verdict in death penalty phase

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(PITTSBURGH) — A federal jury has decided if Pittsburgh synagogue mass shooter Robert Bowers will be sentenced to death or to life in prison following weeks of testimony in the trial’s penalty phase.

The jury’s verdict is expected to be announced shortly.

Bowers stormed the Tree of Life synagogue on Oct. 27, 2018, gunning down 11 congregants in the deadliest antisemitic attack in American history.

Bowers allegedly told investigators after his arrest that he wanted to kill Jewish people, according to a criminal complaint.

Bowers had offered to plead guilty if the death penalty was taken off the table, but prosecutors turned him down.

Bowers was convicted in June on all 63 charges against him, including 11 counts of hate crimes resulting in death.

At Bowers’ trial, prosecutors said he moved “methodically” through the synagogue with a semi-automatic assault-style rifle and three handguns, shooting many of his victims at close range.

Defense attorney Judy Clarke admitted at trial that Bowers was the shooter, but asked the jurors to “scrutinize his intent” in the attack.

FDA approves first birth control pill for use without prescription

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Food and Drug Administration approved the first birth control pill in the United States that can be sold without a prescription Thursday.

The progestin-only pill, called Opill, is made by French drugmaker HRA Pharma and its parent company Perrigo and the approval is a first-of-its-kind move by federal regulators.

It comes after an independent advisory panel agreed this spring that the drug was safe for most patients. Doctors say progestin-only pills, also known as the “mini pill,” pose fewer medical risks than combination pills that rely on estrogen.

“Today’s approval marks the first time a nonprescription daily oral contraceptive will be an available option for millions of people in the United States,” said Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni, director of the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a statement. “When used as directed, daily oral contraception is safe and is expected to be more effective than currently available nonprescription contraceptive methods in preventing unintended pregnancy.”

One concern raised by FDA advisers had been whether consumers, particularly young teens, will adequately screen themselves for potential medical risks.

But FDA advisers agreed those risks were minimal compared to the significant benefits in removing hurdles to prevent unwanted pregnancies, particularly for younger women or those facing financial or child care constraints.

More than a dozen states have already passed laws expanding access to hormonal birth control by allowing pharmacists to dispense the drugs themselves or rely on a standing order from a doctor.

Life in Chasiv Yar: The Ukrainian town in the Russian firing line

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The boom of artillery fire is a constant refrain in the town of Chasiv Yar, just 10 miles from the city of Bakhmut and some of the fiercest fighting since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What is different now is that the vast majority of those booms are outgoing — rather than incoming — fire, with Russian forces now on the backfoot.

“For us, those are good sounds,” Chasiv Yar’s mayor, Serhiy Chaus, told ABC News. “Definitely [the counteroffensive] going to make the city safer. Because when they push them further away they have less weapons they can reach us with.”

Residents — many of whom say they have nowhere else to go — hope the counteroffensive will make the town safer. Although they no longer flinch at the sound of the booms, they remain well within range of Russian artillery.

Before speaking to ABC News, Chaus had just been to inspect the site of a Russian strike on a garage. Thankfully, nobody was killed, he said.

Chasiv Yar lies on higher ground up the road from Bakhmut, the city where Russian forces and the Wagner group lost tens of thousands of men and spent more than six months taking resources from Ukrainian forces. During the battle, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the military top brass resisted calls to abandon Bakhmut — a city of more strategic than symbolic importance — as they sought to maximize Russian casualties there.

Now, Ukraine is back on the offensive and reports suggest the Ukrainian army is making gains around the city as they continue to probe along the frontline, which stretches thousands of miles, in the hope of a breakthrough.

“There were a calm couple of days, but now it’s started again,” Andriy, a local community leader, told ABC News.

Asked whether the counteroffensive has brought relief to residents here, his answer was an emphatic “No.”

“It’s the same as it was,” he said.

Yet there has not been a reprieve for the citizens who remain there. Access to running water, electricity and telephone signal is limited to “invincibility shelters” which provide their only connection to the outside world.

“Half an hour ago there was a strike and a fire and we felt how the ground was rumbling and shaking,” an elderly man in the ‘invincibility shelter,’ who did not want to be named, told ABC News. “Please help us. Please help us to end this.”

Secret Service to brief House committee on cocaine found at White House

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Secret Service on Thursday will give a classified briefing to members and staff of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee on the cocaine found in the White House West Wing earlier this month, a spokesman for the agency confirmed to ABC News.

The briefing will take place behind in a SCIF — a sensitive compartmented information facility used to handled classified information — and will start at 10 a.m. ET, according to a source familiar with the situation.

The Secret Service has been investigating since the drug was found at the White House complex on July 2. So far, no one has been blamed for bringing in the illegal substance.

A source familiar with the matter told ABC News the drug was located inside a cubby near the West Executive entrance where visitors typically drop off their cellphones and other belongings.

As part of the probe, the Secret Service was reviewing the security footage and visitor logs.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said there had been tours conducted the Sunday the substance was found as well as the two days prior, and described the area as “highly traveled.”

President Joe Biden, first lady Jill Biden and other Biden family members left Friday afternoon to spend the weekend at Camp David.

“We are not involved in this,” Jean-Pierre said. “This is something that the Secret Service handles. It’s under their protocol.”

Why MIS-C cases are dropping dramatically across the US: Experts

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — During the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the most misunderstood complications children were experiencing was MIS-C.

MIS-C, or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, is a condition in which different body parts can become inflamed — such as the heart, lungs, brain and kidneys — and is often seen in children after they are diagnosed with COVID-19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Over the course of the pandemic, there have been 9,499 reported cases of MIS-C and 79 deaths, CDC data shows. Cases especially skyrocketed during the first year of the pandemic.

Since then, however, MIS-C cases have dropped dramatically and have almost disappeared entirely. Experts told ABC News they are not sure why this is but there are probably multiple reasons, including more children being immune to COVID-19, as well as newer variants causing less severe complications.

“It is definitely a medical mystery,” Dr. Elizabeth Schlaudecker, medical director of Cincinnati Children’s division of infectious diseases, told ABC News. “We haven’t figured it out yet. We’re still working on it.”

What is MIS-C and how is it treated?

MIS-C is an inflammatory condition that is caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. It typically occurs between two to six weeks after infection and presents a combination of symptoms, including inflammation of various parts of the body along with gastrointestinal symptoms, rash and fever.

Doctors are unclear about what causes some children to develop MIS-C but believe it may involve a genetic predisposition for inflammation in response to respiratory diseases.

Most children with MIS-C end up hospitalized and, if they are sick enough, can spend time in intensive care units.

“It’s reassuring that for the most part kids do much, much better than adults when it comes to SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Dr. Samuel Dominguez, associate professor of pediatrics at Children’s Hospital Colorado, told ABC News. “But there are a subset of kids who can have serious disease related to SARS-CoV-2, and probably the most severe for that is MIS-C.”

“These kids are gonna be very sick. Half of the kids that we saw ended up in our ICU and so I think that’s an important point that MIS-C definitely is not a benign disease,” Dr. Dominguez added.

There are several treatments for MIS-C including anti-inflammatory medications, as well as intravenous immunoglobulin, a therapy made up of antibodies to help fight infections and reduce inflammation.

Why MIS-C cases have gone up and down

During the first two years of the pandemic, doctors said cases of MIS-C were rising rapidly around the country. During the week of Jan. 21, 2021, there were 261 diagnosed MIS-C cases, CDC data shows.

As of the week ending Feb. 15, 2023 — the latest period for which data is available — there were just 10 cases across the U.S.

“We had a protocol and an algorithm that we followed at our hospital, like many other hospitals, and if there was concern that a patient had MIS-C, back in the early days from 2020 through 2021, we would get a phone call on our infectious disease service,” said Dr. Schlaudecker.

“And we were receiving many phone calls a week evaluating children’s MIS-C and treating children for MIS-C,” Dr. Schlaudecker continued. “And now, it’s almost unheard of. I can’t remember the last time we got a call with any concerns for of MIS-C. So, that’s really good news.”

Experts told ABC News that a combination of immunity from infection and vaccination has probably lowered the MIS-C risk among children.

“The majority of children at this point in the United States have some immunity to COVID-19,” Dr. Schlaudecker said. “Many have been infected and others have been vaccinated, and some have been infected and vaccinated and are therefore immune. So, I’m imagining that that has something to do with it.”

CDC data shows an estimated 91.9% of Americans between ages 6 months and 17 years have antibodies due to previous COVID-19 infection. From infection and vaccination, the percentage increases to 96.3%.

As of May 10, 61.8% of those aged 12 to 17 have completed a primary series of vaccinations in addition to 32.9% of those aged 5 to 11, 6.1% of those aged 2 to 4, and 4.7% of those under age 2, according to CDC data. No age group has surpassed 10% vaccinated when it comes to completing an updated bivalent booster.

Additionally, experts said the COVID-19 variants currently circulating in the U.S. may be causing less severe disease than the variants that were more prevalent in the earlier months of the pandemic.

“The delta variant surged in the summer of 2021 and continued into the early fall of 2021, [and] clearly contributed to more MIS-C cases than we saw with any other variants,” Dr. James Versalovic, pathologist-in-chief and chair of Texas Children’s Hospital’s department of pathology, told ABC News. “Many of us are convinced that there’s something regarding the immunogenicity, or the way the human immune system responded to different variants, that put more children at risk for MIS-C with the delta variant than we saw before the delta variant and since the delta variant waned in late 2021.”

He added that even though the omicron variant led to the biggest surge of cases seen in the United States since the pandemic began, it didn’t translate into more MIS-C cases.

“At our peak at this hospital we were seeing up to two to three cases per day in 2021 with delta and MIS-C,” Dr. Versalovic said. “With omicron, it was really never more than one case per day and often times it will be several days between a single case of MIS-C.”

“What we’ve seen is, as the omicron subvariants have shifted, we’ve even seen cases drop even further and now, it may be three or four months between cases, and we’ve seen little to no MIS-C in 2023,” he continued.

Vaccination is the best form of protection

However, the doctors who spoke with ABC News warned that just because MIS-C cases have dropped noticeably doesn’t mean that the threat is gone. Another highly infectious subvariant could lead to a surge in cases.

“Parents need to continue to remain vigilant…and we continue to strongly recommend bivalent COVID vaccine for children six months of age and above,” Dr. Versalovic said.

He also recommended that parents consider other interventions, including masking in places such as airplanes, to lower the risk of COVID-19.

Ultimately, it’s also important to recognize the signs of MIS-C and to seek medical care if necessary.

“If kids have prolonged fever, or with sort of any of these other symptoms – severe abdominal pain, red eyes, rash, red lips – those would be indications to seek medical attention to try to find out what’s going on,” Dr. Dominguez said.

Tornadoes touch down in Midwest amid flooding in Northeast and extreme heat in Southwest

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Severe storms spawned multiple tornadoes across northern Illinois on Wednesday evening that knocked down trees, ripped off roofs and disrupted hundreds of flights in the Chicago area.

There were at least five reported tornadoes in the Prairie State — two in Cook County and one each in DuPage, Kane and McHenry counties. One of the twisters that touched down in Cook County reportedly damaged warehouses on the west side of Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. Damage to homes and other buildings were reported elsewhere, according to the National Weather Service.

More than 170 flights departing O’Hare International Airport were canceled while over 500 were delayed on Wednesday, according to the flight tracking service FlightAware.

The dangerous weather was part of a storm system moving through the midwestern United States. The severe threat shifts back into the Northeast on Thursday, stretching from Ohio to to Vermont.

A flood watch has been issued for much of Vermont, including the capital of Montpelier, which was already hit by historic rainfall and flooding earlier this week. The latest forecast shows an additional 3 to 5 inches is possible across northern New England, including Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

Meanwhile, 100 million Americans across 13 U.S. states were under heat alerts on Wednesday, from California to Texas to Florida. Temperatures in Phoenix reached 110 degree Fahrenheit for the 13th straight day, putting Arizona’s capital on track to break the record 18-day streak that was set in 1974.

The latest forecast shows the heat is only going to get worse and won’t ease for at least another week, with temperatures across the Southwest expected to peak over the weekend.

Hospitals nationwide have seen emergency department visits for heat-related illness more than double over the past month, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two suspects sought after alleged abduction attempt of 14-year-old at Pennsylvania mall, police say

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Authorities in Pennsylvania are searching for two suspects after an alleged attempted kidnapping of a 14-year-old took place at the Willow Grove Mall in Montgomery County Wednesday evening.

The Abington Township Police Department received a call for an attempted child abduction at about 7 p.m. Wednesday, according to a press release. The victim, a 14-year-old girl, told police she was riding down an escalator of the mall when she was confronted by an adult male at the bottom.

The man, who identified himself to her as “Alex,” asked her to walk with him. The child then informed him that she was underage. When she attempted to step away from him, the man grabbed her arm and restrained her, forcibly taking her through the mall, Abington police said.

Eventually, the teenager was able to break free from the man and screamed as she ran away, according to police. Multiple bystanders witnessed what happened and stepped in, standing in the way of the male suspect approaching the child again, police said. After witnesses stepped in to help the child, the suspect and one other man then left the mall, officials said.

No arrests have been made at this time, Abington police said.

Following their initial investigation, officials with Abington Township Police Department said that the man was working with another person, and authorities are now looking for two suspects.

The first suspect, who allegedly identified himself as “Alex,” was described by authorities as a Black man between 25 and 40 years old with a goatee and short braids, who was wearing a white shirt, pants with a dark stripe and dark-colored shoes.

The second suspect was described as a Black man with thick facial hair who was wearing a dark blue T-shirt, jean shorts and white-and-black sneakers.

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s emails hacked in Microsoft cyber breach: Source

July 13, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo’s emails were hacked as part of the Microsoft cyber breach, according to a source familiar with the investigation.

Microsoft’s Outlook systems were breached by Chinese hackers, according to the company. The breach was discovered in May.

Raimondo’s Commerce Department has been imposing sanctions on China, and she met with her Chinese counterpart in May, promising better relations.

This isn’t the first time a cabinet-level secretary’s emails were breached. The emails of former Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf were compromised during the SolarWinds hack of 2020, which is widely considered one of the worst breaches in U.S. history.

SolarWinds was a hack that was carried out by the Russian nation-state actor Nobelium, Microsoft said in 2021.

Raimondo is the only cabinet secretary so far to have their emails hacked in this particular breach.

The State Department, though, was also impacted by the latest cyber breach.

While State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller could say little more about the breach from the podium Wednesday, officials familiar with the matter say the hack began in May but was not identified until mid-June, even though there were widespread issues within the department’s email systems earlier that month — potentially missed warning signs.

The Department of Commerce is the second agency impacted by the Microsoft 365 hack by the Chinese hackers.

“Microsoft notified the Department of a compromise to Microsoft’s Office 365 system, and the Department took immediate action to respond,” a commerce department spokesperson told ABC News. “We are monitoring our systems and will respond promptly should any further activity be detected. The Department maintains strong cyber security protections, which we update to address a rapidly evolving cyber security landscape.”

In an alert sent Tuesday night, Microsoft said China was able to gain email data from 25 organizations.

“On June 16, 2023, based on customer reported information, Microsoft began an investigation into anomalous mail activity,” the alert read. “Over the next few weeks, our investigation revealed that beginning on May 15, 2023, Storm-0558 gained access to email data from approximately 25 organizations, and a small number of related consumer accounts of individuals likely associated with these organizations. They did this by using forged authentication tokens to access user email using an acquired Microsoft account (MSA) consumer signing key. Microsoft has completed mitigation of this attack for all customers.”

FBI and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency officials told reporters earlier in the day that Microsoft acted “swiftly” to mitigate the damage done by the hacking of government emails.

The attack, officials said, was targeted and lasted for about a month.

“The targeting was intentional. This was an attack that was limited in scope and was not an attempt to compromise a broad array of organizations or accounts, as we have seen in other types of campaigns,” the CISA official said.

The adversary that hacked the emails is China, according to Microsoft, but officials did not give any U.S. government attribution.

“As Microsoft has articulated the timeline from the first known intrusion to the time when Microsoft remediated this attack vector was approximately one month, that does not mean that the duration of the intrusion for all victims was one month. And we do understand that some were shorter than one month, in some cases a number of days,” a senior CISA official said.

The CISA official said there was nothing classified that was compromised during the attack.

CISA and the FBI went into detail about how the Chinese carried out the attack in an alert on Wednesday.

“Microsoft determined that APT actors accessed and exfiltrated unclassified Exchange Online Outlook data from a small number of accounts,” the alert read. “The APT actors used a Microsoft account (MSA) consumer key to forge tokens to impersonate consumer and enterprise users. Microsoft remediated the issue by first blocking tokens issued with the acquired key and then replacing the key to prevent continued misuse.”

On Thursday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin was asked about Microsoft’s claims that China is behind the hacking. He did not address the claim, but instead responded by claiming the U.S. is “the world’s biggest hacking empire and global cyber thief.”

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