News – Page 1861 – 105.7 WDNY

What we know about Tennessee’s gun laws after Nashville shooting

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Over the last few years, gun laws in Tennessee have become less strict after lawmakers approved legislation that removed requirements for permits and background checks.

Despite calls from local law enforcement, Republican lawmakers are now looking to loosen the state’s gun laws even further, contending that gun owners’ rights need to be expanded.

Debate over the bill continues as the state recovers from Monday’s mass shooting at a Christian school outside Nashville that left three children and three adults dead. Nashville Chief of Police John Drake told reporters Tuesday that the suspect legally purchased the weapons used in the Covenant School shooting.

State lawmakers have introduced gun-related bills that would allow permit carriers to bring their weapons to college campuses and another that would allow school staff members to carry a handgun.

On March 21, the Tennessee House’s Civil Justice Subcommittee voted to approve HB1005, a bill introduced by Rep. Rusty Grills that would rename “enhanced and concealed handgun carry permits as enhanced and concealed firearm carry permits.”

According to the state’s constitution, residents “have a right to keep and to bear arms for their common defense; but the Legislature shall have power, by law, to regulate the wearing of arms with a view to prevent crime.”

Tennessee enacted a law in July of 2021 that allowed the permitless carry of handguns, both concealed and unconcealed, for anyone over the age of 21.

“I signed constitutional carry today because it shouldn’t be hard for law-abiding Tennesseans to exercise their #2A rights,” Gov. Bill Lee tweeted after signing the law.

He thanked the Republican-led general assembly and National Rifle Association for “helping get this done.”

Currently, there are no requirements for background checks or trainings for handgun owners in Tennessee. Under the provisions, law enforcement members and military members between 18 and 20 are also allowed to carry their handguns without a permit.

Rifles and shotguns are allowed to be purchased by anyone over 18 and be carried without a permit but there are restrictions. Firearms are not permitted “if it is not concealed on or about the person and must be unloaded” and the owner is not allowed to carry the ammunition of those long guns on their person or in their “immediate vicinity,” according to the law.

Guns are prohibited for residents who have a felony conviction, a DUI conviction, reported mental health problems and undocumented legal status.

The state prohibits guns from being brought to locations like schools, any place that serves alcohol, public parks, courts and government buildings, according to the law. Private businesses are also allowed to prohibit firearms from their properties and must make it clear with signage, according to the law.

State gun owners can still apply for gun permits in other states through the state’s Department of Homeland Security. Those include enhanced permits, which require an eight-hour safety training course, and concealed permits which require a background check and a $100 fee.

When the permitless carry bill was being debated in the statehouse, several law enforcement agencies said they opposed the move.

During testimony in 2021, Tennessee Bureau of Investigation senior policy adviser Jimmy Musice said the state’s previous handgun permit system helped prevent roughly 5,500 people from carrying a weapon after the checks determined they were ineligible.

“We don’t have any issue and support the underlying policy that those that are legally permissible to carry possess a firearm and defend themselves,” he testified. “The permit process allows us to actually do that by knowing if that person truly is lawful.”

Lee told reporters at the time that he was committed to loosening the state’s gun laws.

“You can protect the Second Amendment and you can protect the citizens of our state at the same time,” he said.

Tennessee Highway Patrol Col. Matt Perry testified at the March 21 hearing, saying he was worried about law enforcement interacting with residents with high-capacity ammo weapons.

“Because of constitutional carry, we can’t ask them who they are, what they’re doing, [or] why they have it. We just have to let it happen,” he said.

Lee tweeted out a statement after Monday’s shooting, saying that he was “closely monitoring the tragic situation.”

“Please join us in praying for the school, congregation & Nashville community,” he said.

Shortly after Monday’s shooting, Democratic state Rep. Bo Mitchell, who represents parts of Nashville, spoke with ABC News Live about his frustrations with his colleagues over their stances on gun control.

“I spoke with a lot of these parents all day. During the hours I was there, not a single parent asked me for a thought or a prayer. They asked for me and my colleagues to have some courage and do something about this,” he said.

Judge rejects Trump’s privilege claims over Pence testimony in Jan. 6 probe

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The top federal judge for the D.C. district court has issued a swift rejection of former President Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege to prevent former Vice President Mike Pence from testifying before a grand jury investigating efforts to overturn the 2020 election, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.

At the same time, the judge issued a ruling that narrowly upheld parts of a separate legal challenge brought by Pence’s attorneys, who have argued Pence should be exempt from providing records or answering certain questions that align with his duties as president of the Senate overseeing the formal certification of the election on Jan. 6, 2021.

According to sources, D.C. Chief Judge James Boasberg ordered that Pence should have to provide answers to special counsel Jack Smith on any questions that implicate any illegal acts on Trump’s part.

Pence’s team had argued that such communications could run afoul of the Speech and Debate Clause that shields officials in Congress from legal proceedings specifically related to their work.

The special counsel’s office declined to comment to ABC News. Spokespeople for Pence and Trump did not immediately respond.

Boasberg’s rulings came just four days after his and Pence’s lawyers appeared at the district court to argue their challenge to the subpoena from the special counsel.

It was not immediately clear whether Trump or Pence’s legal teams are planning to appeal the rulings.

Pence has previously vowed to fight the subpoena to the Supreme Court if necessary, most recently telling ABC’s Chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl, “We’re going to respect the decisions of the court, and that may take us to the highest court in the land.”

The February subpoena to Pence demanded he provide documents and testimony related to the failed attempt by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election and followed months of negotiations between federal prosecutors and Pence’s legal team.

Boasberg’s orders followed upon another recent ruling by his predecessor in the role as D.C.’s chief judge, Judge Beryl Howell, who similarly rejected Trump’s claims of executive privilege over the testimony of multiple other top aides, including his former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows.

In a letter reviewed by ABC News, White House special counsel Richard Sauber informed Jack Smith that President Joe Biden would not be asserting executive privilege over Pence’s testimony.

“These events — which reflected the most serious attack on the operations of the Federal Government since the Civil War — threatened not only the safety of Congress and others present at the Capitol, but also the principles of democracy enshrined in our history and our Constitution,” Sauber wrote to Smith in February, after Smith had reached out the White House to determine whether the president planned to assert privilege over Pence’s grand jury appearance.

“In light of these unique circumstances, President Biden has determined that an assertion of executive privilege is not in the public interest with respect to the efforts to thwart the orderly transition of power under our Constitution.”

House Republicans ramp up investigation into Afghanistan withdrawal

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House Foreign Affairs Committee has served Secretary of State Antony Blinken with a subpoena for a classified document from diplomats in Kabul warning the Afghan government was at risk of collapse as the last American troops prepared to exit.

It marks a significant escalation in the GOP probe of how the Biden administration handled the tumultuous U.S. withdrawal.

The Republican chairman of the committee, Rep. Mike McCaul, said in a statement Monday night that the panel “made multiple good faith attempts to find common ground” with Blinken to allow lawmakers to see what’s called a “dissent cable” sent to State Department leadership in July 2021 as well as Blinken’s reply, calling the communication “a critical piece of information.”

“Unfortunately, Secretary Blinken has refused to provide the dissent cable and his response to the cable, forcing me to issue my first subpoena as chairman of the committee,” McCaul continued, adding that the panel expects the State Department will “follow the law and comply with this subpoena in good faith.”

But State Department officials have indicated that the agency is unlikely to hand over the documents without mounting a challenge.

“The department followed up with the committee to reiterate its willingness to provide a briefing about the concerns raised and the challenges identified by Embassy Kabul, including in the dissent channel. The Committee chose instead to issue a subpoena,” State Department Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel said in statement.

“The department remains committed to providing the committee the information it needs to conduct its oversight function, and has already provided thousands of pages of documents responsive to the committee’s request,” Patel said.

Blinken argued against supplying lawmakers with the requested documents during a hearing before the committee last week, claiming that turning them over may have a chilling effect on State Department employees who are free to use the private channel within the department to express misgivings or concerns.

“The tradition of having a dissent channel goes back decades,” the secretary testified. “It’s a unique way for anyone is the department to speak truth to power as they see it without fear or favor. And they do it by the regulations we established for these cables in a privileged and confidential way.”

But Republicans and even some Democrats say that there is value in examining the documents, which provide a first-hand account of conditions on the ground in Afghanistan during the days and weeks leading up the final, chaotic phase of the U.S. withdrawal as a Taliban offensive swept across the country and threatened the capital.

A source previously told ABC News that the cable, co-signed by nearly two dozen U.S. Embassy staffers on July 13, 2021, called on the Biden administration to begin airlifting Afghan allies out of the country immediately and urged Washington to use stronger language to condemn the Taliban’s atrocities.

The source said Blinken promptly read the cable and responded to it. The Biden administration also announced an operation to relocate Afghans who worked with U.S. and NATO forces the day after the initial memo was sent.

However, evacuations did not begin until late July, meaning only a small share of the tens of thousands of Afghans eligible for special immigration visas could be taken out before Kabul was retaken by the Taliban, prompting bipartisan criticism of the Biden administration.

In the hectic final days of the U.S. occupation, the terrorist group ISIS-K also carried out a suicide bombing near the crowded entrance to the Hamid Karzai Intenational Airport in Kabul, killing 13 American servicemembers and scores of Afghans.

“The American people deserve answers as to how this tragedy unfolded,” McCaul said in his statement announcing the subpoena.

ABC’s Cindy Smith and Conor Finnegan contributed to this report.

No evidence of TikTok national security threat but reason for concern, experts say

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Social media app TikTok faces mounting bipartisan hostility in Washington D.C., where Biden administration officials and lawmakers are weighing a possible ban of the platform.

The app, which counts more than 150 million U.S. users each month but is owned by a China-based parent company, has faced growing scrutiny from government officials over fears that user data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government and the app could be weaponized by China to spread misinformation.

However, there is no evidence that TikTok has shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government or that the Chinese government has asked the app to do so, cybersecurity experts told ABC News.

Still, there’s reason to believe that the Chinese government could compel the company to share data on U.S. users or manipulate content on the app to forward a pro-China agenda, considering the nation’s authority over domestic companies and previous misleading statements made by TikTok on related issues, the experts added.

“We don’t have smoking-gun evidence,” Sarah Bauerle-Danzman, a professor who specializes in national security and business investment at Indiana University, told ABC News. “But we do know that if the [Chinese government] asks TikTok for any data, they would be compelled to provide it and we also probably wouldn’t know if they did.”

In a statement, TikTok cited Project Texas, an initiative that the company says keeps all U.S. user data on servers within the country.

“The whole point of Project Texas is to put TikTok U.S. user data and systems outside the reach or influence of any foreign government,” the company said in a statement to ABC News.

“Today, all new protected U.S. user data is stored exclusively in infrastructure in the United States, and today all access to that environment is managed exclusively by TikTok U.S. Data Security, a team led by Americans, in America,” the company added.

Here’s what we know and don’t know about the national security threat posed by TikTok.
No evidence that TikTok has shared US user data with the Chinese government

A key fear among lawmakers and other government officials is that TikTok could share sweeping data on U.S. users with the Chinese government or the Chinese government could force the platform to manipulate the content displayed to U.S.-based users.

But there is no evidence available that suggests TikTok has shared U.S. user data or altered content for U.S. users at the behest of the Chinese government, cybersecurity experts said.

“We actually lack any evidence that China is regularly or systematically collecting TikTok data,” Ahmed Ghappour, a professor at Boston University who focuses on computer security and criminal law, told ABC News.

“We lack any evidence that China has attempted to compel TikTok to manipulate user recommendations or user data in any way that would rise to the level of a national security threat,” he added.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew pointed to the lack of evidence during roughly five hours of testimony before a House committee on Thursday.

“I think a lot of risks that are pointed out are hypothetical and theoretical risks,” Chew responded. “I have not seen any evidence.”

“I’m eagerly awaiting discussions where we talk about evidence,” he added.

In fact, some House members critical of TikTok acknowledged the lack of evidence.

Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, closed the proceeding with a line of questions focused on potential data sharing between TikTok and the Chinese government.

“Maybe you haven’t done it yet,” Crenshaw said, addressing Chew. “But my point is that you might have to.”

“If you want to know why Democrats and Republicans have come together on this,” Crenshaw added. “That’s why.”

Despite a lack of evidence for the national security threat posed by TikTok, it remains a legitimate theoretical concern, since China has shown a previous willingness to exploit user data and wields extensive authority over domestic companies, cybersecurity experts said.

“We know that China is very aggressive when it comes to spying,” James Lewis, a data security expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told ABC News. “TikTok hasn’t been caught. The Chinese have been caught.”

For instance, in 2015, hackers working on behalf of China broke into the computer system of the Office of Personnel Management, a federal agency, compromising the data of as many as 4 million federal employees, the Washington Post reported.

Last month, the U.S. military shot down a Chinese spy balloon off the coast of South Carolina, ending days of travel that took the balloon across the continental United States.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken postponed a trip to Beijing just hours before he was set to depart. Blinken called the balloon a “clear violation” of U.S. sovereignty and international law. Days later, China accused the U.S. of flying spy balloons into its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the start of 2022 — an allegation that the U.S. denied.

Meanwhile, China’s use of digital surveillance on its own residents is well-documented, including the deployment of app-based data to spy on residents as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Under Chinese law, the government could force TikTok-parent company ByteDance to turnover U.S. user data and manipulate content displayed on the app, cybersecurity experts said, noting that a lack of transparency makes it difficult to determine whether such a request has taken place.

“There wouldn’t be a paper trail necessarily that would be available to the public to see if this were to occur,” Bauerle-Danzman said.

TikTok has repeatedly denied sharing U.S. user data with the Chinese government or receiving a request along those lines.

However, the company has previously provided misleading information on related issues, some experts said.

TikTok engineers based in China gained access to intimate information on U.S. users between September 2021 and January 2022, even after a TikTok executive told the Senate in sworn testimony in October 2021 that a “world-renowned, US-based security team” determined which employees accessed such data, BuzzFeed reported in June.

“TikTok has a documented history of saying one thing and not always being accurate about that information,” Bauerle-Danzman said.

In response to concerns about U.S. user data, Chew has touted Project Texas, an ongoing effort that he says keeps all data on U.S. users within the country through a partnership with Oracle. During his testimony before the House, Chew said ByteDance remains capable of accessing user data but will no longer be able to do so after TikTok completes Project Texas.

Chew also said the company would welcome information security controls approved by a U.S. government monitor and enforced by a third party.

“Trust must be earned through action, not words,” Chew said.

ABC News’ Britt Clennett, Karson Yiu and Morgan Winsor contributed reporting.

Bank regulators blame SVB collapse on ‘textbook’ mismanagement during Senate grilling

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The country’s top banking regulators faced a grilling from lawmakers Tuesday about who was responsible for the the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The Senate Banking Committee heard testimony from officials at the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Treasury Department in its first hearing about the overnight collapses of the institutions.

“Did the Fed drop the ball because it didn’t see the risks that were building?” chairman Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, asked as he kicked off the proceedings.

Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., argued “warning signs should have been flashing red and SVB should have stood out as it was: absolutely a problem child.”

“I hope to learn how the Federal Reserve could know about such risky practices for more than a year and failed to take definitive corrective action,” Scott added, pointing to testimony that supervisors flagged weaknesses as early as 2021. “By all accounts, our regulators appear to have been asleep at the wheel.”

Michael Barr, the Federal Reserve’s vice chair for supervision, pushed back that it was the job of bank managers to resolve issues stemming from their unique business models.

“The bank failed because its management failed to appropriately address clear interest rate risk and liquidity risk,” Barr said, going on to describe the actions of executives a “textbook case of bank mismanagement.”

Barr testified alongside Nellie Liang, the undersecretary for domestic finance at the Treasury Department, and Martin Gruenberg, who chairs the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.

Barr and Gruenberg signaled they have tools to reprimand bank executives — including civil money penalties, the payment of restitution or ban from the banking industry — pending the findings of investigations.

“We retain this authority even after a bank fails, and we stand ready to use this authority to the fullest extent based on the facts and circumstances,” Barr said.

President Joe Biden has called on Congress to make it easier to punish failed bank executives, including clawing back their compensation. Gruenberg stated Tuesday the FDIC didn’t have explicit authority to claw back pay but could go after executives in these other ways.

Biden also called for stricter banking rules to prevent more collapses.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., on Tuesday hammered regulators on their commitment to tightening banking rules in the wake of these failures.

One after another, all three officials said they agreed banking rules should be strengthened.

“Each of you at this table has authority that you could exercise right now to strengthen rules for big banks and to ensure that our banking system and our economy are safer,” Warren said. “I urge you to use that authority, and I urge my colleagues here in Congress to do our part to protect American families and small businesses from yet another banking crisis.”

Barr and other officials faced questions about whether recent changes to regulation and supervision, including the Trump-era rollbacks of the Dodd Frank Act, contributed to the banks’ implosions.

“If it’s the regulator’s fault, it better be fixed. If it’s the regulation’s fault, it better be fixed,” Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., said. “If it’s something else, I hope there’s a report to this committee saying, ‘You know what guys, this can happen again unless this happens.'”

But Republicans, who are generally opposed to more regulation, questioned if bank regulators already had the appropriate tools but decided not to use them.

Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, a chief architect of the 2018 legislation, said it still allowed the Fed to use its discretion to impose stricter standards on individual institutions.

“You are not using the tools in your toolbox,” said Alabama Sen. Katie Britt. “That is what people hate about Washington.”

Barr agreed the Federal Reserve is granted “substantial discretion” under that law, and that would be “one of the areas we’ll be looking at in our review.”

The Federal Reserve is looking into the bank failures and their practices, with reports expected by May 1. Barr vowed “transparency” and said the Federal Reserve welcomes independent investigations.

Regulators also defended the decisions they made in the days after the collapse, including the decision to protect all deposits, citing the risk of contagion for smaller and regional banks.

“The situation demanded a swift response. In the days that followed, the federal government took decisive action to strengthen public confidence in the U.S. banking system and to protect the U.S. economy,” Liang said.

One in 12 kids lose a parent or sibling before turning 18: Report

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Patricia Royalty’s world turned upside down last June when her 34-year-old husband Dakota Royalty died from cirrhosis. The 36-year-old mother was left caring for the couple’s five children.

“He meant a lot to the kids. He was always a really good father,” Patricia said in an interview with ABC News. “When my 5-year-old went to school in January, they asked her what her new year’s resolution was. She asked for her dad back.”

Royalty’s children are among a growing group of children who have lost a parent or sibling. A new report from Judi’s House – an organization that advocates for grieving kids and families – found that one in 12 kids will lose a parent or sibling by age 18. Since the pandemic, the rate has continued to increase.

Micki Burns, a co-author of the report, said that on top of the grief, children who have lost a parent can feel isolated because it’s difficult for other kids to understand grief and loss.

“Recognizing that [losing a parent or sibling] is prevalent is important,” Burns said in an interview with ABC News. “It’s something that we need to start to talk about more openly and more easily so that the children don’t feel so isolated.”

Losing a parent during childhood is an important risk factor for adult mental health problems and the issue is often overlooked, according to M. Katherine Shear, a grief expert at Columbia University.

While grief affects everyone in different ways, Shear said children are oftentimes not the focus of support from community members. She said this most likely happens because people think children are more resilient than their grieving parent.

“[Kids are then] in a situation of great emotional need with a parent who is less able to provide it due to their own intense grief,” Shear said in an email to ABC News. “It’s very important that clinicians learn about childhood grief, how to recognize and treat it.”

The researchers behind the new report also found higher rates of childhood grief in some southern and Appalachian states. West Virginia had the highest rate, with approximately 13.3% of children experiencing grief, while Minnesota had the lowest rate. Arizona, Royalty’s home state, had a rate of 8.8%.

It’s unclear why certain states had lower rates, but Burns suggested the differences may depend on resource availability and state laws. She said states like West Virginia may have reduced access to health care and other resources.

Burns also emphasized that the causes of death have changed over the years. According to this year’s report, the leading causes of death for parents are accidents, heart disease and cancer. Birth conditions, accidents and birth defects top the list for siblings who die.

Suicide and homicide are also among the leading causes of death. Royalty’s sister, who had one child, died earlier this year from a fentanyl overdose.

Burns said she noticed a large uptick in suicide and drug overdose deaths during her career.

“That’s where we really see kids coming in questioning, ‘Was this because of something I did? Was this because I wasn’t a good enough son or good enough sibling?'” Burns said. “I think it’s alarming and it’s saddening.”

Shear pointed to research suggesting that negative outcomes in children, such as depression, continue to affect them for as long as seven years on average after a relative’s death.

While Royalty’s children are still learning to grieve their father’s death, they receive emotional and social support at school. They are also finding ways to honor her late husband.

“I feel bad for kids who experience this at a young age. It’s difficult for them to show emotions and open up,” Royalty said. “Always remain strong. Know that your parents will be watching you regardless. Do anything and everything to make them proud of you.”

Michal Ruprecht is a medical student at Wayne State University School of Medicine and a member of ABC News Medical Unit.

Nashville school shooting updates: Dramatic body camera footage released

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NASHVILLE, Tenn.) — Nashville police have released dramatic body camera footage from two officers who fired at the shooter who killed three children and three adults in a mass shooting at a small, private Christian school.

The video shows the officers entering the Covenant School Monday morning and following the sound of the gunfire to the second floor. They found the suspect — identified by police as Audrey Hale, 28, of Nashville — in a lobby area on the second floor, police said.

After an officer shouted “reloading,” the video shows officers Rex Engelbert, a four-year veteran, and Michael Collazo, a nine-year veteran, firing at the suspect.

Hale was shot dead about 14 minutes after the initial 911 call came in, according to police.

“They didn’t hesitate at all,” Metropolitan Nashville Police Chief John Drake said of the officers on Good Morning America Tuesday.

The slain children were identified by police as Evelyn Dieckhaus, Hallie Scruggs and William Kinney, all 9 years old. The adult victims were identified as 61-year-old substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61-year-old custodian Mike Hill and 60-year-old Katherine Koonce, who was head of the school.

“Yesterday was just a tragic event,” Drake said. “I’ve done this job for 35 years and I prayed that this would never, never be a day that we would have to deal with.”

Authorities believe the suspect was a former student, and while the school was likely targeted, Drake said it appears the “students were randomly targeted.”

The suspect was armed with at least two assault-style rifles, a handgun and “significant ammunition” on Monday, police said.

Hale had legally purchased seven guns from five different local gun stores, the chief told reporters on Tuesday.

Hale allegedly shot through a locked door on the side of the building to gain entry, according to police. As authorities responded to the scene, the suspect fired on police cars from a second-floor window, police said.

The victims were found in different locations, Drake said. The custodian was struck when the shooter sprayed rounds at the glass door to enter, Drake said, and the head of school was found in the hallway.

Investigators searched Hale’s home where they seized “a sawed-off shotgun, a second shotgun and other evidence,” according to police.

“We do have writings and a book we consider to be like a manifesto,” the police chief said of Hale. “We do have a map of the school, where it was diagrammed how she would enter and how she might proceed to take on potential victims.”

“We have not been able to determine a motive as of yet,” the chief said. “The investigation is very much still ongoing.”

There is also “some speculation that the shooter did reach out to maybe a friend or some other people,” Drake said, “but as of right now that’s unconfirmed.”

“We’ll continue picking up where we left off yesterday and see where it leads us,” he added. “As soon as we know more, we’ll continue to put the facts out there.”

Drake had told reporters on Monday that the suspect was female and identified as transgender but didn’t immediately provide more details. A police spokesperson later told ABC News that the suspect was assigned female at birth but pointed to a social media account linked to the alleged shooter that included the use of the pronouns he/him.

The Covenant School, which teaches preschool through sixth grade, does not have a school resource officer, according to police. There are about 209 students and 40 to 50 staff members.

In a statement released Monday night, the Covenant School said its community “is heartbroken.”

“We are grieving tremendous loss and are in shock coming out of the terror that shattered our church and school,” the school said. “We are focused on loving our students, our families, our faculty and staff and beginning the process of healing.”

“There’s nothing more gut-wrenching than responding to a child,” Nashville Fire Chief William Swann told ABC News’ GMA3. “That moment changes everything for you, because we all can relate to the innocence of it.”

President Joe Biden on Monday called the shooting “a family’s worst nightmare.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre stressed that Congress must take action on gun legislation.

“What we need from congressional Republicans is courage,” she told ABC News’ GMA3 on Tuesday. “What do you say to those parents? What do you say to those families? You can’t say to them, ‘There’s nothing else that can be done.’ That’s not what their job is as legislators.”

The “majority of Americans want common sense gun safety laws, they want to see [an] assault weapons ban. These are weapons of war,” she said. “The president has done his part. We need Congress to do their part.”

ABC News’ Alex Faul, Matt Foster, James Hill, Doug Lantz, Molly Nagle, Darren Reynolds, John Santucci and Moe Zoyari contributed to this report.

Thirty-nine dead after fire breaks out at migrant detention center in Juarez, Mexico

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A fire broke out at a migrant detention center in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, on Monday, killing at least 39 people, officials said in a statement.

The blaze began as the result of a protest by people being held in the facility, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador of Mexico said in a morning press conference. Protestors lit a mattress on fire inside the building, after some at the facility were informed they’d be deported, Obrador said.

“We do not yet know the names and nationalities of those who lost their lives,” he said, adding that they were mainly from Central America.

The fire started at about 10 p.m. on Monday evening at the Instituto Nacional de Migración, Mexico’s Institute of Migration said early Tuesday. Sixty-eight men from Central and South America had been housed in the facility at the time of the fire, officials said.

The dead were all migrants, according to the statement. Another 29 people were injured, some seriously, and were transferred to four local hospitals, authorities said.

The center is in an area across the border from El Paso, Texas, and is close to the Puente Internacional Lerdo Stanton bridge.

Disgraced crypto exec Sam Bankman-Fried faces new bribery charge

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Embattled crypto executive Sam Bankman-Fried now faces an additional criminal charge of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, according to a superseding indictment unsealed Tuesday in the Southern District of New York.

The new charge brings to 13 the total number of counts Bankman-Fried faces, all stemming from alleged corruption in the operations of the crypto companies he founded: FTX and Alameda Research.

Bankman-Fried allegedly agreed to pay $40 million in cryptocurrency to foreign officials in China so they would unfreeze certain trading accounts on two of China’s largest crypto exchanges that belonged to Alameda, according to the superseding indictment.

The accounts had been frozen in 2021 by Chinese authorities as part of an investigation of a certain Alameda trading counterparty.

“After the accounts were frozen, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant, and others operating at his direction, considered and tried numerous methods to unfreeze the accounts,” the indictment said. “After months of failed attempts to unfreeze the accounts, Samuel Bankman-Fried, the defendant, discussed with others and ultimately agreed to and directed a multi-million dollar bribe to seek to unfreeze the accounts.”

The alleged bribe payment was carried out in November 2021, at which time the accounts were unfrozen, prosecutors said, and Bankman-Fried resumed trading with the estimated $1 billion that remained in those accounts.

Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges. He has yet to enter a plea on this newest count and four others unsealed in a previous superseding indictment in late February.

Bankman-Fried has been free on a $250 million personal recognizance bond and under court orders to live with his parents. On Thursday, the judge overseeing the case will consider additional restrictions on Bankman-Fried’s bail after federal prosecutors raised concerns about his internet activities and his contact with current and former FTX employees.

According to a new court filing, Bankman-Fried’s parents have agreed to not allow him to use their phones and laptops and to install monitoring software on those devices that will photograph the device’s user every five minutes.

If the judge agrees, Bankman-Fried will not be allowed to contact current or former FTX and Alameda employees, use Signal or other encrypted messaging apps or use a VPN to access the internet.

He will be given a new laptop configured to allow access only to pre-approved websites, which are necessary for the preparation of the defense or for personal use, and do not pose a risk to the community.

Four teachers, two students stabbed in Brazilian school

March 28, 2023 by WDNY Radio

(SAO PAULO) — A 13-year-old student stabbed four teachers and two other students at a school in São Paulo, Brazil, on Monday, officials said.

Elisabete Tenreiro, 71, one of the teachers injured in the attack at Thomazia Montoro public school, later died from a heart attack at University Hospital of São Paulo, officials told ABC News.

The teenage suspect, who was not publicly identified, was taken into custody, an official with the São Paulo Governor’s Office said.

A motive was not yet known, but the suspect was said to have had problems with other students within the last week, official said. The suspect apparently also searched online how to purchase a gun, they said.

“I have no words to express my sadness,” São Paulo Gov. Gomes de Freitas, who was in London at the time of the attack, said in a statement posted to Twitter.

Monday’s attack was in the Vila Sonia neighborhood, a low-income area in western São Paulo. School attacks have become more common in Brazil since 2002, with at least 23 school incidents reported in the last two decades, according to Campinas research institute. Nine school incidents have reported since July 2022.

In Monte Mor last month, a 17-year-old was arrested after allegedly throwing a bomb in his school. He was reportedly wearing a Nazi armband at the time of the alleged attack.

+ More