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US Navy engineer and wife allegedly tried to sell nuclear submarine secrets

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MARTINSBURG, WVa.) — A current U.S. Navy engineer and his wife were charged with sending restricted naval data internationally, with the intention of selling it, court records unsealed over the weekend show.

Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, allegedly communicated through encryption services with an undercover FBI agent and attempted to sell submarine data that was restricted, according to a criminal complaint.

The FBI were brought into the case from the beginning, court documents say.

Starting in December 2020, an unspecified country received a package from the United States, containing U.S. Navy documents as well as an SD disc and a letter explaining that it was not a hoax, the FBI says.

“Please forward this letter to your military intelligence agency. I believe this information will be of great value to your nation,” the letter in the package allegedly said. “This is not a hoax.”

They turned it over to the FBI legal attaché in the country, and FBI began to communicate through encrypted email, according to the complaint. Allegedly on the other side of that encrypted email was Jonathan Toebbe.

The FBI alleges he asked to be compensated in cryptocurrency writing in an email that, “Face to face meetings are very risky for me, as I am sure you understand. I propose exchanging gifts electronically, for mutual safety.”

An undercover FBI agent whom he was communicating with was posing as a representative of a foreign country, and allegedly suggested a drop location for him to drop off sensitive information, according to the complaint.

Court documents say Toebbe asked for a signal to be placed in the country’s main building as a sign of good faith while he visited Washington, D.C., which the FBI placed, and as a sign of good faith, paid Toebbe $10,000 in cryptocurrency.

After the exchange, the government alleges Teobbe dropped sensitive documents in West Virginia, while his wife allegedly acted as a lookout.

“Records show that JONATHAN TOEBBE is a government employee working as a nuclear engineer for the United States Navy and holds an active Top Secret Security Clearance through the United States Department of Defense and an active Q clearance from the United States Department of Energy,” the documents state.

The government alleges that Toebbe put an SD card containing restricted naval data inside a peanut butter sandwich.

“Specifically, the U.S. Navy subject matter expert determined that several of the documents contained militarily sensitive design elements, operating parameters, and performance characteristics of Virginia-class submarine reactors,” court documents state.

In total, Toebbe allegedly received $100,000 for dropping off restricted data.

He allegedly conducted three drop-offs.

“The U.S. Navy subject matter expert determined that multiple documents on the SD card contained Restricted Data. Specifically, the U.S. Navy subject matter expert determined that the document contained schematic designs for the Virginia-class submarine. Virginia-class submarines are nuclear-powered cruise missile fastattack submarines, which incorporate the latest in stealth, intelligence gathering, and weapons systems technology,” the documents say. “Virginia-class submarines, with a per unit cost of approximately $3 billion, are currently in service with the United States Navy and are expected to remain in service until at least 2060.”

The Toebbes were arrested in Jefferson County, West Virginia, by the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) Saturday. They will appear in federal court in Martinsburg, West Virginia, on Tuesday. They have been charged in a criminal complaint alleging violations of the Atomic Energy Act.

Remains found in California desert may belong to missing 30-year-old

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif.) — Remains found in a Southern California desert this weekend may belong to 30-year-old Lauren “El” Cho, who has been missing for months, authorities said.

The remains were recovered during a Saturday search for Cho “in the rugged terrain of the open desert of Yucca Valley,” the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said.

The remains haven’t been identified and a cause of death hasn’t been released. The sheriff’s office said the identification process could take several weeks.

Cho, from New Jersey, was reported missing on June 28 “when she reportedly walked away” from the Yucca Valley home where she was staying, the sheriff’s department said.

The search for Cho was launched this summer and included planes searching the remote mountain terrain and canines scouring the area for evidence, the sheriff’s office said.

Cho’s family describes her as “a talented musician, an incredible baker, a hilarious and loyal friend, a strangely intuitive gift giver, and probably the coolest sister one could hope for.”

“We need her home,” the family wrote last month.

William Shatner channels Captain Kirk for historic Blue Origins space flight

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — William Shatner will make history Wednesday as he boldly goes where few have gone before while aboard Blue Origin’s New Shepard.

The Star Trek actor who played the iconic Captain Kirk joined Good Morning America Monday along with his fellow flight crew members as they anxiously await their delayed departure.

“I’m deeply disappointed because I was building up the enthusiastic response, now we have to wait another day,” Shatner said. “[But] it’s really worth it. What’s a day with this extraordinary experience that we’re about to have.”

The 11-minute ride to the edge of space about 60 miles above the earth’s surface comes just two months after the first successful Jeff Bezos-owned space flight with Wally Funk, 82.

Shatner, 90, is set to become the oldest person ever to go to space and will hit weightlessness in zero gravity for about four minutes.

Blue Origin crew member Audrey Powers told GMA that this trip and opportunity was a long time coming.

“They offered me the opportunity to represent all those great people and sit in the seats, so I could not be more overwhelmed at the opportunity,” she said. “I feel an enormous sense of responsibility to represent this team.”

Glen de Vries, a fellow Blue Origin crew member and passenger, added, “this is how innovation happens.”

“This is the beginning of a new time for space and we’re on the beginning of a curve that’s going to blast off,” he said. “That’s a metaphor for that adventure that we’re literally going to have together. I can’t wait.”

Shatner said he expects plenty of Captain Kirk references as the world watches him and the crew in flight.

“Actually, I haven’t heard Shatner in a long time,” he said with a laugh.

New Shepard’s 18th mission, NS-18, has targeted liftoff on Oct. 13, at 8:30 am CT from Launch Site One in West Texas.

Selma Blair opens up about living with MS in new documentary

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Selma Blair is getting candid about living with multiple sclerosis in a new documentary.

In Introducing, Selma Blair, the actress opens up about how she is embracing the disease and how she is feeling after undergoing a stem cell transplant in 2019.

“At this moment, I’m great,” Blair told Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts in an interview. “It is important to say, ‘at this very moment’ and I don’t want to be complaining although I — I always say, ‘I have no complaints but do you have a minute?’ It’s like my joyful thing.”

Blair added, “I have more gains than losses. And I do have things that can sometimes be embarrassing but this part of it that I do want to show ’cause that’s the part that’s healing, and perfect, and acceptance — the glitches, maybe some of the speech.”

The actress, who is known for her roles in films such as Cruel Intentions and Legally Blonde, first shared her MS diagnosis on Instagram in 2018. Months later, she spoke with GMA her daily battle with the disease.

Blair said that coming forward with her illness has meant a lot to others, including her fans and followers.

“What I saw when people came up after an Instagram post or especially your show that I was on — how much it meant,” she said. “And that moved me more than I had been moved by other things that I have achieved in my life or done.”

The documentary, which will show viewers what went into Blair’s decision to get the stem cell transplant, will show her fears about receiving the procedure, which is still experimental for MS and not a cure, and the intensive rounds of chemo she had to do to help “reboot” the immune system. Stem cell transplants are not yet FDA approved for the treatment of MS.

“I kinda got to a critical point and my nervous system and more symptoms and I couldn’t stay awake,” Blair said. “I was mortally afraid of chemo my whole life. I’m someone that’s always gone holistic when I can.”

But Blair said that after one dose of chemo, she was talking clearly and the inflammation started to go down. Now, she revealed her brain is free from forming new lesions, but she does have volume loss in some speech and movement areas and prefrontal damage — things she takes medicine for throughout the day.

“I chose this as a marker in my life to want to live, to want to be a person that can show other people with chronic illness, disabilities, an injury they couldn’t get over, a hit,” she said. “I just took a hit. And we take hits. … And that resilience is possible.”

As for acting, she hopes it’s something she can return to someday.

“If the right thing — I’m not looking, but God knows I would never say I wouldn’t dream of being a part of an amazing set one day.”

For now, she’s taking things one step at a time and finding joy.

“We have to take care of ourselves and be patient,” Blair said. “And better times come. Maybe not for good. Maybe it’s not a cure. But more than not, better times will come. We’re meant to have joy on this earth. I never felt that before.”

Introducing, Selma Blair will hit theaters Oct. 15.

New treatments bring hope for those with triple-negative breast cancer

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For years, triple-negative breast cancer has been perceived as aggressive with little hope of treatment, but that thought appears to be changing among experts as more promising treatment options develop.

“I would say that the future is bright for triple-negative breast cancer,” said Dr. Erica Mayer, a medical oncologist and senior physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “We now have new treatment strategies that we didn’t have available before that definitely seem to be benefiting patients with triple-negative disease.”

Triple-negative breast cancer is the smallest category of breast cancer groups, only accounting for about 10-15% of all breast cancers, according to the American Cancer Society. Mayer says this doesn’t mean that it’s uncommon. “Because breast cancer is a very common cancer, there are actually tens of thousands of people who are diagnosed with triple-negative breast cancer every year.”

Triple-negative disease is a unique class of breast cancer because it lacks receptors that drug therapies can target for treatment. Breast cancer cells can have three different types of receptors — estrogen, progesterone and a protein called HER2 — that are each like the lock on the front door of a house. The keys to these locks are the different hormonal or drug therapies that can gain access and kill the cancer cells. But triple-negative breast cancer does not have those three types of receptors, hence the name. This makes it harder to treat than other types of breast cancers.

While lacking those receptors, triple-negative breast cancer still has the same symptoms as other types. Some of these symptoms are a new lump or mass in the breast or armpit, dimpling of the breast skin, abnormal nipple discharge or even the nipple turning inward.

Risk factors for triple-negative breast cancer are also the same as the other breast cancer types. Experts say breast cancer risk increases with things like increasing age, obesity, smoking, alcohol and a personal or family history of breast cancer. Although it’s not a definitive risk factor, triple-negative breast cancer is more commonly seen in Black and Hispanic women, as well as women under age 50; but it’s not understood by experts why that’s the case.

“Black women are also more likely to be diagnosed with cancer at a young age, so that’s how you might get that association, but it’s not necessarily causative,” said Dr. Kimberly Lee, a medical oncologist in the Breast Oncology Department at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. “There’s no simple answer to that.”

Although completely eliminating these risk factors doesn’t guarantee you wont get breast cancer, doing so can help lower the risk. “Decreasing those risk factors as much as possible will decrease your risk,” said Lee. “Again, it doesn’t go to zero.”

New therapies for triple-negative breast cancer

According to experts, triple-negative can be a very treatable and potentially curable type of breast cancer, especially with recent research advances. Treatment of triple-negative breast cancer involves both local therapies, such as surgery and radiation, and can also include systemic therapies, like chemotherapy. Thanks to research in recent years, another category of medications is available, known as immunotherapy, where medicines help stimulate the immune system to destroy cancer cells. This category of medication is used with chemotherapy and is used depending on factors, such as the stage of the cancer.

New discoveries, such as immunotherapy, are starting to change the previous beliefs that triple-negative breast cancer is untreatable, experts say.

“We are incredibly gratified to see that offering immunotherapy before surgery not only helps to do a better job killing the cancer cells, but also seems to help prevent the cancer from coming back, which may help people live longer,” said Mayer. “So the introduction of immunotherapy into the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer may be a game changer.”

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but experts say it’s important to be aware of any changes to your breasts and get year-round screening.

Experts recommend mammograms starting at age 40. How frequently and how early to be screened depends on your own individual risk, making it important to see a health care professional to determine your risk and when to begin screenings. In the meantime, everyone should be aware of any changing symptoms in their breasts.

“It’s also important to be aware of one’s body and notice any changes, pointing them out to one’s doctor if they arise,” Mayer said.

Finally, experts say that it is very important to know your family history, which could influence your own risk of breast cancer. “For a long time, cancer was taboo, and people didn’t talk about cancer,” said Lee. “But your family history is important, because again, that could put you at higher risk.”

Triple-negative breast cancer is becoming more treatable as more discoveries are being made, giving hope to experts and those living with the disease.

“I meet people every day and they think it’s the end that we don’t have treatment, that we can’t help them and as an oncologist, that’s not the case,” said Lee. “There is hope.”

Suspect arrested in fatal shooting of officer outside police department in Georgia

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ALAMO, Ga.) — Investigators announced Sunday afternoon they had arrested the suspect wanted in connection with the killing of a central Georgia police officer who was shot outside his police department early Saturday, authorities said.

Dylan Harrison, 26, of Dudley, Georgia, was working his first shift as a part-time officer with the Alamo Police Department in Wheeler County when he was fatally shot around 1 a.m. Saturday, police said. Harrison was allegedly killed over an earlier confrontation that took place near the precinct a few hours prior, investigators said.

Damien Anthony Ferguson, 43, of Alamo, Georgia, was taken into custody Sunday afternoon following a nearly 38-hour manhunt, authorities said. He was arrested without incident while officers executed a search warrant of his residence, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said during a news conference Sunday evening.

Lindsay Wilkes, the special agent in charge for the GBI, told reporters that Harrison was involved in an altercation at a parking lot on Circle K across the street from the precinct Friday night. Harrison allegedly saw a man who was an associate of Ferguson commit a traffic violation and made contact with him, according to Wilkes.

The officer allegedly used his Taser on the suspect when he did not comply with Harrison’s orders, Wilkes said.

“It is believed that the ambush-style attack on Officer Harrison was retaliation for the incident and the arrest of the man Friday night,” Wilkes said.

Ferguson was charged with murder and with aggravated stalking related to a previous domestic incident, according to the GBI. Attorney information wasn’t immediately available.

Ferguson served eight years in prison after being convicted in Wheeler County of charges including aggravated assault of a peace officer, Georgia Department of Corrections records show. He was released in 2006.

Before his arrest, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation issued a “blue alert,” which indicates the search for a suspect who’s allegedly killed or injured an officer and hasn’t been apprehended, for Ferguson. An $18,500 reward was offered for information related to Ferguson’s arrest.

Harrison appears to be at least the fifth Georgia officer killed in the line of duty this year, according to Officer Down Memorial Page, which tracks law enforcement deaths.

He was also a full-time agent with the Oconee Drug Task Force in Eastman, Georgia, and has been in law enforcement since 2018. He leaves behind his wife and 6-month-old baby.

Fourteen people wounded, one killed in St. Paul bar shooting

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ST. PAUL, Minn.) — A woman was killed and 14 other people were wounded early Sunday when at least three patrons pulled guns and opened fire at a popular bar in St. Paul, Minnesota, police said.

The mass shooting erupted inside the Seventh Street Truck Park bar in downtown St. Paul around 12:15 a.m., prompting a flood of 911 calls, according to authorities.

Steve Linders, a St. Paul Police Department spokesperson, said that when police officers arrived they found a “chaotic scene” with wounded people inside and outside the tavern.

“There were gunshot wound victims lying in the street outside the bar,” Linders said at a news conference early Sunday. “There were gunshot wound victims lying on the sidewalk outside the bar. There were gunshot wound victims lying on the floor inside the bar.”

St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said one of the victims, a woman in her 20s, was pronounced dead at the scene. Police were withholding her name pending an autopsy and notification of her relatives.

“My heart breaks for the woman who was killed, her loved ones and everyone else who was in that bar this morning,” Axtell said. “In an instant, they found themselves caught in a hellish situation. I want them to know that we have the best investigators in the country, and we won’t stop until we find the people responsible for this madness. We will do our part to hold them accountable.”

Three men wounded in the incident were taken into custody at local hospitals. Police identified the suspects as Terry Lorenzo Brown, Jr., 33, Devondre Trevon Phillips, 29, and Jeffrey Orlando Hoffman, 32. Charges have yet to be determined, but Axtell said the suspects will be booked into the Ramsey County jail as soon as they are discharged from the hospital.

“I hope these arrests bring a modicum of peace to all who’ve been affected by this morning’s tragedy,” Axtell said.

He said the investigation remained active and did not rule out the possibility of more arrests. A possible motive was not disclosed.

Investigators were still conducting interviews with witnesses and collecting evidence Sunday afternoon inside and outside the bar, which is about a block from the city’s Xcel Energy Center, home of the Minnesota Wild National Hockey League team.

St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter said in a post on Twitter that the shooting has left his community “devastated.”

The fatal shooting marked the 32nd homicide in St. Paul this year, according to the police department’s crime statistics. In 2020, there were a total of 34 homicides in St. Paul, a 13.3% increase over 2019.

“As our St. Paul officers work to bring those responsible for these senseless acts into custody, our work to build more proactive safety strategies is more urgent than ever,” Carter said. “We will never accept violence in our community.”

Afghanistan updates: US, Taliban hold first direct talks since withdrawal

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — It’s been more than a month since the U.S. withdrew all U.S. troops from Afghanistan on President Joe Biden’s order to leave by Aug. 31, ending a chaotic evacuation operation after the Afghan government collapsed and the Taliban seized control of the country.

In testimony to Congress last month, their first since the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Afghanistan — Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Mark Milley and Gen. Kenneth McKenzie, commander of U.S. Central Command, candidly admitted that they had recommended to Biden that the U.S. should keep a troop presence there, appearing to contradict his assertions to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos.

Here are the latest developments. All times Eastern:

Oct 11, 10:26 am
US, Taliban hold first talks since withdrawal

While it appears the U.S. government has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as it nears economic disaster, it did not signal formal recognition of the Taliban as the country’s new rulers following weekend talks in Doha, Qatar.

These were the first direct talks between the U.S. and the Taliban since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price called the talks “candid and professional” and said the U.S. delegation reiterated to the Taliban they will be judged on their actions, not only their words.

“The U.S. delegation focused on security and terrorism concerns and safe passage for U.S. citizens, other foreign nationals and our Afghan partners, as well as on human rights, including the meaningful participation of women and girls in all aspects of Afghan society. The two sides also discussed the United States’ provision of robust humanitarian assistance, directly to the Afghan people,” Price said in a statement.

No date has been set for the resumption of talks that took place in Doha on Saturday and Sunday.

Facebook exec says company will make itself ‘more transparent’

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Facebook will implement new tools to increase transparency and safety for users following Tuesday’s explosive whistleblower hearing, Facebook Vice President of Global Affairs Nick Clegg said Sunday.

“We will, of course, seek to make ourselves ever more transparent so people can hold us to account,” Clegg told ABC This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos.

“We understand that with success comes responsibility, comes criticism, comes scrutiny, comes responsibility, and that’s why we’re the first Silicon Valley company to set up an independent oversight board that independently adjudicates on these difficult content decisions,” Clegg added.

Facebook whistleblower and former employee Frances Haugen testified before a Senate subcommittee last week, accusing the social media giant of ignoring evidence that its content is harmful to young users and dangerous to democracy.

“I saw Facebook repeatedly encounter conflicts between its own profits and our safety. Facebook consistently resolved these conflicts in favor of its own profits,” Haugen told senators. “The result has been more division, more harm, more lies, more threats and more combat.”

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg denied Haugen’s claims in a statement following her scathing testimony. “At the most basic level, I think most of us just don’t recognize the false picture of the company that is being painted,” Zuckerberg said.

Clegg said Facebook is working on giving users more control, acknowledging that they want to see “more friends, less politics.”

During Tuesday’s hearing, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Facebook is “facing a Big Tobacco moment, a moment of reckoning.”

Clegg called the comparison “extremely misleading.”

“We can move on beyond the slogans, the soundbites, the simplistic charcuteries and actually look at solutions and, of course, regulations,” Clegg said.

Stephanopoulos also pressed Clegg on Facebook’s efforts to create a safer environment for kids and teens.

“You also say Facebook’s job is to mitigate the harm and amplify the good on social media. But even researchers and — critics — say you can be devoting more resources to positive interventions for teens. Is Facebook prepared to do more on that?” Stephanopoulos asked.

“Yes, we are,” Clegg responded. “We’re now going to not only provide those new parental tools but we’re going to introduce new measures … [if our] systems see that a teen is dwelling on content that may be correlated with something that’s not good for their well-being, we would nudge them to look at other content.”

He went on, “We’re also going to introduce new tools, what we call ‘take a break,’ to really kind of urge teens to take a break from using Instagram if they appear to be doing so, you know, for long periods of time.”

Clegg defended Facebook’s algorithm, which prioritizes the content users see first and was a target of Haugen’s testimony. Haugen claimed Facebook’s algorithm incites misinformation and violence.

Stephanopoulos asked why the company does not just remove the algorithm altogether and display content chronologically. Clegg said that would make things worse.

“If you were just to sort of across the board remove the algorithm, the first thing that would happen is that people would see more, not less, hate speech, more, not less, information, more, not less, harmful content,” Clegg said. “Why? Because those algorithmic systems precisely are designed like a great sort of giant spam filter to identify and deprecate and downgrade bad content.”

Trump boasted of crowd size at Jan. 6 riot, new book says

October 11, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — While the Capitol was under attack on Jan. 6, former President Donald Trump remained out of sight from the public and watched TV in the White House private dining room, ABC News’ chief Washington correspondent Jonathan Karl revealed on ABC’s This Week.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., called Trump to ask him to tell the rioters to leave the Capitol, Karl reports in his new book, Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show.

McCarthy allegedly told Trump, “I just got evacuated from the Capitol! There were shots fired right off the House floor. You need to make this stop.”

A source familiar with the call between McCarthy and Trump said the former president pushed back, saying, “They are just more upset than you because they believe it more than you, Kevin,” referring to the lie that the election had been stolen.

The former president liked what he saw, boasted about the size of the crowd and argued with aides who wanted him to tell his supporters to stop rioting, according to Karl’s sources.

Two hours after the riot started, Trump finally acquiesced to recording a video statement. In the message posted to Twitter, he asked his supporters to go home but also praised them. “We love you. You are special,” Trump said in the video.

An aide present for the recording said, “Trump had to tape the message several times before they thought he got it right.”

In earlier versions he neglected to tell his supporters to leave the Capitol, according to Karl.

Last week, a Senate report documented alarming new details about the way Trump attempted to use the Justice Department to overturn the presidential election. Attorney General Bill Barr refused to go along, infuriating Trump when he said in early December there was no widespread fraud.

After Barr left office in mid-December, the report said Trump pressured Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen to help steal the election but he too refused.

Rosen told senators he informed Trump that the Justice Department “can’t and won’t just flip a switch and change the election.”

In response, Trump asked that the DOJ “just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the [Republican] congressmen.”

In late December, Trump turned to Jeffrey Clark, a lawyer with no experience in election law, but who promised to declare without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud and to pressure contested states to reverse President Biden’s victory.

Clark also brought a new conspiracy theory to the cocktail of falsehoods. Two sources familiar with Clark’s actions said Trump “believed that wireless thermostats made in China for Google by a company called Nest Labs might have been used to manipulate voting machines in Georgia. The idea was nuts, but it intrigued Trump, who asked Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe to look into it.”

At a dramatic, three-hour Oval Office meeting on Jan. 3, Trump said he wanted to make Clark acting attorney general, according to Karl.

“One thing we know is you, Rosen, aren’t going to do anything to overturn the election, Trump said, according to Rosen’s congressional testimony.

Trump was then told every senior DOJ official would resign if he went through with his plan, as well as White House counsel Pat Cipollone, who said Trump’s plan amounted to “murder-suicide pact,” according to Karl.

Betrayal: The Final Act of the Trump Show will become available Nov. 16.

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