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What to expect from the July jobs report

August 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Wall Street will be closely watching the new U.S. employment data on Friday, the latest sign of whether the U.S. economy is entering a recession as the Federal Reserve carries out a fight against inflation that aims to slash demand by slowing the economy.

Resilient hiring in recent months has so far withstood a series of borrowing cost increases from the Fed but economists expect that the employment data for July will reveal a marked slowdown.

Evidence of a softening labor market has mounted this week amid layoffs at high-profile companies like Walmart and Robinhood, as well as a government report that showed a steep decline in job openings in June.

The median of economic forecasters anticipate 250,000 nonfarm payrolls were added in July, according to Bloomberg. The figure would mark the lowest monthly gain since December and a significant drop from 372,000 jobs added in June. The unemployment rate stood at a near-historic low of 3.6% in June.

Moreover, the expected figure would signal a departure from the robust hiring sustained over the first half of 2022, during which the economy added an average of 461,000 jobs each month.

“The labor market has been a bright spot in the economy but there are signs that the labor market is clearly cooling,” Daniel Zhao, a senior economist at the career site Glassdoor, told ABC News. “It does seem like the labor market is healthy — even as demand slows, layoffs are still very slow.”

While a hiring slowdown may alarm economists and everyday Americans, the signal of weakening labor demand could relieve pressure on the Fed to sustain its aggressive interest rate hikes. At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.

Despite a series of borrowing cost increases meant to slash prices, inflation has not only persisted but worsened. Data released last month showed that prices jumped a staggering 9.1% in June, which amounts to the highest inflation rate in more than four decades.

Alarmingly, the price increases have coincided with shrinking economic output. Gross domestic product dropped at an annualized rate of 0.9% in the second quarter after falling 1.6% in the previous quarter.

The recent trend qualifies for the shorthand definition of a recession consisting of two consecutive quarters of GDP decline. But the formal designation of a recession depends on a wider range of metrics weighed by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

So far this year, the tight labor market has offered up a strong corner of the economy. But employment data indicated softening on Tuesday, when a report released by the government showed that job openings fell steeply in June to their lowest level in nine months. The 10.7 million job vacancies reported in June, however, remains an elevated figure.

Meanwhile, a slew of major companies in recent days have announced job cuts or hiring slowdowns. Walmart laid off nearly 200 corporate employees on Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal reported. A day before, Robinhood announced plans to cut 23% of its staff. Tech giants Apple, Amazon and Google-parent company Alphabet have recently announced they will slow hiring.

Still, the overall robust hiring in recent months defies typical conditions for a recession, said Zhao of Glassdoor.

“It would be very unusual to have a recession when we’re still adding several hundred thousand jobs a month,” he said. “Of course, if we have a surprisingly bad report where we see job losses this month, then that could change the picture.”

Four people in critical condition after apparent lightning strike at DC park

August 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Four people are in critical condition following an apparent lightning strike at a Washington, D.C., park, authorities said Thursday evening.

D.C. Fire and EMS said it had responded to Lafayette Park, located in front of the White House, and was treating the four patients that were found in “the vicinity of a tree.”

Two men and two women were transported to area hospitals with “life-threatening injuries” after the apparent lightning strike, D.C. Fire and EMS said.

Officials said it’s still unclear what the adults were doing prior to the lightning strike, if they knew each other and why they were in the park. The identity of the victims could not be confirmed while the investigation is still ongoing, officials said.

Uniformed U.S. Park Police officers and members of the Secret Service were also on the scene and immediately rendered aid to the victims, an EMS official said during a news conference.

The National Weather Service had issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the area Thursday evening.

ABC News’ Beatrice Peterson contributed to this report.

New Orleans renews search for missing remains of victims of notorious 1973 fire

August 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW ORLEANS) — The New Orleans City Council is reviving an effort to locate the lost remains of several victims of an arson that killed 32 people at a popular French Quarter gay bar in 1973.

The fire at the UpStairs Lounge was the largest mass murder of LGBTQ citizens in United States history until the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016.

The council passed a motion on Thursday directing the city’s property management and legal departments to “take any and all appropriate steps necessary” to “facilitate the recovery” of three unidentified fire victims and one identified victim, Ferris LeBlanc, who were buried in an unmarked graves somewhere in the city’s potter’s field.

LeBlanc, a World War II veteran, has yet to be located despite a years-long effort led by his family to find his remains and return them to California for a military burial.

“Poor record-keeping and indifference continue to hamper the efforts of surviving family members to reclaim the bodies of victims and to provide them the dignity of a proper burial,” wrote Councilmember JP Morrell, whose office is spearheading the effort, in the motion. “The Council believes the City has a moral obligation to take all steps within its power to facilitate the recovery and dignified interment of the victims of the UpStairs Lounge massacre.”

LeBlanc’s family told ABC News that they are encouraged that the city’s leaders are taking action on their behalf.

“The council has promised to get to the bottom of this issue and do everything they can to help us bring an end to this story,” LeBlanc’s family wrote in a statement. “We are cautiously optimistic for this renewed interest and are hopeful it will end in a positive resolution.”

In 2018, five members of Mayor LaToya Cantrell’s office were tasked with the search for LeBlanc’s remains shortly after the release of an ABC News documentary investigating the city’s response to the fire and highlighting pleas from LeBlanc’s family — including his sister Marilyn LeBlanc Downey — for help.

But after several months of searching, officials were unable to locate his remains, telling ABC News they “remain stymied by lost or incomplete records,” and the inquiry was quietly discontinued.

On the eve of the tragedy’s 49th anniversary, however, as the New Orleans City Council issued a formal apology to the victims, survivors and families affected by the fire, Councilmember Morrell pledged to take up the search.

“The City of New Orleans’ lack of response to the deadliest fire in our history has kept individuals from mourning their loved ones, but today we took a step in the right direction,” Morrell said in a statement on June 23. “Moving forward, my office will be working with the family of Ferris LeBlanc, a WWII veteran who died in the fire, to exhume his remains and properly memorialize him with full military honors.”

Survivors, family members, first responders, activists and journalists interviewed by ABC News agreed that the city’s response to the tragedy exposed pervasive prejudices toward the gay community in the otherwise famously tolerant city, an attitude that resulted in, among other indignities, the burial of several unidentified victims in unmarked graves in the city’s potter’s field — LeBlanc among them.

According to Robert Fieseler, author of Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation, shock and sympathy were quickly replaced by ignorance and apathy when people learned “what kind of bar had burned down and who the victims had been.”

“The deadliest fire in New Orleans history provoked not an outpouring of grief for the dead,” Fieseler told ABC News, “but instead, among mainstream residents, humiliation for the release of the dead’s secrets: their unconventional sexual tastes, at a time when the mere discussion of homosexuality was taboo.”

It was the failure of the city’s leaders and institutions to recognize and respond to the tragedy in 1973 that prompted a rare public statement of “historic regret” in 2022.

“The City Council deems it not only necessary but past due to formally apologize,” reads the resolution, adopted unanimously last month, “for the way that those who perished were not adequately and publicly mourned as valuable and irreplaceable members of the community.”

Local media hailed the move as a “small but significant step” in the healing process that acknowledged the city’s “indifference, if not hostility, toward the gay community” at the time, the painful legacy of which lingers to this day.

“We will continue,” LeBlanc’s family wrote in a statement. “We all hope for the day when this story will end as it should.”

Mall of America lockdown lifted after shots fired: Police

August 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BLOOMINGTON, Minn.) — Shoppers were sent running for safety at the Mall of America Thursday, after police said shots were fired at the Minnesota shopping center.

Police responded to an “active incident” on the northwest side of the mall Thursday evening, the Bloomington Police Department tweeted, saying at that time that “numerous officers are on scene.”

Within an hour, the police department said officers had secured the scene. A suspect has not been apprehended, and no injuries have been reported, police said.

Bloomington Police Department Chief Booker Hodges said during a press conference that shots were fired near the Nike store, and that officers on the scene within 30 seconds.

“After looking at video, we see two groups getting into some type of altercation at the cash register of the Nike store,” Hodges said. “One of the groups left but instead of walking away, they decided to display a complete lack of respect for human life — they decided to fire multiple rounds into a store with people.”

The individuals responsible have not yet been located, the chief said.

“This is an isolated incident,” the department said on Twitter. “The suspect fled the MOA on foot and officers are in the process of interviewing witnesses.”

The Mall of America alerted via Twitter that it was on lockdown “following a confirmed isolated incident” at one of its tenant spaces.

Footage taken by shoppers showed people sheltering in place, including a large crowd in the basement of the mall.

The lockdown has since been lifted. Shoppers on the mall’s second level have been asked to wait for an escort, while all others were advised to leave.

The mall will be closed for the rest of the evening.

The shopping mall is located in Bloomington, a suburb of the Twin Cities.

Twelve grocery and food savings tips to take with you on your next shopping trip

August 5, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Trae Bodge, smart shopping expert, shared her tips for saving on groceries with Good Morning America, to help consumers keep costs down at checkout.

Consumer prices on food experienced the largest annual increase in over four decades since February 1981, with costs skyrocketing 10.4% in the 12-month period ending June, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Within the “food at home” category — grocery store food products purchased for cooking or eating at home — prices rose 12.2% over the last year, the largest increase since 1979.

Top tips to stay on a budget in the grocery store:

Eat vegetarian

“You might find that poultry, meats, and fish have increased more in price than vegetables and other items, like rice and pasta,” Bodge said. “If that’s the case in your area, you could save a bundle by eating [vegetarian meals] a couple of nights a week.”

Use coupon sites to save

“You might think of coupon sites for clothing and tech, but not for food, when in fact coupon sites like CouponCabin.com have offers for grocery delivery, like $25 off $35 or more at Instacart or $55 off $99 or more,” she said of the simple at-your-fingertips savings option.

Don’t buy pre-cut produce

Buy fruits and vegetables whole and prepare them at home. “You’re paying for labor when you buy pre-cut,” she explained.

Look low and high on store shelves

“You’re more likely to find better deals on the lowest and highest shelves. Brands pay for prime real estate at eye level, but there are hidden gems in less visible spots,” Bodge suggested.

Read between the price tags

“You can determine whether or not an item is a good deal by comparing the cost-per-unit rather than the actual price,” she said, explaining that the sticker price doesn’t always reflect the total value.

Look out for “shrinkflation”

“Many brands are shrinking the size or weight of their products and charging the same price,” Bodge said, adding that shoppers should always check the unit prices when selecting items.

Join loyalty programs

Bodge advised using rewards programs — sticking to the stores where you shop most often — which may “offer a free way to earn points towards future purchases.”

“They offer exclusive deals and some will even allow you to qualify for free things, like a free turkey at Thanksgiving or a free gas card,” she said.

Credit cards with grocery perks

“Using the right credit card to buy your groceries could earn you some serious cash back. Cards with annual fees typically have more generous cash-back [offers], like 4% or more on food from American Express Gold, but there are some fee-free cards that offer this, including the Bread Cashback American Express from Bread Financial, which offers 2% cashback on all purchases,” she said. “Another good fee-free card is the Amazon Prime Rewards Visa, which allows you to earn 5% on Amazon and Whole Foods purchases.”

Buy frozen

“In certain cases,” Bodge said, this tactic “can be a big money-saver.”

“I find this especially with fish and certain vegetables,” she added. “Plus, frozen has a longer shelf life.”

Buy generic

“You can save 20% or more by doing this and you’ll find that many of the ingredient listings match the brand name word for word,” Bodge said. “In fact, store brands or generics are often made in the same factories as the name brand.”

Buy seasonal produce

“You will do much better on price, versus buying things that need to be imported,” Bodge said. “Also, check out your local CSA — community-supported agriculture is a food system for farmers and producers to connect directly with consumers. This is a great way to support local farmers and the pricing is often very good.”

Bodge, however, recommended against “buying at farmers markets if you’re on a tight budget.”

Only buy in bulk on most-used items

“If there are certain items that you go through quickly, like toilet paper, pastas, canned goods or snacks for your kids’ lunches, buy them in bulk if you have a Costco or Sam’s Club membership,” Bodge suggested. “You can also often buy in bulk on Amazon and on a site like Boxed.com.”

Monkeypox vaccine available for kids on case-by-case basis, FDA says

August 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With over 6,000 cases of monkeypox confirmed in the United States, including five children, the demand for the monkeypox vaccine is high.

And while the current vaccine, JYNNEOS, is approved only for adults ages 18 and older, it has been administered to children in the U.S. on a case-by-case basis, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

The FDA confirmed to ABC News that “numerous” children have been granted access to the vaccine through a special permission process.

If a doctor decides a person under 18 was exposed to monkeypox and the benefit of the vaccine is greater than any potential risk, they can submit a request to the FDA. Only children with direct exposure are granted access, and even then access is decided on a case-by-case basis

The FDA declined to state exactly how many children have received the vaccine to date through this special permission process.

The JYNNEOS vaccine, delivered in a two-dose regimen, has not been tested through clinical trials in children.

There have been no “adverse events to date” in delivering the vaccine to children in the U.S., and similar vaccines have been tested in children without serious safety concerns, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“JYNNEOS contains a non-replicating Vaccinia virus. While JYNNEOS has not been studied specifically for children or adolescents, the same non-replicating Vaccinia virus in the JYNNEOS vaccine has been used in studies as part of vaccines against other diseases including tuberculosis, measles, and Ebola,” the CDC said in a statement. “These studies included children as young as 5 months old, and no serious safety concerns were reported.”

Given the case-by-case basis of administering the monkeypox vaccine, there is no availability for mass vaccination of children at this time.

Children under the age of 8 are among those the CDC considers at “increased risk” for developing more severe illness if infected with monkeypox, along with pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised and those who have a history of atopic dermatitis or eczema.

Experts are not sure why children are at increased risk for severe illness, but it may be due to their immune systems and the fact that “younger children are sometimes more susceptible to some viral infections,” Dr. Richard Malley, senior physician in pediatrics, division of infectious diseases, at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, told ABC News.

Monkeypox, also known as MPX, is spread primarily through direct, skin-to-skin contact between someone who has the virus and someone who does not, according to the CDC.

Typically, the disease begins with a fever, headache, fatigue, chills and muscle aches. The disease is similar to smallpox, however, monkeypox also causes swollen lymph nodes.

Within one to three days of initial symptoms, those infected typically develop a rash either on their face or other parts of the body, according to the CDC.

Per the World Health Organization, the lesions — or rash — start out as dark spots on the skin before progressing to bumps that fill with fluid.

Antiviral medications such as Tecovirimat, which is available for children, are currently being used for treatment of monkeypox.

Officials in the U.S. and around the world have expressed concern that there are not enough monkeypox vaccines to address the emerging crisis. With demand increasing, U.S. health officials have reported that 1.1 million doses of the JYNNEOS vaccine will be allocated to states and jurisdictions across the country.

Moderna, the maker of a COVID-19 vaccine, said Wednesday they have initiated a research program to consider whether the company could create a monkeypox vaccine with mRNA technology.

Any new vaccine would still need to go through the regulatory authorization process, which can take weeks to months, even in special circumstances.

Now that the Biden administration has declared the current monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency, the FDA could move to issue an emergency use authorization for the JYNNEOS vaccine for children under 18.

The FDA told ABC News it would still need to go through a process to evaluate if it would want to authorize the vaccine for a younger population.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss, Arielle Mitropoulos and Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.

Meta cracks down on cyberespionage, warns of ‘perception hacking’ ahead of midterm elections

August 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Meta said it is focused on continuing to disrupt emerging cybersecurity threats, including “perception hacking” efforts that could attempt to create unjustified fears about the security of U.S. elections.

In its new “Quarterly Adversarial Threat Report” released Thursday, Meta details how it took action on two cyberespionage operations and removed three networks that were engaging in coordinated inauthentic behavior (CIB) — campaigns that seek to manipulate public debate.

Since 2017, the company says it has been able to disrupt the activities of coordinated networks aimed at manipulating users with fake accounts using coordinated inauthentic behavior. The efforts have been successful at driving these networks off of Facebook and have made it harder for other entities to maintain access on the social media platform, Meta says.

Meta says in the report that cyberespionage actors tend to target individuals across the internet in an effort “to collect intelligence manipulate them into revealing information and compromise their devices and accounts.”

Meta’s Facebook took action on two separate cyberespionage operations from South Asia this past quarter, both of which used malware to infect users’ devices. One of the operations was from the hacker group known as Bitter APT, the report says.

The hacker group targeted users with malware in New Zealand, India, Pakistan and the United Kingdom, Meta’s report says.

The report also revealed the company had removed networks promoting misinformation and harassment in India, Indonesia, Greece and South Africa.

Additionally, Facebook removed three networks engaged in coordinated inauthentic behavior, including one network linked to an Israeli public relations firm and two troll farms from Malaysia and Russia.

The Russian operation, the self-proclaimed CyberFront Z, focused on targeting global discourse on the war in Ukraine, the report says.

The pro-Russia operation attempted to mirror the anti-war communities defending Ukraine through the use of fake accounts run by paid posters, the report says. Despite the effort, pro-Ukraine and anti-war comments typically outnumbered the pro-Russia group’s comments.

Ahead of the U.S. midterm elections, a spokesperson for Meta told reporters the company has not seen any coordinated inauthentic behavior operations specifically targeting the November elections.

But the company warns of the idea of perception hacking — capitalizing on the public’s fear of influence operations by trying to create the false perception of widespread manipulation, even if there is no evidence.

David Agranovich, Meta’s director of threat disruption, told ABC News, “as we go into the midterm elections, I think the thing we’re particularly working to make sure we’re ready for is these perception hacking offers where the operations go anywhere where they tried to get eyeballs and amplification from other people talking about how effective they were.”

Agranovich said its important to counter these efforts.

“Make sure people understand that they’re just sometimes not that effective,” he said. “And yet, we’ll still be on high alert. We haven’t seen the CIB’s yet but we’re gonna keep watching.”

CPAC convention kicks off in Dallas ahead of Trump keynote speech Saturday night

August 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DALLAS) — The annual Conservative Political Action Conference got underway Thursday in Dallas, Texas, one of the largest gatherings of conservatives and, since its inception in 1974, a crucial campaign stop for Republican hopefuls.

This year, organizers are hoping to galvanize a growing base of voters ahead of the upcoming midterm cycle with the aim of bringing a crashing “red wave” of GOP elected officials to Congress.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott, far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Fox News Anchor and GOP firebrand and Fox News host Sean Hannity kicked off the conference, focusing on migration, the weakness of Democrats, and big business. There was little mention of the issue of abortion despite the recent shift to a post-Roe America.

Headlining the three-day convention on Saturday night is Donald Trump who has teased running again president in 2024. The former president last spoke in late July at America First Policy Institute and Turning Point USA events in Washington where he focused primarily on promoting a harsh criminal justice agenda.

He’ll speak ahead of CPAC on Friday in Waukesha, Wisconsin, at a rally in support of Tim Michels, a Republican candidate for governor.

Abbott, who was absent from last year’s Dallas convention, was the first high-profile speaker on Thursday, joining a panel titled, “Texas: The Start of the Big Red Wave.”

He touted his friendship with Texas’ new business resident, Elon Musk of Tesla, addressed his busing of illegal immigrants to Washington and signified a growing trend of Latinos leaning toward Republican politicians.

“Texas believes in freedom Texas believes in the power of the individual. We want to have safe communities, a secure border. We want to cut your property taxes here in the Lone Star State because we know that is your money,” Abbott said to a cheering crowd on the panel with CPAC Chairman Matt Schlapp and CPAC Senior Fellow Mercedes Schlapp.

“Keep Texas red. Fire Nancy Pelosi, impeach Mayorkas and put America on the right track.”

Speculation of a potential 2024 presidential bid has long followed Abbott, who energized the crowd talking about the potential economic growth in the Lone Star State.

“It was just in May this year that Texas became home to more Fortune 500 company headquarters than any other state in the United States of America,” he lauded.

He also took jabs at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, who has recently targeted with Republican peers like Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis while chatter swirls about his own ambitions for a 2024 the Democratic presidential nomination.

Newsom has swung at the Texas governor by modeling a new California gun restriction law after Texas’ “heartbeat act,” which prohibits abortions after as early as six weeks into pregnancy. The California governor has also run full-page ads in the Austin American-Statesman, Houston Chronicle and El Paso Times to criticize Abbott’s stances on abortion rights and gun laws.

“The number one state Texans are moving to is California. Why would someone from Texas move to California? It’s because they like the Gavin Newsom type of liberalism,” Abbott said. “We have an exchange program going on,” he joked. “We’re getting the [Californian] conservatives, we’re sending them our liberals.”

Several other Texas conservatives are scheduled to speak at CPAC, including Sen. Ted Cruz on Friday morning, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday evening. Recently elected Rep. Mayra Flores is also slated to speak. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick spoke on Thursday afternoon.

Along with Abbott on Thursday, in a speech titled “How We Fight,” was Orban — fresh off of meeting with Trump at the former president’s Bedminster, New Jersey, Golf Club. He repeated some of his most controversial views, railing against LGBTQ issues and migration and a decline in Christianity across the Western world.

“Our values save us from repeating history’s mistakes. The horrors of Nazis and Communists happened because Western states in Continental Europe abandoned their Christian values. And today’s progressives are planning to do the same. They want to give up on Western values,” he said.

“The globalists can all go to hell, I have gone to Texas,” Orban said as he closed his remarks.

Hannity then delivered a fiery speech, beginning with comments about “election integrity” in the ongoing vote counting in Arizona’s GOP gubernatorial primary on Tuesday.

“We still don’t know if Kari Lake won that race for governor. Why not? How do we expect to have integrity in our elections if they can’t count the votes in 24 hours?” he said.

Hannity also rallied the crowd about GOP chances in the coming midterm elections.

“We’ll get America back on track. And then we’ll win and 2024 and then we’ll be back in the ballgame. And we will be that that beautiful city on a hill that Reagan spoke about. Let’s make that our goal. Let’s make that our dream. Let’s make that our prayer. In Jesus name. You can say Jesus, this is CPAC,” he said.

Abbott and Orban, Patrick and Hannity’s appearances will also be joined by and other high-profile Republican figures, including former vice presidential candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio and former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson.

Trump-endorsed Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake is also slated to speak. The former local Fox News anchor is currently awaiting official results from the state’s Republican primary, though she has already declared victory on multiple occasions and has indicated that she would not concede if the results weren’t favorable to her campaign.

Former Trump adviser Steve Bannon is also in the lineup as the keynote speaker at CPAC’s Saturday night Cattleman’s Ball, a week after he was found guilty of contempt of Congress for refusing to to cooperate with investigations into the Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol.

CPAC will also feature its famed straw poll, a historically popular contest for gauging how popular Republican leaders are within the party.

This year will notably feature two separate straw polls — one with and another without Trump, who has won every one of the contests since 2019.

The CPAC main ballot will include Trump, DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, Cruz, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Also on the ballot are former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

The 2024 straw poll without Trump will instead feature Donald Trump Jr., along with all the aforementioned potential hopefuls.

DeSantis emerged from the annual Conservative Political Action Conference held in Orlando, Florida, in February as the potential GOP presidential candidate most competitive with former President Donald Trump, coming in second at 28% and far more favored than other GOP prospects, including other CPAC speakers Pompeo, Noem and Cruz, who all got less than 2%.

ABC News’ Alina Kim contributed to this report.

Systemic issues plague American higher education, author says in new book

August 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two questions — “What is college for and who pays for it?” — form the foundation of a new book that explores a variety of systemic issues facing America’s higher education system.

Will Bunch, author of “After the Ivory Tower Falls: How College Broke the American Dream and Blew Up Our Politics – and How to Fix It,” spoke to ABC News Live about the history of the student loan crisis and the future of the higher education system in America.

Bunch said the issues stem back to World War II. After the war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill, which provided veterans with funds for college education, among other benefits.

As a result, it made higher education a public good for millions of veterans and middle-class Americans, Bunch said. “The question we’ve been trying to resolve for the last 75 years, which is two questions: What is college for and who pays for it?”

As tuition steadily rose over the course of nearly a century, soon 1 out of 5 adults couldn’t attend college without borrowing money, according to Bunch. Now, as inflation rises and a recession looms, 1 in 5 Americans are holding on to student loan debt that has accrued to a national federal debt of over $1.7 trillion, according to data from the Federal Reserve.

“The thing is, to really succeed in this economy, most job recruiters are looking for that credential, a college diploma,” said Bunch, who shared the 1992 Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting. “And so people feel they have no choice. They have to make this gamble of borrowing the money for college or the alternative could be worse.”

In his book, Bunch spoke to a variety of people, including college graduates who are struggling to manage six-figure loans and people who chose other alternatives to college.

Bunch said that people often believe what he says is an incorrect assumption that college is “available to all people,” and so it’s assumed that those who do not have a degree within the system are seen as “deficient.”

“We believe in the value that education is available to all people, but it’s up to you to make the most out of that opportunity,” said Bunch. “[Those who do not have a degree] are being told that… they have failed in life somehow by not getting this degree.”

Bunch said a viable solution would be to invest in other educational experiences, in lieu of a college degree.

“Education after age 18.. it doesn’t have to be in a university classroom. It could be a trade school, it could be an internship, it could be a gap year,” he said. “But I think these opportunities for our young people should be public good.”

Exclusive: Members of Congress urge Blinken to demand ‘Hotel Rwanda’ hero’s release

August 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — While WNBA star Brittney Griner’s sentencing in Russia dominates headlines, members of Congress are urging the White House to do more to free yet another prominent figure — Paul Rusesabagina, who inspired the acclaimed 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda.”

In a letter shared exclusively with ABC News on Thursday, Reps. Joaquin Castro and Young Kim asked Secretary of State Antony Blinken to “use all the diplomatic means at your disposal to ensure Mr. Rusesabagina’s safe return to the United States.” They implored the secretary to push Rwanda’s president for Rusesabagina’s “immediate release” during Blinken’s visit next week to the East African nation, where Rusesabagina has been held for nearly two years.

Rusesabagina, a lawful U.S. permanent resident, was the manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines in Kigali during the Rwandan genocide of 1994, when divisions between Rwanda’s two main ethnic groups came to a head. The Rwandan government, controlled by extremist members of the Hutu ethnic majority, launched a systemic campaign with its allied Hutu militias to wipe out the Tutsi ethnic minority, slaughtering over the course of 100 days more than 800,000 people, mostly Tutsis and the moderate Hutus who tried to protect them, according to estimates from the United Nations.

More than 1,200 people took shelter in the Hotel des Mille Collines during what is often described as the darkest chapter of Rwanda’s history. Rusesabagina, who is of both Hutu and Tutsi descent, said he used his job and connections with the Hutu elite to protect the hotel’s guests from massacre. The events were later immortalized in “Hotel Rwanda,” with American actor Don Cheadle’s portrayal of Rusesabagina earning an Academy Award nomination for best actor in 2005.

Rusesabagina, who fled Rwanda with his family in 1996 and later settled in San Antonio, Texas, rose to fame and was lauded as a hero after the movie’s release. In 2005, he was awarded the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor given by the American president. He also wrote a book, gave paid speeches, and became an outspoken critic of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, who has been in office for the last two decades.

In August 2020, Rusesabagina traveled to Dubai to meet up with a Burundi-born pastor who Rusesabagina alleges had invited him to speak at churches in Burundi about his experience during the Rwandan genocide. The pair hopped on a private jet that Rusesabagina believed would take them to Burundi’s capital, according to Rusesabagina’s international legal team.

Rusesabagina did not know that the pastor was working as an informant for the Rwanda Investigation Bureau and had tricked him into boarding a chartered flight to Kigali. He was subsequently arrested and tried on a slew of terrorism-related charges, with Rwandan prosecutors alleging that Rusesabagina wanted to go to Burundi to coordinate with rebel groups based there and in the neighboring Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Last September, Rusesabagina, who has maintained his innocence, was convicted on eight of nine terrorism-related charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. In May, the U.S. Department of State determined that Rusesabagina has been “wrongfully detained.” In June, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bipartisan resolution calling on the Biden administration to demand Rusesabagina’s release on humanitarian grounds.

In their letter to Blinken, Castro and Kim warned that if the U.S. does not take a firm stance on Rusesabagina’s detention, others may be at risk.

“Failure to address the actions of the Rwandan government will only embolden it to continue to target U.S. citizens and U.S. residents,” they wrote.

According to the State Department, Blinken intends to discuss Rusesabagina’s case during his upcoming visit to Rwanda. Speaking to ABC News on Thursday, a senior U.S. official declined to say whether Blinken would communicate any consequences for the Rwandan government if it fails to release Rusesabagina, but insisted that the Biden administration has been “very clear with the government of Rwanda about our concerns about his case, his trial, and his conviction, particularly the lack of fair trial guarantees.”

Castro and Kim said the Biden administration must move as a quickly as possible to secure Rusesabagina’s freedom due to his age and failing health.

“We also ask that you visit Mr. Rusesabagina, who is imprisoned under unsafe conditions and suffering from health issues that jeopardize his life,” they wrote in their letter. “Paul Rusesabagina is a 68-year-old cancer and stroke survivor who remains in poor health. He has been imprisoned for over 700 days without proper medical care.”

In a statement to ABC News on Thursday, Rusesabagina’s family expressed their gratitude that his case “is receiving attention from senior levels within the [Biden] administration and across Capitol Hill.”

“We appreciate in particular Secretary Blinken’s dedicated visit and hope his direct engagement will help bring our family nightmare to an end,” said Rusesabagina’s daughter, Anaise Kanimba.

“Rwanda is not an adversary country like Russia, China or Iran; it is a country that significantly benefits from U.S. taxpayer money and judicial cooperation,” she added. “If the administration can bring back other wrongfully detained [citizens] from Russia, it can certainly leverage its relationship with Rwanda.”

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