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‘Rise of the Moors’: What to know about the group affiliated with 11 men arrested in Massachusetts

July 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Eleven people armed with long guns and dressed in tactical gear who claimed to be a part of group called “Rise of the Moors” were arrested following an hours-long standoff with Massachusetts police over the weekend.

Police said they found heavily armed men in two vehicles near Interstate 95 around 1:30 a.m. on Saturday. A nine-hour standoff ensued before all 11 were arrested. No one was harmed in the incident.

The men arrested range in age from 17 to 40 and hailed from Rhode Island, New York and Michigan. Two of the men refused to identify themselves and a third is a 17-year-old whose name will not be released because he’s a minor, police said.

Police say the arrested are: Jamhal Tavon Sanders Latimer, 29, of Providence, Rhode Island; Robert Rodriguez, 21, of the Bronx, New York; Wilfredo Hernandez, 21, of the Bronx; Alban El Curraugh, 27, of the Bronx; Aaron Lamont Johnson, 29, of Detroit; Quinn Cumberlander, 40, of Pawtucket, Rhode Island; Lamar Dow, 34, of the Bronx; and Conrad Pierre, 29, of Baldwin, New York.

Massachusetts State Police Col. Christopher Mason said the men identified themselves as part of a group called Rise of the Moors and said they were traveling from Rhode Island to Maine for “training.” It was unclear what that training involved.

According to the group’s webite, Rise of the Moors is a group of “Moorish Americans dedicated to educating new Moors and influencing our Elders.”

The group is headquartered in Rhode Island, according to its website. The group did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The website says that Moors are not “sovereign citizens,” but argues that Moors are the “original sovereigns” of America and are therefore immune from U.S. law.

Freddy Cruz, a research analyst at Southern Poverty Law Center who tracks anti-government groups, said Rise of the Moors is classified as a sovereign citizen, antigovernment group.

He said the group draws much of their beliefs and inspirations from ancient civilizations including ties to the Aztecs, the Olmecs and other native peoples.

“They tend to reference all these past civilizations with the idea that they’re somehow entitled to, or there’s somehow a lineage there, that affords them the right to essentially disassociate themselves from the U.S. government,” Cruz said.

Because they refuse to abide by American law, group members can end up in tense situations with police, Cruz said.

“So a lot of these groups don’t tend to register their firearms, they don’t register their vehicles, that tends to be a recipe for disaster, especially if law enforcement is involved, because they tend to essentially become quite standoffish,” he said.

In the Massachusetts incident, police said they had asked the men for drivers licenses and gun licenses, but the men said they didn’t have any.

The Moorish sovereign citizen movement emerged in the early 1990s as an offshoot of the anti-government sovereign citizens movement, and more specifically, the Moorish Science Temple of America, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center..

The Moorish Science Temple of America was created in 1913, but not all MSTA are linked to sovereign citizens, according to the SPLC.

According to the Moorish Science Temple of America’s website, the temple is a “divine and national movement” that teaches about Moorish identity, which under their definition, means Black Americans. They practice Islam and denounce the sovereign citizens movement and identify as U.S. citizens.

ABC News has reached out to the Moorish Science Temple of American for comment.

Some Moorish sovereigns believe that a 1787 treaty between the U.S. and Morocco — a claim that SPLC says is “fictitious” — grants them immunity from U.S. law, the center reported. Some groups create their own birth certificates, passports, driver’s licenses and vehicle registrations, according to SPLC.

This perceived immunity from local authority is used to justify refusing to pay taxes, buy car insurance, register vehicles, and “defraud banks”, the center reported. The movement has no unified leadership and consists of small groups, most of which operate in the Southeast, Northeast and Midwest U.S., according to the SPLC.

Despite experts classifying the group as sovereign citizens and anti-government, Col. Mason said that the “self-professed leader” of the group of 11 men arrested “wanted it very much known that their ideology is not anti-government.” He noted he can’t confirm that they are “validated members” of the group.

SPLC officially listed Rise of the Moors as an anti-government organization in 2020. Cruz said the center has counted so far six organizations that are classified as Moorish sovereign anti-government groups across the country.

Ken Gray, a retired FBI special agent and professor of criminal justice at the University of New Haven, told ABC News that sovereign citizens “tend to be more of a law enforcement nuisance than they seem to be a violent group.”

“They seem to be much more involved in tying people up in legal problems, making false claims on property, not paying taxes,” he said.

“This group here said that they were going up to conduct training and they were outfitted in camouflage clothing, carrying body armor, and had long guns with them. But that does not necessarily mean that they were planning to do something violent, it could very well be that they were training like that for defensive purposes,” he added.

Cruz said the SPLC has reported seeing the Rise of the Moors group participate in paramilitary training before, but the location of the training is unknown. He said it’s uncommon to see sovereign citizen groups participate in such training.

He warned the public to be wary of such groups, saying sovereign communities, “tend to prey on people who have fallen on hard times, and are not necessarily aware of what it means to be part of a sovereign nation.”

“With the Moorish groups especially, they try and tailor their message to bring in Black and brown folks with the idea that their sovereign nation will provide opportunities and a more equitable society for folks,” Cruz said. “A lot of times people get caught up in that and don’t realize that essentially what they’re espousing is illegal. You can’t just grab a car and drive it wherever you want. You can’t just squat in homes and make them your own. You can’t just carry around firearms and not have them registered.”

All 11 men arrested in Wakefield have been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition, use of body armor in commission of a crime, possession of a high capacity magazine, improper storage of firearms in a vehicle and conspiracy to commit a crime, police said. Hernandez, Johnson, Dow and the unnamed teen are also being charged with providing a false name to police, authorities said.

The teenager was released to parental custody while the 10 adults are being held at the Billerica House of Correction on $100,000 cash bail, authorities said.

On Tuesday, in Malden District Court, most of the men rejected the charges against them and most said they’d represent themselves. The court entered not guilty pleas on their behalf, according to MassLive.

ABC News could not immediately contact any lawyers for the men. Further hearings will take place Friday.

COVID-19 rules at the Tokyo Olympics: Spectators banned, vaccination not required

July 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — As the coronavirus pandemic rages on in some parts of the world, the upcoming Summer Olympic Games are set to be unlike any others.

The 2020 Summer Olympics were supposed to kick off in Japan’s capital last year on July 24. But the games were postponed due to COVID-19 and are now scheduled to take place from July 23 to Aug. 8. The Summer Paralympics will follow, beginning Aug. 24 and ending Sept. 5.

Over the past few months, organizers have unveiled a series of “playbooks” with new rules and guidelines for how they plan to hold safe and successful games in Tokyo this summer amid the pandemic. The playbooks warn that failure to comply with these rules — such as refusing to get tested for COVID-19 or intentionally disrespecting mask wearing or physical distancing measures — may result in disciplinary consequences. The Japanese government has also announced some restrictions that apply to those partaking in the Tokyo Olympics.

Here’s a look at some of the COVID-19 measures in place for the games.

Testing and screening

All games participants — from athletes to fans — will be required to take two COVID-19 tests on two separate days within 96 hours of their flight to Japan. Both tests must use one of the methods approved by Japanese health authorities, and at least one of the two tests have to be taken within 72 hours of departure.

Individuals must obtain negative COVID-19 test results certificates to bring with them to Japan and be prepared to show them before boarding their flight. If a test is positive or individuals experience any symptoms of COVID-19 in the 14 days prior to their trip, they have to immediately self-isolate in line with local rules.

Upon arrival in Japan, individuals must take a quantitative saliva antigen COVID-19 test at the airport. Those who test positive must isolate or receive medical treatment in a hospital in accordance with the instructions of the Japanese health authorities.

Athletes and officials who test positive at the airport will be taken by dedicated transport to the COVID-19 clinic at the Olympic and Paralympic Village for a confirmatory nasopharyngeal PCR test. If that test is also positive, they must isolate or receive medical treatment in a hospital, in accordance with the instructions of the Japanese health authorities.

Meanwhile, games participants who live in Japan must continue to follow the local COVID-19 countermeasures already in place. They have to take a COVID-19 test 72 hours prior to arriving at the Olympic and Paralympic Village or participating in the games events, including official training.

During the games, athletes and all those in close proximity will have to undergo daily testing. All other participants will be tested daily for a period of three days after their arrival in Japan. Residents of Japan, as well as those from overseas who have been in the country for more than 14 days, may be asked to take a COVID-19 test before their role at the games begins.

Individuals will also have their temperatures checked every time they enter the Olympic and Paralympic Village or a games venue. Those who have COVID-19 symptoms or recently tested positive for the virus will be refused entry.

In addition to undertaking all such countermeasures, games participants who are traveling from a country identified by the Japanese government as presenting a higher level of COVID-19 risk must follow an additional set of rules before their arrival and during their stay in Japan. The list of such countries is divided into two groups, which are determined by the Japanese government and are subject to change.

Athletes, officials and other stakeholders, including journalists, who are traveling from countries listed in group No. 1 must be tested for COVID-19 every day for seven days prior to their flight to Japan and keep their physical interaction with others to an absolute minimum. Those coming from countries listed in group No. 2 must be tested every day for three days prior to their departure and keep their physical interaction with others to an absolute minimum.

Upon arrival in Japan, athletes and officials from countries in both groups will be tested every day, as is the case for all athletes and officials, and they will not be allowed to physically interact with anyone from another team, delegation or country for the next three days.

Other stakeholders coming from countries listed in group No. 1 will be tested every day for seven days after their arrival in Japan. Those from countries listed in group No. 2 will be tested for the first three days after arrival. Their testing regime thereafter will be defined based on the nature of their role. Stakeholders from countries in both groups will not be allowed to physically interact with anyone from another delegation or country for three days after arrival.

Quarantining

All games participants who are not living in Japan must quarantine at their accommodation upon arrival for the next three days.

During that period, individuals — except for those who traveled from countries listed in group No. 1 and 2 — will be permitted to perform essential games-related activities if they test negative for COVID-19 every day.

Vaccination

Although organizers encourage everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19, the playbooks state that immunization will not be a requirement to participate in the games.

All of the rules and guidelines outlined in the playbooks will apply regardless of whether someone has received the vaccine.

Spectators

All spectators — domestic and foreign — have been banned from Olympic venues in Tokyo during the games, in an effort to reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. Seiko Hashimoto, president of the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee, said it was a difficult decision but that they had “no other choice.”

The move followed an announcement from Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, who declared another state of emergency in Tokyo due to rising COVID-19 cases. The declaration takes effect July 12 and lasts through Aug. 22, meaning the Olympics will be held entirely under emergency measures.

A decision on spectators at venues in areas where emergency measures are not in force will be determined by the local government authorities. Fans have already been banned from lining the route of the Olympic marathon and race walk events, the location of which was moved hundreds of miles away from Tokyo to Hokkaido prefecture.

Meanwhile, a decision on spectators at Paralympic venues will be made when the Olympic Games end.

Where fans are allowed, the playbooks state that they will be barred from cheering, shouting, singing or whistling while watching competitions in order to prevent transmission through exposure to respiratory droplets. They also must maintain as much distance as possible from others to avoid physical contact.

Face masks, hand washing and social distancing

All games participants must wear a face mask at all times, except when eating, drinking, training, competing or sleeping. They are also urged to wash and sanitize their hands regularly, disinfect surfaces, minimize social interaction with others and avoid enclosed spaces and crowds where possible.

Individuals must maintain a 2-meter distance from athletes and at least 1 meter from others at all times, including in operational spaces. They should avoid unnecessary forms of physical contact, including hugs, high-fives and handshakes, and should spend time only with the people identified as their regular contacts.

Individuals should also eat their meals alone or while keeping 2 meters away from others, unless instructed otherwise.

Public transport

All games participants — except for those living in Japan — are banned from using public transport for the first 14 days of their stay in the country, unless it is the only option to reach certain locations, such as a venue in a remote city. They must otherwise use dedicated games vehicles or the Transport by Chartered Taxi service when traveling to permitted destinations.

Residents of Japan have to adhere to counter-measures when using public transport.

All participants must only leave their accommodation to go to official games venues and limited additional locations that are outlined in their respective “activity plan.”

ABC News’ Rachel Katz, Drew Millhon and Anthony Trotter contributed to this report.

Texas special session begins with 2nd attempt by Republicans to revise state’s election laws

July 10, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — The Texas legislature began an overtime special session this week to address a slate of priority issues outlined by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, including a renewed effort to address “election integrity.” On Saturday, both chambers will hold overlapping hearings with testimony regarding new bills from the House and Senate that seek to overhaul the state’s voting and election practices.

Previously, legislation addressing the Republican-backed issue failed to meet a critical deadline in May when House Democrats staged a walkout to break quorum and prevented a final vote on the sweeping election bill, Senate Bill 7. Going into the 30-day special session, Democrats did not rule out the possibility of another walkout to block new restrictions on voting.

During a press conference Thursday, Texas state Rep. Armando Walle said “every option is on the table” for Democrats to mobilize against the GOP-backed special session agenda, which includes a host of items that echo emerging national culture wars. Walle added that his fellow party members are “going to use every parliamentary means to stop these bills,” but did not follow up with examples of any potential actions.

Democrats are also decrying the Republican policy push of “election integrity” as a political maneuver that creates a solution when they say there is no existing problem.

Seventeen states had enacted 28 new laws that restrict access to the vote, as of June 21, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

During an interview with conservative radio host Rick Roberts following the beginning of the special session on Thursday, Abbott defended the agenda item as a crucial part of a functioning government.

“Without having integrity in our elections, none of the other stuff in the democratic process really matters,” Abbott said.

The language included in each of the new bills — House Bill 3 and Senate Bill 1 — is likely to change as the proposals advance through the legislative process, but the objectives laid out in both pieces of legislation largely echo the contentious restrictions first introduced in S.B. 7.

“H.B. 3 is just like S.B. 7 — it’s based on a lie. It’s based on a lie that there’s rampant fraud in our elections, and on the ‘big lie’ that Donald Trump actually won the last election. All across the country, you see Republicans clamoring to pass these anti-voter bills, so they can curry favor with Donald Trump and his supporters,” state Rep. Chris Turner, who also chairs the Texas House Democratic Caucus, said Thursday.

Like their predecessors, both H.B. 3 and S.B. 1 include several elements that voting rights activists oppose. Among them are provisions that appear to be aimed at practices utilized by Democrat-leaning Harris County during the 2020 election. Both bills ban 24-hour voting availability, which offered greater ballot access to Houston-area shift workers when implemented in the fall. Each of the proposals also aims to end drive-thru voting, another popular voting method in the diverse county.

According to S.B. 1, “a polling place may not be located in a tent or similar temporary moveable structure or in a facility primarily designed for motor vehicles.” Meanwhile, H.B. 3 states that polling places “shall be located inside a building. No voter may cast a vote from inside a motor vehicle,” unless the voter has physical disabilities that warrant special accommodations.

Another contentious carryover element from S.B. 7 included in the new legislative proposals is granting expanded access to partisan poll watchers. Voting rights advocates previously blasted the concept and said the provisions could allow poll watchers to intimidate voters, especially those who are people of color.

Although the current language in S.B. 1 and H.B. 3 continues to grant poll watchers the ability to move freely around polling places, there appears to be an attempt by the bills’ authors to provide some oversight to their behavior.

“Before accepting a watcher, the officer presented with a watcher’s certificate of appointment shall require the watcher to take the following oath, administered by the officer: ‘I swear (or affirm) that I will not disrupt the voting process or harass voters in the discharge of my duties,'” S.B. 1 says.

The bill goes on to outline a provision that allows watchers to file complaints if they believe they were “unlawfully prevented or obstructed from the performance of the watcher’s duties.”

Meanwhile, H.B. 3 includes language Democrats backed in May that allows election officials to “call a law enforcement officer to request that a poll watcher be removed if the poll watcher commits a breach of the peace or a violation of law.”

Notably, neither version of the new bills include restrictions on Sunday voting hours, which voting activists previously saw as an attack on “Souls to the Polls” events in Black communities. The bills also do not include language from S.B. 7 that lowered the threshold of proof required to challenge and potentially overturn election results.

Hospital breaks record with ‘baby boom’ of over 100 babies born in 91 hours

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Courtesy of Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center

(FORT WORTH, Texas) — A hospital broke its record of high-volume stretches of births twice between June 24 to June 28, delivering 107 babies in a total of 91 hours.

The “baby boom” was not entirely an anomaly for Andrews Women’s Hospital at Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center, as it is considered high-volume delivery hospital. However, this influx of births was higher than any the hospital had experienced in the past, surpassing the previous record of 48 births in 41 hours.

Staff at the hospital speculate that this record, which Baylor Scott & White All Saints Medical Center called “rare and exceptional” in its press release, may have been influenced by the pandemic.

“Last spring, when we first went into quarantine, we were all speculating … that perhaps around December [or] January, we may see a boom, and it didn’t happen,” Michelle Stemley, a labor and delivery nurse at Andrews Women’s Hospital, told “Good Morning America.” “Our volumes stayed steady through the winter months, but they have hit now.”

So, Stemley said, she and her colleagues think people got more comfortable “expanding their families after things with the quarantine started to get to be the new normal.”

Stemley was “very busy” when working through the “baby boom,” although she enjoyed helping families bring new life into the world.

“The team was working very hard but we were having a lot of fun taking care of all of these families during these busy times,” Stemley said.

One of the ways in which the team adapted to the high volume deliveries was by rushing the process of transporting mothers post-delivery.

“Everybody has to pull together to make sure that we were able to get our moms moved through as quickly as possible so they would deliver, and, after they had their recovery period, we would get them out to their next room to their postpartum room right away so that we could open up another room in labor and delivery to get these patients in,” Stemley said.

OBGYN Dr. Jay Herd had a different experience. In fact, he didn’t even notice a heightened number of births until they counted the numbers, because the Women’s Hospital is a “busy, busy unit,” he said.

“And my patients didn’t notice that much difference in their delivery,” Herd added.

He believes the boom is not an isolated incident. Instead, he foresees that due to the conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic, birth rates will continue to rise.

“I don’t think it’s going away,” Herd said. “Seven or eight months from now, we’re going to see lots of … population growth.”

Surfside building collapse latest: Missing cat found near site as recovery effort continues

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

Eva Marie Uzcategui Trinkl/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

(SURFSIDE, Fla.) — As the recovery effort continues after the devastating partial collapse of a 12-story residential building in South Florida’s Miami-Dade County last month, there was a “small piece of good news” Friday, officials said, after a pet was reunited with its family.

A missing cat named Binx was found near the wreckage on Friday and reunited with its owners, who lived on the ninth floor of the tower, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said during a press briefing Friday evening.

“I’m glad that this small miracle could bring some light into the lives of a hurting family today and provide a bright spot for our whole community in the midst of this terrible tragedy,” she said.

The mayor did share any more details about the family. A volunteer who was feeding cats in the area recognized Binx and brought him to a local animal shelter, where it was identified as one of the cats missing after the disaster, she said.

At least 79 people have been confirmed dead and as many as 61 people remain missing following the collapse, officials said Friday.

Eight additional victims have been identified, the Miami Dade Police Department said Friday, including 3-year-old Luis Lopez Moreira III, the youngest so far; the boy’s father, Luis Pettengill, 36; and his mother, Sophia López Moreira, 36, the sister of Paraguay’s first lady, Silvana López Moreira. Two other children in the family remain missing.

The disaster occurred on June 24 around 1:15 a.m. local time at the Champlain Towers South condominium in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach. Approximately 55 of the oceanfront complex’s 136 units were destroyed, according to officials. The rest of the building was demolished on Sunday night, due to concerns over structural integrity and an incoming tropical storm.

Meanwhile, 200 people who were living or staying in the condominium at the time of the disaster have been accounted for and are safe, according to Levine Cava, who has repeatedly stressed that the figures are “very fluid” and “continue to change.”

For over two weeks, hundreds of first responders carefully combed through the pancaked piles of debris in hopes of finding survivors. But no one has been found alive in the wreckage since the morning the building partially collapsed, and officials announced Wednesday evening that the search and rescue operation, in its 14th day, would shift to a recovery effort.

Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told reporters that the decision was “a result of a consensus by those closest to the rescue efforts that the possibility of someone still alive is near zero.”

To mark the somber move, a moment of silence was held Wednesday in honor of all the victims, of whom 53 have been identified. A candlelight vigil was held later that night at the memorial site for the victims.

Crews paused their work atop the piles early Thursday “for a brief moment of silence to honor the two-week mark since the collapse,” according to Levine Cava. Several families who lost loved ones were also brought to the site to pay their respects Thursday, she said.

“We have now officially transitioned from search and rescue to search and recovery,” Levine Cava said during a press conference Thursday morning. “The work continues with all speed and urgency. We are working around the clock to recover victims and bring closure to the families as fast as we possibly can.”

“We are taking as much care as ever to proceed to find victims in the rubble,” she added.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told reporters that crews “will identify every single person” who’s found, and that officials also would continue to help the survivors and the families of the victims get back “on their feet as best as we possibly can.”

On Friday, the Broward County Medical Office started coming on-site to assist Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner Department personnel and help teams rotate more frequently, Levine Cava said.

“It is very, very valuable and critical that we provide some relief to those men and women working in the medical examiner’s office doing this vital work,” the mayor said during a press briefing Friday afternoon.

Crews have hauled away more than 13 million pounds of concrete and debris from the vast scene, and the pile of rubble is almost at ground level, Burkett said Friday. Some debris remains below ground level.

Officials said it could take several weeks to get to the bottom of the wreckage. Crews have been working virtually nonstop, with help from teams who came from across Florida and elsewhere in the United States as well as from abroad. However, their efforts were halted for almost an entire day last week due to safety concerns regarding the still-standing structure, prior to the demolition. Poor weather conditions have also forced them to temporarily pause working.

The cause of the partial collapse to a building that has withstood decades of hurricanes remains unknown and is under investigation. Built in the 1980s, the Champlain Towers South was up for its 40-year recertification and had been undergoing roof work — with more renovations planned — when it partially collapsed, according to officials.

Levine Cava asked members of the public to submit any photos or videos they have related to the collapse to the National Institute of Standards and Technology here.

“The magnitude of this tragedy is growing each and every day,” Levine Cava said Friday.

What to know about Richard Branson’s spaceflight, as billionaires race to the cosmos

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Sir Richard Branson is set to briefly leave earth’s atmosphere on Sunday, risking it all to usher in a new era of space tourism that has been propelled by a billionaire-backed commercial space industry.

“We’ve spent 17 years trying to get to this stage,” Branson said in an interview with ABC News’ “Good Morning America” last week. “I’m just expecting the most extraordinary trip of my lifetime and by pioneering it myself, an extraordinary trip of a lifetime for other people in the future.”

If all goes well, Branson will beat fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos — who revealed he was launching via his own rocket on July 20 — into space by just over a week. While Branson said he doesn’t see it as a “race,” his own spaceflight announcement came just hours after Bezos’ revealed he was bringing along a female pilot whose dreams of being an astronaut in the ’60s were deferred.

The two launches within ten days of each other leave some to speculate whether these billionaires are “democratizing space” as they claim, or seeking bragging rights here on Earth. Still, as with all spaceflights, swaths of viewers from across the globe are expected to tune in — and there are no guarantees of safety as the ultra-rich use themselves as guinea pigs for their space-travel firms.

Here is what to know about Branson’s trip to the edge of space, scheduled to take off Sunday morning.

What is happening and how to watch

Branson, 70, will take-off aboard the first fully crewed flight from his private space-faring firm Virgin Galactic. The spaceflight will be streamed live on Virgin Galactic’s website as well as its Twitter, YouTube and Facebook pages. ABC News will also carry live coverage of the event.

The launch will take place from New Mexico’s Spaceport America, and live coverage will commence at 9 a.m. ET on Sunday.

Branson will serve as a mission specialist on what is being dubbed the Unity 22 mission, the company’s fourth crewed spaceflight on its VSS Unity spacecraft. Branson will be accompanied into space by fellow Virgin Galactic staff: Beth Moses (chief astronaut instructor), Colin Bennet (lead operations engineer), and Sirisha Bandla (vice president of government affairs and research operations).

Pilots Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci will fly the spaceship, with C.J. Sturckow and Kelly Latimer flying the aircraft from which the spaceship will dispatch.

Branson’s role is to evaluate the private astronaut experience to prepare for future customers, which Virgin Galactic expects to do beginning in 2022.

R&B singer Khalid tweeted Friday that he will be at the launch, and debuting a new song.

Flight details

The VSS Unity spacecraft launches from a custom-built “mothership” aircraft, the VMS Eve, that takes off from a conventional runway. At an altitude of approximately 50,000 feet, the spaceship will be released from the aircraft and enter its glide to the edges of space where those aboard can experience just a few minutes of microgravity, as well as novel views of earth and space. Previous test flights for the spaceship reached an altitude of 55.5 miles.

As gravity pulls the spaceship back toward Earth’s upper atmosphere, the astronauts will buckle back into their seats for reentry. Eventually, the spaceship will glide back to Spaceport America for a runway landing. Branson has said in previous interviews that the flight will take about 1 1/2 hours total.

Virgin Galactic has taken heat from critics, including the twitter account of Bezos’ firm Blue Origin, for stretching the definition of “space” as its flights do not go above the Karman line (62 miles above earth) that is defined by many — but not all — as the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and space.

Neither Blue Origin nor Virgin Galactic’s flights will reach Earth’s orbit, however, the way Elon Musk’s SpaceX missions have. Musk on Twitter has called out this “big difference.”

The billionaires’ race to space

The modern commercial space race has been undeniably dominated by the ultra-rich. Blue Origin founder Bezos is the richest man in the world, according to Forbes data, and SpaceX CEO Musk is the third-richest. Branson’s net worth, meanwhile, is some $6 billion.

While this has led some to see space as a new frontier for billionaire daredevils, others have argued that the rise of private sector involvement in space travel has accelerated technological advancements, saved NASA money, and carries the longterm potential to open up space tourism to all who have been curious about the cosmos.

“I truly believe that space belongs to all of us,” Branson said in a statement earlier this month announcing his spaceflight. “After 17 years of research, engineering and innovation, the new commercial space industry is poised to open the universe to humankind and change the world for good.”

Virgin Galactic has stated its mission is “democratizing space” and increasing accessibility. Its initial price of tickets, however, cost $250,000. Bezos, meanwhile, auctioned a seat on his upcoming Blue Origin flight for a whopping $28 million.

As the pandemic spotlighted the nation’s wealth inequality and deepened the divide between the haves and have-nots, not everyone is rooting for the billionaires the way Americans got behind astronauts in the Apollo era. A Change.org petition calling for Bezos to stay in space has garnered headlines and more than 150,000 signatures.

Animosity was exacerbated by recent reports on how Bezos and Musk have avoided paying income taxes.

Earlier this year, progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., responded to one of Musk’s tweets about a “multiplanetary” future, calling for him to “focus on Earth.”

“Space travel is an exciting idea, but right now we need to focus on Earth and create a progressive tax system so that children don’t go hungry, people are not homeless and all Americans have healthcare,” Sanders wrote. “The level of inequality in America is obscene and a threat to our democracy.”

COVID surging in Missouri as delta variant overwhelms hospitals

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention assigned two federal “surge team” members to Missouri this week to help fight the state’s COVID-19 surge.

Missouri is among a growing list of states that have seen rising infections, with new cases increasing 46% over the last two weeks, from June 23 to July 7, with an average of 1,111 per week, up from 759 two weeks prior, according data from the Department of Health and Human Services. Over the past five weeks, infections have risen 180%.

Missouri and neighboring Arkansas now lead the nation with the highest weekly case rates per capita, which translates into more than 100 per 100,000 residents. New COVID-19 hospital admissions also rose 30% over the same two-week span, and front-line workers say patients are becoming sicker more quickly.

The CDC surge team assigned to Missouri is an epidemiologist, deployed to do on-the-ground genetic sequencing and data analysis, and an adviser who’s working with local officials on how to address vaccine hesitancy.

Missouri’s vaccination rate trails the national average. As of Friday, 46% of residents had received at least one dose, and 40% were fully vaccinated, according to the CDC, compared with 55% of all Americans who’ve gotten at least one shot and 48% who are fully vaccinated.

State health officials said they hope more help is on the way.

“We are looking forward to collaborating with them and learning more about how the Delta variant is impacting Missouri, specifically southwest Missouri initially,” the Missouri health department said of the CDC, in a statement. “More team members will be added in the coming weeks, both remotely and in person, to assist with data and research, vaccine uptake strategies and outreach.”

Low vaccination rates are having a profound impact on hospitals, particularly in the southwestern part of the state. At Mercy Hospital in Springfield, more patients are currently hospitalized than at any point during the pandemic. More than 88% of patients in the ICU are on ventilators, and the hospital had to request additional machines from other hospitals in its network when it ran out earlier this week.

“This is the absolute worst that I’ve ever seen it,” Emily McMichael, a nurse at the hospital, told ABC News. “These patients are a lot sicker, and a lot younger, than what we saw the last go around, so it’s just really sad to see. And a lot of the population is unvaccinated.”

It’s not just Mercy. At Lake Regional Hospital, in the Lake of the Ozarks area, the health system prepared for a surge this week.

“We are experiencing a spike in COVID-19 deaths in our community,” Dane Henry, CEO of the Lake Regional Health System, wrote in a letter to the community Thursday. According to Henry, six COVID patients died in the hospital during the first week of July, compared with six deaths during all of June and only one COVID death in May.

“At Lake Regional, we are already stretched to the limit. Our hospital is very near capacity, and we are seeing exceptionally high numbers of Emergency Department patients daily,” he wrote. “I’m also very worried about the decisions we will face if COVID cases surge, as expected. Hospitals all around us are filling up, too. That means none of us have a safety valve.”

Top health officials have been warning for weeks that unvaccinated people have a high risk of contracting the delta variant of the virus, which was first identified in India and has since spread to more than 100 countries, including all 50 U.S. states. The variant is now dominant in the U.S. and is more transmissible than the original form of the virus, according to the CDC.

In Missouri, the delta variant makes up 73% of sequenced new cases, according to the CDC.

“We’re seeing the real-world impact of what’s happening across southwest Missouri and in our communities of the delta variant spreading rapidly through a largely unvaccinated population,” Dr. William Sistrunk, an infectious disease specialist at Mercy, said a Wednesday press conference. “This variant is hitting and impacting our community very hard, and bringing down younger, healthier people.”

Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine and infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University, pointed to the deep divide in hospitalization risk between vaccinated and unvaccinated Americans. “There are large swaths of the country where there are substantial numbers of communities that are under-vaccinated,” he said. If the delta variant gets into one of those communities it “has the potential, because it is so very contagious, to spread and to cause infection.”

While fully vaccinated people are fairly protected from severe disease and hospitalization from the delta variant, that’s not true for the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated.

“It’s very unusual for a fully vaccinated person to be admitted to the hospital,” Schaffner said. “Virtually every one of those hospitalizations could have been prevented.”

ABC News’ Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.

In hour-long call, Biden discusses ransomware with Putin after another massive attack

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In a nearly one-hour call, President Joe Biden discussed ransomware attacks with Russian leader Vladimir Putin, saying afterward he was “optimistic” about communications between the two countries going forward.

The discussion, their first since meeting in Switzerland last month for a major summit, comes days after another massive ransomware attack affected as many as 1,500 businesses around the world, according to the software vendor that was impacted.

“I made it very clear to him that the United States expects when a ransomware operation is coming from his — even though it’s not, not sponsored by the state — we expect him to act if we give him enough information to act on who that is,” Biden told reporters afterward.

He added that there will still be U.S. consequences for such attacks, without providing details.

But weeks after their Geneva summit, the president expressed optimism that the two countries, whose relations have hit a low point in recent years over a mountain of different issues, at least now had clear lines of communication.

“We have set up a means of communication now on a regular basis to be able to communicate to one another when each of us thinks something is happening in the other country that affects the home country — and so, it went well,” Biden said of the call.

The Kremlin said in its own readout that the two presidents “stressed the need for substantive and constructive cooperation in the field of cybersecurity and the continuation of relevant contacts.”

The White House has said there’s no indication the Russian government is responsible for this latest ransomware attack, in which hackers from the cyber criminal group REvil infiltrated IT management companies and their corporate clients through the software vendor Kaseya. The firm said 50 of its customers were directly compromised, but as many as 1,500 businesses that rely on those 50 customers for IT security could be compromised.

REvil is believed to be based in Russia or Eastern Europe and was responsible for the hack of JBS, the world’s largest meat processor, that took facilities offline and affected meat supplies, including in the U.S. The group demanded a $70 million bitcoin payment from its victims of the Kaseya attack.

While the Russian government may not be involved, it has consistently denied responsibility for its own cyberattacks, from its interference in the 2016 U.S. elections to the massive SolarWinds hack that affected dozens of government ministries, private companies and other entities around the world, including nearly a dozen U.S. agencies.

“Despite the readiness of the Russian side to jointly suppress criminal manifestations in the information space, no appeals on these issues have been received by the competent US agencies over the past month,” the Kremlin said Friday.

That language indicated a continued lack of cooperation from the Russian government on the issue. The White House declined to say whether Biden received any new assurances from Putin, referring ABC News’s questions to the Kremlin.

US sending FBI, DHS officials to help Haiti investigate president’s assassination

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security will be deployed to Haiti to assist the government’s investigation of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the White House announced Friday.

The assistance comes after two U.S. citizens were among the 17 men arrested by Haitian authorities for the head of state’s shocking murder, which threatens to plunge Haiti further into chaos amid competing claims to power.

The political and security crises afflicting the Caribbean country are rivaled only by the coronavirus pandemic. Haiti is one of only a handful of countries in the world that has yet to distribute a single dose of COVID-19 vaccine, and that will once again be delayed because of the deep insecurity, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Haitian National Police have requested U.S. assistance, according to the Biden administration, which is deploying senior FBI and DHS officials to assess the situation. But the limits of American power — and interest — in Haiti are clear, as its government grapples to maintain control of several growing challenges.

Seventeen suspects have been detained, according to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph’s office, including two Americans and 15 Colombians.

Four other suspects were killed by police in a shootout late Wednesday, according to Haitian officials. Leon Charles, chief of Haiti’s National Police, said Thursday that eight other suspects were on the run, according to the Associated Press.

Four members of Moise’s security detail are also wanted for questioning, according to Haitian government commissioner Bed-Ford Claude, including the head of his security detail.

It’s unclear how the assailants were able to access the private presidential residence. The group said they were agents from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, according to Haitian Ambassador to the U.S. Bocchit Edmond, a claim that the Haitian and U.S. governments have denied. It may have gotten them past some security, although Edmond told ABC News it’s “obvious” that the group of “international mercenaries,” as he called them, had “some internal help,” too.

One of the detained Americans has been identified as 35-year old James Solanges, according to Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s elections minister who declined to name the other American.

On a website for his charity, Solanges, a Florida resident, described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent” and said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian embassy in Haiti — claims that ABC News could not independently verify.

“We are certainly aware of the arrest of the two U.S. citizens who are in Haiti and continue to closely monitor the situation,” State Department deputy spokesperson Jalina Porter said Friday, declining to comment further because of “privacy considerations” and referring questions to Haitian authorities leading the investigation.

The White House announced it would deploy senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to assess the situation and provide assistance to Haitian authorities.

The Haitian government had requested assistance from the FBI, saying it “can play a critical role in rendering justice,” and called for sanctions on “all perpetrators who are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the President,” according to a letter from Ambassador Edmond to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and obtained by ABC News.

The U.S. is also being called upon to help calm the political turmoil, especially amid competing claims to power and the threat of gang violence erupting again on the streets.

Haiti’s line of succession had already been blurred by its political turmoil. Political opponents argued Moise’s five-year term ended in February, while he said the term ended in February 2022, five years after his 2017 inauguration — a claim backed by the U.S. and United Nations.

But who is in charge is further confused because Moise selected Ariel Henry, a surgeon and former minister, to serve as his new interim prime minister just days before his assassination. While Henry has told some local media outlets that he is the rightful leader, the U.S. is backing Joseph in his claim of legitimacy.

Because “Claude Joseph was the incumbent in the position… we continue to work with Claude Joseph as such,” Price said Thursday, adding that U.S. officials have been in touch with him and Henry and urging calm.

Joseph and Blinken spoke by phone Wednesday night — another boost of support — and the U.S. has backed his messages of stability and his calls for free and fair elections and national dialogue.

The transfer of power to Joseph is not in line with Haiti’s constitution, which says the president should be replaced by the head of the Supreme Court who is “invested temporarily with the duties of the president” by the National Assembly. But the country’s chief justice died from COVID-19 just two weeks ago, and the legislature has been disbanded since January 2020 after the country failed to hold legislative elections in October 2019.

Elections for the National Assembly and president have already been scheduled for late September, but many critics and political opposition leaders have said the country is not in position to hold them freely or fairly. It’s unclear if Joseph will push to move ahead with them, or even be able to, but the State Department said Thursday those elections should go ahead as planned.

One major hurdle to holding those contests is the COVID-19 pandemic, which continues to rage in Haiti. Cases last month were as high as they were one year prior, and the country has yet to receive any doses from COVAX, the international program to provide vaccines to low- and middle-income countries.

UNICEF was preparing to ship vaccines to Haiti as soon as this week but because of the assassination and ensuing turmoil that no longer looks likely, a source familiar with the shipments told ABC News.

“Rising gang criminality and increased insecurity has hindered humanitarian operations in the outskirts of Port-au-Prince,” UNICEF said in a statement Friday, adding it has “stepped up its efforts to use more sophisticated logistics and consider alternative routes to bring assistance more effectively to children in need.”

U.S. ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison was able to return to the capital yesterday from Washington, where she was attending previously scheduled meetings — a sign, perhaps, that the embassy has no plans to evacuate American personnel. Price declined to comment on security there, except to say the embassy is “constantly evaluating” the situation and would remain closed to the public through Monday.

ABC News’s Aicha El Hammar, Sarah Kolinovsky, Victor Ordonez, and Kirit Radia contributed to this report.

Haiti requests US send troops following president’s assassination

July 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Haiti’s government has requested the U.S. send troops to help stabilize the country and secure critical infrastructure like oil reserves and its port and airport in the wake of the assassination of its president earlier this week, Haitian Elections Minister Mathias Pierre told ABC News Friday. The deployment of U.S. forces would mark a major escalation of U.S. involvement, one that it’s unclear President Joe Biden is interested in making.

The U.S. has agreed to send senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to Haiti to assist the government’s investigation of the assassination of President Jovenel Moise, the White House announced Friday.

The political and security crises afflicting the Caribbean country are rivaled only by the coronavirus pandemic. Haiti is one of only a handful of countries in the world that has yet to distribute a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, and that will once again be delayed because of the deep insecurity, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Seventeen suspects have been detained, according to interim Prime Minister Claude Joseph’s office, including two Americans and 15 Colombians.

Four members of Moise’s security detail are also wanted for questioning, according to Haitian government commissioner Bed-Ford Claude, including the head of his security detail.

One of the detained Americans has been identified as 35-year old James Solanges, according to Mathias Pierre, Haiti’s elections minister, who declined to name the other American.

On a website for his charity, Solanges, a Florida resident, described himself as a “certified diplomatic agent” and said he previously worked as a bodyguard at the Canadian Embassy in Haiti — claims that ABC News could not independently verify.

The White House announced it would deploy senior officials from the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security to assess the situation and provide assistance to Haitian authorities.

The Haitian government had requested assistance from the FBI, saying it “can play a critical role in rendering justice,” and called for sanctions on “all perpetrators who are directly responsible or aided and abetted in the execution of the assassination of the President,” according to a letter from Edmond to Secretary of State Antony Blinken that was obtained by ABC News.

In addition, the government has asked for U.S. troops, according to Pierre, although it’s unclear whether that request has been made through formal channels. The State Department declined to address a question about Pierre’s comments during a press briefing Friday afternoon.

The U.S. is also being called upon to help calm the political turmoil, especially amid competing claims to power and the threat of gang violence erupting again on the streets.

Because “Claude Joseph was the incumbent in the position … we continue to work with Claude Joseph as such,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday, adding that U.S. officials have been in touch with him and Henry and urging calm.

Joseph and Blinken spoke by phone Wednesday night — another boost of support — and the U.S. has backed his messages of stability and his calls for free and fair elections and national dialogue.

UNICEF was preparing to ship vaccines to Haiti as soon as this week, but because of the assassination and ensuing turmoil that no longer looks likely, a source familiar with the shipments told ABC News.

U.S. Ambassador to Haiti Michele Sison was able to return to the capital yesterday from Washington, where she was attending previously scheduled meetings — a sign, perhaps, that the embassy has no plans to evacuate American personnel. Price declined to comment on security there, except to say the embassy is “constantly evaluating” the situation and would remain closed to the public through Monday.

ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky, Victor Ordonez and Kirit Radia contributed to this report.

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