News – Page 2820 – 105.7 WDNY

Families torn apart amid mass exodus from Ukraine face uncertain future

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — When 25-year-old Yulia Yemelianenko crossed the border from Lviv, Ukraine into Poland earlier this week, she broke down in tears.

“I cried a lot,” she told ABC News at a train station in Przemysl, Poland. “…I was forced to quit my country, and I didn’t want it.”

“I want to live in my city with my mother and my friends,” she added.

Yemelianenko spoke with ABC News about the difficult journey as she waited at the train station for a friend. She is one of the hundreds of thousands of people who were forced to flee from Ukraine into neighboring European countries like Poland, Slovakia, Romania and Hungary amid ongoing attacks from Russia.

Filippo Grandi, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, said on Wednesday the number of Ukrainians who’ve fled their country has so far climbed to 874,000, which is believed to be the biggest number of people displaced in the shortest amount of time since World War II.

“I don’t know what will happen in Ukraine,” she said. “I don’t know when I will come back.”

The emotional toll that the journey took on Yemelianenko was magnified because she had to leave her mother, who is recovering from COVID-19, behind.

Asked if she feels that she has been displaced, she said, “I’m trying not to think about this at all, because I don’t know when I can see my mother next time.”

“Every time I start, like, crying and tears, won’t help in this situation.”

She said she hopes to return to Ukraine as soon as possible and reunite with her friends, some of whom stayed back to fight in the war.

‘There’s panic, there’s chaos’

At the train station in Lviv, Ukraine, volunteers have been working to organize thousands of people seeking to board trains to Poland. According to UNHCR, more than 453,000 of those who fled Ukraine have gone to Poland.

“There’s panic, there’s chaos,” Yuliana Shchurko, a volunteer, told ABC News. “Those people are waiting for the train to call and they don’t want to go to any other country,” she said, adding that it could be days before the next train would be scheduled to depart for Poland.

Amid the congestion, some immigrants and students living in Ukraine expressed fear they are being discriminated against as they wait at the border, hoping to cross into Poland.

“The Ukrainians are given priority, which is to children and women,” Adeyemo Abimbole, a student from Nigeria, told ABC News on Sunday, adding that he and a group of African students have been waiting for a train to cross into Poland for nearly three days.

“Our lives also matter,” he added. It is unclear if Abimbole and his friends entered Poland.

UNHCR’s Grandi confirmed during a press conference on Tuesday that “there are instances” of differentiation of treatment at the borders based on race, but said he was assured that “these are not state policies.”

“We will continue to intervene, as we have done several times, to try to ensure that everybody is received in the same manner,” he said, urging all nations to welcome those fleeing Ukraine without discrimination.

Marcus Lawani, who is also waiting with the group, told ABC News that he believed some of his African friends were “turned back based on their color” because “they want more Ukrainians to leave.”

“Mostly they give power to women, children, and their men follow,” he said.

Women and children have been given priority at congested border crossings and many Ukrainian men of fighting age have stayed behind after Ukraine began drafting reservists aged 18-60 to fight for their country.

A ‘heartbreaking’ decision

Alyona Tec said that her family’s decision to leave Ukraine was difficult and leaving her country has torn her apart.

“I felt really bad that I had to leave,” Tec told ABC News on Friday as her family arrived in Korczowa, Poland, explaining that she had wanted to stay behind and help her people in any way she could but left with her husband and son because they worried about the baby’s safety.

“I couldn’t [stay] because I knew [my son] is here and I need to take care of him and I’m responsible,” she said. “It was like heartbreaking for me because I saw people gonna go fight, like regular civilians gonna take up guns and fight, and I’m just gonna leave.”

While Tec grapples with guilt as she thinks of those she left behind, her husband Juan Tec said that they initially considered staying in Ukraine.

“Things that are happening now in Kyiv are just really bad,” he said. “Shelling, gunfights, tanks, rolling over cars, people getting hurt civilians. And now that I look back, I’m really glad we made that decision.”

According to UNICEF, the 7.5 million children in Ukraine are at heightened risk. Many have been traumatized, wounded and at least 13 children have been killed by Tuesday — a number that is expected to rise as the war rages on, UNICEF said.

Alyona Tec said that her family’s decision to leave Ukraine was difficult and leaving her country has torn her apart.

An uncertain future

For families who separated at the border, it is unclear when they can see their loves ones again.

In an emotional embrace, husband and wife Sasha and Svetlana Olekciirak said goodbye on Saturday at the Polish border in Korczowa.

The couple spoke with ABC News as Sasha dropped off his wife and two children after what they said was a 30-hour trip from Ternopil, not knowing when he will see them again.

“I don’t want to go,” Sasha said, explaining that he wanted to stay in Ukraine to fight for his country.

Asked how she felt not knowing when she can see her husband again, a tearful Svetlana said, “it’s fear … you don’t know what is your future.”

Their story is one of many playing out on the borders of Ukraine, like that of Sergei and Marina, a couple that was also separated at a border.

Sergei spoke with ABC News as he waited with his wife Marina and their two children – a 5-month-old and a 3-year-old – at a train station in Lviv.

Sergei said that that amid the bombings in Kyiv, he was worried for his family’s safety and decided to send them to Poland while he stayed behind to fight.

“I have to ensure that my family [is safe], so that’s why we’re here,” he said.

Asked how she feels about leaving her husband behind, Marina said, “I have no other choice.”

“We will start from zero there,” she said. “I will be better for my kids and I don’t care about stuff.”

ABC News’ Jessica DiMartino contributed to this report.

Restaurant leaders respond directly to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Hours after President Joe Biden’s inaugural State of the Union speech Tuesday night, restaurant and bar industry leaders called on the administration for action.

Chefs, restaurant owners and leaders of the Independent Restaurant Coalition spoke to media Wednesday in tandem with a new letter signed by over 100,000 restaurant employees urging the president and congress to add much-needed money to the bipartisan-backed Restaurant Revitalization Fund.

“I felt a little disappointed that it wasn’t addressed that our need is as dire as it is. The opportunity has not been lost, but that window is closing very quickly,” IRC board member, San Francisco-based chef, and co-owner of Che Fico, David Nayfeld said. “The president could have had an opportunity to recognize us in that moment, but it’s not too late. He can recognize it through action. I don’t care if we were in a speech, I care that the program gets refilled and that his actions speak to his values.”

The urgency of the IRC’s message comes nine days out from the March 11 expiration date for the Continuing Resolution, commonly referred to as the spending bill to add money to the RRF.

“The state of the union is not strong when neighborhood restaurants and bars are ready to close permanently,” Erika Polmar, executive director of the Independent Restaurant Coalition, said.

After nearly a year since the RRF became law, it has failed to support roughly two-thirds of eligible businesses that applied for the program, leaving out nearly 200,000 independent bars and restaurants with four out of five of those businesses in danger of closing permanently, threatening the nearly 11 million employees it supports.

The State of the Union for restaurants is not strong. @POTUS and Congress must make restaurant relief a top priority and refill the Restaurant Revitalization Fund. #ReplenishRRF #SOTU2022 pic.twitter.com/iXYbsvZ2tL

— Independent Restaurant Coalition (@IndpRestaurants) March 2, 2022

IRC co-founder Tom Colicchio reiterated thanks for early support from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer along with others who came together in Washington, D.C., to include $28.6 billion for the industry as part of the American Rescue Plan, but said it’s not even close to enough.

“As great as that was that really only took care of about a third of the restaurant applicants — and he knew at the time that that money wasn’t enough — he actually called it a downpayment for our industry,” Colicchio, the Crafted Hospitality owner and restaurateur said. “It’s almost a year later since he made that declaration and there are almost 20,000 restaurants in New York City alone that have applied for grants and still have not received a dime.”

Like many, Colicchio’s own restaurants in New York City have been at the epicenter of multiple COVID-19 surges that prompt tighter restrictions, closures and smaller crowds, which has directly impacted business.

“I owe at least a million dollars in back rent. So all the business coming back is not going to do that. At a certain point I’m gonna have to make a decision if I can’t pay my landlord, I’ll have to declare bankruptcy and close cause there’s no way we can find that in the current business we have now. Eventually landlords are going to run out of patience and restaurant owners will be closing their doors in droves,” he said.

Nayfeld said as the third year of the pandemic nears, it has become “impossible for most restaurants to withstand the compounding debt, rising costs, revenue-decimating local restrictions, and COVID-19 surges without dedicated help from Congress.”

“Replenishing RRF is the only way independent restaurants and bars can recover from the past two years of economic trauma that we’ve endured and the aftershock we’ll continue to experience,” he said. “To take that little bit of money to reopen a business, buy back inventory, get a little momentum for six to seven weeks, then shutdown again, that loss of momentum is so detrimental to the business — Omicron was something for a lot of restaurants was the arrow through our bodies that’s gonna make us limp along and die from later.”

He continued: “If I could make a plea to Speaker Pelosi, my elected official, I would ask that she drive down the streets of downtown San Francisco and see the boarded up cafes, restaurants and bars that won’t come back without assistance — Even the owners of the ones that look busy, I promise you they would say that they’re stressed, their bank accounts are dwindling, in debt to their eyeballs and they don’t see a solution.”

President Biden addressed the economy and inflation on Tuesday night, but Colicchio said while problematic for the restaurant ecosystem, it’s not the primary pain point for the tens of thousands of independent owners and operators seeking relief from the last two years.

“Prices of food are going to go up — that’s why the restaurants that didn’t receive grant money are at a competitive disadvantage,” he said. “The roughly $40 billion we’re asking for will cover the grants for all the restaurants that have applied and I don’t believe that that’s going to be inflationary. A lot of that money is not gonna go out and be spent, it’s going to pay bills that are already there.”

Inflation paired with increasing fuel prices will inevitably impact the local, independent restaurant supply chains and Colicchio said that “upscale restaurants have pricing elasticity” to stay nimble. But without support from government grants, he said, “all the small neighborhood restaurants that don’t have that — are going to get really hurt and those are the restaurants that we’re really fighting for. Those mom and pops and neighborhood restaurants cant raise prices by 15%, the clientele won’t absorb that. Another reason why we need to complete this funding. We’re not asking for anything additional from our original position, we’re just asking for government to finish their job.”

At least 90,000 restaurants and bars have closed since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the IRC. Unemployment rate for leisure and hospitality is still 8.2%, about double the economy-wide rate, as restaurant and bar employment is still down 984,700 below its pre-pandemic levels.

Polmar explained, as detailed in a January IRC report, that “neighborhood restaurants and bars are deeper in debt and exhausted every possible option. Our industry is organizing for the second time in five weeks because the only hope we have is for our elected officials to hear our pleas and ensure every single restaurant and bar has the relief they need to survive the pandemic.

Blinken visits Ukrainian church to show support

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday joined Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.S., Oksana Markarova, in a visit to a Ukrainian church in Washington, expressing vocal admiration for the Ukrainian people.

Blinken called Markarova “our new star,” in the wake of President Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech Tuesday night where he called attention to the ambassador who was seated next to first lady Jill Biden.

“It’s in the most difficult moments that our faith is tested,” Blinken said to the audience, including Ukrainian faith leaders and activists, at the Ukrainian Catholic National Shrine of the Holy Family.

He also said this is a moment for faith in democracy, peace, and “in the conviction that good will prevail over evil.”

Blinken said Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “horrific, terrible mistake,” in his aggression against Ukraine.

“We stand with them, we stand with you, and we will prevail in this struggle,” Blinken said of the Ukrainian people. He praised the Ukrainians who he said have been inspiring the world with resilience, strength and faith.

The Ukrainian people are “insisting on their freedom, insisting on their independence, insisting on their right to go forward as a sovereign, independent country,” he said.

Inside the church, Blinken lit a candle and spoke with a group of Ukrainian leaders, including Archbishop Borys Gudziak and Ukrainian American activist Ulana Mazurkevich.

The meeting united leaders of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church and the Ukrainian Catholic Church, which separated in 2018.

“We’re like one family,” said the pastor, Fr. Robert Hitchens, “In family, there are disagreements over things. But, when it comes down to matters of life and death, we pull together, we work together, we pray together and we set aside any differences.”

He said Blinken’s visit honored Ukrainians in the U.S. and overseas.

“They’re not forgotten,” Hitchens said about those in Ukraine. “The government of the United States and their sisters and brothers, fellow Ukrainians, and all peoples of goodwill, and this nation are standing with them.”

Like many other members of the church, Hitchens said his great-grandparents immigrated to the U.S., but kept their Catholic faith strong.

Hitchens said his biggest fear is the threat of extinction for Ukraine, and that the church will be forced underground under Russia’s rule.

“In my heart of hearts, I know somehow Ukraine will survive and its people will still survive,” said Hitchens. “But not before there’s a whole lot of senseless hurt.”

In 1st Jan. 6 trial, DOJ calls accused rioter the ‘tip of this mob’s spear’

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Opening statements got underway Wednesday in the case of a Texas man charged with participating in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol and later threatening his family members if they reported him to law enforcement.

Guy Reffitt, 49, a self-proclaimed member of the far-right anti-government “Three Percenter” militia group, is the first alleged participant in the Jan. 6 insurrection to bring his case to trial. He faces five felony charges that carry maximum sentences of between five and 20 years each.

“The evidence in this case will show that the defendant attacked the Capitol on the afternoon of January 6 precisely because Congress was meeting in a joint session,” assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nestler told the court. “At that time, he planned to light a match that would start the fire. He wanted to stop Congress from doing its job.”

“The defendant was the tip of this mob’s spear,” Nestler said.

Reffitt’s case presents a major test for the Justice Department, as the result could impact hundreds of other alleged rioters who are weighing whether to similarly take their cases to trial or enter into plea deals with the government.

Nestler said in his opening statement that the government plans to play audio recorded prior to the attack of Reffitt talking about what he planned to do to lawmakers upon storming the Capitol.

“We’re taking the Capitol before the day is over, ripping them out by their f***ing hair, every f***ing one of them,” Reffitt says in one of the audio clips. “I just want to see Pelosi’s head hitting every f****ing stair on the way out, and Mitch McConnell too … I’m packing heat and I’m going to get more heat and I am going to that building and I am dragging them out.”

In his brief opening statement, Reffitt’s attorney, William Welch III, said there was no evidence showing Reffitt assaulted anyone and that Reffitt’s statements to his family and others amounted to little more than hyperbole.

“Guy does brag, he exaggerates, and he rants — he uses a lot of hyperbole and that upsets people,” Welch said. “The evidence will show that this case was a rush to judgment.”

“Guy Reffitt did not enter the Capitol,” Welch said. “He did not break anything, he did not take anything.”

Following two days of jury selection and one-on-one question-and-answer sessions with more than four dozen Washington, D.C., residents, 12 jurors and four alternates were selected for the trial, including nine men and seven women. Their backgrounds range from a NASA employee and a natural-gas industry lobbyist to an analyst with the Pentagon and a wood crafter who works with the federal agency that maintains the Capitol complex.

Judge Dabney Friedrich acknowledged that “virtually every juror” would have some view of the assault on the Capitol, but said the goal of the jury selection was to find residents who could legitimately separate their personal feelings about the attack from the question of Reffitt’s guilt or innocence.

In a recent filing, prosecutors said they expect to call 13 witnesses in Reffitt’s trial, including representatives from Capitol Police, the FBI and the Secret Service, as well as a counsel to the Secretary of the Senate, Reffitt’s son and daughter, and a fellow member of the Three-Percenter militia who traveled with Reffitt to D.C. and has been granted immunity for his testimony.

Reffitt spoke to ABC News from jail in December, saying, “This has been disastrous for me and my family, especially for my girls, my son — actually, all of my family.”

He also said he believes he’ll be exonerated at trial.

“It’s not that hard to prove that I didn’t do anything,” Reffitt said. “It should be pretty easy.”

After nearly 14 months of evidence-gathering, more than 750 people have been arrested on federal charges connected to the riot, and investigators say they are continuing to seek hundreds more who are suspected of participating in the violence that occurred that day.

Extremists harass minority refugees arriving in Poland from Ukraine, witnesses report

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As Ukrainians flee across Europe amid the onslaught of attacks from Russia in Ukraine, non-white refugees have faced discrimination from extremist groups patrolling the border, reporters and residents in the area told ABC News.

On March 1, dozens of self-identified right-wing nationalists marauded through the city center of Przemysl, Poland, and harassed refugees who looked to be people of color, the witnesses said. Many non-white refugees have arrived in the city while they evacuate Ukraine.

As this humanitarian crisis goes on, many fear extremism will continue to cause trouble for refugees of color trying to escape the war.

More than 836,000 people have fled Ukraine to neighboring countries since Russian forces invaded the eastern European country on Feb. 24, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

At least 453,000 of those refugees have escaped to Poland as of March 2, UNHCR said.

Near the Przemysl train station on Tuesday, where thousands of refugees are passing through, anyone who looked to be African or Arab were being targeted by the extremists in the attack, witnesses reported.

Julian Würzer, a reporter for the German newspaper Berliner Morgenpost who is stationed in Poland, told ABC News that extremists aggressively shouted at refugees to get out of the country and allegedly assaulted them.

Online videos seen by ABC News show police in riot gear diffusing the incident, which Würzer said went on for about 20 minutes before police arrived.

There have been no reports of injuries.

Local authorities did not immediately respond to ABC News’ requests for comment on the incidents.

These extremists are a minority in the country, however. There has been an overwhelming effort by local citizens to help those fleeing across the Polish-Ukrainian border. ABC News reporters on the ground say that volunteers across the region have been offering to house, feed, and clothe the many refugees.

At the border, witnesses tell ABC News that extremists have reportedly been accepting Ukrainians but vowing to “defend” Poland against an influx of non-Christians. These extremists are believed by some to be backed by Russia.

Poland’s government has aligned itself in recent years with right-wing ideals and has been criticized for anti-refugee sentiment. Last year, Poland refused to let thousands of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in the country after Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko forcibly drove them out of his country.

Commissioner Filippo Grandi of the UNCHR has confirmed that there have been instances of discrimination in the admission of certain refugees from Ukraine. Some third-country nationals have reported being stuck or being rejected from passage in their attempts to flee, he said.

Grandi said that state policies are not causing instances of discrimination, and that “there should be absolutely no discrimination between Ukrainians and non-Ukrainians, Europeans and non-Europeans.”

“Everybody is fleeing from the same risks,” Grandi said at a March 1 press conference. “We will continue to intervene, as we have done several times to try to ensure that everybody is received in the same manner.”

ABC News’ Tomek Rolski and Christopher Donato contributed to this report.

JetBlue pilot pulled off plane after failing breathalyzer

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — A 52-year-old JetBlue pilot was pulled off a plane in Buffalo, New York, after blowing a blood alcohol content over the legal limit for pilots, according to Helen Tederous, public affairs director for the Niagra Frontier Transportation Authority.

Pilots face strict blood alcohol restrictions, with .04 considered illegal.

According to NFTA, a Transportation Security Administration officer noticed the pilot was acting drunk, and authorities removed him from the cockpit.

NFTA Airport Police took the man, who is from Orlando, Florida, into custody, and notified federal authorities, according to Tederous. He was released to JetBlue security and may face federal charges.

Adoptive parents of two missing California boys arrested on murder charges

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(BAKERSFIELD, Calif.) — The more than yearlong search for two missing California toddlers took a disturbing twist Tuesday night when their adoptive parents were jailed on murder charges, authorities said.

Trezell West, 35, and Jacqueline West, 32, were being held without bail on Wednesday at the Kern County Jail, according to online jail records.

The couple was booked at the jail around 8 p.m. Tuesday on two counts of second-degree murder, two counts of willful cruelty to a child and a misdemeanor charge of making a false report of an emergency, according to jail records. They are expected to make their first appearance in court on Thursday.

The Wests reported their adopted children, 4-year-old Olson and his 3-year-old brother, Orrin, missing in December 2020 from the backyard of their home in California City near Bakersfield, setting off a massive search involving police and volunteers. A reward fund ballooned to more than $120,000 for information on the boys’ whereabouts.

Lt. Jason Townsend of the Bakersfield Police Department confirmed to ABC Bakersfield affiliate station KERO that the couple was arrested around 7 p.m. Tuesday. Townsend declined to release more information on the arrests except to say they were taken into custody in an unincorporated area of Bakersfield.

Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday to discuss developments in the case.

Trezell and Jacqueline West reported the boys missing on Dec. 21, 2020, and have publicly denied being involved in their disappearance.

In an interview with KERO just two days after the boys vanished, Trezell West claimed he last saw them playing in their backyard.

“I realized that I left the back gate open and I panicked and came inside the house. [We] searched the house, me and my wife,” Trezell West said at the time. “Once that didn’t pan out, I got in the van. I looked down the street in both directions; it was getting dark, getting cold.”

Police investigators previously said the Wests were not suspects. It was not immediately clear what evidence led investigators to arrest the couple.

The whereabouts of Olson and Orrin remain a mystery. Since the outset of the search for the boys, police have said they suspect foul play was involved in their disappearance.

The Wests were initially foster parents to Orson and Orrin, who came to live with them in 2018. The couple officially completed the adoption process in 2019.

In addition to Orson and Orrin, the couple has four other children, including two who are adopted and two who are biological, investigators told ABC News. The Wests’ four other children had been moved into protective custody, police said.

In an interview with ABC News in February 2021, Trezell West’s mother, Wanda West, defended him and Jacqueline West as “really good parents as far as I’m concerned.”

ABC News’ Sabina Ghebremedhin and Zohreen Shah contributed to this report.

Juror in Ghislaine Maxwell trial intends to take the fifth at hearing

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — One of the jurors who convicted Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell of sex trafficking in December intends to take the Fifth Amendment at a hearing next week regarding his role on the jury, according to a letter from the juror’s attorney that was made public Wednesday.

“I write to inform the Court that Juror 50 will invoke his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination at the hearing,” wrote Todd Spodek, a lawyer for the juror.

Spodek did not respond to a request for comment from ABC News.

U.S. District Judge Alison Nathan last week ordered Juror 50, a 35-year-old Manhattan resident, to appear in federal court on March 8 for an inquiry focused on his responses during jury screening and on his post-trial interviews, in which he revealed his alleged personal experience as a victim of childhood sexual abuse.

Nathan last week denied Maxwell’s motion for a new trial based on the current record, but ordered the juror to court to answer questions under oath. The court also unsealed the juror’s responses to a written jury questionnaire, showing that the juror answered “no” to a question asking if he had ever been a victim of sexual harassment, assault or abuse.

In response to the letter from the juror’s lawyer, federal prosecutors informed the court that they are “in the process of seeking internal approval” to grant the juror immunity, thereby compelling him to testify at the hearing. Subject to that approval, the government says it will submit a proposed order to the judge in advance of the hearing, according to a letter from prosecutors that was filed with the court.

Juror 50 granted several interviews in the days following Maxwell’s convictions in late December. Identified in media reports using his first and middle names, Scotty David, told media outlets that during a critical stage of deliberations, he shared his experiences of being sexually abused as a child.

He claimed in interviews that his personal reflections helped convince some skeptical jurors that key prosecution witnesses — the four women who testified about Maxwell’s role in their sexual abuse — could be believed.

“I know what happened when I was sexually abused. I remember the [color] of the carpet, the walls. Some of it can be replayed like a video,” he said in an interview with the Independent. “But I can’t remember all the details, there are some things that run together.

Maxwell, 60, was convicted on five felony counts, including sex trafficking and conspiracy to entice minors to travel for illegal sexual activity between 1994 and 2004. Prosecutors portrayed Maxwell and Epstein, the millionaire financier who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on child sex-trafficking charges, as “partners in crime who sexually exploited young girls together.”

Maxwell’s lawyers, who structured her defense largely on challenges to the reliability of her accusers’ memories, contend that if Juror 50 had disclosed his history of child sexual abuse during jury screening, he almost certainly would have been removed from consideration.

Maxwell has been detained at New York’s Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since her arrest in July 2020.

White House signals next era in COVID with sweeping new strategy

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The White House on Wednesday released a sweeping new 96-page plan on COVID, marking a new era in the pandemic in which the virus is still circulating but can hopefully be managed so that Americans can return to daily life without disruption.

The strategy, that President Joe Biden previewed Tuesday night in his State of the Union address, calls for making available more free rapid tests online starting next week, as well as setting up pharmacy clinics later this month that will hand out free antiviral pills to people who test positive.

The plan also promises the ability to mass produce 1 billion doses of vaccine each year so that a new formula can be delivered within 100 days in the event of an aggressive new variant. The administration also vows to continue its efforts to provide vaccinations globally to help prevent future mutations.

“We are not going to just ‘live with COVID,'” states the new strategy called the “National COVID-19 Preparedness Plan.”

“Because of our work, we are no longer going to let COVID-19 dictate how we live,” it adds.

The White House notes in its plan that these efforts will require more money, in addition to the $1.9 trillion COVID relief package Biden pushed through last year. That money has mostly either been spent or obligated through contracts. Officials have not said yet how much would be needed.

“Without these investments, many of the activities described below cannot be initiated or sustained,” the White House wrote.

ABC News last week first reported efforts by the White House to revise its strategy to signal a new era in the pandemic. The effort has involved private meeting with business leaders, governors and the nation’s top pandemic experts to consider the various paths the virus could take in the coming months.

The updated strategy comes after significant voter pressure to reopen fully the country and curb disruptions. Democratic strategists have warned candidates they would fare better focusing on other issues like controlling inflation.

But federal health officials defend the shift as not merely political. Case numbers and hospitalization levels have plummeted in recent weeks, easing pressure on health care workers.

Officials also note that the vaccine held up throughout the omicron wave. The vast majority of people in hospitals have been unvaccinated, while vaccinated people mostly experienced mild symptoms that did not require medical help.

DOJ announces task force to target Russian oligarchs’ assets

March 2, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Wednesday announced a task force to target the assets of Russian oligarchs after President Joe Biden previewed the move in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.

“The United States Department of Justice is assembling a dedicated task force to go after the crimes of the Russian oligarchs,” Biden said. “We are joining with European allies to find and seize their yachts, their luxury apartments, their private jets. We’re coming for your ill-begotten gains.”

The U.S. says the oligarchs have ties to President Vladimir Putin and he uses them to launder or hide hundreds of millions of dollars obtained through corruption.

Dubbed Task Force KleptoCapture, the group will investigate and prosecute new sanctions, combat unlawful efforts to undermine restrictions taken against Russian financial institutions by Russians who flout the restrictions, go after oligarchs who use cryptocurrency to evade U.S. sanctions and seize the assets of Russian oligarchs.

The department says it will bring “cutting edge” resources from the deputy attorney general’s office and will be led by a career prosecutor out of the Southern District of New York.

“The Justice Department will use all of its authorities to seize the assets of individuals and entities who violate these sanctions,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a press release. “We will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute those whose criminal acts enable the Russian government to continue this unjust war. Let me be clear: if you violate our laws, we will hold you accountable.”

The Task Force is designed to ensure the “full effect” of sanctions leveled against the Russian government, “which have been designed to isolate Russia from global markets and impose serious costs for this unjustified act of war, by targeting the crimes of Russian officials, government-aligned elites, and those who aid or conceal their unlawful conduct,” the Department says.

Even if Russian oligarchs can’t be prosecuted in the United States, DOJ will still seize assets including personal real estate, financial and commercial assets. DOJ says they will work with their European counterparts around the world to ensure these objectives are met.

The move has bipartisan support.

Last week, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., floated the idea of a DOJ task force seizing Russian assets, calling it the “number one priority” of the supplemental funding bill.

“It is now time for that crowd to lose their yachts loose their luxury apartments, and to pay a price for being part of a thuggish group,” Graham said.

ABC News Allison Pecorin contributed to this report.

+ More