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Nearly 225,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 since the start of 2022 despite viral declines, data shows

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Although the daily death rates have ticked down slightly from August, updated federal data shows that the U.S. is still losing hundreds of Americans to COVID-19 every day, and 225,000 people in the U.S. have been lost to the virus since the start of 2022.

On average, more than 350 American deaths related to COVID-19 are still reported each day, and over the last seven days, the U.S. has reported nearly 2,500 deaths, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

However, totals remain much lower than during prior COVID-19 surges, such as in January 2021, when an average of 3,500 people were reported lost to the virus on a daily basis.

The reaching of yet another grim milestone follows President Joe Biden’s remarks on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, during which he said “the pandemic is over.”

“We still have a problem with COVID. We’re still doing a lot of work on it. It’s — but the pandemic is over,” Biden said.

Earlier this week, public health experts pushed back on the president’s assertion, telling ABC News that that pandemic is not over yet, and that Biden’s comments may be somewhat premature.

In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky was reluctant to directly agree with the president’s assertion that “the pandemic is over,” but with hospitalization and case rates falling, and vaccines and treatments available, she said that “we’re in a different place.”

“I think if we look at the big picture, things are very different,” she said. “We’re in a different place. Schools are open and businesses are open. We have a lot of population immunity out there right now.”

However, Walensky said that even though there are currently fewer people dying from the virus on a daily basis in the U.S., hundreds of Americans are still dying of COVID-19 every day — a fatality rate that remains too high.

“Three hundred fifty deaths a day is still too many as far as I’m concerned, but we’re in a very different place,” Walensky added.

As the U.S. heads into the fall, wastewater levels in some parts of the country have indicated a slight upturn in the percentage of COVID-19 virus in samplings. Even so, the daily average of new infections continues to hover around 55,000 cases.

However, dozens of states have moved to shutter public testing sites, with more at-home COVID-19 tests now available. Most Americans are not reporting their results to officials, and thus, experts suggest that infection totals are likely significantly undercounted.

COVID-19 testing levels have also plummeted to their lowest point since the onset of the pandemic, with approximately 350,000 tests reported each day, compared to more than 2.5 million tests reported daily at the nation’s peak in January of this year.

In recent weeks, virus-related hospitalizations have continued to fall — with 30,000 virus-positive Americans receiving care in the U.S., down from about 33,000 patients in the hospital last week, according to data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services.

The number of virus-positive Americans — 4,100 — currently entering the hospital each day is down by 6.8% in the last week.

Overall, the total remains significantly lower than at the nation’s peak this past January, when there were more than 160,000 patients hospitalized with the virus.

McCarthy rolls out House GOP ‘Commitment to America’ ahead of midterms

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Thursday rolled out an agenda that he says the House GOP would follow should it retake control of the chamber after this year’s midterms.

The plan, dubbed the “Commitment to America,” marks McCarthy’s most concrete attempt to outline a policy agenda to try to persuade voters ahead of November’s races, in which the GOP is favored — but not guaranteed — to flip the House. The proposal seeks to replicate former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “Contract with America,” an agenda released in 1994 when Republicans won control of the House for the first time in decades.

McCarthy’s blueprint contains four overarching goals: creating “an economy that’s strong,” “a nation that’s safe,” “a future that’s built on freedom” and “a government that’s accountable.”

In a video, the minority leader cast the plan as a panacea for the country’s struggles, arguing the proposal would fix inflation, lower crime and other issues he lays at the feet of the Democratic majority in Washington.

“Violent crime is at record highs in our streets and neighborhoods. The border has become a national security crisis, with fentanyl killing our fellow citizens. Soaring inflation has shrunk paychecks and sent us into a recession. And our kids have fallen further behind thanks to school closures and lockdowns,” McCarthy says in the clip, seemingly filmed in a grocery store.

“The White House and the Democrat majority in Congress control Washington. They’re in charge. This is their record,” he says. “And yet, they want you to give them two more years in power. But Republicans have a plan for a new direction — one that’ll get our country back on track.”

McCarthy will formally roll out the plan at an event in Pennsylvania on Friday with a broad cross-section of House members, including moderates like retiring John Katko, N.Y., who voted to impeach former President Donald Trump, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a prominent bomb-thrower.

The proposals largely lean on issues that Republicans believe are advantageous for them this cycle, including stubbornly high inflation, concerns over crime and increases in southern border crossings.

While intended to detail what an agenda could look like in a GOP House majority, the plan is light on specifics. Included in the “commitment” are platitudes like “support[ing] our troops,” “exercis[ing] peace through strength with our allies to counter increasing global threats,” “recover[ing] lost learning from school closures” and “uphold[ing] free speech.”

The proposal also boasts of “rigorous oversight,” though no specific investigatory efforts are laid out.

Among the more specific policy suggestions are “support[ing] 200,000 more police officers through recruiting bonuses” and “repealing proxy voting,” which House members of both parties have relied on during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Republicans in Congress praised the plan on Thursday, saying it hits on the right policies.

“This is a guide a map to what we’ll do to a majority and I think the future speaker is handling it exactly the way it should be,” said Minnesota Rep. Tom Emmer, the chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee. “We’ve got the best candidates we’ve ever had, we’ve got the right message. It’s about cost of living, it’s about crime. It’s about the border.

When asked if the plan was specific enough, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon said, “More of this is what we believe in, and this is what we are going to fight for. And I think they are good and I embrace them.”

The commitment was notably circumspect on one issue that has roiled the midterms: abortion.

“This election is about kitchen-table issues … inflation,” Emmer maintained. “You’ve got to have a position [on abortion], but [kitchen-table issues] are going to decide the election,” he said.

The release of McCarthy’s vision for his caucus comes amid what strategists and lawmakers of both parties have suggested is a turning of the midterm tide away from what was expected to be a red tsunami earlier this year.

The Supreme Court’s June decision eliminating constitutional protections for abortion and a Democratic legislative hot streak this summer — including passage of the Inflation Reduction Act — have helped level the playing field as generic ballot polling shows Democrats closing the gap with the GOP.

The changed landscape has thrown into question control of the Senate, currently split 50/50, with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking ties, though Republicans are still favored by analysts to flip the House.

McCarthy’s decision to release a plan runs counter to the strategy of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who has said he will unveil an agenda only if the Senate is controlled by Republicans next year.

“If we’re fortunate enough to have the majority … I’ll be the majority leader. I’ll decide, in consultation with my members, what to put on the floor,” he said earlier this year.

Democrats, for their part, came out swinging Thursday against McCarthy’s agenda, arguing that House Republicans are stoking divisions while President Joe Biden’s plans are the ones that would actually tackle the nation’s issues.

“Republicans are mistaken if they think their political stunt less than 7 weeks before the election will be enough to distract voters from their toxic record. While Democrats deliver critical investments, bring jobs back home from China, and fight to lower costs, Republicans stoke fear for power, obstruct popular legislation that will help everyday families, defend MAGA extremism, and push to ban abortion nationwide,” said Chris Taylor, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.

New evidence alleges Ethan Crumbley exhibited more warning signs ahead of school shooting

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(OXFORD, Mich.) — New evidence uncovered during discovery of the case of Ethan Crumbley allegedly shows that Oxford High School teachers and school officials failed to respond to warning signs exhibited by the accused school shooter in the months leading up to the November 2021 shooting, attorney Ven Johnson, who represents the victims and their families in a lawsuit, told reporters Thursday.

The evidence was allegedly uncovered as several lawsuits against the school, school officials, the school district, Crumbley and his parents have been filed. At least eight lawsuits accuse the school district and others of wrongdoing and failure to act in the months and days leading up to the shooting, despite teachers and counselors allegedly being aware of concerning behavior exhibited by the accused shooter.

Oakland County Circuit Judge Rae Lee Chabot ordered the release of evidence in June, including school surveillance footage from the shooting. District Court Judge Mark Goldsmith also enjoined coordinated discovery and other matters for eight civil lawsuits brought against the Oxford, Michigan, school and school officials.

Crumbley, who was a student at the school, is charged with 24 counts after he allegedly shot and killed four of his classmates on Nov. 30, 2021.

His parents, Jennifer and James Crumbley, are charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter after allegedly failing to recognize warning signs about their son in the months before the shooting.

All three Crumbleys have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Johnson, in a press conference Thursday, said new details were revealed after deposing teachers and school employees who had direct contact with the accused shooter prior to the Nov. 30 shooting, including email correspondence between school employees and several instances where Crumbley’s concerning behavior was not addressed.

Evidence allegedly uncovered included a school assignment submitted by Crumbley in late August 2021 on which he drew what Johnson alleged might be a magazine full of bullets, or a building. In sworn testimony, the teacher who discovered this drawing alleged she only saw the drawing on Nov. 29, just one day before the shooting.

In another instance, a Sept. 8 email from a Spanish teacher to the school’s counselor discusses a school assignment in which Crumbley allegedly wrote that he feels “terrible” and that his family “was a mistake,” Johnson said on Thursday.

Despite the school counselor being informed of this instance, the counselor allegedly never spoke to Crumbley, Johnson alleged.

Weeks later, a teacher sent an email to the school counselor on Nov. 10 raising concerns about Crumbley, saying he is having a rough time and that he may need to speak to the counselor, Johnson alleged.

The counselor testified in his deposition that he went down to Crumbley’s classroom and asked him to step out into the hallway. The counselor then allegedly told Crumbley that if he is having a tough time, the counselor was available to speak with him. Crumbley allegedly responded “okay,” according to Johnson.

Johnson criticized the counselor’s actions, saying more needed to be done and that the counselor needed to follow up with Crumbley, considering this was the second time concerning behavior had been flagged to the counselor. According to Johnson, another email uncovered was sent from a teacher to the dean of students and another school official, telling them that Crumbley was seen in class looking at photos of bullets on his cell phone. The teacher then looked at some of Crumbley’s previous work completed earlier in the year and said it “leans a bit toward the violent side,” Johnson alleges the email said.

The parents of Tate Myre, Justin Shilling and Keegan Gregory, all victims of the shooting, were present at the press conference with Johnson and criticized the school board’s lack of transparency in the months after the shooting, saying its members should resign. Its president resigned last week after receiving months of backlash.

The school board had declined several offers from the state attorney general to investigate the shooting, saying it will launch a third-party investigation as soon as litigation in civil suits brought against the district conclude.

Separately, a Michigan judge ruled Thursday that Ethan Crumbley will remain in Oakland County Jail for adults, as part of monthly procedural hearing. Crumbley’s trial was initially scheduled to begin in September, but was pushed to January 2023.

Attorneys for the Oxford Community School District did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

9-year-old boy seriously injured in bear attack while hunting in Alaska: Troopers

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PALMER, Alaska) — Two people, including a 9-year-old boy, were injured in a bear attack while hunting in Alaska, authorities said.

The child suffered serious injuries, while a man sustained minor injuries, Alaska State Troopers said.

The incident occurred Tuesday around 6:30 p.m. local time near Palmer, located about 40 miles northeast of Anchorage, police said.

The pair, who are related, were hunting moose in the Palmer Hay Flats area, a state game refuge, Alaska State Troopers spokesperson Austin McDaniel told ABC News. Troopers did not specify their relationship.

They came upon a brown bear that then mauled the child, troopers said. The man shot and killed the bear during the attack, police said.

Troopers and EMS responding to the scene following reports of a bear attack found the two victims, who were taken to a hospital in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley area, troopers said.

McDaniel said the last report he received had the child listed in “fair condition.”

The brown bear was with a cub at the time of the attack. The Alaska Wildlife Troopers and Alaska Department of Fish and Game were unable to locate a cub in the area after ground and aerial searches, McDaniel said.

House Democrats notch legislative victory on policing before the midterms

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — House Democrats on Thursday managed to chalk up another major legislative win before the midterm elections, approving a long-delayed package of changes to policing and public safety.

Moderate and progressive Democrats hammered out a deal on Wednesday after frenetic negotiations — and on one of the House’s last working days before entering a recess that will stretch past the November races.

This new package of bills would fund recruitment and training for police departments across the country and includes new language on police accountability.

The House narrowly cleared a procedural vote on Thursday after a standstill on the floor after some progressive Democrats objected to terms of the deal. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., voted “present” so her vote wouldn’t count against Democrats in a planned move, which resulted in a 216-215-1 vote.

Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, one of of the key negotiators of the package, told reporters they had to make some last-minute updates to one of the pieces of legislation.

“There’s a lot of process, conversations that had to be had to be engaged in,” Omar said. “But we were ultimately hopefully successful. And I’m really proud of everyone for devoting as much energy to making sure our colleagues are able to pass their legislation.”

The four bills passed by slightly wider margins later Thursday afternoon. The package now heads to the Senate, where its fate is unclear.

To address mental health crises, one of the bills, sponsored by California Rep. Katie Porter, would create a grant program for departments to hire and dispatch mental health professionals — not law enforcement officers — in instances involving individuals with behavioral health needs.

The package also includes a bill from Nevada Rep. Steven Horsford that would direct the Justice Department to establish a grant program for local agencies to hire detectives and victim services personnel to investigate shootings.

The legislation targets funding to smaller police departments with fewer than 200 officers; gives the DOJ the ability to preference applicants that use the funds for officer training to improve community safety and accountability; and allows the funding to not only go to officer pay and training but also be used for data collection regarding police and community safety.

Progressives have said they were particularly concerned about providing more grants and funds to police departments without including requirements on accountability for officers’ actions.

Moderates have long insisted on bringing forth public safety bills as a way to fire back at Republican attacks that blame Democrats for rising crime. Polls show some key Senate races tightening, with GOP candidates pressing their opponents on the issue — often citing advocates’ “defund the police” slogan, despite Democratic leaders rejecting such messages.

While Republicans seek to paint Democrats as soft on crime, President Joe Biden has slammed members of the GOP both for denouncing federal law enforcement after an FBI search of former President Donald Trump’s residence last month and for expressing support for those who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Biden and Democrats pushed in the 2020 cycle for broader policing reform, including changes to the standard to prosecute police misconduct and qualified immunity, after the murder of George Floyd by a police officer in Minneapolis.

But Senate Democrats ultimately failed to overcome Republican opposition to a major piece of legislation named after Floyd. Instead, Biden signed two smaller executive orders on policing earlier this year, on the second anniversary of Floyd’s death.

Omar, who represents the district in Minnesota where Floyd was killed, was one of the harshest critics of the ongoing police reform efforts but gave her approval on Wednesday.

The package, she said, is “evidence-based, holistic legislation that addresses public safety and unifies the Democratic Caucus.”

“After significant, deliberate negotiations, we are pleased to share that … the bill will include a number of reforms to ensure funds are used to support smaller police departments, to invest in de-escalation and other important training, and for data collection and mental health,” Omar and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a joint statement.

One aspect of Trump, DOJ saga ‘a frolic and a detour,’ former federal prosecutor says

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — In another twist in the case against former President Donald Trump, who has been accused of keeping classified government material at his Mar-a-Lago estate, a panel of judges on the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Wednesday gave the Justice Department the OK to continue their investigation into the documents.

The panel also said the Justice Department no longer has to submit those materials to special master Raymond Dearie for his review.

ABC News contributor and former federal prosecutor Kan Nawaday spoke with ABC News Live Prime to discuss the significance of the court order.

ABC NEWS LIVE: This feels significant.

KAN NAWADAY: It is significant, but in my mind not surprising. What was really significant was the fact that the district court judge enjoined the DOJ from using documents in an ongoing criminal investigation. It’s basically following the law. So they’re basically doing frankly what the district court should have done below.

ABC NEWS LIVE: What does this mean now as far as the special master is appointed? It seems like that’s a moot point now.

NAWADAY: It is with respect to the classified documents. That whole special master thing with classified documents, that was a frolic and a detour.

ABC NEWS LIVE: At this point do you expect Trump’s team will appeal this decision?

NAWADAY: I think they will. I think they have shown they will litigate every point at every stage and take every opportunity they can.

I can see them trying to get an en banc hearing, meaning all of the judges in the 11th Circuit to decide on this. So I think they’re going to fight.

ABC NEWS LIVE: It seems the special master seems a little skeptical. They’re saying it feels like Trump’s lawyers are not providing enough significant or any documentation to suggest that Trump needed or declassified these documents.

NAWADAY: Exactly. They never did. They never did it before the district court, which is why everyone was surprised. Why is the district court having a special master to look into this? The special master said the same thing: ‘Wait, there’s no evidence that there was any declassification or any need.’ And now the 11th Circuit has found the same thing.

ABC NEWS LIVE: And let’s talk about Ginni Thomas, also a new development here. [She’s] the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. She’s now agreeing to voluntarily talk to the Jan. 6 committee.

NAWADAY: I think that is significant. She’s not making the Jan. 6 committee subpoena her. And we’ll see maybe one day what her testimony is. I think down the line, the fact that she is testifying, and is potentially a fact witness may have implications for Justice Thomas with respect for any case that ever goes up to the Supreme Court that may involve the testimony of his wife.

CDC director weighs in on whether pandemic is over, says bivalent COVID shot is ‘critically important’

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky became the latest American to receive the new bivalent COVID-19 booster shot on Thursday, telling ABC News that, thus far, “millions” of Americans have now gotten an updated vaccine.

“There have been millions,” Walensky said ahead of the CDC’s official release of the data.

Walensky, after receiving her shot of Moderna’s bivalent booster at a CVS location in Brookline, Massachusetts, urged others to join her in getting the vaccine, stressing that it is critical to get vaccinated ahead of the fall and winter, in order to prevent severe disease.

“I’m here getting my updated fall vaccine because I think it’s critically important to do,” Walensky said.

“All the data from this new bivalent vaccine have demonstrated that it will protect you against — more likely protect you — against the strains that we have circulating right now, those Omicron BA.5 strains, as well as keep you well protected, because we’ve seen that some of that protection can wane over time. So, we are really encouraging everybody to roll up their sleeves and get this updated bivalent vaccine,” she said.

In recent months, vaccination and booster uptake has slowed significantly, with fewer Americans willing to get their shots. As of Sept. 14, approximately 109.2 million Americans have received their first booster — representing less than 50% of those who have been fully vaccinated.

Walensky reiterated that she is still strongly encouraging parents to get their children vaccinated and boosted.

“We will wait to see what the FDA says about an updated booster vaccine for 5- to 11-year-olds, and we’ll make some decisions soon thereafter,” she said.

On the heels of President Joe Biden’s remarks during his appearance on CBS’ “60 Minutes” on Sunday, when he stated that “the pandemic is over,” Walensky said that the U.S. is certainly in a “very different place” than one or two years ago, thanks to prior vaccination coverage.

Walensky was reluctant to directly agree with the president’s assertion that “the pandemic is over,” but with hospitalization and case rates falling, and vaccines and treatments available, “we’re in a different place,” she said.

However, Walensky noted that even though there are currently fewer Americans dying from the virus on a daily basis, hundreds of Americans are still dying of COVID-19 every day — a fatality rate that remains too high.

Although reported COVID-19 infection rates have remained stable in recent weeks, there are preliminary indicators that the presence of COVID-19 in wastewater levels has increased in some parts of the country. In the greater Boston area, where Walensky received her shot, viral sampling in local wastewater has reached its highest level since July.

Ahead of the fall, the CDC is also closely monitoring the genomic surveillance to surveille the potential emergence of any new variants of concern.

“We will be ready to step up to the plate,” Walensky said, adding that the vaccines will “hopefully not” have to be amended.

“We’ve seen time and time again is [that] our vaccines are working pretty well against severe disease, hospitalization and death, even when variants emerge, which is why it’s so very important to go ahead and get your updated vaccine now,” she said.

There are also growing concerns among health officials over the potential of a severe influenza season, prompting Walensky to remind Americans to “protect yourself” now, in order to “prevent getting sick in the future,” by also getting a flu shot in addition to the new COVID-19 booster.

“We know over the last several years is some people did not elect to get their flu shot,” Walensky explained. “We’ve had decreased rates of flu over the last several years and probably due to many of the mitigation strategies that we have in place for COVID. When that happens, we have decreased levels of population immunity, which raises the concern that the next year, you might have a higher, larger flu challenge. We can’t predict what a flu season will look like, but we have concerns.”

Iranian women drive protests targeting regime after suspicious death of Mahsa Amini

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(TEHRAN, IRAN) — While Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi was holding up Gen. Qassim Soleimani’s photo on Wednesday at the United Nations General Assembly podium grieving over his killing by the U.S., Soleimani’s picture was being torn down in his home city of Kerman and set on fire by protestors.

Protests against the Iranian regime started across the country last Friday following the suspicious death of a young woman was arrested and detained for allegedly wearing a hijab improperly by hijab police three days earlier.

Mahsa Amini, 22, was on a trip to Tehran with her 16-year-old brother when the hijab police, also called the “morality police,” arrested her for not wearing the outfit that fully matched the Sharia-based hijab laws of the country. Despite her brother’s resistance, she was taken into custody only to be announced dead at a hospital three days later, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency

The head of the Forensic Medicine of Tehran said Amini was suffering from a background condition. Her father denied those claims in an interview with the BBC.

With the news of Amini’s arrest going viral, criticism against hijab laws and the confrontation of the morality police against women intensified on social media.

Protests soon developed beyond the morality police after her death and addressed a long list of the Islamic Republic’s actions over the past four decades.

The first big protests broke out on Sept. 17 during Amini’s funeral in Saqqez, her home city in northwest Iran.

Pictures of the burial protests went viral. The hashtag #MahsaAmini and her name in Farsi got 18 million mentions on Twitter and about 150 million on TikTok, making it the biggest trend on Persian Twitter, BBC Persian reported Thursday.

Amjad Amini, Mahsa Amini’s father, said Tuesday in an interview with Iranian news website Emtedad that the police did not let the family see Mahsa Amini’s body. Only he could briefly check her daughter’s legs and saw they were bruised.

“The person who hit my daughter should be put on trial in a public court,” Amjad Amini told the outlet.

While the news program of Iran’s state-run TV announced Thursday that 17 people had been killed in the protests, the Iran Human Rights group, IRH, reported that at least 31 killed had been killed through Thursday.

Videos shared on social media from the protestors show many women burning their headscarves on the streets. Many celebrities have removed their hijab and shared the clips on social media.

In an act of solidarity, many men and women from different countries have also shared videos of themselves cutting their hair short and expressing their anger over Mahsa Amini’s death.

President Joe Biden said America supports the growing protests in his address to the U.N. on Wednesday.

“Today we stand with the brave citizens and women in Iran who right now are demonstrating to secure their basic rights,” Biden said.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control designated Iran’s morality police “for abuse and violence against Iranian women and the violation of the rights of peaceful Iranian protestors.”

“Mahsa Amini was a courageous woman whose death in Morality Police custody was yet another act of brutality by the Iranian regime’s security forces against its own people,” Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen said in a statement Thursday. “We condemn this unconscionable act in the strongest terms and call on the Iranian government to end its violence against women and its ongoing violent crackdown on free expression and assembly.”

However, to many Iranians, western countries who negotiate with the Islamic Republic over the nuclear deal are giving the country a chance to buy time and continue its oppression, such words and moves are “too little, too late.”

“I have given up hope from the West. They have proved they only care about the nuclear program not the human rights,” Nina, a 35-year-old protestor, told ABC News. Nina did not want her real name mentioned for safety reasons.

“All I want from people in the West is not to forget us, especially now that the internet is either cut or very slow,” Nina added. “Seeing the people in the world hear and celebrities help us to be heard makes up keep up our spirit.”

Sarah, 39, a protester from Tehran, said there is a huge “mix of anger, hope and fear” in the protests. “But no matter what, we will stay on the streets,” she said.

Referring to the main slogans of the protests in different cities, “woman, life, freedom,” and “death to dictator,” Sarah, who is also not using her real name over fears for her safety, said the movement does not merely address restrictions on women.

“Slogans target the very bases of the regime. They address the leader himself calling him a ‘shame’ to the country,” she said. ‘What matters the most is that these slogans are heard by the world.’

While the Internet was throttled from the beginning of the protests, it was cut or severely slowed down in the country on Wednesday, according to NetBlocks. In addition, WhatsApp and Instagram –the last social media outlets that were still accessible in Iran– were filtered in an attempt by the regime to restrict the circulation of information even more severely.

“Our anger is definitely overgrowing their power,” Sarah said. “I hope people in different countries recognize this anger and their government joins them and stop negotiating with this regime.”

Record flooding, drought part of range of weather extremes in US this summer

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has released its 2022 Summer Climate Report, which outlines the extreme weather events from June to August in the U.S.

The report also describes where this year ranked compared to previous summers, using data from dozens of weather stations in each state.

US record temperatures

The summer of 2022 ranks third-warmest on record, with an average temperature across the contiguous United States at 73.9 degrees, according to the report. That’s 2.5 degrees above average, coming in only 0.01 degrees behind 1936 (when the dust bowl was in full swing) for the No. 2 spot. The hottest summer on record was in 2021.

It wasn’t just the highs that were sweltering, it was often the lows. The average minimum temperature across the country hit a record of 62.3 degrees this August, meaning there wasn’t much relief during the overnight hours. Houston broke several records for warmest low temperature, only bottoming out at 86 degrees after reaching highs above 100 degrees on multiple occasions. Without any cooler temperatures at night, the cumulative heat can be dangerous.

Heat is the No. 1 weather-related cause of death each year, and communities have recently taken it more seriously by opening cooling shelters to those most at-risk during heat waves.

Rainfall

While some parts of the country suffered from serious to exceptional drought, others dealt with major flooding. Taking the whole country into account, the precipitation turned out average, but how much rain you saw heavily depended on which region you were in. For example, Arizona had its seventh wettest summer, while Nebraska came in at third driest, according to NOAA.

Monsoon season in the Southwest is a typical occurrence during the summer months, but it started earlier than normal this year and brought flash floods to highly populated areas at times. Las Vegas experienced major flooding across the city in late July and again in early August, flooding casinos and leaving two dead.

August also brought a relentless surge of rainfall to northern Louisiana and Mississippi.

The several-day deluge caused major flash flooding in Jackson, Mississippi, where cars were submerged and people were left standing on their roofs waiting for rescue. More than 153,000 residents didn’t have clean drinking water for weeks after the water treatment facility went offline in the flood.

1,000-year floods

A 1,000-year rainfall event means that there is a 1 in 1,000 chance that a flood of that magnitude will occur in any given year. Three such events happened in August.

On Aug. 2, southern Illinois picked up a foot of rain in only 12 hours. Near Newtown, Illinois, an incredible 14 inches fell in those 12 hours, according to the National Weather Service.

Death Valley isn’t known for its rainfall, but on Aug. 5, the National Park was drenched with 1.70 inches of rain, leading to damaging flooding and trapped visitors. That rainfall broke a record that had stood for more than 34 years.

Then, on the morning of Aug. 22, the rain began in Dallas and didn’t stop. Hefty downpours led to catastrophic flooding across the city, with many nearby towns recording more than a foot of rainfall.

The governor declared a disaster for 23 counties in Texas due to the rainfall. Although it was destructive for many, it was bittersweet because it helped alleviate the exceptional drought that plagued that area for months. Water reservoirs rose significantly after being at record low levels just a week before, and the U.S. Drought Monitor noted major improvement in its update following the flood event.

Drought

Even though there were several drought-busting rain events across the country, the U.S. finished up the summer with 45.5% of its land mass in drought conditions, the NOAA report said.

The northeast was one region that saw the drought ramp up during the summer months. Lawns that were a healthy shade of green in May were crunchy and yellow by August, as the rain stayed away for weeks. As a result, Massachusetts saw extreme drought spread across the eastern half of the state, and severe drought expanded to Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

Meanwhile, the intense drought set the stage for a supercharged wildfire season in the west. Gusty winds helped easily spread these fires that had no resistance from the weather.

Tropics

In the tropical Atlantic, there was only one word to describe the situation: quiet. From July 3 to Sept. 1, there were no named storms in the Atlantic basin. That stretch of 60 days was the longest stormless stretch since 1941, according to the National Hurricane Center.

In September, the tropics began to heat up. Several named storms formed right around the historical peak of hurricane season in the Atlantic. The strongest of which was Hurricane Fiona, which peaked as a Category 4 storm after dropping catastrophic rainfall on Puerto Rico.

Roasting in Europe

Across the pond, records were just as prevalent as they were in America this summer. Europe experienced its hottest summer on record, with several countries roasting in a mid-summer heat wave that shattered long-standing records. It peaked on July 19, when dozens of weather stations across the U.K. topped 100 degrees. London soared to an incredible 104 degrees that day, according to the U.K. Met Office.

Around the world

Globally, the June-August period tied for the fifth warmest in the 143 years of records.

“The five warmest June-August periods on record have occurred since 2015,” according to NOAA,

Both hemispheres came in above average, and while June-August is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures were not nearly as cold as they typically are. Antarctic sea ice during that time frame ended up at record low levels, according to climate scientists at NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Lab.

In terms of rain, Pakistan dealt with some of the worst floods in recent history. Extreme monsoon rainfall in August is estimated to have killed more than 1,500 people and destroyed more than 1.7 million homes.

Connection to climate change

While not every weather event can be attributed to climate change, some are undoubtedly enhanced by our warming world, as explained in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2022 Assessment.

An example of this is the extreme flooding rain events. With ocean temperatures significantly higher than average, there is more moisture in the air due to evaporation. Also, higher temperatures can hold more water content, so the likelihood of heavy rain events rises with the temperature.

Women affected disproportionately by Russia-Ukraine war: UN report

September 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(UKRAINE) — Woman and girls in Ukraine and around the world have suffered disproportionately as the men of the country fight against the invasion by Russia, a new report by the United Nations has found.

The policy paper, published as the U.N. Security Council meets to discuss the war in Ukraine, reveals how the war and its global impacts on food, energy and finance have caused women in Ukraine and globally to suffer numerous hardships.

The report states that 265,000 Ukrainian women who were pregnant when the war broke out in February either had to flee or give birth in a time of conflict.

It also highlights how the crisis in Europe is exacerbating existing inequalities around the world, especially surrounding the scarcity of food.

The war-induced food price hikes and shortages have widened the global gender gap in food insecurity, the report shows. Many women have even reduced their own food intake to provide for other household members.

The report states that spiraling energy prices have caused families to return to using less clean fuels and technologies, exposing women and girls to household air pollution, which already kills 3.2 million people per year — the majority of whom are women and children.

Women-headed households in Ukraine were already more food insecure prior to the war, with 37.5% experiencing moderate or severe levels of food insecurity, compared to 20.5% of male-headed households, according to the report.

The fate of women in rural territories occupied by the Russian military remains dire. The women are increasingly unable to perform agricultural work due to high insecurity and lack of resources, but they continue to rise to the challenge of accommodating and feeding internally displaced people, which then multiples their unpaid care and domestic work responsibilities, according to the report.

In addition, school-aged girls are even more at risk of being obliged to drop out of school to get married for dowry or bride-price income for desperate families, officials stated. The report shows that there are alarming increases in gender-based violence, transactional sex for food and survival, sexual exploitation and trafficking, and early child marriage and forced marriage as a result of these worsened living conditions in conflict, crisis and humanitarian contexts worldwide.

“Systemic, gendered crises require systemic, gendered solutions,” Sima Sami Bahous, the executive director of U.N.-Women, said in a statement. “That means ensuring that women and girls, including from marginalized groups, are part of all the decision-making processes. That is simply the only way to be certain that their rights and needs are fully taken into account as we respond to the clear facts before us.”

The policy brief calls for solutions from the international community to prioritize women’s and girls’ voice agency, participation and leadership in conflict response, recovery and peacebuilding as well as to enhance gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data to build the evidence base for gender-responsive policy.

The U.N. also recommended that international communities promote and protect the right to food by targeting the specific nutrition needs of women and girls and accelerate the transformation towards more equitable, gender-responsive and sustainable food systems, equitable access to access to inputs, technologies and markets by women.

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