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Russia-Ukraine live updates: US shared intel that helped Ukraine sink Russian ship

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation” into neighboring Ukraine began on Feb. 24, with Russian forces invading from Belarus, to the north, and Russia, to the east. Ukrainian troops have offered “stiff resistance,” according to U.S. officials.

The Russian military last month launched a full-scale ground offensive in eastern Ukraine’s disputed Donbas region, attempting to capture the strategic port city of Mariupol and to secure a coastal corridor to the Moscow-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

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

May 06, 8:28 am
Video shows explosions, smoke at Mariupol steel plant

Video circulating online shows explosions and smoke coming from the Azovstal Iron and Steel Works plant in Mariupol.

The footage was released Thursday by the Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian military that was among the units defending Mariupol and is holed up inside the Azovstal plant with others. In a statement alongside the video posted on Telegram, the group said that Russian forces were keeping the plant “under heavy fire,” using “aircraft, artillery and infantry.”

ABC News was unable to verify the date that the video was taken.

In recent days, Ukraine and Russia have offered conflicting accounts of what’s taking place at the Azovstal plant. Ukrainian fighters claimed that Russian forces started storming the plant this week, which Russia has denied and instead claimed that its troops have “securely blocked” the sprawling industrial site.

Hundreds of Ukrainian fighters and civilians are said to be trapped inside the Azovstal plant, the last pocket of resistance in Mariupol as Russian forces declare full control over the strategic Ukrainian port city.

May 06, 7:51 am
Russia says war in Ukraine is ‘going to plan’

Russia’s so-called special military operation in neighboring Ukraine is going according to plan, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

“The operation has been going to plan,” Peskov said during a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.

When asked about reports that Putin’s inner circle was not informed about the start of the operation, Peskov told reporters: “As you understand, naturally, information about the special military operation cannot be shared widely the day before it begins.”

“That is because, clearly, such classified information is always shared with a rather limited circle of persons. This is an absolutely normal practice,” he added. “The very essence of this operation does not imply that information about it will be shared widely.”

May 05, 10:49 pm
US shared intel with Ukraine that helped sink Russian flagship Moskva last month, officials say

The U.S. shared intelligence with Ukraine that helped it sink the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva, last month, according to two U.S. officials.

The Ukrainians, who have their own intelligence capabilities, had tracked the Moskva independently, though, and the U.S. did not provide “specific targeting information,” according to one of the officials.

“We did not provide Ukraine with specific targeting information for the Moskva. We were not involved in the Ukrainians’ decision to strike the ship or in the operation they carried out,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Thursday. “We had no prior knowledge of Ukraine’s intent to target the ship. The Ukrainians have their own intelligence capabilities to track and target Russian naval vessels, as they did in this case.”

The U.S. official also noted that: “We do provide a range of intelligence to help the Ukrainians understand the threat posed by Russian ships in the Black Sea and to help them prepare to defend against potential sea-based assaults. Many of the missiles fired at Ukraine have come from Russian ships in the Black Sea, and those ships could be used to support an assault on cities like Odesa.”

NBC News first reported this intel.

-ABC News’ Ben Gittleson

May 05, 9:05 pm
US ambassador to UN calls out countries for remaining neutral

Presiding over her first open meeting of the United Nations Security Council since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield implored representatives still clinging to neutrality to speak out against Russian aggression.

“The truth is well known. Russia is the only perpetrator of this war. So it’s hard to understand why some council members continue to call on all parties to desist,” Thomas-Greenfield said, calling out countries like Brazil, India, and to some extent — China.

“Let’s call a spade a spade. Members should call on Russia explicitly to stop its aggression against Ukraine,” she said.

Speaking in her capacity as the United States’ permanent representative and not as the temporary president of the council, Thomas-Greenfield lamented that Russian envoys had repeatedly used the body to spread disinformation.

“Three months ago, Russian representatives told this council they had no intention to invade Ukraine. Now, Russia claims the attacks aren’t real or never happened,” she said. “Russia even claims that Ukraine is attacking itself, that they bombed their own buildings, attacked their own people and assaulted their own democracy. These lies defy all logic, all evidence and common sense.”

-ABC News’ Shannon Crawford

Prince Harry, Meghan to bring kids to Queen Elizabeth’s jubilee celebration

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Prince Harry and Meghan plan to travel to the United Kingdom next month to attend the public celebrations for Queen Elizabeth’s Platinum Jubilee, a first for the couple since stepping down from their senior royal roles two years ago.

Harry and Meghan, the duke and duchess of Sussex, also plan to bring their children, 3-year-old Archie and 10-month-old Lilibet, a spokeswoman for the Sussexes confirmed Friday.

“Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are excited and honoured to attend The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations this June with their children,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to ABC News.

The trip will mark the first time the California-based family has traveled to the U.K. together.

Archie, who is celebrating his third birthday Friday, was born in the U.K. but has not traveled back there publicly with his parents since they moved to California in 2020.

Lilibet was born last June in Santa Barbara, California, making her the first senior royal baby born in the United States, and the first great-grandchild of the queen to be born outside of the United Kingdom.

The Sussexes’ attendance at The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebration in June will also mark Harry and Meghan’s first public, joint return to the U.K.

The couple made a private stop in the U.K. earlier this month to visit Queen Elizabeth, their first in-person visit with the queen together in two years.

The celebration of Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years on the throne will be a multi-day celebration that is scheduled to include, among other things, a public concert, a church service and the annual Trooping the Colour parade.

Because they are no longer senior working royals, Harry and Meghan will not be part of the traditional Buckingham Palace balcony appearance royal family members make during Trooping the Colour, according to a Buckingham Palace spokesperson.

Harry’s uncle, Prince Andrew, who in February agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit, will also not be present on the balcony as he is also no longer a senior working member of the royal family.

“After careful consideration, The Queen has decided this year’s traditional Trooping the Colour balcony appearance on Thursday 2nd June will be limited to Her Majesty and those Members of the Royal Family who are currently undertaking official public duties on behalf of The Queen,” a palace spokesperson said in a statement.

Among the royals who will join Queen Elizabeth on the balcony will be Harry’s father, Prince Charles, and his wife, Camilla, duchess of Cornwall, and Harry’s older brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate, duchess of Cambridge, and their three children, according to the palace.

Harry and Meghan’s return to the U.K. will undoubtedly put a spotlight on the tensions Harry has faced with his father and brother, whom he is known to have seen in-person only a few times since leaving his royal role.

When interviewed earlier this month while at the Invictus Games in the Netherlands, Harry did not answer a question about his relationship with his brother, William, and their father, Charles.

“He completely avoided the question. He changed the subject,” said ABC News royal contributor Victoria Murphy. “That really gives us a huge amount of insight into the fact that, clearly, significant bridges still need to be built there.”

Harry also raised questions and drew some backlash from the British press with his comments in the same interview about protecting the queen. The interview took place just a few days after he and Meghan visited her in the U.K.

When asked about his visit with the queen, Harry told NBC News, “Being with her, it was great. It was just so nice to see her. … She’s on great form.”

“I’m just making sure that she’s, you know, protected and got the right people around her,” said Harry, who described his relationship with his grandmother as “really special,” adding, “We talk about things that she can’t talk about with anybody else.”

The royal family has so far not issued any official response to Prince Harry’s comments.

What does the Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion mean for other rights?

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — With a leaked draft opinion revealing this week that the U.S. Supreme Court appears poised to overturn nearly 50 years of abortion rights precedent, Democrats and activists are sounding alarms that other rights not explicitly listed in the Constitution — but long-considered protected as implied rights of privacy — could be threatened next.

“If the rationale of the decision — as released — were to be sustained, a whole range of rights are in question — a whole range of rights,” President Joe Biden told reporters on Tuesday, offering his first public reaction to the document as the court confirmed its authenticity.

“If the right to privacy is weakened,” said Vice President Kamala Harris, “every person could face a future in which the government can potentially interfere in the personal decisions you make about your life.”

Their anxiety, legal experts told ABC News, is not only with Roe being overturned but in how it would be overturned — and whether the final opinion’s language and reasoning could set the stage for other unenumerated rights — those not directly listed in the Constitution — to be similarly sent back to be decided by the states.

While Justice Samuel Alito writes in the draft opinion that the court’s decision on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization concerns only abortion and does not extend to other rights, experts say his current justification for overturning Roe opens the door to imperil other long-standing liberties the court has upheld for decades.

Here’s what legal experts are saying about the draft text:

Alito’s ‘originalist’ approach

The Supreme Court grounded its 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade on the Fourteenth Amendment’s due process clause, which the court has said guarantees Americans an implicit “right to privacy,” though that phrase is not used in the Constitution.

Justice Harry Blackmun described the constitutional underpinnings of that right when authoring the opinion: “This right of privacy, whether it be founded in the Fourteenth Amendment’s concept of personal liberty and restrictions upon state action, as we feel it is, or, as the District Court determined, in the Ninth Amendment’s reservation of rights to the people, is broad enough to encompass a woman’s decision whether or not to terminate her pregnancy,” the 1973 decision read.

But Alito — rejecting stare decisis, the legal doctrine intended to bind courts to abide by past rulings, as it relates to abortion — called the court’s decision on Roe “egregiously wrong from the start.” Taking an originalist approach, he argues in the draft opinion obtained by Politico that there’s no explicit right to privacy, let alone the right to an abortion, in the Constitution.

“It held that the abortion right, which is not mentioned in the Constitution, is part of a right to privacy, which is also not mentioned,” Alito writes, calling the Roe decision “remarkably loose in its treatment of the constitutional text,” and arguing that stare decisis “does not compel unending adherence to Roe’s abuse of judicial authority.”

Taking issue with Alito’s reasoning, Biden said Wednesday he believes the court’s current conservative majority would agree with failed Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork’s view that the right to privacy should not have been guaranteed with the court’s ruling in 1965 in Griswold v. Connecticut, which overturned a ban on married couples’ access to contraception.

“Griswold was thought to be a bad decision by Bork, and my guess is, the guys on the Supreme Court now,” Biden said.

Marc Spindelman, a professor at The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law, said it’s because of Alito’s reasoning — appearing to reject court precedent and the right to privacy in favor of an originalist interpretation of the Constitution — that puts other precedents, like the right to same-sex intimacy in Lawrence v. Texas in 2003 and same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015, at-risk, since those rights were also bound to the Fourteenth Amendment.

“From the point of view of originalist reasoning, it’s difficult to see what is distinctive about abortion compared to other rights that are now constitutionally protected but that originalist methodology, in principle, threatens,” Spindelman said.

Kate Shaw, a professor at Cardozo School of Law and an ABC News contributor, echoed that view.

“The whole method that the Roe Court used, which is basically to say what are the kind of key attributes of liberty that the Constitution has to protect, whether or not they’re written in the document, Alito says that method is totally illegitimate,” she said. “And instead, what the Constitution should be read to protect is the explicitly enumerated rights and a small, a small list of unenumerated rights, but only rights that are deeply rooted in history and tradition.”

Spillover concern

Alito wrote in the draft opinion, “Nothing in this opinion should be understood to cast doubt on precedents that do not concern abortion.”

“What sharply distinguishes the abortion right,” he said, is that it destroys “potential life,” and that “none of the other decisions cited by Roe and Casey involved the critical moral question posed by abortion.”

In deciding whether a right is protected, Alito said the court “has long asked whether the right is ‘deeply rooted in [our] history and tradition’ and whether it is essential to our Nation’s ‘scheme of ordered Liberty.'” In Alito’s view, abortion does not meet that standard.

“What Alito says is, don’t worry. Our decision today is only about abortion, not about anything else,” Spindelman said. “But if an originalist approach is the touchstone for judgment in the case, then it’s hard to see how or why the decision should not apply to other kinds of individual rights that the Court has said are protected by the Fourteenth Amendment.”

That approach, in principle, could doom any right that didn’t exist since the country’s founding, Spindelman said.

“It’s difficult to see why if once you pull row up from the roots, why decisions of more recent vintage ought to stay in the ground to be counted by the court as part of its respect for its own precedent,” he added.

So, could the court find a way to pull abortion from the right to privacy without unraveling other precedents? Former Justice Antonin Scalia clerk and vice-dean at the NYU School of Law, Rachel Barkow, doesn’t think so.

“I think that you can’t coherently do it,” she said. “Unfortunately, that is actually what erodes the legitimacy of the court as an institution because it’s not the leak that’s going to damage the court’s legitimacy, it’s not upholding rationales and being consistent over time.”

The problem for the court, she said, is that the Roe decision is part of a line of cases bound to recognizing the right to privacy, “and the draft opinion shows no respect for the right to privacy, and in light of that, all the cases that rely on that right to privacy would also find themselves falling under the same rationale.”

“I think the bigger thing that the public sees is no precedent is safe,” Barkow said “The court’s willingness to just cast aside a 50-year-old precedent, not just any precedent, but one that has been the subject of these confirmation hearings, and it’s a reason that they’re sitting there is they gave assurances to senators that they weren’t going to overrule it, and then they did.”

“I don’t think anyone can really take that group of people’s word if they say, ‘Oh, no, the other precedents are safe,'” she added. “I think they cried wolf one time too many.”

The opinion could change

When the court confirmed the document’s authenticity on Tuesday, it stressed in a statement that it “does not represent a decision by the Court or the final position of any member on the issues in the case.”

Experts stressed to ABC News that court opinions can change throughout their drafting. The leaked decision could potentially emerge with a different decision entirely — or completely unchanged.

“We don’t know exactly what this final opinion is going to look like when it is issued,” Shaw said. “But I would say absent something truly extraordinary and unexpected happening inside the court, some version of this opinion will be issued as the opinion of the court in a matter of weeks that will be the law of the land, and Roe versus Wade will be no more.”

And if so, the question becomes how soon the fate of other privacy rights will come before the court — from states and others challenging their constitutionality, using the conservative justices’ own arguments.

Michelle Obama shares special Mother’s Day message honoring Marian Robinson

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Michelle Obama is honoring her mom in a special way.

Ahead of Mother’s Day, the former first lady announced that an exhibit in the highly anticipated Obama Presidential Center in Chicago will pay tribute to her mother, Marian Robinson.

In a video Friday shared first with ABC News’ Good Morning America, Obama reflected on the close relationship she has with her mother and the values that Robinson instilled in her at a young age.

“Growing up with my mom was always an adventure,” Obama said. “It was trips to the library as a toddler to learn about ABCs; it was the entire family piling into our car to go to the local drive-in; and my mom inviting family over for New Year’s Eve, passing around her special hors d’oeuvres and toasting in the new year.”

“But above all else,” she added, “my mother gave me that nonstop, unconditional love that was so important for me to grow up. In so many ways, she fostered in me a deep sense of confidence in who I was and who I could be by teaching me how to think for myself, how to use my own voice and how to understand my own worth. I simply wouldn’t be who I am today without my mom.”

The exhibit, called “Opening the White House,” will focus on community and family while also making sure everyone who visits the presidential center “feels at home,” Obama said.

The upcoming exhibit will also feature scale replicas of the White House’s East Room, where the Obamas once held dinners, as well as the Blue Room and the South Lawn, where the family hosted garden tours and the Easter Egg Roll.

“This is just one part of the story we’re telling at the Obama Presidential Center,” Obama said. “I am so excited to announce that we will be dedicating a space at the Obama Presidential Center in her honor.”

In her memoir, Becoming, Obama opened up about her mother, whom she called the “first grandmother” because she lived with them in the White House. During their eight years there, Robinson would help Obama balance the demands of raising a private family in a very public house.

Obama ended her Mother’s Day tribute to her mom by saying that she hopes everyone will be able to see the exhibit when the presidential center opens to the public in 2025.

“In the years ahead, we want to welcome you to Chicago to see it — maybe even with your mom,” she said. “So Happy Mother’s Day everyone. And especially to you, mommy. Love you.”

Jazz Fest returns to New Orleans after COVID hiatus, bringing ‘relief’ to musicians

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW ORLEANS) — The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicked off in New Orleans last weekend after two years and three cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The energy is just out of this world. I feel like there’s just such an overwhelming feeling of like, love and camaraderie — from the musicians to the participants,” Robin Barnes, who is known as the Songbird of New Orleans, told ABC News.

Barnes is set to perform at the festival on Sunday, its closing day.

For New Orleans — considered by many as the birthplace of jazz — the festival is the city’s musical heartbeat.

The 10-day cultural festival attracts over 400,000 visitors to New Orleans each year and draws musicians from around the world and pumps an estimated $400 million into the local economy.

“The economical side of it is extremely significant,” Barnes said, adding that while tourism in the city ebbs and flows throughout the year, Jazz Fest is a “musical mecca” and its return is a “game changer” for musicians around the city.

“It’s almost just a breath of relief,” Barnes, who is part of the jazz duo Da Lovebirds with her husband Casey Pat, said.

“For musicians, with the gig economy, every gig is a paycheck … so coming from a pandemic, we’ve all had to learn to basically survive with no money,” she added.

And the sorrows for the jazz community amid the pandemic have been immense in other ways. The human toll of the virus touched every corner of the jazz world as dozens of jazz musicians and producers died of COVID-19, including New Orleans jazz legend Ellis Marsalis.

“I feel like the amount of loss or lack of having music during the pandemic was able to really just force us to have such a renewed appreciation and love for the music,” Barnes said.

Hurricane Ida, which also wreaked havoc in New Orleans in September, swept away the Karnofsky Tailor Shop and Residence, a historic jazz landmark that Louis Armstrong once considered a second home and many musicians affected by the destruction.

As Jazz Fest returned to the city, the New Orleans Public School Board reversed a 100-year-old rule banning jazz in New Orleans schools.

Kenneth Ducote, NOLA public schools historian, found the obscure rule and brought it to the board’s attention.

“There was no prior discussion. There was no analysis, there was no theory, theoretical analysis of jazz,” he told ABC News’ Good Morning America of the rule.

Although it was mostly unenforced, Ducote brought it to the school board’s attention which reversed the rule.

“It was really important for us to pass it because, to be honest, this is a policy that was rooted in racism,” Olin Parker, president of the New Orleans Parrish school board, told GMA.

Barnes, who is the mother of a 2-year-old daughter named Riley, said reversing the rule is a “symbolic” move that shows the community’s appreciation for jazz and its impact on New Orleans history.

As for Riley, who was born during the pandemic, Barnes said she is excited to have her daughter experience Jazz Fest for the first time.

Although jazz is the cornerstone of the event, the festival celebrates all the indigenous music and culture of New Orleans and Louisiana and includes music from various genres, including blues, R&B, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, Afro-Caribbean, folk, Latin, rock, rap, country and bluegrass, according to the festival’s website.

This year’s headlining acts include The Who, Stevie Nicks, Willie Nelson, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Buffett and The Coral Reefer Band, Luke Combs, Lionel Richie, The Black Crowes, The Avett Brothers, Erykah Badu and Norah Jones.

Barnes said that the festival “encompasses the diversity” of New Orleans and so many people come because “there is something for everyone.”

Unemployment rate holds steady at 3.6% as 428,000 jobs added in April

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — U.S. employers added 428,000 jobs to their payrolls in April, the latest figures released Friday by the Labor Department show.

The increase marks the 12th straight month of job growth above 400,000.

The biggest gains in employment last month occurred in leisure and hospitality (78,000), manufacturing (55,000) and transportation and warehousing (52,000), according to the Labor Department.

The unemployment rate, meanwhile, remained unchanged at 3.6%.

Danica Patrick speaks out about sharing breast implant complications to warn other women

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Former NASCAR driver Danica Patrick revealed she had her breast implants removed after suffering medical complications she believes were caused by the implants.

Patrick, who turned 40 in March, shared in an Instagram post that she had her implants removed this month, nearly eight years after undergoing breast augmentation surgery.

“I thought to myself, I want to share this if it makes a difference,” Patrick told ABC News’ Kayna Whitworth in an interview that aired Friday on Good Morning America. “Because I’ve tried so many different things to feel better to look better, all the things, and nothing worked.”

Patrick said she got her silicone implants in 2014, when she was 32-years-old.

“I did it because I wanted to be more perfect,” she said. “I wanted the whole package … I felt like I was very fit and I thought, well, but I just don’t have boobs.”

Four years later, in 2018, Patrick said she started experiencing health concerns, and spent the next four years seeking answers for symptoms including weight gain, inflammation, leaky gut, menstrual changes, heavy metal toxicity and thinning hair.

Patrick said she went to multiple doctors, took thyroid medications, tried a 90-day protocol to heal her gut and at one point was taking “up to 30 pills a day” to improve her health, all to no avail.

Ultimately, Patrick said she came to the conclusion that she had breast implant illness, a term coined by clinicians and patients to describe symptoms reported by women after breast reconstruction or augmentation using implants, according to the Food and Drug Administration.

Dr. Shaun Parson, the Arizona-based plastic surgeon who performed Patrick’s removal surgery, said breast implants can sometimes prompt a “chronic inflammatory response” in the body.

“It’s usually that their bodies have this kind of chronic inflammatory response to this thing, this implant, so your body’s fighting something just like if it had an infection,” said Parson, a board-certified plastic surgeon. “I have seen too many times people get better after you remove their implants, and I think we have work to do to try to figure out why.”

One week after having her implants removed, Patrick said she feels “amazing.”

She said she plans to continue to share her journey with the hope of helping other people.

“My journey is not even over. This is week one,” said Patrick. “There’s going to be tons of testing that still happens. There are going to be physical changes on the inside and outside that I’m happy to share.”

What to know about breast implant illness

Breast implant illness is not yet a recognized medical term but is described by experts as a “diagnosis by exclusion,” according to Diana Zuckerman, Ph.D., president of the National Center for Health Research, who has studied the health impact of breast implants for over 30 years.

“Diagnosis by exclusion means that there is no test for it, but there are tests for other things that have the same symptoms or similar symptoms,” Zuckerman said. “And if there is no other reason for this array of symptoms, then there are doctors who will call it breast implant illness.”

There are as many as 40 symptoms of breast implant illness, but the most common symptoms include joint and muscle pain, fatigue, memory problems or brain fog, hair loss and difficulty breathing, according to Zuckerman.

She said Patrick’s story of taking years to get to a diagnosis is not uncommon for women who suffer health complications due to breast implants.

It can take years for breast implants to start causing complications, which makes it more difficult to link complications back to breast implants, according to Zuckerman, who was not involved in Patrick’s care. She also noted that many of the symptoms of breast implant illness can, and are, attributed to other things.

“When [women] go to the doctor and say, ‘I have joint pain. I’m really tired,’ the doctor will say things like, ‘No wonder you’re tired, you have a young child,’ or, ‘No wonder you’re tired, you’re 45 years old. You’re not 25 years old anymore,” said Zuckerman.

“So there’s been this, some might call it gaslighting, but this sense that these are common symptoms and they could be anything,” she said. “But, what is distinct about them is there are so many women who are experiencing them, and there are very good studies showing when women have these symptoms and they have their breast implants taken out, almost all of them get better.”

Breast implant surgery is considered an elective procedure that is done not only for cosmetic reasons but also for women undergoing breast reconstruction after a medical procedure such as a mastectomy.

Saline-filled and silicone gel-filled are the two types of breast implants approved for use in the United States, according to the FDA.

Breast implants may cause damage if they leak in the body, or because they can cause scar tissue to build in the body, according to Zuckerman.

“When women have a breast implant, their body almost always forms a scar tissue capsule around the implant,” she said. “The body is basically protecting itself by surrounding this foreign body, this breast implant, with scar tissue, and that scar tissue can get very thick and can get very hard and be a bad symptom in that it can be painful.”

Zuckerman said that the popularization of social media has helped women with similar symptoms connect and share their experiences, leading to greater awareness and more diagnoses of breast implant illness.

Patrick wrote on Instagram that she watched “over 100 stories on YouTube” of women with breast implant complications.

“Social media has really made the big difference here,” Zuckerman said. “It wasn’t until Facebook and other social media options became available that women could really share their stories.”

“We’ve certainly known women who’ve spent tens of thousands of dollars on tests and specialists, and nothing helped and then they went online and found a Facebook page or some other social media, and they started reading these stories of other women that sounded just like them,” she said.

In October, the FDA released new guidelines on breast implants, adding a black box warning and a checklist for doctors and patients about potential side effects.

“The patient must be given the opportunity to initial and sign the patient decision checklist and it must be signed by the physician implanting the device,” the FDA noted in its guidelines.

Zuckerman, a member of the working group that advised the FDA on implant safety, said she advises women who are thinking of getting implants to make sure they also have the resources to get them removed later on if needed.

“Don’t get them unless you can afford to have them taken out,” she said. “A lot of women spend all this money getting them put in, and then when they get sick, they don’t have the money to get them taken out. It costs just as much, sometimes more, to have them taken out.”

Parents face backlash after 6-year-old allowed to run full marathon

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(CINCINNATI) — Crossing the finish line at a marathon is often a time to celebrate, but one running family is facing criticism after their 6-year-old was allowed to enter and complete the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati last weekend.

Rainier Crawford, 6, ran the 26.2-mile course with his five siblings and parents, finishing in 8 hours and 35 minutes.

“Some of the training was like, hard, but I falled sometimes but sometimes, when I did one, it was like, normal,” Rainier told Good Morning America.

Crawford’s father, Ben Crawford, wrote on Instagram that his youngest son did struggle physically during the marathon.

“He was struggling physically and wanted to take a break and sit every three minutes,” Crawford wrote in an Instagram post Tuesday. “After 7 hours, we finally got to mile 20 and only to find an abandoned table and empty boxes. He was crying and we were moving slow so I told him I’d buy him two sleeves [of potato chips] if he kept moving.”

Crawford added that he was impressed by his son’s abilities.

“I didn’t know if he was going to be able to do it so to be able to run alongside of him and to watch his little body, it’s pretty mind-blowing,” he told GMA.

The social media post has since sparked an outcry, with some saying the family did it for likes on Instagram and some going so far as to accuse the Crawfords of child abuse.

Kara Goucher, a two-time Olympian and long-distance runner, was among those speaking out, writing on Twitter Wednesday, “I don’t know who needs to hear this but a six year old cannot fathom what a marathon will do to them physically. A six year old does not understand what embracing misery is. A six year who is ‘struggling physically’ does not realize they have the right to stop and should.”

Organizers of the Flying Pig Marathon defended their decision to let every member of the Crawford family participate in the 2022 marathon.

“The intent was to try to offer protection and support if they were on our course (Medical, Fluid and Replenishment),” Iris Simpson Bush, the president and CEO of the marathon’s parent organization Pig Works, wrote in an open letter posted to the organization’s website.

The nonprofit also told GMA they knew the Crawfords would run the Flying Pig race despite the marathon’s age limitation, which usually only lets runners 18 and older participate, a factor that played into the decision to let the Crawfords run.

“Our requirement of 18+ for participation in the marathon will be strictly observed moving forward,” Bush added in the open letter.

Experts say a child’s growth plates, the tissue near long bones, isn’t fully developed at age 6 and an extreme activity like running a marathon could be dangerous for children.

Dr. Alok Patel told GMA that he would be concerned with letting a young child run a marathon.

“If a young child were to run a marathon, I’m worried about electrolyte abnormalities, nausea, vomiting, heatstroke, all these signs and symptoms that may not be that clear in a young child,” Patel said.

The Crawfords said they don’t pressure their children to do intense activities like run a marathon but follow their kids’ lead if they say they want to try it out.

“We really care about our kids’ emotional and physical health. But we also care about their agency and if they want to do something, and we, you know, assess the risks and figure out if it’s OK,” Kami Crawford, Rainier’s mom, said.

Grieving mother speaks out after Congress passes ban on incline sleepers, crib bumpers

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Inclined sleepers for babies and crib bumper pads will be banned from being sold under legislation passed Wednesday by Congress.

The bill, known as the Safe Sleep for Babies Act, will now go to the White House for President Joe Biden to sign.

Among the advocates calling on Biden to sign the legislation quickly into law is Erika Richter, whose 2-week-old daughter, Emma, died while using a Fisher-Price Rock ‘n Play sleeper, a type of incline sleeper that would be banned under the new legislation.

“For this bill to be passed, it’s a huge win, and for it to have bipartisan support just highlights that this change was long overdue and undeniably necessary,” Richter, of Portland, Oregon, told Good Morning America. “There are 4.7 million of these products sold.”

Richter has been a vocal advocate for change since the death of Emma, her only child, in August 2018.

In 2020, Richter filed a lawsuit against Fisher-Price for wrongful death and gross negligence. The case is ongoing in Los Angeles County Superior Court and Richter declined to provide details on her daughter’s cause of death due to the litigation.

In its answer to the lawsuit, Fisher-Price has denied all of the allegations and specifically denied “that because of an act or omission by them, their agents, or independent contractors, Plaintiffs were injured or damaged in any sum, or at all.”

It was only after Emma’s death that Richter said she learned about reports of other infant deaths associated with Rock ‘n Play sleepers, which were recalled in 2019 by the Consumer Product and Safety Commission (SCPC) after being linked to over 30 deaths.

“I thought to myself, ‘If I had just known sooner,'” said Richter. “I wish that somebody had done what I’m doing and what some of the other mothers are doing more publicly around the time that I had Emma.”

Last June, Richter shared her story publicly for the first time at a congressional hearing that followed up on a report from the House Committee on Oversight and Reform. The report found Fisher-Price ignored repeated warnings that its Rock ‘n Play sleeper was dangerous before the device was recalled.

The report found more than 50 infant deaths were linked to the sleeper, which puts infants at a 30-degree incline.

The cause of death for some of the babies was asphyxia, or the inability to breathe, due to the child’s position, the report said.

“We trusted a name brand, and we were wrong,” Richter said in her testimony, holding up baby clothes as a reminder of what she has left to remember her daughter.

When Richter first shared her story publicly last June, a spokesperson for Mattel, the parent company of Fisher-Price, told ABC News in a statement there “is nothing more important” to the company than the safety of its products and that its “hearts go out to every family who has suffered a loss.”

“The Rock ‘n Play sleeper was designed and developed following extensive research, medical advice, safety analysis and more than a year of testing and review,” a spokesperson said, adding that independent medical and other expert analyses verified that the sleeper was safe when used in accordance with its instructions and warning. “It met or exceeded all applicable regulatory standards. As recently as 2017, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) proposed to adopt the ASTM voluntary standard for a 30-degree angled inclined sleeper as federal law.”

A Mattel spokesperson confirmed to ABC News Thursday the Rock ’n Play Sleeper is no longer on the market, noting it, “was sold from its introduction in 2009 up until its voluntary recall in April 2019.”

Guidelines from both the CPSC and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) say caregivers should always place infants to sleep on their backs on a firm, flat surface and should never add “blankets, pillows, padded crib bumpers, or other items to an infant’s sleeping environment.”

In addition, caregivers should not use infant sleep products with inclined seat backs of more than 10 degrees, and should not use infant car seats, bouncers and other inclined products for sleep, according to the guidelines.

Around 3,400 babies in the U.S. die each year while sleeping, in sudden and unexpected deaths, according to the AAP, which issued a statement Wednesday applauding the passage of the Safe Sleep for Babies Act.

“The message from pediatricians has long been clear: the safest sleep environment for babies is a firm, flat, bare surface,” AAP’s president, Dr. Moira Szilagyi, said in a statement. “Despite what the science shows, crib bumpers and inclined sleepers have remained on the market and store shelves, misleading parents into thinking they are safe and leading to dozens of preventable infant deaths.”

Experts say that padded crib bumpers, which are also banned under the new legislation, pose a particular potential danger because babies may turn their faces into the bumper’s padding, raising the risk of suffocation, may become entrapped underneath or around the bumper, or may become entangled in the bumper’s ties, increasing the risk of strangulation.

Even when federal crib standards changed in 2011, mandating a smaller distance between crib slats so babies would not get their heads stuck between them, crib bumpers — which arguably had lessened that risk — became unnecessary, but they remained on the market, despite the safety risk, according to Dr. Ben Hoffman, a professor of pediatrics at Oregon Health & Science University and chairman of the AAP’s Council on Injury, Violence, and Poison Prevention.

“There is an assumption that [products] are safe until they are proven dangerous, as opposed to what I think the public believes, which is if something is sold, it is safe,” Hoffman told ABC News last year.

Richter said she too has learned from her advocacy work since Emma’s death that parents need to be cautious consumers when it comes to the products they use with their kids.

“I have learned that we have a long way to go when it comes to consumer protections, and that legacy brands do not equal trust,” she said. “People die because they make assumptions that the brands themselves are doing their due diligence, and you cannot put that type of control in the hands of profit maker or profit owner.”

Richter said she plans to continue to push for more consumer controls, including calling on Congress to repeal a provision, 6B, in the Consumer Product Safety Act that she claims allows companies to “self-regulate” when it comes to product safety.

Richter said she also plans to keep speaking out to raise awareness and make sure banned infant sleep products don’t end up in the hands of other mothers.

“I’m still a mom. I’m still Emma’s mom. I still have that responsibility, and I still think like a mom and I still want to protect other moms and other children,” she said. “That is so important to me.”

Moms across the US demand change ahead of Mother’s Day

May 6, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As Mother’s Day weekend approaches, moms across the U.S. are speaking out about issues they say affect American families the most and the changes they hope to see as the midterm elections this November draw closer.

Mothers are sharing their stories and experiences in video messages that will go live online Saturday in an event dubbed MOMibuster (a portmanteau for “mom” and “filibuster”), organized by the social welfare organization MomsRising Together. The organization will release the videos with over 80 other organizations, featuring mothers, parents, caregivers and advocates. MomsRising is also rallying supporters to call elected officials, write letters and lend support for key issues like paid family leave, affordable child care, maternal health care, home care and more.

The pandemic has placed even greater burden on mothers. A 2021 analysis from the Center for Global Development showed that women were three times more likely to provide child care than men during the pandemic.

More women and mothers also left the workforce during the pandemic, a phenomenon some have called a “she-cession.”

The cost of child care also remains an economic hurdle, exceeding many Americans’ budgets.

Good Morning America spoke to several moms who opened up about the challenges they face and the issues they say need more attention.

Key issue: Affordable child care

Cassie Williams, 37, is a mom to 5-year-old son, James, and 1-year-old daughter, Sydney. Williams and her husband, Brandon Williams, moved in 2019 from Georgia to Michigan to expand their family, she said.

The move was due in part to what Cassie Williams said is the high cost of living and “astronomical” cost of child care in the Atlanta area where they used to live.

“It was more than our mortgage and it made more sense to pack up our entire lives and move close to my retired mother, who could help provide us child care,” Williams told GMA.

“My husband I both work full time,” Williams, who currently works as a rights and licensing specialist at an ad agency, said. “My mom babysits my youngest. When my husband’s and my schedule overlap, which is about four days a week, it saves us probably over $1,000 a month,” Williams said.

“I would love to see a return of the expanded earned income tax credits,” Williams added. “Those are really helpful to my family in the transition out of the pandemic, and it’s been just a setback to lose them. When I heard about this opportunity to have my story heard by people in Congress, I was eager to jump at the chance to do that,” she said.

Key issue: Better health care and support for providers

For Jessica Aguilar, every day is unpredictable. She’s a suicide prevention instructor but her work schedule depends on her family’s schedule, she said.

The single mom is the mother of two boys: 10-year-old twins Luis and Christian, who have intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as mental health issues. Aguilar says she is her sons’ main advocate, making sure they receive the therapies they need. But, according to Aguilar, the services they currently receive are not enough to prepare them for independent living when they become adults.

“I want to see my kids have a good life,” the 40-year-old told GMA. She also lamented the fact that her state, North Carolina, does not have Medicaid expansion.

“There’s a big gap for a lot of families — they can be on Medicaid but can’t afford insurance,” she said.

Aguilar said she’s had to adapt and navigate complex systems to get her children the care providers they need regularly. Another issue she says she’s noticed is a shortage of trained care providers. She says wages for trained professionals are often low and that some positions can pay less than what a fast-food restaurant worker earns.

Key issue: Community investment and support

Jovanna Archuleta is a mother of two: a 17-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter. She is also New Mexico’s assistant secretary for Native American early childhood education and care, and lives on the Nambe Pueblo reservation.

She says she knows firsthand what it means to lack support as a mother.

“I was 20 when I had my first baby and there was no child care at that point. In order for me to get a higher education, I had to remove myself from my community and move to the city for almost five years,” Archuleta told GMA, adding that she moved to Albuquerque for school.

Child care is just one of the many issues Archuleta said she hears about when she travels to other reservations and talks to local tribes and communities.

“When we listen to families or when we have talked to tribal leadership, the need for child care is huge,” Archuleta said. “The need for just overall support around mental health is huge as well, especially as we’re coming out of this global pandemic. The mental health piece is probably the biggest piece we continue to hear.”

Archuleta also said it’s important that there are those who address issues around child care and mothering who come from the communities they serve.

“I think it’s being able to incorporate the language and the culture. That’s another big topic that constantly or consistently comes up,” Archuleta said.

“With the generations that are coming up within our communities, we have that ability now to preserve language, to preserve culture, and in some cases, in some communities, revitalize language and culture.”

Key issue: Paid leave

During the pandemic, graphic designer Mary Catherine Starr launched an Instagram account called Mom Life Comics which has quickly grown with nearly 200,000 followers.

“It was just a place where I wanted to connect with moms and really share the challenges of motherhood in kind of a funny way,” Starr told GMA.

Starr, a mom to a 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son, said she often hears from moms from around the country and even in other countries, relating to her comics about motherhood. Aside from affordable child care, one of the most urgent issues for mothers is lack of paid leave.

“I think moms feel very alone and very left behind by society, by government, by our communities, and … a lot of women feel that they’ve been kind of left behind by their partners, as well. And I think that it all comes back to, at least from my experience, it starts on day one of becoming a parent and it starts with parental leave,” Starr said, something she said should be available for both parents.

“If a mom is home with the kids from the very beginning, if she gets much more maternity leave and the father doesn’t get much paternity leave, from the very beginning, mom figures out how to do things herself and dad doesn’t and that dynamic just grows and grows as the kids get older and the mom is doing more and more,” she added.

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