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Travis McMichael testifies Ahmaud Arbery never verbally threatened him or pulled weapon

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(BRUNSWICK, Ga.) — Travis McMichael returned to the witness stand on Thursday and under cross-examination from the prosecutor repeated that Ahmaud Arbery never verbally threatened him or brandished a weapon during the five minutes he, his father and their neighbor chased Arbery before McMichael fatally shot him.

Prosecutor Linda Dunikoski attempted to undermind the 35-year-old McMichael’s credibility by getting him to concede to inconsistencies between what he told police the day of the shooting and what he told the Brunswick, Georgia, jury during his direct testimony on Wednesday.

“Not once in your statement to police did you say that you and your father were trying to arrest Mr. Arbery?” Dunikoski asked after inquiring about the defendant’s training on probable cause during his time in the Coast Guard.

Travis McMichael acknowledged that in none of his statements did he tell police that he and his father were attempting to make a citizens’ arrest of Arbery. He also conceded that he had suspected another individual of stealing a pistol from his truck on Jan. 1, 2020, and that he had also surmised that person, not Arbery, was the one responsible for a spike in crime in his Satilla Shores neighborhood near Brunswick.

Dunikoski grilled Travis McMichael on why he suspected Arbery of burglarizing a home under construction on the day of the killing, writing on a flipchart a series of assumptions and statements in which he said “maybe” a neighbor had seen him in the unfinished home, “maybe” he had broken in, “maybe” he was running from a crime, “maybe” Arbery had been caught in the act.

Travis McMichael testified that he based his suspicions on a totality of circumstances, including a brief encounter at the construction site in his neighborhood he had on Feb. 11, 2020, with a man that turned out to be Arbery, whom he thought was armed because he reached into his pants.

Travis McMichael, his 65-year-old father, Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, 53, have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

Complaint about Rev. Jesse Jackson

During Travis McMichael’s testimony on Thursday, the Rev. Jesse Jackson sat in the courtroom gallery with Arbery’s parents, raising the latest of several recent objections from Bryan’s attorney, Kevin Gough, that the presence of prominent Black ministers in the court was an attempt to intimidate the jury.

Judge Walmsley said he has already ruled twice on Gough’s motions to bar the Black ministers from the courtroom, finding that they have not been disruptive to the proceedings.

In an apparent reaction to Gough’s complaints, hundreds of Black ministers held a prayer vigil outside the courthouse on Thursday as the trial was going on.

The chase

Dunikoski directed Travis McMichael’s attention to the pursuit of Arbery that he and his father, Gregory McMichael, initiated after his dad saw Arbery running past their home on Feb. 23, 2020, causing them both to grab their guns.

During his direct testimony on Wednesday, Travis McMichael testified that he walked out of his house with his shotgun and saw a neighbor pointing in his direction as if signaling where he saw the young Black man running.

Travis McMichael testified on Thursday that at no time did he go and speak to the neighbor about what had occurred before he and his father jumped in his truck with their guns and set out after Arbery.

He testified that he drove close enough to Arbery on three separate occasions to ask him to stop running so he could speak to him, but in each instance, Arbery kept running, never said a word to him and altered his course in an apparent attempt to get away from the McMichaels.

“When you first see him, he’s not reaching into his pockets?” Dunikoski asked.

Travis McMichael answered, “No, ma’am.”

Dunikoski continued her line of questioning, saying, “And he never yelled at you guys, never threatened you at all?”

Travis McMichael responded, “Did not threaten me verbally.”

He agreed that Abery never brandished a knife, gun, or had anything in his hands at any time during the pursuit, testifying, “He was just running.”

Pelosi says House could vote Thursday evening on sweeping social spending package

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The House could vote as soon as Thursday evening on the second piece of President Joe Biden’s infrastructure improvement agenda — the largest expansion of the nation’s social safety net in 50 years — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said.

As Democrats barrel ahead towards a vote, with the chamber already starting debate on the “Build Back Better Act” Thursday morning, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said it would release its final estimate on the cost of the total package in the afternoon.

Pelosi, D-Calif., told reporters at a Capitol Hill news conference that the outstanding information would “hopefully” be released by 5 p.m., clearing the way for a vote on final passage later in the evening. Democratic moderates had promised progressives they would commit to voting for the social spending bill the week of Nov. 15 if the CBO provided more “fiscal information” to satisfy their cost concerns.

The social spending bill contains $555 billion for climate and clean energy investments. It would reduce the cost of some prescription drugs, extend the child tax credit, expand universal preschool and includes electric-vehicle tax credits, paid leave, housing assistance and dozens more progressive priorities.

The vote on the package could be pushed to Friday so to give lawmakers more time to review the cost estimates, but Pelosi presented a timeline that could send House lawmakers home to their Thanksgiving recess as scheduled.

“As soon as we get the scrub information we can proceed with our manager’s amendment to proceed to a vote on the new rules, the manager’s amendment, reflecting the scrub, not any policy changes, but just some technicalities about committee jurisdiction, etc.,” she said. “And then we will vote on the rule and then on the bill. Those votes hopefully will take place later this afternoon.”

The House vote would then send the package to the Senate, which is expected to amend the proposal in the coming weeks after the Thanksgiving recess as Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin have not committed to the package in its current form.

Since Democrats plan to pass the measure through reconciliation, a lengthy budget process that would not require them to have any Republican support since Democrats have a narrow majority in both chambers, the legislation — months in the making — still has a long way to go, including back to the House, before it would even hit Biden’s desk.

Pelosi expressed confidence that with control of Congress hanging in the balance ahead of the midterm elections less than a year away, Democrats will be able to successfully sell their work to the American people — and do so more effectively than they did in 2010 after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, due, in part, to Biden using the “bully pulpit.”

“Joe Biden is very committed to messaging this. As you’ve seen he’s already on the road,” she said. “There’s no substitute for the bully pulpit of the president of the United States reinforced by the events we will have across the United States.”

Democratic members of Congress are also planning to hold 1,000 events before the end of the year to make clear to Americans “what we’re doing in this package,” according to the chair of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney of New York, speaking to part one of Biden’s policy agenda on infrastructure signed into law on Monday.

“The messaging on it will be immediate, and it will be intense, and it will be eloquent, and it will make a difference,” Pelosi said.

Giving remarks in Woodstock, New Hampshire, on Tuesday, Biden also endorsed Pelosi’s timeline to pass part two of his infrastructure agenda this week.

“I’m confident that the House is going to pass this bill. And when it passes, it will go to the Senate,” Biden said. “I think we’ll get it passed within a week.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, in his quest to become the House speaker, blasted Pelosi at his press conference and said the reconciliation bill will “be the end of their Democratic majority.”

While the already-passed bipartisan infrastructure law itself and its individual components — rebuilding and repairing bridges, ports and roads, expanding broadband internet, and more — are widely popular, a new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows Americans aren’t giving Biden credit for championing the law and getting it through Congress. The president’s approval rating is at an all-time low at 41%.

Democratic leaders and the White House continue to insist both pieces of legislation will be fully paid for, in part by imposing a 15% minimum tax on corporate profits that large corporations report to shareholders.

Pelosi on Thursday also tried to defend Democrats’ “Build Back Better” proposal from criticism over a key tax provision that has angered some in the caucus. Some moderates and leading progressives have criticized plans to undo a cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deductions — a reversal of Republicans’ 2017 tax law — popular in California, New York and New Jersey, given that the change would benefit wealthy suburban property owners.

The change would allow taxpayers to deduct up to $80,000 in state and local taxes from their federal tax returns after Republicans imposed a $10,000 cap on federal deductions four years ago.

A recent analysis from the Toxic Policy Center found the SALT cap increase would primarily benefit the top 10% of income-earning Americans. About 70% of the tax benefit would go to the top 5% of earners, who make $366,000 a year or more, the analysis said.

“That’s not about tax cuts for wealthy people. It’s about services for the American people,” Pelosi said. “This isn’t about who gets a tax cut, it’s about which states get the revenue they need to help the American people.”

ABC News’ Trish Turner and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.

District attorney apologizes, calls out J. Edgar Hoover as men exonerated in murder of Malcolm X

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — One of the men convicted in connection with the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X appeared in court Thursday where a judge cleared his name.

Manhattan District Attorney Cy Vance moved to throw out the convictions of Muhammad Aziz, 83, and Khalil Islam, who died in 2009, based on “newly discovered evidence and the failure to disclose exculpatory evidence,” according to a joint motion Vance’s office filed with the defense.

“We are moving today to vacate the convictions and dismiss the indictments,” Vance said. “I apologize for what were serious, unacceptable violations of law and the public trust.”

Aziz, previously known as Norman Butler, spent 22 years in prison before he was paroled in 1985. Confessed assassin Thomas Hagan, who served 45 years in prison, had long said neither man participated in killing the fiery civil rights leader.

Vance said that certain witnesses, acting under orders from then-FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, were ordered not to reveal they were FBI informants.

“Mr. Aziz and Mr. Islam were wrongly convicted of this crime,” Vance said.

Aziz sat at the defense table wearing a white mask next to his attorney, David Shanies, who called Aziz and Islam “innocent young Black men” and accused the New York Police Department and the FBI of covering up evidence.

“Most of the men who murdered Malcolm X never faced justice,” Shanies said.

Aziz read from a statement in court, saying, “The events that led to my conviction and wrongful imprisonment should never have happened. Those events were the result of a process that was corrupt to its core — one that is all too familiar — even in 2021.”

“While I do not need a court, prosecutors, or a piece of paper to tell me I am innocent, I am glad that my family, my friends, and the attorneys who have worked and supported me all these years are finally seeing the truth we have all known officially recognized,” he continued.

The exoneration resulted from a nearly two-year investigation by the district attorney’s office and the Innocence Project that uncovered FBI documents that revealed a description of the killers that did not match Aziz or Islam, an admission that the only witnesses who fingered Aziz and Islam were FBI informants and a report that said sources reviewed photos of Islam and failed to place him in the Audubon Ballroom where Malcolm X was assassinated on Feb. 21, 1965.

“In short, it is unknown whether the identification procedures used in this case were properly conducted,” the motion to vacate said.

The district attorney’s office stopped short of proclaiming the actual innocence of Aziz and Islam, citing the deaths of witnesses, co-conspirators and police officers, the missing identification and physical and other evidence.

Iranian nationals charged in campaign to undermine 2020 US election

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Two Iranian nationals have been charged in a disinformation campaign meant to influence the outcome of the 2020 presidential election, including by threatening physical violence if registered Democrats failed to switch their affiliation and vote for then-President Donald Trump.

Seyyed Kazemi and Sajjad Kashian obtained confidential information about American voters from at least one state election website, sent those people threatening emails and gained access to a news network’s computer system that would have allowed them to disseminate false claims about the election, according to the indictment.

ABC News reported in October 2020 Iran and Russia had obtained voter information.

“As alleged, Kazemi and Kashian were part of a coordinated conspiracy in which Iranian hackers sought to undermine faith and confidence in the U.S. Presidential elections,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams.

The indictment did not name the state infiltrated, but Florida law enforcement and the FBI previously had said they were investigating the threatening emails sent to registered voters.

The Iranians, both of whom are believed to be in Iran and out of reach of U.S. law enforcement, claimed to be a group of Proud Boys volunteers, according to the indictment. They allegedly sent Facebook messages and emails to Republican officials that claimed Democrats were going to exploit vulnerabilities in voter registration websites. They also allegedly sent registered Democrats messages that threatened physical injury if they did not change their affiliation and vote for President Trump, the indictment said.

“We are in possession of all your information (email, address, telephone … everything). You are currently registered as a Democrat and we know this because we have gained access into the entire voting infrastructure. You will vote for Trump on Election Day or we will come after you. Change your party affiliation to Republican to let us know you received our message and will comply. We will know which candidate you voted for,” the indictment quoted the emails as saying.

There was no evidence the campaign successfully convinced any voter to actually change their registration, according to a Justice Department official.

“State-sponsored actors, including Iranian groups, have engaged in covert and deceptive activities to disseminate disinformation through websites and social media designed to undermine Americans’ faith in U.S. elections,” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement Thursday. The U.S. government took decisive and disruptive action against those seeking to interfere with the sanctity of our elections, including the FBI warning the public of the attempts ahead of the 2020 elections.”

The day after the election, the Iranians tried to use stolen credentials to hack their way into an unnamed American media company’s computer networks, the indictment said. The company alerted the FBI, which stopped them from altering any content or disseminating false claims, according to a Justice Department official.

Prosecutors described Kazemi and Kashian as experienced computer hackers who worked as contractors for an Iran-based company formerly known as Eeleyanet Gostar, which the U.S. believes is linked to the Iranian government.

In conjunction with the Dept. of Justice, the U.S. Treasury has also sanctioned the Iranian company and six of its employees, who it said were involved in this disinformation campaign to influence the 2020 U.S. elections.

The firm, now known as Emennet Pasargad, was previously sanctioned under its former name by the Trump administration for supporting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its electronic warfare wing.

Kazemi and Kashian were employees at Emennet and actually “executed cyber-enabled operations,” according to the Treasury. Four other Iranians serve on Emennet’s board of directors and are being sanctioned for their role at the firm.

“This indictment details how two Iran-based actors waged a targeted, coordinated campaign to erode confidence in the integrity of the U.S. electoral system and to sow discord among Americans,” Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen said.

Julius Jones death row sentence commuted, changed to life without parole

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(OKLAHOMA CITY) — After spending the past 20 years fighting for his life on death row, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt commuted Julius Jones’ sentence to life without the possibility of parole the day Jones was scheduled to be executed.

“After prayerful consideration and reviewing materials presented by all sides of this case, I have determined to commute Julius Jones’ sentence to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole,” Stitt said in a statement released Thursday.

Last week, a federal appeals court rejected Jones’ final appeal, which meant the decision to spare his life lay only with Stitt, who could have accepted the parole board’s recommendation to grant Jones clemency. Jones’ execution date was slated for Nov. 18.

In September, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board recommended Stitt commute Jones’ sentence to life in prison with the possibility of parole. Stitt said at the time he was waiting for a clemency hearing to make a decision.

Nearly two months later, on Nov. 1, the Oklahoma Pardon and Parole Board voted to recommend clemency for Jones in a 3-1 favor.

“Nightline” spoke to Jones’ family in September following the parole board’s recommendation to commute Jones’ death sentence. Jones’ mother, Madeline Davis-Jones, said the parole board’s decision had given the family hope in the eleventh hour.

Antoinette Jones said in September that her brother was calm when he heard the parole board’s recommendation.

“He said, ‘I’m good. I’ll be even better when I get out and I can hug y’all and we can start helping change the world,'” Antoinette Jones said.

Julius Jones was 19 years old when he was arrested for the 1999 murder of Oklahoma businessman Paul Howell, and sentenced to death in 2002. What followed were decades of public scrutiny and relentless work from his legal team.

Jones, 41, has spent most of his life behind bars. Before he was in prison, friends and teachers knew him as a champion high school basketball player who attended the University of Oklahoma on an academic scholarship.

That all changed in 1999 when Howell, 45, was shot in his family’s driveway after a car-jacking in the wealthy suburb of Edmond, Oklahoma.

Howell’s GMC Suburban went missing and his sister, Megan Tobey, was the only eyewitness.

“Megan Tobey described the shooter as a young Black man wearing a red bandana, a white shirt and a stocking cap or skullcap. She was not able to identify the shooter’s face because it was covered,” Bass told ABC News in 2018.

Two days after Howell was killed, police found his Suburban parked in a grocery store parking lot. They learned later that a man named Ladell King had been offering to sell the car.

King named Chris Jordan and Julius Jones to investigators and said the two men had asked him to help them sell the stolen Suburban.

“Ladell was interviewed by the lead detectives in this case. He told the police that on the night of the crime, a guy named Chris Jordan comes to his apartment. A few minutes later, according to Ladell King, Julius Jones drives up,” attorney Dale Baich told ABC News in 2018.

King accused Jordan of being the driver and claimed that he and Jones were looking for Suburbans to steal, but it was Jones who shot Howell.

“Both Ladell King and Christopher Jordan were directing police’s attention to the home of Julius Jones’ parents as a place that would have incriminating items of evidence,” Bass said.

Investigators found a gun wrapped in a red bandana in the crawl space of Jones’ family home. The next day, Jones was arrested for capital murder.

Jones’ attorneys say the evidence police found could have been planted by Jordan. They say Jordan had stayed at Jones’ house the night after the murder, but Jordan denied those claims during the trial.

In the years since, Jones’ defense team has argued that racial bias and missteps from his then-public defense team played a role.

Jones’ team submitted files to the parole board that they said proved his innocence, including affidavits and taped video interviews with inmates who had served time in prison with Jordan. They said they allegedly heard Jordan confess to Howell’s murder.

In a statement to ABC News in September, Jordan’s attorney, Billy Bock, said: “Chris Jordan maintains his position that his role in the death of Paul Howell was as an accomplice to Julius Jones. Mr. Jordan testified truthfully in the jury trial of Mr. Jones and denies ‘confessing’ to anyone.”

Jordan served 15 years in prison before he was released.

In 2020, Jones’ story was thrown back into the spotlight when unlikely legal ally Kim Kardashian drew public attention to his case. Kardashian, who is studying to take California’s bar exam, has been vocal on the issue of the death penalty and prison reform and has campaigned to free a number of men and women who were incarcerated.

“Kim Kardashian, I felt like may be one of my sorority sisters … she was down to earth,” Davis-Jones said.

Antoinette Jones said Kardashian put in the effort to help her brother.

“She sat down and she broke down my brother’s case. That means that she actually did the work,” Jones said. “She did the work to go back and check certain things, to point out certain things.”

“The fact that she told me that she was able to go see my brother, it was almost like she took a piece of him and brought it to us and then we could feel like he was there with us,” Jones added.

COVID-19 live updates: Florida governor prohibiting private employer vaccine mandates

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.1 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 767,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 68.9% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

Nov 18, 12:27 pm
Florida governor signs legislation prohibiting private employer vaccine mandates

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday signed legislation that prohibits private employer vaccine mandates and says employers that violate the ruling will be fined.

The legislation also states educational institutions can’t require students to be vaccinated; school districts can’t have face mask policies or quarantine healthy students; and families can “sue violating school districts.”

“Nobody should lose their job due to heavy-handed COVID mandates,” DeSantis, a Republican, said in a statement.

Nov 18, 9:58 am
New York governor calls on workers to go back to the office

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is calling on workers to head back to the office in the new year.

“How about this New Year’s resolution: that in the days after New Year’s, that we say everybody back in the office. You can have a flex time, but we need you back, at least the majority of the week,” Hochul told industry leaders at the Association for a Better New York breakfast.

Hochul also said she would be in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.

Times Square is reopening this New Year’s Eve after being closed last year due to the pandemic. Revelers must bring proof of full vaccination and a photo ID.

“I can’t wait to put 2020 – 2021 behind us,” the governor said.

ABC News’ Aaron Katersky

Nov 18, 9:17 am
Doctors stress importance of pediatric vaccinations, COVID ‘one of the top 10 leading causes of death in children’

COVID-19 “is one of the top ten leading causes of death in children” and vaccines are a “safe and simple intervention” to significantly lower the risk of severe illness, emergency physician Dr. Leana Wen and professor of health policy and management at GW said at a National Press Foundation briefing Wednesday.

Dr. Sean O’Leary, vice chair of the committee on infectious diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said he believes that the fear surrounding the vaccine is largely based on misinformation.

Both doctors also pointed to the problem of access to vaccines, with many Americans in rural areas living in “pharmacy deserts.”

“We should not assume that these people don’t want the vaccine. A lot of it is access,” Leary said.

Officials need to hold clinics in places like schools, Wen added.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Nov 18, 4:38 am
Disney Cruise Line to require guests ages 5 and up be vaccinated

Disney Cruise Line said it will require all passengers ages 5 and up to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 starting next year.

Guests who are not vaccine-eligible because of their age will have to provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result taken between three days and 24 hours their sail date.

“We are resuming sailing in a gradual, phased approach that emphasizes multiple layers of health and safety measures, considering guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other medical experts,” Disney Cruise Line said Wednesday in an updated policy on its website. “Under this guidance, we’ve reimagined your cruise experience so we all can enjoy the magic responsibly.”

The vaccine mandate will take effect Jan. 13 and will apply to sailings both in the United States and abroad.

Currently, passengers ages 12 and older as well as all crew members must be fully vaccinated, while unvaccinated guests ages 5 to 11 must take a pre-departure COVID-19 test.

Former police officers wanted in carjacking and kidnapping, their chief urges them to surrender

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(BALTIMORE) — Two former Maryland police officers are now the subject of a manhunt by their former boss, and police said they should be considered armed and dangerous.

The alleged crimes began at a home in York County, Pennsylvania, this week, when former Baltimore County police officer Robert Vicosa allegedly held a woman at gunpoint, stole her car and fled with his two daughters, ages 6 and 7, police in York said. The stolen car was found in Red Lion, Pennsylvania, police said.

On Wednesday afternoon, Vicosa and Baltimore County police officer Tia Bynum allegedly committed a kidnapping and robbery in the Cockeysville, Maryland, area, the Baltimore County Police Department said.

Vicosa was allegedly armed with a semi-automatic handgun, police said, adding that his daughters were present during the robbery.

The suspects allegedly carjacked a man and forced him to drive them, before releasing the victim unharmed, Baltimore County Police Chief Melissa Hyatt said.

Baltimore County police said Vicosa was fired in August 2021. Police said Bynum, who was in the criminal investigations bureau, is currently suspended and stripped of police powers.

Vicosa and Bynum are wanted and considered armed and dangerous, police said, adding that they’re “armed with at least one handgun and possibly several semi-automatic rifles.”

Chief Hyatt began her remarks at a news conference Thursday with a personal plea to Bynum.

“Our priority is the safety and wellbeing of [Vicosa’s daughters] Giana and Aaminah. Please get these two innocent and precious children to a safe location,” Hyatt said. “We want to work with you on a safe and peaceful resolution.”

She urged both suspects to “peacefully surrender to authorities.”

Amazon and Starbucks team up for cashier-less cafe in New York City

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Amazon and Starbucks teamed up to launch a new cashier-less cafe in midtown Manhattan that opens to the public on Thursday.

The new concept store combines a traditional Starbucks pickup cafe with the so-called “Just Walk Out Shopping” experience of an Amazon Go market, allowing customers to order their coffee concoctions, pastries and sandwiches ahead of time on the Starbucks app and see the status of their order on a digital screen when they arrive.

Customers can then directly take items off the shelf to add to their Amazon Go virtual cart or put them back on the shelf to remove from their virtual cart. A customer will be charged for their items automatically when they leave the Amazon Go market, after using the Amazon app, Amazon One payment method or credit card to enter the store.

The coffee shop and market also feature a lounge and individual workplaces, expandable tables, power outlets and USB ports for those who want to work in the cashier-less cafe.

“The new Starbucks Pickup with Amazon Go is designed to provide our customers with an experience that delivers convenience and connection in an effortless way,” Katie Young, the senior vice president of global growth and development at Starbucks, said in a statement.

“Our goal with this new store concept is to give our customers the ability to choose which experience is right for them as they go through their day, whether it is utilizing the Starbucks and Amazon apps to purchase food and beverages on the go, or deciding to stay in the lounge for the traditional third place experience Starbucks is known for,” Young added.

The Seattle-based companies said they plan to open a second location in the New York Times Building next year, and a third one in New York City soon to meet “evolving customer preferences for convenience, higher levels of mobile ordering and contactless pay, and reduced time waiting in lines,” according to a joint statement Thursday.

The initiatives come as the service industry notably struggles to hire staffers in the wake of COVID-19-related shocks, but also as millennial and Gen Z shoppers have increasingly driven demand for unattended commerce.

The store also opens amid the backdrop of new unionization efforts emerging at both Amazon and Starbucks.

Elijah McClain’s family to receive $15 million from the city of Aurora in son’s death

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Elijah McClain’s family to receive million from the city of Aurora in son’s death

Attorneys representing Elijah McClain’s family and the City of Aurora have reached an agreement that the city will pay out $15 million in the civil rights lawsuit filed over McClain’s violent arrest and subsequent death, an official briefed on the matter told ABC News.

This will be the highest police settlement in the history of Colorado, the official said.

The agreement comes over a year after the family filed a 106-page federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Colorado that accused several first responders involved in the incident of violating Elijah McClain’s civil rights and causing his death.

The money will be divided between Elijah McClain’s mother and father. ABC News has reached out to their attorneys for comment.

McClain, 23, was confronted by police on Aug. 24, 2019, while walking home from a convenience store after a 911 caller told authorities they had seen someone “sketchy” in the area.

McClain was unarmed and wearing a ski mask at the time. His family says he had anemia, a blood condition that can make people feel cold more easily.

According to an independent review of his death, officers placed McClain in a carotid chokehold that restricts the carotid artery and cuts off blood to the brain.

The independent review found that McClain had pleaded with officers, crying out in pain, apologizing, and attempting to explain himself.

When EMTs arrived, he was administered a shot of 500 milligrams of ketamine and placed in an ambulance where he had a heart attack, according to officials. He died on Aug. 30, three days after doctors pronounced him brain dead and he was removed from life support, officials said.

The legal battle over McClain’s death is not over: A state grand jury filed a 32-count indictment against the three officers and two paramedics in September, accusing them of several charges, including manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.

The defendants’ next court date is on Jan. 7, when they are expected to enter their pleas on the charges.

The Aurora Police Association Board of Directors has defended the officers, saying in a past statement: “There is no evidence that APD officers caused his death. The hysterical overreaction to this case has severely damaged the police department.”

Campbell’s CEO says shelves will be stocked for holidays, but prices will rise into 2022

November 18, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The pandemic has slowed down the supply chain in many sectors, but Campbell’s CEO says he expects the company’s products to be fully available this holiday season.

Mark Clouse, CEO of Campbell’s Soup Company told “Good Morning America” a week ahead of Thanksgiving, that the company’s efforts are the result of “the amazing work of our teams on the front lines and plants and logistics and sales teams.”

“You’ll have all of your holiday favorites on the shelves ready to go. They’ve worked hard to do it and, you know, I would say plan early, but I think we’re in great shape going into the holidays,” he said.

But availability isn’t the only concern for consumers — paying more at checkout has also been a burgeoning issue nationwide.

After a full year into the pandemic, the Economic Research Service for the U.S. Department of Agriculture predicted the cost of food from grocery stores would rise 1-2% this year. The latest Consumer Price Index Summary from the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that the food-at-home index increased 1% over the month as all six major grocery store food group indexes continued to rise.

“Food-at-home” is defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as grocery store or supermarket food purchases.

“There’s also been a significant amount of inflation that we’ve seen over the last several months,” Clouse said. “We use every tool we’ve got to keep price affordable. We know how important it is, especially for this time of year and through holiday celebrations so we’ve worked hard to keep the prices reasonable but there has been an increase in price.”

The index for other food at home — not including meat, poultry fish or eggs — “rose 1.2% over the month, its largest monthly increase since April 2020, near the onset of the pandemic,” the BLS report stated. “Cereals and bakery products rose 1% in October following a 1.1% increase the prior month. The index for nonalcoholic beverages rose 0.8 percent in October, the index for dairy and related products rose 0.2%, and the index for fruits and vegetables advanced 0.1%.”

Clouse continued: “Inflation, I would expect to continue to see as we move forward into ’22, but count on us to be doing everything we can to find ways to keep the prices reasonable and affordable, especially through the holiday season.”

To help offset the rising production costs that could be passed on to consumers, Clouse said Campbell’s has relied on “a combination of bringing in a lot of new workers into our facilities as well as the teams performing very well.”

“I would expect as we go into ’22 you’re going to see steady improvement on that front and we’re expecting as we get into the new year to be fully back in supply on most of our products,” he added.

As shoppers head to the store before Thanksgiving, Clouse said “I’m hopeful for everybody that you have a wonderful happy Thanksgiving. My advice is get online, get your recipes, figure out those ingredients you need for your dishes, get out early to the store and get them ready to go.”

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