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NYC subway shooting updates: Suspect in custody, sources say

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Frank James, the man wanted for allegedly opening fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people, is in custody, sources told ABC News, ending an over 24-hour-long manhunt.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that police had probable cause to arrest James, 62, for the attempted murder of 10 people — a determination made overnight after more than 18 hours of investigation that included video, cellphone data and interviews with witnesses. The U.S. Marshals Service joined the search for James — who was considered a dangerous and wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.

The “active shooter” incident unfolded on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute, just before 8:30 a.m. ET, as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, according to police.

A man mumbling to himself on the train donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a handgun and firing at least 33 bullets, a police official told ABC News. Three teenagers were among the 10 people shot. The gun jammed during the incident, which is believed to have saved lives, a law enforcement official told ABC News.

Smoke poured out of the subway car as the doors opened and screaming riders ran out onto the platform of the station. Bloodied people were seen lying on the floor of the train and the platform as others attempted to administer aid.

Twenty-nine people suffered various injuries, hospital officials said. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the mayor.

“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.

“We still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”

The Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun James allegedly used was purchased legally in 2011 in Ohio, law enforcement sources told ABC News. The gun, and the purchase of a gas mask on eBay, are among the pieces of evidence that elevated James from person of interest to suspect, the sources said.

Authorities have at least one of James’ credit cards and are able to track his purchase history.

Phantom Fireworks, a company in Wisconsin, confirmed that James bought fireworks products there last year that were believed to have been left behind in the subway station.

Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to James and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack.

Sewell said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” but declined to call them “threats.”

“There are some postings possibly connected to our person of interest where he mentions homelessness, he mentions New York and he does mention Mayor Adams,” Sewell told reporters Tuesday. “And as a result of that, in an abundance of caution, we’re going to tighten the mayor’s security detail.”

Police said James had rented a U-Haul van possibly connected to the violence. The key to the van and a credit card, which law enforcement sources told ABC News was used to rent a U-Haul, were among the gunman’s possessions recovered from the scene of the shooting. James had rented the same van in Philadelphia, according to police.

Police said the U-Haul van was found Tuesday afternoon, unoccupied and parked near a subway station on King’s Highway in Brooklyn’s Gravesend neighborhood, about 5 miles southeast of the 36th Street station. Nothing of investigative interest was discovered in the vehicle, apart from a pillow and other indications that James had been living inside, a law enforcement source told ABC News.

Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the gun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks.

None of the surveillance cameras inside the 36th Street subway station were working at the time of Tuesday’s shooting, a police official told ABC News. The cameras, which are aimed at the turnstiles, didn’t transmit in real-time due to a glitch computer malfunction, a source said. The same glitch impacted cameras at the stops before and after 36th Street. Investigators said they are looking into how this malfunction happened.

However, the cameras at the Kings Highway subway station in Gravesend were transmitting live feeds in real-time. That’s where investigators believe James entered the subway Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from the 36th Street station.

Police were able to get an image of the suspect from a bystander’s cellphone video, a law enforcement official told ABC News. Investigators are looking through video from other witnesses and surrounding businesses, hunting for any clues.

“The fact that these cameras are not working is a large concern,” Brooklyn borough president Antonio Reynoso told ABC News Live on Wednesday. “There’s a lot of work to do in the city now to check every camera, make sure they’re all working, and also a deeper dive into what happened and what we can do in the future to ensure this doesn’t happen.”

Subway service at the 36th Street station resumed Wednesday morning.

The bloodshed came amid a surge in crime within New York City’s transit system. The mayor said he has already doubled the number of police officers patrolling the city’s subway stations and is also considering installing special metal detectors in the wake of Tuesday’s shooting.

But Reynoso said, “More cops is not necessarily going to solve for this problem.”

“I think there are root causes to this violence that exists, mostly mental health at this point, is what we’re seeing in New York City. And that’s where we should be spending resources and energy,” Reynoso said. “More cops to respond to a crime won’t necessarily stop the crime. In this case, this individual was inside a train car — unless you believe that you can put a police officer in every single train car in New York City, which is physically impossible … that’s not the way we’re going to solve that issue.”

Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.

What parents need to know amid the national baby formula shortage

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Amid a growing shortage of baby formula across the country, major retailers have begun limiting the amount of formula customers can buy.

As of April, 31% of popular formula brands may be sold out at stores nationwide, according to Datasembly, a tracking firm that tracks products stocked on store shelves.

In response, CVS and Walgreens are among the retailers now restricting purchases of formula products.

“Following supplier challenges and increased customer demand, we’ve added a limit of three baby formula products per purchase in our stores and online. We’re continuing to work with our baby formula vendors to address this issue and we regret any inconvenience this causes our customers,” Matt Blanchette, a senior manager of retail communications at CVS Pharmacy told GMA via email.

A Walgreens spokesperson also told GMA in a statement: “Due to increased demand and various supplier challenges, infant and toddler formulas are seeing constraint across the country. Similar to other retailers, we put into effect purchase limits of three per transaction on all infant and toddler formula to help improve inventory. We continue to work diligently with our supplier partners to best meet customer demands.”

The shortage is due to several factors, experts say, including supply chain issues, rising inflation and previous recalls of baby formula products.

Earlier this year, the Food and Drug Administration warned consumers not to use certain Alimentum, EleCare, or Similac powdered infant formulas that were recalled due to possible bacterial contamination.

The World Health Organization and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend breastfeeding infants as breast milk contains the optimal nutrients and health protection for babies. However, breastfeeding may not always be possible for a host of reasons and may need to be supplemented with formula.

Nearly 70% of babies in the U.S., or nearly 3 million babies, are fed infant formula and get some or all of their nutritional needs from it, according to a 2016 review based on FDA data.

As the baby formula shortage continues, experts say parents and caregivers should reach out to pediatricians and seek help from resources like the federal Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) nutrition program. If a child needs specialized formula, like a hydrolyzed formula for a baby with allergies, they should talk to their child’s pediatrician or care team, like a pediatric dietitian, gastroenterolgist, or nephrologist.

Here are five more tips for parents, according to Dr. Steven Abrams, a professor of pediatrics at Dell Medical School at the University of Texas at Austin.

Be flexible with formula brands

Experts like Abrams say for most families, if one formula isn’t available, look for generic or alternative formulas.

“If you use the one brand name, identify the comparable version that might be the other competing brand names or the generic versions,” Abrams told GMA. “They’re virtually identical. There’s no reason that the overwhelming majority of parents can’t use almost any of the routine formulas they see out there that are comparable to what they’re used to.”

Check for formula in different stores

Abrams suggests looking in multiple stores for formula, including groceries and supermarkets, big box stores, convenience stores, and warehouse stores. Another option is to search online from reputable stores or to order from manufacturers directly.

“It’s harder for people who are more isolated from cities or more rural, and that’s where they can look online. If it’s one of those super-specialized formulas like Elecare, sometimes the pediatrician will be able to connect them with a formula representative that can help them. Sometimes the hospital may have a small supply they can use,” Abrams said.

Don’t hoard baby formula

Abrams also added that there is no reason to panic buy baby formula.

“I know it’s tempting to stock up four months’ supply because you’re worried about it, but obviously, it’s like everyone going to the gas station at the same time. If everybody buys formula at the same time, then there isn’t for other people,” he said.

Never dilute formula

Diluting infant formula can be dangerous and even life-threatening for babies, leading to a serious nutritional deficit and health issues, such as brain damage and seizures.

Follow basic hygiene standards, like washing hands before preparation, and follow instructions on the formula packaging. If preparing powdered formula, the FDA recommends using clean, potable water to mix. Some liquid formula also requires water to be mixed in.

Don’t try to DIY formula

Commercially available baby formula is heavily regulated by the federal Food and Drug Administration to be a safe breast milk alternative/supplement to provide babies the nutrition they need. The FDA does not recommend parents make or feed a child formula that hasn’t been evaluated as the formula may not have the correct amount or type of nutrients that a baby would need and could be adulterated.

“Only buy proper formulas that are sold legally in the United States via stores or online as legitimate formulas. There have been a couple of cases of babies actually getting homemade formulas and dying from them or being critically injured by them,” Abrams said.

The FDA has noted these past incidents, saying on its website, “The agency has received reports of hospitalized babies who had been fed homemade infant formula and then suffered from hypocalcemia (low calcium). Other potential problems with homemade formulas include contamination and absence of, or inadequate amounts of, critical nutrients.”

Biden gets praise, criticism for calling Russia’s actions in Ukraine ‘genocide’

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden is getting both praise and criticism after doubling down on describing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine as “genocide” — the first time he’s used the term since the invasion began nearly 50 days ago — even as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for weeks has claimed that is what’s happening on the ground.

During prepared remarks in Iowa Tuesday blaming inflation and gas prices on “Putin’s price hike,” Biden said, “Your family budget, your ability to fill up your tank, none of it should on hinge on whether a dictator declares war and commits genocide half a world away.”

His use of the word raised questions among Washington reporters about whether it was an ad-libbed moment or a policy shift from the White House — until Biden later insisted he meant exactly what said.

“Yes, I called it genocide,” Biden told reporters after his remarks. “Because it has become clearer and clearer that Putin is just trying to wipe out the idea of even being able to be a Ukrainian. And the evidence is mounting. It’s different than it was last week, the more evidence is coming out of the — literally, the horrible things that the Russians have done in Ukraine and we’re going to only learn more and more about the devastation.”

Biden went on to acknowledge the U.S. government has an internal, legal process for designating whether genocide has occurred but still stood by what he indicated was his opinion.

“We’ll let the lawyers decide internationally whether or not it qualifies, but it sure seems that way to me,” Biden added.

Genocide is defined as an act “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group,” according to the United Nations’ Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Zelenskyy has argued — and pleaded — for weeks that Russia has met this definition and called on Western leaders to use the same term. He was quick to applaud Biden’s comments as “true words of a true leader.”

The Kremlin, meanwhile, blasted the comment as Putin indicated this week indicated his invasion won’t stop until his goals are met and said peace talks with Kyiv had reached a “dead end.”

“We consider this kind of effort to distort the situation unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday. “This is hardly acceptable from a president of the United States, a country that has committed well-known crimes in recent times.”

It’s not clear how many Western leaders will go as far as Biden and Zelenskyy — or what will take for them to reach the same conclusion.

No other Western nations have made the determination, aside from Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas tying Russia’s crimes to the term in a tweet. French President Emmanuel Macron suggested Wednesday he’s more “careful” with his words than the American president, saying only that “war crimes” have been confirmed.

“So far, it has been established that war crimes were committed by the Russian army and that it is now necessary to find those responsible and bring them to justice,” Macron told France 2 in an interview.

“I am very careful with some terms [genocide] these days,” he added. “I’m not sure the escalation of words is helping the cause right now.”

Macron also rebuked Biden’s language last month, when asked about Biden calling Putin a “butcher” and saying he “cannot remain in power” during remarks in Warsaw.

“I wouldn’t use those terms, because I continue to speak to President Putin,” Macron said in another interview with France 3. “Because what do we want to do collectively? We want to stop the war that Russia launched in Ukraine, without waging war and without escalation.”

Biden stood by his words then, saying he was “expressing moral outrage” but also clarified that he wasn’t “articulating a policy change” amid some fallout.

It’s unclear now what pushed Biden to change his stance on using the term “genocide” — because asked directly last week if he thought the atrocities documented in Bucha were genocide, he said no.

“I got criticized for calling Putin a war criminal. Well, the truth of the matter, you saw what happened in Bucha,” Biden said April 4. “He is a war criminal — but we have to gather the information, we have to continue to provide Ukraine with the weapons they need to continue to fight, and we have to gather all the detail so this could be an actual — have a war crime trial. This guy is brutal. What’s happening in Bucha is outrageous, and everyone sees it.”

Asked directly, “You agree this is genocide?”

“No, it is a war crime,” Biden replied.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan followed Biden’s comment the same day by saying the administration had not yet seen the “systematic deprivation of life” necessary to meet the definition of genocide.

“This is something we, of course, continue to monitor every day. Based on what we have seen so far, we have seen atrocities, we have seen war crimes. We have not yet seen a level of systematic deprivation of life of the Ukrainian people to rise to the level of genocide,” Sullivan said.

According to the White House, President Biden called President Zelenskyy Wednesday morning to update him on ongoing U.S. support for Ukraine.

This call comes as the U.S. could announce an additional military assistance package to Ukraine as soon as Wednesday that could be as much as $750 million, and include a range of new military hardware.

ABC News Sarah Kolinovsky, Molly Nagle and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

NYC subway shooting updates: Manhunt on for suspect

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — New York City police are still hunting for a gunman who opened fire on a rush-hour subway train in Brooklyn, shooting 10 people.

The alleged shooter, identified by the New York City Police Department as 62-year-old Frank Robert James, was initially deemed a person of interest in the investigation before being named a suspect Wednesday morning.

“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News in an interview Wednesday on Good Morning America.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that police now have probable cause to arrest James for the attempted murder of 10 people — a determination made overnight after more than 18 hours of investigation that included video, cellphone data and interviews with witnesses. The U.S. Marshals Service has joined the search for James — who is now considered a wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.

Twenty-nine people suffered various injuries, hospital officials said. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the mayor.

A wanted poster released by police Wednesday morning described James as “armed and dangerous.”

“At this time, we still do not know the suspect’s motivation,” New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a press conference Tuesday evening. “Clearly this individual boarded the train and was intent on violence.”

A senior federal law enforcement source told ABC News that authorities are concerned the shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour.

Sewell said she increased security for the mayor after investigators found what she called “concerning posts,” but declined to call them “threats.”

Other items discovered at the scene of the shooting include the Glock 9 mm semi-automatic handgun used in the attack, three extended magazines, a hatchet, gasoline, four smoke grenades and a bag of consumer-grade fireworks. The gun wasn’t stolen, according to police.

Subway service at the 36th Street station resumed Wednesday morning.

But Reynoso said, “More cops is not necessarily going to solve for this problem.”

Anyone with information, videos or photos related to the shooting is urged to call NYPD Crime Stoppers at 1-800-577-TIPS.

ABC News’ Luke Barr, Mark Crudele, Alex Hosenball, Joshua Hoyos, Soo Rin Kim and Christopher Looft contributed to this report.

Teacher provides free ‘pad bags’ to students as wish list for menstrual products goes viral

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — A middle school teacher in Texas is making sure no student has to miss class time due to or feels ashamed of their menstrual cycle.

Kylie DeFrance, an English as an additional language (EAL) teacher at a charter school in Austin, keeps “pad bags” filled with feminine hygiene products at her desk in her classroom so that any student can take them at any time.

It’s a practice she said she began in her first year of teaching eight years ago when she saw female students, or, as she calls them, scholars, missing instruction time due to their periods.

“I’ve had scholars that were missing school constantly or were disappearing in the bathroom for 30-plus minutes,” DeFrance told Good Morning America. “Or I’ve had scholars that say, ‘I have to go to the bathroom,’ or ‘to the office,’ and they’re gone for half the day.”

When DeFrance started providing free pads and tampons and heating pads to her students, she said she saw they were able to stay in class and focus on learning.

“It is such a huge difference to see how much instructional time that they are not missing that they were before,” she said. “I had one scholar who would literally disappear into the bathroom for 30 minutes, five days a week, once a month, who is now not disappearing in the bathroom at all, and her grade went from a ‘D’ to an ‘A.’ She’s an excellent scholar.”

DeFrance continued, “That just goes to show that having your period should not conflict or cause a difficulty with your learning if you’re provided with the things that you need to be provided with.”

When DeFrance started a new teaching job last August at Austin Achieve, a public charter school, she said she purchased feminine hygiene products at her own expense to store in her classroom.

As word spread at the school that DeFrance had easy-to-access period supplies in her classroom, she said the demand grew and she was soon spending over $100 per month on her own on supplies.

DeFrance said she quickly realized that for many of her students, her classroom was their only access point for supplies. Over 90% of students at Austin Achieve, a year-round school, qualify for free or reduced lunch, according to the school’s website.

“A lot of the scholars go home and they’re the parents for their siblings because their parents are at work,” said DeFrance. “Or maybe their parents can’t take them to the store because they’re having to choose between food and this.”

“I’m not ever going to say no and turn a scholar away,” she said. “So I started keeping multiple pad bags and started asking scholars, ‘Do you need to take this home?’”

Period poverty, when people cannot afford even the most basic of period supplies like pads and tampons, is an issue that affects women around the world, including the United States. A lack of access to menstrual products and education affects 1 in 10 college students in the U.S., according to a study released last year.

Hoping to be able to provide more supplies to more students at her middle school, DeFrance added feminine hygiene products to her Amazon wish list, which she said typically consists of books she needs for her classrooms.

In addition to sharing the link on her Instagram page, DeFrance also posted her wish list on Nextdoor, a social networking service for neighborhoods.

Within hours, according to DeFrance, Amazon boxes filled with period supplies began showing up at her doorstep, all donated by strangers through her wish list.

“It blew my mind,” she said of the response to her post. “I had never met any of these people. I don’t know any of these people, but I had hundreds of boxes at my door.”

The boxes have continued to pour in, according to DeFrance. She said that since February, people have donated over 6,000 pads and 3,000 tampons, in addition to other supplies, like disposable heating pads.

DeFrance has also been able to upgrade her “pad bags” from plastic sandwich bags to reusable, zipper bags thanks to strangers’ donations. This week, she also received donations of two portable carts that she said she plans to turn into “menstruation stations” in her classroom.

She said she organizes the “pad bags” based on students’ preferences, adding that students will often return the bags with notes on what types of supplies they need.

DeFrance said that because her school has students in fifth through eighth grades, she is often meeting students as they are starting their menstrual cycles. She focuses on keeping supplies in her classroom and easily accessible in hopes of “normalizing” the conversation around periods.

“If a scholar can say, ‘I need a pencil,’ and I can give them a pencil and it’s not a problem, why can’t it be, ‘I need a pad.’ Why is that any different?” DeFrance said. “I would not send a scholar to an office for a pencil, so why do I need to send a scholar to the office for a pad.”

Advocates for menstrual equity say the taboo around menstruation and the lack of access to menstrual products hurts women economically because it costs them money for products and may keep them from jobs and school. Poor menstrual hygiene poses health risks for women, including reproductive issues and urinary tract infections.

On average, a woman will spend around seven years in their lifetime on their period, according to UNICEF.

Last year, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill into law requiring that public schools and colleges provide free menstrual products in classrooms.

DeFrance said that in her case, due to the surplus of donations, she has plans to put free period supplies in her school’s bathrooms and has already provided period products to teachers at nearby schools to distribute for free. She said she is also meeting this week with the leaders of Austin Achieve’s high school to discuss making supplies more accessible to students there.

CDC extends mask mandate for planes, trains until May 3

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has decided to extend the federal mask mandate for planes and trains until May 3, the agency announced on Wednesday.

The current mandate was set to expire this coming Monday, April 18. Citing the rapid spread of an Omicron subvariant, BA.2, which now makes up more than 85% of COVID cases in the US, the CDC said it needed more time to monitor a recent uptick.

“In order to assess the potential impact the rise of cases has on severe disease, including hospitalizations and deaths, and health care system capacity, the CDC Order will remain in place at this time,” the agency stated.

Many of the nation’s airlines have pushed hard to have the government lift the mandate.

Last month, CEOs of all major U.S. airlines wrote to the administration to stop requiring masks on planes.

“It makes no sense that people are still required to wear masks on airplanes, yet are allowed to congregate in crowded restaurants, schools and at sporting events without masks, despite none of these venues having the protective air filtration system that aircraft do,” the business executives wrote.

The group said the burden of enforcing the mask mandate has fallen on their employees, saying, “This is not a function they are trained to perform and subjects them to daily challenges by frustrated customers. This in turn takes a toll on their own well-being.”

There’s political pressure too. Several Democratic senators last March joined Republicans in a 57-40 Senate vote to overturn the requirement, although that bill hasn’t been taken up in the House.

The CDC decision to keep the status quo for just a little longer comes as the nation has entered an unprecedented phase in the pandemic. Much of the country is still exhibiting substantial spread of the virus, but hospitalizations and deaths have dropped since January.

The CDC though has argued that travel on airplanes, trains and buses presents a unique risk, including the possible rapid introduction of a dangerous new variant from overseas.

“There’s a lot of mixing, a lot of international travel that it’s hard to disentangle,” CDC Director Rochelle Walensky told ABC’s “Start Here” last March. The mandate also applies to all public transportation hubs, including airports.

Also, she noted that many people don’t have a choice but to use shared transportation to get to work. An estimated 3% of Americans are estimated to be immunocompromised and potentially at serious risk of the virus, even if vaccinated.

The number of unruly passengers on planes spiked during the pandemic. This year alone, the Federal Aviation Administration has received 1,150 reports of unruly passengers — 744 of which were related to face masks.

Just before the extension was announced, the head of the group that lobbies on behalf of all major U.S. airlines, doubled down on the call for getting rid of mask and pre-departure testing requirements.

“Neither restriction is currently supported by data and science in today’s public health environment,” Nick Calio, CEO of Airlines for America, said in a letter to administration officials.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

There is a 50% chance of temperatures exceeding 2 degrees Celsius unless climate pledges are strictly implemented: Study

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Countries around the world will need to do more than make lofty climate promises — they will need to keep them to actually keep them to prevent global temperatures from getting to catastrophic levels.

Scientists are now painting a clearer picture on the likelihood of keeping global warming below the 2-degree Celsius mark since the Industrial Revolution, the “worst-case scenario” outlined in the Paris Agreement. A study published in Nature on Wednesday suggests that, while the climate pledges have the potential to mitigate warming, current trajectories based on how they are implemented show otherwise.

In the five years preceding COP26, 153 parties to the 2015 Paris Agreement submitted new or updated climate mitigation goals for 2030, and 75 parties provided longer-term targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But analyses of updated pledges made before COP26 suggest there was still a higher than 50% chance of temperatures exceeding 2 degrees Celsius, which would push global temperatures past the point that any human civilization in history has experienced.

When the researchers took into account the updated climate pledges made in October, they argued that there is still a chance to limit warming to just below 2 degrees Celsius, according to the study. The net-zero pledges are “big news,” because it is the first time governments have come forward with specific targets that hold temperatures below that 2-degree threshold, Christophe McGlade, head of the energy supply unit at the International Energy Agency and another one of the study’s authors, said during a news briefing on Tuesday.

The authors estimated that if all pledges are implemented in full and on time, peak warming could be limited to 1.9 to 2 degrees Celsius — still above the conservative figure established by the Paris Agreement at 1.5 degrees Celsius. However, chances are still low, experts say.

“Unfortunately, the revised pledges hold only a 6–10% chance of meeting the Paris Agreement’s more ambitious goal of limiting global warming to no more than 1.5 °C, unless substantially more mitigation action happens this decade,” the researchers said.

Long-term targets should be treated with “skepticism” if they are not supported by short-term commitments to put countries on a pathway to meet those targets in the next decade, the researchers said. Otherwise, the world is going to “blast through the remaining admission carbon budget for 1.5 degrees just this decade,” Malte Meinshausen, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne and one of the authors of the study, said during a press briefing on Tuesday.

“It’s not a good news story, because our study clearly shows that increased action this decade is necessary for us to have a chance of not shooting past 1.5 degrees by a wide margin,” Meinshausen said.

In addition, based on the policies that governments currently have in place, the researchers estimate that it could lead to a whopping 2.6 degrees Celsius in warming by the end of the century if the climate goals are not implemented drastically in the upcoming years, said Christophe McGlade, head of the energy supply unit at the International Energy Agency and another one of the study’s authors, said during the briefing.

“This is clearly far too high, and will lead to massive climate damages around the world,” McGlade said.

Shanghai lockdown tests resilience of ‘Zero-COVID’ strategy, as economic and social tolls grow

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(HONG KONG) — China’s largest city is buckling under its biggest COVID-19 outbreak of the pandemic, with infections continuing to rise, despite a strict lockdown of more than 25 million Shanghai residents.

Cases in Shanghai surged on Wednesday to another record high of 26,330, of which just 1,190 were symptomatic. There is no end in sight to the lockdown, despite there being no official deaths reported.

Yet the Chinese government continues to relentlessly pursue its no-tolerance ‘Zero-COVID’ strategy as the costs on the economy and social stability are mounting.

China has hit back at the United States for ordering its non-emergency consulate staff and diplomats’ families to leave the locked-down city, saying it was “weaponizing” the issue.

The U.S. State Department announced the decision on Monday, saying it was “due to a surge in COVID-19 cases and the impact of restrictions.”

The U.S. pointed to the risk of children and parents being separated by a policy that has now been partially relaxed.

In March, as Omicron snuck into the financial, commercial and shipping capital, Shanghai had vowed not to impose a lockdown. They reversed course as cases climbed. Two weeks later, the normally lively streets of Shanghai are eerily quiet, as its millions of residents underwent several rounds of mass testing.

Under the “Zero-COVID” policy, all infected people are sent to hospitals or isolation centers.

Shanghai resident and expat Alessandro Pavanello told ABC News that he was moved from his home to an isolation facility on April 9 after testing positive. He showed ABC the partitioned mass hall where he sleeps. He was given a bucket and cloth to wash himself at the sink, as there are no showers.

“Everyone is in close contact with each other, and, as you can imagine, there is absolutely no privacy,” Pavanello said.

Other Shanghai residents’ experiences have been less intensive. Jamie Peñaloza compared it to memories of summer camp: “Announcements, call to duty, chores, and rest time.”

Peñaloza, who lives in Shanghai’s affluent Former French Concession, told ABC News that the most “surreal” part of the lockdown is being told to go for testing at short notice.

Peñaloza described loudspeakers blaring, giving updates and the “get tested now” orders, over birdsong in her eerily quiet neighbourhood. She said the empty and off-limit roads are now populated only by blue and white protective gowns gliding along by foot, bicycle or ambulance.

“While the communication is unpredictable,” she said, “The procedures are very organised. At the blink of an eye, the streets were cordoned off and testing sites pitched up, with queues that moved fast and registration requiring no more than a few taps of a button on an app and a gowned attendant scanning the resulting QR on your phone screen.”

While some residents complained of food shortage, Peñaloza said the recent government rations to her compound have been plentiful: “Millions of individual grocery packages were bagged and distributed within two days, for each and every single household of each and every single building; imagine!”

Shanghai this week begin easing some movement for residents in low risk zones, but the restrictions could be tightened as soon as cases are detected in their areas again.

“One person can test positive and that just sets the score back to zero,” Peñaloza said.

Japanese bank Nomura estimates there are now almost 200 million people subject to partial or full lockdown across 23 Chinese cities, including Shanghai. The large southern port city of Guangzhou immediately ordered testing of its 18 million residents after detecting just three positive cases last Friday.

Truck drivers have been prevented from taking goods to major shipping ports in Shanghai, which may cause further disruptions to global supply chains. American companies operating in China, from Apple to Tesla, have also been impacted by their factories being unmanned.

“There are signs that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to implement this policy as the social economic cost is rising rapidly and exponentially in a way,” said Yanzhong Huang, a public health expert at the Council on Foreign Relations in the U.S.

Huang said that prolonged lockdowns in Shanghai could hurt the competitiveness of China’s export economy in the longer term, especially as the city contributes to about a third of China’s total GDP.

“When other countries now are learning to coexist with the virus and their economy and the manufacturing capacity recovered by China’s, the export sector will be affected,” Huang said.

But, for now, China is doubling down.

Liang Wannian, head of China’s National Health Commission COVID-19 response expert panel and one of the principal architects of the “Zero-COVID” strategy, said earlier this week that China “doesn’t believe in ‘laissez-faire’.

”Dynamic Zero COVID is a scientific policy that, if implemented properly and correctly, will yield the most benefits at a minimal cost,” Liang said, “China will stick to this policy under the guideline of putting people and their lives first.”

South Dakota attorney general impeached over fatal car crash

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PIERRE, S.D.) — South Dakota Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg was impeached Tuesday by lawmakers in the state House of Representatives over the 2020 crash he was involved in that left a 55-year-old man dead.

The house voted 36-31 to impeach Ravnsborg and charged him with committing crimes that caused someone’s death, making “numerous misrepresentations” to law enforcement officers after the crash and using his office to navigate the criminal investigation, according to the articles of impeachment.

Ravnsborg was driving back from a dinner party hosted by the state Republican Party on Sept. 12, 2020, when he struck Joseph Boever, 55, who was walking on the road, a mile west of Highmore, South Dakota, police said. Ravnsborg called 911 and claimed he thought he hit an animal and drove home in another car, investigators said.

Boever’s body was found the next morning.

“When we’re dealing with the life of one of your citizens, I think that weighed heavily on everyone,” state Rep. Will Mortenson, who introduced the articles of impeachment, said in a statement following the vote.

Several members of Boever’s family, including his widow, Jennifer Boever, and his mother, Dorothy Boever, were in attendance during the vote. The family brought a picture of Joseph and Jennifer Boever on their wedding day.

“We were happy, and for this man to come along and take it away … this is just inexcusable,” Jennifer Boever told reporters after the vote. “I’m glad that we got the vote here, and now we just need the Senate’s help on this.”

Investigators determined that Ravnsborg was distracted while he was driving and his car crossed completely onto the highway shoulder before hitting Boever, who was carrying a flashlight. The investigators said officers didn’t believe some of Ravnsborg’s initial statements.

In August, Ravnsborg pleaded no contest to a pair of misdemeanor traffic charges related to the crash and was not sentenced to any prison time. He rejected several calls for his resignation from lawmakers, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a fellow Republican.

Ravnsborg will be temporarily removed from office pending an impeachment trial in the South Dakota state Senate. No date has been set for the trial. However, the state constitution says the Senate must wait at least 20 days before impeachment hearings can begin.

“The House of Representatives voted, and I respect the process, but I look forward to the Senate trial, where I believe I will be vindicated,” Ravnsborg, who is the first state official to be impeached in South Dakota history, said in a statement.

Prior to the vote, Ravnsborg sent letters to lawmakers before the vote urging them to exonerate him, the Argus Leader reported.

“Setting such a low precedent will affect many members of the Legislature who have been convicted of Class 2 and Class 1 misdemeanors,” he wrote.

More than 102,000 without power in Texas, Louisiana as extreme tornado weather pattern continues

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — More than 102,000 customers in Texas and Louisiana are without power after a storm system ripe with tornado conditions ripped through the region, according to PowerOutage.us.

Eight tornados were reported in Iowa and Texas overnight with some severe damage reported.

Texas, Louisiana, Iowa and Minnesota were just some of the states that were under a tornado watch on Tuesday from a system that affected 45 million Americans with severe weather through the night, according to the National Weather Service. Tornados and heavy gusts were forecast from Little Rock, Arkansas, to Memphis, Tennessee, to Evansville, Indiana.

On Monday night, at least six tornados were reported in nearby Arkansas.

More tornados are expected on Wednesday. The biggest threat for strong tornadoes Wednesday will be from Indianapolis to St. Louis; Louisville, Kentucky; Memphis, Tennessee; Little Rock, Arkansas; and down to Jackson, Mississippi. A tornado watch has been issued for portions of Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri and southern Illinois through Wednesday afternoon.

The severe tornado conditions are a continuation from March, which saw record-breaking tornado activity in the U.S. with 218 — the most to ever occur in that month, according to the National Weather Service.

The energy sector in Texas has been under scrutiny after an uncharacteristic winter freeze caused massive failures on the state’s power grid in 2021. The state experienced another mass power outage this past February as a result of another winter storm, when more than 50,000 customers lost power.

Last summer, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a bill to reform the state’s power grid and how it is operated in response to the power crisis.

More than 48,000 customers were without power in Texas as of Wednesday afternoon, according to PowerOutage.us.

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