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Sounds of gunshots traumatize neighborhoods: ‘ShotSpotter’ CEO

August 5, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With gun violence on the rise across the country, the trauma extends beyond those hit with bullets to entire neighborhoods suffering the sounds of gunshots, according to a crime prevention company executive.

“Just because someone doesn’t get hurt or killed by a bullet, just going to bed to the sound of gunfire, waking up to the sound of gunfire, assuming the risk of moving around a neighborhood that has being held captive by a few criminal serial shooters completely rewires the way, especially in young children, how their brain works,” ShotSpotter CEO Ralph Clark told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.

ShotSpotter is known for their acoustic gunshot technology, which takes “pops, booms and bangs,” from sensors posted around a neighborhood or city and triangulates timestamps, and pushes an alert out to police departments within 45 seconds of the trigger being pulled exactly where the shooting took place, Clark explained.

Ten people were shot over the weekend in the New York City borough of Queens and New York Police Department Commissioner Dermot Shea told ABC News the city saw a 73% increase in shootings in May 2021 when compared to the same time last year.

“The real cost is, is the trauma, and the emotional trauma and the mother that lives on that block and now won’t send our kids outside because she knows every night there’s gunfire,” Shea explained in an interview last week.

Children who see gun violence or are victims of gun violence experience trauma over and over again, Dr. Eraina Schauss, director of the BRAIN Center at the University of Memphis, told ABC News.

“Kids who have been shot, their body is in such shock there’s just such fear,” Schauss explained. “They’re afraid to do anything. Some of the kids are catatonic, meaning they have a hard time speaking they have they have a hard time just doing daily tasks. They’re reliving that moment and their body is still in that trauma.”

Strauss treats children immediately after they have been shot in Memphis, not for physical wounds but for mental health. She explained that children who have witnessed shootings have a difficult time expressing their feelings in some cases and doctors at the BRAIN Center identify manageable ways they are able to cope with seeing their friend or loved one shot.

“There’s that feeling when you feel like there’s no control in your environment, and you can’t control your situation and things feel hopeless. You know that something that we perpetuate that cycle of violence, just because it’s all driven by fear, it’s a fear reaction,” she said.

As for investigating shootings in New York, Shea said ShotSpotter is an immensely helpful tool.

“Even if we don’t find the casings, we’ll have the video on the block. And we’ll see the person who were they with? What color was there? Who were they arguing with? Countless countless times it helps and puts a narrative to a story where without it, you would have literally nothing, it’s very hard to search all of New York City, but when it when when it allows you to start zeroing down, that’s where and then there’s a lot of other benefits in terms of actually recovering ballistics,” he said.

Clark said the technology is useful even if police do not make an arrest on the day the shooting occurred.

“If they’re not dealing with the perpetrator or aiding a victim, they’re much more likely to be able to recover physical forensic evidence in the form of shell casings as well as interview witnesses. Right. And that’s critically important to follow on investigation around who might have been involved in that shooting. So, although you might not put cuffs on the perpetrator at that point in time, oftentimes they link critical clues about who they were,” he explained.

“Twenty percent causing 80 percent,” Clark said, quoting Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto who explained that roughly 80% of the consequences come from 20% of the causes. “We know at least in Oakland, there was at least 100 times where officers, through a ShotSpotter alert, were able to get to that location and find a victim and basically apply life saving measures to save a persons.”

Critics say however that ShotSpotter disproportionally targets African-Americans, especially in a city like Chicago.

“High-tech tools can create a false justification for the broken status quo of policing and can end up exacerbating existing racial disparities,” Jonathan Manes, an attorney with the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law said. “We needed to know whether this system actually does what it claims to do. It does not.”

Manes studied the ShotSpotter technology and found that 89% turned up no gun-related crime and 86% led to no report of any crime at all.

“This system puts police on high alert and sends them racing into communities; but almost nine times of our ten, the police don’t turn up evidence of gun crime or any crime at all. It creates a powderkeg situation for residents who just happen to be in the vicinity of a false alert.”

The CEO said the technology is 97% effective and in 2020, the company published 240,000 gunshot alerts to police departments around the country who purchase their technology.

Often times, Clark said it is not the first time a gun has been used in a shooting.

“Does anyone really believe that that’s the first time that that gun has been fired,” he asked. “That homicide, that gun that was used in that homicide has been fired before that homicide and is likely to continue to be fired after that homicide if, in fact, there isn’t some kind of organized intervention.”

ShotSpotter is not a one-size-fits-all approach to curbing gun violence, Clark explained, saying that the technology is another tool in their tool belt.

“What we believe is that when a police department takes a comprehensive gun violence reduction strategy, utilizing a number of tools, just not ShotSpotter, but other tools as well, we can show progress,” he said.

For Clark the issue is personal, as he grew up in Oakland, a city which has experienced 72 homicides this year alone, according to the local police department.

“I would say as a company, our original founding is really about being purposeful and having impact and making a difference,” Clark said.

‘Unprecedented’ fraud penetrated rollout of COVID-19 small business loans, watchdog warns

August 5, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — At the dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic, when offices and restaurants began shuttering, the federal government scrambled to keep small businesses afloat — ultimately spending over a trillion dollars to help protect the American Dream for millions of workers and business owners.

But even before the first checks went out, alarm bells went off.

The person ringing those bells the loudest was Hannibal “Mike” Ware, the inspector general of the Small Business Administration. The veteran internal watchdog says he participated in a series of meetings with Trump administration officials and SBA program analysts that were laced with “testy exchanges” about how to expeditiously dispense funds without leaving them vulnerable to fraudulent claims.

His warnings went unheeded, Ware said, and the fallout has taken him “from a black-haired guy to a gray-haired guy.”

“My frustration level was extremely high,” Ware told ABC News in a recent interview. And now, a year and half later, he said “the magnitude of the fraud we are seeing is unheard of — unprecedented.”

As small businesses emerge from the pandemic, the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL), two key relief programs passed as part of the congressional CARES Act, are winding down. But for all the jobs they’ve rescued, their legacies may be tarnished by unprecedented amounts of fraud — a reality that experts fear may impair efforts to pass future emergency relief programs.

“In terms of the monetary value, the amount of fraud in these COVID relief programs is going to be larger than any government program that came before it,” Ware said.

All government programs suffer some amount of fraud, experts say. And emergency programs are even more susceptible, due to the inherent tension between the pressure to approve loans quickly and the need to screen applications and maintain other fraud-prevention measures that may prolong the process.

In an October 2020 report, Ware’s office found that “to expedite the process, SBA ‘lowered the guardrails’ or relaxed internal controls, which significantly increased the risk of program fraud.”

A senior SBA official in the Biden administration agreed with Ware’s analysis, noting that “it should not be an expectation that we need to sacrifice speed for certainty — you can do both.”

“The story of 2020 for both PPP and EIDL is the fact that the previous administration’s leadership did not have sufficient controls in place for determining individual identity or business identity,” the official said. “Different choices could have absolutely been made to limit fraud vulnerabilities.”

“With limited staff, few technological tools to conduct prepayment verification, and crushing need, SBA and other agencies abandoned many traditional controls and simply approved applicants with little or no verification of self-reported information,” according to Linda Miller, the former deputy executive director of the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee, a government task force established as part of the CARES Act.

“Best practice calls for due diligence at the front end to avoid making the fraudulent or improper payment in the first place,” Miller wrote in June, after leaving PRAC. “But in the rush to quickly distribute pandemic relief, we failed to do that and so now we are chasing [funds that were fraudulently granted] … but the recovered funds will be a fraction of what was stolen.”

Ware said this is precisely what his office sought to avoid. Before PPP and EIDL were even finalized, the SBA inspector general’s office submitted three reports to the SBA “detailing the importance of up-front controls,” according to Ware. During the testy exchanges in the spring of 2020, he said he warned the SBA to “pump the brakes” on the process.

“Fraudsters are going to do what fraudsters are going to do,” Ware said. “But the upfront controls mitigate exposure to fraud, and doing so would have saved taxpayers a whole lot of heartache on the back end. Unfortunately, the heartache was not avoided because of the way these programs were implemented up front.”

Jovita Carranza, the former SBA administrator who resigned when President Trump left office, could not be reached by ABC News for comment. Last October, in a letter responding to Ware’s report, Carranza wrote that the inspector general “failed to acknowledge the enhanced and effective system controls and validations that SBA is using” to weed out fraudulent applications and “grossly overstates the risk of fraud, waste and abuse.”

Carranza’s successor as SBA administrator — Biden nominee Isabella Casillas Guzman — has said that “reducing the risks of fraud and waste and abuse” in the distribution of relief loans and grants is a top priority. She said a series of steps implemented in December — including up-front verifications and tax information from applicants — has already produced “a sharp decline” in fraud, and that she is working closely with Ware to further improve safeguards and vigorously track down and recover prior fraudulent dispersals.

Ware agreed that controls put in place late last year helped curb fraud, but said the efforts were too little, too late.

“By then, well, you already know how much money was gone,” he said. “A lot of money was out.”

Among the relief programs, the previous administration’s EIDL rollout has attracted particular scrutiny. James W. Connor, a former federal prosecutor who is now with the law firm Arnold & Porter, called the program a “fraud magnet,” citing a provision that allowed recipients to receive up to $10,000 up front “with essentially no strings attached.”

“That money is gone,” Connor said.

But that hasn’t kept Ware from trying to recover it. His investigative efforts have resulted in 307 indictments, 205 arrests, and 69 convictions tied to PPP and EIDL fraud, resulting in the recovery of more than $600 million so far.

Trump and his allies continue to pour donor money into Trump’s businesses

August 5, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Donald Trump may be out of office, but political donor money continues to pour into his properties across the country.

In just the first six months of this year, dozens of Republican campaigns and political groups have together spent at least $750,000 at Trump properties, with nearly half of that coming from fundraising committees directly affiliated with or linked to Trump himself, according to federal and state campaign disclosure reports.

Of that $750,000, the largest chunk was spent by the Make America Great Again PAC, Trump’s presidential campaign committee-turned political action committee, which paid the former president’s businesses more than $210,000 from January through June.

Much of that came from five monthly rent payments of $40,000 each for office space at Trump Tower in New York City, while the rest came from nearly $8,000 in lodging expenses at Trump hotels.

Trump’s new PAC, Save America, also reported paying nearly $80,000 to the “Trump Hotel Collection” for lodging and meals over the six months since Trump left the White House.

Trump properties have also continued to serve as a favorite venue for high-dollar fundraisers for his political committees.

His joint fundraising committee with South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham spent more than $22,000 for a golf tournament hosted at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, in May, which reportedly cost participants $25,000 each. Make America Great Again Action, a new pro-Trump super PAC led by former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, spent about the same amount at a fundraiser at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey. The committee’s disclosure filing doesn’t show how much it raised from the fundraiser, but overall it reported raising roughly $705,000 in April and May.

The Republican National Committee, which continues to raise money off Trump’s name in fundraising emails and messages, spent at least $191,000 at various Trump properties over the last six months, including $176,000 at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club for a spring GOP donor retreat earlier this year.

On the Trump campaign’s spending at Trump’s properties, former Trump campaign spokesperson Tim Murtaugh previously said that “the campaign pays fair market value and abides by all FEC laws and regulations.”

Since leaving the White House in January, the former president has settled in Florida, bringing dozens of his close allies and other Republicans to his properties in the Sunshine State.

A number of Republican politicians and political hopefuls have visited his Mar-a-Lago Club over the last six months for fundraisers, photo ops and other political events in the hope of appealing to Trump’s loyal supporters or netting an endorsement from the former president himself.

Two Republicans who earlier this year voted to overturn the 2020 election results, Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks — who is vying for an open Senate sit in 2022 — and Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, spent $26,000 and $32,000, respectively, at Mar-a-Lago.

Another Alabama Senate hopeful competing for Trump’s endorsement, Lynda Blanchard, also spent close to $25,000 hosting a fundraiser there.

And at least a dozen other GOP campaigns together spent tens of thousands of dollars at various Trump properties in Florida, including Trump National Doral and the Trump Golf Club in Palm Beach, during the first half of the year.

While Trump associates and supporters have long flocked to his properties in Florida and New Jersey, their preferred Washington, D.C., destination while Trump was president was the Trump International Hotel, on the site of the city’s historic Old Post Office. Since opening in late 2016, shortly before Trump took office, the D.C. hotel has raked in millions of dollars hosting numerous fundraisers for various campaigns and political groups, as well as serving as his supporters’ favorite place to gather, lodge and dine in the capital.

But so far this year, it appears that the action — and the money — has followed Trump from D.C. to Florida. Trump’s D.C. hotel hasn’t hosted many big events, with several congressional campaigns reporting smaller-scale meal and lodging expenditures that total only $15,000.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee and Florida Sen. Rick Scott held a fundraiser featuring Newt Gingrich at the D.C. hotel in late June, but that expenditure has yet to be reported.

In total, since Trump began his run for president in 2015, his political operation and various other federal campaigns have paid Trump’s businesses $20 million, including more than $7 million during the 2020 election cycle, according to ProPublica’s analysis of federal campaign disclosure reports.

COVID-19 live updates: Hundreds of students, school staff quarantined in Arkansas district

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 614,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.2 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 58.2% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The CDC last week, citing new science on the transmissibility of the delta variant, changed its mask guidance to now recommend everyone in areas with substantial or high levels of transmission — vaccinated or not — wear a face covering in public, indoor settings.

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

Aug 04, 8:32 pm
Over 15,000 new COVID cases in Texas

Texas reported 15,558 new COVID-19 cases Wednesday, the highest one-day count since Feb. 3, according to state health records.

The state has seen a major jump in cases in the last month, brought on by the delta variant, according to officials.

The seven-day average of new daily cases has increased from about 1,500 on July 2 to nearly 10,000 on Aug. 3, according to state health data.

As of Wednesday, 62.58% of Texas residents 12 and older have received at least one shot, according to the state health department.

Aug 04, 7:32 pm
Hundreds of students, school staff quarantined in Arkansas district

Hundreds of student and staff members from the Marion School District in Arkansas are now quarantined in only the second week of the school year, officials announced.

The state has a ban on school districts imposing a mask mandate.

On Tuesday, the district said 253 students would begin their two-week quarantine due to 15 cases that were reported in the schools. This came after 168 students were already quarantined last week.

“If all students and teachers had been wearing a mask appropriately- then today’s 15 positive cases would be isolated- but there would be no resulting quarantines for anyone else,” the district said in a statement.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson told reporters Tuesday he regretted signing the bill that banned masks in schools and urged the state legislature to amend the law to give schools the option.

Aug 04, 7:11 pm
Florida school district says 2 employees dead from virus, pushes mask mandate

A Florida school district that defied Gov. Ron DeSantis’ ban on school mask mandates said Tuesday that two of its employees died from the virus last weekend.

Carlee Simon, the superintendent for the Alachua County Schools, said in a statement that the district “is experiencing this spike first-hand.”

“Over the weekend two of our employees passed away from COVID,” she said in a statement. “We’ve had 18 new cases in the last three days alone. More than 80 employees are now in quarantine, and that number is rising fast.”

The school district, which includes which includes Gainesville, voted Tuesday night to issue a mask mandate for students and staff for the next two weeks. The mandate will be reevaluated on Aug. 17, Simon said.

Aug 04, 6:30 pm
Hawaii issues vaccine mandate for middle, high school athletes

The Hawaii State Department of Education announced that all middle and high school athletes, athletic staff and volunteers will need to be fully vaccinated by Sept. 24 in order to participate in activities.

The rule affects students who are eligible for the vaccines, meaning they must be over 12.

“This decision was not made lightly because we know the important role athletics play in a well-rounded education, but we cannot jeopardize the health and safety of our students and communities,” interim Superintendent Keith Hayashi said in a statement.

The start of the athletic season was delayed to Sept. 24 due to the state’s rising positivity rate, according to the department.

This is the first state to require vaccinations for its student athletes.

-ABC News’ Bonnie McLean

Aug 04, 5:54 pm
Illinois governor issues mask mandate for schools

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced Wednesday that all pre-K through 12th grade schools and day cares must follow universal masking indoors regardless of vaccination status.

Pritzker said the state is facing a growing threat from the delta variant and noted that children under 12 aren’t yet eligible for COVID-19 vaccines.

“Far too few school districts have chosen to follow the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention prescription for keeping students and staff safe,” he said at a news conference. “Given the CDC’s strong recommendation, I had hoped that a state mask requirement in schools wouldn’t be necessary, but it is.”

Aug 04, 4:27 pm
Surge pushing hospital staffing to breaking point

The latest delta surge is once again pushing hospital staffing to breaking points across the U.S.

In Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington, some “facilities are experiencing substantial shortages of both clinical and support staff,” according to a Department of Health and Human Services planning document obtained by ABC News Wednesday.

In hard-hit Missouri, many hospitals “don’t have the staff to support a surge without further modification to operational strategies,” the document said.

At a Shreveport, Louisiana, hospital, where the number of COVID-19 patients are multiplying, nurse Melinda Hunt told ABC News, “To be honest, I probably cry most days at work. And I cry at home. I’m tired. I’ve been doing this a year and half. It feels like it’s never going to end.”

Aug 04, 4:08 pm
US daily case average jumped 45% in the last week

The U.S. daily case average has climbed to more than 84,000, a 45.3% jump in the last week, according to federal data.

The daily case average is now more than seven times higher than it was six weeks ago.

All but three states are now reporting high (a seven-day new case rate ≥100) or substantial (a seven-day new case rate between 50-99.99) community transmission, according to federal data.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Aug 04, 3:08 pm
Delta variant now 93% of all sequenced cases in US

The delta variant now accounts for 93% of all sequenced cases in the U.S., according to the latest CDC data, which was collected over the last two weeks of July.

Delta accounted for just 3% of cases sequenced in late May.

Across the Midwest, described as HHS regions 7 and 8, delta made up 97% to 98% of cases. This includes Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Aug 04, 2:55 pm
WHO chief: No booster shots until at least end of September

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots until more people from low-income countries have received a vaccine.

Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 shots for every 100 people due to lack of supply, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said Wednesday.

A moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September will “enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he said.

But White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in response that the U.S. doesn’t have to choose.

“We feel that it’s a false choice and that we can do both,” Psaki said Wednesday.

The U.S. has ordered enough supply for every American to get vaccinated, plus get a booster shot, according to the White House. The U.S. has already pledged to donate 580 million doses to the international community by 2022.

-ABC News’ Sarah Kolinovsky and Zoe Magee

Aug 04, 2:27 pm
Hospitalizations could more than triple this month

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention forecasts that daily hospitalizations “will likely increase over the next four weeks.”

About 7,000 new COVID-19 patients are hospitalized each day right now. That may soar to 24,000 per day, according to the COVID-19 Forecast Hub at U Mass Amherst.

Aug 04, 2:11 pm
Fully vaccinated people susceptible to ‘long COVID’: Fauci

Dr. Anthony Fauci is warning that fully vaccinated people are also susceptible to “long COVID” if they have a breakthrough infection.

“We already know that people who get breakthrough infections and don’t go on to get advanced disease requiring hospitalization, they too are susceptible to long COVID,” Fauci told McClatchy. “You’re not exempt from long COVID if you get a breakthrough infection.”

As the delta variant surges, Fauci said, “there could be a variant that’s lingering out there that can push aside delta.”

“If another one comes along that has an equally high capability of transmitting but also is much more severe, then we could really be in trouble,” he said.

-ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett

Aug 04, 1:40 pm
NY auto show canceled

The New York International Automobile Show, set to begin Aug. 20 in New York City, has been canceled due to the spread of the delta variant.

“All signs were positive” when planning began “but today is a different story,” show organizers said.

Aug 04, 1:30 pm
Louisiana hospitalizations reach all-time high

Louisiana now has 2,247 COVID-19 patients in hospitals — a new all-time high for the state.

This surpasses the previous record set Tuesday of 2,112 patients, the state’s Department of Health said.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards has reinstated a mask mandate for the month of August.

The governor said Wednesday that he won’t mandate vaccinations for state employees until the FDA grants full approval.

He said 37.1% of the Louisiana population is fully vaccinated.

Aug 04, 11:47 am
The Offspring drummer says he’s not playing at upcoming shows because he’s unvaccinated

Pete Parada, the drummer for pop-punk band The Offspring, says he is not playing with the band at upcoming shows because he is unvaccinated.

Parada wrote on Instagram that he’s avoiding the shot on his doctor’s advice, saying he’s had a lifelong battle with the rare neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome and the vaccine’s “risks far outweigh the benefits.”

Because he’s unvaccinated, “it has recently been decided that I am unsafe to be around, in the studio, and on tour,” Parada said.

“I have no negative feelings towards my band,” he continued. “They’re doing what they believe is best for them, while I am doing the same.”

-ABC News’ Evan McMurry

Aug 04, 11:15 am
Florida hospitalizations reach highest point in pandemic

Florida has 12,408 COVID-19 patients in hospitals — the highest number to date of the entire pandemic.

Florida hospitals report that more than 95% of COVID-19 patients are not fully vaccinated, according to state data.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Aug 04, 10:01 am
WHO chief: No booster shots until at least end of September

The World Health Organization is calling for a moratorium on booster shots until more people from low-income countries have received a vaccine.

Low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 shots for every 100 people due to lack of supply, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said Wednesday.

A moratorium on boosters until at least the end of September will “enable at least 10% of the population of every country to be vaccinated,” he said.

Aug 04, 9:20 am
Alabama hospital sees deadliest day of pandemic

Four COVID-19 patients at Regional Medical Center in Anniston, Alabama — all unvaccinated — died within 24 hours, marking the hospital’s deadliest day of the pandemic, The Anniston Star reported.

As delta surges, patients are now getting sicker faster, a doctor at the hospital told the newspaper.

Only 28% of residents in Calhoun County are fully vaccinated, according to The Anniston Star.

Aug 04, 8:24 am
Obama to ‘significantly scale back’ 60th birthday party

Former President Barack Obama has decided to “significantly scale back” his 60th birthday party on Martha’s Vineyard due to the spread of the delta variant, according to a spokesperson. Hundreds of guests were expected to attend.

“This outdoor event was planned months ago in accordance with all public health guidelines and with covid safeguards in place. Due to the new spread of the delta variant over the past week, the President and Mrs. Obama have decided to significantly scale back the event to include only family and close friends,” spokesperson Hannah Hankins said in a statement.

Obama’s office did not give a new estimate of how many guests will attend.

New details about sailor charged with setting blaze on USS Bonhomme Richard

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(SAN DIEGO, Calif.) — The attorney for the sailor charged with setting last year’s fire aboard the USS Bonhomme Richard maintains that his client did not play a role in setting the fire and denied that he was embittered against the Navy after dropping out of SEAL training, as suggested in a federal search warrant unsealed earlier this week.

When the Navy announced the charges last week it declined to disclose the sailor’s name, but earlier this week federal prosecutors requested the unsealing of a federal search warrant, requested last year, to assist in the sailor’s legal defense.

That search warrant requested access to the online files of 20-year-old Seaman Apprentice Ryan Sawyer Mays who was a sailor assigned to the ship while it was docked in San Diego for long-term maintenance.

The Navy and Mays’ attorney confirmed Wednesday to ABC News that he was the sailor charged with setting the fire, which ultimately led to the decommissioning of the amphibious ship.

The search warrant also disclosed new details about the investigation into the fire that resulted in Mays being charged.

A sailor working in the area where the fire started in the ship’s lower decks recalled seeing a masked sailor he believed to be Mays carrying two buckets into the storage area just minutes before the first reports of smoke.

According to Naval criminal investigators that same sailor mentioned “a sailor named MAYS that ‘hates’ the U.S. Navy and the Fleet.”

According to the search warrant, Mays had been assigned to the Bonhomme Richard in 2019, after having dropped out five days into the intensive training program to become a Navy SEAL.

Mays’ attorney, Gary Barthel, told ABC News that his client was not embittered against the Navy after he quit Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUDS) training.

“Absolutely not,” Barthel said Wednesday afternoon. “His dream has always been to make the Navy a career.”

Barthel said that while “more than anything” Mays wanted to become a SEAL, the training is very difficult and many people drop out. He emphasized that his client was not angry with the Navy as a result of dropping out of the program.

“My client, although he dropped out, was hopeful that one day he could get back into it,” Barthel said.

A Navy Special Warfare spokesperson verified to ABC News that when an enlisted person quits BUDS, they are moved out to a different part of the Navy — often to ships — and are indeed afforded a second chance to become a SEAL in time.

Barthel said he had not yet had a chance to review the newly unsealed search warrant.

“I haven’t even seen the search warrant, the affidavit, that’s gone out,” said Barthel. “But my understanding is that that was unsealed by the government so that they could release it to us as part of their discovery. But until we’re able to review all the evidence and do our own investigation, there’s not much that I can really say about the facts of the case.”

However, Barthel made clear that Mays maintains he had no role in setting a fire aboard the ship.

“I can say that my client has always denied any involvement with the fire on the Bonhomme Richard and he continues to do so,” Barthel added. “You know, he’s — he’s presumed innocent? And, you know, we’re just looking forward to the opportunity where we can review the evidence and prepare our case.”

“At this particular point in time, I’m not aware of anything that points directly at my client,” he said.

The search warrant detailed how federal arson investigators, searching the area where the fire originated, marked a bottle containing a suspicious liquid for later DNA and fingerprint testing.

That bottle could not be located the following day and while Mays’ unit was placed in that area on the day in question, a subsequent DNA test of the tag placed to mark the bottle was not a match for Mays’ DNA.

The search for the missing bottle led investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to find additional bottles and cans containing suspicious liquids that pointed to arson.

An officer aboard the ship later pointed out to investigators that it seemed that three of the four fire suppression areas in the area where the fire started “appeared to have been purposely tampered with and/or disconnected” since a previous inspection two days before.

The blaze aboard the ship raged for four days with temperatures reaching as high as a 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The Navy ultimately decided that it was easier to scrap the ship rather than go through with $4 billion of repairs.

California dad found dead weeks after vanishing on run

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images

(PLEASANTON, Calif.) — The remains of a California dad who vanished more than three weeks ago while on a run outside have been found, authorities said.

A volunteer hiker searching for 37-year-old Philip Kreycik found what police believe to be his remains underneath an area of heavy brush in Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park on Tuesday afternoon, Pleasanton police said.

Kreycik left his home for an 8-mile run on Saturday, July 10, around 11 a.m., according to the Alameda County Sheriff’s Office. Kreycik, a resident of Berkeley, told his wife Jen Yao that he’d be gone for an hour, police said. But the father of a 3-year-old and 10-month old never returned.

Many people, including Yao, were hopeful that he would be found because of his experience as an endurance athlete who was familiar with rural terrain and scorching temperatures, according to police.

On the day he vanished, the region reached a scorching 106 degrees, police said.

Authorities subsequently launched a massive search for Kreycik, which included more than a dozen agencies from across the state, nearly 300 volunteers, dogs, helicopters and thermal imaging technology, according to police. The search scaled down after five full days, and it would take weeks before he was eventually found.

“Once we heard they found Philip, it was devastating, especially for the community because this just doesn’t happen around here,” Justin Fisher, who volunteered in the search during the first week, told ABC San Francisco station KGO.

“We wanted to bring him home alive and safe, so to deliver this news today is hard for all of us,” said Sgt. Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department. Authorities say the investigation will remain open as they try to understand what happened to Kreycik while on the run.

Kelly said that Kreycik’s family “deserve those answers.”

Victim speaks out after police officer filmed stomping on his head

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(Orangeburg, S.C.) — A Black man who was allegedly assaulted by an Orangeburg, South Carolina, police officer last month spoke out for the first time Tuesday.

Clips of police body camera footage obtained and released by the man’s lawyer allegedly show former officer David Lance Dukes stomping on the neck and head of Clarence Gailyard, 58, during an arrest.

The encounter occurred on July 26, when Dukes responded to a 911 call of a man carrying a firearm, his lawyer, Justin Bamberg, said at a press conference Tuesday. An eight-second video shows Dukes running toward Gailyard, forcing him to the ground, handcuffing him and searching his pockets.

Police did not find a gun at the scene, according to Bamberg.

“When officer David Dukes goes and stomps on the back of Mr. Clarence’s head as he lay on the ground completely defenseless, the attitude that he shows is a reflection of the leadership,” Bamberg said, demanding the release of the full police body camera footage. “And what we see is bad policing and unacceptable policing.”

Dukes was fired from the police department after review from the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division’s Use of Force Committee.

He was taken into custody on July 31 and charged with first-degree assault and battery.

Gailyard told reporters that he is still shaken by the incident and is now hoping to see change.

“Every time I look in the mirror and see the scar on my face, it is not OK,” Gailyard said. “I’m still in pain. I hope the pain goes away, but I don’t think the pain is going away right now.”

Gailyard suffered a head injury and bloody knot on his forehead, he said, and was taken to the hospital following the incident.

Gailyard and Bamberg commended a female officer at the scene, who reported Dukes’ alleged actions to the sergeant on duty after witnessing his use of force at the time of the arrest.

“In reality, if a person were to walk up to a defenseless dog and stomp on the dog in that fashion, video of that would go viral — have millions of views and people across the planet would be saying the citizen who stomped on that dog deserves to go to prison. But it wasn’t a dog that got stomped on, it was a living, breathing human being,” Bamberg said.

Demario Julian, Gailyard’s cousin, who spoke at the press conference, told reporters he and Gailyard were walking home as the officers arrived at the scene.

“Dukes jumped out his car with his gun drawn and I’m looking down the barrel of the gun, that’s basically what happened,” Julian said.

Demario said Dukes claimed Gailyard threw a gun into the bushes. Demario denied the claim.

“This is not a David Dukes problem, this is a city of Orangeburg problem,” Bamberg said. “This is an Orangeburg Department of Public Safety problem. Attitude reflects leadership.”

Mike Adams, chief of the Orangeburg Department of Public Safety, spoke at a separate press conference in response to the incident and the release of body camera footage. Adams said Dukes’ actions were “outside the scope of our use of force policy.”

Dukes has not responded to ABC News’ request for comment. Duke’s attorney, John Louden Furse, told ABC News he did not want comment on the case.

Blizzard Entertainment president departs after accusations of fostering a ‘frat boy’ culture

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(IRVINE, Calif.) — The president of Blizzard Entertainment is departing the company after accusations that a “frat boy” workplace culture fostered gender discrimination and sexual harassment.

In a letter to staff posted on its website, the chief operating officer of Blizzard’s parent company, Activision Blizzard, announced Tuesday that J. Allen Brack was leaving “to pursue new opportunities.”

COO Daniel Alegre also said that Jen Oneal and Mike Ybarra have been appointed as the new “co-leaders of Blizzard.”

The leadership shakeup at the maker of popular video games including “Overwatch” and “World of Warcraft” comes after a lawsuit that alleges rampant discrimination and sexual harassment at the company.

California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing filed the suit late last month, which accuses the company of fostering a sexist culture and paying women less than men for similar work. Moreover, it states that women were promoted at slower rates than men and fired or forced to quit at higher frequencies than men.

The agency also said that women were subject to constant sexual harassment and the company failed to take reasonable steps to prevent the conduct even when it was known.

The complaint states the company “fostered a pervasive ‘frat boy’ workplace culture” that is “a breeding ground for harassment and discrimination against women.” It also mentioned a “particularly tragic example,” stating that “a female employee committed suicide during a business trip with a male supervisor.”

“Numerous complaints” were made to human resources, according to the lawsuit, but the company did not address them and female employees who went to HR were subject to retaliation.

Blizzard Entertainment did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for further comment on the allegations raised in the lawsuit, but Activision Blizzard’s CEO Bobby Kotick sent a letter to staff shortly after it was filed promising sweeping workplace reforms and announcing the law firm WilmerHale had been tapped to conduct a review of policies and procedures.

His full letter was shared with investors on the company’s website.

“This has been a difficult and upsetting week,” Kotick said in the July 27 letter to employees. “I want to recognize and thank all those who have come forward in the past and in recent days. I so appreciate your courage.”

In a statement to IGN, the company said the “DFEH includes distorted, and in many cases false, descriptions of Blizzard’s past.”

Kotick promised the company was taking “swift action to be the compassionate, caring company you came to work for and to ensure a safe environment.”

“There is no place anywhere at our Company for discrimination, harassment, or unequal treatment of any kind,” Kotick wrote. “We will do everything possible to make sure that together, we improve and build the kind of inclusive workplace that is essential to foster creativity and inspiration.”

He also acknowledged that initial responses to concerns “were, quite frankly, tone deaf.” He encouraged employees to contact WilmerHale’s team to voice any concerns.

The overhaul at the video game giant comes years after much of the entertainment sector was hit with a #MeToo revolution that toppled prominent male executives across multiple industries.

Some critics have said the tech sector’s gender equity efforts still lag behind.

Kevin Kish, the director of California’s Department of Fair Employment and Housing, called for all employers to ensure equal pay and take steps to prevent discrimination and harassment in a statement announcing the Blizzard suit.

“This is especially important for employers in male-dominated industries, such as technology and gaming,” Kish added.

Flu shot linked to less severe COVID-19: Study

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — People who got a flu shot earlier this year may be less likely to suffer a severe COVID-19 infection down the road, according to new research.

The study, published in the journal Plos One on Wednesday, analyzed the electronic medical records of more than 74,700 people from the United States, the United Kingdom, Italy, Germany, Israel and Singapore, who tested positive for COVID-19. Researchers found that those who had gotten the flu vaccine during the previous six months were less likely to have had health complications related to their COVID-19 infection.

Specifically, researchers found that those who didn’t get flu shots were up to 20% more likely to be admitted to the ICU; up to 58% more likely to visit the emergency room; up to 45% more likely to develop sepsis; up to 58% more likely to have a stroke; and 40% more likely to develop deep vein thrombosis, compared with those vaccinated against the flu.

Researchers didn’t find any connection between receiving a flu shot and being less likely to die from COVID-19.

The new research is in line with several previous studies that found links between better COVID-19 outcomes and flu shots. That prior research similarly didn’t find the flu vaccine offered any protection against COVID-19 death.

Importantly, the flu shot’s link to better COVID-19 outcomes doesn’t necessarily mean it’s protective against the novel coronavirus. While it’s possible that the flu shot boosts immunity, it’s also possible that people who opt to get the flu shot tend to be healthier overall than people who skip it, meaning they’re already at lower risk for COVID-19 complications.

Additionally, the flu shot changes every flu season, so it’s unclear whether the vaccine developed for the 2020-2021 flu season would have the same link to less severe COVID-19 that the 2019-2020 vaccine did.

Another key limitation with electronic medical records is that different countries may report symptoms differently and use different diagnostic tests to confirm SARS-CoV-2 diagnoses, which could skew the data.

While more research is needed, the study authors noted, “Even patients who have already received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination may stand to benefit given that the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine does not convey complete immunity.”

Pentagon identifies police officer killed in attack

August 4, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The police officer stabbed and then fatally shot during an attack at the Pentagon’s bus terminal on Tuesday has been identified as George Gonzalez, a Brooklyn native and Iraq War veteran who joined the Pentagon police force in 2018.

Gonzalez was killed Tuesday after being stabbed by a man identified by the FBI on Wednesday as Austin William Lanz, 27, of Acworth, Georgia.

In a series of tweets, the FBI said the assailant exited a bus at the transit center in Arlington, Virginia, and — without provocation — attacked Gonzalez with a knife, severely wounding him.

Two law enforcement sources told ABC News Tuesday that Gonzalez was stabbed in the head from behind and then disarmed.

A struggle ensued and the assailant mortally wounded Gonzalez with his own service weapon and then shot himself. The FBI also said there were other Pentagon Force Protection Agency officers who engaged with the subject, but he died at the scene.

A civilian bystander was also hurt during the incident and was taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life threatening.

In addition to the Pentagon police officers, the Metro Transit Police Department, Arlington County Police Department and the FBI Washington Field Office responded to the incident. The FBI’s investigation continues.

The Pentagon Force Protection Agency confirmed their officer’s death Tuesday night and identified him Wednesday.

“Last night, the Pentagon Force Protection Agency observed End of Watch for Pentagon Police Officer George Gonzalez who was tragically killed yesterday during the incident at the Pentagon bus platform,” the Pentagon Force Protection Agency said in a statement Wednesday.

“A native of Brooklyn, New York, he was a die-hard Yankees fan. He was a graduate of New York City’s Canarsie High School,” the statement continued.

“George Gonzalez joined the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA) as a police officer on July 22, 2018. As a Pentagon Police officer, he took our mission of “protecting those who protect our nation” to heart,” it added. “He was promoted twice and attained the rank of Senior Officer in 2020. A gregarious officer, he was well-liked and respected by his fellow officers.”

A U.S. Army veteran who had been awarded the Army Commendation Medal for his service in Iraq Gonzalez had previously served with the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the Transportation Security Administration.

“Officer Gonzalez embodied our values of integrity and service to others,” said the agency statement. “As we mourn the loss of Officer Gonzalez, our commitment to serve and protect is stronger. Officer Gonzalez’s family is in our thoughts and prayers. May he rest in peace.”

In a statement shared by the agency in a series of tweets, the officer’s family said they were heartbroken over the death of their son and brother, but were proud of the life he had lived.

“George devoted his life to serving his country; first in the military, and then, as a law enforcement officer, he continued to serve by protecting service members and citizens of this country,” statement from the Gonzalez/Rubert family said. “He had an infectious personality and was fiercely loved by his family and friends. He loved his country, his family, and the Yankees. He was one of the good guys with a big heart and we will miss him always.”

Tuesday evening Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin expressed his condolences to the family of the slain officer and ordered that flags at the Pentagon be flown at half-staff in his honor.

“This fallen officer died in the line of duty, helping protect the tens of thousands of people who work in — and who visit — the Pentagon on a daily basis,” Austin said in a statement.

“He and his fellow officers are members of the Pentagon family, and known to us all as professional, skilled and brave,” he said. “This tragic death today is a stark reminder of the dangers they face and the sacrifices they make. We are forever grateful for that service and the courage with which it is rendered.

Lanz enlisted in the Marine Corps on Oct. 9, 2012 but was administratively separated on Nov. 2, 2012 and never earned the title Marine, according to the Marine Corps.

He was arrested in Cobb County, Georgia, in April on several charges — including aggravated battery against police, rioting in a penal institution and making terrorist threats or acts, according to county online court records. The judge in that case ordered Lanz have a mental health and substance abuse evaluation and he was released on a $30,000 bond.

The FBI Atlanta office is also conducting an investigation into Lanz, law enforcement sources told ABC News on Tuesday.

ABC News’ Cindy Smith and Lauren King contributed to this report.

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