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Indiana Senate passes ban on transgender girls playing on girls’ sports teams

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — An Indiana bill to ban transgender girls from participating in girls sports in K-12 schools passed the state Senate on Tuesday. State legislators voted 32-18 in favor of the bill.

The bill now goes to Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb’s desk for signature. He has not explicitly said if he will sign it into law.

Holcomb previously stated that he agrees “adamantly that boys should be playing boys’ sports and girls should be playing girls’ sports.” It is unclear whether his definition of “boys” and “girls” is trans-inclusive.

Several organizations have spoken out against the legislation and called for Holcomb’s veto since Tuesday.

“With so much going on at home and abroad, it’s disappointing to see Indiana lawmakers prioritize regulating transgender student-athletes,” Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project, a nonprofit focused on LGBTQ suicide prevention and crisis intervention, told ABC News. “This will likely become the second anti-trans bill enacted in 2022 and the 11th anti-trans sports ban across the country. While the rationale for these bills is based on myth and misunderstanding, the impacts they’re having are very real.”

Advocates say the bill will have a serious negative effect on transgender students’ mental and physical well-being.

“Trans kids — like all kids — just want to be able to play with their friends. This regressive and damaging legislation hurts transgender youth and doesn’t address any actual problem,” Cathryn Oakley, Human Rights Campaign state legislative director and senior counsel, said in a statement on Tuesday.

“This bill puts already vulnerable youth in more danger, and threatens the health and safety of all children in Indiana,” Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, an anti-LGBTQ defamation organization, said in a statement. “Every child should have the chance to play with their friends and to belong, just as they are, and experience the lifelong benefits that being on a team can offer.”

Jay Brown, senior vice president of programs, research and training at The Human Rights Campaign Foundation, spoke on the stigma and potential consequences that bills like HB 1041 can perpetuate in the organization’s 2021 Epidemic of Violence report.

“When lawmakers discuss bills banning transgender and non-binary youth from accessing medical care, playing school sports or using restrooms, it sends a message that even from an early age transgender and non-binary people are different and unwelcome,” he said.

Authored by Republican Indiana state Rep. Michelle Davis, HB 1041 is one of several anti-trans bills being proposed around the country.

“I want to make sure that all the opportunities are provided for our young females and we protect the fair competition for them so they have all those possibilities,” Davis said at a hearing in January. Davis admitted under questioning during the hearing she could not cite any examples in Indiana of a cisgender student losing a chance to compete to a trans athlete, according to Indianapolis ABC affiliate WRTV.

Another Republican-backed bill, SB 435 or the “Save Girls’ Sports Act,” which similarly calls for a ban on transgender boys and girls participating in high school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity, passed in the Georgia Senate last week. It will have to pass in the House before going to Gov. Brian Kemp, a sponsor of the bill, for review.

ABC News’ Kiara Alfonseca and Tony Morrison contributed to this report.

US documenting Russian strikes on Ukrainian civilians but stopping short of calling them war crimes

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Russia is hitting civilian targets in Ukraine, killing innocent people and destroying hospitals, schools and critical infrastructure like running water, electricity and gas, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken alleged Wednesday.

But President Joe Biden and his administration have stopped short of accusing the Kremlin of conducting war crimes in its invasion of Ukraine so far, with the top U.S. diplomat saying instead they are “looking very closely at what’s happening” and “documenting it.”

The U.S. and its NATO allies continue to provide Ukraine with assistance, including anti-aircraft missiles known as Stingers, a senior U.S. official confirmed. But that lethal military aid, overwhelming condemnation at the United Nations and the flight of Western businesses and crippling sanctions, including new ones announced Wednesday, have yet to change Vladimir Putin’s calculus as he seeks to topple Ukraine’s government.

Instead, Russia is increasingly switching to using indiscriminate bombardment to terrorize cities into submission — a tactic Putin’s forces honed previously in Chechnya and Syria and that seems to have secured them their first major Ukrainian city, Kherson.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, has been pummeled with heavy artillery, rockets and airstrikes, destroying apartment buildings and government offices alike. Another major city, Mariupol, is under ferocious, continual bombardment with rocket barrages and ballistic missile strikes, knocking out the power.

Schools, hospitals and residences; buses, cars and ambulances; and infrastructure like drinking water, electricity, and gas amid Ukraine’s bitter winter have all been hit.

“These aren’t military targets. They are places where civilians work and families live,” Blinken told reporters, adding, “This is shameful.”

But while Biden said Wednesday morning he believed Russia is intentionally targeting civilian infrastructure, Blinken stopped short of that, saying the U.S. is still assessing particular strikes.

“We’re looking very closely at what’s happening in Ukraine right now, including what’s happening to civilians. We’re taking account of it, we’re documenting it, and we want to ensure, among other things, that there’s accountability for it,” he told reporters Wednesday.

The International Criminal Court announced Wednesday it would launch an immediate investigation into possible war crimes in Ukraine after 38 member states, including the United Kingdom and Canada, referred reported atrocities to the ICC.

“Our work in the collection of evidence has now commenced,” ICC Prosecutor Karim A.A. Khan said in a statement. Khan announced Monday that he would request to open a probe, which requires either authorization from a pre-trial ICC chamber or a referral by member states. Ukraine, like Russia and the U.S., is not a member state.

Under the ICC’s founding document, the Rome Statute, “intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities” is a violation of international law.

Russia has outright denied that it has struck any civilians or civilian infrastructure.

Amnesty International, among other human rights groups, reported Tuesday that it had documented “the escalation in violations of humanitarian and human rights law, including deaths of civilians resulting from indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas and infrastructure.”

“Strikes on protected objects such as hospitals and schools, the use of indiscriminate weapons such as ballistic missiles, and the use of banned weapons such as cluster bombs may all qualify as war crimes,” the group said.

While Blinken wouldn’t go that far, he compared Russia’s tactics in Ukraine to previous conflicts, where its forces were “absolutely brutal in trying to cow the citizenry of a given country, and that includes at the very least indiscriminate targeting and potentially deliberate targeting as well.”

To fight back, the U.S. provided several hundred anti-aircraft missiles, known as Stingers, to the Ukrainian military Tuesday, a senior U.S. official confirmed to ABC News. The missiles were part of a $350 million package Biden approved late Friday night, bringing total U.S. military aid to approximately $1 billion.

Before Putin launched his war, U.S. aid had been shipped in on regular flights to the capital Kyiv, where the airport has been shut down. Still, the U.S. has been successfully delivering military aid, according to Blinken, who declined to offer details on how.

“We are very actively working — every day, every hour — to provide that assistance,” Blinken said of the U.S. and its NATO allies, adding, “Vitally needed assistance is getting to where it needs to go.”

The U.S. also unveiled new sanctions Wednesday that target Russia’s oil and gas sector, its defense industry and its ally Belarus.

New export controls will bar oil and gas extraction equipment and refining technology, preventing Russian firms “from maintaining and upgrading current projects and, to some degree, from launching new projects,” the White House said.

The State Department is also implementing “full blocking sanctions” on 22 entities in Russia’s defense sector, while the Commerce Department is extending export controls on Russia to include Belarus, to prevent the country from transferring semiconductors and other technology to its powerful neighbor and ally.

ABC News’ Patrick Reevell, Ben Gittleson, and Luis Martinez contributed to this report.

Rep. Ilhan Omar introduces bill named for Amir Locke to curb no-knock warrants

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., introduced a bill on Tuesday calling for strict limitations on no-knock warrants in drug-related investigations.

The bill, named for Amir Locke, would also ban “quick-knock” warrants, nighttime warrants, and the use of explosive devices, chemical weapons, and military grade firearms while warrants are carried out.

Locke, a Black Minnesota native, was 22 when he was fatally shot by Minneapolis SWAT officer Mark Hanneman during an early morning execution of a no-knock search warrant on Feb. 2.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner has ruled the death of Locke, who was not named on the warrant, a homicide.

Hanneman has not been charged with any crime and is currently on paid administrative leave while the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigates the shooting.

Outcry to ban no-knock warrants once again surged after Locke’s death, leading to protests reminiscent of those immediately following the shooting death of Breonna Taylor in 2020. While Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey issued a moratorium on the request and execution of no-knock warrants in the city, concerned citizens and legislators have called for a more permanent solution.

Neka Gray, Locke’s aunt, asked that an end be put to no-knock warrants when a coalition of Black women and mothers met at Minneapolis City Hall to demand justice for Locke.

“Unfortunately, Amir won’t benefit from it. But the next person will,” Gray said. “And so what we’re asking is that this no-knock warrant, that this policy that was put in place where it only affects people that look like me, people that look like Amir, people that look like many people that are standing behind me, we’re just asking that that is changed.”

Omar discussed her bill during a press call on Tuesday.

“The use of no-knock warrants has a deep-rooted history in division, racism and the criminalization of Black and brown people,” she said. “This is yet another occurrence of police in Minneapolis utilizing tactics that deny human dignity,” she added, referring to the events that led to Locke’s death.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said President Joe Biden supports the end of no-knock warrants in a press briefing last month following Locke’s death.

“We have been engaging with, as you know, civil rights groups, a number of law enforcement groups. All agree on the need to reform the use of no-knock warrants,” she said.

Psaki also spoke about a Department of Justice policy announced by United States Attorney General Merrick Garland in September that regulates federal use of chokeholds, carotid restraints, and no-knock warrants.

The policy states that “federal agents are generally required to “knock and announce” their identity, authority and purpose, and demand to enter before entry is made to execute a warrant in a private dwelling” before entering after a “reasonable amount of time”. Exceptions may be made “in the most compelling circumstances.”

Biden briefly mentioned the Department of Justice’s policy at the State of the Union, before calling for funding the police and drawing applause.

The Locke family’s legal team issued a statement on Tuesday in response to the proposed legislation:

“We join the Locke family in applauding U.S. Rep. Omar for introducing this critically important bill. There is no doubt that no-knock warrants are a tragic and devastating failure of policy — a policy that directly led to the deaths of Amir Locke, Breonna Taylor and countless other Black and Brown people throughout the country for the past several decades.”

The statement said that while the “ultimate goal” is a ban on all no-knock warrants “it is a significant step forward.”

“We implore other members of Congress to champion this life-saving cause and pass this legislation to protect the lives and safety of those they swore an oath to serve,” it said.

ABC News’ Sejal Govindarao contributed to this report.

Fighting around Ukraine’s nuclear plants raises global concerns

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Skirmishes around Ukraine’s nuclear facilities provoked a heated exchange Wednesday at the U.N. Environment Assembly between representatives of the warring countries and prompted a U.N. nuclear watchdog group to warn the “unprecedented” nature of the fighting could lead to “severe consequences.”

With worries already at an alarming level over Russian President Vladimir Putin putting his nuclear forces on high alert, a battle being waged in Ukraine for Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is upping the anxiety over a possible calamity that would likely wreak havoc far beyond the boundaries of the war zone.

“Barbarians who pretended to be rescuers, right now attack our cities, destroy infrastructure, kill my fellow citizens and try to destroy everything,” a Ukrainian official told the U.N. Environment Assembly gathered in Nairobi, Kenya.

The Ukrainian official said Russian troops are trying to seize the country’s nuclear power plants, adding, “Russia is conducting genocide against humanity.”

“They say they’ve come to save Ukraine, but they are here to destroy my beautiful country,” said the official, who received a standing ovation at the end of his remarks.

A Russian representative countered that Ukraine’s military forces have been attacking so-called pro-Russian “separatists” in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine for eight years without any protest from the international community.

“The war, which led to the death of 12,000 people in the east of the country, killed by the hands of Ukraine soldiers and neo-Nazi units,” the Russian official told the assembly, espousing claims the U.S. and its Western allies say are false and were concocted by the Kremlin as an excuse to invade Ukraine.

“You have just supported them, distinguished delegates. It’s them that you were offering your ovation. We didn’t begin that war,” the Russian official said.

Fighting continued Wednesday at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Enerhodar, Ukraine, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, both sides claimed.

The battle over the Zaporizhzhia plant prompted the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog group, to issue a warning over the “unprecedented” nature of this situation.

Rafael Grossi, director-general of the IAEA, said he and members of the agency are “gravely concerned” that a military conflict is happening for the first time amid the facilities of a large, established nuclear power program.

During an emergency IAEA board of governors meeting, Grossi said an incident affecting nuclear facilities “could have severe consequences, aggravating human suffering and causing environmental harm” beyond Ukraine’s borders.

He said Russia informed the agency Tuesday that it had taken control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, but ABC News has not been able to independently confirm the report.

Last week, Russia seized control of the Chernobyl power plant, now shut down and sealed with a containment dome after an infamous disaster in April 1986.

Ukraine’s nuclear regulatory agency SNRIU has requested “immediate assistance” from the IAEA to ensure the safety of Chernobyl and other nuclear facilities, Grossi said. He said the IAEA is assessing the request.

“Despite the extraordinary circumstances of an armed conflict causing increasing challenges and dangers, Ukraine’s nuclear power plants are operating normally,” Grossi said. “But while we may use expressions like ‘normal operations’ in a technical context, I want to emphasize there is nothing normal about the circumstances under which the professionals at Ukraine’s four nuclear power plants are managing to keep the reactors that produce half of Ukraine’s electricity working.”

Democrats set Judge Jackson’s confirmation hearings for March 21

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden’s pick for the Supreme Court, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, began traditional courtesy calls with senators on Wednesday as Democrats announced her confirmation battle would get underway later this month.

The hearings will start on Monday, March 21 and conclude on Thursday March 24, setting Jackson on the path to what Democrats hope will be a speedy final confirmation vote, Senate Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin said Wednesday.

“There’s no reason to wait or delay, as far as I’m concerned,” Durbin, D-Ill., said, setting the goal to get Jackson confirmed by the full Senate by the Easter recess starting April 8.

Biden announced Friday he would nominate Jackson to fill the seat of retiring Justice Stephen Breyer. Jackson, a Harvard law graduate, was confirmed to the Court of Appeals for the D.C Circuit in a bipartisan vote last June, but faces a tougher confirmation battle for her spot on the high court. If confirmed, she will be the first Black woman to sit on the Supreme Court.

Jackson began her day on Capitol Hill with a 40-minute meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.

Before their meeting, Schumer said he looked forward to “hashing out all the great things that we read about and are seeing” about Jackson.

Following their closed-door discussion, he praised what he said were Jackson’s family values, empathy and ability to see things from both sides.

“I think she deserves support from the other side of the aisle, and I am hopeful that a good number of Republicans will support her, given who she is,” he said.

A few hours after their meeting, Schumer started Wednesday’s Senate session with even more praise.

“Now that I’ve met her, I’ll add another word: Belongs. She’s not only brilliant and beloved, but belongs on the Supreme Court,” Schumer said. “America will be better off — much better off — with someone like Judge Jackson on the Supreme Court.”

Former Alabama Democratic Sen. Doug Jones, designated by the White House to help shepherd Jackson’s nomination across the finish line, escorted her to a similar meeting with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, before taking her to spend time with Durbin.

Speaking to reporters afterward, Durbin said he expects Judge Jackson will garner bipartisan support, saying he is hoping to have at least a handful of GOP senators vote to confirm her.

“I think it would be good for the Senate, good for the Supreme Court if that happens,” Durbin said, adding he wants the process to be fair.

In the evenly divided Senate, Democrats can confirm Jackson to the court without any Republican support. But that’s not how Durbin and other Democratic leaders hope it will go. While three Senate Republicans voted to confirm Jackson to the federal appeals court, several have said their previous votes will not determine how they vote on Jackson.

The top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, echoed Durbin’s sentiment after his conversation with Judge Jackson. The two talked for just under 10 minutes.

He told reporters it is his responsibility to make sure the Senate has a fair and dignified process.

“We’re going to meet our constitutional responsibility of advice and consent with dignity and fairness and most importantly, thoroughness. Everybody expects us to do our job,” Grassley said.

When asked how her conversation with Grassley went, Judge Jackson replied, “Good, thanks.”

Senator Durbin has set the goal to confirm Jackson before the Senate’s easter recess, which starts April 8.

ABC’s Allison Pecorin and Trish Turner contributed to this report.

Oath Keeper pleads guilty to seditious conspiracy for Jan. 6 attack

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Joshua James, 34, of Arab, Alabama, pleaded guilty to seditious conspiracy charges on Wednesday as part of deal with prosecutors contingent on his cooperation with the U.S. government in their ongoing prosecution of defendants who were involved in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The plea deal is the first of its kind for a Jan. 6 defendant and comes nearly a year after James was charged with impeding and obstructing Congress’ affirmation of the Electoral College vote in the 2020 presidential election.

James pleaded guilty before the court to one count of seditious conspiracy and one count of obstructing an official proceeding in exchange for a reduced offense level, which the judge will consider at sentencing. James agreed to pay $2,000 under the agreement for the damages to the Capitol.

The agreement requires James to cooperate with federal authorities, testify before a grand jury, sit for interviews, and turn over an accounting of his financial assets.

The maximum penalty for seditious conspiracy is 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and 3-year supervised release, along with other fees and penalties. James’ cooperation can be used in determining his sentencing, presiding Judge Amit P. Mehta explained to the court.

Without James’ full cooperation, as determined by the government, he will stand in violation of the agreement.

James acknowledged he was instructed by Oath Keepers leader Stuart Rhodes to be prepared to use lethal force if then-President Donald Trump was removed from the White House. Separately, he acknowledged that he, Rhodes and others planned to use “any means necessary” to stop the lawful transfer of power.

James admitted to assaulting an officer on the scene, grabbing him and yelling, “Get out of my Capitol.”

The 10 other alleged Oath Keepers charged in the seditious conspiracy plot, including Rhodes, have pleaded not guilty to all charges against them.

Lawyers for James did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

According to the indictment, James was a leader of a second “stack” of Oath Keepers who breached the building through the east side.

He is accused of forcing his way past law enforcement who were trying to guard the Capitol Rotunda, and of pushing his way past officers who were forced to deploy chemical spray against him.

Families torn apart amid mass exodus from Ukraine face uncertain future

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When 25-year-old Yulia Yemelianenko crossed the border from Lviv, Ukraine into Poland earlier this week, she broke down in tears.

“I cried a lot,” she told ABC News at a train station in Przemysl, Poland. “…I was forced to quit my country, and I didn’t want it.”

“I want to live in my city with my mother and my friends,” she added.

Yemelianenko spoke with ABC News about the difficult journey as she waited at the train station for a friend. She is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to flee from Ukraine into neighboring European countries like Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary amid ongoing attacks from Russia.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Wednesday the number of Ukrainians who’ve fled their country has so far climbed to 874,000, which is believed to be the biggest number of people displaced in the shortest amount of time since World War II.

“I don’t know what will happen in Ukraine,” she said. “I don’t know when I will come back.”

The emotional toll that the journey took on Yemelianenko was magnified because she had to leave her mother, who is recovering from COVID-19, behind.

Asked if she feels that she has been displaced, she said, “I’m trying not to think about this at all, because I don’t know when I can see my mother next time.”

“Every time I start, like, crying and tears, won’t help in this situation.”

She said she hopes to return to Ukraine as soon as possible and reunite with her friends, some of whom stayed back to fight in the war.

‘There’s panic, there’s chaos’

At the train station in Lviv, Ukraine, volunteers have been working to organize thousands of people seeking to board trains to Poland. According to UNHCR, more than 453,000 of those who fled Ukraine have gone to Poland.

“There’s panic, there’s chaos,” Yuliana Shchurko, a volunteer, told ABC News. “Those people are waiting for the train to call and they don’t want to go to any other country,” she said, adding that it could be days before the next train would be scheduled to depart for Poland.

Amid the congestion, some immigrants and students living in Ukraine expressed fear they are being discriminated against as they wait at the border, hoping to cross into Poland.

“The Ukrainians are given priority, which is to children and women,” Adeyemo Abimbole, a student from Nigeria, told ABC News on Sunday, adding that he and a group of African students have been waiting for a train to cross into Poland for nearly three days.

“Our lives also matter,” he added. It is unclear if Abimbole and his friends entered Poland.

UNHCR’s Grandi confirmed during a press conference on Tuesday that “there are instances” of differentiation of treatment at the borders based on race, but said he was assured that “these are not state policies.”

“We will continue to intervene, as we have done several times, to try to ensure that everybody is received in the same manner,” he said, urging all nations to welcome those fleeing Ukraine without discrimination.

Marcus Lawani, who is also waiting with the group, told ABC News that he believed some of his African friends were “turned back based on their color” because “they want more Ukrainians to leave.”

“Mostly they give power to women, children, and their men follow,” he said.

Women and children have been given priority at congested border crossings and many Ukrainian men of fighting age have stayed behind after Ukraine began drafting reservists aged 18-60 to fight for their country.

A ‘heartbreaking’ decision

Alyona Tec said that her family’s decision to leave Ukraine was difficult and leaving her country has torn her apart.

“I felt really bad that I had to leave,” Tec told ABC News on Friday as her family arrived in Korczowa, Poland, explaining that she had wanted to stay behind and help her people in any way she could but left with her husband and son because they worried about the baby’s safety.

“I couldn’t [stay] because I knew [my son] is here and I need to take care of him and I’m responsible,” she said. “It was like heartbreaking for me because I saw people gonna go fight, like regular civilians gonna take up guns and fight, and I’m just gonna leave.”

While Tec grapples with guilt as she thinks of those she left behind, her husband Juan Tec said that they initially considered staying in Ukraine.

“Things that are happening now in Kyiv are just really bad,” he said. “Shelling, gunfights, tanks, rolling over cars, people getting hurt civilians. And now that I look back, I’m really glad we made that decision.”

According to UNICEF, the 7.5 million children in Ukraine are at heightened risk. Many have been traumatized, wounded and at least 13 children have been killed by Tuesday — a number that is expected to rise as the war rages on, UNICEF said.

Alyona Tec said that her family’s decision to leave Ukraine was difficult and leaving her country has torn her apart.

An uncertain future

For families who separated at the border, it is unclear when they can see their loves ones again.

In an emotional embrace, husband and wife Sasha and Svetlana Olekciirak said goodbye on Saturday at the Polish border in Korczowa.

The couple spoke with ABC News as Sasha dropped off his wife and two children after what they said was a 30-hour trip from Ternopil, not knowing when he will see them again.

“I don’t want to go,” Sasha said, explaining that he wanted to stay in Ukraine to fight for his country.

Asked how she felt not knowing when she can see her husband again, a tearful Svetlana said, “it’s fear … you don’t know what is your future.”

Their story is one of many playing out on the borders of Ukraine, like that of Sergei and Marina, a couple that was also separated at a border.

Sergei spoke with ABC News as he waited with his wife Marina and their two children – a 5-month-old and a 3-year-old – at a train station in Lviv.

Sergei said that that amid the bombings in Kyiv, he was worried for his family’s safety and decided to send them to Poland while he stayed behind to fight.

“I have to ensure that my family [is safe], so that’s why we’re here,” he said.

Asked how she feels about leaving her husband behind, Marina said, “I have no other choice.”

“We will start from zero there,” she said. “I will be better for my kids and I don’t care about stuff.”

ABC News’ Jessica DiMartino contributed to this report.

Restaurant leaders respond directly to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hours after President Joe Biden’s inaugural State of the Union speech Tuesday night, restaurant and bar industry leaders called on the administration for action.

Chefs, restaurant owners and leaders of the Independent Restaurant Coalition spoke to media Wednesday in tandem with a new letter signed by over 100,000 restaurant employees urging the president and congress to add much-needed money to the bipartisan-backed Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t addressed that our need is as dire as it is. The opportunity has not been lost, but that window is closing very quickly,” IRC board member, San Francisco-based chef, and co-owner of Che Fico, David Nayfeld said. “The president could have had an opportunity to recognize us in that moment, but it’s not too late. He can recognize it through action. I don’t care if we were in a speech, I care that the program gets refilled and that his actions speak to his values.”

The urgency of the IRC’s message comes nine days out from the March 11 expiration date for the Continuing Resolution, commonly referred to as the spending bill to add money to the RRF.

“The state of the union is not strong when neighborhood restaurants and bars are ready to close permanently,” Erika Polmar, executive director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, said.

After nearly a year since the RRF became law, it has failed to support roughly two-thirds of eligible businesses that applied for the program, leaving out nearly 200,000 independent bars and restaurants with four out of five of those businesses in danger of closing permanently, threatening the nearly 11 million employees it supports.

The State of the Union for restaurants is not strong. @POTUS and Congress must make restaurant relief a top priority and refill the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. #ReplenishRRF #SOTU2022 pic.twitter.com/iXYbsvZ2tL

— Independent Restaurant Coalition (@IndpRestaurants) March 2, 2022

IRC co-founder Tom Colicchio reiterated thanks for early support from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer along with others who came together in Washington, D.C., to include $28.6 billion for the industry as part of the American Rescue Plan, but said it’s not even close to enough.

“As great as that was that really only took care of about a third of the restaurant applicants — and he knew at the time that that money wasn’t enough — he actually called it a downpayment for our industry,” Colicchio, the Crafted Hospitality owner and restaurateur said. “It’s almost a year later since he made that declaration and there are almost 20,000 restaurants in New York City alone that have applied for grants and still have not received a dime.”

Like many, Colicchio’s own restaurants in New York City have been at the epicenter of multiple COVID-19 surges that prompt tighter restrictions, closures and smaller crowds, which has directly impacted business.

“I owe at least a million dollars in back rent. So all the business coming back is not going to do that. At a certain point I’m gonna have to make a decision if I can’t pay my landlord, I’ll have to declare bankruptcy and close cause there’s no way we can find that in the current business we have now. Eventually landlords are going to run out of patience and restaurant owners will be closing their doors in droves,” he said.

Nayfeld said as the third year of the pandemic nears, it has become “impossible for most restaurants to withstand the compounding debt, rising costs, revenue-decimating local restrictions, and COVID-19 surges without dedicated help from Congress.”

“Replenishing RRF is the only way independent restaurants and bars can recover from the past two years of economic trauma that we’ve endured and the aftershock we’ll continue to experience,” he said. “To take that little bit of money to reopen a business, buy back inventory, get a little momentum for six to seven weeks, then shutdown again, that loss of momentum is so detrimental to the business — Omicron was something for a lot of restaurants was the arrow through our bodies that’s gonna make us limp along and die from later.”

He continued: “If I could make a plea to Speaker Pelosi, my elected official, I would ask that she drive down the streets of downtown San Francisco and see the boarded up cafes, restaurants and bars that won’t come back without assistance — Even the owners of the ones that look busy, I promise you they would say that they’re stressed, their bank accounts are dwindling, in debt to their eyeballs and they don’t see a solution.”

President Biden addressed the economy and inflation on Tuesday night, but Colicchio said while problematic for the restaurant ecosystem, it’s not the primary pain point for the tens of thousands of independent owners and operators seeking relief from the last two years.

“Prices of food are going to go up — that’s why the restaurants that didn’t receive grant money are at a competitive disadvantage,” he said. “The roughly $40 billion we’re asking for will cover the grants for all the restaurants that have applied and I don’t believe that that’s going to be inflationary. A lot of that money is not gonna go out and be spent, it’s going to pay bills that are already there.”

Inflation paired with increasing fuel prices will inevitably impact the local, independent restaurant supply chains and Colicchio said that “upscale restaurants have pricing elasticity” to stay nimble. But without support from government grants, he said, “all the small neighborhood restaurants that don’t have that — are going to get really hurt and those are the restaurants that we’re really fighting for. Those mom and pops and neighborhood restaurants cant raise prices by 15%, the clientele won’t absorb that. Another reason why we need to complete this funding. We’re not asking for anything additional from our original position, we’re just asking for government to finish their job.”

At least 90,000 restaurants and bars have closed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the IRC. Unemployment rate for leisure and hospitality is still 8.2%, about double the economy-wide rate, as restaurant and bar employment is still down 984,700 below its pre-pandemic levels.

Polmar explained, as detailed in a January IRC report, that “neighborhood restaurants and bars are deeper in debt and exhausted every possible option. Our industry is organizing for the second time in five weeks because the only hope we have is for our elected officials to hear our pleas and ensure every single restaurant and bar has the relief they need to survive the pandemic.

Blinken visits Ukrainian church to show support

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday joined Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, in a visit to a Ukrainian church in Washington, expressing vocal admiration for the Ukrainian people.

Blinken called Markarova “our new star,” in the wake of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night where he called attention to the ambassador who was seated next to first lady Jill Biden.

“It’s in the most difficult moments that our faith is tested,” Blinken said to the audience, including Ukrainian faith leaders and activists, at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family.

He also said this is a moment for faith in democracy, peace, and “in the conviction that good will prevail over evil.”

Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “horrific, terrible mistake,” in his aggression against Ukraine.

“We stand with them, we stand with you, and we will prevail in this struggle,” Blinken said of the Ukrainian people. He praised the Ukrainians who he said have been inspiring the world with resilience, strength and faith.

The Ukrainian people are “insisting on their freedom, insisting on their independence, insisting on their right to go forward as a sovereign, independent country,” he said.

Inside the church, Blinken lit a candle and spoke with a group of Ukrainian leaders, including Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Ukrainian American activist Ulana Mazurkevich.

The meeting united leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which separated in 2018.

“We’re like one family,” said the pastor, Fr. Robert Hitchens, “In family, there are disagreements over things. But, when it comes down to matters of life and death, we pull together, we work together, we pray together and we set aside any differences.”

He said Blinken’s visit honored Ukrainians in the U.S. and overseas.

“They’re not forgotten,” Hitchens said about those in Ukraine. “The government of the United States and their sisters and brothers, fellow Ukrainians, and all peoples of goodwill, and this nation are standing with them.”

Like many other members of the church, Hitchens said his great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S., but kept their Catholic faith strong.

Hitchens said his biggest fear is the threat of extinction for Ukraine, and that the church will be forced underground under Russia’s rule.

“In my heart of hearts, I know somehow Ukraine will survive and its people will still survive,” said Hitchens. “But not before there’s a whole lot of senseless hurt.”

In 1st Jan. 6 trial, DOJ calls accused rioter the ‘tip of this mob’s spear’

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Opening statements got underway Wednesday in the case of a Texas man charged with participating in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and later threatening his family members if they reported him to law enforcement.

Guy Reffitt, 49, a self-proclaimed member of the far-right anti-government “Three Percenter” militia group, is the first alleged participant in the Jan. 6 insurrection to bring his case to trial. He faces five felony charges that carry maximum sentences of between five and 20 years each.

“The evidence in this case will show that the defendant attacked the Capitol on the afternoon of January 6 precisely because Congress was meeting in a joint session,” assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told the court. “At that time, he planned to light a match that would start the fire. He wanted to stop Congress from doing its job.”

“The defendant was the tip of this mob’s spear,” Nestler said.

Reffitt’s case presents a major test for the Justice Department, as the result could impact hundreds of other alleged rioters who are weighing whether to similarly take their cases to trial or enter into plea deals with the government.

Nestler said in his opening statement that the government plans to play audio recorded prior to the attack of Reffitt talking about what he planned to do to lawmakers upon storming the Capitol.

“We’re taking the Capitol before the day is over, ripping them out by their f***ing hair, every f***ing one of them,” Reffitt says in one of the audio clips. “I just want to see Pelosi’s head hitting every f****ing stair on the way out, and Mitch McConnell too … I’m packing heat and I’m going to get more heat and I am going to that building and I am dragging them out.”

In his brief opening statement, Reffitt’s attorney, William Welch III, said there was no evidence showing Reffitt assaulted anyone and that Reffitt’s statements to his family and others amounted to little more than hyperbole.

“Guy does brag, he exaggerates, and he rants — he uses a lot of hyperbole and that upsets people,” Welch said. “The evidence will show that this case was a rush to judgment.”

“Guy Reffitt did not enter the Capitol,” Welch said. “He did not break anything, he did not take anything.”

Following two days of jury selection and one-on-one question-and-answer sessions with more than four dozen Washington, D.C., residents, 12 jurors and four alternates were selected for the trial, including nine men and seven women. Their backgrounds range from a NASA employee and a natural-gas industry lobbyist to an analyst with the Pentagon and a wood crafter who works with the federal agency that maintains the Capitol complex.

Judge Dabney Friedrich acknowledged that “virtually every juror” would have some view of the assault on the Capitol, but said the goal of the jury selection was to find residents who could legitimately separate their personal feelings about the attack from the question of Reffitt’s guilt or innocence.

In a recent filing, prosecutors said they expect to call 13 witnesses in Reffitt’s trial, including representatives from Capitol Police, the FBI and the Secret Service, as well as a counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, Reffitt’s son and daughter, and a fellow member of the Three-Percenter militia who traveled with Reffitt to D.C. and has been granted immunity for his testimony.

Reffitt spoke to ABC News from jail in December, saying, “This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family.”

He also said he believes he’ll be exonerated at trial.

“It’s not that hard to prove that I didn’t do anything,” Reffitt said. “It should be pretty easy.”

After nearly 14 months of evidence-gathering, more than 750 people have been arrested on federal charges connected to the riot, and investigators say they are continuing to seek hundreds more who are suspected of participating in the violence that occurred that day.

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