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Vermont on brink of sending a woman to Congress for first time in state’s history

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy retiring after 48 years in office and the state’s only representative, Peter Welch, hoping to fill his Senate seat after 16 years in the House, Vermonters are virtually certain to send a woman to Congress for the first time in the state’s history — with ABC News projecting that state Sen. Becca Balint will win her primary race on Tuesday.

Vermont, despite its progressive reputation among many given how Sen. Bernie Sanders towers over the local political landscape, is the last state in the nation to send a woman to Washington, partly because it’s had fewer opportunities with men like Leahy, Sanders and Welch serving for long stretches in the mere three congressional seats.

Balint, a former teacher-turned-legislator who has served in the Vermont Senate since 2014, gained popularity among progressive voters with endorsements from Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. (The co-founders of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream also backed her.) Since last year, she has served as president pro tempore of her state’s upper chamber — the first woman and first openly gay person in the position — and she was the Democratic majority leader for the four years prior.

She would also be the first openly gay lawmaker to represent Vermont on Capitol Hill.

“In my family, we know what’s at stake,” she said in a campaign video posted to Twitter last week, focusing on abortion and voting rights. “My grandfather was murdered in the Holocaust. My whole life I’ve known that beating the forces set on dividing us takes showing up every chance you get.”

She announced on Dec. 13 that she would seek the Democratic nomination to succeed Welch and saw early enthusiasm, raising more than $125,000 within 24 hours of her announcement. Sanders endorsed Balint in July and held at least three rallies across the state to stump for Balint, who was leading in polls heading into the primary.

LGBTQ and progressive political action committees have spent more than $800,000 backing Balint, according to a report in VT Digger, which her leading opponent took aim at — arguing Vermonters should be deciding the race, not political groups.

She is projected to have won more votes than Lt. Gov. Molly Gray, another candidate seeking Welch’s seat, who touted her congressional ties to Welch and Leahy in her campaign.

Balint will go on to the November general election against a Republican challenger, though Vermont’s House seat has not been filled by a Republican in 30 years.

Both Balint and Gray said they support a national single-payer health care system, allowing Medicare to negotiate prices, as well as re-instating a nationwide assault weapons ban and funding federal paid family and medical leave, according to their websites.

But one way they differed was on how to handle the opioid crisis, which they both cited as an issue.

Balint said she supports so-called “safe injection sites” for drug users to prevent overdosing, while Gray had said she was “willing to consider” them.

Gray has a background in law and worked in Congress for five years, first for Welch and then for the International Committee of the Red Cross. Before being elected lieutenant governor last midterm cycle, she served as an assistant attorney general.

Balint also defeated physician Louis Meyers and former social worker Sianay Chase Clifford.

The leading candidates in the Republican primary for the at-large congressional district were Liam Madden, a Marine Corps veteran, and Ericka Redic, an accountant and podcast host, both native to the state.

Wisconsin Dems rally behind potential history-maker Mandela Barnes in lead-up to key race

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After several major candidates dropped out of Wisconsin’s Democratic Senate primary within a week of one another, the party has coalesced around Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes with the goal of defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Ron Johnson.

Three candidates — Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry, Outagamie Executive Tom Nelson and State Treasurer Sarah Godlewski — all left the race just days before voting ended Tuesday. Soon after polls closed, Barnes was projected by ABC News to win the Democratic primary.

Control of Congress’ upper chamber could next be at stake in one of the country’s fiercest battlegrounds, which Barnes’ former rivals-turned-supporters cited in stepping aside.

“Every day matters, and that’s why the second I realized that there was no path forward, we made sure that we did what we thought was best for us to be able to defeat Ron Johnson,” Lasry, who was arguably Barnes’ stiffest competition, told reporters in late July.

“The progressive vote is consolidated and the progressive family is one because today I’m endorsing Mandela Barnes for U.S. Senate,” Nelson said in his own statement when he left the race last month.

And Godlewski, the last of the three to exit, said: “If there’s one thing we know about Mandela Barnes is he’s no stranger to running statewide and he has done well. And he’s going to show like he did in 2018 again in 2022 that he is the best candidate and he will defeat Ron Johnson.”

In an interview with ABC News before the primary, Barnes called the endorsements of his former opponents “huge.”

“It feels great, because it shows the momentum and also the strength that this campaign has, the broad coalition that we set out to build in the first place,” he said.

While Barnes sailed through the Democratic nominating contest, there are no guarantees in November’s general election in this sharply divided swing state. Barnes’ progressive leanings and endorsements from left-wing standard-bearers like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders could run off more moderate voters.

“We are basically a 50-50 state and politics here resembles trench warfare more than it resembles a normal competition between two political parties,” said University of Wisconsin at La Crosse government and politics professor Anthony Chergosky. “The political competition in Wisconsin is vicious and it is a battle of two parties that are completely dug in against one another. And so that is absolutely going to be used against Mandela Barnes in the upcoming general election campaign against Ron Johnson.”

Wisconsin’s Republican Party has already gone on the attack.

“Mandela Barnes will speak out of both sides of his mouth to convince voters that he is a moderate – but Barnes has earned the support of extremists like [Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and Bernie Sanders because he wants to abolish ICE, end cash bail, and impose fringe-left policies in Wisconsin and the nation. As families confront sky-high inflation, rising crime, and a crippled education system under Democrats, Wisconsinites will soundly reject the Barnes-Biden agenda,” Wisconsin GOP Executive Director Mark Jefferson wrote in a statement, in part.

Barnes called that criticism meritless.

“We’re talking about a party whose ideology is quite simple: Donald Trump,” he said.” So I dismiss any sort of notion or any type of way that they would try to paint me.”

Johnson, for his part, is likely to face more scrutiny ahead of November over his ties to former President Donald Trump and what the House Jan. 6 committee described as his role in a fake elector scheme to overturn the 2020 election. (Johnson has disputed parts of this, saying he was not fully aware of some of the information he passed along.)

“Ron Johnson is going to be portrayed as too extreme by the Democrats and Mandela Barnes is going to be portrayed as too extreme by the Republicans,” said Chergosky, the politics professor.

Barnes told ABC News that he hopes his humble beginnings and what he calls his middle-class values will be his ticket to Washington. A son of an autoworker and a public school teacher, he is the first Black lieutenant governor in the state and could be the state’s first Black senator if he wins in November.

“I know what a lack of opportunity means, and I carry my story of my experiences as a Black man who was born in Milwaukee, who still lives in Milwaukee, I take that all across Wisconsin,” he said.

Barnes, who is 35 years old, is also a part of a key demographic in the state: millennials. Despite being the largest generation, millennials aren’t proportionately represented in either chamber of Congress, which has some Wisconsin voters calling for more generationally diverse leadership.

“Having somebody who is so much younger and can see the way that we think now, the way that we work now — it’s incredibly important,” said Adrianna Pokela, a millennial voter and founder of a women’s rights organization in Green Bay.

July inflation data to show latest on sky-high prices

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Inflation data set for release Wednesday will show whether sky-high price increases accelerated or waned in July.

The new data arrives as costs strain household budgets, and the Federal Reserve tries to dial back inflation with a series of interest rate hikes that in theory should slow down the economy, slash demand and cut prices.

Economists expect the report to show the consumer price index rose 8.7% year-over-year in July, according to the median of results from a Bloomberg survey. While still high, that figure would comprise a slowdown from the 9.1% rate in June, which marked the fastest pace of inflation since 1981.

But data has sent mixed signals about the the economy in recent weeks, prompting uncertainty about how prices will respond.

Expectations of a slowdown in the inflation rate have emerged in part because the national average price of gasoline, which makes up a key portion of the consumer price index, has declined for more than 50 consecutive days, according to AAA.

Meanwhile, a government report on Friday revealed that hiring in July more than doubled economists’ expectations, defying Fed efforts to slow the economy and rebuking fears of a recession.

The significant uptick in hiring last month — an added 528,000 jobs and unemployment rate drop to 3.5% — came alongside elevated wage increases that may put upward pressure on consumer prices.

The heightened wage increases match a pattern that stretches back months. A closely observed measure of U.S. wages, called unit-labor costs, rose 9.5% over the second quarter of this year, the fastest rise of that metric since the first quarter of 1982, according to data released by the federal government on Tuesday.

When facing high inflation, policymakers fear what’s referred to as a price-wage spiral, in which a rise in prices prompts workers to demand raises that help them afford goods, which in turn pushes up prices, leading to a self-perpetuating cycle of runaway inflation.

The Fed has sought to avoid a price-wage spiral with a series of borrowing cost increases, Maurice Obstfeld, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, told ABC News. At meetings in each of the past two months, the central bank has increased its benchmark interest rate 0.75% — dramatic hikes last matched in 1994.

“The data is telling us not that rate hikes have been ineffective but that the Fed will have to go quite a bit further,” Obstfeld said.

However, other data suggests that inflation fears have waned significantly.

A survey released by the New York Federal Reserve on Monday showed that consumers expect inflation to slow down. Individuals who responded to the July survey said they expect inflation to run at a 6.2% pace over the next year and a 3.2% rate for the next three years, both of which marked significant declines from the inflation expectations expressed by consumers in the month prior.

Two soldiers killed, three injured in weather-related incident in Georgia

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Two soldiers from Fort Benning have died and three others were injured in a weather-related event in northern Georgia, an official said Tuesday.

The incident took place at Yonah Mountain, located near Dahlonega, a spokesperson for the Army’s Maneuver Center of Excellence and Fort Benning Public Affairs Office said in a statement.

The three injured soldiers were treated by an Army medic on the scene before being transferred to a local hospital, the spokesperson said, where they remain under the care of hospital staff.

Their names are being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

This is the second event involving weather and Army fatalities in Georgia in three weeks.

On July 20, a U.S. Army Reserve soldier was killed and another nine were injured following a lightning strike while training at Fort Gordon.

California dermatologist arrested after allegedly poisoning husband with drain cleaner: Police

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(IRVINE, Calif.) — A Southern California dermatologist was arrested last week for allegedly poisoning her husband, authorities said.

Jack Chen, 53, has accused his wife Yue “Emily” Yu, 45, of poisoning him with Drano, a brand of drain cleaner, on three separate occasions in July, even catching the alleged act on tape and handing it over to the Irvine Police Department, according to court documents.

Yu’s defense attorney David Wohl told ABC News that the allegations against his client are “absolutely and unequivocally” false.

Chen had reportedly gotten sick for over a month when he suspected Yu of putting drain cleaner in his tea and lemonade, according to police and court documents.

Police said Chen “captured video evidence supporting his suspicion” and turned it over to authorities. Following a search warrant, Yu was arrested.

Yu was booked at Orange County Jail, but charges have yet to be filed. Jail records show that Yu posted bond and was released from jail on Aug. 5.

Police said Chen “sustained significant internal injuries but is expected to recover” after being allegedly poisoned.

Chen, who’s a radiologist, filed a domestic violence temporary restraining order on Aug. 5 against his wife of 10 years for himself and on behalf of the couple’s two children. He alleged that Yu was physically, mentally and emotionally abusive toward their children and him.

He also alleged that Yu’s mother, Yuojng “Amy” Gu, was abusive toward him and the children.

According to court documents, Chen is asking for sole custody of their two children.

“She has never, in any way, shape or form, tried to harm her husband or her children,” Wohl added in a statement.

Wohl said that he and Yu believe that Chen accused her of poisoning him so he could gain an advantage in their divorce and custody cases.

“There is absolutely nothing done in those videos that were in any way illegal,” Wohl told ABC News. “The videos do not depict her trying to poison her husband or harm anyone in her family.”

Yu is the director of dermatology with Mission Heritage Medical Group.

“This incident is a domestic matter which occurred in Irvine, and we want to reassure our community that there has been no impact on our patients,” Mission Heritage Medical Group said in a statement to ABC News.

Airfare to drop 40% in the fall: Hopper

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Travelers facing surging summer prices can expect good news as domestic airfare is expected to drop by nearly 40% in the coming fall months, according to data from the travel booking platform Hopper.

According to Hopper data, round-trip domestic airfare is expected to drop about 38% from its peak summer prices in September and October. Round-trip domestic airfare is expected to run around $238 on average, which is $142 cheaper than high summer fares.

Some of the best deals for domestic travel, according to Hopper, are to San Diego, California, which runs about $252 round-trip on average — a savings of $230 from peak summer prices. Airfare to Salt Lake City, Utah, is averaging $242 round-trip, which is down about $200 from summer. And round-trip prices to Los Angeles, California, will go for $246 on average during the fall months.

International airfare prices, meanwhile, are set to fall by about 19% — good news for those looking to embark on overseas adventures, now that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has dropped COVID-19 restrictions for international travel.

Hopper says travelers can find flights to Grenada, Grenada, for $483 round-trip, which is a savings of $460 from peak summer prices. Travelers can find trips to Zurich, Switzerland, for $691, which is a savings of $275. And round-trip airfare to Bali, Indonesia, can be found for $1,183, down $431 from summer peaks.

Travel experts at Hopper advise that travelers book domestic trips at least three weeks in advance. They advise that prices will begin to rise quickly in the final few weeks before the trip.

For international travel plans, the experts advise booking at least one month in advance, noting that now is a good time to get the best price. Experts also advise being flexible on days you travel. Hopper says that mid-week flights and hotel stays can save big bucks compared to weekend trips.

From patient to doctor: One woman’s resilient fight after six brain surgeries, stroke

August 10, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A Texas doctor who survived six brain surgeries and a stroke is now treating people at the same hospital where she used to be a patient, bringing a unique perspective to her practice as a physical medicine and rehabilitation (PM&R) physician.

“You learn so many things in medical school but one of the things you don’t learn is how to be a patient,” Dr. Claudia Martinez told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “What they’re feeling, what they’re thinking, what their families are thinking — and we went through that for so many years, me and my mom, just navigating the medical system from the other side and seeing all the barriers we had to go over.”

“I’m very thankful for that experience and getting to now share what I know with patients and better help them,” she added.

Martinez, 31, is a third-year resident physician at TIRR Memorial Hermann hospital, a teaching hospital for Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. But just a few years ago, she was unable to walk or do many everyday tasks by herself. It was at TIRR where Martinez rebuilt her life and where her doctor, Dr. Lisa Wenzel, both treated her and supported her dream of pursuing medicine.

“[Wenzel] was in charge of my entire rehab stay. She’s a spinal cord injury specialist. She’s been my mentor along the way and my advocate, the one who has helped me get my accommodations for medical school and now residency, and just really given me that hope that I could still be a physician even though she saw me at my lowest point,” Martinez said.

Martinez was diagnosed in 2011 with Chiari malformation, an abnormality where portions of the brain “[extend] through the natural opening at the base of the skull,” creating pressure on the brain, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Often, surgery is the only option for patients.

“So my first brain surgery was for Chiari malformation and many of the subsequent [surgeries],” Martinez said of her experience. “The last two were for a complication that developed from my previous surgeries where my brain stem got tethered to the dura — it’s a pretty rare occurrence but it was causing a lot of issues in regards to my brainstem, and so the surgeon had to go in there and kind of de-tether that area.”

Overall, Martinez had six brain surgeries in the span of five years with her first surgery in 2012 and her last on Feb. 6, 2017.

“The recoveries from each brain surgery got harder each time,” Martinez recalled. “After my first one, it was pretty OK, but then after that second one, the third, the fourth and fifth, every time it was just more and more difficult to bounce back.”

It was during her sixth brain surgery when Martinez said she suffered a stroke.

“It was a very risky surgery. Going in, the neurosurgeon told us there were many complications that could happen, [saying], ‘Expect these things to happen because of the area that we’re going to manipulate; your brain stem controls your breathing, your heart rate, a lot of your autonomic functions,'” Martinez recalled. “…I ended up with a stroke that left me unable to function from the neck down. And of all the things that really could have happened, it was a success in our eyes, but it definitely changed my life for sure.”

After her stroke, Martinez said she couldn’t walk and was “unable to function from the neck down.” She was transferred to TIRR Memorial Hermann where she underwent intensive physical, speech, and occupational therapies for a year.

“There was a point when I was at TIRR that I was like, ‘I didn’t think that I would make it here.’ But I was very persistent, and I wanted to prove not to other people, but just to myself that I could do this. I worked harder than my classmates because I never wanted my disability or my medical illness to define me or have other people let me kind of slide by with doing less, just because I had a disability or was in the hospital so long,” Martinez said.

Despite her difficulties and the long odds, Martinez didn’t give up. With the support of her family and medical team, she took a year off from medical school to focus on recovery. She then returned to finish her degree program and was matched with TIRR in the spring of 2020 for her residency. Martinez graduated from UTHealth Houston McGovern Medical School that May.

Martinez said her health experiences resulted in at least two unexpected outcomes. The first was the need to shift her initial goal of becoming a surgeon to specializing in PM&R.

“Of all the function I’ve regained, [the function in my] hands is the one that has been the biggest limiting factor, so I kind of see it as a blessing in disguise,” Martinez said. “From there, I got redirected and had to look elsewhere. And when I got to TIRR and saw what they do and how they help after these big life-changing events, I just knew I was meant to be here all along.”

The second unexpected outcome from her medical hurdles was meeting her husband Andrew, after local news outlets in Texas, including ABC affiliate KTRK-TV in Houston, shared her journey. The two bonded over their shared experiences undergoing brain surgeries; Andrew had undergone treatment for glioblastoma, a rare type of tumor that can affect the brain or spinal cord.

Today, Martinez wants others to know that “disabilities don’t define the capability of a person.”

“Never underestimate someone with a disability,” she said. “There’s so much that they can do and they have so much worth to bring to the world. Sometimes we just need to have a little compassion and patience and now that I’m here being a physician, there [are] so many things that I do differently than my colleagues just because I have a disability, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t do the things they do.”

Suspect charged with murder in deaths of 2 Muslim men after string of killings

August 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.) — Police have arrested a suspect in connection with the murders of four Muslim men in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Investigators tracked down the Volkswagen sedan with tinted windows allegedly driven by the suspect in the most recent homicide, Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina announced during a tweet Tuesday afternoon news conference.

The car was stopped by New Mexico State Police near Santa Rosa, New Mexico — about 115 miles east of Albuquerque — after a tip from a community member following the release of the description of the car, Albuquerque Deputy Cmdr. Kyle Hartsock told reporters at Tuesday’s news conference.

The driver of the car, identified as 51-year-old Muhammad Syed, was then detained at a traffic stop, Medina said.

The most recent murder occurred on Friday, when Naeem Hussain, a 25-year-old native of Pakistan, was found dead from a gunshot wound near Truman Street and Grand Avenue in Albuquerque’s Highland Business neighborhood, police said.

Syed has been charged with murder in the deaths of Naeem Hussain and Aftab Hussein, Medina said, adding that investigators are working with the district attorney’s office on potential charges for the murders of the other two men.

Investigators do not have any indications yet that the murders present a serial killer case or are the result of a hate crime, authorities said.

Syed moved to the U.S. from Afghanistan several years ago and has since been arrested multiple times for domestic violence, police said, adding that those charges were dismissed. His son was also questioned but was later released, police said.

The Albuquerque Police Department’s homicide unit began noticing similarities between the murders that occurred on Friday and July 26, such as related shell casings found at both scenes that were likely fired from the same gun, Hartsock said.

After Syed was arrested, police executed a search warrant at his home, where multiple firearms were recovered and are now being tested, Hartsock said, adding that one gun found inside the home and another found inside the car match two from the crime scenes and are the basis for the charges that have been brought so far.

Police are compiling more evidence to build a case with the prosecutor’s office for the murders of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain and Ahmadi, Hartsock said.

“We think there might be involvement in two other homicide cases,” he said. “Those are still considered open and active.”

The pattern matches the murder of Ahmadi in November, police said, adding that there is a possible personal connection between Ahmadi and Syed.

Investigators are also looking into whether there are other cases that could be similar, in order to identify whether there may be a “really active public threat” from someone targeting the community, Hartsock said.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has sent additional state police to provide support to the Albuquerque Police Department and FBI, she announced on Saturday.

The community has “never gone through anything like this before,” Ahmad Assed, president of the Islamic Center of New Mexico, said during a press conference Saturday, Albuquerque ABC affiliate KOAT reported.

“This is really a surreal time for us. We’re in fear of the safety of our children, our families,” Assed said.

In a statement, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, commended the Albuquerque Police Department for apprehending the suspect.

“We welcome the arrest of a suspect in this horrific shooting spree and we commend law enforcement for their efforts at the local, state and federal levels,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said. “We hope the news that this violence has been brought to an end will provide the New Mexico Muslim community some sense of relief and security.”

CAIR had offered a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone responsible for the murders.

1 dead, others injured after bus overturns on NJ Turnpike

August 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — One person is dead and “multiple” others are injured after a bus overturned on the New Jersey Turnpike Tuesday, according to state police.

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

White House takes credit for decline in gas prices

August 9, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The White House credits the drop in gas prices to President Joe Biden’s million-barrels-a-day strategic oil reserve release and his engagement with oil companies.

They say this strategy helped bring gas prices down below $4 a gallon in many parts of the country.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre recalled the near-dollar-a-gallon gas price jump this summer.

“This is the fastest decline in gas prices in over a decade,” she touted.

She also hopes this drop in gas prices will have an effect on tomorrow’s Consumer Price Index report. Last month’s report showed inflation at a 40-year high.

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