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Russia-Ukraine live updates: Grandma of 4-year-old killed in strike: ‘I hate them all’

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military has since launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, capturing the strategic port city of Mariupol and securing a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

Jul 18, 4:20 PM EDT
Ukraine’s first lady to meet with Jill Biden

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will meet with first lady Jill Biden in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Biden’s office said, one day before Zelenska addresses Congress.

Jul 18, 1:45 PM EDT
Ukraine’s first lady to address Congress on Wednesday

Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will make remarks Wednesday before members of Congress on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced.

All members of the House and Senate are invited to the event, which is set for 11 a.m ET.

Jul 18, 8:56 AM EDT
Russia orders troops to eliminate Ukraine’s long-range missiles

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has visited the East group of Russian forces involved in the fighting in Ukraine and ordered his troops to eliminate the Ukrainian army’s long-range missiles and artillery ammunition it uses to shell targets in the Donbas region, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Shoigu instructed the group’s commander to give priority to the use of precision-guided weapons to destroy Ukraine’s long-range missile and artillery assets, the ministry added. Russia has accused Ukraine of using its long-range weapons to shell residential neighborhoods in Donbas communities and set fire to wheat fields and grain storage facilities.

Ukrainian officials said Russian missiles struck targets across much of eastern Ukraine on Sunday and early Monday.

Six people were killed in the town of Toretsk in the Donetsk region after Russian shelling, the state emergency service said. Missiles also struck civilian infrastructure, including a school in the Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions.

Russia also carried out 55 strikes on the Sumy region on Sunday. Around 60 projectiles landed in Nikopol, a dozen residential buildings were damaged and one elderly woman was wounded, local officials said.

The southern city of Mykolaiv was subjected to a massive missile strike in the early hours of Sunday as 10 missiles, presumably launched by an S-300 system, hit various parts of town.

Russian officials said on Monday that no clear timeframes have been set for the war in Ukraine, and priority should be given to its efficiency.

“We have no doubts that the special military operation will be completed after all of its objectives are attained. There are no clear timeframes, what counts most is this operation’s efficiency,” Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said as quoted by Russian media.

Officials from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic claimed on Monday that DPR territory will be liberated from the Ukrainian military this year.

“The liberation of Donbas will be completed this year,” Eduard Basurin, deputy head of the police department of the DPR, said according to Russian media.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, and Max Uzol

Jul 17, 6:20 PM EDT
Number of Ukrainian public officials accused of treason, collaborating with Russia: Zelenskyy

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the former head of the Security Service of Ukraine, or SBU, in Crimea, who was dismissed in the beginning of the Russian invasion, has been notified he is being charged with treason.

“Everyone who together with him was part of a criminal group that worked in the interests of the Russian Federation will also be held accountable,” Zelenskyy said during his evening address Sunday. “It is about the transfer of secret information to the enemy and other facts of cooperation with the Russian special services.”

A number of Ukrainian public officials have been notified they will be charged for treason and for collaborating with Russia.

-ABC News’ Christine Theodorou

Jul 17, 2:20 PM EDT
‘Evil cannot win’: Priest breaks down at funeral for 4-year-old Ukrainian girl

A funeral service was held Sunday for a 4-year-old girl with Down syndrome who was among two dozen Ukrainian civilian’s killed last week in a Russian missile attack in the west-central Ukrainian town of Vinnytsia.

During the open-casket funeral for Liza Dmytrieva, a Ukrainian Orthodox priest broke down in tears as he told the little girl’s father and other relatives, “evil cannot win,” according to The Associated Press.

Liza was pushing a stroller in a park as she and her mother were headed to a speech therapist appointment when the attack unfolded Thursday afternoon in Vinnytsia, a city close to the front lines in west-central Ukraine, officials said.

The girl and 23 others Ukrainian civilians were killed, including two boys ages 7 and 8. At least 200 other civilians, including Liza’s mother, were injured, officials said.

“Look, my flower! Look how many people came to you,” Liza’s grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, said, as she caressed the child lying in an open casket filled with teddy bears and flowers.

Orthodox priest Vitalii Holoskevych gave the eulogy at Liza’s funeral struggling through tears.

“I didn’t know Liza, but no person can go through this with calm because every burial is grief for each of us,” Holoskevych said. “We are losing our brothers and sisters.”

Jul 15, 10:01 AM EDT
Grandma of 4-year-old girl killed in missile strike: ‘I hate them all’

The grandmother of a 4-year-old girl killed in Thursday’s Russian missile attack in Vinnytsia told ABC News, “They took the most precious [person] I had in my life.”

Four-year-old Liza was among 23 people, including three children, killed in the strike.

Liza’s grandmother, Larysa Dmytryshyna, called her a “wonderfully sunny child.”

“She was the most wonderful girl in the world and it is so painful that her mother cannot even bury her,” she said.

Asked how she feels about Russia, Dmytryshyna, replied, “I hate them all.”

“We did not ask them to come here. They have caused so much sorrow,” she said of the Russians. “I would give my own life to extinguish the entire country.”

-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Ibtissem Guenfoud and Natalya Kushnir

Jul 15, 9:04 AM EDT
Demand for artificial limbs surges in Ukraine

One of Ukraine’s leading medical experts on developing prosthetic limbs for amputees says there has been a dramatic surge in demand for artificial arms and legs since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Dr. Oleksandr Stetsenko told ABC News that financial support or donations of prosthetic parts are needed from abroad to meet the increased demand.

External support, he said, is vital so that people have the chance to continue with their lives.

“With good prosthetics people can come back to life again,” Stetsenko told ABC News.

There is currently no official figure for how many people in Ukraine have undergone surgery to remove limbs because of injuries sustained from the war but Dr. Stetsenko estimates that around 500 people have had limbs amputated since the end of February with the majority of those cases being soldiers and around a fifth being civilians.

While the number of patients in Ukraine needing artificial limbs has increased, the domestic supply of components to make prosthetic arms and legs has reduced.

That is because a third of the companies which were previously producing components in Ukraine are now located in territory which has recently been occupied by Russian forces or in areas near to the frontline, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Health.

A director at the health ministry, Oleksandra Mashkevych, confirmed that Ukraine is no longer able “to cover all of the demand relating to artificial limbs.”

Mashkevych told ABC News that children who need artificial limbs are sent abroad to Europe or to the United States and that around 20 children in Ukraine are thought to have had limbs amputated since the start of the war in February.

-ABC News’ Tom Soufi Burridge, Ibtissem Guenfoud, Natalya Kushnir and Kuba Kaminski

Jul 15, 6:49 AM EDT
Unprecedented rescue operation underway in Vinnytsia

At least 18 people are still missing after a deadly missile strike on downtown Vinnytsia in central Ukraine on Thursday, the Ukrainian National Police said.

Three Russian Kalibr missiles launched from a submarine struck an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, located about 155 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, on Thursday morning.

At least 23 people — including 3 children — died in the attack, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said, and more than a 100 were wounded, some critically. The bodies of 2 children and 11 adults were yet to be identified on Friday morning, local authorities said.

The strike in the heart of Vinnytsia is “part of a systematic Russian campaign of attacks on residential areas of cities in Ukraine”, the Institute for the Study of War said.

The search continued on Friday morning for at least 18 people who were still missing after the attack. The ongoing rescue operation has been unprecedented in its scale, local officials said, with more than 1,000 rescuers and 200 pieces of equipment being involved in clearing the rubble and searching for those still missing.

Several dozen people were reportedly detained in Vinnytsia on Thursday for questioning under the suspicion of acting as local spotters or aimers on the ground for the Russian strikes.

The eastern city of Mykolaiv also reported 10 powerful explosions on Friday morning. The city’s two biggest universities were hit in the attack, wounding at least four people, local authorities said. Russia also struck a hotel and a shopping mall in Mykolaiv on Thursday.

Russian shelling also targeted Kharkiv, another eastern city, on Thursday night. Local officials claimed 2 schools were damaged in the attack.

The European Union and the United Nations strongly condemned Russia for what the EU called a “long series of brutal attacks against civilians.”

Russia’s missile strikes hit more than 17,000 facilities of civilian infrastructure as opposed to around 300 military facilities since the start of the war, Ukrainian officials said on Thursday.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Yulia Drozd, Fidel Pavlenko and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Jul 14, 4:02 PM EDT
Russian missile strike kills at least 23 in Vinnytsia

Russian missiles hit the heart of the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday morning, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

Three children were among the dead, the agency said.

The missiles struck an office building and damaged nearby residential buildings in Vinnytsia, located about 155 miles southwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. The strike also ignited a massive fire that engulfed 50 cars in an adjacent parking lot, according to the National Police of Ukraine. Burned-out vehicles are peppered with holes from the missiles.

The State Emergency Service said about 115 victims in Vinnytsia needed medical attention, with 64 people hospitalized — including 34 in severe condition and five in critical.

Forty-two people are listed as missing, the agency said.

Many Ukrainians moved to Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, to get away from the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Until now, Vinnytsia had been seen as a city of relative safety.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “an open act of terrorism” on civilians.

“Every day Russia is destroying the civilian population, killing Ukrainian children, directing missiles at civilian objects. Where there is no military (targets). What is it if not an open act of terrorism?” Zelenskyy said in a statement via Telegram on Thursday.

War crimes investigators are at the scene studying missile fragments.

Russian missile strikes targeted several other Ukrainian cities on Wednesday and early Thursday, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv.

At least 12 people died in the Zaporizhia strike, which hit two industrial workshops on Wednesday, according to local authorities.

At least five civilians were killed and 30 others injured in Mykolaiv on Wednesday after Russian missiles destroyed a hotel and a shopping mall, the local mayor said. The southern Ukrainian city was shelled again on Thursday morning, but no casualties were immediately reported.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Fidel Pavlenko, Max Uzol, and Yulia Drozd

Jul 14, 1:49 PM EDT
At least 18 Russian filtration camps along Russia-Ukraine border

Michael Carpenter, the U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is calling the forcible relocation of Ukrainians to Russian filtration camps is “a war crime.”

In an interview with ABC News Live on Thursday, Carpenter said the Russians are “trying to take away Ukrainians who might have Ukrainian civic impulses, who are patriots, who want to defend their country.” Carpenter said the Russians want to “erase Ukrainian identity” and “the Ukrainian nation state, as the entity that governs people’s lives in these regions.”

Carpenter said there are at least 18 filtration camps along the Russia-Ukraine border, adding that it’s impossible to get an exact total because many are located in Russia’s far east.

-ABC News’ Malka Abramoff

Jul 14, 12:04 PM EDT
Russian missile strike kills at least 17 in Vinnytsia

Russian missiles hit the heart of the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia on Thursday morning, killing at least 17 people and wounding more than 30 others, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine.

Two children were among the dead, the prosecutor’s office said.

The national police said about 90 victims in Vinnytsia sought medical attention, and 50 of them are in serious condition.

Many Ukrainians moved to Vinnytsia, a city southwest of Kyiv, to get away from the fighting in eastern Ukraine. Until now, Vinnytsia had been seen as a city of relative safety.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called the attack “an open act of terrorism” on civilians.

War crimes investigators are at the scene studying missile fragments.

Russian missile strikes targeted several other Ukrainian cities on Wednesday and early Thursday, including Kharkiv, Zaporizhia and Mykolaiv.

At least 12 people died in the Zaporizhia strike, which hit two industrial workshops on Wednesday, according to local authorities.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Fidel Pavlenko, Max Uzol, and Yulia Drozd

Jul 13, 6:30 PM EDT
State Department aware of reports on another American detained by Russian proxies

The State Department said Wednesday it is aware of unconfirmed reports that another American has been detained by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

The statement follows a [report from the Guardian] () on 35-year-old Suedi Murekezi, who is believed to have gone missing in Ukraine in early June.

According to the Guardian, Murekezi was able to make contact with a family member on July 7 and told them he was being held in the same prison as Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, two American veterans captured while volunteering for Ukrainian forces. Murekezi has lived in Ukraine since 2020 and was falsely accused of participating in pro-Ukraine protests, according to the report.

“We have been in contact with the Ukrainian and Russian authorities regarding U.S. citizens who may have been captured by Russia’s forces or proxies while fighting in Ukraine,” a State Department spokesperson said Wednesday. “We call on Russia to live up to its international obligations to treat all individuals captured fighting with Ukraine’s armed forces as prisoners of war.”

Another American — Grady Kurpasi — is also missing in Ukraine. A family spokesperson said the veteran was last seen fighting with Ukrainian forces in late April and is feared to have been either killed or captured.

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

Jul 13, 8:27 AM EDT
Shelling continues throughout Donbas region

Shelling from both Russian and Ukrainian forces caused damage to the landscape and destroyed structures throughout the Donbas region on Tuesday and Wednesday, local officials said.

Russian strikes reportedly targeted the eastern town of Bakhmut, killing one person and wounding 5 others, the local governor said. Explosions were heard in several nearby towns too, with one missile falling near a kindergarten.

Shelling also continued in Izyum, Mykolayiv and Kharkiv on Tuesday. Russian troops reportedly conducted unsuccessful attacks north of Slovyansk and the town of Siversk on Tuesday, despite repeated rhetoric of an “operational pause” that Russia allegedly maintains, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report.

Russian forces continue to bomb critical areas in preparation for future ground offensive, with air and artillery strikes reported along the majority of the frontline, the experts added.

Ukrainian forces on Tuesday responded to the Russian attacks and claimed to have destroyed six Russian military facilities on occupied Ukrainian territories. Ukrainian officials claimed to have destroyed several ammunition depots, as well as a larger military unit.

Russian media reported on Tuesday that Ukrainian troops launched a “massive attack” on an air defense unit in the Luhansk region.

Ukrainian military officials also claimed to have killed at least 30 Russian troops on Tuesday, along with destroying a howitzer and a multiple rocket launcher, among other weaponry.

But the U.K. Defense Ministry in its latest intelligence update said it still expects Russian forces to “focus on taking several small towns during the coming weeks” in the Donbas region.

These towns are on the approaches to the larger cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk that likely remain the principal objectives for this phase of the Russian military operation, the ministry said.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Max Uzol, Yulia Drozd and Yuriy Zaliznyak

Jul 12, 10:27 PM EDT
US transfers $1.7 billion in economic assistance to Ukrainian government

The United States transferred $1.7 billion to Ukraine’s government Tuesday, the Treasury Department announced.

It’s the second tranche of money the Treasury transferred to Ukraine’s government as part of $7.5 billion approved for this purpose in the $40 billion Ukraine aid package Congress passed and President Joe Biden signed into law in May.

It’ll go, in part, to helping Ukraine’s government provide “essential health care services” and health care workers’ salaries, the Treasury Department said.

The U.S. transferred the first tranche, $1.3 billion, to Ukraine’s government two weeks ago.

-ABC News Benjamin Gittleson

Jul 12, 1:59 AM EDT
Ukraine destroys Russian ammo depot in occupied Kherson region

Ukrainian forces hit and likely destroyed a Russian ammunition depot in the Russian-occupied town of Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region on Monday night, local officials said.

The strike resulted in a massive blast, videos of which soon circulated online. According to local reports, more than 40 trucks filled with gasoline were destroyed. Russian media didn’t verify the claims, saying instead that pro-Russian forces had destroyed a series of saltpeter warehouses.

“People’s windows are blown out, but they are still happy … because this means that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are close,” Sergey Khlan, from the Kherson Regional Military Administration, said in the aftermath of the attack.

Monday’s strike marked at least the fourth time Ukrainian forces destroyed ammunition depots in Nova Kakhovka, local media reported.

-ABC News’ Edward Szekeres, Tatiana Rymarenko, Max Uzol and Yulia Drozd

Texas residents asked to ‘immediately’ conserve water amid drought, extreme heat

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DALLAS) — Residents in Texas are being asked to conserve water as drought conditions and a looming heat wave pose a potential shortage in the region’s water supply.

The North Texas Municipal Water District has called for customers to reduce their water use “immediately,” especially for outdoor water use, according to an alert released Saturday.

The utility company, which serves about 2 million people in northern Texas, including the city of Plano and North Dallas County, was forced to cease water production at one of its four treatment plants unexpectedly on Saturday to perform critical maintenance “to return the plant back to full water purification capacity,” according to the alert.

That maintenance, combined with regional drought and “increasing discretionary outdoor use and irrigation,” is what prompted the utility company to request a precautionary reduction in water usage until at least Wednesday.

The majority of Texas is currently experiencing drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Cities like Plano and Dallas are experiencing moderate to severe drought, a map showing drought conditions across the state released Thursday shows.

The request for conservation comes as temperatures reach all-time highs in parts of the U.S. and Europe. The Dallas and Fort Worth areas are expected to reach up to 110 degrees from Monday through Wednesday, forecasts show.

But even as the triple-digit temperatures move east, hot conditions and the continuation of the current drought are expected to remain for the rest of the summer, according to the utility company.

The critical maintenance will involve taking particles out of the water in six sedimentation basins used to treat the water and produce up to 210 million gallons per day, according to the utility company.

“We’re seeing a stress on our system because of peak demands with peak weather conditions,” NTMWD Director of Communications Wayne Larson told ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA.

Larson continued, “We are enduring a long, hot, dry summer. The forecast doesn’t seem like it will change. We are trying to manage and meet the rising peak demands of our customers.”

Water is not the only utility service in the state facing pressure due to current climate conditions.

Last week, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas called for Texans to voluntarily conserve electricity amid a surge of energy demands due to the scorching temperatures. Despite the heat, cloud cover at some points is limiting the state’s access to essential solar-generated polar.

The pressure on the state’s power grid is a continuation of weather-related incidents that occurred in 2021, including the Texas freeze in February 2021 that left millions in the dark and a similar request by ERCOT in June 2021 following tight grid conditions and a significant number of forced outages due to heat waves in the region.

Water supplies in the western U.S. are beginning to dwindle as a decades-long megadrought continues to dry up some of the most important water sources, including the Colorado River as well as Lake Mead and Lake Powell, the largest reservoirs in the country.

As the commodity becomes more precious, customers could soon see an uptick in their water bills, according to experts.

Masks are now required indoors at San Diego Unified School District schools, offices

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SAN DIEGO) — Indoor mask mandates returned Monday for the San Diego Unified School District schools and offices as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations tick up in the county.

Mandatory masking in indoor public spaces will be required for all students, teachers and staff at least through the end of summer school.

“As a district, since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have been intentional in implementing strategies to keep our community safe and reduce absences due to illness — all in service of our students, staff and community,” the district said in a letter sent to staff, parents and students Friday.

“If your student is participating in summer school or other summer enrichment program, please send them to school or their program with a mask. If they do not have one, masks will be provided. Students and staff will be required to wear their masks while indoors only,” the letter said.

The district added in the letter it will continue to monitor data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the county over the next two weeks and let the community know if there are any changes.

SDUSD dropped its mask mandate in April following a decrease in COVID-19 cases, hospitalization and deaths. However, in May, the district said the mandate would return as long as the county was classified by the CDC as having high transmission levels of COVID, which is determined by case counts and hospital admissions.

Over the last seven days, San Diego has recorded 383.01 new cases per 100,000, a nearly 5% jump from the previous week, according to CDC data. Additionally, the county has seen a hospital admission rate of 11.8 per 100,000 over the last seven days, which is a 31% spike compared to the previous seven days.

The district has not stated whether the indoor mask mandate will continue into the fall semester. District officials did not immediately return ABC News’ request for comment.

Schools in San Diego are not the only locations seeing the return of masks. Naval Base Coronado and Naval Base San Diego both announced on social media that mask mandates will go into effect Monday.

“Effective TODAY, mask wearing is required indoors on all Naval Base Coronado Installations and training sites until further notice,” the base wrote in a Facebook post. “Please do your part to reduce the spread by wearing a mask, maintaining social distancing, increased hygiene practices and vaccinations.”

Louisiana abortion ban case to be heard before judge

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW ORLEANS) — The legal battle over Louisiana’s statewide abortion ban rages on with a court hearing slated for Monday.

Since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, declaring there’s no federal constitutional right to end a pregnancy, Louisiana’s abortion “trigger laws” arguably went into automatic effect, meaning the procedure immediately became illegal in the state. However, a lawsuit led by the Center for Reproductive Rights and the Boies Schiller law firm on behalf of Hope Medical Group for Women — a Louisiana abortion provider — has challenged the state’s three abortion trigger laws.

A New Orleans judge issued a temporary order blocking enforcement of the state ban on June 27. Less than two weeks later, on July 8, another New Orleans judge decided not to extend the temporary order allowing for abortions and transferred the case to Baton Rouge, saying it had been filed in the wrong jurisdiction and that state law required it to be heard in the capital.

However, three days later, Judge Donald Johnson of Louisiana’s 19th Judicial District Court in East Baton Rouge Parish issued a temporary order blocking the trigger laws pending a preliminary injunction hearing, which was scheduled to begin Monday morning. Louisiana’s three abortion clinics — in Shreveport, Baton Rouge and New Orleans — were allowed to resume operations until the court decides on whether to issue a preliminary injunction.

Following the historic ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court, Louisiana was one of just three states to have immediate trigger laws restricting abortions, including a ban on abortion after six weeks of pregnancy. These laws include “trigger language” designed to make them effective when federal abortion rights were reversed.

The first of Louisiana’s trigger laws was passed in 2006, stating that abortion under all circumstances except due to certain medical circumstances would become criminal offenses. However, there were no clear guidelines on how the ban would be enforced or exactly when it would become effective.

In June, in anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling, a second trigger law was signed, adding a statement directly relating to the overturning of Roe v. Wade.

A third trigger law was enacted just days later, stating that it will ban abortion after 15 weeks of gestation, as opposed to the first and second bans on abortion at any point. The three bans also all differ on their penalty provisions. There are no exceptions for victims of rape and incest.

In the lawsuit, plaintiffs don’t deny that Louisiana can now outlaw abortion, but they claim that the state ban is unconstitutionally vague due to multiple, conflicting trigger mechanisms. They also contend that state law is unclear on whether it bans an abortion prior to a fertilized egg implanting in the uterus. Attorneys for the plaintiffs want the judge to keep blocking enforcement as their suit is litigated.

Meanwhile, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry’s office will argue that the state ban is constitutional and should no longer be blocked. Last month, Landry lauded the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade and warned that anyone wanting to fight abortion laws in his state is “in for a rough fight.”

ABC News’ Ely Brown, Kyla Guilfoil, Mary Kekatos and Briana Stewart contributed to this report.

Jury to weigh death penalty as Parkland shooter’s penalty phase trial begins

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A jury will soon determine if confessed Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz will be sentenced to death.

Opening arguments begin Monday in the penalty phase of Cruz’s trial. The trial is expected to take several months. At the conclusion, the jury’s decision must be unanimous to sentence him to death.

On Feb. 14, 2018, Cruz, then 19, gunned down 14 students and three staff members at his former school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in South Florida. He was taken into custody that day.

Cruz pleaded guilty in October 2021 to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Cruz said in court last year, “I am very sorry for what I did and I have to live with it every day. … It brings me nightmares and I can’t live with myself sometimes.”

Cruz, the deadliest mass shooter to go before a jury, said in court he believes the victims’ families should be the ones to decide whether he gets the death penalty.

Cameron Kasky, a Parkland student in 2018 and now a gun-reform activist, called the death penalty “barbaric” in a tweet Sunday.

The death penalty “will not bring any of the victims back” and will “create a false sense of Justice, which will only come when the gun manufacturers and the politicians who support them are held accountable,” Kasky wrote.

The “shooter does not deserve to live, but the U.S. government and our ‘justice’ system is incapable of responsibly wielding the power to determine value in life,” he wrote. “It’s the politicians who support the gun lobby that should be held accountable.”

Manuel Oliver, whose 17-year-old son Joaquin died in Parkland, told Miami ABC affiliate WPLG, “I think he should die and I think that is not enough. … Not even the death penalty is enough.”

Fred Guttenberg, who has been fighting for gun reform since his 14-year-old daughter Jaime was killed in Parkland, tweeted Monday, “One week ago today I was at the @WhiteHouse to celebrate @POTUS signing gun safety legislation. Today, I am at the Courthouse for the start of the penalty phase of the criminal trial of the person who murdered my daughter with an AR 15. This is the reality of gun violence.”

“Jaime, I miss you beyond words,” he added in another tweet.

Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed, tweeted Monday morning, “I love you Alex.”

Ghana declares 1st ever outbreak of Ebola-like Marburg virus disease

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Ghana on Sunday declared its first ever outbreak of the Ebola-like Marburg virus disease.

Blood samples taken from two patients in the southern Ashanti region were sent for testing to the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana’s capital, Accra, with preliminary results suggesting earlier this month that their illness was due to Marburg. With the support of the World Health Organization, the samples were then sent for further testing to the Institut Pasteur in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, which ultimately corroborated the results from Accra, the Ghana Health Service said in a press release Sunday.

Marburg is a rare but severe viral haemorrhagic fever, almost as deadly as the more well-known Ebola virus disease. Case fatality rates for Marburg have varied from 24% to 88% in previous outbreaks, while Ebola case fatality rates have varied from 25% to 90%. Unlike with Ebola, there are currently no approved treatments or vaccines for Marburg, according to the WHO.

“Health authorities have responded swiftly, getting a head start preparing for a possible outbreak. This is good because without immediate and decisive action, Marburg can easily get out of hand,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the WHO’s regional director for Africa, said in a statement Sunday. “WHO is on the ground supporting health authorities and now that the outbreak is declared, we are marshalling more resources for the response.”

Ghana’s first case was a 26-year-old man who was hospitalized on June 26 and died the next day, officials said. The second case was a 51-year-old man who sought treatment at the same hospital on June 28 and died later that day. Both patients, who were unrelated, experienced similar symptoms, including diarrhea, fever, nausea and vomiting, the WHO said in a press release Sunday.

So far, 98 contacts have been identified in Ashanti as well as the northwestern Savannah region. They are currently under quarantine and are being monitored by health authorities. No new cases have been detected, according to the Ghana Health Service.

The Marburg virus is transmitted to humans from fruit bats and spreads person-to-person through direct contact with the bodily fluids of the infected individuals, surfaces and materials. Illness begins abruptly, with high fever, severe headache and malaise. Many patients develop severe haemorrhagic signs within seven days, according to the WHO.

To reduce the risk of transmission, the Ghana Health Service advised people to avoid exposure to mines or caves inhabited by fruit bat colonies, to cook all animal products thoroughly before consumption and to avoid direct contact with anyone showing symptoms.

It is only the second time the highly infectious, zoonotic disease has been detected in West Africa. Guinea confirmed a single case in an outbreak that was declared over in September 2021, five weeks after the initial case was detected. The largest, most fatal Marburg outbreak on record infected and killed more than 200 people in Angola between 2004 and 2005, according to the WHO. The global health arm of the United Nations noted that it has reached out to Ghana’s high-risk neighbors, who it said are now “on alert.”

West African nations know all too well what a deadly virus like Ebola can do to a region. The biggest and deadliest Ebola outbreak on record infected more than 28,000 people and killed over 11,000 across multiple countries — mainly Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone — between 2013 and 2016, according to the WHO.

Although no treatment or vaccine exists for Marburg, supportive care — rehydration with oral or intravenous fluids — and treatment of specific symptoms both improve a patient’s chance of survival. A range of potential treatments, including blood products, immune therapies and drug therapies, as well as candidate vaccines with phase 1 data are under evaluation, the WHO said.

UK braces for record-high temperatures during summer heat wave

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — The U.K. is preparing for record-breaking temperatures this week, with unprecedented health warnings being issued as a national emergency has been declared.

Temperatures are expected to rise to 98 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday, but the highest and potentially record-breaking temperatures will be seen on Tuesday. For the first time, the Met Office has issued a “Red warning” in response to the extraordinary heat.

The heat wave in Britain, which has been linked to climate change, follows a weekend of wildfires and soaring deadly temperatures in France, Portugal and Spain.

Thousands have been forced to flee wildfires in southern France and Spain, and more than 1,000 deaths have been linked to the heat wave in Portugal and Spain since earlier in July by the countries’ respective health ministries. France could experience its hottest day on record on Monday, according to local media.

The previous hottest day on record in the U.K. stands at 38.7 C (101.6 F.) But that is expected to be surpassed on Tuesday, with temperatures reaching 40°C (104 F) in parts of the U.K.

“Nights are also likely to be exceptionally warm, especially in urban areas,” the Met Office’s Chief Meteorologist Paul Gundersen said in a statement. “This is likely to lead to widespread impacts on people and infrastructure. Therefore, it is important people plan for the heat and consider changing their routines. This level of heat can have adverse health effects.”

Government scientists have warned that the frequency, intensity and duration of similar heat waves will increase in the coming century as the world continues to experience the effects of climate change.

 “We hoped we wouldn’t get to this situation but for the first time ever we are forecasting greater than 40°C in the U.K.,” Dr. Nikos Christidis, a climate attribution scientist at the Met Office, said. “Climate change has already influenced the likelihood of temperature extremes in the U.K. The chances of seeing 40°C days in the UK could be as much as 10 times more likely in the current climate than under a natural climate unaffected by human influence.”

Despite the heat, schools are expected to remain open. However, there are concerns that U.K. infrastructure is ill-equipped to deal with such weather events. While offices are generally equipped with air-conditioning, only a small number of homes have air-conditioning units.

One Met Office meteorologist, Steven Keates, warned that the heat was not something to celebrate.

“This is not just another heatwave,” Keates told The Telegraph. “This is dangerous heat, because we’re not used to it. It’s simple –our infrastructure is not geared up for weather like this.”

“Do as little as possible,” he added. “Because heat is fatiguing and we are in slightly uncharted territory.”

At least 3 dead after shooting at Indianapolis-area mall

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(INDIANAPOLIS) — At least three people were killed and two others were injured in a shooting at an Indianapolis-area shopping mall on Sunday evening, police said.

Multiple people called 911 at around 6:05 p.m. local time to report an active shooter at the Greenwood Park Mall in Greenwood, Indiana, some 14 miles south of Indianapolis. An unidentified gunman had walked into the mall’s food court and opened fire, according to Greenwood Police Chief Jim Ison.

Olivia Harding said she was at the Old Navy in the mall with her mom when they heard four gunshots and initially thought the nearby carousel was breaking down. But then they heard six more shots.

“I told my mom instantly to get down,” Harding recalled in an interview with ABC News on Sunday night.

A person who was lawfully armed — identified as a 22-year-old man from Bartholomew County — shot and killed the gunman, according to Ison.

“The real hero of the day is the citizen that was lawfully carrying a firearm in that food court and was able to stop that shooter almost as soon as he began,” Ison told reporters during a press conference on Sunday night.

Greenwood Mayor Mark Myers also confirmed that the suspect was “shot by an armed individual,” whom he called a “good Samaritan.”

“This person saved lives tonight,” Myers said in a statement late Sunday. “On behalf of the City of Greenwood, I am grateful for his quick action and heroism in this situation.”

The victims include four females and one male. Among the injured is a 12-year-old girl whose parents brought her to the hospital with minor injuries after the shooting. The second injured victim was hospitalized and in stable condition as of Sunday evening, according to the police chief.

The suspect, who appears to have used a long-gun rifle with several magazines of ammunition, has not yet been identified, nor has a motive been determined, Ison said.

While the deadly shooting remains under investigation, Ison said there is currently no ongoing threat and SWAT teams have cleared the mall.

Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb said Indiana State Police are assisting local authorities in the incident.

“Lives were lost today, and I’m thinking about all the victims of this horrible incident, now and in the days and weeks to come,” Holcomb said in a statement via Twitter late Sunday.

ABC News’ Ebony Peeples and Darren Reynolds contributed to this report.

Jury selection set to begin in contempt trial of Trump ally Steve Bannon

July 18, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Jury selection is set to begin Monday in the trial of former President Donald Trump’s ally Steve Bannon over his defiance of a subpoena from the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Bannon, who previously served as Trump’s White House chief strategist but departed in August of 2017, was first subpoenaed by the Jan. 6 committee for records and testimony in September of last year. The committee told Bannon at the time it had “reason to believe that you have information relevant to understanding activities that led to and informed the events at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.”

Last week, the committee revealed that it had obtained records showing Bannon twice spoke with Trump over the phone on the day before Capitol attack, with one call taking place before Bannon made comments on his podcast predicting “all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.”

At the time of the Capitol riot, Bannon was already facing federal charges related to an alleged conspiracy to commit wire fraud and money laundering over his involvement in a crowdfunding effort to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border, to which he had pleaded not guilty. Trump pardoned Bannon on his final night in office, but declined to pardon two other men Bannon was initially charged with, both of whom recently pleaded guilty. A judge declared a mistrial in the case of another defendant after one juror refused to join in deliberations. The Justice Department has said it will seek to retry that case.

The Justice Department indicted Bannon last November on two counts of criminal contempt of Congress, roughly 20 days after the full House of Representatives voted to hold him in contempt over his defiance of the Jan. 6 subpoena.

Bannon’s attorneys have repeatedly claimed that Trump had invoked executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony, which prevented him from cooperating — despite Trump’s status as a former president and the fact that Bannon was not a White House adviser at the time of their alleged communications about Jan. 6.

But the Justice Department revealed last week that in a recent interview with federal investigators, former President Trump’s current lawyer, Justin Clark, said that at no point did Trump actually invoke executive privilege over Bannon’s testimony.

Clark also told investigators that he had made clear to Bannon’s attorney Robert Costello, prior to Bannon’s indictment, that Trump was not instructing Bannon to refuse cooperation with the committee altogether.

As his trial date was nearing, Bannon signaled to the committee last week that he was prepared to testify before the committee in a “public hearing,” and provided a letter from Trump in which Trump claimed to have previously invoked executive privilege and said he would now waive it. However, members of the committee have said they won’t consider Bannon’s offer to testify until he first complies with their subpoena’s demand for documents.

Prosecutors questioned the timing of Bannon’s last-minute offer and suggested in a filing that his efforts in conjunction with Trump to offer to finally testify before the committee were no more than a stunt to try and make him more a sympathetic figure to the jury.

“[Bannon’s] continued failure to comply with the subpoena’s document demand while claiming he now will testify suggests his actions are little more than an attempt to change the optics of his contempt on the eve of trial, not an actual effort at compliance,” investigators said in the filing. “[Bannon’s] timing suggests that the only thing that has really changed since he refused to comply with the subpoena in October 2021 is that he is finally about to face the consequences of his decision to default.”

Ahead of the trial, Bannon unloaded on the committee during an episode of his “War Room” podcast last week, vowing to go “medieval on these people.”

“Pray for our enemies, OK? Because we’re going medieval on these people. We’re going to savage our enemies,” Bannon said. “So pray for them. Who needs prayers? Not MAGA, not War Room, and certainly not Stephen K Bannon.”

It’s unclear whether Bannon’s actions leading up to Jan. 6 will factor into his trial, as prosecutors focus on proving their relatively narrow case involving his defiance of the committee’s subpoena.

In a pretrial hearing last week, the judge overseeing Bannon’s case, Carl Nichols, entered a series of rulings that will significantly limit the lines of defense Bannon’s attorneys will be able to present to the jury.

Nichols said Bannon won’t be able to claim he defied the subpoena because Trump asserted executive privilege over his testimony, nor can Bannon claim he relied on the advice of his lawyer, or that he was “tricked” into believing he could ignore the subpoena due to internal DOJ opinions from previous administrations about executive branch officials’ immunity from complying with congressional subpoenas.

Nichols also rejected Bannon’s defense that prosecutors would need to show that he knew his conduct was unlawful, saying that prosecutors only need to prove that Bannon acted “deliberately” and “intentionally” to defy the Jan. 6 panel.

Bannon’s attorney, David Schoen, questioned the judge’s rulings, asking the judge at one point, “What’s the point in going to trial here if there are no defenses?”

In a separate hearing on Thursday, Nichols left open the possibility that Bannon’s recent offer to testify before the committee could be presented at trial, noting that it could be relevant to a line of defense regarding whether Bannon believed the deadline for his compliance with the subpoena was flexible. But Nichols also publicly questioned the strength of putting forward such a defense.

Bannon’s attorneys are likely to fight vigorously to ensure that nobody seated on the jury has leanings that would make them critical or even aware of Bannon’s political activities.

Bannon’s attorneys have argued that widespread negative media coverage of Bannon, including the mention of him at last week’s Jan. 6 committee hearing, will effectively taint any jury pool — though assistant U.S. attorney Molly Gaston expressed confidence last week that they could seat a full jury that would potentially have no idea who Bannon is.

If convicted, Bannon would face a maximum sentence of up to two years in prison plus fines — though such sentences are rare and Bannon would likely appeal any conviction.

Prior to Bannon, the last time a criminal contempt case was brought by the Justice Department was in 1983 during the Reagan administration, against an EPA official who was eventually found not guilty by a jury at trial.

Last month, the Justice Department indicted former Trump White House adviser Peter Navarro on two counts of contempt of Congress, over his similar defiance of a subpoena from the Jan.6. committee. Navarro has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled to go to trial in November.

The same day Navarro was taken into custody, the DOJ informed the Jan. 6 committee it was declining to prosecute former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former top Trump adviser Dan Scavino, both of whom had provided some cooperation with the committee but were held in contempt by the full House over their refusal to testify.

Families of Uvalde victims react with anger, disappointment over report on school shooting

July 17, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UVALDE, Texas) — The loved ones of those killed in a mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, are reacting with anger and disappointment Sunday after a committee of state lawmakers investigating the massacre released a 77-page report that said law enforcement officers who responded to the rampage “failed to prioritize saving the lives of innocent victims over their own safety.”

The public release of the report came as the joint committee of the Texas Legislature met Sunday afternoon with the families of the victims and just days after security video footage from inside Robb Elementary School showing the delayed police response to the attack was leaked and obtained by two Texas news outlets.

The committee’s report laid out in detail the lapses in preparation, training and judgment in connection with the police response to one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history.

“It’s a joke. Texas failed the students. Law enforcement failed the students. Our government failed the students. What else do you want me to say? The truth is out there. Everybody saw the truth,” Vincent Salazar, whose 11-year-old granddaughter, Layla Salazar, was killed in the attack, told ABC News.

Salazar said he wasn’t going to attend the meeting with the committee at Uvalde Junior College and was only there to pick up a copy of the report to take home and read through it thoroughly.

He said he believes the killer should have never made it into the school, let alone been allowed nearly 77 minutes to kill as numerous state, federal and local law enforcement officers waited in the hallway outside the classrooms where the shooter was holed up.

“If I were these officers, I would leave town,” Salazar said. “They don’t deserve to be here.”

Sergio Garcia, whose 10-year-old son, Uziyah Sergio Garcia, was also killed in the mass shooting, agreed.

“I get paid at my job to do my job. If I didn’t do my job, I wouldn’t be working,” Garcia said told reporters Sunday. “Now, they took an oath, had a badge, they had unlimited resources and they need to pay for what they did not do.”

Garcia said he was “mad at everybody” who appeared to do nothing to save the 19 children and two teachers from being killed.

“In certain schools, they have police, sheriffs in the front. Why don’t they protect our kids like they protect money in a vault at a bank?” Garcia said. “Our kids are more valuable than that money. This is not the first time a school has been shot up and kids have lost their lives. This need to be the last time this happens. It shouldn’t happen anymore. Nobody should ever go through this.”

The report paints the most complete portrait to date of the massacre, which was described a series of “shortcomings and failures of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District and of various agencies and officers of law enforcement.”

But committee members said they do not know whether a faster or more competent response could have saved lives in the face of a heavily armed gunman who appeared bent on killing everybody in his sight with a high-powered assault rifle.

In addition to making its report public, the committee released video that captured the police response inside the schools.

The official release of the video comes after footage from inside the school as the attack was unfolding was leaked and obtained by Austin ABC affiliate KVUE and the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.

KVUE released a statement, saying, it and the Austin-Statesman elected to publish that footage “to provide transparency to the community, showing what happened as officials waited to enter that classroom.”

KVUE and the American-Statesman both published an edited portion of the never-before-seen footage on Tuesday, ahead of Sunday’s planned release of the video by state lawmakers. The outlets also published the unedited 77-minute version footage online.

Uvalde:365 is a continuing ABC News series reported from Uvalde and focused on the Texas community and how it forges on in the shadow of tragedy.

Uvalde Mayor Don McLaughlin, who expressed anger over the video being leaked and aired before the families first had a chance to review it.

Following Sunday’s meeting, committee members are expected to hold a news conference and make the video public along with its report on the shooting.

Rep. Dustin Burrows, the committee chairman, said the committee had planned to give the families the opportunity to see the video in private before it was released to the public and expressed disappointment that the two media outlets preempted those plans.

The leak of the video infuriated some of the victim’s family members. Some saw it as the latest source of frustration with the investigation that has included inaccurate information from investigators and elected leaders, including an initial statement from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott that the school’s police immediately engaged the gunman before he got into the school. Abbott later said he was “misled” about the circumstances of the shooting.

“They weren’t supposed to do it without our consent,” Javier Cazares, whose 9-year-old daughter, Jackie, was killed in the attack, told ABC News after the video was leaked.

Several of the families were meeting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, when the video was aired on television and online. Despite the family members and some elected leaders, including Abbott, repeatedly calling for the video’s release, the local district attorney denied the requests.

“We’ve been asking the DA for this video for a while and she refused to let us see it,” Nikki Cross, the aunt of 10-year-old Uziyah Garcia, who was killed in the rampage, told ABC News. “So once again, the world got to see it before us. Just like the day of the shooting when Gov. Abbott announced to you all that our children are dead and we have no idea. It’s like reliving that day all over again.”

Christina Mitchell Busbee — the 38th Judicial District Attorney, whose jurisdiction includes Uvalde County — defended her now overridden decision not to release the video in an interview over the weekend with the Uvalde Leader-News, saying the move threatens to jeopardize the investigation, which she said is ongoing and could lead to possible criminal charges if anyone is found to have aided the suspect in planning the attack.

“My goal is to secure justice for the victims, their families, and the citizens of the 38th Judicial District,” Busbee told the newspaper. “This goal cannot be accomplished unless there is a thorough investigation buttressed by fairness, integrity and impartiality free from political and media pressures.”

Burrows said the committee’s release of the video and report are intended to provide transparency to the families of those killed despite guidance from the local district attorney that the footage remain under wraps.

The video published by the news outlets and now released by the committee, including police body-camera video and footage from a surveillance camera mounted in a hallway of the school, shows dozens of law enforcement officers waiting in the hallway outside the adjoined classrooms where the gunman was committing the mass shooting. The officers — including some with protective shields, wearing tactical armor and armed with high-powered rifles — didn’t breach the classroom for more than 70 minutes, even as additional volleys of gunfire could be heard on the video from the classrooms 45 minutes after police arrived on the scene, the footage released by the news organizations shows.

The video began by showing the 18-year-old suspect, wearing tactical gear and wielding a high-powered AR-15 style weapon, entering the school unabated at 11:33 a.m. on May 24 and walking down the hallway to the classrooms. A barrage of gunfire could be heard on the footage soon after the gunman entered the school.

Three minutes after the killer entered the school, three police officers, wearing bullet-proof vests and guns drawn, are seen running down the hallway toward the classrooms where the gunman was holed up, while at least four other officers entered the school and took cover, the video shows. Moments later, the three officers who charged down the hallway are seen in the video retreating after coming under fire.

Police eventually breached the classroom and killed the gunman 77 minutes after he entered the school, authorities said.

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