News – Page 2402 – 105.7 WDNY

Republicans are committed to Ukraine but want ‘accountability’ over funding, McCaul and Turner say

November 27, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Reps. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, and Mike Turner, R-Ohio, on Sunday insisted that the incoming House Republican majority would continue to support funding and arming Ukraine in its war against Russia, downplaying critics inside the GOP’s conference who have vowed to oppose future aid packages.

McCaul and Turner, the likely next chairmen of the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees, respectively, said on ABC’s “This Week” that Ukraine could win if it gets adequate support from the West.

They also backed House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy’s past statement that Congress shouldn’t provide a “blank check” and said Republicans planned to push for greater oversight and “accountability” over how American support is being used overseas.

“This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz cited objections to Ukraine aid from some conservatives — like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene — and asked, “Are you really certain that Republicans will bring this to the floor?”

“I think the majorities on both sides of the aisle support this effort,” McCaul said. “I think everybody has a voice in Congress. And the fact is, we are going to provide more oversight, transparency and accountability. We’re not going to write a blank check.”

“Does that diminish our will to help the Ukraine people fight? No. But we’re going to do it in a responsible way,” McCaul said. Otherwise, he said, authoritarian countries like China and Iran could become emboldened by Russia’s success.

“The issue, obviously, is we don’t need to pass $40 billion, large Democrat bills that have been passed to send $8 billion to Ukraine,” Turner told Raddatz, who recently returned from a reporting trip in Ukraine.

Raddatz pushed back on Turner, noting that beyond the immediate funds for procurement, that whole aid package was focused on Ukraine including with long-term financial support for rebuilding. Both McCaul and Turner also voted for the $40 billion package in May.

The lawmakers’ comments come ahead of what is expected to be a brutal winter in Ukraine, with Russia, some nine months after its invasion, targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure — limiting power and heat to major cities.

McCaul and Turner said that providing Ukraine with adequate air defense systems is a top priority, and McCaul contended the federal government had “slow-walked” some of its lethal support.

When Raddatz pressed McCaul on whether providing certain munitions could “incite Russia” after McCaul raised the possibility of extending Ukraine’s range into Crimea, which Russia annexed in 2014, McCaul said: “Crimea is not part of Russia under international law. So if they can hit into Crimea, I think that’s fair game.”

But, Turner said, simply handing over U.S. equipment might not be the answer given its sophistication and how long it could take to train and ultimately use.

“Our air defense systems are so complex, we need to make certain that we work with partners and pull together an air defense system that they can put together to defend Kyiv, to defend their infrastructure,” he said.

More broadly, McCaul and Turner said that starting in January, their committees will launch investigations into the U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan. Republicans could also scrutinize Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ handling of the southern border and the controversial contents of a laptop that Republicans say was owned by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son.

“One thing that’s going to be very, very positive about this Congress is we’re going to get back to the committees working again,” Turner said.

McCaul also expressed confidence that McCarthy will have the votes to become speaker in the next Congress despite public criticism from several hard-right lawmakers.

McCarthy will need 218 votes on the House floor on Jan. 3 to be speaker. At least four Republicans in the likely 222-seat majority have vowed to oppose him — complicating his path to winning the gavel in the first round of voting.

The entire House will continue voting for a speaker until a candidate wins a majority. Lawmakers could nominate another compromise candidate if McCarthy fails to secure enough support.

“Do you think he has the votes?” Raddatz asked.

“Kevin has worked harder than any other candidate for speaker I’ve seen. I think he’s got the majority of our conference,” McCaul said. “And the fact is, what’s the alternative here?”

Latest COVID vaccine will help people ‘move on’ from the pandemic, White House’s Jha says

November 27, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — With the Biden administration urging people to get both a COVID-19 booster and a flu shot as soon as possible, the White House’s Dr. Ashish Jha said Sunday that updated vaccinations will help people “move on” from the pandemic.

“It’s been, obviously, a long two and a half years for Americans, and we understand that people want to move on,” Jha, the White House COVID-19 coordinator, told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz of the virus that has killed more than 1 million people in the U.S. “The good news is people can move on if they keep their immunity up to date.”

COVID-19 deaths are still averaging more than 2,000 per week and only about 11% of the country has gotten the latest booster compared to 80% of people who completed the primary course of vaccination that was rolled out in 2021, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“We’ve talked about this so many times: People aren’t listening,” Raddatz said of the federal government’s push for vaccinations while low booster rates remain the norm.

“What do you do?” she asked Jha. He reiterated that the vaccines give crucial protection and he said he believes uptake will increase in the coming weeks: “Historically, people tend to get their flu shot in November and December and to January.”

“We think it’s incredibly important as we head into the holidays for people to update their immunity, get the new COVID vaccine, get the flu shot. It’s a great way to stay safe and healthy this holiday season.” he said

About 26% of adults are estimated to have received a flu vaccine as of October, according to the CDC, while an estimated 35% of children received the shots as of early November. Those figures are similar to years past, though the flu vaccine coverage for kids was slightly higher in November 2020.

The results of a study released in June by researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, showed that adult flu vaccination rates have declined in states where COVID-19 vaccination rates are also low. Raddatz pointed to that study and asked Jha, “Are you concerned that the controversy and hesitancy over COVID vaccines is carrying over to flu vaccines?”

Jha responded by citing the overall effectiveness of both the COVID-19 and flu vaccinations, making the additional point that many people choose to protect themselves in this way “when they hear it from trusted voices.”

“Our strategy is get out into the community, talk to religious leaders, talk to civil society leaders, community-based organizations, have them get out to the community and talk to people, Jha said.

He also emphasized that the updated COVID-19 booster provides protection from a new subvariant of omicron, which has been rapidly spreading across Massachusetts and, according to experts, accounts for nearly 40% of the current cases there.

Raddatz turned to the so-called “tripledemic” this season, with COVID-19 and the flu circulating and now with high numbers of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in children across the country. Health experts have said RSV is emerging earlier and affecting more kids than typical because of the COVID-19 pandemic, ABC News previously reported.

“We’re seeing hospitals getting close to capacity. What should parents do in particular?” Raddatz asked.

Jha recommended that every family member, no matter their age, get vaccinated against COVID-19 and the flu as a first step. “That takes those two and takes them off the table in terms of causing serious illness,” he said.

“RSV, for most people, [is] not a big deal. It’s very mild. For the elderly, and for the youngest kids, it can be a problem,” he said, recommending “basic respiratory hygiene” such as “avoiding sick contacts … washing your hands, cleaning surfaces.”

But “one bit of good news just in the last week, we’ve seen RSV peaked and maybe turn down,” he continued. “I’m obviously hopeful that that trend is going to continue.” Compared to government data collected in the previous year, however, cases are up significantly.

“And what about this shortage of amoxicillin and even ibuprofen in some places?” Raddatz asked of a months-long national shortage facing parents who are scouring drugstore shelves for children’s medicine. “What do they do about that?”

“We have broader supply chain issues with our medications that we’ve had for decades,” Jha said, describing the problems as commonplace. “I often, when I walk into the hospital, find some normal medicine that I’m used to using not available,” he said.

Raddatz also touched on recent protests in China amid its “zero COVID” policy, which includes strict lockdown measures and other rules.

Of the country’s approach to controlling infections and deaths, which differs sharply from the U.S., Raddatz asked Jha: “When you look at what they’re doing, is that effective?”

“We don’t think that’s realistic, certainly not realistic for the American people,” Jha responded.

“I think it’s going to be very, very difficult for China to be able to contain this through their ‘zero COVID’ strategy,” he said. “I would recommend that they pursue the strategy of making sure everybody gets vaccinated, particularly their elderly.”

This rodeo family is honoring generational legacy and Black cowboy culture

November 26, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UPPER MARLBORO, Md.) — The Jackson Family Rodeo Crew is an Upper Marlboro, Maryland, family of seven epitomizing the rodeo lifestyle and legacy of Black cowboys in the United States.Parents Corey and Robyn Jackson have dedicated themselves to supporting their five kids, four of whom compete, in living that lifestyle to the fullest.

Corey Jackson told “Good Morning America” that from the time he was a young child in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, he had always wanted to be a cowboy.

“It’s really nostalgic, you know, to think back on that time because it was my grandfather and I. He is who got me started watching Westerns [on] Saturday mornings,” he said. “So just from that little, young age, you know, seeing just the mystique of the cowboy you know, riding the Western Range, what have you, I just fell in love with it.”

In some ways, Corey Jackson’s childhood dreams were Robyn Jackson’s norm.

“It’s funny, Corey wanted to be a cowboy — I thought it was normal,” Robyn Jackson said of her generations-long family history in the field that made growing up around horses a reality.

“On my dad’s side, back to the Reconstruction Era, [in] my family, the men were sharecroppers. And so to be a sharecropper, you needed help, and the help came by way of an animal — horse, mule — and they became very skilled in training those horses for work purposes,” she said. “Not until my dad did that skill kind of change into a pleasure activity.”

The pair would eventually meet and hit it off rather fittingly at the famous Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo — which “celebrates and honor Black Cowboys and Cowgirls and their contributions to building the west,” according to its official website — going on to raise their fifth generation wrangler children Dylan, 9, Nic, 14, twins Reagan and Ryan, 12, and Robert,15, on the land that Robyn Jackson’s father Robert Harper purchased and developed, and training in their home arena that he built decades ago.

“It almost brings tears to my eyes because I don’t think we ever, you know, we just never imagined. You don’t know what your future holds,” Robyn Jackson said. “I don’t know that I had ever planned to have little cowboys and cowgirls but that is what has happened. And I’m so thankful because all the decisions that my dad made early on, we had no idea how that was going to impact our lives today.”

As for the kids, when they’re not at a competition or in daily practice with their dad, a former Division I college football player and football coach, or in school with their educator mom, Dylan, Reagan, Ryan and Nic also like to hunt, fish, play various instruments, travel and bake. Though Robert, who has cerebral palsy, does not compete, horses have been and continue to be a big part of his life, as he rides, bonds with the family’s animals, and eagerly attends his sibling’s competitions, including the Bullride Mania Finals Amateur Championship where Nic took the win earlier this month.

Nic was only 7 years old when he got on his first bull. At 13, he was named the 2020 Junior World Bull Riding Champion, making him the first ever in the Northeast to win. With goals of going pro, that was just the beginning for the now-14-year-old, who hopes to take home the title again at this year’s Junior World Finals in December.

“It’s a passion, you know, it’s a lifestyle. It’s just not something that we do. It goes … so far deep, deeper than just the competition,” Corey Jackson told “GMA,” adding that loving and taking care of the land and animals they cultivate is an integral part of their routine. “So when we’re not rodeoing, we’re talking about rodeo, we’re watching rodeo … we’re watching videos of the kids’ performances.”

“Now I can separate from it a little more,” Robyn Jackson added. “But I think the gist of it is we can do just about anything as a family. Whatever the activity is, we’re able to do it as one unit, and I really am thankful for that.”

Raphael Louis Hipos and Ebony Peeples contributed to this report.

Man accused of holding razor blade near woman’s neck on flight

November 26, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SALT LAKE CITY) — A Utah man is facing charges after allegedly bringing a straight edge razor blade on a flight and holding it near a passenger’s throat.

The incident comes just weeks after a man brought two box cutters through security and onto a Frontier Airlines flight en route to Tampa.

Merrill Darrell Fackrell, 41, allegedly boarded a JetBlue flight Monday at JFK Airport in New York en route to Salt Lake City. During the flight, Fackrell was in the window seat next to a woman, when he allegedly placed his hand in front of her screen and told her to pause her movie, according to a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Utah. The woman then realized Fackrell was holding what appeared to her as a knife, “inches from her skin at her throat/neck area,” the release said.

The woman’s husband then went to the front of the plane to get assistance from a flight attendant. The woman lunged for the aisle to escape and Fackrell reached and tried to stop her by grabbing her shoulder, according to the release.

The object was secured and later identified as a wood-handled straight edge razor with a one-to-two-inch blade.

In a statement to ABC News, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) said it “take[s] our responsibility to secure the skies for the traveling public very seriously.” The agency said it’s introducing new X-ray technology at more airports to improve the capability to detect items such as the one used in this incident.

Fackrell was later charged with Carrying a Weapon on an Aircraft and Assault with a Dangerous Weapon in the Special Aircraft Jurisdiction of the United States.

“Crewmembers responded by working to de-escalate the situation and notified law enforcement who met the flight in Salt Lake City,” JetBlue said in a statement Friday. “The safety of our customers and crewmembers is JetBlue’s first priority, and we will support law enforcement during their investigation.”

3 people found dead inside home on fire in apparent homicide

November 26, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(RIVERSIDE, Calif.) — Police are investigating an apparent triple homicide after three people were found dead in a Southern California residence by firefighters responding to a fire in the home.

Officers with the Riverside Police Department were in the process of responding to the home, located on the 1000 block of Price Court, to conduct a welfare check Friday morning, following the report of a “disturbance” between a man and woman near a car, police said.

“Shortly after that, before [officers] arrived, the fire department responded for what appeared to be a fire” at the same location, Riverside Police Officer Ryan Railsback told reporters during a press briefing Friday night. “When they went inside to extinguish that fire, that’s when they discovered the three bodies.”

A man and two women were found deceased inside the home, though police believe they were already dead before the fire broke out.

“They were victims of homicide, although we’re not going to disclose the means of that at this point,” Railsback said.

The coroner’s office was still in the process of identifying the victims Friday night and did not have their ages.

The woman involved in the earlier disturbance was found in San Bernardino County and was “safe” with law enforcement, Railsback said. The whereabouts of the man involved in the dispute were not disclosed.

The investigation is ongoing and there were no updates Saturday.

“This case is complicated and detectives are still unraveling it,” Railsback told ABC News. “We are hopeful to provide some update in the upcoming days.”

Riverside is located about 55 miles east of downtown Los Angeles.

Neighbors watched the incident unfold.

“Firemen were trying to extinguish it, they got there really early. Next thing you know they’re pulling out some bodies,” a neighbor, Myron Dinga, told ABC Los Angeles station KABC. “It didn’t appear that they were succumbed by fire.”

“It was just smoke everywhere. You couldn’t breathe,” another neighbor, Brandi Kornegay, told the station.

Rick Beavers told KABC he saw the flames in the garage.

“The flames were six-foot high inside the garage,” he told the station. “The day after Thanksgiving, it is kind of sad.”

Trump hosts Kanye West, Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago dinner

November 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PALM BEACH, FL) Former President Donald Trump hosted controversial figures, Nick Fuentes and rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Tuesday night for dinner, a guest also at the meeting told ABC News.

Trump met with Ye, who recently lost major business deals over antisemitic comments, and Fuentes, along with Florida Republican political operative Karen Giorno, Giorno confirmed with ABC News. The dinner lasted just under two hours.

Fuentes is a white nationalist who has made racist, sexist and antisemitic comments and has been banned on all major social media platforms.

Trump posted about the meeting on his social media platform on Friday, claiming he didn’t know Ye would be bringing other guests, but did not mention Fuentes.

“This past week, Kanye West called me to have dinner at Mar-a-Lago. Shortly thereafter, he unexpectedly showed up with three of his friends, whom I knew nothing about,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “We had dinner on Tuesday evening with many members present on the back patio. The dinner was quick and uneventful. They then left for the airport.”

A source at the dinner told ABC News that Ye asked Trump to be his vice president during the dinner and that toward the end of the meal the former president “started bad-mouthing Kim Kardashian,” Ye’s ex-wife.

In a statement to ABC News, former President Trump said, “Kanye West very much wanted to visit Mar-a-Lago. Our dinner meeting was intended to be Kanye and me only, but he arrived with a guest whom I had never met and knew nothing about.”

Trump’s dinner with Fuentes and Ye comes just weeks after he announced his 2024 presidential bid.

Customer gives birth to baby girl in a McDonald’s bathroom

November 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Three employees at a McDonald’s in Atlanta, Georgia, helped deliver a baby girl after a pregnant mother went into labor there.

Sha’querria Kaigler, Keisha Blue-Murray and Tunisia Woodward heard a piercing scream from the bathroom of the McDonald’s branch on Wednesday, only to find a customer in active labor.

A customer came out of the bathroom and told Woodward there was a customer in labor. When Woodward went in to check on the customer, she found her laid down on the floor, heavily breathing and screaming, Woodward told ABC News in an interview.

The pregnant customer and her husband had stopped by the local branch to eat and use the bathroom. When in the restroom, the customer realized that her water had broken and she was in active labor.

Other employees and the customer’s husband then rushed into the bathroom to help. Kaigler called 9-1-1 and the operator walked them through the delivery, Woodward said.

Woodward sat on the right side of the woman and the customer’s husband sat on the left side and they both held her hand as she delivered the baby. Woodward said at one point, the customer bit her arm because of how much pain she was in.

When the customer told Woodward she didn’t want to give birth in a bathroom, Woodward said she told her, “It’s okay you’re going to have a little nugget today.”

Woodward said the labor was moving fast and about 15 minutes later, the baby had arrived, even before paramedics had arrived on the scene.

The local McDonald’s owner, Steve Akinboro, rewarded the three employees with $250 gift cards toward their Thanksgiving celebrations. Woodward said she plans on spending all the money on the baby.

Woodward said she has been texting with the mother since the unexpected birth and said both mother and daughter are in good health. The employees are planning a baby shower for her at the Atlanta location next week.

2024 cycle begins to churn for Senate, House races

November 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The 2022 midterm cycle is not even done yet, with Georgia’s runoff next month leaving the U.S. Senate’s margin in question, and speculation over the 2024 presidential race is swallowing up media coverage. But already, Democrats and Republicans are positioning themselves for congressional runs in key races two years from now.

Democrats face a daunting Senate map in 2024, though a surprisingly strong midterm cycle that saw them lose the House by a smaller-than-expected margin has them optimistic about flipping it back.

Much of how the 2024 cycle plays out will be affected by the presidential race, including whether former President Donald Trump is the GOP nominee for a third time in a row and if President Joe Biden makes good on his intention to run for reelection. Still, early vulnerabilities for both parties in down-ballot races are beginning to come into sharper relief, with candidates starting to throw their hats into the rings.

Here’s how the early battles for congressional seats are shaping up.

Senate

For 2024, Democrats will find themselves largely on defense in the fight for the Senate, which they’ll control with either 50 or 51 seats depending on Georgia’s results.

Their only two possible offensive opportunities are seats in Florida and Texas — two Democratic long-sought “white whales” that had strong showings for the GOP this month. Meanwhile, they’re defending seats in three red states, Montana, Ohio and West Virginia, and several purple states, including Arizona, Minnesota, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — a stark imbalance that has even Democrats conceding how rough the map is.

“The plain math is difficult, puts Democrats almost purely on defense. I do think that even though there’s nothing easy about Democrats breaking through in either Texas or Florida, I do think Democrats are going to have to find a way to put one or both of those seats on the map, frankly,” said Democratic pollster Zac McCrary.

Already, Rep. Alex Mooney, R-W.Va., has said he’ll run for the Senate seat held by Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., who has not said if he intends to run for reelection. Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat, has also said he would make a decision next year on whether he will run again.

Rounding out the three toughest holds, Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown has announced that he will run again. He could face a sprawling field of Republicans looking to take him on.

Democrats are eagerly awaiting announcements from Manchin and Tester, saying that their candidacies would make the difference between having a fighting chance of holding their seats and facing significant headwinds to hold serve in states Trump handily carried twice.

“There’s no bigger recruits for [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, D-N.Y., for the [Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee] than to get Manchin and Tester to sign the dotted line,” McCrary said. “That’s an imperative … to keep those seats on the map.”

With Brown’s confirmation of another run, both parties are gearing up for a bare-knuckle brawl in Ohio.

Brown has proven to be a unique Democrat who can withstand the state’s jolt to the right, winning reelection in 2018 by nearly 7 points two years after Trump won it by 8 points.

Brown’s camp is projecting confidence, noting Brown’s continued electoral success in a tough state and broad name recognition after decades in public office, with adviser Justin Barasky telling ABC News Brown “is well positioned to win re-election in 2024 and continue waking up every day and doing everything he can to make life better for Ohio families.”

However, Republicans are feeling their oats there after the midterms, when GOP Gov. Mike DeWine won reelection by 25 points and J.D. Vance defeated Democratic Rep. Tim Ryan in the Senate race by over 5 points even after Ryan ran a widely lauded campaign.

Already, Republicans are starting to test the waters, with state Sen. Matt Dolan, who lost the Senate primary this year, eyeing another bid. Other names being tossed around include former Senate candidate Bernie Moreno and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose.

Brown is anticipated to put up a stiff fight, though experts project one of the toughest elections of his political career, particularly after winning in 2018 against a candidate not considered particularly strong.

“You never want to write Sherrod Brown off because he will outwork anybody, and he has been relentless in defining himself … around the concerns of working families, and that has proven to be one way, and really the only way, a Democrat can win Ohio,” said David Niven, a political scientist at the University of Cincinnati.

Still, “he’s obviously not going to get another freebie like that,” Niven said of Brown’s 2018 race.

Democrats are hopeful that they can be competitive in several of the more purple states given that candidates were able to win statewide races there this year despite being bogged down by Biden’s low approval ratings.

Meanwhile, Republicans are bullish, boasting that the Senate majority could easily be within reach given that Democrats will control a maximum of 51 seats heading into 2024.

“You got three Democrats running in states where Trump won in 2016 and 2020. Those ought to be three states where we can run a very strong candidate, have a great chance of a takeaway. And just the overall numbers, you got 21 Democrats in seats and only 10 Republicans,” said GOP strategist Bob Heckman. “The 2024 map is definitely a good map for Republicans.”

House

Democrats are much better situated in the House, where their surprisingly strong showing this month could see Republicans hold just a single-digit majority.

Already, candidates have started making moves. West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore, a Republican, is running for Mooney’s House seat, outgoing GOP Rep. Yvette Herrell already filed paperwork to run for the New Mexico House seat she narrowly lost this year, and North Carolina Republican Bo Hines also filed paperwork to run for the swing seat he just missed out on.

Of the races that have been called thus far, over a dozen Republicans will represent districts that Biden won in 2020. And House Majority PAC, House Democrats’ top campaign super PAC, released a memo Tuesday outlining 19 seats it intends to target in two years.

“The path to retaking the Majority is clear as day. HMP will be prepared to take back the House in 2024, and Republicans should start planning to hand back the gavel,” the group wrote.

Many of Democrats top targets, though, are expected to be in New York, where there will be six Republicans holding seats Biden won in 2020.

New York Democrats are facing an internal reckoning over what led to the party’s underwhelming performance in House races, with debates raging over a bungled redistricting process, inadequate responses to GOP attacks on crime and more. But with the party expecting a boost in turnout in a presidential year, Democrats are boasting that they’ll prove that the incoming Republican lawmakers are merely renting the seats.

“I think there are five seats that conceivably could come back. Definitely three, and possibly five,” Westchester County Democratic Party Chairwoman Suzanne Berger said. If Democrats are able to flip five seats in 2024, that alone could make up the possible House margin.

Meanwhile, Republicans’ top targets will likely echo several of their main foils from this cycle, including Reps. Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania, Jared Golden in Maine, Marcy Kaptur in Ohio, Abigail Spanberger in Virginia and more.

Yet much of the low hanging fruit in the House for Republicans was picked this year and in 2022, leaving few Democrats representing districts Trump won in 2020.

Many swing-seat Democratic incumbents are now battle tested, with some of them fending off their first challenges as incumbents this month, while the new GOP members will be waging their first reelection bid, though Republicans are still cautiously optimistic they’ll be able to net some gains in the House in 2024.

“Hopefully the [Republican National Committee] and the congressional committee will both work closely with these candidates to raise enough money and to make sure that they’re ready for what’s going to be coming at them because the Democrats are never short on money in these kinds of seats,” Heckman said. “So, I’m concerned, but I think we can get the job done.”

Thanksgiving Day 2022 marks record consumer spending

November 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Shoppers spent a record $5.29B this Thanksgiving, according to Adobe Analytics — a figure up 2.9% year-over-year.

Adobe Analytics’s report on record spending may be surprising to some, as the economy is at an inflation level not seen in the last 40 years, and ongoing fears of a recession.

Big discounts on toys and electronics enticed shoppers, according to Adobe Analytics. Mobile shopping — purchases made through smartphones — accounted for 55% of online sales, an all-time record for Thanksgiving Day since 2012.

Black Friday, which occurs the day after Thanksgiving and is considered the kickoff to the holiday shopping season, is expected to bring in $9M online Friday.

Deep discounts on toys, computers and electronics are expected. Notable discounts are expected for clothing, appliances and TVs, but Adobe predicts the best deals for these categories will be over the weekend.

Top-selling items in the 2022 holiday season

The top-selling toys so far include Squishmallows, Roblox, Paw Patrol, Hot Wheels, Cocomelon and L.O.L. Surprise Dolls.

The top gaming consoles sold so far include the Nintendo Switch, the Xbox Series X, and PlayStation 5.

And the most popular video games include God of War Ragnarök, FIFA 23, Madden 23, and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II.

Other hot sellers are mostly technology: Apple Airpods, Instapots, smart televisions, digital cameras and gift cards.

Holiday spending despite economic uncertainty

Days before the 2022 midterm elections, roughly half of Americans said either the economy or inflation was the most important issue in their vote for Congress, making bread-and-butter financial issues by far the most dominant, according to an ABC News/Ipsos survey.

Although there has been a slew of recent layoffs at tech companies, the labor market remains fairly robust. While the jobs added each month have fallen over the second half of this year, they remain strong, keeping the unemployment rate below 4%.

Woman found dead, husband rescued in Utah’s Zion National Park

November 25, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(SPRINGDALE, UTAH) — A 31-year-old woman was found dead at Zion National Park in Utah after her husband reported the couple experienced symptoms of hypothermia while camping in the park.

The husband told authorities the couple were on a permitted 16-mile hike in the park’s Narrows section on Tuesday when they became “dangerously cold” overnight, the national park said in a statement Thursday.

The 33-year-old man went to look for help Wednesday morning, but search and rescue teams determined the woman was deceased after park visitors and first responders attempted to administer first aid, the statement said.

The injured man was taken to the Zion Emergency Operations Center.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office, Utah Office of the Medical Examiner and the National Park Service are investigating the cause of the woman’s death.

+ More