News – Page 2825 – 105.7 WDNY

Ukraine meets with Russia at Belarus border

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Delegations from Ukraine and Russia held talks Monday morning on Belarus’ border in an attempt to end Moscow’s invasion as Russian troops continue to attack.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy agreed to send a delegation to meet with Russian negotiators during a phone call Sunday with Belarus’ authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s president’s office announced.

The two sides began talks Monday at the Pripyat River on the border, north of Chernobyl, the spokesperson said, an area that is currently under Russian military control. The Russian delegation includes officials from Russia’s foreign and defense ministries as well as the presidential administration.

Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops. Russia has signaled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”

The Ukrainian delegation included David Arahamiya, a member of the Servant of the People political faction; Oleksiy Reznikov, the minister of Defense of Ukraine; Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the presidential office; Andriy Kostin, the first deputy dead of the Ukrainian Delegation to the Tripartite Contact Group; Rustem Umerov, a member of the Parliament of Ukraine; and Deputy Foreign Minister Mykola Tochytsky.

Russia’s delegation includes officials from the foreign and defense ministries and presidential administration.

The talks are the first between the two sides since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched the invasion on Thursday, but Zelenskyy, in a televised address, said he had little hope of a breakthrough.

“I will be honest, as always: I do not really believe in the outcome of this meeting, but let them try,” Zelenskyy said.

He added that if there was a “chance” to end the war, he should take part in the talks.

Ukraine had earlier rejected a proposal from Russia to hold the talks in the southern Belarusian city of Gomel, on the grounds that Belarus is directly involved in Russia’s attack, having hosted the Russian invasion force that is now moving south on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and letting Russia fire missiles from its territory.

The Kremlin has signaled it wants to hold talks where Zelenskyy will discuss “neutral status” for Ukraine, in effect hoping to negotiate Kyiv’s terms of surrender. But Zelenskyy’s administration has said while it wants talks to end the killing in Ukraine, it will not make concessions.

“We will not surrender, we will not capitulate, we will not give up a single inch of our territory,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said at a press conference.

While brokering the meeting, Zelenskyy said Lukashenko has promised that no missiles or aircraft would carry out strikes on Ukraine while the negotiations were underway. But in an unpromising sign for the talks, Ukrainian officials said Belarus had launched at least two Iskander ballistic missiles at Ukraine on Sunday after the agreement to meet was reached.

It was also Lukasheko who suggested that Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet at the Belarus-Ukraine border, Zelenskyy said, adding that though he is not optimistic a resolution will be reached, he does not want there to be any doubt that he did not try to stop the war.

The diplomatic effort came as Russian troops continued to try to press their attack in Ukraine but faced a fierce defense from Ukrainian forces. In Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, in the country’s northeast, Ukrainian defenders succeeded in beating back Russian units during street fighting.

The momentum of Russian forces in Ukraine appears to have been slowed by fuel and logistics shortages, as well as “stiff resistance,” a U.S. senior defense official told ABC News on Sunday.

The official also credited the slowdown of the Russian invasion to resistance by Ukraine.

US and allies bar Russian Central Bank from accessing reserves worldwide

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration on Monday emphasized the drastic nature of economic sanctions levied again Russia over the weekend in which the U.S. and allies targeted Russia’s Central Bank, preventing the Kremlin from accessing any of its more than $600 billion in reserves in the U.S., or in U.S. dollars in foreign countries.

The sanctions also target Russia’s National Wealth Fund and the Ministry of Finance, and officials said it was clear from the beginning of the Ukraine invasion that Russian President Vladimir Putin was planning to use Central Bank assets to mitigate any sanctions.

“Today’s announcement that prohibit transactions with the Central Bank of Russia in the National Wealth Fund will significantly hinder their ability to do that, and inhibit their access to hundreds of billions of dollars in assets from our actions alone, they will not be able to access assets that are either in United States are in U.S. dollars,” officials told reporters.

“This fund and its leadership are symbols of deep seated rushing corruption and influence peddling globally … and it’s known to be intimately connected to kleptocracy at the highest levels of the Russian government,” an official added.

“Our strategy — to put it simply — is to make sure that the Russian economy goes backwards, as long as President Putin decides to go forward with his invasion of Ukraine,” a senior administration official said.

Officials explained the sanctions — a major step for the Biden administration — were announced over the weekend when it became clear it was necessary to move before the markets opened Monday.

“We learned over the course of the weekend from our allies and partners was the Russian Central Bank was attempting to move assets and there would be a great deal of assets starting on Monday morning from institutions around the world. So, we took these that we’re taking these actions in a way that they will be effective immediately,” an official said.

Officials said the “actions represent the most significant actions the U.S. Treasury has taken against an economy of this size, and assets of this size,” noting the Russian Central Bank is many times larger than Iran’s or Venezuela’s.

Officials wouldn’t specify how much of the $630 billion “rainy day fund” would be affected, but noted the U.S. knows that the Russian Central Bank has its assets diversified around the world.

“What we’ve done today is not only preventing them from using those dollars in the United States, but preventing them from being able to use those dollars in other places like Europe or Japan to defend their currency and prop up their institutions. And our – our goal was to make sure that not only would they not have access to dollars, but also not have access to other currencies,” an official said.

On the energy front, officials said they have multiple interests in keeping energy out of the sanctions packages for now: “A — because we want to support the global economic recovery, but B — because we don’t want prices to spike for the benefit of President Putin as a major energy exporter.”

Officials said over the long term, the U.S. and allies will look to degrade Russia’s capacity to be a leading energy supplier, perhaps working to keep it from developing energy technologies.

Ukraine mounting stiff resistance, inflicting painful casualties on Russia

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(KYIV, Ukraine) — There is growing evidence that Ukraine is managing to inflict significant casualties on Russian forces as they try to advance deeper into the country — and that the swift strike Russia hoped to carry out on the capital, Kyiv, has been slowed by intense and popular resistance.

Russia hasn’t managed to make significant progress in the last two days. The main Russian force pushing down from Belarus towards Kyiv does not appear to have advanced closer towards the city since coming within about 20 miles, although smaller advanced groups have been fighting gun battles with Ukrainian forces inside the capital since at least Friday.

Ukraine’s military claims the Russian troops are struggling with fuel and logistics supplies. Images and videos of destroyed Russian military vehicles and tanks, which have been verified, have been circulating online.

One example of the effective Ukrainian resistance took place Sunday when Russia appeared to mount a half-hearted attempt to destroy resistance in Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv.

Russian special forces units in light armored vehicles tried to push into Kharkiv after indiscriminately bombarding the city with artillery, but they were rapidly destroyed by Ukrainian troops and volunteer territorial defense, according to videos posted online.

Kharkiv’s Mayor Oleg Sinegubov on Sunday night pushed a triumphant message, saying that “control over Kharkiv is completely ours” and that Ukrainian forces had succeeded “in a full clearing of the city of the enemy.”

Sinegubov said dozens of Russian troops had surrendered with little fight, sometimes in whole groups of five to 10 men, with some abandoning their equipment.

A number of military analysts — including those that correctly predicted the invasion — believed Russia had hoped for a lightning “shock and awe” advance to the edge of Kyiv in the first days that would lead to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s government surrendering without Russia needing to actually seize the city. Instead, the resistance is growing, officials said.

“It is clear they hoped to get Zelenskyy to surrender quickly without inflicting heavy casualties on the Ukrainian military [and] civilians. That failed, but their execution still appears to be fairly restrained,” Rob Lee, analyst from Kings College London’s War Department, wrote on Twitter on Sunday.

Lee said that strategy had now failed, and that Russia would have to move to a plan B, which he feared would mean “more force.”

Time is working against Russia. Ukrainian popular resistance is gaining in self-confidence, and the Russian piecemeal strategy so far has allowed cities more time to set up defenses, putting in place barricades and distributing thousands of weapons.

In Berdyansk, the only major city Russia has gained full control of, videos posted to social media Monday showed a crowd of residents angrily chanting a slogan insulting President Vladimir Putin at Russian troops guarding a government building on the main square.

At the same time, the international response is also growing, with more sanctions and moves aimed at crippling Russia’s economy, while European countries are sending more and more weapons to bolster the Ukrainian defense, with the European Union also announcing that for the first time it would provide Ukrainian officials with military support.

Russia has so far held back its main army and has been using its air and artillery power against military targets, avoiding widespread, intense bombardment against civilian areas. Analysts, including Lee, said Russia appeared to have initially sought to inflict limited casualties on Ukrainian civilians and the military, likely out of concern about backlash in Russia and making it harder to achieve a swift political change in Ukraine, as well as a stronger international reaction.

U.S. officials and independent analyst now fear if Russia’s attempt to overpower Ukraine quickly fails, it may turn to using more brute force to achieve it. That could mean unleashing indiscriminate artillery and airstrikes to destroy Ukraine’s military and terrorize civilians, as well as besieging cities.

That already appears to be happening in Kharkiv, where Russia in the last two days has fired heavy artillery, including “Grad” multiple rocket launchers onto the city, causing significant damage to civilian buildings.

“I think today we’ve seen a shift in Russian targeting towards critical civilian infrastructure, greater use of MLRS, and artillery in suburban areas. Unfortunately, my concern that this was going to get a lot more ugly and affect civilians is starting to materialize,” Michael Kofman, an analyst at CNA, who also predicted the invasion as likely, tweeted late Saturday.

U.S. officials caution, though, that Russia still has major combat power yet to be deployed, with roughly half its forces massed near Ukraine still not engaged. A massive 3-mile-long column of hundreds of vehicles has formed up in northern Ukraine after crossing from Belarus and appears to be moving towards Kyiv.

First Jan. 6 trial begins with high stakes for government prosecutors

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Jury selection was set to begin Monday morning in the case of Guy Reffitt, who faces five felony counts in the first trial of an alleged participant in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The stakes are high for prosecutors because the trial will be closely watched by hundreds of other Jan. 6 defendants who have yet to enter into plea deals with the government.

It marks a significant turning point for the Justice Department nearly 14 months into its sprawling criminal investigation of the attack, and depending on the outcome, could prompt guilty pleas or encourage defendants to fight in court.

Reffitt, a 49-year-old man from Wylie, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is one of several Jan. 6 rioters accused of possessing a firearm while on Capitol grounds. Prosecutors say he traveled from his home in Texas to Washington with an AR-15 rifle and Smith and Wesson .40 caliber pistol, though he is only alleged to have carried the pistol in a holster during the riot itself.

He was seen in pictures and videos with the mob outside the West Front of the Capitol, wearing body armor, a helmet and carrying flexicuffs, prosecutors said.

He allegedly “confronted Capitol Police officers” on stairs just north of the temporary scaffolding that had been put up in advance of the Biden inauguration. At one point he allegedly charged at police, but was stopped after they shot him with two different types of less-than-lethal projectiles and then pepper spray. After returning home following the riot, Reffitt is alleged to have threatened his children if they reported him to law enforcement.

Reffitt has been held in pre-trial detention since arrest on Jan. 16, 2021, due to his alleged dangerousness to the general public. Reffitt’s trial will take place at the D.C. District Court in Washington, D.C. Jury selection is expected to last a day or two.

In a recent filing, prosecutors said they expect to call 13 witnesses in Reffitt’s trial. This will include representatives from Capitol Police, the FBI, Secret Service, 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 is not alleged to have entered the Capitol, but prosecutors are looking to persuade a jury that he joined with hundreds of others in the mob seeking to disrupt Congress’ certification of Biden’s election win.

Reffitt’s attorneys tried and failed to get Judge Friedrich to dismiss the charge against him that he sought to obstruct the certification — the felony charge that is one of the most crucial to Justice Department’s prosecution of the riot and which has been leveled against more than 275 other defendants. The charge itself carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Reffitt’s attorney, William Welch, has argued there are several deficiencies in the government’s case. Specifically, he has sought to argue that Congress’ convening on Jan. 6 to certify the results of the 2020 election should not count as an “official proceeding” under law, and that there is no evidence Reffitt acted “corruptly” with the intention of disrupting lawmakers discharging their duties that day. Welch has also argued Reffitt’s comments to his family that he was charged for were merely “idle threats,” and noted that Reffitt’s wife and daughter both have said they never feared for their personal safety despite his comments.

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.”

According to recent filings in the case, prosecutors will look to underscore the dangers that the pro-Trump mob posed to lawmakers, former Vice President Pence and American democracy itself as they attacked the Capitol that day.

At the trial, first-hand accounts from government officials as well as a mountain of video are expected to be shown. Photo and audio evidence that they’ll use to implicate Reffitt as they paint a picture of an American man radicalized to carry out an attack against his own government and the rule of law.

Mom raises awareness after son is diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A Georgia mom is on a mission to spread joy and raise awareness after her 1-year-old son was diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome, a hair disorder she’d never heard of until last year.

The boy’s mother, Katelyn Samples, told Good Morning America that a stranger messaged her last summer on Instagram after seeing a photo of her youngest son, Locklan Samples, and asked if he had been diagnosed with uncombable hair syndrome.

“At first, you see ‘syndrome’ and you’re like, ‘Oh my gosh,’ like is something wrong with my baby? Is he in pain or something?” Samples recalled.

She added, “I just went in a tailspin and did a Google deep dive, called his pediatrician and the pediatrician even was like, ‘Hang on, let us look into this.’ They hadn’t even heard of it. So they sent us to a specialist, a pediatric dermatologist at Emory in Atlanta and that’s where we were able to get the diagnosis.”

What is uncombable hair syndrome?

Uncombable hair syndrome is a rare hair disorder and a genetic condition that usually affects children between the ages of three months to three years, although there have been reports of cases in kids up to age 12. According to the NIH, only about 100 cases have been reported in medical studies but experts say there could be more unreported cases.

“People might just be like, ‘Oh, my child has unruly hair or hair that’s difficult to tame, but they might not have sought a medical professional, like a pediatrician or dermatologist to formally diagnose the condition,” Dr. Carol Cheng, a pediatric dermatologist at UCLA Health told GMA.

According to Dr. Cheng, children with uncombable hair syndrome, also called spun glass hair, can have hair that grows in all directions and their hair can be straw-colored, have a dull texture, or be hard to manage.

A specialist can diagnose uncombable hair syndrome through a genetic test and an examination of a hair clipping through electron microscopy, a process that uses a special type of microscope.

“When you look under that microscope, you can see that instead of having hairs that are cylinder shape … the shaft of the hair is actually more in a triangular shape,” Dr. Cheng explained. “Within the triangle, there (are) these little grooves that go up and down the long axis of the hair shaft so that’s why it makes it really uncombable.”

“To diagnose the condition, at least 50% of the hairs would have this abnormality, but not all the hairs have to be abnormal,” Dr. Cheng added.

For the genetic test, doctors would look for three specific genes that have been associated with the syndrome, she said.

“The three genes that were found are what we call an autosomal recessive condition, meaning that both the mom and the dad have to have one of these genes and pass it on to the child who’s affected,” Dr. Cheng said. “It can also be inherited in what we call an autosomal dominant condition where only one of the parents has to have this genetic trait to pass on to their child.”

Living with uncombable hair syndrome

Despite the syndrome’s name, Samples said she can still comb Locklan’s hair for now but she doesn’t need to do so often, and overall, it’s relatively low maintenance.

“It can get matted easily. It is very fragile. … It can get tangled and I do have to be careful,” she said. “That would be an example of a time I actually would wash it because I very rarely wash his hair. Just doesn’t need to be, it doesn’t really get greasy.”

The mother of two said other people have been very curious about Locklan’s hair both in public and online. “We get a lot of comments about him looking like a dandelion and that’s actually a very accurate description of appearance and how it feels,” Samples said. “His hair is extremely soft, like a little baby chick. People will ask to touch it, which is fine with us, as long as people ask.”

Samples has been sharing Locklan’s story and photos on Instagram since his diagnosis, In a post from October, she wrote that she wanted to do so in part “to spread some joy on the internet!”

“Our biggest message is to celebrate what makes you stand out and what makes you different and hopefully bring awareness to this uncombable hair syndrome and hopefully, we can get more information,” Samples said. “If you think your kid might have it, go inquire and ask questions and be your child’s advocate.”

There are no formal treatments for uncombable hair syndrome and the hair abnormalities tend to resolve themselves as time goes on.

“Interestingly, this condition does get better with age. So after puberty or into adulthood, typically the hair condition does get better,” Dr. Cheng noted. “It doesn’t stay with them for their entire life.”

Risky drivers drove more during pandemic, AAA says

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Traffic deaths surged during the pandemic, despite less cars on the road. A new study from AAA found an increase in reckless drivers on the roads may be to blame.

The study, conducted in fall of 2020, found an estimated 4% of drivers in the United States reported they increased their driving during the pandemic. Those drivers tended to be younger and mostly male, AAA said.

That group also reported to engage in risky driving behaviors such as distracted driving, speeding, aggressive driving, substance-impaired driving and not using seatbelts, the report found.

“Our research finds that higher-risk motorists accounted for a greater share of drivers during the pandemic than before it,” Dr. David Yang, executive director of the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in a release. “Safety-minded individuals drove less, while many who increased their driving tended to engage in riskier behaviors behind the wheel.”

The average daily number of driving trips made by adults in the U.S. decreased by 42% during the early months of the pandemic, AAA said.

Despite the decrease in traffic, approximately 13% more people died on U.S. roads in the second half of 2020 compared to the same time the year prior, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The agency estimates 38,680 people died on roads in 2020 — the largest projected number of fatalities since 2007.

AAA’s survey results were part of the organization’s annual Traffic Safety Culture index. Researchers questioned almost 3,000 drivers between October and November of 2020 about their driving habits in the past 30 days.

“About 4% of the population reported they were actually driving more because of the pandemic, and the emphasis of our study here is that group, although small, is driving more and that they appeared to be far higher risk drivers, both in terms of their characteristics and in terms of their own self-reported behaviors behind the wheel,” Brian Tefft, senior researcher at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, said in an interview with ABC News.

Russia-Ukraine live updates: Ukraine, Russia at Belarus border for talks

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Russia’s military launched a long-feared invasion of Ukraine early Thursday, attacking its ex-Soviet neighbor from multiple directions despite warnings of dire consequences from the United States and the international community.

Thursday’s attacks followed weeks of escalating tensions in the region. In a fiery, hourlong speech on Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he was recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed separatist areas in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region: the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk.

Russia has blamed Ukraine for stoking the crisis and reiterated its demands to NATO that Ukraine pledges to never join the transatlantic defense alliance.

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

Feb 28, 6:47 am
Russia hikes key rate to 20% as ruble tumbles

Russia’s central bank on Monday raised its key interest rate to 20% from 9.5% in an apparent effort to slow the fallout from severe international sanctions.

The rate hike came as the Russian ruble tumbled, trading down as much as 30% against the U.S. dollar on Monday, according to Bloomberg. The currency traded about 17% lower midday in Moscow.

The Russian stock market reportedly closed for the day.

-ABC News’ Zunaira Zaki

Feb 28, 6:23 am
500,000 refugees have fled Ukraine, UN says

More than 500,000 people have fled Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on Thursday, the U.N. Refugee Agency said on Monday.

More than half have crossed the border into Poland, the agency said. Filippo Grandi, the U.N. high commissioner for refugees, had said on Sunday that 368,000 people had fled to neighboring countries.

-ABC News’ Zoe Magee

Feb 28, 5:00 am
Ukraine delegation arrives for talks with Russia

The Ukrainian delegation sent for talks with Russia arrived Monday morning at the Belarus-Ukraine border, where the meeting will be held.

Ukraine has said the key issue for the talks is an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops.

Russia has signalled it wants to discuss Ukraine adopting “neutral status.”

The head of Russia’s delegation has said the two sides will meet within about an hour. They are meeting on the Pripyat River, north of Chernobyl.

The Ukrainian delegation includes the Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, the head of Zelenskyy’s parliamentary party, as well as advisors to the president and MPs.

Russia’s delegation includes officials from the Foreign and Defense ministries, and the presidential administration.

The talks were agreed to on Sunday in a call between Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Belarus’ leader Alexander Lukashenko.

Fighting continued throughout the night, as Russia attempted to advance and bombarded Ukrainian forces.

-ABC News’ Patrick Reevell and Julia Drozd

Feb 28, 3:29 am
Russian advance slows north of Kyiv, UK military says

The U.K. Ministry of Defence said on Monday that the advance of Russian ground forces had been slowed by Ukraine’s defense of an airport in Hostomel, about 19 miles north of Kyiv.

“Logistical failures and staunch Ukrainian resistance continue to frustrate the Russian advance,” the ministry said on Twitter.

Supreme Court weighs rollback of EPA’s power to fight climate change

February 28, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As the impacts of global climate change exact an increasingly dire human and economic toll, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday is considering a major challenge to the power of the Environmental Protection Agency to combat greenhouse gas emissions from thousands of American power plants.

The justices are hearing oral arguments in a case — West Virginia v. EPA — that pits major coal and mining companies and Republican-led states against the Biden administration, power utilities and public health groups that see EPA’s authority as critical for curbing the climate crisis.

The outcome of the case could determine whether the U.S. will be able to meet a government goal of cutting carbon pollution by 50% over the next eight years and shifting entirely to clean energy sources by 2035, experts say.

“We need every tool in the toolbox to address climate change,” said Vickie Patton, general counsel of the Environmental Defense Fund. “An action [by the Court] here is a real setback.”

The landmark Clean Air Act of 1970 charged the EPA with protecting human health from dangerous airborne contaminants, which the Supreme Court has twice affirmed to include greenhouse gasses.

The law lets the agency craft pollution limits based on the “best system of emission reduction” available, but there is disagreement over whether the law prohibits consideration of measures “outside the fence line” of a particular plant, such as shifting to alternative sources of power generation or emission trading programs.

The U.S. power sector is the nation’s second-largest source of greenhouse gas emissions.

Plaintiffs in the EPA case claim the agency is seeking to “reshape the power grids and seize control over electricity production nationwide,” according to court documents, a characterization the government disputes.

The justices will first need to decide whether there’s even a live dispute worth adjudicating. While the case originated as a challenge to the Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan, that policy was subsequently put on hold and has never taken effect.

The states and coal companies argue that a lower court decision, if allowed to stand, effectively empowers the EPA to threaten entire industries and tens of thousands of American jobs. The Biden administration says the warnings are premature, noting its emission guidelines have not yet been published, much less enforced.

“Petitioners are seeking a ruling on what EPA might do in the future, but federal courts do not have jurisdiction to decide cases on what could happen,” said Andrew Restrepo, a senior attorney with the Sierra Club. The states and coal companies “do not and cannot explain how they would be injured.”

The Supreme Court showdown comes the same day the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned in a new report of impending catastrophic harms from the unchecked rise in carbon pollution.

“What we’re arguing about is the scope of the means, or the way the [EPA emissions] standard can be constructed,” said David Doniger, an attorney with the National Resources Defense Council and former EPA lawyer. “We want EPA to be able to look at a range of measures beyond efficiency tuneups” at power plants.

A decision against the agency could also have implications for the ability of other government agencies to set health and safety regulations across entire sectors of the nation’s economy, legal analysts said.

Conservative legal scholars, including several members of the high court, have long argued that major administrative rules governing American life must be specifically approved by Congress in order to be legal.

Last month, the justices blocked the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s vaccine-or-test mandate for large employers on those grounds, while last summer the court rolled back the CDC’s pandemic eviction moratorium as an illegal overreach.

“If there are enormous decisions that have vast political and economic significance, Congress — if they want an agency to deal with it — should speak clearly to that issue,” said Jeff Holmstead, a former EPA official who served during the George W. Bush administration and has represented clients challenging recent EPA emissions regulations.

There are more than 3,300 fossil fuel-fired power plants in the U.S., including 284 coal-fired facilities, according to the U.S. Energy Information Agency. An estimated 1.7 million Americans work in fossil fuel industries, from mining to pipeline construction to electricity generation.

In a landmark 2007 decision, Massachusetts v EPA, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 vote authorized the agency to regulate greenhouse gasses as air pollutants under the Clean Air Act. Four years later in American Electric Power v. Connecticut, the justices again affirmed that “Congress delegated to EPA the decision whether and how to regulate carbon-dioxide emissions from power plants.”

Doniger said if the Court rolls back that authority a “huge swath” of the regulatory state could potentially be upended by extension.

“Legislation that people rely on to structure their businesses or protect themselves from predatory business practices, fraud in commercial transactions, in the securities market — all of that would seem to be imperiled if this is imperiled,” he said.

In a friend-of-the-court filing in the case, a coalition of medical groups, including the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians have implored the justices to take a broad view.

“Climate pollutants’ most grievous harms beset children and families, pregnant women, people over 65 and communities of color and of low income,” they wrote.

“The Court should be mindful of Congress’s decision to provide EPA regulatory authority to address this type of threat to public health. Any retrenchment in the scope of that authority would inflict further harm to the health of current and future generations.”

GOP Sen. Tom Cotton won’t condemn Trump’s praise of Putin

February 27, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., has refused to condemn former President Donald Trump’s praise of Russian President Vladimir Putin amid his invasion of Ukraine.

“George, if you want to know what Donald Trump thinks about Vladimir Putin or any other topic, I’d encourage you to invite him on your show,” Cotton told ABC “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos on Sunday. “I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians. They can speak for themselves.”

Trump called the actions of the Russian president “genius” and “savvy” during an interview with the conservative radio program “The Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” on Tuesday. And on Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump finally condemned the invasion but also said, “The problem is not that Putin is smart, which of course he’s smart. But the real problem is that our leaders are dumb.”

Stephanopoulos pressed Cotton, who he noted has been steadfast in his opposition to Putin, to condemn the comments.

“You’re a senior member of the Republican Party. Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party,” he said, noting that Trump “suggested” Saturday night he would run for president again. “When Fox News asked him if he had a message for Vladimir Putin, he said he has no message.”

“Why can’t you condemn that? I feel quite confident that if Donald — that if Barack Obama or Joe Biden said something like that, you’d be first in line to criticize them,” Stephanopoulos said.

Cotton, who sits on the Senate Intelligence and Armed Services committees, doubled down.

“Again, George, if you want to talk to the former president about his views or his message, you can have him on your show,” Cotton said. “My message to Vladimir Putin is quite clear: He needs to leave Ukraine unless he wants to face moms and teenagers with Molotov cocktails and grandmothers and grandfathers with AK-47s for years to come.”

Stephanopoulos followed up again.

“I simply don’t understand why you can’t condemn his praise of Vladimir Putin,” he said.

“George, again, I don’t speak on behalf of other politicians, they can all speak for themselves,” Cotton responded, again dodging Stephanopoulos’ question. “I’m delivering my message to you, which I said has been clear, whether Barack Obama was president, whether Donald Trump was president, and now whether Joe Biden was president, that Vladimir Putin has been a ruthless dictator for years. Too many people have not taken the threat seriously. And that’s why you see the images we see in Ukraine now. And where we need to focus is on stopping that aggression, supporting the Ukrainians as best we can.”

In an earlier interview on “This Week,” Oksana Markarova, the Ukrainian ambassador to the U.S., pleaded for American businesses to stop backing Russian-owned enterprises both at home and abroad.

Cotton agreed with the ambassador, encouraging “every American company to scrub all of their operations to provide no support whatsoever to Vladimir Putin’s regime” while Russia continues carrying out an “unprovoked war of aggression.”

“But we can do more than prayers and hashtags and lighting up buildings, George. It’s time for the president and some of our European partners to quit pussyfooting around,” Cotton later added. “The financial sanctions announced last night are riddled with loopholes.”

The United States and other Western nations announced Saturday they would significantly escalate restrictions against Russia’s financial system. Sanctions against major Russian banks, members of the Russian elite and Putin had already been imposed by the United States and its allies. The U.S. and other nations have also stepped up military aid to Ukraine. The countries, however, have yet to launch crippling sanctions against Russia’s oil and gas industry, which Cotton has been advocating for. Russia provides more than a third of Europe’s natural gas.

Putin announced Sunday he had ordered his military to put Russia’s nuclear deterrent forces in a state of heightened readiness in response to what he called “aggressive statements” from NATO countries.

“It’s time to remove all Russian financial institutions from the international payment system. It’s time to impose sanctions on his oil and gas exports which he uses as his primary means of financial support,” Cotton said. “We need to rush those weapons that were announced for delivery yesterday to the front: anti-tank, anti-aircraft missiles, sniper rifles ammunition, fuel supplies, it should have been done weeks ago so better later than never but the Ukrainians have no time.”

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Lucien Bruggeman contributed to this report.

Guaranteed income experiment provides hope for formerly incarcerated

February 27, 2022 by WDNY Radio

(GAINESVILLE, Fla.) — When Murray was released from prison in July, he didn’t have a source of income. The 54-year-old, whose last name is being withheld because he fears for his safety, is no stranger to struggling financially; he grew up poor in Gainesville, Florida, and resorted to stealing or shoplifting in the past.

“When you live with something in your life for so long, such as criminal activity, you always have this lingering thought in your mind: ‘I know a way to get some money and it wouldn’t take me long to get it,’ Murray said.

He was “down and out” after prison, he said, and doing his best to make a new life for himself, but money was hard to come by.

Struggling to maintain financial stability after incarceration is something that many formerly incarcerated people face; 27% of formerly incarcerated people are unemployed and are 10 times more likely than the general population to be homeless, according to the non-profit criminal justice research organization Prison Policy Initiative.

A new guaranteed income program in Gainesville aims to solve this issue.

Guaranteed income programs across the country give direct cash payments to recipients in order to address poverty or economic inequality, They can be targeted toward a specific population or be universal.

Some critics say these initiatives have to be multifaceted to address the nuances of poverty. Others argue they will stop people from working — though such claims have been debunked — or be too expensive to maintain.

This effort is a collaboration between the guaranteed income pilot program Just Income GNV and Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, a national network of mayors and researchers spearheading these kinds of programs. They have selected formerly incarcerated individuals who live in the city to receive $1,000 in January, followed by $600 each month for a year.

Their spending is monitored for research purposes, but the recipients are not told how to spend their money.

One month after his first cash assistance check, Murray said he is already seeing the effects an extra monthly boost can have on his well-being and stability.

He’s disabled and needs assistance with walking, so he plans on using the money to help get a scooter and a car to make transportation and mobility easier.

“It’s a relief, which is amazing. I can plan things now and guarantee they’re gonna happen,” Murray said. “I’ve been able to help out some of my relatives with money for gas and got a couple more other relatives who were low on food and I was able to help with that. And just so many great things that this program has really introduced into my life.”

How it works

The program seeks to address the cycle of financial inequality that often affects people impacted by the criminal justice system, especially in Florida which, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, outpaces the overall U.S. incarceration rate. Florida has a rate of 795 incarcerated people per 100,000 compared to 664 in the U.S. as a whole.

Research has also shown that incarceration disproportionately creates a lasting impact on Black and brown communities, as well as impoverished people.

When people come out of prison, they can face discrimination and barriers to economic opportunities, criminal fines, debt, fees and parole that can haunt them long after their sentence is over, according to Kevin Scott, the director of Just Income GNV who is also formerly incarcerated.

For some, the experience can lead them back into the criminal justice system.

When someone can’t/won’t pay a fee or fine and can’t/won’t show up to a court date regarding the fee, it could result in more jail time or additional debt for them, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.

Researchers at the National Research Council Committee on Law and Justice also found links between high incarceration rates and the criminalization of poverty through policy changes.

“I see it so many times when I was in prison guys coming back to prison over and over and over again because they didn’t have enough money to stay on the street and us as a society need a better system,” said David, 54, who has asked that his name be withheld out of safety concerns. He is another formerly incarcerated man and Vietnam veteran who is receiving cash assistance.

David finished a 45-year sentence in the summer and said the monthly income has been a saving grace. He said there have been family emergencies that the money has allowed him to handle, including getting his daughter out of a dangerous domestic situation.

“Had not that money been there, I don’t know what would have happened,” said David.

David said the money has given him the extra step up that he needed to succeed coming out of a long prison sentence.

“It’s sad that it boils down to that because I’ve got a lot of education under my belt for jobs,” David said. “But if you don’t have the initial step or a little way to get moving … what it all boils down to is the almighty dollar.”

Tracking the spending

Steady, the technology firm and app that helps Mayors for Guaranteed Income programs distribute money to recipients, said it can track what recipients spend their funds as part of the research and advocacy for this project.

Adam Roseman, the CEO and co-founder of Steady, said that it’s a harmful stereotype that low-income earners spend their money irresponsibly or that guaranteed income recipients may not be financially literate with their funds.

The data the company has seen so far has disproved that, he says: “They’re spending the money on things that are important to their daily lives, food, housing, paying down debt payments, acquiring new skills through career programs.”

Cash assistance, according to Roseman and Sukhi Samra, the director of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, has been extremely helpful in getting people back on track — pointing to other forms of help like the federal Child Tax credit.

“We’ve actually seen income lifts as sizable as 40 or 50% for those individuals that received emergency cash or universal basic income,” Roseman said. “You alleviate some of that major financial stress” that is holding them back from solving bigger challenges.

She says these types of programs have changed lives.

She says she’s seen people escape abusive marriages, address their mental health and well-being, or have offered them a lifeline during times of unemployment or have given them the tools needed to find work.

The ultimate goal: “a federal policy. We are investing in pilots like the one in Gainesville to build the evidence base for a federal guaranteed income,” Samra said.

David and Murray are busy making plans for their families and futures, now that they have some relief knowing they won’t be scrounging for cash to take care of themselves.

In honor of Murray’s mother’s upcoming 75th birthday celebration in March, he says he wants to give back now that he’s got some cash to support himself.

He plans on putting together 100 bagged lunches and drinks for the homeless and for the community, knowing that he was once where they were.

“I appreciate what’s happened in my life and I want to give back and I want to share and give hope to other people,” Murray said.

+ More