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Monkeypox now reported in all 50 states

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Monkeypox has now been detected in all 50 states, health officials revealed.

Wyoming became the final state to report a case of the disease on Monday.

The Wyoming Department of Health announced the case in an adult male in Laramie County, which includes the capital of Cheyenne.

Public health representatives are currently working with the positive individual, to see if additional residents are at higher risk of contracting monkeypox, because of potential direct contact.

“Because monkeypox spreads through close, intimate contact we do not believe the risk for the virus is now a higher concern for the local community or for most people in Wyoming,” Wyoming Health Department state health officer and state epidemiologist Dr. Alexia Harrist said in a statement. said. “Monkeypox does not spread easily like familiar viruses such as influenza or COVID-19.”

Since the first case was announced in a Massachusetts patient in mid-May, more than 14,100 infections have been reported across the country as of Monday, CDC data shows.

New York currently has the most infections with more than 2,700, followed by California, Florida, Texas and Georgia, respectively, CDC data shows.

Over the last month, the daily number of reported cases has increased exponentially from 97 per day one month ago to more than 1,300 per day as of Aug. 10, according to the federal health agency.

Most of the cases in this outbreak have occurred during intimate skin-to-skin contact among men who have sex with men, a group that includes people who identify as gay, bisexual, transgender and nonbinary.

However, the CDC has stressed there is no evidence monkeypox is a sexually transmitted disease and that anyone can be infected through close prolonged contact.

At least five pediatric cases have been reported and at least one case has been reported among a pregnant woman.

While it is also possible to be infected with monkeypox by touching the clothes, sheets or towels of an infected patient or from prolonged face-to-face contact through respiratory droplets, the CDC says most documented transmission has not occurred from either of these two methods.

Two weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency, which officials stated will help with the distribution of treatments and vaccines.

Public health officials urge anyone exposed to monkeypox or thinks that they have been exposed to receive the Jynneos vaccine, which is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for both smallpox and monkeypox.

As of Aug. 9, more than 620,000 vaccine doses have been shopped and an additional 1.1 million are available to order, according to the HHS.

The CDC says the best way to lower one’s risk of infection is to limit skin-to-skin contact with people whose monkeypox status is unknown, wipe down “high-touch surfaces” their skin may touch and for people to avoid touching their skin or eyes with their hands after coming into contact with a shared surface.

ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

US discourages Dennis Rodman from traveling to Russia to help detained WNBA star Brittney Griner

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. government on Monday strongly discouraged former NBA player Dennis Rodman from traveling to Russia to help secure the release of detained WNBA star Brittney Griner.

Rodman, a five-time NBA champion, announced that he plans to travel to Russia in comments he made to NBC News while dining at a restaurant in Washington, D.C.

“I got permission to go to Russia to help that girl,” Rodman reportedly told NBC News. “I’m trying to go this week.”

Griner, who has been detained in Russia since Feb. 17, was found guilty on drug charges earlier this month and was sentenced to nine years in prison after vape cartridges containing hashish oil — an illegal substance in Russia — were discovered in her luggage at the airport.

A State Department spokesperson told ABC News during a press briefing on Monday that if Rodman does travel to Russia, “he would not be traveling on behalf of the U.S. government.”

“We believe that anything other than negotiating further through the established channel is likely to complicate and hinder those release efforts,” Price added.

ABC News has reached out to representatives of Rodman for comment.

Rodman has previously sought to make an impact on U.S. foreign policy as an informal diplomat of sorts amid heated U.S. relations with North Korea.

Rodman traveled to Singapore in June 2018 ahead of then-President Donald Trump’s historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who is a big Chicago Bulls fan.

Although Rodman did not meet with the dictator, whom he said he considers a “friend,” he was one of a few westerners who had met with him in Pyongyang in the past.

Rodman doesn’t need permission from the U.S. to travel to Russia but requires a visa from Moscow to travel to the country.

However, the State Department is strongly discouraging American citizens from traveling to Russia amid the war in Ukraine, issuing a “Level 4-Do Not Travel” advisory that was most recently updated on Aug. 15.

“We’ve also provided very clear guidance to American citizens — owing to a number of threats, not the least of which is the threat of wrongful detention — that Americans should not travel to Russia,” Price said on Monday. “That has been our message to private Americans across the board.”

Price’s warning came after a senior Biden administration official discouraged Rodman from traveling to Russia in a statement provided to ABC News on Sunday, referencing the U.S. travel advisory.

At her trial, which began in July, Griner said she was guilty of drug charges and said that she didn’t intend to break Russian law, but that the cartridges were left in her bag by accident.

The U.S. classified Griner’s case as “wrongfully detained” in Russia on May and the Biden administration has been working to negotiate the WNBA star’s release, as well as the release of U.S. citizen Paul Whelan, who has been detained in Russia since 2019.

On July 29, Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that he had a “frank and direct conversation” with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov about a U.S. proposal to exchange convicted arms dealer Viktor Bout in return for Griner and Whelan.

Earlier this month, Russian officials confirmed that those talks have taken place.

Asked about the status of the negotiations, Price said that U.S. interests are “best served if these discussions take place in private,” but stressed that this “something we continue to work with the utmost urgency.”

“I said last week that we had engaged in discussions with Russian counterparts on this. Those discussions are ongoing,” Price added. “We’ve made very clear, as we have publicly, that we proposed a substantial proposal, we called it, for the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.”

ABC News’ Tanya Stukalova contributed to this report.

Tourist minibus plunges off cliff in Peru killing 4, injuring 16 others

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — A tourist bus fell off a cliff in Peru on Sunday night, killing four people and injuring 16, authorities said.

The bus was traveling in the Abra Málaga sector on the Cusco-Quillabamba road network when it plunged 328 feet around 7 p.m. local time, Peru’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism said.

Three Colombians and one Peruvian were among the dead, according to the ministry. No U.S. citizens were injured in the wreck.

People injured in the crash are from Canada, Israel, France, Argentina, Greece, Peru, Spain and the Netherlands, the ministry said, adding that one Canadian is in the intensive care unit.

Those who were injured were transported to two clinics in Cusco, Peru. Peruvian President Pedro Castillo Terrones said they’re monitoring their condition.

The National Police of Peru is investigating what caused the crash, the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Tourism said in a news release.

Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy shot, killed while serving order

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A sheriff’s deputy has died after being shot while serving a lockout order at a home, the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office said Monday.

One deputy was shot and a second deputy was hit while trying to get the first out of the way of gunfire, an emotional Sheriff Tommie Johnson III said during a press conference.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office identified Sgt. Bobby Swartz as the officer who was killed.

“Today, the Oklahoma County Sheriffs Office mourns the loss of a good man. Two of our deputies were shot while serving a lock out order. One deputy succumbed to his injuries; the other is in stable condition. We plan to release more details soon. Until then please keep us in your prayers,” the sheriff’s office wrote on Facebook.

The suspect took off on a pursuit and was taken into custody at the entrance of Tinker Air Force Base.

The other deputy is in the hospital and sustained serious injuries.

ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman and Teddy Grant contributed to this report.

Man charged in three Albuquerque killings has domestic violence history, police say

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ALBUQUERQUE, N.M) — The man charged in the killings of at least three of the four Muslim men killed in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in recent months has a history of arrests for domestic violence, police said.

Muhammad Syed, 51, is charged with murder in the shooting deaths of 25-year-old Naeem Hussain on Aug. 5, 41-year-old Aftab Hussein on July 26 and now the Aug. 1 murder of Muhammad Afzaal Hussain, according to the Albuquerque Police Department. Syed denied being involved in the deaths of the men after he was arrested, according to police.

Investigators said they are working with the district attorney’s office on potential charges for the murder of the other man who was killed within months of the others.

Mohammad Ahmadi, 62, was killed last November outside a business he ran with his brother, police said.

The victims of the shootings in August and July were from Pakistan. Ahmadi was from Afghanistan.

Syed moved to the U.S. from Afghanistan several years ago and has since been arrested at least twice on misdemeanor domestic violence charges, police said.

According to a criminal complaint from May 2018, Syed and his wife had an argument that turned physical while in a state Department of Human Services office.

Syed claimed his wife slapped him while they were arguing in the car and kicked him while in the waiting room of the office, the complaint says. His wife told police Syed pulled her by the hair and kicked her out of the vehicle, forcing her to walk for almost two hours to the office. When she arrived, the argument continued and she claimed Syed grabbed her by the hair and threw her to the ground, according to the complaint.

An employee at the office told police that she found Syed’s wife on the floor with a large piece of hair that had fallen to the ground, the complaint says. Employees stated that Syed arrived about an hour and a half before his wife arrived, according to the complaint.

He was placed under arrest for battery on a household member, but his wife did not want to pursue charges or participate in prosecution, which led to the dismissal of the case, according to a spokesperson from the Office of the Second Judicial District Attorney.

In December 2018, Syed’s son called officers to the home, and claimed that the father was “striking” the mother and son, according to a criminal complaint. The son had locked himself in his room after the son had been hit by his father with a metal spoon, which drew blood on the back of his head, the complaint says.

The son advised officers that Syed had routinely beaten him and his mother in the past. Syed denied any violence, the criminal complaint showed. Victims were again unwilling to pursue charges or cooperate with police.

An attorney for Syed did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

The string of slayings had left Muslim communities across the country shaken.

“I hope that our community can breathe a sigh of relief and be assured about safety and security that our main suspect has been put behind bars and that’s where he belongs,” Nihad Awad, the national executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said at a press conference Aug. 10.

Donald Trump files motion for special master to review items seized in Mar-a-Lago raid

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WEST PALM BEACH, Fla.) — Former President Donald Trump filed a motion in federal court in Florida on Monday seeking the appointment of a special master to review materials seized by the Justice Department from his Mar-a-Lago estate in a raid earlier this month.

The motion from Trump seeks an injunction that would bar the government from any further review of the seized materials until the appointment of a special master, and also requests a “more detailed” receipt from the government of items that were seized.

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

One death, hundreds of car crashes reported as three months’ worth of rain slams Dallas

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(DALLAS) — Officials have announced one fatality after three months’ worth of rain pounded the Dallas area overnight.

A 60-year-old woman was killed when her vehicle was swept away by flood waters, Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins announced on Twitter Monday afternoon.

Clay did not release the woman’s identity.

Eastern Dallas saw a whopping 15.16 inches of rainfall — a one-in-a-thousand-year flood.

During an average summer, Dallas sees a total of 8 inches of rain.

At one point overnight, the rainfall rate climbed to 3 inches per hour, forcing drivers to abandon their cars on roads.

The Fort Worth Fire Department said it responded to 133 high water calls. Dallas Fire-Rescue said it responded to 186 high water incidents and 314 car crashes.

Jenkins declared a state of disaster in the county Monday night.

“Based on preliminary damage assessments, I am declaring a state of disaster in Dallas County and requesting state and federal assistance for affected individuals,” Jenkins tweeted.

This comes after the Dallas area faced an exceptional drought, the highest category assigned by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The rain is now shifting east and will reach eastern Texas, northern Louisiana and central Mississippi by Monday evening.

Louisiana and Mississippi are forecast to get hit with 6 inches of rain in just one or two days, which could cause flooding Tuesday and Wednesday.

ABC News’ Kenton Gewecke and Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.

Attorney for Parkland shooter Nikolas Cruz attorney presents case to jury

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(PARKLAND, Fla.) — The attorney for Parkland school shooter Nikolas Cruz presented her opening statement to the jury on Monday, arguing for Cruz’s life to be spared during the penalty phase of his trial.

The jury will determine if Cruz will be sentenced to death for shooting and killing 14 students and three staff members at his former South Florida school, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, on Feb. 14, 2018. The jury’s decision must be unanimous for the death penalty. Cruz pleaded guilty last year to 17 counts of first-degree murder and 17 counts of attempted first-degree murder.

Defense attorney said in her opening statement that Cruz is responsible for the massacre, adding that “there is no defense to these crimes.”

However, she said, “We must understand the person behind the crime.”

“Some people say that the crime itself is enough to impose sentence. You are not those people. Those people that said the sentence can be imposed based solely on the crime were excused [during jury selection],” she told the jurors. “Each one of you said that life without the possibility of parole could be a severe enough punishment for those crimes.”

McNeill alleged that Cruz suffered lifelong developmental delays that traced back to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.

Cruz’s birth mother was a drug and alcohol addict who drank and used drugs up until six weeks before Cruz was born, McNeill said. Cruz was “poisoned in the womb” and his “brain was irretrievably broken,” she said.

Cruz was adopted at birth by Linda Cruz, a 48-year-old Parkland woman. Cruz’s adoptive father was 62 years old, McNeill said.

Nikolas Cruz saw a psychiatrist for the first time at age 3 and the doctor called him a challenging child, McNeill said.

The Broward County School Board classified Nikolas Cruz as “developmentally delayed in all areas” and said he had “a language impairment,” McNeill noted. The district classified him as an “ESE” student, or a special needs child, she said.

“We don’t excuse the horrific acts of damaged and wounded people — we punish them,” McNeill said. “But we take into consideration their damage when we impose sentence.”

Victims’ parents, including Fred Guttenberg and Max Schachter, sat in court as McNeill spoke.

In prosecutor Mike Satz’s opening statement last month, he described the shooting as a “planned, systematic … mass murder.”

Satz said, “Three days before the massacre, Cruz made a video saying, ‘My name is Nik. I’m going to be the next school shooter of 2018. My goal is at least 20 people with an AR-15 and some tracer rounds. It’s gonna be a big event and when you see me on the news you’ll know who I am. You’re all gonna die. … I can’t wait.'”

The victims’ families took the stand earlier this month to provide victim impact statements.

Dr. Ilan Alhadeff, whose 14-year-old daughter Alyssa was among the 17 killed, said a piece of his heart was “ripped out of my damn chest.”

“I get to watch my friends, my neighbors, colleagues, spend time enjoying their daughters, all the normal milestones,” he said. “I can only watch videos or go to the cemetery to see my daughter.”

“To me, it was yesterday,” Ilan Alhadeff said of his daughter’s death. “Alyssa will always be 14.”

Late-stage cervical cancer still on the rise despite ways to prevent, detect and treat early

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Cervical cancer is usually caused by human papillomavirus, a sexually transmitted infection so common nearly all sexually active men and women will get the virus in their lifetime, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Despite a widely available vaccine that prevents most types of HPV and available screening that allows early detection and treatment, rates of advanced cervical cancer have increased over the last two decades, according to a new study from the University of California Los Angeles.

The CDC reports that 13,000 new cases of cervical cancer are diagnosed annually in the U.S., taking 4,000 lives a year. Though advanced cervical cancer is a rare form of this disease, it has a five-year survival rate of only 17%.

Researchers at UCLA analyzed data from 2001 to 2018 using the United States Cancer Statistics program and showed that late-stage cervical cancer is more prevalent in Black and Hispanic women, compared to their white peers. White women, however, have seen the steepest annual rise in rates of this advanced cancer and the lowest rates of HPV vaccinations were found among white teens.

Specifically, white women in the South ages 40-44 have the highest rise in advanced cervical cancer rates (4.5%) per year and were also found to be significantly less likely to have cervical cancer screening done on time.

Dr. Jessica Shepherd, board-certified OBGYN and chief medical officer of Verywell Health, told ABC News these findings are “a bit shocking.” She pointed to the need for more cervical cancer screening and HPV vaccinations, saying men and women have a shared responsibility to get vaccinated and stop the spread of HPV.

“I think for women, you know, we are all in this together. Our goal really should be to fortify the health of every woman,” said Shepherd.

Two doses of the HPV vaccine separated by six to 12 months can be given to kids starting at age 9, long before encountering the virus, according to the CDC. Both safe and effective, HPV vaccines were first used in the U.S. in 2006. Since then, the CDC says infections and HPV types that cause genital warts and cancer have dropped 88%.

“Men are actually going to be very, a very big part of how that virus is transmitted and sexually transmitted. So, I think that they are a very big part of the vaccination process in order to decrease it across the board,” said Shepherd.

Women should have cervical cancer screening using a PAP test that is done in a clinical setting in routine intervals starting at age 21 that may be coupled with HPV testing, according to the CDC.

Shepherd added, “I believe that this is a moment where there should be a call to action to really drive the importance of regular screening, testing.”

Jade A Cobern, MD, board-eligible in pediatrics and MPH candidate, is a part of the ABC News Medical Unit and general preventive medicine resident at Johns Hopkins.

3 shot in ‘active situation’ in downtown Atlanta, suspect at large: Police

August 22, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — Three people have been shot in an “active situation” in Atlanta’s Midtown neighborhood, Atlanta police said.

Officers are searching for the shooter, police said.

Police advised residents to stay off the streets in Midtown, specifically near 12th Street and Peachtree Street NE and 15th Street and W. Peachtree Street NW.

Additional information was not immediately available.

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

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