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Afghanistan updates: Chaos at Kabul airport, world responds

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — United States troops have taken control of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan as chaos continues after Afghanistan’s president fled the country over the weekend and the Taliban seized control of the presidential palace, all but ending America’s 20-year campaign as it began: under Taliban rule.

U.S. troops have established large barriers and roadblocks on the streets near the airport in an effort to both slow and control the fleeing population.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan stood by the administration’s decision to withdraw troops by Aug. 31 on ABC’s Good Morning America Monday and placed blame for the speed of the Taliban takeover on the Afghan army for its decision “not to step up and fight for their country.”

“What the president was not prepared to do was enter a third decade of conflict, flowing in thousands of more troops, which was his only other choice, to fight in the middle of a civil war that the Afghan army wouldn’t fight for itself,” Sullivan said. “He would not do that to America’s men and women or their families, and that is why he made the decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Afghanistan this year.”

As with Pentagon officials, Sullivan would not say that the takeover took the administration by surprise but did acknowledge it “certainly unfolded at an unexpected speed.” Presented with the fact that thousands of allies appear stranded in the country, Sullivan said the U.S. had planned for a “wide range of contingencies,” though he didn’t offer more specifics on timing or numbers of people that will be moved.

“We believe that we can effectuate an ongoing evacuation of American citizens, of Afghans who worked for us, including interpreters and translators and others vulnerable Afghans at risk. We’re working to do that by securing the airport today and in the days ahead by taking people out one flight at a time, flight after flight,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan insisted Afghanistan presented the U.S. with an opportunity to prove “that we can fight terrorism effectively without having a large military footprint on the ground.”

He also said the American people can expect to hear from the president “soon” as President Joe Biden faces criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle and the public for how the withdrawal has played out.

The increase of service members in Kabul follows Gen. Frank McKenzie, the commander of U.S. Central Command, meeting with representatives of the Taliban earlier Sunday in Doha, Qatar, to inform them not to interfere with the U.S. mission at the airport, according to a U.S. official.

As the Taliban advanced last week, the U.S. State Department announced it was reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon began sending in U.S. troops — now up to 6,000 — to help facilitate departures of Americans and Afghan allies.

The world reacts

An emergency session of the United Nations will be held Monday, and leaders around the globe have been issuing responses to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace was speaking about the race against time to evacuate Brits and Afghans who helped the military when he became overcome with emotion after saying that some people who served the U.K. will not come back.

When asked in an interview with British radio station LBC why he was taking it so personally, he said, “Because I’m a soldier. It’s sad, and the West has done what it’s done, and we have to do our very best to get people out and stand by our obligations.”

Russia’s top envoy on Afghanistan has said Moscow will not rush to recognize the Taliban as the country’s new government.

But the envoy, Zamir Kabulov who oversees Russia’s Afghan policy, said in a radio interview with Echo of Moscow the Taliban had learned its lesson from 20 years ago when the world moved against them as terrorists.

He said the Taliban had promised no Russians would be harmed and that the group’s fighters have now taken Russia’s embassy under protection in Kabul. Russia has not evacuated its embassy so far, though it has pulled out some staff.

Meanwhile, official statements from China lay the groundwork for Beijing recognizing a Taliban government.

Spokesperson Hua Chunying noted that the Taliban said Sunday that the “war in Afghanistan is over” and that they will work to establish an inclusive government and ensure the safety of foreign missions in Afghanistan. Chunying said China expects these statements to be implemented in order to ensure a smooth transition and curb terrorist and criminal acts, so the Afghan people can avoid war and rebuild their country.

China has been wanting to expand their Belt and Road infrastructure initiative into Afghanistan but the U.S.-backed government had been reluctant to commit. China is connected to Afghanistan by a sliver of land called the Wakhan Corridor, which has historically been a well-traveled trade route. It connects to China’s Xinjiang region, and if it were opened, it would provide a better route from Kashgar, China, to Peshawar, Pakistan.

COVID-19 live updates: Positivity rate climbs to 25% at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 621,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 59.3% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

Aug 16, 9:58 am
Positivity rate climbs to 25% at Children’s Hospital New Orleans

The positivity rate has climbed to 25% at Children’s Hospital New Orleans, Dr. Mark Kline, the hospital’s physician-in-chief, told ABC News on Sunday.

The hospital had 12 pediatric patients on Sunday. Half of them were under 2 years old, Kline said.

Five of the 12 patients in the hospital were in the ICU: an 8-week-old, a 3-month-old, a 13-month-old, a 23-month-old and a 17-year-old, Kline said.

“As we see more children infected and ill with COVID-19, it occurs to me that our children have become the collateral damage of many adults who frame refusal of masks and vaccines as an issue of personal freedom rather than the common-sense public health measures that they are,” Kline said.

“Children currently have no way out of this pandemic other than through the advocacy and personal responsibility of their parents and all adults,” Kline added. “So far, we are failing them miserably.”

How to help those devastated by earthquake in Haiti

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — After a deadly 7.2-magnitude earthquake devastated Haiti Saturday morning, destroying hundreds of buildings and homes, the beleaguered country is in need of assistance as a new tropical storm threat approaches.

Haiti’s Civil Protection agency announced Sunday that the death toll is at least 1,297 with initial reports that indicate there are more than 700 collapsed buildings, including hospitals and schools, at least 3,778 homes destroyed and significant damage to infrastructure and roads. The country’s prime minister declared a monthlong state of emergency.

How people can help

Disaster response teams from World Central Kitchen, an international humanitarian organization, and Team Rubicon, a veteran-led charity group, arrived in Haiti with food, water and relief supplies early Monday.

Both nonprofit organizations originated from the front-line relief efforts from the 2010 earthquake in the same country. Now, 11 years later, Team Rubicon executive and military veteran Jake Wood explained what their services look like in action amid chaos and uncertainty.

“There is the literal fog of war that takes place in those moments,” Wood told ABC News. “As veterans being able to conduct that operational planning, identify those risks and mitigate them, work within those local populations was a huge benefit — to get out to otherwise denied areas.”

Americans can donate directly to Team Rubicon here and visit their site and social media channels for updates and information as the efforts continue.

There are already culinary students in Haiti hard at work making meals for first responders thanks to world renowned chef and hospitality executive José Andrés, who has traveled to Haiti over 20 times with the group, providing food in the wake of natural disasters.

Nate Mook, World Central Kitchen executive director, told ABC News that “Haiti is in need of a lot right now” but their focus “is providing hot food, fresh meals.”

Haitian communities in the United States have started to rally support for the struggling nation.

Yolette Williams of the Haitian American Alliance said that after the initial period of shock “you get into working mode” and think about “what are we going to do?”

In Brooklyn, New York Haitian Americans have held meetings to decide the best way to get crucial resources to loved ones.

Local organizations in Miami have also combined efforts to send medicine and nonperishables directly to first responders on the ground.

Marleine Bastien, executive director of the Family Action Network Movement, told ABC News “we want to do things differently” than how the response was handled 11 years ago.

“We don’t want a repeat of what happened in 2010, where a lot of international organizations collected millions and millions and the money never reached the impacted people,” she said.

‘Pivotal’ moment for businesses considering back-to-office plans

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As mass vaccination rolled out in the late spring and COVID-19 cases began to decline precipitously, Americans and the companies they work for began to envision a return to normalcy.

Masking guidance was lifted for the vaccinated and plans were made for bringing employees who had the privilege of working from home through the crisis back into offices after more than a year of remote work — in many cases adopting a hybrid model that attempted to balance business needs, personal lives and safety.

But the rapid spread of the delta variant, largely among the unvaccinated, has overwhelmed hospital systems and cast uncertainty on those plans, halting many in their tracks.

In announcements that followed each other like dominoes, a slew of major U.S. corporations — from Amazon to McDonald’s — in recent weeks have pushed back their September office reopening targets.

In light of these mounting uncertainties, experts say organizational leaders are at a “pivotal” moment and must put workers at the center of their longer-term planning in order to build business resilience. The push to return to the status quo is no longer acceptable to many and an increase in choices, including the ability to work remotely, has upped the stakes for employers.

With a smooth return to “normal” after Labor Day no longer looking feasible, how organizations navigate recalling millions of workers still recouping from the collective anguish of a once-in-a-century pandemic could have a costly impact on retention at a time when job openings and quit rates are both at record highs.

“I would argue that for business leaders, it’s a pivotal moment for them, and they need to put their employees at the center of their workplace strategy,” Steven Hatfield, the head of Deloitte’s Global Future of Work team, which counsels some 90% of firms on the Fortune 500, told ABC News.

‘Permanently altered’ the employee-employer relationship

According to Hatfield, the pandemic has “permanently altered the nature of the employer-employee relationship.”

Many companies that had required their employees to come in five days a week and now, after more than a year of remote work, the work week and other aspects of the relationship are on the table. Hybrid, permanent remote and flexible arrangements have become a regular part of the conversation.

“We believe that the secret for organizations today is they have to acknowledge the nature of the changing dynamics in terms of that relationship. They need to acknowledge that workers do have more choice and more power.”

That level of choice is manifesting itself in “skill shortages, the labor shortages, the way in which people are picking up and moving to different jurisdictions based on where their heart is,” he added.

“And other factors — ‘promote’ job postings on LinkedIn is up 5x,” he said, referring to companies paying extra to make sure their postings are seen.

As the nation begins to emerge from the pandemic, fresh data indicates that people are leaving their jobs at record levels. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said earlier this week that the “quits rate” in June was 2.7% — tying with April 2021 for the highest rate since its record-keeping on it began. Moreover, the number of job openings hit a record high of 10.1 million in June, the BLS said in its latest release. The layoffs and discharge rate, meanwhile, was at a record low of 0.9% in both May and June.

Economists have attributed these trends to both competitive labor market conditions as employers vie for workers with increased flexibility offerings, as well as harder-to-quantify reasons as many people reassess their life and career goals following the shock of a global pandemic that left more than 600,000 Americans dead.

The pandemic also spurred droves of women to leave the workforce entirely, an alarming trend experts warned could undo years of hard-fought gains towards gender equity in the private sector. This mass exodus of women in the workforce has been linked to uneven caregiving responsibilities at home as schools and daycares sporadically shuttered throughout the course of the pandemic.

As delta now rages, many parents are also grappling with how to protect their unvaccinated children amid a push to reopen.

“What’s going on with the delta variant is basically just another data point telling us that returning to the status quo and going back to the office, expecting people to be there full time, everyday, face-to-face is just not going to cut it,” Mabel Abraham, a professor of management at Columbia Business School, told ABC News.

“I don’t think anyone would argue that we can replace face-to-face interactions wholly with being online, I’m certainly Zoomed-out,” she added. “There’s always going to be a place for that face-to-face dynamic, whether it looks the same as it did pre-pandemic is a different question. Do we necessarily need everybody to be in the office, every single day, for eight to ten hours a day? Probably not.”

‘Be adaptable’ and listen to employees

Abraham said this constantly-changing environment is demanding that employers — and employees — be nimble and adaptable to a degree that has not previously been demanded.

Organizational leaders “need to be thinking less about a formal plan, and more about how to be adaptable as the environment continues to change,” Abraham said.

Abraham said that simply giving people options can be a strategy for being adaptable. This starts by listening to employees who voice concerns — such as exposing family members to the virus or commuting difficulties — and setting up a workplace that offers flexible options.

Some 42% of current remote workers say if their current company does not continue to offer remote work options long term, they will look for a job at a company that does, according to Prudential’s Pulse of the American Worker Survey released earlier this year.

“Employers who aren’t listening are in some ways just being naive in thinking that their employees won’t move,” Abraham said. “In this current environment, for many people, the pandemic looms large and it really is a concerning factor where going back to the office might mean that that person is willing to forego their position, even if they’re getting the benefits and the pay and enjoying the work and liking their co-workers.”

“Employers just need to recognize that when employees voice these concerns, it probably takes a lot for them to speak up, so if they’re bringing it up it’s because they’re probably really concerned about it,” she added. “And making a decision to not offer options, not to offer flexibility, needs to come with the understanding that that person might actually leave.”

Her recent research also found that organizations with female leadership and which signal that they care about equity in the workplace are much more likely to attract women applicants at a time when many firms have had great difficulties retaining their female staff.

“With all of the dialogue around women exiting at an even higher rate than men during this time, really thinking about if we want to counter that force in any way, organizations need to think carefully about how this solution will also have this additional benefit of really retaining their top female talent,” she said.

Looking out for workers ‘good for business’

Deloitte’s Hatfield added that while many still think about productivity in “first-industrial-revolutionary terms,” looking out for your employees’ health and well-being is actually “good for business, too.”

“We need to reshape our ideas around productivity to be akin to the marketplace that exists now, so your performance as a human, your well-being as a human, really matters,” Hatfield added, “and it matters to boost the productivity for the organization.”

For businesses, Hatfield said that, “It makes more sense for organizations to focus on up-skilling and re-skilling their workforce than trying to find workers.”

If organizational leaders are more attuned to the needs of their employees, and supportive of their career growth, this can help build a resilient workforce within an organization despite a myriad of external factors that leaders cannot control.

The present environment also presents a unique opportunity for employees to express what they need in order to do their work better and to more seamlessly support the work of an organization — whether it’s a stipend for a better home office setup, more flexibility options, or a better understanding of the purpose in the work they do.

“But, I think it’s incumbent on the workforce itself to be vocal about what some of those things might be in order to help the organizations they work with navigate change,” Hatfield said.

The more organizational leaders engage and pay attention to their workers, the more they can also avoid falling into a “trap” of attempting to appease by offering unrelated perks — like an office ping pong table “that’s going to gather dust,” Hatfield said.

“Do what’s going to be classic,” he said. “Do the things that are going to have enduring power, both for the organization and for the workforce — so things like focusing on the potential of their work, and focusing on how they develop, and ensuring that what their workforce is doing is really meaningful.”

Nearly 600 patients wait for hospital beds in Houston as city sees surge in COVID cases

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The United States is facing a COVID-19 surge this summer as the more contagious delta variant spreads.

More than 620,000 Americans have died from COVID-19 and over 4.3 million people have died worldwide, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.

Just 59.1% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

Aug 15, 7:20 pm
Texas Supreme Court sides with Gov. Greg Abbott on mask mandate

Two days after a Dallas appeals court dealt Texas Gov. Greg Abbott a legal setback by upholding Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins’ order requiring masks in schools and businesses, the Texas Supreme Court shut the mandate down Sunday.

The entirely Republican Court granted a temporary stay at the request of Abbott and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

“The ban doesn’t prohibit using masks. Anyone who wants to wear a mask can do so, including in schools,” Abbott tweeted Sunday.

Hearings on the mask mandates will continue in lower courts as scheduled, the Court ruled.

“We won’t stop working with parents, doctors, schools, business + others to protect you and intend to win that hearing,” Jenkins tweeted Sunday.

Aug 15, 11:54 am
Nearly 600 patients waiting for hospital beds in Houston

As of Saturday, 575 patients are waiting for a general bed in hospitals in the Houston area. Eighty-seven patients are waiting for an intensive care unit beds.

Hospital officials in Houston said last week that area hospitals with beds had insufficient numbers of nurses to serve them.

Nurses the state was going to surge to the area have yet to arrive, more than two weeks after they were promised.

Gov. Greg Abbott appealed for out-of-state help to fight the third wave of COVID-19 in Texas while two more of the state’s largest school districts announced mask mandates in defiance of the governor last week.

As of Saturday, there are 3.3M confirmed cases of COVID-19 and there have been 54,289 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. 46.33% of Texans have been fully vaccinated.

Haiti earthquake latest: Nearly 1,300 people dead, officials say

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — With the death toll now nearing 1,300 people and thousands more injured after a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake rocked Haiti Saturday morning, the beleaguered nation faces the threat of fast-approaching Tropical Storm Grace potentially exposing an already vulnerable population to a double impact in a matter of days.

Haiti’s Civil Protection agency announced Sunday that the death toll had jumped from more than 700 to at least 1,297. Initial reports indicate there are more than 700 collapsed buildings, including hospitals and schools, at least 3,778 homes destroyed and significant damage to infrastructure and roads.

Grace is forecast to make landfall in Haiti between Aug. 16 to 17.

“The people of Haiti are not only going to have to deal with this earthquake and its aftershocks but also this impending tropical storm,” United States Geological Survey geophysicist William Barnhart, from the Earthquake Hazards Program, said. “It’s honestly just a terrible situation.” Barnhart said there could be thousands of deaths from the disaster.

“The number of fatalities does not always make it out,” he told ABC News. “There’s a lot of time that has to go into recovering individuals from buildings and accessing areas and towns.”

The earthquake, according to USGS, struck about 5 miles north of Petit Trou de Nippes, Haiti, a little over 90 miles from the capital, Port-au-Prince.

There are also concerns that the earthquake could exacerbate the island’s COVID-19 infection rate should displaced people be forced into closer confines.

The Haitian government “believes high casualties are probable given the earthquake’s magnitude,” Bocchit Edmond, the country’s ambassador to the U.S., said in a statement Saturday afternoon.

“Emergency responses are underway, and damages are being assessed,” Edmond added, saying destruction is “widespread.”

The embassy is helping to coordinate response efforts between the U.S. and Haitian governments.

Deputy U.S. Secretary of State Wendy Sherman spoke to Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry Sunday to express condolences for the disaster, according to a statement from Sherman’s office.

“Deputy Secretary Sherman reiterated our support for Haiti during this challenging time and underscored USAID’s leadership role in supporting U.S. assistance efforts in the aftermath of this tragedy,” the statement read.

The earthquake was virtually the same size and at the same shallow depth as the 2010 quake, and along the exact same fault line — the Enriquillo Plantain Garden — but farther west and in a less-populated region.

Prime Minister Ariel Henry is mobilizing government resources to help victims in affected areas and declared a one-month state of emergency for the whole country. In a press conference, he said he wouldn’t ask for international help until officials assess the extent of the damages.

“It will be very bad, but maybe not quite as bad as 2010 just because Port-au-Prince is farther away from this one and therefore got less shaking this time,” said Dr. Lucy Jones, an earthquake expert.

She said that about 650,000 people have been exposed to level VII shaking, which the USGS defines as “very strong” and which is powerful enough to topple poorly built structures.

But many of the buildings that potentially would have been at risk from this quake were destroyed by the earthquake 11 years ago or by Hurricane Matthew in 2016, meaning fewer reports of extensive damage now aren’t entirely surprising, Jones added.

Groups like Community Organized Relief Effort are trying to help vaccinate locals to prevent COVID-19 spread.

The U.S. Agency for International Development said the organization’s disaster experts already on the ground in Haiti are assessing damage and humanitarian needs.

President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed by the National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and the Secretary of State Antony Blinken on the earthquake Saturday morning. The president authorized an immediate U.S. response, and named USAID Administrator Samantha Power as the senior U.S. official to coordinate this effort.

“In what is already a challenging time for the people of Haiti, I am saddened by the devastating earthquake that occurred in Saint-Louis du Sud, Haiti this morning,” Biden said in a statement. “We send our deepest condolences to all those who lost a loved one or saw their homes and businesses destroyed.”

“Through USAID, we are supporting efforts to assess the damage and assist efforts to recover those who were injured and those who must now rebuild,” he continued. “The United States remains a close and enduring friend to the people of Haiti, and we will be there in the aftermath of this tragedy.”

Power spoke to Henry, also the acting president of Haiti in the wake of Jovenel Moise’s assassination, Saturday evening about how USAID can assist the country. Earlier, the agency said a disaster assistance response team had been sent to the island.

USAID tweeted Sunday morning that “at the at the request of Haiti’s government” it has “deployed an urban search & rescue team to join our #Haiti earthquake disaster response team. This 65-person deployment brings 52,000 pounds of specialized tools, equipment & medical supplies to assist in search operations.”

While a recent surge in COVID-19 cases has tapered off, the possible displacement of thousands of people has created ripe conditions for a spike in COVID-19 infections, potentially overwhelming an already weak and overstretched health system that will also have to provide assistance to those injured by the earthquake.

Meanwhile, some celebrities and companies are offering aid to Haiti.

Tennis star Naomi Osaka posted on Twitter that she plans to donate her prize winnings to relief efforts in Haiti. “Really hurts to see all the devastation that’s going on,” she tweeted.

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Cupertino would be donating to “assist relief and recovery efforts in the affected communites,” in a Sunday morning tweet.

Celebrity chef José Andrés tweeted Sunday that he and his organization, World Central Kitchen, have been on the ground in Haiti since yesterday providing food.

Afghanistan updates: Chaos at Kabul airport, world’s response

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(KABUL, Afghanistan) — United States troops have taken control of the airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, as chaos continues after the Taliban took control of the country.

U.S. troops have reportedly established large barriers and roadblocks on the streets near the airport in an effort to both slow and control the fleeing population.

The world reacts

Leaders around the globe have responded to the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan.

Russia’s top envoy on Afghanistan has said Moscow will not rush to recognize the Taliban as the country’s new government.

Meanwhile, official statements from China lay the groundwork for Beijing recognizing a Taliban government.

Seven-year-old fatally shot as gun violence rocks three major US cities

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Three major U.S. cities struggling to curb a surge in gun violence collectively had at least 64 people wounded and 12 dead, including a 7-year-old girl, in multiple shootings this weekend, according to police.

The shootings in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago came as all three cities have seen sharp increases in the numbers of shootings in 2021.

In Chicago, at least 46 people were shot between 5 p.m. on Friday and Sunday afternoon, four of them fatally, according to the Chicago Police Department. According to police incident reports reviewed by ABC News, 23 of the shootings occurred over just a 4 hour period between 12:26 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on Sunday.

Around 3 p.m. on Sunday, a 7-year-old girl was killed and a 6-year-old girl was seriously wounded when someone opened fire on a parked vehicle they were sitting in the Belmont Central neighborhood on the city’s Northwest Side, police said. The 7-year-old was shot in the chest and later died at a hospital.

The 6-year-old girl was also shot in the chest and right armpit and was in serious but stable condition at Loyola University Medical Center Sunday evening, police said.

Police were working to identify the shooter or shooters involved in the incident. Police did not comment on a possible motive.

More than 250 children have been shot and 32 killed in Chicago this year, according to police data obtained by ABC station WLS.

Prior to this weekend, more than 2,123 people had been shot in Chicago this year, which is a 12% increase from the same time period in 2020, according to police department crime statistics. Before this weekend, Chicago has recorded 478 homicides, a 2% increase over last year at this time.

A shooting that occurred Friday night on the Eisenhower Expressway on the city’s West Side left one person dead and two others critically wounded. Illinois State Police said the three victims were in a car on Interstate 290 when a vehicle pulled up alongside them and someone inside opened fire.

In a shooting around 12:36 a.m. on Sunday, a woman and three men, ranging in age from 30 to 45, were shot and wounded as they stood outside a building in the Grand Crossing neighborhood on the city’s South Side, police said. The victims told police they did not see where the shots came from, according to an incident report.

Just after 2 a.m. Sunday, three teenagers, the youngest 15, were shot and wounded while standing outside a gas station in the city’s Chatham neighborhood on the South Side, police said. About 20 minutes later, three other people were shot while traveling in a car in the Mayfair neighborhood in northwest Chicago, police said.

The shootings in Chicago followed last weekend’s violence, which saw 73 people shot in the city, 11 fatally.

Chicago police Officer Ella French was among those gunned down last weekend when she and her two partners pulled over a car for having expired tags. One of French’s partners, a 39-year-old officer, was shot in the eye and remains in a hospital in critical condition with a bullet lodge in his brain, police said. Two brothers were arrested and charged in French’s slaying.

The Chicago Police Department has launched several programs this summer in an attempt to curb shootings and reduce the number of illegal guns on the streets.

Last month, Police Superintendent David Brown assembled a team of 50 officers to target gun traffickers, straw buyers, unscrupulous licensed firearms dealers and anyone who facilitates the flow of illegal guns into the city of Chicago.

11 people shot, 5 fatally in Philadelphia

Entering the weekend, 1,333 people had been shot in Philadelphia this year, a 19% increase from the same period a year ago, according to police department crime statistics. By the end of Friday, the city had recorded 329 homicides, a 26% increase from the same time period in 2020, the data shows.

Eleven more people were shot in Philadelphia over the weekend, five fatally, according to police.

“We need to stop this,” Philadelphia resident and retired Marine Jamal Johnson told ABC station WPVI in Philadelphia.

The weekend gun violence came as Johnson and a group of supporters are marching to Washington D.C. to draw attention to the escalating number of shootings and killings in their city. Johnson calls his action the “Stop Killing us March” and hopes to meet with members of the Congressional Black Caucus when he reaches the U.S. Capitol later this month.

“I would personally like them to encourage (Philadelphia) Mayor (Jim) Kenney to declare a state of emergency in Philadelphia due to gun violence,” Johnson said. “Most of all to save the lives of our children.”

Kenney said during a news conference last month that the city allocated over $150 million in its fiscal year 2022 budget to address gun violence. He said he has spoken to President Joe Biden “on the urgent need for new and enhanced approaches” to combat the problem.

“An emergency or disaster declaration would not change the direction of this work,” the mayor said.

In the weekend homicides in Philadelphia, a 25-year-old man was shot multiple times on a street in the Tioga-Nicetown neighborhood of North Philadelphia about 9 p.m. on Saturday, police said. The victim, whose name was not released, was taken to Einstein Medical Center and pronounced dead.

Around 5 a.m. Saturday, a man was found shot in the parking lot of a gas station in the Wynnefield neighborhood in the northwest part of Philadelphia police said. The man, who was not named by police, was pronounced dead at a hospital.

A 30-year-old man died after being shot multiple times around 12:44 a.m. Saturday on a street in the Grays Ferry neighborhood of South Philadelphia, police said. And a 46-year-old man died after being shot in the chest around 1:36 a.m. Saturday in the parking lot of the Rite Aid in southwest Philadelphia.

No arrests have been made in any of the homicides, police said.

More than 1,100 shot in New York City this year

In New York City, where more than 1,100 people have been shot this year, an 11% increase from a year ago, police said 15 more people were shot, three fatally, in 11 separate incidents on Friday night alone. The three homicides occurred in just 4 1/2 hours.

The deadly violence started about 12:20 a.m. on Saturday when police discovered a man lying next to a motorcycle with a bullet wound to the head in the Woodlawn neighborhood of the city’s Bronx borough, according to the New York Police Department. The victim, whose name was not immediately released, was pronounced dead at the scene, police said.

About 40 minutes later, a 38-year-old man was shot in the Far Rockaway neighborhood of the city’s Queens borough, police said. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Just after 4 a.m. on Saturday, a 27-year-old man was shot dead while standing on a street in the Morris Heights neighborhood of the Bronx, police said. The shooting also left a 23-year-old man wounded.

No arrests have been made in the New York homicides.

Among the non-fatal New York shootings, four men were wounded just after midnight Saturday at the Louis Armstrong Houses in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood in the city’s Brooklyn borough.

Fred aims for Florida Panhandle, Tropical Storm Grace targets Puerto Rico and Haiti

August 16, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The remnants of Fred redeveloped into a tropical storm over the southeastern part of the Gulf of Mexico earlier Sunday morning.

Tropical Storm Fred has maximum sustained winds of 40 mph, is moving to the north-northwest at 10 mph and the center is currently about 235 miles south of Panama City, Florida.

A tropical storm warning has been issued for parts of the Florida Panhandle, from Navarre to the Wakulla/Jefferson County line. Parts of Florida, including Panama City, Pensacola, and southeastern Alabama are under a tropical storm watch.

As Fred continues to move across the open waters of the eastern Gulf of Mexico, scattered thunderstorms will be possible across parts of Florida throughout the day. The main impacts from Fred are expected on Monday.

Fred will likely strengthen more before closing in on the Florida Panhandle on Monday.

Heavy rain and gusty winds will begin to impact the state Monday morning, with the brunt of the impact arriving in the afternoon ahead of a likely landfall Monday evening along the panhandle. Over a half-foot of rain is possible in spots, with flash flooding and storm surge impacts possible during high tide.

Fred will rapidly weaken after landfall and then bring areas of heavy rain into parts of Alabama and Georgia through Tuesday morning. Flash flood watches are also in effect from Tallahassee, Florida, up into portions of southern Alabama and Georgia.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Grace currently has maximum sustained winds of 35 mph and is moving west-northwest at 15 mph. The center is about 200 miles east-southeast of Santa Domingo, Dominican Republic. Grace remains disorganized as it moves just south of Puerto Rico.

A tropical storm warning remains in effect for Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and parts of the Dominican Republic. A tropical storm watch remains in effect across Haiti, just a day after a devastating 7.2-magnitude earthquake killed hundreds, injured thousands and left widespread damage throughout the country.

Grace is forecast to impact Hispaniola Monday into Monday night, bringing torrential rain across the Dominican Republic and eventually parts of Haiti with over a half-foot of rain, flash flooding and mudslides possible in spots.

Grace will then likely move into the Gulf of Mexico, however, there remains a great deal of uncertainty, so the track possibilities could range from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula to the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Biden and Trump bear responsibility for Afghanistan: Cheney

August 15, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden “absolutely” bears responsibility for the Taliban’s rapid takeover of Afghanistan as does former President Donald Trump and his administration, Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., said Sunday.

“What we’re watching right now in Afghanistan is what happens when America withdraws from the world,” Cheney told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl. “So everybody who has been saying, ‘America needs to withdraw, America needs to retreat,’ we are getting a devastating, catastrophic real-time lesson in what that means.”

Taliban militants were ordered to enter Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, as plans to form a new reconciliation council were announced and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on Sunday.

On Thursday, the State Department announced it was reducing its staff levels at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the Pentagon began sending in troops to help facilitate those departures. The president on Saturday authorized an additional 1,000 U.S. troops for deployment to Afghanistan, raising the number of troops to 5,000 to assist with “orderly and safe drawdown.”

Cheney, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said Sunday on “This Week,” that the Taliban’s rapid takeover did not have to happen, as “everyone was warned.”

“I think if you look at where we were, if you look at what it would have taken in terms of maintaining the status quo, 2,500 to 3,500 forces on the ground, conducting counterterrorism, counterintelligence operations, this disaster, the catastrophe that we’re watching unfold right now across Afghanistan did not have to happen,” Cheney said. “And it’s not just that people predicted that this would happen, everyone was warned that this would happen.”

The ramifications of the current situation extend further than just Afghanistan and the war on terror, but globally, Cheney told Karl.

“Our allies are questioning this morning whether they can count on us for anything,” Cheney said.

Karl pressed Cheney on the argument made by Republicans and Democrats, including former Rep. Justin Amash, that no matter when the U.S. were to withdraw, the results would be the same.

“This is not ending the war, what this is doing actually is perpetuating it,” Cheney responded. “What we’re seeing now is a policy that will ensure — ensure, that we will in fact have to have our children and our grandchildren continuing to fight this war at much higher costs.”

“So everybody — the Rand Paul, Donald Trump, Mike Pompeo, Joe Biden view of the world here is fundamentally dangerous and irresponsible and wrong,” Cheney added.

Karl also asked Cheney about the fact the majority of Americans supported the U.S. withdrawal.

“As you know, poll after poll, for the last several years, have shown that most Americans wanted us out of Afghanistan,” Karl said. “So can you really maintain for the long term a military operation that most of the American people do not support?”

“As leaders we have an obligation no matter what the issue is to tell the American people the truth, and we have an obligation to explain what’s necessary,” Cheney responded. “If American security requires that our enemies can’t establish safe havens to attack us again, then our leaders across both parties have the responsibility to explain to the American people why we need to keep the deployment of forces on the ground.”

“This has been an epic failure across the board, one we’re going to pay for for years to come,” Cheney added.

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