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Alex Jones ordered to pay hundreds of millions in Sandy Hook defamation trial

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WATERBURY, Conn.) — A Connecticut jury awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in damages to 15 plaintiffs defamed by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones when the Infowars host called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting a hoax staged by actors following a script written by the government to build support for gun control.

With the plaintiffs sobbing in the gallery, the clerk read out the verdict in which the jury decided compensatory damages for both slander and for emotional distress.

The compensatory damages total about a billion dollars, far exceeding the award in a prior case in Texas. He was ordered to pay just shy of $50 million in that case, which was decided in August.

The jury also awarded attorneys fees and costs Wednesday.

Jones, who was on the air with his radio program as the verdict was read, told his listeners, “This must be what hell is like — they just read out the damages, even though you don’t got the money.”

His attorney, attorney Norm Pattis, told reporters they plan to appeal the decision.

“Candidly, from start to finish, the fix was in in this case,” Pattis said outside the courthouse. “We disagree with the basis of the default, we disagree with the court’s evidentiary rulings.”

“In more than 200 trials in the course of my career, I’ve never seen a trial like this,” he continued.

The plaintiffs, relatives of victims and an FBI agent who responded to the scene, testified that they were tormented by Jones’ followers who believed his lies about the massacre. The families said they were harassed and threatened in the decade since the shooting.

One of the plaintiffs, Robbie Parker, whose 6-year-old daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, thanked his lawyers for helping him “fight and stand up to what had been happening to me for so long.”

“I’m just proud that what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth. And it shouldn’t be this hard. And it shouldn’t be this scary,” he said in an emotional statement given outside the courthouse.

Parker expressed gratitude for the jury “not just because of their verdict, but for what they had to endure, what they had to listen to,” he continued.

Jones testified he believed at the time the shooting might have been staged but he has since said he now believes it’s real. He declined to apologize to the families on the stand in this trial, saying he had already apologized enough.

A judge last year found Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, liable in the defamation lawsuit, with plaintiffs that include an FBI agent who responded to the scene and eight families of victims that Jones called actors.

The plaintiffs’ attorney had asked that Jones pay $550 million to a group of Sandy Hook parents, who claim the Infowars host spread lies about the mass shooting that killed 26 people, including 20 elementary school children.

The attorney, Chris Mattei, asked the six jurors to “think about the scale of the defamation,” citing as one example Jones’ claim the families, “faked their 6- or 7-year-old’s death.”

Pattis told jurors it was not their job to bankrupt Jones so he would stop broadcasting lies.

Pattis said he represents a “despised human being” but balked at the half-billion-dollar sum proposed by the plaintiffs’ attorney.

“It would take a person earning $100,000 a year hundreds of years to make $550 million,” Pattis said during his closing statement.

Jones faces a third, and final, trial that could result in another hefty damage award.

Three SWAT officers shot, injured in Philadelphia; police call level of gun violence ‘ridiculous’

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — Three members of a Philadelphia SWAT team were shot while serving a warrant Wednesday morning, according to police, who again pleaded for an end to the city’s gun violence.

It appears all the injured officers will be OK, Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney said.

This shooting occurred just after 6 a.m. as SWAT officers tried to serve a warrant on a person who was wanted for an August homicide and was suspected of participating in multiple armed robberies, Philadelphia Police First Deputy Commissioner John Stanford said at a news conference.

As officers approached the door, the 19-year-old suspect shot at them through the door and window, Stanford said.

The suspect tried to flee, and when the SWAT officers followed, the suspect fired at them, according to Stanford.

SWAT officers returned fire and the suspect was pronounced dead at 7:32 a.m., he said.

Two of the injured officers are expected to be released from the hospital later on Wednesday, Stanford said. One officer was struck in the leg, one in the hip and the third was hit in the upper chest, Stanford said.

“It’s good to see them sitting up, talking, and their families around them,” Kenney told reporters.

Stanford called the level of gun violence in Philadelphia “ridiculous,” adding, “it’s enough.”

“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t either have a child that is shot, or multiple people shot, because there are too many people out here carrying guns and they don’t have consequences,” he said. “Some people need to be in jail.”

“This should not be happening — this is not normal,” he said. “Unfortunately we have come to believe that this is the normal course of events — it’s not … it is troubling.”

Stanford stressed that Wednesday’s suspected gunman was just 19 years old.

“Something has been broken in this young man’s life for a long time, and it just didn’t start today,” he said.

Hundreds of whales beached on New Zealand islands

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hundreds of pilot whales that beached on the Chatham Islands in the last week died of natural causes or were euthanized, according to New Zealand’s Department of Conservation.

Officials responded to two mass strandings of pilot whales. The first group of 240 pilot whales beached in the northwest of Chatham Island, also called Rēkohu or Wharekauri, on Oct. 7. Days after, the second stranding occurred at Waihere Bay on Pitt Island, also known as Rangihaute or Rangiāuria, on Oct. 10, also involving almost 240 pilot whales.

Some whales were dead on arrival and others were put down, said Dave Lundquist, DOC’s technical advisor marine species and threats. The whales will decompose, Lundquist added.

“We do not actively refloat whales on the Chatham Islands due to the risk of shark attack to humans and the whales themselves, so euthanasia was the kindest option,” Lundquist said.

The remote Chatham Islands are a hotspot for cetacean graves. The largest recorded pilot whale stranding was 1,000 whales at the Chatham Islands in 1918.

“This is a sad event for the team and the community, with many people being affected by it,” Lundquist said.

Pilot whales tend to be the most frequent causalities of mass strandings, said the DOC. Though the exact reason behind whale strandings remains unclear, a few traits unique to this species of aquatic mammal make them more likely to be beached.

Pilot whales utilize echolocation for directions. Navigation errors occur, including human intervention, meaning the whales can accidentally trap themselves in a shallow bay or beach bar.

Another reason for stranding could be a disease. When whales from a pod are infected by a virus or toxic algae, they may all become sick and unable to swim, beaching themselves in response.

Pilot whales, uniquely, are social creatures, moving in large groups, said Anaïs Remili, a Ph.D. candidate and whale researcher at McGill University. When something goes awry, like a mistake in echolocation or an illness, pilot whales tend to beach themselves altogether.

“As we’ve seen with COVID, it’s quite easy to transfer a virus when you’re living in close quarters,” Remili said. “That’s what happens with stranded whales.”

On the bright side, Remili said, pilot whales are not an endangered species. Plus, mass strandings can inform environmentalists about the impact of climate change. If mass strandings become more common, then scientists can sample the dead individuals to understand if there is an ecological link to pollution.

“This is an incredibly sad event but we can use it to understand how our world is changing,” Remili said.

FDA authorizes updated bivalent COVID-19 booster for children aged 5 and older

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration authorized the updated bivalent COVID-19 booster for children aged 5 and older Wednesday.

Story developing…

Adnan Syed case had ‘major red flags,’ prosecutor says

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BALTIMORE) — Marilyn Mosby, state’s attorney for Baltimore City, who made the decision to drop the murder case against Adnan Syed, said on Wednesday that her office’s re-investigation of the case had raised “major red flags.”

“Our review of the case quickly turned from making a mere recommendation for release to a re-investigation to claim actual innocence,” Mosby said on ABC News’ Good Morning America on Wednesday, “because there were major red flags.”

Prosecutors in Maryland dropped charges against Syed, the man who was convicted of killing his former girlfriend in 2000, a case made popular by the 2014 “Serial” podcast that investigated issues with the prosecution.

Mosby said her office was approached by the public defender’s office about the case.

“As we started to dig into the case, one of the things that we saw was not all the evidence was tested,” Mosby said. “The first round of DNA testing we did didn’t produce results, but following the second round of DNA, we found that there was a DNA mixture of multiple contributors. And they excluded Adnan Syed.”

Coupled with the “integrity” of the investigation, there were “so many red flags,” she said.

“This was really the nail in the coffin that assured me, which is why I instructed my prosecutors to dismiss the case yesterday,” Mosby said.

The murder case of Hae Min Lee, Syed’s ex-girlfriend, is open and pending, Mosby said.

Mosby said she never listened to the “Serial” podcast.

Russian women run Ukraine anti-war protests despite danger

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — After President Vladimir Putin’s decree to mobilize Russia on Sept. 21, a secretive Russian protest group called Feminist Anti-War Resistance (FAR) instructed women to wear black and hold white flowers as they march the nation’s streets, a striking demonstration of grief.

“Your son, your father, your brother can be in a warzone,” said FAR coordinator Lolja Nordic. “We want the Russian army weaker. We don’t need more ordinary civilians turned into dead soldiers.”

Russia has a history of women’s activism, both in Soviet and post-Soviet times, in spite of women’s chronic political underrepresentation, including FAR’s action on March 8 — International Women’s Day — organized in remembrance of Ukrainians killed in the war, which compelled peace campaigners to protest in 112 cities.

FAR originated on Feb. 25, the day after Russia invaded Ukraine, and even though the number of members is not exact, the group has over 42,000 Telegram subscribers.

“We are the opposition to war, patriarchy, authoritarianism and militarism,” the organization’s manifesto, which has been translated into 13 languages, reads. “We are the future, and we will win.”

Due to her participation with FAR, Nordic notes that she has been surveilled, cyberattacked and arrested four times, her home has been raided twice and her devices were confiscated. After she was exiled to Tallinn, Estonia, she decided to forego her anonymity.

“All our participants are aware: none of what we do is 100% safe,” Nordic said.

FAR, though not exclusive to women, organizes online and street protests, posts strategies for avoiding conscription, disseminates anti-war messaging and volunteers with aiding Ukrainian refugees. The group also pays legal costs via crowdsourcing for residents who face illegal termination from their jobs for opposing the war.

Nearly eight months since the invasion, FAR is now active in over 40 Russian cities, says another FAR coordinator Julia, whose last name has been redacted for her security.

“Before the war, for most Russians, there was an illusion that politics won’t affect their lives,” Julia said. “Now, political decisions severely affect their lives.”

A former biochemistry student, activism now monopolizes Julia’s time and, in March, the 24-year-old fled her home in Russia to another European country.

“When Western journalists think of Russia, they think people here are super supportive of their, like, führer,” said Julia. “But that’s not the case.”

Putin has been threatening to use nuclear weapons since the beginning of his war in Ukraine. But in his Sept. 30 speech in which he formally and illegally proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, the Russian president intensified his rhetoric.

Julia described the notion of introducing nuclear weaponry to this war as, “horrible, horrible, absolutely horrible.”

“Putin and his political allies have lost any connection with the real world,” she added while noting she can’t predict what could possibly come next in the conflict.

At the latest count, more than 14,900 Russian people have been detained by security forces and police for protesting, according to OVD-Info, a Russian human rights organization.

FAR exists among a coalition of anti-war groups and dissenters in Russia. Founded in 2013, Vesna is a Russian youth organization working towards liberal democracy. Vesna has a core group of about a hundred members who have been thoroughly checked, said Vesna leader Maria Lakhina who handles finances and works in Vesna’s international cooperation team.

To eventually reach its goal of a liberal democratic state, Lakhina added, Vesna wants to topple the current Russian regime, promote the values of human rights and the rule of law.

“It may sound unrealistic, but we believe it is the only way our country may positively change,” Lakhina said.

Growing up in Siberia, 26-year-old Lakhina, lived in St. Petersburg for the past six years before emigrating to Yerevan, Armenia, in March. She participated in two rallies in St. Petersburg but was arrested during the last one.

After she left the country, Lakhina coordinated four more rallies, two of which were anti-war rallies in March and two anti-mobilization rallies in September. Lakhina now receives treatment for trauma symptoms, insomnia and panic attacks.

“I shut down emotions and bury them in work as much as possible,” said Lakhina. “That does not sound healthy, and it will probably have consequences in the future, but that is the only way to stay productive in our field in times like this.”

Man arrested in Georgia confesses to murdering five in South Carolina after being on meth for days

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A man arrested in Georgia has confessed to murdering five people in South Carolina, authorities announced Tuesday.

James Douglas Drayton, 24, was taken into custody in Georgia’s Burke County on Monday morning, after he allegedly committed an armed robbery and fled the scene in a stolen vehicle that authorities said was registered to a family member of one of the victims in South Carolina’s Spartanburg County, about 145 miles away.

“He confessed to the crime,” Spartanburg County Sheriff Chuck Wright said during a press conference on Tuesday. “He basically said he’d been hearing voices. Not sure what that means for him, but he knew he’d been using meth and had been up for like four days. Hadn’t slept in four days, probably not thinking.”

The murders took place over the weekend in the town of Inman at a home that Wright described as a “safe haven” for drug use. Deputies from the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office responded to a death call at the residence on Bobo Drive on Sunday evening. Upon arrival, deputies discovered four people who had been shot to death — identified as Thomas Ellis Anderson, 37, Adam Daniel Morley, 32, Mark Allen Hewitt, 59, and Roman Christean Megael Rocha, 19.

A fifth victim was found still showing signs of life and was transported to Spartanburg Medical Center, where they died. Their identity was not released because their family has not yet been notified, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.

“This is the largest single murder we’ve had in Spartanburg County,” Wright told reporters.

Wright said all five victims were drug users and were known to Drayton, who investigators believe had been staying at the home for about two weeks. The victims were also living there at the time of the incident and investigators located belongings with Drayton’s name, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.

“Wouldn’t have mattered to me if they were church members and never did any of that stuff, or they were heroin addicts. They were still somebody’s son, brother, friend, dad,” Wright said. “They are all a child of God — they didn’t deserve what they got.”

After the shootings, Drayton allegedly stole a car from the home, which he crashed during a brief, high-speed chase in Georgia, where he was apprehended and is now awaiting extradition to South Carolina. He will be charged with five counts of murder, Wright said.

Drayton gave investigators a “full confession” about the murders, providing “specific information” about the crime scene, including the location of the five victims, according to the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office.

“I don’t have answers as to why. He said some things in his interviews that I’m going to hold on to because his attorney probably needs to process some of this stuff,” Wright said. “It’s awful.”

Burke County’s online jail records did not list an attorney for Drayton.

Although the suspect was arrested, Wright said the victims “did not get justice at all.”

“Just because we have someone in custody doesn’t make things better for these families,” he added. “It just means that they don’t have to wonder.”

Biden believes Putin won’t use nuclear weapons on Ukraine

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden said he does not believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon on Ukraine.

“I think it’s irresponsible for him to talk about it, the idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine,” Biden told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview with the network.

“The whole point I was making was it could lead to just a horrible outcome. And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war or anything, but just once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what would happen,” Biden continued.

When asked if the United States had considered what would happen if Putin did use a nuclear weapon and what the “red line” for his administration would be, Biden said it would be irresponsible of him to discuss specifics but made it clear that the Pentagon did not have to be asked to game out potential outcomes.

“He, in fact, cannot continue with impunity to talk about the use of a tactical nuclear weapon as if that’s a rational thing to do. The mistakes get made. And the miscalculation could occur, no one can be sure what would happen and could end in Armageddon,” Biden added later on in CNN’s interview.

Biden was questioned on whether he thought Putin was a rational actor and made it clear that he thought Putin was “a rational actor who miscalculated significantly.”

“I think he thought he was going to be welcomed with open arms, that this was the home of Mother Russia in Kyiv, and that where he was going to be welcomed, and I think he just totally miscalculated,” Biden said.

Following a large explosion on the Kirch Strait Bridge last Saturday, Russia, who has blamed Ukraine for the attack, has retaliated with a wave of powerful attacks across Ukraine with missile strikes on Kyiv and around the nation, killing at least 19 and injuring hundreds more.

Biden said he has “no intention” of meeting with Putin at the G20 taking place next month in Indonesia.

“He’s acted brutally, he’s acted brutally. I think he’s committed war crimes. And so I don’t, I don’t see any rationale to meet with him now,” said Biden.

But he did include a caveat with that statement.

“If he came to me at the G20 and wanted to talk about the release of Griner, I’d meet with him,” said Biden. “We’ve taken a position. I just did a G-7 meeting this morning … I’m not about to, nor is anyone else prepared to, negotiate with Russia about them staying in Ukraine, keeping any part of Ukraine.”

“But look, he’s acted brutally, he’s acted brutally. I think he’s committed war crimes,” Biden continued. “I don’t see any rationale to meet with him now.”

Three SWAT team members shot in Philadelphia

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PHILADELPHIA) — Three members of a SWAT team were shot in North Philadelphia while serving a warrant early on Wednesday morning, ABC News’ WPVI-TV reported.

The officers were taken to Jefferson University Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition.

Story developing…

Election Day is just one month away. Here’s where things stand

October 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Officially four weeks out from Election Day, the 2022 midterm cycle is entering a final sprint as both parties wrestle for control of Congress.

Midterm elections have long been considered a referendum on the president’s party and voters now have their first nationwide chance to react to the first two years of President Joe Biden’s leadership.

The most recent ABC News polling, from September, shows Biden’s approval rating is underwater, with just 39% of Americans approving of his job performance while 53% disapprove.

But Democrats are looking to capitalize on a string of legislative victories this summer and a controversial Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade’s abortion rights, while Republicans look to blame the administration for high inflation and what they say is a problem dealing with crime.

Early voting is already underway in more than a dozen states, with several more to start early voting sometime this week.

What’s at stake

Biden’s legislative agenda and ability to confirm judges and other nominees hang in the balance as campaigns near the finish line.

The midterms could very well change the power balance of Congress, where Democrats enjoy a narrow majority in the House and a one-vote advantage in the evenly split Senate thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris’ role as tie-breaker.

All 435 seats in the House are up for grabs this November, and while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has expressed optimism about retaining control of the chamber, the latest forecast from FiveThirtyEight shows Republicans are slightly favored to win the House.

In the Senate, there are 35 seats on the ballot this November. Republicans need to flip just one seat to take back the chamber, but FiveThirtyEight’s model shows Democrats currently slightly favored to hold onto their majority.

If Republicans take back either chamber, they can thwart much of Biden’s agenda for the last two years of his term — something Republican leaders on Capitol Hill have already vowed to do. Biden himself has warned of a “difficult two years” if the GOP regains congressional control.

Latest forecasts

According to FiveThirtyEight, Republicans have an 80% chance of holding between 209 and 242 seats in the House — where a dozen or so toss-up races could make the difference between a GOP and Democratic majority.

As for the Senate, FiveThirtyEight shows Democrats having about a two-in-three chance of holding onto control. The party’s odds for retaining power have increased since late July, when the model showed both Democrats and Republicans with about a 50-50 chance of winning majority control.

The four likeliest tipping-point states in this year’s midterms are Georgia, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, according to the FiveThirtyEight Senate forecast.

Georgia, which flipped blue for Biden in 2020, has been the center of the political universe this past week as controversy has plagued Republican nominee Herschel Walker in his race against Democratic incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock.

Senate debates highlight key issues for both parties

Meanwhile, debate season is in full-swing as candidates in battleground states take the stage to hammer out their differences.

Republicans are focusing their messaging on southern border security, the economy and crime while Democrats point to abortion rights and election denialism as major inflection points for voters this election cycle.

In Ohio’s Senate race, Democrat Tim Ryan and Republican J.D. Vance clashed at a debate on Monday night over abortion access — with Ryan saying he wants to codify Roe v. Wade while alleging Vance once called rape an “inconvenience.” Vance denied saying that and falsely claimed a 10-year-old girl from Indiana who sought an abortion would’ve “never been raped in the first place” if Ryan had done his job on crime and immigration.

Also looming large over some debates have been Biden and former President Donald Trump.

A handful of Democrats in tight races have distanced themselves from the Biden administration on certain issues, including Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who in a debate last week against Republican Blake Masters called the situation at the southern border a “mess,” and Ryan, who during Ohio’s Senate debate on Monday also distanced himself from Biden when it came to inflation and the border.

Meanwhile, North Carolina GOP Senate nominee Ted Budd embraced his relationship with the former president, touting himself as an “America-first candidate” in his Friday debate against Democrat Cheri Beasley. Vance, during Monday’s debate in Ohio, also declined to separate himself from Trump, who previously joked that Vance badly wanted his support.

More debates are scheduled this week in Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin.

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