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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.

NYC police name suspect in Brooklyn subway shooting

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 on Wednesday morning. There was a $50,000 reward for information leading to his whereabouts.

“At this time, based on the preliminary investigation, we believe he was alone,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos 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 United States Marshals Service have joined the search for James — who is now considered a wanted fugitive — along with other federal and local agencies.

The shooting 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, who was seen mumbling to himself on the train, donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister commonly bought online before pulling out a .38-caliber handgun and opening fire, a police official told ABC News. He fired a barrage of at least 33 bullets, striking 10 people, according to police. 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.

A total of 29 people were transported from the scene to local hospitals with various injuries. Five of the gunshot victims were critically injured and have since stabilized, a fire department official told ABC News. As of Wednesday morning, just four of the wounded remained hospitalized, according to the New York City mayor.

Police described the gunman as an “active shooter.”

“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 Tuesday’s shooting showed a level of planning and commitment to kill scores of commuters during rush hour. The New York City mayor said there’s currently no evidence to suggest the gunman had any accomplices.

Senior law enforcement officials told ABC News that they have uncovered a number of social media posts and videos tied to the suspect, James, and are studying them closely to see if they are relevant to the subway attack. In one video posted to YouTube just hours before Tuesday’s shooting, James appears to be driving a truck.

The New York City police commissioner 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 evening. “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 on 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 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 was not stolen, according to police. Investigators are sifting through evidence looking for any possible fingerprints on the gun and the other recovered items.

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 on Tuesday morning, just blocks from where the U-Haul van was parked and eight subway stops away from 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.

Subway service resumed at the 36th Street station in Sunset Park on Wednesday morning, after police concluded their investigation there.

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.

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

NYC subway shooting witness wondered after escape: ‘Is the shooter still with us?’

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Kenneth Foote-Smith was on the subway when a gunman detonated a smoke canister, sending commuters into panic.

He saw women screaming and “banging on the door,” and a man trying to open the subway car door, “fighting for his life.”

“That’s when I knew something was very, very wrong and that’s before the gunshots even happened,” Foote-Smith told ABC News’ Good Morning America.

Ten people were shot by a gunman on a Manhattan-bound N subway car during the Tuesday morning commute as the train approached the 36th Street subway station in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park neighborhood, according to the New York City Police Department.

The gunman — who remains at large — donned a gas mask and detonated a smoke canister before pulling out a .38-caliber handgun and opening fire, a police official told ABC News.

Twenty-nine people suffered injuries overall.

Foote-Smith said the first interruption to his commute was “a loud bang, sounded almost like glass breaking.”

“Everyone on my train got up and hurriedly moved toward the conductor’s door, and before I could turn to see what they were fleeing from, there were three loud bangs — and it was much closer and much different noise than that first bang,” he said.

Foote-Smith said he looked at the next subway car and saw a man “banging on our door, trying to open it up with all the ounce of power he can — and the door is not moving.”

That’s when smoke started filling up that neighboring car.

“Once my eyes adjusted to this really thick, white smoke filling up the car, I saw faces pressed against the glass of their subway connector door. And it was women’s faces and they were screaming, they were banging on the door,” he said. “And once we saw that gentleman banging on the door for — fighting for his life, that’s when we noticed — that’s when I knew something was very, very wrong and that’s before the gunshots even happened.”

The gunshots rang out as the train approached the 36th Street station, Foote-Smith said.

“It was three or four quick ‘pop, pop, pops,'” he said, “and everyone on my train immediately knew what it was.”

“No one screamed or said anything, we were just pleading with the conductor to please move this train,” he said. “He does eventually come out and sees the smoke — and the smoke at this point has now completely filled the car. I can’t see into the [neighboring] railway car anymore and people spilled out onto that small platform between the trains and the screams have now increased. “

“This is the moment when the gentleman in our train decides to try and open the subway connector door from our side — after we were frozen in fear for maybe the longest 30 seconds of our life –.and the door still jammed,” he said. “Now have to watch as people scream and struggle and try and fight for their lives for something we don’t know.”

There were more gunshots as the train pulled up to the station, he said.

“As soon as the subway doors opened, it’s a sea of people coming out of the subway,” he said. “I saw people with gunshot wounds and stumbling and pushing people over, coughing and choking on smoke.”

In the chaos, he said a conductor led passengers onto another train.

“My first thought when we got on that train, though, was, is the shooter still with us?” Foote-Smith said.

Police have named a suspect in the shooting — 62-year-old Frank R. James.

James is now considered a wanted fugitive. The U.S. Marshals have joined the search along with the NYPD, FBI, ATF and other agencies.

Inflation surges to 40-year high as food prices spike from groceries to takeout

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Inflation is at its highest point in nearly 40 years and the cost of food has steadily climbed month over month across multiple categories from groceries to takeout.

The Labor Department announced Tuesday that the Consumer Price Index jumped 8.5% in March compared to a year ago, which is the sharpest increase since December 1981.

Prices have soared as a result of massive consumer demand, supply chain disruptions from labor shortages to increasing fuel costs as well as global food and energy markets made worse by the current Russian war against Ukraine.

On Monday, ahead of the latest CPI numbers being released, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki addressed the media and said they expected headline inflation on food “to be extraordinarily elevated due to Putin’s price hike.”

While the new CPI was largely in line with expert predictions, inflation climbed 1.2% compared to last month and consumers have seen the impact, especially on food products.

“It is a reminder to us — that we need to do more to reduce cost for the American people,” Psaki continued. “This data will be a reminder of the need to do something and take additional steps.”

In March, the overall increase in the food index was one of the three largest contributors to inflation, according to the report Tuesday.

The food at home index, which includes groceries, saw a 1.5% jump in the last month. Plus, fresh produce climbed another 1.5% this month after an already 2.3% increase in February for fruits and vegetables. Since the same time period last year, the food at home index has jumped 10% annually, also marking the biggest increase since 1981.

The meats, poultry, fish and eggs index within the food at home bracket has gone up 13.7% since last year. Dairy and other at home grocery food groups ranged from a 7 to 10.3% increases.

Products like “meats, poultry, fish, and eggs increased 1% percent in March, while the index for cereals and bakery products rose 1.5% and the index for nonalcoholic beverages increased 1.2% over the month,” the report stated. “The dairy and related products index also increased 1.2% in March.”

The food away from home index — which spans limited service options like coffee shops to sit down restaurants — only rose 0.3% in March. But in the last year, the category rose 6.9% overall which was the largest 12-month increase since December 1981.

Consumers have felt the pinch and taken notice of pricier food products, especially with aspects of daily life resuming in the U.S., like returning to the office and getting back into a lunch routine.

Although many Americans were quick to tap or swipe a credit card for the convenience of sandwiches and salads, the prices of a bowl of greens has gone up 11% since last year, according to Square. The technology company told ABC news last month that in a 28-day rolling average of standard lunch items nationally, it found the cost sandwiches has gone up 14% and wraps 18% since last year.

The one contrast of the report was for food at employee sites and schools. That category declined 30.5% over the past year and reflects the widespread implementation of free lunch programs.

Environmentally friendly food brands to add to your pantry year-round

April 13, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — From snacks and condiments to drinks, more consumer product goods have leaned into environmentally responsible practices. As food businesses continue to adapt to the times, it’s easier than ever for shoppers to support brands with products that taste great and help the earth along the way.

Whether it’s a fully sustainable supply chain, ethically sourced ingredients, upcycling or zero-waste packaging, these are a handful of brands who are doing it right:

West~bourne

The zero-waste pantry line from plant-based restauranteur and chef Camilla Marcus utilizes low-impact plastic-free packaging such as sustainably-sourced wood cellulose pouches, sugarcane paper labels and soy ink.

The California-based company commits to low-impact products and a transparent supply chain, offsetting its carbon footprint on each order through investing in The Garcia River Project, a redwood forest preservation and management project that protects carbon reservoirs, preserves wildlife habitats, reduces the risk of wildfires and safeguards the California watershed.

Blue Stripes

Founder and CEO Oded Brenner left his successful international chocolate restaurant chain to forge a new path in the industry working with farmers in Ecuador to utilize the entire cacao fruit — shells, beans, fruit and all — to create wholesome nutritent-rich treats that take upcycled food to the next level.

“I am thrilled to finally share Blue Stripes, an urban cacao wellness brand, with the world and showcase the diversity of the cacao fruit,” Brenner said. “Especially because until today more than 70% of the fruit was wasted, and by using the entire fruit, we’re forming a sustainable structure that is a win/win for the consumer, farmer and the planet.”

His 15 products help curb wasteful practices and utilize every aspect of the crop; from the whole granola that’s made with a proprietary cacao shell flour to the cacao water made from the white, fleshy pulp that surrounds the beans.

“Upcycling ingredients is not just a way of bringing delicious products to consumers, but is also our duty to Mother Nature,” he added.

Sun & Swell

This zero-waste, plant-based, organic, healthy foods brands is helping alleviate the snack industry of plastics with their fully compostable packaging. With sustainability as its main priority, the company works to create a circular food economy by turning its over 100 products’ packaging back into farmable soil.

“We offer a send back program where [customers] send the used packages back in a prepaid return envelope and we will compost for them,” the company stated. “We have a number of composting partners and once we sort through the returned packages at our headquarters — we bring them to our partners to compost. Our bags will decompose within 180 days in an industrial compost setting.”

LesserEvil

The brand is on a mission to make healthy, organic, less-processed and sustainable snacks more affordable and accessible for everyone.

“We understand that the products we sell have an effect on not just our own health but on that of the planet,” CEO Charles Coristine said in a statement. “The agricultural practices — and their resulting waste practices — that bring food to our customers’ homes directly impact the environment.”

From plant-based Sun Poppers made from upcycled watermelon and pumpkin seeds and PeaNOTS made with water-efficient organic peas, LesserEvil offers a wide range of sustainable snacks.

The company also partners with NEO Plastics to package all of its snacks and help minimize waste and their overall carbon footprint.

ZenWTR

Not many beverage brands can boast a sustainability model that is plastic negative — a company that supports companies in the reduction of disposable plastic until its complete elimination. In fact, ZenWTR was the first and only to receive such certification for its innovative bottles, which are made of 100% recycled, certified ocean-bound plastic.

The vapor-distilled alkaline water company supports new recycling economies by creating demand for ocean-bound plastic and is on track to rescue 50 million pounds of it by 2025.

The brand’s unique supply chain — rescuing and reusing this category of waste to create a product — could change how other food and beverage brands think about plastic. Plus, 1% of its sales go directly to charities and organizations that are dedicated to protecting the world’s oceans and marine environments on top of recycling education and advocacy.

Minor Figures

The recently certified B Corp and sustainably minded coffee company makes 100% plant-based, dairy- and refined sugar-free products for coffee lovers, baristas and a better planet.

The company, which is one of a small handful of carbon neutral food and beverage companies, called it’s certification earlier this month, “more than just a sustainability label” but rather, “a movement with the collective goal of transforming the global economy to benefit people, communities, and the planet.”

“At the time of writing, we’re one of just 4,856 B Corps globally and we’re proud to be among the ranks of companies setting the new standard for the way business should be done,” the company said.

Compostic

While not a food product for consumption, this company said it created the first 100% home-compostable, zero-waste functional alternative to Cling Wrap and Resealable Bags. Plus, the easy sustainable swaps break down in home compost quicker than an orange peel.

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