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In Alaska and Wyoming primaries, two Trump critics could meet different fates as Palin eyes a comeback

August 16, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Tuesday’s primaries in Alaska and Wyoming will spotlight two big Republican detractors of former President Donald Trump — and now two big targets of his revenge tour this election cycle.

The incumbents, Sen. Lisa Murkowski and Rep. Liz Cheney, may also see two diverging results at the ballot box.

Polls close in Alaska at 1 a.m. ET on Wednesday and in Wyoming at 9 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Cheney learns her fate

Wyoming is the state that handed Trump his widest margin of victory in the 2020 election.

Cheney, Wyoming’s lone member of the House, has since cemented herself as the one of the most vocal anti-Trump members of Congress.

She earned the ire of Trump, his ardent supporters and many of her fellow Republican lawmakers after she crossed party lines — with nine other House Republicans — to impeach him after the attack on the U.S. Capitol last year.

She was censured one month later by the Wyoming Republican Party and, though she initially survived a leadership vote among the House GOP caucus, she was subsequently booted from her position as the No. 3 House Republican.

Legislatively, Cheney and Trump were not political foes: As noted by FiveThirtyEight, Cheney voted with him on the issues 92.9% of the time.

But she has broken with Trump on what she calls the greatest issue of all: His continued, baseless attacks on elections. As vice chair of the House Jan. 6 committee, she has taken a major role in a year-long investigation into Trump’s conduct before, during and after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

Cheney is the last of six House Republican incumbents to seek reelection after their impeachment vote last year. So far only two — Rep. David Valadao of California and Rep. Dan Newhouse of Washington — have successfully fended off their primary challengers.

The other three — Reps. Jaime Herrera Beutler of Washington, Peter Meijer of Michigan and Tom Rice of South Carolina — all lost to Trump-endorsed challengers. Cheney’s chances of reelection also seem slim, according to polling cited by FiveThirtyEight, though surveys of the race are sparse and Cheney insists she still has a shot.

Cheney’s main opponent is boosted by Trump: Attorney Harriet Hageman is a former Republican National Committee member — and a former Cheney ally and Trump critic.

Once an adviser to Cheney in Cheney’s short-lived 2014 Senate campaign, Hageman won Trump’s approval in September 2021 and has since embraced his false messaging about the last presidential race, claiming that it was “absolutely” rigged.

Hageman, her supporters will say, also has a home-field advantage over Cheney: She is a lifelong Wyomingite while Cheney — whose father held Wyoming’s House seat for a decade in the ’70s and ’80s — was raised in both Wyoming and the Washington, D.C., area. before she went on to work in national politics.

Hageman ran for Wyoming governor in 2018, pledging to “reform federal land management and access” in a state where nearly half of the land is federally owned. During that primary, she took the position of transferring federal public land to the states and suggested that 1 million acres of Wyoming be part of the pilot plan. The proposal raised eyebrows among leading conservation groups, most of whom endorsed Republican Mark Gordon, who went on to win.

Palin and Murkowski on the ballot

Further north, in Alaska, voters on Tuesday will be making a bit of history: The state has scrapped its party-line primaries in favor of a top-four system, where every candidate competes together, and has implemented a ranked-choice voting system for its general elections.

The special general election held Tuesday along with the primaries will be the first time Alaskan voters rank candidates on the ballot.

The new system works like this: If a candidate gets more than 50% of the votes, they win outright; otherwise, the last-place candidate is eliminated and their voters’ ballots are distributed to the voters’ second-choice picks. This process continues until a candidate gets more than 50%.

According to the new system’s supporters, ranked-choice encourages more moderate candidates who can appeal to the most voters, especially in crowded fields.

One of the critics of the new system is also eyeing to win the special election to serve the few months remaining in late Rep. Don Young’s term in the House. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is backed by Trump, seeks a return to elected office after running as the Republican vice-presidential nominee in 2008. Between then and now, Palin was a face of the Obama-era tea party movement — a precursor, in style and substance, to Trump’s platform — and was a conservative pundit and TV personality.

She has called Alaska’s new voting system a “convoluted” process that will result “in voter suppression.”

Facing off against Palin are Nicholas Begich III — Republican heir to a local Democratic dynasty whose family members include a former representative and state senator — and Democrat Mary Peltola, a former Alaska state representative.

The polling aggregate from FiveThirtyEight shows Peltola doing well against both Begich and Palin. (The fourth candidate who advanced in the special primary, Al Gross, withdrew and urged people to back Peltola.)

The three are also the front-runners in the regular House primary election simultaneously being held Tuesday, in which 22 candidates are vying to advance to November’s general election and secure a full two-year term in the House.

On the Senate side, incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski faces her first major electoral test in years — though, as history has shown, she is no stranger to surprising victories.

Murkowski is the only one of the seven GOP senators who voted to convict in Trump’s impeachment trial last year to be on the ballot this year. Her vote, like Cheney’s, led to a censure from her state’s Republican Party.

Unlike Cheney, Murkowski has built a profile as one of the Senate’s most moderate Republicans and repeatedly crosses political lines — notably, supporting abortion access, voting against Trump-nominated Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court and negotiating last year’s infrastructure spending bill.

Kelly Tshibaka, a former commissioner of the Alaska Department of Administration, hopes to unseat her. Backed by Trump, Tshibaka has cast doubts on the integrity of the 2020 election but ultimately recognized Joe Biden as the president. She also called last week’s FBI search of Mar-a-Lago a “gross abuse of power.”

According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregate, Murkowski and Tshibaka trade off the lead in various surveys.

Still, because of the primary’s top-four rules, Murkowski is likely to advance from Tuesday to the general election. And even if she doesn’t, she could still win: She famously lost the Republican primary in 2010 to tea party-challenger Joe Miller but went on to win the general election after more than 100,000 Alaskans voted for her as a write-in candidate — in part, due to ads that taught voters how to correctly spell her name.

ABC News’ Chris Donovan and Tracy Wholf contributed to this story.

Millions of people in Midwest to experience ‘extreme heat belt’ by 2053: Report

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Millions of Americans are at risk of experiencing an “extreme heat belt” that would affect parts of the Midwest over the next three decades, according to a new report from the nonprofit research group First Street Foundation.

By 2053, 1,023 counties, an area home to more than 107 million Americans and covers a quarter of U.S. land, are expected to see the heat index, or the feels-like temperature, surpass 125 degrees Fahrenheit at least one day a year, according to the report, which was released Monday.

According to the First Street Foundation’s study, those high temperatures, considered extremely dangerous by the National Weather Service, are expected to affect 8 million Americans this year and increase 13 times over 30 years.

The “extreme heat belt” extends from Texas’ northern border and Louisiana north through Iowa, Indiana and Illinois, the report shows.

Other parts of the country are expected to see hotter temperatures, harming people living in areas not used to excessive heat, the report found.

“This reality suggests that a 10% temperature increase in Maine can be as dangerous as a 10% increase in Texas, even as the absolute temperature increase in Texas is much higher,” researchers wrote in the report.

The researchers cited the changing condition in the environment that’s leading to higher temperatures and more humid conditions.

“When everyone thinks of this extreme summer we [are having], this is probably one of the best summers over the next 30 years,” Matthew Eby, founder and CEO of the First Street Foundation, told ABC News. “It’s going to get much worse.”

Extreme temperatures can cause health issues, from fatigue to life-threatening problems such as heat strokes.

Scientists have said that prolonged heat waves result from climate change, particularly in different countries at the same time, as was the case last month in parts of the continental U.S. and Europe.

Jason Smerdon, a climate scientist for the Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York, told ABC News last month that extreme heat is a “basic consequence of climate change.”

“While each heat wave itself is different and has individual dynamics behind it, the probability of these events is a direct consequence of the warming planet,” Smerdon said.

The First Street Foundation is a Brooklyn, New York-based nonprofit research and technology group that quantifies climate risks.

ABC News’ Julia Jacobo contributed to this report.

7th child in US tests positive for monkeypox

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A child in Martin County, Florida, has tested positive for monkeypox, state health data shows.

Across the U.S., at least seven children have now tested positive for monkeypox. The child in Florida is between the ages of 0 and 4 years old, according to the state health data.

The additional pediatric case comes after health officials in Maine announced Friday that they, too, had confirmed a positive monkeypox case in a child.

In Maine, no further information about the case has been released due to concerns over patient privacy, officials said.

“Maine CDC [Center for Disease Control and Prevention] is working to identify any others who may have been exposed and make vaccination available to close contacts,” officials wrote in a press release.

In addition to the cases in children reported in Maine and Florida, two cases have been confirmed in California, as well another two in Indiana, and a case in a non-U.S. resident reported in Washington, D.C.

The majority of cases in the current monkeypox outbreak have been detected in gay, bisexual or other men who have sex with men. However, health officials have repeatedly stressed that anyone can contract the virus.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has previously warned that there has been some preliminary evidence to suggest that children younger than 8 years old are at risk of developing more severe illness if infected, alongside pregnant people and those who are immunocompromised.

However, last week, in an effort to protect the youngest Americans, the Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization that allows health care for children under 18 who are at high risk of monkeypox to be vaccinated.

MORE: 6th child tests positive for monkeypox in US: What parents should know
Across the globe, nearly 32,000 cases of monkeypox have now been reported, including more than 11,000 cases in the U.S. — the most of any country, according to the CDC. All but one U.S. state — Wyoming — have now confirmed at least one positive monkeypox case.

Monkeypox primarily spreads through prolonged skin-to-skin contact with infected people’s lesions or bodily fluids, according to the CDC. In addition to lesions, which can appear like pimples or blisters, the most common symptoms associated with monkeypox are swollen lymph nodes, fever, headache, fatigue and muscle aches.

How Liz Cheney went from rising Republican star to primary underdog after Jan. 6

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney has gone from House GOP leadership to party gadfly in the span of just over 18 months as she stands out as the loudest Republican critic of former President Donald Trump — which could cost her her job in Tuesday’s primary

After first winning election in 2016, Cheney quickly rose through the ranks to become the No. 3 House Republican, with rumored aspirations toward the speakership. She was also one of Trump’s most reliable votes in Congress, backing him on nearly every issue, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Yet her continued, impassioned rebukes of Trump and his allies over last year’s insurrection brought an even swifter political downfall — one that saw her booted from her leadership perch and her state party, an increasingly isolated apostate in a party still led by Trump.

“She could have cruised to another term if she had just kept her head in the sand like everybody else did,” Mark Christensen, a former Campbell County commissioner and Cheney ally, told ABC News. “But she’s not really the person who does that. She’s not really that person who shies away from a fight.”

Cheney began her House career boasting a legendary last name in Republican politics and sterling conservative credentials.

After an earlier false start as a candidate — seeking a Wyoming Senate seat in the 2014 cycle — she won Wyoming’s only House seat in 2016, the same year Trump won the White House.

While she did note during her campaign that she and Trump differed on foreign policy, she focused much of her bid on domestic issues, lambasting former President Barack Obama and even hinting that she was open to joining the hardline House Freedom Caucus, which today is filled with some of her most vocal detractors.

“Wyoming needs a strong voice in Congress to lead the effort to undo the devastating policies of the last seven and a half years and restore our freedom. I will be that voice,” Cheney said after winning her primary that year. “I will be that leader.”

Two years later, after winning only her second House term, she was elected by Republican members to be their conference chair, making her the third-highest ranking GOP lawmaker in the chamber.

While campaigning for the leadership spot, she pushed for the implementation of an aggressive messaging platform for the party.

“We need to be able to drive our message across all platforms,” she said at the time. “We need to own the daily news cycles. We need to lead and win the messaging wars. Too often we have found ourselves playing catch up without access to useful information, and we have not been on offense. Constantly playing defense in the battle of communications is a recipe for failure. We need to work as a team to use all our messaging tools to drive our agenda.”

Her rapid rise fueled whispers she had her eye on the speakership one day. That chatter only grew when she decided to stay in the House in 2020 rather than run for an open Senate seat, which many considered to be hers for the taking.

During her first two terms in Congress, Cheney built a staunchly conservative record, voting with Trump nearly 93% of the time, according to FiveThirtyEight’s analysis. And while disagreements with the then-president flared over foreign policy, Cheney did not stand out as a major roadblock to his messaging or domestic agenda.

On top of that, her allies in Wyoming recall having someone in the House who would keep a strong eye on local issues.

“With Liz, we actually would have in-depth policy discussions and then we would discuss together what our approach was going to be for, say, approaching Interior on a policy or something with Department of Energy or something else. And then not only that, she would actually do the follow up herself and then we hear back from her again, too. And I never got that from any other elected official,” said Christensen, the former county commissioner.

Yet last year’s Capitol attack marked an inflection point for Cheney, who made underscoring Trump’s role with the mob a focal point of her work — transforming her political fortunes nearly overnight.

She quickly and repeatedly denounced Trump and, when she was still the conference chair, became the highest-ranking Republican to vote for his impeachment. She later agreed to serve as the vice chair of the select House committee investigating the riot and the former president’s unfounded election fraud claims, lending it a sheen of bipartisanship.

While Cheney has traveled to Wyoming for smaller campaign events, the highly publicized work of the Jan. 6 panel swamped her travels — landing her in hot water both in Washington, where House Republicans were angered at her focus on Trump (who insists he did nothing wrong), and in Wyoming, a state he won with 70% of the vote in 2020.

“After she jumped in on the Jan. 6 thing, and she jumped in on the impeachment … she was nowhere to be found. She wasn’t meeting with the people. She doesn’t care about us,” local voter Myrna Burgess told ABC News.

Cheney’s political peril was put into stark relief when Trump endorsed Harriet Hageman in September and made ousting Cheney a top priority as part of his ongoing campaign of retribution against GOP lawmakers who turned against him.

“Unlike RINO [Republican in name only] Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney. Make America Great Again!” Trump said in a statement at the time.

Cheney allies insist she’s still the right person for the job, casting her reelection bid as a broader fight for the direction of the GOP.

“This is bigger than one person’s presidency. This is our Constitution. This is our history. This is what we’re going to be remembered for. And that’s exactly what Liz is remembering,” Republican state Rep. Landon Brown told ABC News. “And there’s a lot of people in my district alone, but as well as other people out there, that they feel the exact same way.”

Cheney has focused her campaign messaging around that theme, shedding the Republican red meat that characterizes other House campaigns and adopting a more forward-looking lens.

“Here’s my pledge to you: I will work every day to ensure that our exceptional nation long endures. My children and your children must grow up in an America where we have honorable and peaceful transitions of power. Not violent confrontations, intimidation and thuggery. Where we are governed by laws and not by men. Where we are led by people who love this country more than themselves,” Cheney said in her closing ad.

Yet in a sign of her increasingly rough chances in a state where voters can change their registration the day of the primary, her campaign has been advertising how non-Republicans can back her.

Jim King, a political science professor at the University of Wyoming, put it bluntly: “There aren’t enough Democrats.”

As FiveThirtyEight has noted, public polling in the race has been sparse but favors Hageman. Speculation has already begun over where Cheney’s future ambitions lie beyond the House, including among her supporters, some of whom maintain that the possibility of defeat is really just a hidden victory.

“This race is the first battle in a much larger and longer war that Liz is going to win, because the future of the country depends on it,” said one ally. “And, regardless of what the results in this election turn out to be, she is going to lead a broad coalition going forward of Americans across the political spectrum who will stand up for freedom and restore the foundational principles that Donald Trump continues to dangerously undermine.”

Cheney has been rumored as a potential 2024 presidential candidate who could run as an anti-Trump Republican. And while she insists she’s focused on her reelection, she hasn’t ruled out a future White House run.

“I don’t know if she’d want to stay in politics. She could probably go to Virginia and may get back in, but I don’t know if she would get the Republicans support if she came back. I don’t know what she’d do,” said Natrona County Commissioner Paul Bertoglio. “I feel almost gut-punched because I really like her. And I am sorry that she’s most likely going to lose. And that’s self-inflicted.”

Thousands of Capri Sun cases recalled over potential cleaning solution contamination

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As children are heading back to school this month, Kraft Heinz announced a recall on Friday of more than 5,000 cases of Capri Sun due to a possible contamination.

This voluntary recall comes after the company announced the potential contamination affecting approximately 5,760 Capri Sun cases (each case contains about 10 pouches) of its wild cherry flavor. The company said a diluted cleaning solution was inadvertently introduced into a production line at one of its factories.

The “Best When Used By” date on the products is June 25, 2023, according to the company. No other Capri Sun flavors were listed in the recall.

“The issue was discovered after we received several consumer complaints about the taste of the affected product,” Kraft Heinz said in a statement on Friday. “The Company is actively working with retail partners and distributors to remove potentially impacted product from circulation.”

Those who believe they might have the product are advised not to consume it and return the product where it was purchased.

Click here to view the company’s full description of the affected product.

“Consumers can contact Kraft Heinz from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday, at 1-800-280-8252 to see if a product is part of the recall and to receive reimbursement,” Kraft Heinz said in a statement.

Biden to sign major health, climate and tax bill Tuesday at White House ceremony

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden plans to sign the Democrats’ massive climate, health and tax bill into law on Tuesday at the White House, marking a major accomplishment for his domestic agenda less than three months before midterm elections.

Biden will deliver remarks and sign the bill, known as the Inflation Reduction Act, at an event in the White House’s State Dining Room, the White House announced Monday.

It will likely be a smaller ceremony, with most members of Congress involved in the bill’s passage out of town, with Congress out of session.

Taking advantage of some political momentum, Biden is interrupting his vacation in South Carolina for the signing, just days after the House approved the measure, following Senate passage by just one vote amid some political drama.

A larger celebration is being planned for Sept. 6.

The White House also said that, “in the coming weeks,” Biden will host a Cabinet meeting focused on implementing the new law and will also travel across the U.S. to promote it.

The Biden administration has planned a cross-country rollout campaign for the legislation, which aims to make prescription drugs and health insurance cheaper; invest in clean energy and curb climate change; raise taxes on the wealthy; and cut the deficit.

Starting this week through the end of August, Cabinet members plan to travel to 23 states, on more than 35 trips, to tout the “Inflation Reduction Act,” according to the White House.

The administration also plans to roll out information online and on social media about the legislation’s impact, and to collaborate with members of Congress to host hundreds of events, the White House said.

The blitz will highlight will highlight other major legislative wins as well as part of a “Building a Better America Tour.”

In a memo the White House made public from Senior Adviser Anita Dunn and Deputy Chief of Staff Jen O’Malley Dillon to Chief of Staff Ron Klain, the administration plans to not only tout passage of the IRA, but also the CHIPS Act aimed at boosting the U.S. semi-conductor industry over China’s and easing a pandemic-cause shortage, the bipartisan gun control bill and the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

Ahead of Tuesday’s signing, the White House on Monday put out what it said would be the IRA’s impact.

According to the White House, about 1.4 million Americans who are on Medicare who usually spending more than $2000 per year on prescription drugs will see their costs capped at that amount. Overall, it says, there are about 50 million Americans on Medicare Part D who are eligible for that cost cap.

The White House said. there are about 3.3 million Americans on Medicare who use insulin, who will benefit from the new $35 monthly price cap.

The White House also estimates about 5-7 million Americans could see their prescription drug costs decrease once Medicare begins negotiating costs.

Lower Obamacare premiums will be extended for the 13 million Americans insured under that program, the White House said.

And the White House also claims greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by a billion metric tons in 2030 thanks to the IRA.

ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

99-year-old woman ‘absolutely ecstatic’ to meet her 100th great-grandchild

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A 99-year-old Pennsylvania woman got to meet her 100th great-grandchild in person earlier this month.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime event for Marguerite “Peg” Koller — also known as “grandmom” to Christine Stokes Balster and her husband Patrick Balster — who was “absolutely ecstatic” to greet baby Koller William Balster after his birth on Aug. 4.

“We went to grandmom’s, introduced her to Koller, who was named after that family name,” Stokes Balster, of Lafayette Hill, told “Good Morning America.” “…She was absolutely ecstatic. Limited words for sure. She was just so happy and felt so blessed and lucky to be holding him.”

“You could feel the emotion and the gratitude and [she] just felt blessed again that she got to hold yet another great-grandbaby, and this one named after my grandfather,” the mom of two added.

In total, the 99-year-old matriarch has 11 children, 56 grandchildren and 100 great-grandkids. Koller was lucky number 100 and arrived a week after his due date, weighing in at 9 pounds, 6 ounces.

“It was a race to 100,” Stokes Balster explained. “My cousin Colleen and I were just a day apart [for] our due dates, and she had the 99th great-grandchild, who is absolutely healthy and beautiful. So you know, just grateful, blessed to have another few babies joining this great family.”

Koller is the second child for Stokes Balster and her husband, who are also parents to Griffin David Balster, 22 months. Griffin David was named after his uncle, Stokes Balster’s late brother David Stokes, who died of brain cancer in 1990.

The Balsters said they wanted another name that was just as meaningful for their second son.

“We wanted to do like a name that was equally significant,” Patrick Balster told “GMA.” “I’ve always loved the name Cole. And Chris one day was like, ‘Hey, how about Koller? This could be baby number 100 for great-grandmom.’ We thought about Koller and we went for Koller William … William Koller was her grandfather’s name [Peg Koller’s late husband, who died in 2008]. And then ‘William’ is also on my side of the family, I’m fourth-generation William, middle name. So we’re like, it just made sense. It felt good.”

The couple kept their baby’s name a secret until after he was born.

“I think each one of my mom’s siblings — she’s one of 11 — just felt that it was such an honor to my late grandfather and the family name,” Stokes Balster said. “[It was] so much love, so much support immediately once we revealed what his name was, and even more special that he was the 100th great-grandchild. So the timing was just right.”

Peg Koller will turn 100 this November and the Balsters are looking forward to spending more time with their family matriarch. They say among the “secrets” to her longevity is working out twice a day and the love and support of their family.

“Faith and family really get her going,” Stokes Balster said. “She is present no matter what is going on and however old she is. I mean she never misses a graduation, a baptism, a wedding, a book moment at grade school. Whatever it is, she’s always there.”

DOJ opposes news media request to unseal Trump search affidavit, calls it ‘roadmap’ to criminal investigation

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department said in a new court filing Monday that it opposes an effort by multiple media organizations, including ABC News, to unseal the supporting affidavit behind the now-public search warrant for former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate.

“There remain compelling reasons, including to protect the integrity of an ongoing law enforcement investigation that implicates national security, that support keeping the affidavit sealed,” the filing states.

In a footnote, department officials write that they “carefully considered” whether they could release the affidavit with redactions, but the redactions necessary to “mitigate harms to the integrity of the investigation would be so extensive as to render the remaining unsealed text devoid of meaningful content, and the release of such a redacted version would not serve any public interest.”

However, if the magistrate judge were to order the partial unsealing of the affidavit, “the government respectfully requests an opportunity to provide the Court with proposed redactions.”

The department also says that it does not object to the unsealing of other materials filed in connection with the search warrant, “whose unsealing would not jeopardize the integrity of this national security investigation,” but with minor redactions to protect government personnel. This would consist of “cover sheets associated with the search warrant application, the government’s motion to seal, and the Court’s sealing order.

The government has filed those under seal and is asking the court to unseal them.

Further explaining their request to keep the underlying affidavit sealed, prosecutors note it “would serve as a roadmap to the government’s ongoing investigation, providing specific details about its direction and likely course, in a manner that is highly likely to compromise future investigative steps.”

They briefly detail some of the information in the affidavit that has been reviewed by Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart, noting that, “it contains, among other critically important and detailed investigative facts: highly sensitive information about witnesses, including witnesses interviewed by the government; specific investigative techniques; and information required by law to be kept under seal” under grand jury rules.

“In addition, information about witnesses is particularly sensitive given the high-profile nature of this matter and the risk that the revelation of witness identities would impact their willingness to cooperate with the investigation,” prosecutors note — highlighting stories regarding an increase in threats to law enforcement that has followed the search of Mar-a-Lago.

“Disclosure of the government’s affidavit at this stage would also likely chill future cooperation by witnesses whose assistance may be sought as this investigation progresses, as well as in other high-profile investigations,” the filing states. “The fact that this investigation implicates highly classified materials further underscores the need to protect the integrity of the investigation and exacerbates the potential for harm if information is disclosed to the public prematurely or improperly.”

The unsealing could also impact the civil liberties of those whose actions are detailed in the underlying affidavit, prosecutors said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

A fatwa against author Salman Rushdie led to more than 30 years of terror: a timeline

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON and CAIRO) — Since 1989, when the Iranian supreme leader of the time, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued an apostasy fatwa against the Indian-British Salman Rushdie, it has not been just the “The Satanic Verses” author who has been threatened and attacked.

Multiple writers, translators and publishers have been targeted around the world by extremists with links to this fatwa, which included a religious death warrant for “all the editors and publishers” of the novel who were “aware of its contents.”

Rushdie was hospitalized after being stabbed multiple times in New York on Friday, about 33 years after the fatwa was issued.

Rushie’s agent and family released statements Sunday saying he has a long road ahead but is improving and is off a ventilator. The stabbing marked the latest violent attack on people who were targeted around the world with direct and indirect links to the fatwa.

Ettore Capriolo

Ettore Capriolo, an English literature expert who had translated “The Satanic Verses” into Italian, was stabbed multiple times on July 4, 1991, in Milan, Italy. He survived the attack.

Talking to the local press, Capriolo said he had forgotten about “The Satanic Verses” translation and had moved on to other works when received a message from a young man saying he was from the Iranian embassy with a translation proposal.

A few days later, the man showed up at Capriolo’s house. As they sat for a chat about the proposal, the guest asked him for Rushdie’s address. The translator said he didn’t know it. As the young man was leaving, he turned and punched Capriolo in the face before stabbing him several times, local media reported.

The attacker was never arrested, and the only comment from the Iranian embassy at the time was that they did not know anyone named Capriolo and they had never searched for him, local media reported.

Hitoshi Igarashi

Eight days later, a 44-year-old Japanese scholar, Hitoshi Igarashi, was found stabbed to death at his office on July 12, 1991, at Tsukuba University in Tokyo.

A year and a half earlier, Igarashi and his publisher Gianni Palma held a press conference in Tokyo to announce their translation of Rushdie’s work. Midway through the session, a Pakistani Muslim took over the stage and attempted to assault Palma. The attacker was arrested and reportedly deported afterward.

Aziz Nesin

Turkish writer and humorist Aziz Nesin started translating “The Satanic Verses” in the early 1990s. In May 1993, Nesin published excerpts from the controversial novel in the newspaper Aydinlik.

The move, along with some of his speeches led to riots in Istanbul by Islamic fundamentalists who denounced Nesin for “spreading atheism.”

A few months later, on July 2, 1993, a mob reportedly organized by Islamists gathered around the Madimak Hotel in the Anatolian city of Sivas, where a cultural festival was taking place, to protest the presence of Nesin, according to The New York Times. They reportedly set the hotel on fire. Nesin and many other guests escaped, but at least 37 people were killed, according to multiple reports.

William Nygaard

Publisher William Nygaard, who had put out a Norwegian translation of Rushdie’s novel, was shot three times outside his home on Oct. 11, 1993, in Holmenkollen, Norway. He survived the attack, but was hospitalized for months.

Both Nygaard and the translator of the novel, Kari Risvik, had received death threats before the attack, according to local reports.

Twenty-five years later, in October 2018, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service said two people were charged with attempted murder; one from Iran and one connected to Lebanon.

Naguib Mahfouz

Egyptian writer and Nobel Prize laureate for literature Naguib Mahfouz was stabbed in the neck by a Muslim extremist outside his Cairo home on Oct. 15, 1994.

He survived the injuries, but his right hand was paralyzed afterward, according to The New York Times.

Mahfouz had denounced the fatwa against Rushdie, saying that “the veritable terrorism of which he is a target is unjustifiable, indefensible.”

The controversy around “The Satanic Verses,” had revived criticisms against Mahfouz’s novel “Children of Our Alley.” The book, published in 1959, had been deemed blasphemous by some, including extremist cleric Abdel-Rahman, known as “the blind sheikh.” If Mahfouz had been killed 30 years ago, Rushdie would not have appeared, Abdel-Rahman said in an interview with Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Nabaa.

“Nobody can force any piece of literature on art on anyone; people choose whatever they want to read,” Ibrahim Abdel-Meguid, an Egyptian writer, told ABC News. “Such fatwas should stay away from literature and arts.”

Denying any effects of such fatwas on the readership of literary books in the long term, Abdel-Meguid said that “the intended aim of such attacks is never achieved.”

“In the contrary,” he added, “they encourage people to read the books which these extremists regard as blasphemous.”

6th child tests positive for monkeypox in US: What parents should know

August 15, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As monkeypox continues to spread across the U.S., the number of children infected with the virus is growing as well.

At least six children have tested positive for monkeypox since July, including a child in Maine and two each in Indiana and California.

The other case was reported in an infant, a non-U.S. resident, who was tested while traveling through Washington, D.C., federal officials confirmed last month.

Children under the age of 8 are among those whom the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers at “increased risk” for developing more severe illness if infected with monkeypox, along with pregnant people, people who are immunocompromised and those who have a history of atopic dermatitis or eczema.

Below, experts answer seven questions parents might have about monkeypox and how it may impact kids, as overall cases across the U.S. continue to climb.

1. As a parent, how concerned do I need to be about monkeypox?

At this time in the outbreak, parents “do not need to panic” about the virus, according to ABC News chief medical correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, who is also a board-certified OB-GYN.

“They should be aware of what’s going on with this, as they are with any medical headline,” Ashton added. “They should know what’s going on in their community and they should take the appropriate steps after discussing any concerns they have with their pediatrician.”

2. How is monkeypox spread?

Monkeypox, also known as MPX, is spread primarily through direct, skin-to-skin contact between someone who has the virus and someone who does not, according to Dr. Richard Malley, senior physician in pediatrics, division of infectious diseases, at Boston Children’s Hospital and a professor of pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

“That could be through intimate contact,” said Malley. “It could also be through just contact with somebody in the family who has an unsuspecting lesion and lesion unfortunately touches another individual.”

Shared items like towels, clothes or bed sheets could also possibly spread the virus if used by someone with a monkeypox lesion, according to Malley.

“If somebody is infected with MPX, they really need to be very careful with who they interact with and how they interact with those with other people to try to avoid spread as much as possible,” he said.

According to the CDC, monkeypox can also spread through contact with an infected person’s respiratory secretions and prolonged face-to-face contact.

“So far it does not seem to be the major mode of transmission for this virus in the current epidemic,” said Malley. “But that is of course one of the things that we need to monitor very closely.”

3. Does my family need to wipe down surfaces or avoid shared spaces like playgrounds?

Because monkeypox is spread primarily through skin-to-skin contact, parents at this point do not need to overly concerned with their child becoming infected by touching things like doorknobs in public spaces or shared toys, according to both Malley and Ashton.

“While that possibility remains, I think it does not mean that parents or anyone should be concerned about touching doorknobs or going to the grocery story or touching objects that are out on the street, for example,” said Malley. “That is not thought to be a very likely way for MPX to be spread, or for most viruses to be spread.”

Ashton said that people who live in high-transmission areas for monkeypox may want to wipe down surfaces as an extra precaution, noting, “It is possible that this virus can be left on gym equipment, just like it can be left on clothes.”

However, she added that hand washing is more important than wiping surfaces to prevent the spread of disease.

“Hand hygiene is the most important thing, not just for monkeypox but for any infectious disease,” Ashton said.

4. How can I tell if my child has monkeypox?

Unfortunately, the symptoms of monkeypox can look like other viruses — including flu and other rashes — so experts recommend seeking medical care as soon as symptoms show, especially if your child has been in contact with someone who has monkeypox.

Typically, the disease begins with a fever, headache, fatigue, chills and muscle aches. Unlike smallpox, however, monkeypox also causes swollen lymph nodes.

Within one to three days of initial symptoms, those infected will typically develop a rash either on their face or other parts of the body, according to the CDC.

Per the World Health Organization, the lesions — or rash — start out as dark spots on the skin before progressing to bumps that fill with fluid.

Malley said parents should seek medical care for any type of rash on their child’s body that does not look like something they have had previously.

“The rash of MPX, as we are now learning, can look very different in different individuals for reasons that we don’t quite understand,” said Malley. “You really need to be cautious with anything that might look like a MPX rash.”

Monkeypox is diagnosed by testing the lesions to identify whether genetic material of the virus is present, according to Malley.

5. Why are children at increased risk with monkeypox?

Experts are not sure, Malley said.

It may be due to their immune systems and the fact that “younger children are sometimes more susceptible to some viral infections,” he explained.

In Africa, where monkeypox originated, the most severe but rare cases of the virus have typically involved inflammation of the brain, according to Malley.

Ashton said that while there have so far been no deaths associated with monkeypox in the U.S., it’s important to stay vigilant as the disease spreads.

“As the numbers grow, based on sheer math, it is not impossible that we will see a death here in the U.S.,” said Ashton, adding that monkeypox has a “spectrum of severity” when it comes to complications. “There have been deaths in Africa associated with monkeypox.”

6. Is there a monkeypox vaccine for kids?

The current vaccine for monkeypox is available to people ages 18 and older. However, the JYNNEOS vaccine can be offered to younger people on a case-by-case basis via a special permission process through the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to those with known monkeypox exposure.

Antiviral medications such as Tecovirimat are currently being used for treatment of monkeypox, which is available for children.

More common treatments may also be used to help treat patients who are experiencing pain due to monkeypox lesions, according to Malley.

7. How should I best protect my child from monkeypox?

The best thing parents can do for both themselves and their child, according to Malley, is to pay attention to the virus — but try not to panic.

“I think it would be very unlikely that daycare or a camp or school would be a major focus of transmission of this virus as we understand it currently,” he said. “But of course, it’s important for all of us to be vigilant.”

Malley said the key for parents concerned about monkeypox is to be aware of their child’s surroundings and not interact with people they know have been infected with monkeypox.

“The importance for parents is that if they know anybody in their surrounding, in their environment, in their family who has a suspicion of being infected with MPX, then of course that individual needs needs to isolate themself,” he said. “In general, people who have been diagnosed with MPX have been told and are being very careful because they do not want to be responsible for transmission.”

The CDC has released safety guidelines for people with monkeypox, urging those infected with the virus to “remain isolated at home or at another location for the duration of illness.”

According to Malley, monkeypox lesions are considered to be infectious until they are fully crusted over.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos and Cheyenne Haslett contributed to this report.

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