News – Page 2745 – 105.7 WDNY

Oklahoma governor signs law making nearly all abortions illegal

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(OKLAHOMA CITY) — It will now be a felony to perform an abortion in Oklahoma under a bill signed into law Tuesday by Republican Gov. Kevin Stitt.

The bill passed in the state House last week without any debate after passing the Senate last year.

Under the bill, any medical provider who performs an abortion would face a fine of $100,000 and up to 10 years in prison. The only exceptions for performing an abortion would be if the mother’s life is in danger.

The new law is scheduled to take effect in August, but it is expected to be challenged in court.

Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Center for Reproductive Rights have said they will “challenge any ban that is signed into law in Oklahoma this session.”

“The law signed today is not yet in effect, and abortion remains legal in Oklahoma,” Emily Wales, interim CEO and president of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said in a statement.

The new abortion restriction in Oklahoma is particularly significant because of the outsized role the state has played in providing abortion access to women in the region since last year, when Texas enacted a law that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy.

So far in 2022, the two Planned Parenthood clinics in Oklahoma that offer abortion services have seen more patients from Texas than from Oklahoma, according to Wales.

“We know that patients who need abortion are not going to stop seeking it, it’s just going to get harder and harder for them to access,” Wales told ABC News last week, when the bill passed the Oklahoma state House.. “Right now, patients may be traveling a few hundred miles from home, five or six hours, they’re going to add another five or six hours to get to the Kansas City area or to Wichita, and for some patients, that won’t be feasible.”

Dr. Christina Bourne, medical director of Trust Women, which operates an abortion care clinic in Oklahoma City and one in Wichita, Kansas, said the clinics are having to turn people away because of the demand.

“We are essentially having to turn the vast majority of people away from getting abortions because we just cannot keep up with the volume,” Bourne said last week. “We could be doing abortions 24 hours a day and not keep up with the volume that is demanded of us.”

The Oklahoma legislature is also still considering more legislation to restrict abortion access, including a bill that passed the House last month that is modeled after Texas’s law and allows for citizens to sue for up to $10,000 anyone who performs or “aids and abets” an abortion. The Oklahoma Senate has also passed several anti-abortion measures recently, including a bill that allows for private lawsuits.

Abortion access at a greater distance

Experts say that in light of more restrictions, women who have the means will have to travel further for abortion care, while those who don’t will not get care.

“We expect that the facilities that remain open in other states will be overwhelmed, as we have already seen with Senate Bill 8, with residents from other states coming in to get care,” said Dr. Kari White, an associate professor and faculty research associate at the University of Texas at Austin. “And there are some people for whom these longer distances are are just going to be impossible, and they will consider either other ways to try to end their pregnancies by ordering medications online or potentially doing something unsafe, and other people will be forced to continue their pregnancies.”

White, who is also the lead investigator of the Texas Policy Evaluation Project, has studied the impact of Texas’ six-week abortion ban. According to her research, around 1,400 Texans have gone to another state for abortion care each month since SB8 went into effect in September, with 45% traveling to Oklahoma.

“We’ve certainly heard from some of the people we’ve interviewed in our study that they were willing to wait a little bit longer to get an abortion in Oklahoma because they could travel to Oklahoma, but it was too far for them to go to a state like New Mexico,” she said. “They just couldn’t make it work in terms of the additional cost, the time away from work or their child care responsibilities.”

New Mexico and Colorado, which have less stringent abortion restrictions, are likely to become hotspots for women in the region who have the means to travel for abortion care.

Those states have also felt the impact from SB8, according to Planned Parenthood, which reported a more than 1000% increase in abortion patients with Texas zip codes at Planned Parenthood health centers in Colorado and a more than 100% increase at Planned Parenthood health centers in New Mexico compared to the previous year.

Other states that surround Oklahoma — Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas — face their own restrictions on abortion access and are dealing with already overwhelmed systems, experts say.

The two Planned Parenthood clinics that provided abortion care in Missouri have been closed in the law few years due to state restrictions, according to Wales, who added, “Missourians for a long time have been living the Texas crisis, where the majority of them are forced to flee their home state for care already.”

Arkansas has around three abortion clinics statewide currently, while Kansas has four, according to Sandy Brown, president of the Kansas Abortion Fund, a volunteer-run, nonprofit organization that helps fund Kansan women seeking abortion care.

“Our clinics here have been swamped,” Brown said. “They just can’t absorb the volume of people coming in from other states. Now, if Oklahoma happens, it’s really, really going to be bad, because we already can’t almost handle the patients that are coming in now.”

More states expected to act after anticipated Supreme Court ruling

Currently, it is unconstitutional to pass abortion bans before a fetus is viable — anywhere from 22 to 26 weeks.

In May or June, the Supreme Court will announce its ruling on a 15-week ban in Mississippi and whether or not it is constitutional. If the Supreme Court determines the ban is constitutional, it could mean Roe v. Wade is either overturned or fundamentally weakened.

More than half of the nation’s 50 states are prepared to ban abortion if Roe is overturned, according to a report from the Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive rights organization.

If that happens, another factor to watch will be whether states that have banned abortion make it increasingly difficult for their residents to obtain abortions in other states, Mary Ziegler, visiting professor of constitutional law at Harvard Law School and author of “Abortion and the Law in America: Roe v. Wade to the Present,” told ABC News earlier this year.

In the meantime, abortion rights advocates and providers say they worry that the far distances people are having to travel to seek abortion care means the most vulnerable people, such as those without the financial resources to travel, are being left behind.

“Traveling is an option and has always been an option for affluent white people,” Bourne said. “Through abortion restrictions, we are legislating people who experience intersecting identities, poverty, people of color, queer folks, people with many children, people with busy lives who are going to be left out of that and forced to carry a pregnancy to term that perhaps otherwise wouldn’t have.”

Wales, of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, said that as clinics in Oklahoma and Kansas have seen increased demand for abortion services, that has resulted in a delay in services for the type of general reproductive health care, like contraception and cancer screening, that makes up the majority of the clinics’ work.

“The increased need in abortion and the restrictions from the states … those things have pushed family planning patients and other types of care back,” Wales said. “It also means our family planning patients are coming in more concerned, more confused about what is available to them, because they just understand that rights are being restricted.”

“It has created a great deal of fear, I think, among the people we see,” she said.

ABC News’ Mary Ketakos contributed to this report.

Prices continue to soar as labor and supply shortages persist

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Inflation is the highest it has been in more than 40 years, according to a new economic report. The Consumer Price Index numbers for the month of March show that inflation is up 8.5%, compared to one year ago.

The Federal Reserve is hopeful that new interest rate hikes could ease demand and, ultimately, lead to lower prices.

ABC’s Rebecca Jarvis provided more details Tuesday on Good Morning America:

NYC subway shootings updates: 10 shot in Brooklyn, suspect at large

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A gunman donned a gas mask, detonated a smoke canister and opened fire on a New York City subway train Tuesday morning, injuring at least 16 people and sparking panic during the rush-hour commute.

Ten people were shot and six suffered other injuries, officials said. Five people are in critical but stable condition.

Police described the gunman, who is still on the run, as an “active shooter.” The bloodshed in Brooklyn comes amid a surge in crime on New York City’s transit system.

The shooting, reported just before 8:30 a.m. local time, erupted on a Manhattan-bound N subway car as it approached the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park in Brooklyn, New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said at a news conference. The train filled with smoke as the suspect opened fire, she said.

A man who works in a bodega outside the subway told ABC New York station WABC about 10 to 15 people ran to his store for safety.

“It was horrifying,” he said.

“I saw three or four people with gunshot wounds to their legs. They just fell to floor before the cops came. … They just stayed here for a couple of minutes before the coast was clear,” he said. “Everyone was terrified, I was terrified.”

Sewell described the suspect as a man wearing a green construction-type vest and a gray-hooded sweatshirt. The suspect has a “heavy build” and is believed to be about 5 feet 5 inches tall, Sewell said.

Sewell said there are no known explosives on subways.

She said a motive isn’t known, and while she initially said the shooting isn’t being investigated as an act of terrorism, she later said, “We’re not ruling anything out.”

Schools in the area are on “shelter in place” protocols, officials said. Students are being kept inside but the school day is going on as normal.

Konrad Aderer told ABC News Live he was heading toward the subway station at about 8:30 a.m. when he saw a man bleeding from his legs.

“It was kind of shocking, of course. I wanted to know more,” he said, adding, “I just figured I can’t do much good here and I’ll just be in the way … the best thing for me to do is to leave immediately.”

At that point, he said, “I saw police and emergency vehicles already flooding in.”

President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been briefed on the situation.

The FBI is assisting the NYPD and officials from the ATF are at the scene.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was at the scene in Brooklyn for the afternoon news conference.

Both the Massachusetts State Police and the Washington, D.C., Transit Police said they’re monitoring the situation although there are no known threats.

Anyone with information, video or photos is urged to call 800-577-TIPS.

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

ABC News’ Ivan Pereira and Luke Barr contributed to this report.

NYC subway shootings updates: Multiple shot, suspect at large

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Police are searching for a gunman after multiple people were shot on the New York City subway system during Tuesday morning rush hour, according to police sources.

Thirteen people were injured, according to the FDNY. It’s not immediately clear how many of the injured were shot. The victims were taken to hospitals in varying conditions.

The incident, reported just before 8:30 a.m. local time, appears to have started on a northbound N subway car in Brooklyn. The 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park and the 25th Street station in Greenwood Heights were also impacted.

There was smoke on the N train prior to it pulling into the 36th Street station, police said. A source told ABC News multiple smoke devices were likely used.

The New York City Police Department said there are no active explosive devices.

Authorities are still searching for the suspect who may have been wearing a reflective vest and a gas mask.

The FBI is assisting NYPD and officials from the ATF are at the scene.

President Joe Biden, Attorney General Merrick Garland and Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas have been briefed on the situation.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted that she’s been briefed on the incident.

“First responders are on the scene and we will work with @MTA & @NYPDnews to provide updates as the investigation continues,” the governor said.

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

Multiple shot in separate incidents involving NYC subway train: Police sources

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Multiple people have been shot in separate incidents involving a northbound N train in Brooklyn, New York, just before 8:30 a.m. local time Tuesday, according to police sources.

At least 13 people are injured, according to a city source. Many, if not most, appear to have been shot. The victims were taken to local hospitals.

It wasn’t immediately clear whether the shootings took place on the train or at the 36th Street subway station in Sunset Park or the 25th Street station in Greenwood Heights.

Police are also investigating whether a smoke device was detonated.

Authorities are searching for the suspect.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul tweeted that she’s been briefed on the incident.

“First responders are on the scene and we will work with @MTA & @NYPDnews to provide updates as the investigation continues,” the governor said.

I have been briefed on this developing situation in Brooklyn. First responders are on the scene and we will work with @MTA & @NYPDnews to provide updates as the investigation continues. https://t.co/dM2hKnhoql

— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) April 12, 2022

Story developing…

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Russian forces accused of chemical attack in Mariupol

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

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

In recent days, Russian forces have retreated from northern Ukraine, leaving behind a trail of death and destruction. After graphic images emerged of civilians lying dead in the streets of Bucha, a town northwest of Kyiv, the United States and European countries accused Russia of committing war crimes.

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

Apr 12, 8:07 am
Nine humanitarian corridors to open in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday

Nine humanitarian corridors are expected to open in eastern Ukraine again on Tuesday to allow civilians escape heavy fighting, according to Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk.

She said in a statement via social media Tuesday that evacuation routes were agreed upon for those traveling by private cars from besieged Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, as well as from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast — all of which lead to the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia.

In the Luhansk Oblast, Vereshchuk said routes were established from the cities of Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Popasna, Hirske and Rubizhne, leading to the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk Oblast.

The same routes were opened Monday, allowing a total of 4,354 people to evacuate via buses and private cars, according to Vereshchuk. However, Vereshchuk said buses carrying people from Berdyansk, Tokmak and Enerhodar to Zaporizhzhia city were being held up by Russian forces at a checkpoint in Vasylivka for a third day in a row.

Apr 12, 7:26 am
Ukraine investigating alleged chemical attack in Mariupol

Ukraine announced Tuesday it is investigating claims that chemical weapons were used in an attack against Ukrainian soldiers in besieged Mariupol.

The Azov Regiment, a far-right group now part of the Ukrainian National Guard, alleged in a statement via Telegram on Monday that a Russian drone had dropped “a poisonous substance of unknown origin” on its fighters defending a giant metals plant in Mariupol, a southeastern port city in Ukraine’s Donetsk Oblast that has been subjected to heavy bombardment since the Russian invasion began on Feb. 24. The Azov, which did not provide evidence of the alleged attack, said its fighters had suffered minor injuries.

The claims could not be independently verified by ABC News.

Eduard Basurin, a spokesperson for Russia-backed separatist forces in Donetsk Oblast, denied the allegations, telling Russian news agency Interfax that separatist forces “haven’t used any chemical weapons in Mariupol.” However, on the eve of the alleged attack, Basurin appeared to urge their use, telling Russian state media that Russia-backed forces should seize the Mariupol metals plant from Ukrainian soldiers by blocking all the exits and using “chemical troops to smoke them out.”

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Tuesday the government is investigating the claims, adding that preliminary information suggested phosphorous munition had been used.

When deployed as a weapon, phosphorus can inflict excruciating burns and lead to infection, shock and organ failure. Although phosphorus is not classified as a chemical weapon under the Chemical Weapons Convention, its use as an incendiary weapon in civilian areas is forbidden under the Geneva Conventions.

The United Kingdom is “working urgently” to investigate the reports, according to U.K. Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, who noted that any confirmed use of chemical weapons in Mariupol would be a “callous escalation” of the war.

U.K. Armed Forces Minister James Heappey told Sky News on Tuesday that “all options are on the table in terms of how the West might respond.”

Meanwhile, the United States said it was “aware” of the reports.

“We cannot confirm at this time and will continue to monitor the situation closely,” Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a statement Monday. “These reports, if true, are deeply concerning and reflective of concerns that we have had about Russia’s potential to use a variety of riot control agents, including tear gas mixed with chemical agents, in Ukraine.”

Man walks one year after being paralyzed in bicycle crash

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A 27-year-old New York man can walk less than two years after being paralyzed when he was hit by a car while on a bicycle.

Cory Moses, of Brooklyn, was on his way to meet his then-partner on Oct. 25, 2020, when he said someone in a parked car opened a car door into him, sending him flying into the street, where he was hit by another car.

As a result of the accident, Moses, who had just celebrated his 25th birthday, suffered six fractured ribs, two broken arms and a fractured spine, which caused paralysis.

“I remember not wanting to look down. I thought my lower half had been severed,” Moses, who said he eventually looked down at his legs after a bystander told him he was not bleeding, told ABC News’ Good Morning America. “The lower half of my body was at a weird angle and I definitely knew something was wrong.”

“I felt the feeling drain from my legs,” he said.

Moses said he underwent three surgeries and spent two weeks in the intensive care unit. Before his first surgery, Moses said he was told he may never walk again.

“My first surgeon said she’d stabilize my spine as much as she could but from the damage I probably wouldn’t be able to walk or move my legs again,” he said. “They added two rods and eight screws to my back to stabilize it, which took about 12 to 13 hours in total because of how severe the damage was.”

After the surgery, Moses said he was not able to move his left leg at all but could very slightly move his right leg, which gave him and his medical team hope.

“[The surgeon] said that with that, there was still some connection,” Moses said. “They couldn’t tell me how much of a recovery I’d make, but I’d get something back.”

After his first three surgeries, Moses was transferred to The Mount Sinai Hospital, where he underwent two more surgeries and spent nearly three months recovering.

Moses said he realized how severe and life-changing his injuries would be, but he remained determined to overcome them.

“Within my first week or so at Mount Sinai is when I got myself into a place of peace and an understanding that if I’m going to get out of the hospital and into rehab that my mind and my focus has to be there. I can’t lose that to my feelings or depression,” he said.

Moses, who was working as a contractor for a construction business at the time of his injury, took on his rehabilitation work as a full-time job. He learned how to navigate life in a wheelchair, while also practicing on an exoskeleton program, which is a machine that helps patients with spinal cord injuries relearn how to walk.

“I put a lot of work into making my recovery fun,” he said. “I never wanted it to feel like a chore.”

Even after Moses was discharged in January 2021, three months after his accident, he went back to the hospital several days a week for physical therapy, according to Dr. Liz Pike, physical therapist with the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at The Mount Sinai Hospital.

“It takes a lot of time for the body to heal just from a neurological injury and he put in the work and really listened to his body and did all the steps and kind of built the foundation blocks to get to the bigger movements, like walking and balancing,” said Pike. “He took his off time to work on strengthening and stretching and just being healthy in general, like eating well.”

Moses set a goal for himself to be able to walk before the one-year anniversary of his accident. He reached that goal last October, taking his first steps on his own in his apartment.

“I remember feeling really proud of myself,” he said. “It just reassured me that really having a strong mentality makes a difference.”

Dr. Angela Riccobono, rehab psychologist with the Department of Rehabilitation and Human Performance at The Mount Sinai Hospital, who worked with Moses, said in her 20-plus years of experience, she’s never seen someone overcome adversity with “such grace and a positive mindset.”

“He understood early on that with the right mindset and the right people around you, there was little that could stop him,” Riccobono said of Moses.

Defying the odds, Moses has progressed to being able to walk as far as 10 city blocks on his own, according to Pike.

“I think they were hopeful he would be able to use some assisted device to do some standing and some activities like that but were unable to say how far he’d be able to walk, like he is now,” Pike said.

Moses still utilizes crutches and leg braces to walk if he is going a longer distance, and relies on his wheelchair at times, too, as he continues to build his strength.

He lives on his own and works at a local school while also working to fulfill his next dream, competing in the Paralympic Games in fencing, a sport Moses said he had always wanted to play as a kid but was never able to because it was not accessible.

After the accident, Moses got a chance to try fencing thanks to his friend, Curtis McDowald, a member of the U.S. Fencing team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, who invited him to a training facility in New York City.

Moses committed himself to the sport and took home two medals in his first competition in January in California.

“The goal is Paralympics,” said Moses. “I’m the type that whenever I do something, I want to do it to the maximum.”

How humanitarian corridors work to offer lifeline to besieged Ukrainians

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — For tens of thousands of civilians trapped in active combat zones in Ukraine, the establishment of humanitarian corridors could mean the difference between living and dying, experts said.

At least nine humanitarian corridors are expected to open in war-torn areas of eastern Ukraine this week to allow civilians to escape heavy fighting, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said.

But the designated passages out of besieged towns such as Mariupol in southeast Ukraine and the separatist-controlled areas of the Donbas in eastern Ukraine can be riskier than sheltering in basements if not done with precision and complete transparency, Crystal Wells, a spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross, told ABC News.

“We see humanitarian corridors, that we refer to as safe passages, as really a desperate measure in dire times,” Wells said.

What is a humanitarian corridor?

Humanitarian corridors are routes for civilians to escape from the most dangerous war zones. The safe passages require Russian and Ukrainian leaders to agree on specific routes and a ceasefire span of time along those thoroughfares to allow civilians a window of opportunity to get out of the crossfire.

Safe passageways during wars date back to World War II, when routes were established to transport 10,000 children from Nazi-controlled countries in humanitarian rescues dubbed “kindertransports.” The Geneva Conventions in 1949 also established rules to ensure civilians had access to humanitarian supplies, including food and medicine, during war.

“It’s important, first of all, to remember that civilians are actually protected under international humanitarian law. Those are the laws that govern armed conflict,” Wells said. “And civilians should be protected from hostilities whether they’re in their homes, in a hospital, in a school or in a so-called humanitarian corridor.”

But Wells said that some humanitarian routes opened in Ukraine had to quickly be closed or not used at all because Russian forces allegedly continued to bomb the passages despite both sides agreeing to a ceasefire.

“It’s not like all of a sudden a humanitarian corridors comes in and it’s a magic wand to ending civilian suffering,” Wells said. “It’s so important that these are agreed on not just in principle but in concrete terms so that it’s not only the people sitting in capital cities who agree. It needs to come down to actionable, concrete, logistical details, and it has to be communicated down the chain of command to the militaries on the ground for these to work safely.”

She said if details of a humanitarian corridor, including the precise routes and ceasefire times, are not conveyed to frontline troops, it could create a dangerous — and deadly — situation.

“It’s not just about the safety of our teams, but it’s to not also lead people or accompany people into something where they could be in harm’s way,” Wells said.

In the absence of humanitarian corridors, Ukrainian civilians have risked their lives trying to flee battle zones on their own. Many have been killed.

“What’s been happening in cities like Mariupol is that in the absence of these concrete agreements, you have civilians leaving, but they’re doing so in a very ad hoc way. They’re making a life-and-death decision to go, and there’s not a ceasefire agreement in place and there’s not specifics about routes and the times and all of that. So, it’s very risky for people,” Wells said.

100,000 people trapped in Mariupol

Much of the focus for humanitarian agencies in recent days has been on Mariupol, a port city of nearly 400,000 people that has been under siege since the start of the Russian invasion on Feb. 24.

Despite reports that thousands have been killed in Mariupol, Russia has denied committing atrocities in Ukraine and claims it is not targeting civilians.

Vereshchuk said in a statement posted on social media Monday that humanitarian evacuation routes were agreed upon for those traveling by private cars from Mariupol.

Wells estimated that more than 100,000 civilians remain in Mariupol.

“For us, Mariupol really remains very much a focus and a priority,” Wells said. “That’s a city that’s been for weeks now without any humanitarian aid. They’ve been for weeks now without really any proper safe passage for civilians out of the city.”

She said ICRC teams have been trying for weeks to deliver humanitarian aid to Mariupol without success.

“We tried again a couple of Fridays ago to access Mariupol, and our teams spent five days and five nights on the road trying to get into the city, and security conditions didn’t allow it,” Wells said.

Successful humanitarian corridors

Wells said the ICRC has successfully used designated safe passages to get civilians out of the hard-hit town of Sumy in northeast Ukraine and between the Russian-controlled city Berdyansk to safety in Zaporizhzhia, a roughly 120-mile journey.

She said an unarmed ICRC convoy from Berdyansk to Zaporizhzhia last week included buses and Red Cross land cruisers clearly marked with the agency’s emblem at the front and rear of the caravan. Wells said many of the civilians who joined the convoy were fleeing Mariupol.

“We had seven buses with seven volunteer bus drivers, and that would allow about 350 people to board,” Wells said. “But then we had private cars starting to join the convoy from Berdyansk all the way to Zaporizhzhia. By the end of that convoy to Zaporizhzhia, they estimated there were about 100 civilian cars, which got us up to about 1,000 people.”

Wells said the evacuation from Berdyansk to Zaporizhzhia took two days. She said a similar mission in Mariupol would likely take longer.

“To think of doing it for 100,000 people, we would really need agreements to hold for not just hours, but days,” Wells said.

No matter how much time is granted to the humanitarian corridors, Wells said some civilians are bound to get left behind.

“What about the elderly? What about people with disabilities? Not everyone is able-bodied to get into their own car or board a bus and leave,” Wells said. “So, that’s where it’s also important that aid needs to be brought into these places as well and that civilians still have to be protected and respected from hostilities.”

Former police officer who stormed Capitol on Jan. 6 guilty on all counts

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — A former police officer who stormed the Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection was found guilty Monday by a jury on all six counts.

Thomas Robertson was found guilty on charges ranging from obstruction of an official proceeding to entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon. This is the second jury case for a Capitol rioter.

Monday marked day five of a trial that spanned hours of Jan. 6 video footage, first-hand accounts from Capitol and Metro police officers and an inside look at how FBI agents handled the arrest of both Robertson and former colleague and close friend Jacob Fracker, who testified against Robertson as part of his own plea agreement for storming the Capitol.

The jury deliberated for about 15 hours in a trial that focused on very specific details of Robertson’s actions — from where he stood to what he was holding.

Robertson entered the restricted area of the Capitol with the goal of obstructing the electoral vote, the jury found. He used a wooden stick to push past an officer, which was ruled it could be used as a dangerous weapon.

“Many people in this country disagreed with the outcome of the presidential election,” a U.S. attorney said during opening arguments last Tuesday. “Many people use, and continue to use, strong language to express their political views. But the defendant, he is not on trial for beliefs — he is on trial for his actions.”

Shortly after he found out about the warrant for his arrest, Robertson destroyed his phone along with Fracker’s, saying in a message, “anything that may have been problematic has been destroyed, including my phone,” prosecutors said during the trial.

That also means he could have corrupted two official proceedings, the jury found — either the Electoral College voting process or his own federal trial, or both.

Robertson’s lawyers said he was invited into the Capitol by an officer, stayed for only 10 minutes and didn’t assault anyone or cause any damage. The defense brought in two witnesses who each took the stand for less than 8 minutes.

“He entered, he retrieved, he departed,” one of Robertson’s lawyers said on day one of the trial. “That’s what this case is about.”

The U.S. attorney’s office brought in nine witnesses, who oftentimes took the stand for over an hour.

One of those witnesses was Fracker, who stormed the Capitol with Robertson. He agreed to testify as part of his plea agreement. He said during the trial he did this in part to lower his sentence.

The jury deliberated for five hours last Friday after closing arguments. Judge Christopher R. Cooper read the decision Monday.

Robertson was found guilty of obstruction of an official proceeding; obstructing officers during a civil disorder; entering or remaining in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly and disruptive conduct in a restricted building or grounds with a dangerous weapon; disorderly conduct in a capitol building and obstruction of an official proceeding.

Former Trump lawyer, amid clash with Jan. 6 committee, pushing to decertify 2020 election

April 12, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Just as he was emerging as a top target of the House committee investigating the Capitol attack, former Trump lawyer John Eastman took a trip to Wisconsin.

Eastman, a right-wing lawyer who drafted a plan for former President Donald Trump to cling to power by falsely claiming then-Vice President Mike Pence could reject legitimate electors during the 2020 presidential election, was part of a small group of Trump allies who secured a private meeting last month to try and convince the Republican leader of the Wisconsin state Assembly to decertify President Joe Biden’s win, multiple sources familiar with the meeting told ABC.

On March 16, Eastman and others spent nearly two hours behind closed doors pressuring Republican Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos to nullify the 2020 election and reclaim the electors awarded to Biden, the sources said, which legal experts say is impossible.

Eastman was subpoenaed by the congressional committee looking into the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol in November. He had been bucking the panel’s request for documents, claiming attorney client privilege, until a federal judge recently ordered most of them turned over.

Eastman in the meeting urged Vos to decertify the election, sources familiar with the meeting said. According to Jefferson Davis, a Wisconsin activist pushing to reverse Biden’s victory who was also in the meeting, Trump’s former lawyer pushed Vos to start “reclaiming the electors” and move forward with “either a do over or having a new slate of electors seated that would declare someone else the winner.”

When reached for comment, Eastman said in a statement to ABC News, “By explicit request from Speaker Vos, that meeting was confidential, so I am not able to make any comment.”

Following the meeting, Vos reiterated his position that the 2020 election can’t be decertified. Vos, however, has pushed claims of widespread election fraud and was held in contempt by a judge last month for failing to turn over documents related to a Republican-led investigation he had launched himself in May 2021 into the 2020 election.

His office did not respond to multiple requests for comment from ABC News.

The Wisconsin meeting is just one instance among many in an ongoing effort by Eastman and other Trump allies who, even 15 months into President Joe Biden’s tenure, have continued to push for the results of the 2020 election to be overturned despite no evidence of widespread voter fraud.

In February, Eastman also joined leaders of Colorado’s election denial campaign, holding an “emergency town hall meeting” in Castle Rock. The meeting, organized by FEC United founder Joe Oltman, rallied the crowd against Secretary of State Jenna Griswold, falsely accusing her of participating in an election fraud conspiracy.

During the meeting, Eastman boasted about his involvement in election lawsuits in Texas, Pennsylvania, Georgia and Wisconsin and decried the “attacks” that he and others who push election conspiracies have experienced, calling it “pure evil,” according to a video of the meeting posted by FEC United.

Eastman has said he attended a gathering of Trump supporters at the Willard Hotel on Jan. 5, 2021 and spoke before Trump at the “Save America” rally the next day. Eastman also has said publicly that he, along with other Trump allies, had a so-called “war room” set up at the hotel for several days preceding and on Jan. 6.

Trump has been watching the decertification push closely, saying in a statement last month following the Wisconsin meeting that “Speaker Vos should do the right thing and correct the Crime of the Century—immediately! It is my opinion that other states will be doing this, Wisconsin should lead the way!”

The former president has been in contact with multiple people in Wisconsin working on the effort and has received regular updates from MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, sources said, who has spread wild and baseless conspiracy theories about the 2020 vote count.

Lindell, who remains a close confidant of the former president, has participated in the Wisconsin pressure campaign with his own team of people including Douglas Frank, who was prominently featured at the My Pillow CEO’s conspiracy-filled “Cyber Symposium” last August, Army Reserve Lt. Colonel Ivan Raiklin, who has also worked closely with former Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn to overturn the 2020 election and Shawn Smith, a Colorado-based activist who has called Lindell an “angel investor” in her organization devoted to “election integrity.”

While Lindell was absent from the March 16 meeting, Frank, Raiklin and Smith attended with Eastman, according to sources familiar with the meeting.

Lindell is currently facing a $1.3 billion lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems for promoting false claims about their voting machines. He traveled to Mar-a-Lago last Thursday to attend a fundraiser for Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake that featured the former president.

As Eastman continues his campaign to overturn the election, he has become of greater interest to investigators on the Jan. 6 committee, the panel has publicly indicated.

Last month, a federal judge ruled that Eastman must turn over most of the documents he has been withholding from the committee. The panel has begun receiving and reviewing the documents, according to sources.

The judge, who reviewed the documents privately, said that Trump “more likely than not” committed felony obstruction in the effort to overturn the election.

Eastman and others continue to push to decertify President Joe Biden’s 2020 victory in Wisconsin despite multiple recounts, court filings and audits failing to identify any widespread fraud in the battleground state.

Reviews and audits in other states including Georgia and Arizona, have also failed to substantiate claims about widespread election fraud.

+ More