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White House press secretary defends Biden keeping distance from gun talks

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who took over as the President Joe Biden’s chief spokesperson just over three weeks ago, told ABC’s Good Morning America on Tuesday that Biden is “very encouraged” by gun safety negotiations in Congress as lawmakers urgently try to reach a deal in principle this week in the wake of recent shootings.

“This is a priority for and this is a very serious issue for this president, but right now, we’re watching what Congress is doing, because we can’t do this alone, he cannot do this alone, and we’re very encouraged,” Jean-Pierre told GMA Anchor Robin Roberts, who pressed her on whether Biden was personally lobbying senators after the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas in which 19 children and two teachers were killed.

“So, I’ll say this, the president has been very clear,” Jean-Pierre continued. “He made his speech on Thursday. He spoke directly to the American public to continue to lay out the importance of dealing with gun violence, how this is destroying schools clearly and communities and how we have to act now and we cannot wait any longer.”

“But he wants to give the Senate and Congress on the Hill some space to have the conversation,” she added. “It sounds very promising. We are encouraged by it.”

Jean-Pierre said the White House Office of Legislative Affairs has had direct communication with the negotiators “dozens of times.”

“So, that is that is how we have been really dealing with this — making sure that we can do whatever it is that we can do on our end and getting updates from them as well,” she added.

The exclusive interview comes as Biden has called for lawmakers to act on gun safety legislation, but as Senate negotiators are considering a package much more narrow than what he asked for.

Biden called for an assault weapons ban, and if not, he said, then to raise the age to buy assault weapons from 18 to 21. Instead, lawmakers are considering measures like expanded background checks, incentives for states and localities to institute red flag laws, and increased funding for school security and mental health programs.

Throughout negotiations, Jean-Pierre has been on the defensive on Biden’s involvement as some have questioned whether the president should be taking a larger role in talks. She has argued Biden has been involved for decades and is giving senators “a little space” to work.

At Monday’s press briefing, Jean-Pierre indicated that even if the senators ultimately propose a package that falls far short of the wish list Biden outlined in prime-time remarks last week, incremental changes would be acceptable to Biden. When reporters pressed her on the president’s lack of personal involvement in the talks, she confirmed Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy’s assertion that he has spoken with the White House every single day since the negotiations began — but that can be on the staff level, not directly with Biden.

Jean-Pierre made history when she took over from Jen Psaki on May 13, becoming the first Black woman and first openly gay person to hold the position of White House press secretary.

When Jean-Pierre anchored her first White House briefing last year, as she was filling in for Psaki, ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Mary Bruce asked her about making history at the podium.

“It’s a real honor to be standing here today,” Jean-Pierre said. “I appreciate the historic nature, I really do, but I believe that being behind this podium, being in this room, being in this building, is not about one person. It’s about what we do on behalf of the American people.”

Previously, Jean-Pierre was principal deputy White House press secretary, and during the 2020 presidential campaign, she was then-candidate Kamala Harris’ chief of staff. She also served in the Obama White House as the regional director in the Office of Political Affairs for the northeast. Before joining the Biden campaign, she was a senior executive at MoveOn.org and an MSNBC analyst.

Jean-Pierre was born in Fort-de-France, Martinique, to Haitian parents, who later moved briefly to France and then immigrated to the U.S. and settled in Queens when she was 5. They later moved to Hempstead, Long Island, where her father worked as a cab driver, and her mother as a home health care aide. Though Jean-Pierre wasn’t born in Haiti, she calls herself a “proud Haitian-American.”

She and her partner have one daughter, Soleil.

Teachers face mental health challenges dealing with school shootings

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Ramon Benavides, 2022’s Texas Teacher of the Year, choked up, clutching his infant son as his mind raced with thoughts of the recent mass shootings in his home state.

From the attack at an El Paso Walmart in 2019 to the Uvalde school massacre, the tragedies conjure up unimaginable fears felt not only by parents — but by teachers.

“I can’t even find the words to really explain how I’m feeling,” Benavides said. “I held him [his son] super tight because many parents, teachers involved, you know, they’re, they’re not coming back to their families and their families aren’t aren’t going to be able to embrace their loved ones as I did with my little boy last night. And it’s painful, it’s hurtful, and like I said, it’s just so many emotions just going on.”

The El Paso educator said he is devastated by the killing of 19 children and two of their teachers at Robb Elementary School. The shocking news struck his “soul,” he said, and he is having trouble making sense of it.

“I’ve lived across Texas, so this is something that just hits us all,” he told ABC News. “It kind of leaves you breathless, it’s like a punch to the gut.”

Teachers’ mental health

Having to deal with school shootings is just one of the factors taking a toll on teachers’ mental health.

Educators cite a range of emotions, including anxiety and sadness during a pandemic — now in its third year — as reasons more than half of them plan to leave their chosen profession, according to a survey from the National Education Association. While burnout is a primary cause teachers want out of the classroom, now some are haunted by fears that they, their families and their students now won’t be safe — even at school.

In the almost 10 years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, there have been more than 900 school shootings, according to the gun violence prevention organization Sandy Hook Promise and the Center for Homeland Defense and Security. The attack in Uvalde is the latest in a long series of acts of gun violence terrorizing students and teachers alike. Last year, there were 42 acts of campus gun violence at K-12 schools in the U.S.

“Mental health in this country is already bad with the pandemic,” Lee Perez, Nebraska’s 2022 Teacher of the Year, told ABC News. The Uvalde shooting, he said, “is only going to make it worse.”

He knows how the pressures can push teachers to their limits. Perez dealt with anxiety and depression due to stress from the pandemic and how the spread of COVID-19 disproportionately affected marginalized minority communities.

Teachers’ job-related stress levels and symptoms of depression were higher than most employed adults, according to Rand Corporation’s 2021 State of the U.S. Teacher Survey. A recent poll of over 3,000 National Education Association (NEA) members emphasized over 90% of educators believe stress is a serious issue.

Dr. Christine Crawford, associate medical director for the National Alliance on Mental Illness, said that exposure to horrific events like the Uvalde shooting “can elicit symptoms that are consistent with a trauma response, almost.”

She explained that after hearing or reading about events like a mass shooting, people may notice they are more on edge or irritable and may experience other symptoms such as difficulty sleeping or concentrating. These symptoms, Crawford said, may present after repeated exposure to similar events, even if someone didn’t experience the trauma firsthand.

“We do know that there is this phenomenon known as vicarious trauma,” Crawford explained. “So, just hearing about a traumatic event, you can almost imagine yourself in that sort of scenario and that can further kind of exacerbate some of the symptoms that I just described.”

It highlights, she said, that even in a small community, “you don’t fully know each and every person and what it is that they’re capable of. And so this kind of sense of safety within the community can certainly be threatened.”

Benavides says he’s taking it “day-by-day.” But Perez, his state’s first Latinx and English as a Second Language (ESL) recipient of the top teacher honor, said the shooting in Uvalde also hit close to home.

“These beautiful brown babies [were] just murdered in cold blood,” he said, adding, “it puts people of color … puts us on pins and needles.”

Perez had his first child at the beginning of this month. He tearfully discussed “strategizing” to protect his baby girl, Natalia, if Congress doesn’t pass universal background checks or mental health red flag laws.

“It really adds to that anxiety that has been brought on by all the stuff that’s happened two years ago,” Perez said. “As educators, we always tell families, communities and our students, ‘you are safe at school,’ but then this happens, and then the question becomes, well, ‘are students safe at school? Is anybody safe at school?'”

‘It scares you,’ one teacher said

Teachers have faced mental health struggles throughout the pandemic that initially shuttered schools and has upended education over the last two years. Their fears of contracting a deadly virus, combating a nationwide staffing and substitute shortage and increasing demands on their time have made a tough profession — even harder.

“Teachers are doing amazing work, and they are providing work during a very challenging time. They already had to provide support – to teach kids during a pandemic, and then to have these events happen, can be further traumatizing for some of our teachers,” Crawford said. “And so we certainly do need to have compassion for these teachers, empathy for these teachers, because they really have been faced with a tremendous amount of stress and trauma over the last few years.”

Experts have been monitoring the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of Americans over the last two years. Since April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been documenting self-reported symptoms of anxiety and depression, using Household Pulse Surveys. These metrics, compared with similar data collected in 2019, show a dramatic increase in symptoms.

Colorado’s Autumn Rivera was a 2022 finalist for the national teacher of the year award who says she considered seeking mental health counseling at her school after the Uvalde shooting. With the school year ending, Rivera is taking time to process her feelings because she can’t accept the fact that many of those slain were Latinx.

“Those are my students,” Rivera said, comparing the population she teaches to the students at Robb Elementary. “That is me and those two teachers, you know, very similar backgrounds, very similar situations, and it just broke my heart.”

For now, Perez struggles with the notion of when this might happen again, advocating for Congress to enact sweeping gun reform that could prevent future attacks on schools. Ultimately, he hopes his daughter has a safer future than today’s students who do lockdown and active shooting drills.

“It scares you,” he said. “Where is it safe? The fact that you have to ask that question scares, not just teachers, but everybody.”

The National Alliance on Mental Illness HelpLine offers resources and support to people experiencing mental health struggles. The HelpLine can be reached Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. – 10 p.m., ET at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264) or helpline@nami.org. The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is available toll-free, 24/7, to anyone in suicidal crisis or emotional distress at 1-800-273-8255.

Son of Buffalo shooting victim to testify in Senate hearing on domestic terrorism

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The son of the oldest victim in the Buffalo, New York supermarket shooting is expected to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in a hearing on domestic terrorism in the wake of the apparent racially-motivated attack that left 10 Black people dead, including his 86-year-old mother, and a national reckoning over gun violence as lawmakers consider gun safety legislation this week.

The hearing, which kicks off at 10 a.m., is titled, “Examining the ‘Metastasizing’ Domestic Terrorism Threat After the Buffalo Attack” and will examine “the continued threat posed by violent white supremacists and other extremists, including those who have embraced the so-called ‘Great Replacement’ conspiracy theory, as well as the federal government’s response to this threat,” according to a committee release.

Lawmakers on the, at times, divisive committee will hear from Garnell Whitfield Jr., the son of Ruth Whitfield, the oldest victim in the Buffalo shooting, who was mourned by her family in an emotional press conference last month. Whitfield was returning home from visiting her husband in a nursing home, what her son called “a daily ritual” for eight years of their 68-year marriage, when she stopped by the Tops grocery store to pick up groceries, and the gunman opened fire.

“For her to be taken from us and taken from this world by someone that’s just full of hate for no reason … it is very hard for us to handle right now,” Garnell said at the time.

“We need help. We’re asking you to help us, help us change this. This can’t keep happening,” he added.

At the same press conference, civil rights attorney Ben Crump slammed what he called the “accomplices to this mass murder” and the cause of the indoctrination of hate among young people, referring, in part, to far-right-wing websites, politicians and cable news pundits.

“Even though they didn’t pull the trigger, they did load the gun for this young white supremacist,” Crump said. “Black America is suffering right now and we need to know that our top leader in America reacts and responds when we are hurt.”

Other witnesses on Tuesday’s panel include Michael German, a former Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent and fellow at the Brennan Center For Justice; Robert Pape, professor and director of The Chicago Project on Security and Threats at The University of Chicago; Justin Herdman, a former U.S. attorney in the Northern District of Ohio, and legal scholar Jonathan Turley, a professor at the George Washington University Law School and a frequent witness called by Republicans on the committee.

ABC News previously reported on evidence indicating the Buffalo shooting was a calculated, racially-motivated execution by the suspect, an 18-year-old white male, according to multiple sources and a review of FBI cases and testimony. The gunman, who has pleaded not guilty to a charge of first-degree murder and is being held without bail, allegedly wanted a race war and live-streamed his attack in an apparent effort to spur others to kill minorities, sources said.

Included in a 180-page document posted online by the shooter was a far-right conspiracy idea called the “great replacement theory,” which baselessly claims that white populations are being intentionally replaced by minorities and immigrants. Democrats have slammed the theory and moved to fund new programs to target domestic terrorism, while some Republicans have faced backlash for echoing notions of the theory in their talking points.

The hearing comes as the Democrats on Capitol Hill ramp up efforts to push for legislation that would require stronger background checks for gun buyers and incentivize state red flag laws following the recent mass shootings. Twenty-one people, including 19 children, were killed in a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, just 10 days after the mass shooting in Buffalo. Another mass shooting on June 1 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, claimed four lives after a gunman stormed a medical facility with an AR-15-style rifle that police say he bought hours before the massacre.

Zeneta Everhart, who says her 21-year-old son, Zaire Goodman, is still recovering from gunshot wounds in the Buffalo shooting, one of three others injured there, as well as Miah Cerrillo, a fourth-grader who survived the shooting in Uvalde, are both expected to testify at another hearing on gun violence on Wednesday before the House Committee on Oversight and Reform.

The FBI announced it was investigating the Buffalo mass shooting as a hate crime and case of “racially motivated violent extremism” after Erie County Sheriff John Garcia described the attack as a “straight-up racially motivated hate crime.”

Senate Republicans used the filibuster to block a bill last month designed to combat domestic terrorism from advancing to a key vote. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, D-Ill., was the only Republican in either chamber of Congress to vote for the measure, which would have created new offices within the Justice Department, Department of Homeland Security and FBI to “monitor, analyze, investigate, and prosecute domestic terrorism.”

Tuesday marks the third in a series of hearings this committee has held on domestic terrorism.

‘Cowards’: Teacher who survived Uvalde shooting slams police response

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SAN ANTONIO, Texas) — Arnulfo Reyes woke up ready for a good day. His third- and fourth-grade class at Robb Elementary had finished its final tests the week before. Awards were going to be handed out. He planned to show his students a movie, The Addams Family — the animated version.

“It was going to be a good day,” Reyes told ABC News anchor Amy Robach in an exclusive interview. “There was nothing unusual that day, we were just walking back to the classroom … to watch the rest of the movie.”

Around 11:30 a.m., however, the normalcy shattered. Reyes said he heard a bang. Unsure of what it was, he told the students to get under their desks — just like they’d practiced.

“The kids were yelling, ‘What’s going on, Mr. Reyes?'” he said. “[The students] were going under the table, and I was trying to get them to do that as fast as I could.”

“When I turned around,” he said, “I just saw him.”

The next 77 minutes of carnage “destroyed” Reyes, he said, and forever changed a school, a community and perhaps a country. By the end of his rampage, a gunman had killed 19 students — including all 11 in Reyes’ classroom — and two teachers. Reyes himself sustained multiple gunshot wounds.

“I feel so bad for the parents because they lost a child,” Reyes told Robach. “But they lost one child. I lost 11 that day, all at one time.”

From his hospital bed in San Antonio, less than two weeks after surviving the second-most deadly school shooting in U.S. history, Reyes offered the most vivid account yet of what transpired inside classroom 111 of Robb Elementary School on May 24.

He also waded into the nationwide debate over gun violence and slammed local police as “cowards” for failing to act faster. And while Reyes recovers, he’s already plotting his next act: ensuring this never happens again.

“The only thing that I know is that I won’t let these children and my co-workers die in vain,” he said. “I will go to the end of the world to make sure things get changed. If that’s what I have to do for the rest of my life, I will do it.”

Inside the classroom

Before the gunman entered his classroom, Reyes said he told his students, “Get under the table and act like you’re asleep.” When he turned, he saw a blur — and then gunfire.

Two shots rang out. Reyes immediately “knew something was wrong,” he said. He couldn’t feel his arm, and he fell to the floor as the gunman fired indiscriminately into the classroom of 10- and 11-year-olds. After a short time, silence fell over the room.

“I prayed that I wouldn’t hear none of my students talk,” he said. “And I didn’t hear talk for a while. But then, later on, he did shoot again. So, if he didn’t get them the first time, he got them the second time.”

Wounded on the ground, Reyes said he followed his own advice and pretended to be unconscious. Reyes said the gunman again fired his weapon.

“And that was the second time he got me,” Reyes said. “Just to make sure that I was dead.”

The second gunshot pierced Reyes’ back and lung.

“I had no concept of time,” Reyes said. “When things go bad, it seems like eternity. The only thing that I can say is I felt like my blood was like an hourglass.”

In the 14 days since the shooting, Reyes said he has undergone five surgeries and twice had his blood replaced.

Unbeknownst to Reyes, parents and onlookers eventually gathered outside of the school, encouraging officers to enter the building. It wasn’t until 12:50 p.m. when a tactical unit finally breached the classroom door and killed the gunman.

“After that it was just bullets everywhere,” he said. “And then I just remember Border Patrol saying, ‘Get up, get out,’ and I couldn’t get up.”

System failure

In the wake of the shooting, law enforcement has come under immense scrutiny for failing to act faster. Seventy-seven minutes passed from the time the gunman entered the school until officers breached the door and killed him.

“They’re cowards,” Reyes said. “They sit there and did nothing for our community. They took a long time to go in… I will never forgive them.”

Law enforcement and state officials have repeatedly corrected themselves and at times provided conflicting details about their response. At one point, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said the on-scene commanding officer made the “wrong decision” to wait to breach the barricaded classrooms.

Robb Elementary School prepared for active shooter events, conducting drills as recently as a few weeks before the mass shooting. But Reyes described failures in protocol at nearly every step of the security process on May 24 — missteps in protocol and execution that he says cost lives.

“There was no announcement. I did not receive any messages on my phone — sometimes we do get a Raptor system,” he said, referring to the school district’s emergency alert program, “but I didn’t get anything, and I didn’t hear anything.”

Reyes also described complaints he said he had made about his door, which is meant to remain shut and locked while class is in session. At prior security checks, Reyes said he noticed that his door would not latch — an issue he said he raised with the school’s principal.

“When that would happen, I would tell my principal, ‘Hey, I’m going to get in trouble again, they’re going to come and tell you that I left my door unlocked, which I didn’t,'” he said. “But the latch was stuck. So, it was just an easy fix.”

Even with the failures in plan implementation, Reyes said the outcome felt inevitable: “No training would ever prepare anybody for this.”

“It all happened too fast. Training, no training, all kinds of training — nothing gets you ready for this,” he said. “We trained our kids to sit under the table and that’s what I thought of at the time. But we set them up to be like ducks.”

The Uvalde Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and Robb Elementary School did not respond to requests for comment.

The solution is not more training, according to Reyes, but an overhaul of a system that allows easy access to firearms. Reyes emphasized that he is not against gun ownership, but advocated for common-sense gun legislation that would raise the age limit for would-be gun purchasers.

“If you want to buy a gun, you want to own a gun, that’s fine,” he said. “But the age limit has to change. And I think that they need to do more background checks on it. Things just have to change. It must change.”

Parents say baby formula shortage is still hurting families

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Relief for American parents and families can’t come quick enough as the nationwide baby formula shortage persists.

The crisis has continued, despite Abbott, one of the nation’s largest formula manufacturers restarting a key Michigan plant this past Saturday following a February recall and temporary shutdown. The company estimates it will take at least six to eight weeks for production to reach full capacity.

That’s time caregivers say they don’t have. Conditions have become dire enough over the past several months that parents have flocked to Facebook groups and desperately reached out for help finding formula as store shelves remain bare.

90% of formulas out of stock in some states

Tracking firm Datasembly has been recording the lack of formula products in more than 130,000 stores nationally. According to data obtained by ABC News, nine states across the U.S., including California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Rhode Island and Tennessee have topped 90% out-of-stock rates, with Arizona hitting a 94% out-of-stock rate during the week of May 22-29.

The national average out-of-stock rate has climbed to over 73%. Twenty-nine states, along with Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, have seen over 75% of baby formulas out of stock.

The federal government has been trying to fill the gaps by launching Operation Fly Formula, which was approved by President Joe Biden nearly three weeks ago on May 18. The initiative has fast-tracked the imports of millions of baby formula products and a fifth shipment from Germany with another 1.6 million formula bottles is expected to arrive in Texas on Thursday, according to the White House.

But the latest shipment will only contain Nestlé NAN SupremePro Stage 1 infant formulas, meant for healthy babies and will not include specialized formulas, which have hit families of children with allergies and premature infants especially hard.

Some formula prices have shot up as demand remains high

Mac Jaehnert lives in Washington, where Datasembly’s statistics indicate formula stock rates are hovering at 89.9% out of stock.

“I am still seeing extremely limited availability of NeoSure in shelves and online,” Jaehnert told ABC News’ Good Morning America, referring to one of Abbott’s formulas for premature babies. “We’ve seen an occasional case of NeoSure arriving at our local Walmarts and will periodically see it available online but by and large those orders end up getting canceled.”

“Now other specialty formulas are becoming extremely hard to find, like Nutramigen and Gentlease,” the father of one continued.

“On top of everything else, major retailers like Rite Aid are raising prices on formula by huge margins — so even if we can find brands in high demand, they’re charging up to $10/can more,” Jaehnert wrote via Twitter.

GMA has reached out to Rite Aid for comment and has yet to hear back.

Both Jaehnert and another parent, Kerissa Miller, are part of the Find My Formula, Tri Cities WA Facebook group where they’ve been volunteering for hours and days on end to help fellow moms and dads get baby formula.

“We recently started working with the [neonatal intensive care unit] and preemie releases from the hospital and noticed that they are not sending premature babies home with enough formula or the correct type because of the shortage,” Miller told GMA via text message. “The store shelves have not improved much. We actually started purchasing from other states that [have] better supply to support our local babies.”

“We do hope to see change soon but there has been zero change in the inventory supply in our area unfortunately, [and] our group has grown to almost 1,500 people, so we have even more babies to feed now,” she added.

For Taylor-Rey J’Vera, a mom of one in Brooklyn, New York, Abbott’s February recall impacted her family directly and this spring, she and her wife Libby decided to switch their 8-month-old’s formula twice, first in response to the recall and the second time because the switch led to a run on their substitute formula.

“After the recall, we switched over to Enfamil. And so we use a specific type of Enfamil. It’s kind of hard to find in stores so we were mostly doing online searching and purchasing through Amazon or directly through Enfamil,” J’Vera explained.

When their formula stock ran low, J’Vera said she searched in local drug stores, online and she even noticed strangers selling baby formula on the New York City subway at “crazy gouged prices.”

“We were really scared. We did start to feed [River] solids a little sooner. Like he was already starting solids, but we’ve been kind of fast-tracking the solids journey because we were and are still a little nervous about what the future holds,” J’Vera recalled.

The same week Biden authorized Operation Fly Formula, J’Vera posted a plea for help on Instagram.

J’Vera said her family was ultimately “super blessed” as their friends, family members and even exes reached out to help them find formula in places as far as Canada for baby River.

“What I’ve been doing now, we’re just giving away any extra formula, because people are still bringing it to us very nicely as a surprise. People are like, ‘Oh, yeah, I saw this. This is for you. You don’t have to pay for it. It’s fine. Just take it,'” she said.

J’Vera said any extra formula goes to those they know who still need it.

“We’re like, ‘Hey, do you want this formula?’ and we’re just trying to pay it forward,” she said.

“Things are supposed to be changing, but we can’t seem to get a clear timeline on any of the changes exactly,” she added. “We keep hearing that idea like everything is in the works … but we don’t know when any of that is going to actually hit the shelves.”

Paramount sued over “Top Gun: Maverick”

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Paramount Pictures was hit with a lawsuit Monday over the blockbuster hit, Top Gun: Maverick.

The widow and son of Ehud Yonay, who wrote a 1983 article in California Magazine titled, “Top Guns,” about fighter pilots and the Navy’s elite Top Gun program, is suing the studio in California federal court and claiming copyright infringement. The lawsuit claims the original film credited the story but that the studio did not have the right to make this year’s blockbuster, which they say is a derivative work of the original article.

“The iconic 1986 film all started with Paramount securing exclusive motion picture rights to Ehud Yonay’s copyrighted story immediately after its publication,” according to the lawsuit filed by Shosh Yonay, his widow, and Yuval Yonay, his son. “In fact, the author’s story was duly credited on the derivative 1986 film, which is widely known to have been based on the story.”

The family also alleges that Paramount “deliberately” ignored their letter sent to recover copyright of the story through a copyright termination notice for Ehud’s initial article, “thumbing its nose at the statute.”

According to the lawsuit, Paramount acquired the copyright to Yonay’s story after it was published in 1983. In 2018, the Yonays allege they sent Paramount a notice that the copyright was terminated with an effective date of Jan. 24, 2020. They claim Paramount did not get a license to make the sequel.

The Yonays claim the film was completed after the effective termination date of Jan. 24, 2020.

“Despite the 2022 sequel clearly having derived from the story, Paramount consciously failed to secure a new license of film and ancillary rights in the copyrighted story following the Yonays’ recovery of their U.S. copyright on January 24, 2020,” the lawsuit states.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Paramount has insisted the sequel was sufficiently completed before that date.

“These claims are without merit, and we will defend ourselves vigorously,” Paramount said in a statement, which was first reported by The Hollywood Reporter.

Top Gun: Maverick, which stars Tom Cruise and Miles Teller, has grossed more than $500 million since it was released over Memorial Day. The Yonays are seeking declaratory and injunctive relief and unspecified damages.

Prince Harry, Meghan release new photo of daughter Lilibet

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Prince Harry and Meghan, duchess of Sussex, have released a new photo of their daughter, Lilibet “Lili” Diana Mountbatten-Windsor.

The photo shows a smiling, red-headed Lili sitting in the grass at her first birthday party, which took place on Saturday at Frogmore Cottage, the Sussexes’ home in the United Kingdom.

The toddler’s birthday party, described as a casual, backyard picnic, was attended by close friends and family, according to a spokesperson for the Sussexes.

Party guests enjoyed a birthday cake by London baker Claire Ptak, who created Harry and Meghan’s wedding cake in 2018.

The photo of Lili was taken by U.K.-based photographer Misan Harriman, who also took the photo Harry and Meghan shared with their pregnancy announcement last year.

Harriman shared a few photos on Twitter from the party, writing, “It was such a privilege to celebrate the 1st birthday of Lilibet with my family and hers! Joy and face painting all around.”

One of the photos shows Meghan holding Lili, who has her hand in her mouth and is wearing polka-dot socks.

It was such a privilege to celebrate the 1st birthday of Lilibet with my family and hers! Joy and face painting all around ❤️🎂🎉 pic.twitter.com/bg3RY6MOEu

— Misan Harriman (@misanharriman) June 6, 2022

Lili celebrated her first birthday on her first trip to the U.K., where her father and older brother, 3-year-old Archie, were born.

The Sussexes now live in California, where Meghan was raised. The family traveled to the U.K. to attend Platinum Jubilee celebrations for Lili’s great-grandmother and namesake, Queen Elizabeth II.

Lili and Archie did not appear publicly while in the U.K. Harry and Meghan attended just one public engagement, joining royal family members at a National Service of Thanksgiving for Elizabeth at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

The church service was the couple’s first royal event since they stepped down from their senior royal roles in 2020 and moved out of the U.K.

Prior to Lili’s birthday photo, the only public photo that had been released of her was the Sussexes’ 2021 Christmas card.

In the photo, the family is all smiling as Meghan lifts up Lili and Archie sits on Harry’s lap.

Harry revealed in April that Lili, 10 months old at the time, was learning how to walk.

“Her current priorities are trying to keep up with her brother; she took her first step just a few days ago!” Harry told People magazine. “Proud papa, here.”

What to know and who to watch in the next seven state primaries

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Voters in seven states head to the polls on Tuesday to pick party nominees for some of the nation’s most competitive House seats — and their choices will be shaped by key forces, like redistricting, that will help decide who controls Congress next year.

California, Iowa, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New Jersey and South Dakota are next to vote in the ongoing primaries.

One of the marquee developments will be the outcome in brand new congressional districts, which were based on the last census and each state’s rules about who drew the new maps. In most cases, the state legislatures were responsible, with observers tracking how the new lines across the country favor one party over another — and with some new maps enduring rounds of controversy and judicial review.

The candidates for some of these new seats highlight fluctuating intraparty dynamics for both Democrats and Republicans. The latest batch of primaries also features some of the most endangered incumbents from either party.

California Republican Reps. Mike Garcia — who voted not to certify the 2020 election results — and David Valadao — one of 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in the wake of Jan. 6 — are attempting to keep their seats in districts that absorbed a near 12-point edge in Democratic voter registration after the state’s latest decennial redraw.

Meanwhile, in Iowa, Democratic Rep. Cindy Axne is grasping at her swing district as her state has moved further and further right.

Fellow Democratic incumbent Tom Malinowski, of New Jersey, is in a long-shot fight to keep hold of his newly GOP-favorable 7th Congressional District, which was redrawn in order for the state’s Democrats to bolster a number of their other vulnerable lawmakers.

The contest for New Mexico’s second congressional seat highlights a newly formed district that shifted in 2020 from Trump to Joe Biden by 17 points. It’ll be a toss-up race between incumbent Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell and front-runner Gabe Vasquez, a Mexican-born former Las Cruces councilman and former aide to Sen. Martin Heinrich. In California, Democratic Rep. Mike Levin’s 49th District was recently made slightly more Republican.

Redistricting drew incumbent Republican Rep. Michelle Steel into the same district as Democratic fundraising powerhouse Rep. Katie Porter in Orange County, California, forcing the former to move over to the 45th District.

Concerns about crime and policing will also play out in some primaries. San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin faces a recall, with his opponents arguing he has not done enough to combat criminals in the city while his supporters say he’s trying to fix and reimagine law enforcement. San Francisco is one of the most liberal cities in America and if voters do kick out Boudin, it could be a telling sign of how far progressive prosecutors can go in metro areas.

South of San Francisco, crime is also having an impact in the Los Angeles mayoral race, where billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso has seen his profile rise. Caruso, a former Republican and self-described “centrist,” has promised to invest more in L.A.’s police department and focus on public safety. The other leading contender in the race is Democratic Rep. Karen Bass, who has served six terms in Congress and was also on the long list to be Biden’s vice presidential running mate. Bass has touted her own extensive plans for crime in the city, reflecting how it remains top of mind for local voters.

California’s primary will shift light onto another race: GOP House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is up for reelection in the 20th Congressional District. On Sunday, McCarthy received an endorsement from former President Trump, who called him a “tireless advocate” for his area and a chief opponent of Biden and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But even though he endorsed McCarthy, Trump did not mention supporting McCarthy in his run for speaker should Republicans gain control of the House. McCarthy is widely expected to seek the speakership, should the GOP retake the majority, and Trump’s support would be critical.

Last, in Iowa, state Democrats’ push to unseat 88-year-old Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley is shaping up to be a major primary battle on Tuesday — and one that could illustrate disorganization in the party ahead of more fierce fighting for the historically purple state. Former Rep. Abby Finkenauer is in an ever-tightening race against retired U.S. Navy Vice Adm. Mike Franken. While that primary had been intended as an easy win for the well-connected Finkenauer, ballot accessibility hurdles involving the Iowa Supreme Court and some campaign management challenges instead put her into a much more competitive race with Franken. Both will also be up against rural physician Glenn Hurst.

One climber dead, four others rescued on California’s Mount Shasta

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Multiple climbers were airlifted off California’s Mount Shasta, some in critical condition, on Monday, with one dying as a result of their injuries, authorities said.

At least four climbers were rescued, the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office said on Facebook. Climbers had reported poor conditions after Sunday snowfall turned into ice overnight.

Mount Shasta is a potentially active volcano with an elevation of 14,179 feet — the second-highest peak in the Cascade Range.

The first incident was reported at 8:39 a.m. of a climber suffering severe injuries and in critical condition and one recovering from injuries that included a broken ankle, the sheriff’s office said, which said at the time that another climber had died as a result of their injuries.

Another climber was reported in critical condition at 12:31 p.m., and a third incident was later reported at 4 p.m., at which time the sheriff’s office said a helicopter crew was trying to locate a female climber who was said to be injured on the mountain.

The first two incidents were in the area of Avalanche Gulch, a snowy glacier climb on the mountain, the sheriff’s office said.

As of 6 p.m., the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office was coordinating rescue efforts for a fifth climber, it said. It was unclear exactly how many climbers were injured or what the nature of their climb was.

The identity of the deceased climber is being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Office was coordinating rescue operations with the Mount Shasta City Fire Department, the Siskiyou County Search and Rescue (SAR), USFS Climbing Rangers, the CHP – Air Operations H-14 crew and Mount Shasta Ambulance, as well as Reach 5 Air Ambulance.

Three Missouri inmates still on the run after making holes in ceiling, escaping jail

June 7, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Marshals Service is looking for three men after they climbed through holes they made in the ceiling of their cells and escaped out the back door of the Barry County Jail in southwest Missouri early Friday morning.

The Barry County Sheriff’s Office said in Facebook posts that the men, two of whom were booked on drug charges and the other on a stealing charge, broke out of jail overnight. They should be considered armed and dangerous, the sheriff’s office said.

Sheriff Danny Boyd told ABC News that his staff learned when they arrived for work Friday that the inmates had climbed through holes they’d made in the ceiling and left the building through a maintenance door.

The jail building is old with ceilings made of plaster, which Boyd said allowed the escape to take place. He said the inmates — Lance Stephens, Matthew Crawford and Christopher Blevins — were acquaintances. Two shared a cell while the other was in a cell several feet away.

The sheriff said there is no indication that an employee aided the escape but noted that he is interviewing everyone who was working that morning to be sure. His staff has pulled all surveillance video from the time of the escape.

Boyd said tips he’s received suggest at least two of the inmates have left the state.

The U.S. Marshals did not respond to requests for comment about their search.

The sheriff’s office asked the public for tips and information on the escapees Monday, saying it would pass the information along to the Marshals.

The Barry County Jail incident is the latest of a string of jail escapes that have occurred in the past several months.

Last week, a Houston area family of five was allegedly murdered by escaped prisoner Gonzalo Lopez, who broke into their home.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Lopez died in a shootout with police hours after authorities found the family’s bodies.

On April 29, Vicky White, the Lauderdale County assistant director of corrections in Florence, Alabama, helped murder suspect Casey White escape from his cell, and the two fled the jail.

After an 11-day search, Vicky White and Casey White, who aren’t related, were caught by law enforcement in Evansville, Indiana, after a car crash.

Vicky White died on May 9 from injuries stemming from a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.

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