How to reduce your child’s COVID-19 risk if they’re too young to be vaccinated

July 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — While all adults in the United States are now eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, parents with young children find themselves in an uncomfortable limbo state. Fully vaccinated parents are protected against the virus, but their kids under 12 aren’t even eligible for a shot.

While children are less likely to have serious infection than in adults, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noting that “most children with COVID-19 have mild symptoms or have no symptoms at all,” in rare instances, children have developed severe COVID-19 cases that led to hospitalization or death.

As of early June, 4,000 children nationwide had developed multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), a rare but serious condition associated with COVID-19. There’s also an element of uncertainty associated with any COVID-19 infection, since the long-term health consequences of having COVID-19 are not yet known.

Navigating kids and COVID is complicated. Come fall, vaccines are likely to be approved for children younger than 12, but until then, some parents are wondering how to keep their kids safe as guidelines about masks and social distancing loosen.

ABC News spoke with Dr. Judith Flores, a pediatrician and former chief of ambulatory care at NYC Health + Hospitals, who has been in practice for more than 30 years, about how parents can lower their kids’ COVID risk.

Q: My kid is going back to school in person this year. What do I need to know?

You should start planning and ask questions, Flores says.

“I would also inquire who is vaccinated at school and keep an eye on what their environmental controls are,” Flores said.

According to the CDC’s guidelines for K-12 schools, “consistent and correct use of face masks reduces the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and, with some exceptions, is recommended for use indoors among people aged 2 and older who are not fully vaccinated.” The CDC also recommends handwashing, improving ventilation, staying home if sick, social distancing and testing in schools to mitigate the risk of COVID-19 outbreaks.

Depending on school guidance and your risk tolerance as a parent, send your child to school with a mask. Flores noted that if she had a small child, she would have them wear a mask at school, especially in the beginning, while you determine whether or not the school is doing a good job of keeping the environment safe.

But ultimately, it’s important to keep in mind that schools have been reasonably safe settings so far.

“It’s been well documented that kids get sicker when they’re home with family,” Flores said.

Despite that reality, some parents are rightfully nervous. Flores works with families that were hit hard by COVID-19’s initial wave in New York City. Some parents and children are anxious about returning in person, she explained, adding that behavioral and mental health support are critical, especially for kids who lost family members during the pandemic.

“It’s not just, ‘let’s make sure we have your supply list for the teacher this year,'” she said. “You really have to prepare your children mentally — and yourself,” she said.

Q: Is there anything I can do to lower my child’s COVID risk until they’re eligible for a vaccine?

“The best way to take care of your child is for you, your family and your community to be vaccinated,” Flores stressed. “Your kid’s risk goes up depending on the community you live in or go to school in. If your community has a low vaccination rate and high infection rate, there’s a greater risk your child will get sick.”

“If I were in Mississippi, I’d be very concerned, because the vaccination rate is low. So there, I’d keep a mask on my child and keep social distancing. If I lived in Massachusetts, I might breathe a little easier,” she said.

Mississippi’s vaccination rate trails the national average. As of Monday, 37% of residents had received at least one dose, and 33% were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 71% of people in Massachusetts who’ve gotten at least one shot and 63% who are fully vaccinated.

Your child doesn’t need to wear a mask in most outdoor settings because the risk of transmission is low, Flores noted, but it’s a good idea to have them wear one in indoor public spaces, especially if ventilation is poor or if the space is crowded.

The same fundamental practices the CDC recommends for schools, like handwashing and social distancing, are useful for reducing kids’ risk in non-school settings. You can also model wearing a mask for your child, even if you’re vaccinated and don’t technically need one yourself. If you’re not going to wear a mask around your child, having a conversation as a family explaining why masks are important is key, Flores suggested.

“This is an added protection for you. Just like I would put a seatbelt on you, I would put a mask on you for this time,” she said. “Kids understand seatbelts.”

39-year-old mom battling stage 4 melanoma shares summer sun warning

July 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Amanda Hunt, a Florida native, said she grew up spending summer days at the beach as a child and using tanning beds as a young adult.

Now 39 years old, Hunt, of Titusville, Florida, is battling stage 4 metastatic melanoma and is speaking out about her experience in hopes of saving other lives.

“I want people to know the things that I didn’t know,” Hunt told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “I can say for myself that having to fight for your life due to something so superficial as being tan, that’s a really tough pill to swallow at the end of the day.”

Hunt’s life changed last June when she discovered a lump in her breast. A biopsy of the lump came back as malignant melanoma. Hunt then learned the cancer had spread throughout her body, including her lungs.

“One day you wake up and your life is one way and the next day you wake up and your life is totally different,” she said. “I remember being shocked and confused and I got angry and thought, ‘How did my body fail me?'”

Hunt said she was even more shocked by her diagnosis because she had been going to annual skin checks since 2011, when she was successfully treated for basal cell carcinoma, the most common form of skin cancer.

After undergoing treatment for her first skin cancer diagnosis, Hunt said she stopped using tanning beds but did not change her daily sun protection routine dramatically, knowing that she was being checked annually by her dermatologist.

“I got my annual skin checks so that was always in the back of my mind like a crutch,” she said. “But I learned in all of this that there is an occurrence where you do not have melanoma appear on the skin. I never knew that was even possible.”

Hunt’s diagnosis made her one of the approximately 3% of cases where the melanoma has already spread to a subcutaneous site when it is discovered, according to her doctor, Zeynep Eroglu, a medical oncologist at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa.

Because the spread of melanoma was already underway in Hunt’s body, she began treatment less than one month after being diagnosed. Since July 2020, Hunt has made the four-hour roundtrip drive from Titusville to Tampa to undergo immunotherapy treatments at Moffitt.

The treatments have been working but Hunt has suffered severe side effects from the immunotherapy, including being diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes this March.

“It happens to less than 1% of [immunotherapy] patients,” she said of the diabetes diagnosis. “Everything in my case is rare and the exception.”

Hunt, an attorney, lost her job due to layoffs during the pandemic just two days before her diagnosis. Not long after, she said she started a blog, Love and Sunblock, about her battle with melanoma to educate and provide hope to others.

“When I was first diagnosed, I started searching the internet for information and all I could find were just grave statistics,” said Hunt, whose family and friends started a GoFundMe to help cover her medical expenses. “I started blogging about my journey because I wanted to be that person for someone else in the future, that person that I was desperately trying to find.”

Hunt said her diagnosis has made her reflect on the time she spent in the sun as a child, spending hours at the beach without reapplying sunscreen and spending hours in tanning beds to try to overcome her naturally pale skin.

“I even remember missing school because of sunburns,” she said. “I was on my way to becoming a melanoma statistic and had no idea.”

Now, Hunt said she covers herself from head to toe to even walk to the mailbox and is making sure her 14-year-old daughter learns important lessons about incorporating sun protection into her daily skin care routine.

“It’s almost always preventable,” Hunt said of skin cancer. “Sun protection has got to become a habit and it’s got to start with your kids.”

What to know about melanoma and sun protection

Melanoma is a rare form of skin cancer in which cancer cells form in melanocytes, the cells that color the skin, according to the National Cancer Institute.

It can occur anywhere on the body, but in women is found most often on the arms and legs, according to NCI.

The main risk factors for melanoma include exposure to ultraviolet rays, which are found in tanning beds and sun lamps, a family history of melanoma, a personal history of melanoma or other skin cancers, a weakened immune system, moles and a complexion of fair skin, freckling and light hair, according to the American Cancer Society .

In the United States, the risk for melanoma varies by age. Before age 50, the risk for melanoma is higher for women; after age 50 the risk is higher in men, according to ACS.

In order to prevent the occurrence of melanoma, Hunt’s doctor, Eroglu, shared four tips:

1. Go to the dermatologist early and often: “With melanoma, every millimeter matters,” said Eroglu. “Time is really of the essence. If there is any concern, go and have it checked out.”

Eroglu also stressed persistence in seeking testing and a diagnosis if something on your skin continues to look abnormal to you.

2. Always wear sunscreen and reapply it often: Eroglu recommends using a sunscreen with an SPF of 30 or higher and reapplying it often, especially when exposed to water.

A broad-spectrum sunscreen that protects you from UVA rays, which can prematurely age your skin, and UVB rays, which can burn your skin, is also recommended.

It matters less what type of sunscreen you use — spray or lotion or cream — and more that you choose a type of sunscreen you will use consistently and frequently, according to Eroglu.

“Even one bad sunburn from when you were a child can years later, decades later, develop into skin cancer,” she said.

3. Avoid the sun when it is at its strongest: The sun’s rays are at their peak from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. so it is best to avoid being exposed to the sun at that time, according to Eroglu.

People should also be extra vigilant with sun protection when near water, sand and snow because the sun’s rays are strengthened by the reflection off those surfaces.

People should also avoid using tanning beds, according to Eroglu, because of the intensity of their ultraviolet radiation.

4. Do regular skin checks on yourself: People should regularly lookout for new spots or a spot that is changing in size, shape or color on their skin, according to Eroglu.

The ABCDE rule is a guide people can follow to see if any spots have features that need to be flagged to a doctor.

Here is the rule, as described by the American Cancer Society.

A is for Asymmetry: One half of a mole or birthmark does not match the other.
B is for Border: The edges are irregular, ragged, notched, or blurred.
C is for Color: The color is not the same all over and may include different shades of brown or black, or sometimes with patches of pink, red, white, or blue.
D is for Diameter: The spot is larger than 6 millimeters across (about 1/4 inch — the size of a pencil eraser), although melanomas can sometimes be smaller than this.
E is for Evolving: The mole is changing in size, shape, or color.

Nordstrom joins 15 Percent Pledge, makes 10-year commitment to Black-owned businesses

July 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Nordstrom just made a commitment to Black-owned businesses.

The store has become the first major retailer to commit to a 10-year agreement with the 15 Percent Pledge, a nonprofit that holds large corporations accountable for supporting Black-owned brands.

“Long-term societal change cannot happen overnight and we’re in this for the long haul,” said president and chief brand officer Peter Nordstrom in a statement.

Nordstrom — which joins other retailers including Macy’s, Old Navy and Sephora in the commitment to 15 Percent Pledge’s mission — announced it would increase its purchases and partnerships with Black-owned or founded retailers tenfold by the end of 2030.

“Nordstrom has established new goals and benchmarks to help it become a more diverse, inclusive and anti-racist organization, and has made strides towards these goals through notable product launches and curations,” 15 Percent Pledge said in a statement.

What is the 15 Percent Pledge?

Created in 2020 by Aurora James, the 15 Percent Pledge is a nonprofit organization that aims to get retailers to commit 15% of their shelf space to products from Black-owned businesses.

According to 15percentpledge.org: “Over 13% of people living in the United States identify as Black and another estimated 2% identify as mixed race, totaling 15%.”

What started out as an Instagram post now has nearly 30 major retailers across three countries addressing racial inequities in retail.

Kraft collaborates with Van Leeuwen to serve macaroni and cheese flavored ice cream

July 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — What do you get when National Macaroni and Cheese Day falls in the middle of National Ice Cream Month? A flavor collaboration from two very different comfort foods.

While the creaminess of mac and cheese doesn’t exactly scream ice cream, Kraft and Van Leeuwen put their heads together to create a unique summer treat.

“For the first time ever, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese will launch a limited-edition ice cream in partnership with Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, the cult-favorite brand known for making decadent and delicious ice cream and vegan ice cream with just a few ingredients,” the company announced Tuesday.

The soft orange hue that makes the iconic elbow-shaped pasta pop is made with paprika, annatto and turmeric, according to Kraft, after the brand removed artificial flavors, preservatives and dyes from the recipe in 2016.

The exact recipe for the hot-turned cold nostalgic noodle dish being churned up in ice cream form was not officially released, but the brand said just like the pasta, the ice cream remains free of any artificial ingredients.

Starting July 14, the limited-edition flavor will be sold at Van Leeuwen scoop shops in New York City, Los Angeles and Houston, as well as online for $12 per pint, while supplies last. New Yorkers can taste the bold new flavor for free at an ice cream truck that will be stationed by Union Square on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

“We know that there is nothing more refreshing on a hot summer day than ice cream. That is why we wanted to combine two of the most iconic comfort foods to create an ice cream with the unforgettable flavor of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese we all grew up with,” Emily Violett, senior associate brand manager for Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, said in a statement.

Biden to make much-anticipated voting rights speech Tuesday in Philadelphia

July 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Official White House Photo by Adam Schultz

(WASHINGTON) — With GOP-led legislatures advancing new voting laws and Congress deadlocked over proposed legislation, President Joe Biden is expected to deliver a major speech on voting rights in Philadelphia on Tuesday as his administration wades more aggressively into the fight over ballot access at the urging of civil rights groups and Democrats.

Previewing his remarks on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would directly call out lies from former President Donald Trump and other Republicans about the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, and “decry efforts to strip the right to vote as authoritarian and anti-American.”

“He’ll call out the greatest irony of the ‘big lie’ is that no election in our history has met such a high standard with over 80 judges, including those appointed by his predecessor, throwing out all challenges,” Psaki said.

National Urban League CEO Marc Morial, who was one of a handful of civil rights leaders to meet with Biden at the White House last Thursday, told ABC News the group asked Biden “to put the full moral prestige and the power of the presidency” behind voting rights, to help frame the debate for the American people.

“As a candidate, he talked about the soul of the nation. And I think this is a soul of the nation issue,” he said.

Along with Biden’s White House meeting last week, Vice President Kamala Harris also announced plans for the Democratic National Committee to spend $25 million to expand its voter outreach campaign and support future litigation.

The Justice Department has also sued the state of Georgia over its new voting law, and Attorney General Merrick Garland has announced plans to beef up the department’s Civil Rights Division to help defend voting rights.

Biden’s speech on Tuesday comes as Democrats in the Texas State Legislature fled the state for Washington, D.C., the second such effort in recent weeks to derail the passage of sweeping GOP-authored voting legislation by trying to prevent Republicans from taking up the proposals in a special legislative session.

Roughly 17 states have enacted 28 laws that would restrict voting access, out of hundreds that have been introduced throughout the country, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law.

“You can’t disassociate Jan. 6 with what is happening in the states,” Morial said of the Capitol riot that sought to disrupt the Electoral College count. “This is all sour grapes over losing an election.”

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court upheld two GOP-backed voting restrictions in Arizona, imposing new limits on Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Liberals on the court argued that the decision would weaken protections against racial discrimination.

That ruling, together with the flurry of state-level actions on voting, has led civil rights advocates to push the White House to more vocally make the case for federal voting rights legislation.

“The Court has put the ball in Congress’ court, and now it’s on Congress and the administration to actually take that up now,” said Wendy Weiser, the director of the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center.

In March, House Democrats advanced HR 1, the For the People Act, an expansive package that would transform federal elections, voting and congressional redistricting. But it has stalled in the Senate after failing to advance in a procedural vote late last month, over opposition from all Republicans.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., panned the bill and accused Democrats of attempting a “power grab” with the proposal.

A more measured proposal named for the late Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., which would restore pieces of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013, has also failed to advance through Congress.

In light of the GOP opposition, Democrats have pushed for the Senate to reform the legislative filibuster, with House Democratic Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., a key Biden ally and endorser during the 2020 Democratic primary, suggesting Democrats create an exception to the 60-vote threshold for election reform and other constitutional issues.

When asked about Clyburn’s call for a filibuster exemption for voting rights, and if the president agreed, Psaki punted the issue back to Congress.

“I will say, though, in terms of how this works, the filibuster is a legislative process tool, an important one, that warrants debate but determination about making changes will be made by members of the Senate, not by this president or any president, frankly, moving forward,” Psaki said Monday.

“There are two pathways forward” for voting rights reform,” Morial said. “Either you try to find an agreement with Republicans, so you have a bipartisan bill, or the pathway forward is to create a carve out for the filibuster.”

Asked how Biden responded in their meeting last week, Morial told ABC News the president “simply made a comment that, ‘I know the Senate better than anyone,’ and that’s probably true.”

Texas Democrats to break quorum in special session over voting rights

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — For the second time since May, Texas House Democrats will break quorum in protest against state Republicans’ push to revise the election and voting laws in the Lone Star State.

The much-speculated move was officially announced by Democrats Monday afternoon, a day before the Texas House was slated to be back in session to continue working through the items set by Gov. Greg Abbott for the ongoing, 30-day special session agenda.

“Today, Texas House Democrats stand united in our decision to break quorum and refuse to let the Republican-led legislature force through dangerous legislation that would trample on Texans’ freedom to vote,” a joint statement from several high-profile Texas House Democrats read.

The group of lawmakers — including Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Chris Turner, Mexican American Legislative Caucus Chair Rafael Anchía, Texas Legislative Black Caucus Chair Nicole Collier, Legislative Study Group Caucus Chair Garnet Coleman and Dean Senfronia Thompson — also announced plans to head to Washington as they break quorum.

“We are now taking the fight to our nation’s Capitol. We are living on borrowed time in Texas. We need Congress to act now to pass the For the People Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Act to protect Texans — and all Americans — from the Trump Republicans’ nationwide war on democracy,” the group said in a statement.

Vice President Kamala Harris, praised the Democrats’ efforts to break quorum and head to Washington to push Congress to pass election reform.

“I applaud the effort of the Texas legislators who are standing in the way of a blatant attempt to suppress the vote,” she said.

After spending the day in Michigan, the vice president told reporters that her conversations were meant to “remind voters — to remind people that their voice is important and that they are at risk of having legislative bodies impede the right to vote, if we don’t stand up and understand what’s happening, see it for what it is and obviously, be more engaged.”

The move is being met with strong opposition from across the aisle, and it remains unclear what the state’s executive branch will do next. In a statement following the Democrats’ announcement, the Republican governor blasted the legislators, accusing them of engaging in “partisan political games.”

“Texas Democrats’ decision to break a quorum of the Texas Legislature and abandon the Texas State Capitol inflicts harm on the very Texans who elected them to serve. As they fly across the country on cushy private planes, they leave undone issues that can help their districts and our state,” Abbott said in a statement.

One of the issues that remains on the agenda is reinstating government funding, which Abbott vetoed in response to House Democrats last quorum break in May. The issue is already emerging as a focal point for House Republicans, with the Texas House Speaker chiding Democrats over the decision to break quorum.

“These actions put at risk state funding that will deny thousands of hard-working staff members and families a paycheck, health benefits and retirement investment so that legislators who broke quorum can flee to Washington, D.C. on private jets,” Phelan said in a statement.

According to House rules, at least two-thirds of the chamber’s 150 members must be present to conduct business. The rules also outline that if there are absent lawmakers “for whom no sufficient excuse is made,” a vote can be held just among the members in attendance for those absent lawmakers to “be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found.”

For now, Democrats, like Texas Rep. Gene Wu, who represents southwest Houston and is among those heading to the nation’s capital, indicate the potential risk is worth it.

“This is the only tool that Republicans have left Democrats and we intend on it,” Wu said.

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein and Deputy Political Director Averi Harper contributed to this report.

Denver police feared mass shooting near MLB All-Star Game, documents show

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(DENVER) — Denver law enforcement officers were concerned they had encountered a mass shooting plot in the works when they learned one of four suspects arrested on gun and drug charges at a hotel near the venue of this week’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game had requested a room with a balcony, according to police reports.

Police were called to the Maven Hotel in downtown Denver on Friday after a hotel housekeeper entered the room of one of the suspects to clean it and noticed multiple firearms, according to probable cause statements filed in the incident and obtained by ABC News.

On Sunday, the FBI released a statement saying, “We have no reason to believe this incident was connected to terrorism or a threat directed at the All-Star Game.”

A preliminary assessment indicated the stash of guns seized at the hotel appears to be connected to a possible illegal transaction involving drugs and guns, according to an internal law enforcement memo obtained by ABC News.

Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said at a news conference Sunday that the investigation is in its early stages and that “nothing has been ruled out.”

“We don’t know what we don’t know,” Pazen said. “That’s what the investigation is all about. We need to identify exactly, to the extent possible, why individuals were here in the first place, why in proximity to downtown. We don’t have those answers.”

When Denver police officers arrived at the hotel Friday night, staff directed them to a white Mercedes that reportedly belonged to one of the suspects and was parked in the hotel’s garage, according to the police affidavits. Officers went to investigate the vehicle, and when they peered through the windows they allegedly saw in “plain view” a rifle, bulletproof vest and a high-capacity ammunition magazine, the statements read.

Hotel employees told police that the person who owned the Mercedes had rented two rooms at the hotel, including the one where the housekeeper noticed the weapons, the documents state. The employees told police that the person who rented the rooms had specifically requested a room with a balcony that overlooked an alleyway and was supposed to check out on Friday but had extended his stay for several more days, according to the statements.

“It should be noted that this information was concerning to offices due to the location of the rifle, ballistic vest, duty belt and requesting a room with a balcony, coupled with the fact that the 2021 Major League Baseball All-Star Game events happening in the immediate area of the hotel,” the police statement read. “There is a propensity for mass casualty incidents in scenarios such as the above where many people are gathered together in a small area for a single event.”

The MLB All-Star Game is scheduled to be played Tuesday night at Coors Field, which is about a block from the Maven Hotel. Festivities around the game started over the weekend, and the event’s popular Home Run Derby is scheduled for Monday night.

Police obtained warrants to search the two rooms and in one of them found 12 guns and a large amount of suspected heroin and ecstasy pills, according to the statements.

Officers set up surveillance on the other room and detained a man, identified as Gabriel Rodriguez, 48, when he walked out, the police documents state. Rodriguez had a backpack with him that allegedly contained a loaded KelTec 9mm semiautomatic handgun with an obliterated serial number, an ammunition magazine, a large quantity of suspected methamphetamine and black tar heroin, according to the statements.

Police also seized about $1,120 cash they allegedly found on Rodriguez, according to the statements.

Rodriguez and two other suspects, Ricardo Rodriguez, 44, and Kanoelehua Serikawa, 43, appeared in court on Monday and were ordered to be held on bonds ranging from $50,000 to $75,000. The fourth suspect, Richard Platt, 42, made his first appearance in court on Sunday, and a judge ordered him to remain in jail in lieu of a $50,000 cash bond.

None of the suspects have entered a plea. They are being held on weapons charges and possession of a controlled substance with intent to distribute, according to Denver police.

They were all ordered to return to court on Monday. It’s unclear if any of them have retained attorneys or are waiting to be appointed public defenders.

During Monday’s court hearing, a prosecutor alleged that Ricardo Rodriguez was “the leader of the entire incident” and the one who rented both rooms at the Maven Hotel.

The Colorado Bureau of Investigation told ABC News that Platt, Gabriel Rodriguez and Ricardo Rodriguez are all convicted felons and that Platt has previously been convicted on weapons and drug charges.

ABC News’ Josh Margolin contributed to this report.

Facing possible sanctions, Sidney Powell defends 2020 election lawsuit during heated hearing

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Sarah Silbiger for The Washington Post via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — Former Trump attorney Sidney Powell and her legal team clashed repeatedly with a federal judge Monday during a hearing to determine if sanctions are warranted against her and other attorneys who filed a lawsuit in Michigan based on false claims of election fraud in an unsuccessful attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and the City of Detroit have requested that Federal Judge Linda V. Parker sanction Powell, attorney Lin Wood, and other members of the legal team that were involved in the efforts to have Michigan’s presidential election returns decertified due to unsubstantiated claims of voting irregularities.

Monday’s nearly six-hour hearing, at which Powell appeared virtually, quickly spiraled into chaos as attorneys from both sides shouted accusations at each other about the merits of the lawsuit at hand, which sought to block certification of the election and was subsequently denied.

David Fink, a lawyer for the city of Detroit, called the lawsuit “an embarrassment to the legal profession.”

“It was sloppy, it was unreadable, it was mocked in the public … it never should have been filed,” Fink said. “These lawyers should be punished for their behavior.”

Powell, who served on then-President Donald Trump’s legal team before being removed for pushing outlandish conspiracy theories, vigorously defended the lawsuit and the diligence that went into producing it, saying she “would file these same complaints again.”

Her statements came three months after she filed a motion to dismiss a defamation lawsuit filed by voting machine company Dominion Voting Systems, arguing that “no reasonable person” should have believed her election theories were “truly statements of fact.”

The City of Detroit is also seeking to have the attorneys prohibited from practicing law in the district and wants the various attorneys’ local state bar associations to undertake their own investigation — a process that recently led to attorney Rudy Giuliani’s temporary ban from practicing law in New York.

The effort, if successful, would mark the first financial penalty against those who sought to challenge the 2020 election in court based on false claims of election fraud or other election misconduct. In all, Trump and his supporters filed over 50 lawsuits across the country.

Judge Parker poured over one of those suits during the hearing, peppering Powell and her team with dozens of questions in an effort to determine if sanctions are warranted. The judge expressed skepticism about the legal basis for Powell’s suit, the various claims of fraud, and the evidence submitted to support them.

“The court is concerned these affidavits were submitted in bad faith,” Parker said of the suit, which was filed in in November and was dismissed by a judge after it was found to be riddled with factual errors and inaccuracies.

A number of the affidavits submitted to support allegations of fraud were debunked by local election officials, and questions were raised about credentials of a number of the expert witnesses used in the suit. The lawsuit’s anonymous military intelligence expert, for example, was reportedly a Dallas-based IT consultant who never even worked in military intelligence, according to a Washington Post report.

“How can any of you as officers of the court present this type of affidavit?” Parker asked at one point about a separate affidavit. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen an affidavit with more leaps. This is pure speculation.”

“We did a ton of due diligence,” said Howard Kleinhendler, a lawyer on the Powell team. “We did not submit falsehoods,” said Julia Haller, another attorney on the team.

Several attorneys, however, attempted to distance themselves from the suit. Wood, a staunch supporter of the president who filed multiple suits in the wake of the 2020 election, said he had “nothing to do” with the suit at issue in the hearing.

“My name was placed on there, but I had no involvement whatsoever,” he told the judge, claiming that he had offered general assistance to Powell but was not involved in this suit.

Another attorney said the team had spent no more than five hours total on the suit.

Parker did not issue a decision, or give an expected timeline for one.

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin contributed to this report.

FDA issues new warning on rare autoimmune disorder linked to J&J vaccine

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday warned of an increased risk of Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological disorder, following the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after 100 preliminary cases of the syndrome were reported among the 12.5M doses administered.

The agency noted that 95 of the cases were serious and required hospitalization. There was one death.

While the FDA said it’s updating vaccination materials for health care providers and patients to note an “association” between the vaccine and a risk of GBS, the agency said the data are “insufficient to establish a causal relationship.” And, the agency added, it still recommends the vaccine to prevent the serious health risks posed by COVID-19.

“Importantly, the FDA has evaluated the available information for the Janssen COVID-19 Vaccine and continues to find the known and potential benefits clearly outweigh the known and potential risks,” the FDA stated.

Johnson and Johnson said it has discussed the reports with federal regulators at the Food and Drug Administration.

“The chance of having this occur is very low, and the rate of reported cases exceeds the background rate by a small degree,” the company said in a statement released Monday.

Similar issues have not been reported tied to the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Guillain-Barré syndrome is a rare disorder that occurs when a person’s immune system damages nerve cells and causes muscle weakness or paralysis.

Most people recover fully although some will report long-term nerve damage.

According to the CDC, the majority of people who develop GBS report the symptoms after having a respiratory illness, including the flu or getting sick with diarrhea. One common cause is a bacteria tied to eating uncooked poultry.

It’s also linked to vaccination, though rare, and is why the CDC monitors reports of GBS each flu season.

The CDC estimates there is one to two additional GBS cases per million doses of flu vaccine administered.

On the most recent cases tied to the J&J vaccine, the CDC said older men were mostly impacted.

“These cases have largely been reported about two weeks after vaccination and mostly in males, many aged 50 years and older,” the CDC said in a statement.

According to the FDA, patients should seek medical attention if they experience a weakness or tingling sensations, especially in the legs or arms, and that might worsen or spread to other parts of the body. Other symptoms might include difficulty walking or making facial movements; double vision or inability to move eyes; or difficulty with bladder control or bowel function.

ABC News’ Eric Strauss contributed to this report.

Biden convenes session on gun violence amid surge in crime

July 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As part of his effort to get out in front of a politically sensitive issue, President Joe Biden on Monday convened a meeting with Attorney General Merrick Garland, law enforcement leaders and elected officials to discuss rising crime rates across the country.

Glancing at Garland at the top of the meeting, Biden opened his remarks by acknowledging that he’s been trying to solve this problem for many years.

“We’ve been at this a long time, a long time. Seems like most of my career I’ve been dealing with this issue. While there’s no one-size-fits-all approach, we know there are some things that work. And the first of those that work is stemming the flow of firearms used to commit violent crimes,” Biden said.

“It includes cracking down on holding rogue gun dealers accountable for violating the federal law. It includes the Justice Department creating five new strike forces to crack down on illegal gun trafficking,” Biden said, without directly acknowledging more meaningful gun control is impossible without getting Senate Republicans to go along.

While Biden said he’d be asking the experts he assembled what else they believe should be done on the federal level to address rising crime rates, he did not directly address Congress or put any pressure on lawmakers to act on a national level.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki previewed the meeting at an earlier press briefing and said the group will discuss Biden’s “comprehensive plan to reduce gun violence and violent crime.”

Biden’s plan, unveiled last month, targets law-breaking gun dealers, provides federal resources to police departments for gun-crime enforcement and allows communities to repurpose millions of dollars of federal coronavirus relief funding for programs proven to prevent gun violence.

“During the meeting, the president will discuss his crime reduction strategy — strategy which gives cities and states historic funding through the American Rescue Plan, and a range of tools they can use to improve public safety in their communities including support for community violence intervention programs, summer employment opportunities and other proven methods to reduce crime,” Psaki said.

“I’ll underscore his commitment to ensuring their state and law and local law enforcement have the resources and support they need to hire more police officers and invest in effective and accountable community policing,” Psaki said.

Notably, Biden has not taken the same stance as some progressives who’ve called to “defund the police,” a position that gained traction last year during what many deemed to be a racial reckoning in the country.

Still, Republicans have attacked Biden for being “soft on crime.”

Psaki said Biden is stressing partnerships with local leaders on the effort. Attendees at the White House included Washington Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser and Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, who just won New York’s City Democratic mayoral primary. Unlike other progressive candidates, Adams did not run on a “defund the police” agenda but instead cited “public safety” as his top priority for the city and Democrats in general.

“This president is making it clear,” Adams said following the meeting, “he’s going to redefine the ecosystem of public safety, and that includes identifying the role of police, schools, families, resources, employment.”

“Why did it take so long before we heard the gunshots that families were listening and hearing every night? Other communities are waking up the alarm clock, communities of Black, brown and poor people are waking up to gunshots and this president says this is not the America we’re going to live in,” he continued.

Police chiefs, including David Brown, superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, along with a community-based violence intervention expert, also attended the White House meeting.

Psaki said the group would talk about what the federal government is doing to stem the flow of guns used in crimes, “including the administration’s zero-tolerance policy for dealers who willfully sell guns illegally, the Department of Justice’s gun trafficking strike forces, as well as previous steps the White House has announced like cracking down on ghost guns, which are increasingly used in violent crimes.”

Biden’s session comes as the country faces a rise in violent crime, particularly in those involving firearms.

According to a study released earlier this year by the National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, homicides spiked by 30% in 2020 compared to the year before.

And in the first three months of 2021, the number of homicides increased by 24% compared to the same period in 2020 and by 49% compared to the start of 2019, the researchers said.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Sarah Kolinovsky contributed to this report.

+ More