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Bipartisan calls for Russian oil ban meet resistance from White House

March 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Bipartisan calls are growing on Capitol Hill for the United States to ban imports of oil from Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, but the White House stopped short of an outright ban — and experts said the impact would be limited.

The United States and other Western nations have imposed an unprecedented raft of sanctions on Russia, but they have created exceptions for the oil and gas sector — from which the Russian government derives much of its income — because of fears cutting off the supply would drive up energy prices around the world.

But Republican members of Congress have for weeks been calling for a ban on imports of Russian crude oil and petroleum products, saying it would kneecap Russian President Vladimir Putin more than the Biden administration’s sanctions have so far.

“Putin’s major source of revenue is selling oil and gas and Biden’s given an exception,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said Wednesday. “You can continue getting billions of dollars to fund the invasion of Ukraine.”

Experts predict muted impact on Russia

Just 1% of Russia’s total crude oil exports in 2020 went to the United States, according to U.S. government figures.

So while cutting off that trade would force Russia to find other buyers for that relatively small amount of oil, it would not have as significant of an impact as if Europe — where Russia sends nearly half its oil — stopped them, experts told ABC News.

And the crippling financial sanctions on Russia’s banks and other parts of its economy have already turned off potential buyers of Russian oil who are wary of doing business in a country quickly becoming a financial pariah, the experts said.

“Russian oil has already been de facto sanctioned” by the United States and its partners, Patrick De Haan, the head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, told ABC News.

The global market has already started to react, according to Ben Cahill, an expert on energy security at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“For Russia, this is part of a bigger set of challenges — which is a lot of people don’t want to buy their oil,” Cahill said. “There’s a lot of self-sanctioning happening in the marketplace.”

The U.S. relies on Russian oil more than Russia depends on sending its oil to the U.S., with about 7 to 10% of the United States’ imports of crude oil and petroleum products coming from Russia in recent years.

De Haan said cutting off the supply would likely raise gas prices in the U.S. in the short term.

But Cahill said the switch would be “manageable,” with the U.S. potentially turning to countries like Mexico, Ecuador, Colombia and Canada to replace the Russian oil.

Growing bipartisan support runs up against White House reluctance

Still, a slew of Democratic senators, as well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, on Thursday threw their support behind cutting off Russian oil imports.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, led by moderate Democrat Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Republican Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, introduced legislation Thursday that would declare a national emergency and direct President Joe Biden to impose a ban.

But Biden already has such authority.

And while the White House has not completely ruled out the possibility, it has expressed concern it could lead to higher energy prices for Americans who are already being hit at the gas pump by record-high inflation rates.

“The president’s objective has been to maximize impact on President Putin and Russia, while minimizing impact to us and our allies and partners,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Thursday.

The group backing Manchin’s proposal is bipartisan. Nine Republicans have signed on as co-sponsors. And Democratic supporters span the caucus from traditionally moderate members like Sen. Jon Tester, of Montana, to more progressive members like Hawaii Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz, and Connecticut’s Sen. Richard Blumenthal.

“Putin has weaponized energy,” Tester said. “I don’t believe this country should be importing anything from Russia, but the fact of the matter is energy is something Putin depends upon for his finances, and he is depending on it to fight this war in Ukraine.”

Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has offered a separate bill that would also ban Russian oil imports. In addition, his legislation would require a report identifying entities involved in the import of Russian crude oil and petroleum products into the U.S. — and impose sanctions on those entities based on the report’s findings.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi gave the effort her stamp of approval Thursday.

“I’m all for that,” Pelosi told reporters. “Ban it. Ban the oil coming from Russia.”

Manchin said Americans should be willing to make a sacrifice.

“You talk about an inconvenience, can you imagine if you lived in Ukraine right now?” Manchin said. “If there was a poll being taken and they said, ‘Joe, would you pay 10 cents more a gallon to support the people of Ukraine and stop, basically, the support of Russia?’ I would gladly pay 10 cents more a gallon.”

Republicans call for new drilling on US public lands

Pelosi was clear that she did not back an increase on oil and gas drilling on federal land, which the Biden administration has restricted — and which Republicans want.

While the bipartisan bill makes no mention of domestic production, many Republican lawmakers — and some Democrats, including Manchin — see the two policies going hand in hand.

An increase in U.S. production would blunt rising oil prices and provide a global alternative to Russian oil, they argue.

“We must dramatically increase domestic production of energy to support the energy needs of American consumers without causing increased financial burden,” Manchin said in a statement Tuesday.

Increasing U.S. oil production is a controversial move. Many Democrats applauded steps taken by the administration for sidelining the Keystone XL pipeline project last year and taking steps to pare back production in favor of greener energy sources earlier this year.

But the White House says oil companies have access to plenty of places to drill, and the Biden administration supports investing in clean energy in the long term to prevent a reliance on foreign oil.

Cahill said there are signs U.S. producers are already reacting to demand that increased even before the war in Ukraine — and that most of the new drilling would take place on private land.

“This industry mostly takes its signals from Wall Street, and the market is going to take care of some of this on its own,” Cahill said. The White House lending its rhetorical support could help, though, he said.

Murkowski echoed that sentiment.

“If the president were to come before the American people and give a speech and say we in this country need to embrace the role that we can take on as a full energy producer,” she said, “I think that that would do as much to send a signal to help calm the markets to help address what we are seeing with the daily prices of fuel at the pump.”

ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki contributed to this report.

A war during a pandemic: experts warn of a perfect storm

March 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — In the midst of an ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, public health experts are now warning that the COVID-19 pandemic could soon accelerate in the region.

While medical care for casualties of war is now the first priority, experts say the crisis could accelerate the spread of infectious disease, including COVID-19 — especially as a growing number of Ukrainians are displaced and forced in cramped, fraught situations.

Ukraine was already struggling with the pandemic before the war started, with the highly transmissible omicron variant causing a surge in cases. In the past four weeks alone, Ukraine reported more than 900,000 COVID-19 cases, more than one-fifth of total cases from the entire pandemic. Only 35% of Ukrainians are fully vaccinated.

“Migration and congregation of populations is likely to significantly contribute to disease spread, especially given the current surge of the highly transmissible omicron variant,” said John Brownstein, PhD, epidemiologist, chief innovation officer at Boston Children’s Hospital and ABC News contributor.

WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned Wednesday there’s likely to be significant undetected transmissions.

Tarik Jasarevic, WHO spokesperson, told ABC News Live, “We will probably see less of testing, less of sequencing, less of a heavily epidemiological picture of COVID-19.”

Should the COVID-19 crisis escalate, experts also worry about the capacity to plan ahead and treat sick patients.

“Our ability to respond will be hampered by the lack of testing and surveillance, which means that we are likely to be flying blind as to the impact of the virus for weeks to come,” Brownstein said.

The WHO has warned of a critical oxygen shortage, with three major oxygen plants in the country now closed.

“We have to really understand this population is already vulnerable,” Jasarevic said, noting the health system has been overstretched through the pandemic.

The WHO has sent its first shipment of supplies to neighboring Poland, including 40 tons of supplies for trauma care and emergency surgery.

“It’s really important that we do our best to support those heroic health workers who are risking their lives just by going to work and they are under immense personal pressure as well because they are also affected their families in conflict zones,” Jasarevic said.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos and Christine Theodorou contributed to this report.

Florida passes ban on abortions after 15 weeks: What to know

March 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(TALLAHASSEE, Fla.) — Florida’s state Senate on Thursday passed a bill that bans abortions after 15 weeks, the same gestational limit currently being reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bill, HB 5, which passed the state House in February, is expected to move quickly to the desk of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has previously said he is supportive of a ban after 15 weeks.

If signed by DeSantis, the bill will go into effect July 1.

The bill does not make exceptions for rape or incest, but does allow for exceptions if the fetus has a fatal abnormality or in cases when the mother is at risk of death or “substantial or irreversible physical impairment.”

Those exceptions would require written certification from two physicians.

Currently, abortions are allowed in Florida up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights advocates argue that banning abortion after 15 weeks will further harm patients who need care the most, including people of color, people of limited economic means and people who lack health insurance.

Dr. Sujatha Prabhakaran, chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, told ABC News that doctors like herself are “scared and sad” about the bill’s potential impact.

“The biggest impact of the bill is going to be hurting our patients’ access to the care that they need,” said Prabhakaran, also a practicing OB-GYN in Sarasota, Florida. “We know that when there are these restrictions, it doesn’t mean that the need for the care goes away, it just means that it makes it even harder for patients to access the care.”

HB 5’s passage in the Senate comes as the Supreme Court is reviewing a similar Mississippi law that bars abortion after 15 weeks.

In the case, Mississippi, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, the state of Mississippi is arguing to uphold a law that would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, while Jackson Women’s Health, Mississippi’s lone abortion clinic, argues the Supreme Court’s protection of a woman’s right to choose the procedure is clear, well-established and should be respected.

Since the Roe v. Wade ruling and the 1992 Planned Parenthood v. Casey ruling that affirmed the decision, the court has never allowed states to prohibit the termination of pregnancies prior to fetal viability outside the womb, roughly 24 weeks, according to medical experts.

If the Supreme Court rules in Mississippi’s favor and upholds the law — as is expected because of the court’s current conservative makeup — the focus will turn to states, more than half of which are prepared to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.

Because the states that plan to ban abortion are focused in specific geographic regions, including the South, the expected effect is that women will have to travel much longer distances, at a greater cost and inconvenience, to seek abortion care, according to Elizabeth Nash, interim associate director of state issues at the Guttmacher Institute,

“If you’re thinking about the average abortion costing $550, and then somebody trying to navigate a trip of several hundred miles, you’re adding hundreds of dollars to the cost and you’re asking that person to pull that money together very quickly,” she told ABC News in January. “That is an insurmountable burden for so many.”

Prabhakaran said she and other doctors in Florida are already seeing patients from states as far away as Texas, which last year enacted a law that bans abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

As of 2017, abortions in Florida represent just over 8% of all abortions in the U.S., according to the Guttmacher Institute.

According to Prabhakaran, a 15-week ban in Florida has the potential to force pregnant people to travel as far as North Carolina and Washington, D.C., for care.

“While abortion is very safe, the the higher the gestational age, the more risk there is potentially to patients who have a complication,” she said, adding that the lack of access also means some patients will continue with high-risk pregnancies while others will seek other care. “What I worry is going to start to happen again is that patients will be taking care from unqualified providers, and that that will put them at risk.”

Return to pre-pandemic normalcy not yet on the horizon for many immunocompromised Americans

March 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When coronavirus shut down the nation nearly two years ago, 7-year-old Xiomara Hung and her family were quick to retreat to their Maryland home in an effort to help curb the spread of the virus and avoid any potential infection.

Like many children across the country, Xiomara and her brother were forced to trade their backpacks for laptops as the virus forced schools online.

However, unlike most students, who are now back to in-person schooling, Xiomara, who was born with a number of medical conditions affecting her airway, lungs, heart and kidneys, has not yet been able to return. Because she is immunocompromised, her parents have been faced with the difficult decision to keep her away from her peers in virtual schooling while the virus is still circulating.

“It’s been really hard,” Xiomara’s mother, Elena Hung, told ABC News. “But in a way, it wasn’t a hard decision. Do we keep her safe and alive, or do we send her to school? The goal is absolutely her to go to school, but I have to weigh that against her safety. There’s no point in going to school, if she’s going to get sick, and she might end up in the hospital.”

The consequences of losing that in-person interaction has been “extremely difficult” as “they are missing out on very important social development.”

Although the omicron surge appears to be steadily subsiding in the U.S., for families like Xiomara’s, the pandemic feels far from over.

“The past two years has been very difficult for us, and even now, more so in 2022, as we are seeing mask mandates lifted, we are seeing fewer protections for people who are disabled and immunocompromised and chronically ill. In so many ways, we feel like we are being left behind as people are trying to return to ‘normal,'” said Hung, who co-founded the organization Little Lobbyists, which aims to advocate for children with complex medical needs.

Across the country, dozens of states and cities, led by both Republicans and Democrats, have moved rapidly in recent weeks to declare an end to COVID-19 restrictions.

“With more New Yorkers getting vaccinated, and the steady decline over the past several weeks in cases and hospitalizations from Omicron, we are now entering a new phase of the pandemic,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement this week upon lifting the mask mandate for schools.

Hochul’s message of a nation moving on in its fight against COVID-19 echoes that of many state and local legislators, as well as President Joe Biden, who, during his State of the Union address Tuesday, declared that “COVID-19 no longer needs to control our lives.”

However, despite the president’s suggestion that “we’re leaving no one behind or ignoring anyone’s needs as we move forward,” many immunocompromised Americans say they indeed feel “left behind.”

“We do lead lives that make us look at life and death differently, but we also have normal life,” Hung said. “Xiomara is a kid, who does all the things that a typical 7-year-old does. Her normal is the same normal. But she can’t accept that normal, if anybody’s going back to school, not wearing a mask.”

‘Immunocompromised patients matter’

With pandemic “fatigue” strong, many Americans have been vocal in their hope to leave COVID-19 behind and return to a long desired sense of normalcy.

Last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unveiled their new plan for determining COVID-19 risk in communities, and updated its recommendations for mask-use.

Under the new risk levels, approximately 90% of the U.S. population now lives in areas deemed to have low or medium threats to their local hospitals, and thus can stop wearing masks.

“Americans in most of the country can now be mask-free,” White House coronavirus response coordinator Jeff Zients said in a briefing on the plan Wednesday.

The administration has also pledged to take key steps to help individuals who are disabled, including those who suffer from weak immune systems.

“We will continue to address the specific needs of seniors, people living with disabilities and people who are immunocompromised. These are the Americans who need our focus and attention right now,” added Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.

However, doctors say those at highest risk should still be wary of taking off their masks.

Across the country, about 2.7% of the population, according to the CDC, are living with weakened immune systems because of a variety of causes, such as active cancer treatment, organ or stem transplant or primary immune deficiency diseases.

For some of these 7 million high-risk Americans, COVID-19 has been “devastating.”

“I see the devastating effects of this viral infection every day as it leads to death and disability of my patients who were previously leading healthy, active lives,” Dr. Jeannina Smith, medical director of the transplant and immunocompromised host service at the University of Wisconsin, told ABC News. “Omicron was not mild for our patients.”

COVID-19 has been the “leading cause of death” in transplant programs at the University of Wisconsin for the last two years, Smith said.

“Immunocompromised patients matter,” Smith stressed. “The new CDC guidelines have absolutely left my patients behind, effectively abandoning them. The goal of the new cutoffs for COVID activity only focus on keeping hospitals from being overwhelmed, with a stated understanding they will not prevent infection. My patients are still dying of COVID despite every medical advance.”

Vaccines have been shown to be less effective for people living with weakened immune systems, putting them at greater risk of serious COVID-19 disease and death compared to the general population.

There are also many Americans with other chronic or long-term conditions, such as diabetes or asthma, who could become quite ill if they were infected.

“COVID-19 remains a threat for most vulnerable Americans — poor, rural patients, minorities, patients that are old or with comorbidities, immunocompromised, or with cancer and the vaccine-hesitant. Many patients will have one or more of these categories,” Dr. Jaime Imitola, the director of UConn Health’s division of multiple sclerosis and translational neuroimmunology, told ABC News.

Getting back to ‘normal’ right now may not be possible for everyone

Vulnerability to infection is a great concern to many immunocompromised Americans. However, many are also anxious about facing increased isolation as states lift mask mandates and other pandemic safeguards.

“Everyone wants to go back to normal but that normal sacrifices our normal,” said Christa Xavier, 30, of Pennsylvania.

Xavier, who suffers from fibromyalgia, was also a former smoker, putting her at increased risk of severe disease. Prior to the pandemic, she worked for 10 years in retail, a career that she has been forced to abandon due to her condition.

“It’s just been extraordinarily difficult to find work that is remote. That’s really tough,” said Xavier.

Now an artist, Xavier feels confined to her home as she fears potential infection with people taking off their masks.

“It basically feels like just being left behind. It’s like everyone is kind of looking at me like, ‘Well, you really should maybe just get back to normal.’ I don’t think anyone really understands what it’s like,” Xavier said. “I could just go outside and within two weeks, I could be dead. … I’m not risking that to go to Target.”

A new KFF poll released this month found that while nearly two-thirds of Americans reported they are worried about the potential economic and social repercussions of retaining COVID-19 restrictions, 61% of those surveyed also said that they are concerned that the move to end mitigation efforts will put immunocompromised people at increased risk.

Even with the Biden administration’s promise that treatments and free high-quality masks will be made widely available to those at high-risk, Xavier said that as mitigation measures drop, she fears a potential viral resurgence should a new variant emerge.

“It felt like it’s just, ‘Well, you guys can wear masks,'” she explained, in reference to the president’s remarks at this year’s State of the Union. “That’s not going to be enough if we have a deadlier variant, or more-contagious variant.”

With 2022 midterm elections approaching, governors have picked up on the fact that Americans are tired of the pandemic’s restrictions, particularly the mask mandates, Xavier argued, which advocates fear may severely affect marginalized communities.

“I think a lot of the politicians … have agendas,” said Xavier. “They want to make it look like things are going awesome, and it kind of feels like immunocompromised people are getting sacrificed.”

COVID-19 must still be monitored closely to keep vulnerable safe, experts say

Health experts fear that the waning omicron surge could be erroneously equated with the end of the epidemic, and thus, the relaxation of COVID-19 safety measures could lead to the emergence of vaccine-escaping variants, potentially leading to another surge of infections.

“There are still emerging threats, like long COVID-19, COVID-19 reinfections and new mutants that will escape the immune system,” Imitola said. “Reducing the restriction will have a domino effect in complacency that will affect the patients that are at higher risk. During this winter, we have seen an increase in the number of cases of COVID in patients that are immunocompromised due to the reduction of mask-wearing and no vaccination and putting the guard down in social gatherings.”

Smith stressed that authorities must continue to monitor a wide array of COVID-19 metrics, not limited to hospital capacity, in order to prevent infections in the vulnerable. In addition to high-quality free masks and equitable access to home testing to identify infection early, Smith advocated for “safe spaces” to be created in grocery stores, pharmacies and schools where everyone is masked to protect the immunocompromised.

Health experts also urge businesses to continue to keep the safety immunocompromised staff in mind, so they can feel comfortable at work and are not forced to work remotely.

“I understand that we are all tired, and I am not asking people to stop their lives,” said Hung, but waiting a little longer before doing away with mitigation efforts might “save someone’s life.”

Immunocompromised Americans are an integral part of the community and workplaces, and their absence would be keenly felt, Xavier added.

“We are not optional members of society,” Xavier said. “You can’t just tell us to shut ourselves away and wear a mask forever. Our ‘normal’ matters just as much as everyone else’s.”

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces seize second nuclear power plant

March 4, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian forces are continuing their attempted push through Ukraine from multiple directions, while Ukrainians, led by President Volodymr Zelenskyy, are putting up “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The attack began Feb. 24, when Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “special military operation.”

Russian forces moving from neighboring Belarus toward Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, don’t appear to have advanced closer to the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.

Russia has been met by sanctions from the United States, Canada and countries throughout Europe, targeting the Russian economy as well as Putin himself.

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

Mar 04, 6:45 am
US embassy calls nuclear power plant shelling ‘a war crime’

The U.S. Embassy in Kyiv took to Twitter on Friday to condemn Russia’s shelling of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe.

“It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant,” the embassy tweeted. “Putin’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further.”

Mar 04, 6:25 am
Blinken: ‘If conflict comes to us, we’re ready for it’

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and other NATO foreign ministers in Brussels on Friday morning to discuss the response to the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

During a press conference prior to the meeting at NATO headquarters, Blinken and Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s attacks on civilians in Ukraine and expressed concern over the reports of Russian shelling at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant.

“This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it, and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops and engage in good faith in diplomatic efforts,” Stoltenberg told reporters. “We provide support to Ukraine. At the same time, NATO is not part of the conflict. NATO is a defensive alliance, we don’t seek war conflict with Russia.”

Blinken emphasized that NATO and the United States “seek no conflict.”

“But if conflict comes to us, we’re ready for it,” he added. “And we will defend every inch of NATO territory.”

Mar 04, 5:41 am
No radioactive material released at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: IAEA

The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Friday that no radioactive material was released at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant amid shelling from Russian forces overnight.

The shelling sparked a fire in a training building at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, in the eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar. The blaze has since been extinguished, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

Two security employees at the plant were injured during the incident, according to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.

“The safety systems at the six reactors were not effected,” Grossi said at a press conference in Vienna on Friday morning. “No radioactive material was released.”

“We are following the situation very, very closely,” he added.

-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti

Mar 04, 2:57 am
Fire at Ukraine’s largest nuclear facility extinguished as Russian forces take control

A fire at the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in the eastern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar was extinguished Friday, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.

The fire occurred in a training building at the site after shelling from Russian forces. There were no victims, the emergency service said.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe.

Meanwhile, Energodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov told reporters Friday morning that the city is now under the control of Russian forces and fighting near the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant has stopped.

Ukraine’s national nuclear regulator has said that the plant’s employees are being permitted to work as normal, safety systems are currently functioning and there was no reported change in radiation levels at the site.

-ABC News’ Brian Hartman and Patrick Reevell

Mar 04, 2:12 am
UN nuclear watchdog warns of ‘severe danger if any reactors were hit’ at plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has appealed for a halt of the use of force at Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant and warned of “severe danger if any reactors were hit.”

The United Nations nuclear watchdog said in a statement early Friday that it was informed by Ukraine that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, had been shelled overnight in the eastern city of Enerhodar. IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi “immediately” spoke with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal as well as the country’s national nuclear regulator and operator about the “serious situation.” Grossi is expected to hold a press conference later Friday.

According to IAEA, the Ukrainian regulatory authority said a fire at the site had not affected “essential” equipment and plant personnel were taking mitigatory actions, and that there was no reported change in radiation levels at the plant.

Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said the blaze, which occurred in a training building after shelling from Russian forces, was extinguished Friday morning.

The IAEA said it is putting its Incident and Emergency Center (IEC) in “full response mode” due to the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The agency continues to closely monitor developments at the facility and remains in constant contact with Ukraine.

Ketanji Brown Jackson endorsed by fellow clerks, Supreme Court insiders

March 3, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — They labored together in the shadows of legal giants on the nation’s highest court, seeing firsthand what it takes to be a justice. Now, a group of two-dozen former law clerks from the 1999 Supreme Court term want one of their own to don a black robe.

In a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee, obtained first by ABC News, the former clerks extoll the intellect and character of Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson with whom they served.

“We hold diverse points of view on politics, judicial philosophy, and much else. Yet we all support Judge Jackson’s nomination to the Supreme Court,” the group writes, “because we know her to be eminently qualified for this role in intellect, character, and experience.”

The letter comes as Jackson faces questions about her experience and qualification following nomination by President Joe Biden last month as the first Black woman ever elevated to the Supreme Court.

Jackson, who currently sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C., is a former clerk of Justice Stephen Breyer. The letter is signed by three other fellow former Breyer clerks from her year, as well as clerks for Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Justices Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, John Paul Stevens, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Sandra Day O’Connor and David Souter.

“During our Term at the Court, we had the opportunity to work closely with Judge Jackson on a host of some of the most significant and contested issues of the times,” the group writes. “We came to know Judge Jackson as someone of exceptional intellectual gifts and unimpeachable character who approached her work with great care and professionalism.”

Supreme Court Clerks Letter by Kate Pastor

While clerks are not always ideological carbon copies of their bosses, justices in recent years have increasingly tended to select young lawyers who are “ideologically compatible,” research shows. Jackson’s boosters say the endorsement by former clerks of conservative justices corroborates a cross-cutting appeal.

Several highly respected conservative legal luminaries have also endorsed Jackson in recent days, including former federal appellate judges J. Michael Luttig and Thomas B. Griffith, and attorney William Burck, who represented several former Trump White House officials.

Jackson began a blitz of introductory one-on-one meetings with Republican and Democratic senators on Capitol Hill this week ahead of televised confirmation hearings later this month.

Biden has said he hopes to have Jackson confirmed to the bench with bipartisan support before Easter, though she would not be sworn in until Breyer retires at the end of June.

Clerks, who are recent law school graduates at the top of their classes, assist the justices with legal research, preparation of questions for oral argument and drafting opinions. Each justice accepts three to four clerks per term.

“A clerkship does give you an inside look on the dynamics of the court,” said Rachel Barkow, a former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia and former Harvard Law School classmate of Jackson. “In the year that you’re there, you can witness how personalities may matter, sometimes how you run your chambers might matter and how cases are presented to you.”

Six of the nine current Supreme Court justices were clerks on the high court before they were later nominated and confirmed.

Former Wu-Tang Clan producer files wrongful imprisonment lawsuit against New York City

March 3, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Music producer Derrick Harris filed a lawsuit against the City of New York and the New York Police Department alleging he was wrongfully accused of sexual assault and imprisoned for four years on Rikers Island.

Harris was acquitted on some of the charges in 2015 and cleared of all charges in 2020, according to the lawsuit.

The city played a role in the arrest of Derrick Harris for “a bogus rape accusation, leading to his wrongful incarceration for four years,” civil rights attorney Ben Crump said at a press conference Thursday.

Harris was “wrongfully and falsely accused based on police lies,” he said.

Crump said evidence was fabricated against Harris to keep him imprisoned in Rikers Island for four years after his arrest and prior to trial. Harris was injured during his imprisonment, including suffering a skull fracture, he said.

The lawsuits also lists as defendants the police officers who arrested Harris, former New York District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. and Carolina Holderness, the former deputy chief for the special victims bureau at the District Attorney’s office.

The NYPD declined to comment because they said they had not been served with the lawsuit.

Representatives for the city of New York, Vance Jr. and Holderness did not immediately reply to ABC News’ requests for comment. Attorney information for the officers was not immediately available.

According to the lawsuit, Harris was beaten and arrested at his home by NYPD officers on Sept. 12, 2011, after an incident in which a female acquaintance screamed for help from the balcony of his apartment, alleging he had sexually assaulted her. The woman left, but hours later officers entered his home without a warrant, the lawsuit claims.

Harris was punched, pushed and slammed to the ground by the officers, the lawsuit says. He was handcuffed without explanation or attempts at de-escalation, he alleges in the lawsuit.

After his arrest, the lawsuit says officers falsified witness evidence and evidence at the scene to obtain a warrant to search his home. It also claims that the alleged victim’s rape kit and other physical evidence was improperly handled and that Harris had to have the evidence tested which showed his DNA was not present and proved his innocence.

“And then he found out how easy it was for the system to gobble up a black man and just tried him out,” Crump said.

Prior to the incident, Harris was a self-employed music producer with clients including Wu-Tang Clan, Alicia Keys and Busta Rhymes. He had no prior convictions or time in prison, according to the lawsuit.

“I feel like if I wasn’t a black man, then the fact that they had evidence to prove my innocence within a few months of me being arrested, I would have not had to stay on Rikers Island for over four years, just like they did to Kalief Browder,” Harris said at the press conference, referencing the teenager who was imprisoned on Rikers Island for three years without a trial.

“They hold you on Rikers Island, with no case at all, in an attempt to try to get you to take a guilty plea. And it’s wrong. It has to be stopped,” Harris said.

Justice Department ‘going after Putin’s cronies and Russian oligarchs’

March 3, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A top Justice Department official has a stern warning for Russian oligarchs who attempt to evade U.S. sanctions: Nobody is out of the DOJ’s reach.

“The point of going after Putin’s cronies and Russian oligarchs who seek to violate our laws and shield their assets is to say that nobody is beyond the reach of our system of justice, beyond the reach of our work and cooperation with our allies, and that these cronies and oligarchs who seek to support and bolster the Russian regime shouldn’t be able to get away with that while people are dying,” Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco told ABC News’ Byron Pitts.

The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a task force to target the assets of Russian oligarchs after President Joe Biden previewed the move in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

The U.S. says some of the oligarchs have ties to President Vladimir Putin and he uses them to launder or hide hundreds of millions of dollars obtained through corruption.

Dubbed Task Force KleptoCapture, the group will investigate and implement new sanctions, combat unlawful efforts to undermine restrictions taken against Russian financial institutions, go after oligarchs who use cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.

The deputy attorney general urged U.S. businesses to shore up their compliance with sanctions and make sure they know who they’re doing business with.

“Because if they don’t and they run afoul of the sanctions, the consequences can be quite severe,” she said. “And our investigations are often aided by companies and financial institutions that say, ‘You know what, we’re seeing some unusual activity,’ and sharing that information with us, and that’s critically important.”

Monaco said the task force is a “commitment” from the DOJ to put the full weight of the agency behind combatting “efforts of oligarchs and Putin’s cronies to evade sanctions, to launder money, to violate the sanctions that we’re imposing in an unprecedented way with our international partners.”

The deputy attorney general juxtaposed the images playing out on TV of people suffering in Ukraine with some of Russia’s wealthiest citizens evading sanctions.

“We’ve got people dying, bombs falling on civilian populations. All the while you’ve got oligarchs, Putin’s cronies who have engaged in corruptly acquiring billions of dollars, shrouding it and hiding it in luxury items in the West,” she said.

“That cannot stand,” she added.

Environmental groups sue over rising manatee deaths in Florida

March 3, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, claiming the agency has failed to help preserve Florida manatee habitats as the species faces rising deaths.

Nearly 1,100 manatees died in 2021, which is roughly 20% of the east coast population of manatees, according to a lawsuit filed by Save the Manatee Club, the Center for Biological Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife.

“We’ve now had almost 300 [die] in 2022,” aquatic biologist Patrick Rose told ABC News. Rose is the executive director of Save the Manatee Club, the non-profit organization started by singer Jimmy Buffet in 1981 that is dedicated to protecting manatees and preserving their natural habitat.

The group tells ABC News that popular waterways for manatees, like the Indian River Lagoon on Florida’s east coast, have suffered years of pollution from sources like failed septic tanks, improperly treated sewage and fertilizer that deposits nutrients into the water.

“That excess nutrient causes algal blooms that were so severe that it shaded out the seagrass that manatees and other species depend on. The seagrass died,” Rose said.

Manatees typically eat 100 to 200 pounds of seagrass and other plants every day, or roughly 10-20% of their body weight. With so little seagrass available, the manatees have been starving, and in 2021 U.S Fish and Wildlife declared the high number of manatee deaths “an unusual mortality event”.

According to the lawsuit, the Florida manatee was first listed as an endangered species in 1967, but to help protect the animals even further, USFWS designated areas where manatees are found as a “critical habitat” in 1976. Critical habitats are specific areas that have biological and physical features that are important for the survival of a species.

When the critical habitat was first established, important components of the habitat, such as the seagrass, were not taken into consideration, Rose said.

But by 2008, updated Congressional and USFWS definitions of a critical habit and new scientific information required that the manatee’s critical habitat designation be adjusted, according to the lawsuit.

Environmental groups requested that USFWS update the term in 2008 and the agency agreed, but never followed through, according to the lawsuit.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service did not respond to an ABC News request for comment on the lawsuit.

Save the Manatee Club hopes the USFWS “will work with us now to ensure that seagrasses and warm water habitat are better protected to prevent a continuation of the devastating losses of so many manatees due the continuing loss of seagrasses, which are literally “critically important” to the future survival of manatees,” Rose said.

Save the Manatee is also appealing to the United States Environmental Protection Agency in hopes to upgrade water quality standards so that seagrass will not continue to die from pollution.

“Ultimately, we believe that we must use the provisions of both the Endangered Species Act and the Clean Water Act to ensure that manatees are protected today and for the foreseeable future,” Rose said.

If the court rules in favor of the environmental groups, it will result in higher standards and stiffer penalties for those who pollute waters which kill seagrass. According to Rose, until the standards are raised, the manatees and their ecosystems will continue to be under threat.

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s daughter once asked Obama to put her mom on the high court

March 3, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s daughter once penned a letter to then-President Barack Obama requesting he nominate her mom for a seat on the Supreme Court.

Leila, who was an 11-year-old middle schooler in 2016, wrote the missive touting the credentials of her mother following the death of Justice Antonin Scalia. Jackson was serving on the U.S. District Court of Washington, D.C. at the time.

“I would like to add my mother, Ketanji Brown Jackson of the District Court, to the list,” Leila wrote, referring to Obama’s shortlist of potential nominees.

“She is determined, honest, and never breaks a promise to anyone, even if there are other things she’d rather do,” the letter reads. “She can demonstrate commitment, and is loyal and never brags.”

Jackson read the entire letter aloud in a 2017 speech and tells the story around it and how she first explained to her daughter the process of becoming a justice.

Obama ended up selecting Merrick Garland to fill the opening, but Senate Republicans fused to hold hearings on the now-attorney general, leaving the seat to be filled by President Donald Trump, who nominated Justice Neil Gorsuch.

It took another six years for President Joe Biden, who served as Obama’s vice president when Leila sent her letter, to come to the same conclusion that Brown “would make a great Supreme Court Justice, even if the workload will be larger….”

In February, Biden tapped to Brown replace Justice Stephen Breyer, who announced his retirement earlier this year.

It is the first time a Black woman has been nominated to the Supreme Court.

ABC News’ Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

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