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Martin Luther King Jr., the KKK, and more may soon be cut from Texas education requirements

July 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — Some lessons on the civil rights movement, white supremacy, the women’s suffrage movement and Martin Luther King Jr. may soon be cut from Texas’ public education requirements, according to legislation being considered in the state — one of several bills targeting critical race theory around the country.

The Texas Senate has passed Senate Bill 3 in a continued effort to proscribe education on racial inequality in K-12 education. It removes several Texas Education Code lesson requirements that were proposed by Democrats in prior education legislation to be implemented in the upcoming school year. It also stipulates that lessons cannot teach that “one race or sex is inherently superior to another race or sex” or make students “feel discomfort, guilt, [or] anguish” about privilege or systemic racism.

The concept critical race theory, an academic discipline that analyzes how racism is perpetuated in U.S. laws and policies, has become a lightning rod for conservatives around the country amid the racial reckoning spurred by George Floyd’s death.

At least 26 other states have introduced or implemented similar legislation on race education by Republican lawmakers, echoing concerns about racial division.

Opponents say that children should not be made to feel responsible for past injustices based solely on the color of their skin or be forced to accept the idea that the United States and its institutions are not only structured racially but perpetuate that racism.

Some teachers interviewed by ABC News have said critical race theory isn’t being taught in grades K-12 and instead is reserved for academic institutions. Some Texas educators told ABC they believe the fight against “critical race theory” is a veiled attempt to turn back the clock on racial equality.

What’s in the bill

The new legislation, SB3, would remove several staples of U.S. history education from state requirements, according to Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association.

The state currently requires teaching “the history of white supremacy,” “the institution of slavery, the eugenics movement, and the Ku Klux Klan, and the ways in which it is morally wrong; the Chicano movement; women’s suffrage and equal rights; the civil rights movement” and more.

However, SB3 would cut those requirements — a move that some teachers say signals a growing effort to remove specific lessons from classrooms.

“Specifically editing out that you can’t teach that white supremacy is morally wrong — that is deeply concerning,” said Jennifer Lee, a teacher in Killeen, Texas. “I think the angle here is just … preserving the ideals behind white supremacy.”

Though the new legislation doesn’t necessarily ban these lessons from being taught, removing them from the list of requirements means they may come under scrutiny due to the vague, anti-critical race theory language of this bill.

Gov. Greg Abbott already signed anti-critical race theory into law in June with HB3979 — stating that teachers are banned from linking systemic racism to the “authentic founding principles of the United States.” But teachers and advocates say it is so vague that it could infringe on their ability to have truthful dialogue about history and racism with their students.

SB3 was added to the state legislature’s special session after Abbott signed HB3979 into law, saying “more must be done” on critical race theory in schools.

And SB3 has been called troubling by education groups including the National Education Association for its potential to censor teachers and students in the classroom.

‘Provide guardrails’ against ‘animosity’

Defenders of the bill, including Republican state Sen. Bryan Hughes who sponsored the bill, say that some lessons on racial inequality blame white students for systemic racism and creates tension between students of different backgrounds.

“This bill is meant only to provide guardrails against imposing division and animosity on our students,” Hughes said before the July 16 Senate vote. “Since [critical race theory] is so prevalent in higher education and since we see it popping up in public schools, that’s why it needs to be addressed.”

Other proponents of anti-critical race theory bills, such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have said that some lessons on race could lead to the “indoctrination” of public school students toward progressive political leanings.

Ovidia Molina, the president of the Texas State Teachers Association, said that students have so much to gain from education about America’s racial history, including those that would be erased by this new legislation.

“We want to keep honesty in education,” Molina said. “We want to make sure that we teach our students the truth, the whole truth, the good, the bad, the failures, the successes.”

Molina said teachers have spoken up at hearings and called their local legislators to denounce the new legislation — but said lawmakers are not listening.

“They don’t know what’s happening in our public schools,” Molina said. “We still want to celebrate women’s suffrage, we still want to celebrate the Chicano movement, we still want to celebrate people of color, so that our students see themselves in the history and so they see themselves in the future.”

The Texas Education Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Molina said that Texas districts have yet to announce what punishment for teaching these subjects might look like for teachers.

Concerning shift toward ‘patriotic’ education

Some teachers told ABC they are worried about retaliation, termination, or other forms of punishment. But others are more concerned about what this shift toward more “patriotic” education means for their students.

“One of the first things Hitler did was start to reform education and impact the way that history is taught. One of the first things Mussolini did was go through and incorporate patriotic education,” Lee said. “Education has always been that first line of defense in preserving a certain way of thinking.”

Former President Donald Trump, among several other conservatives, have become proponents of “patriotic” education in response to critical race theory and The New York Times’ 1619 project — which dissects the founding of the United States of America and its legacy of slavery. Trump’s proposed “1776 commission” aims to envision U.S. history in a positive light, instead of through a condemnatory, racial lens.

San Antonio teacher Christopher Green said he believes that lessons on race, inequality and oppression are vital to helping children navigate the world and understand our society.

“Rather than adding a more diverse perspective to the teaching of history, it’s eliminating things that really need to be in there to understand the full picture of the American story,” Green said.

The bill will now be headed to the state House, but it will likely be stalled due to protests from Texas Democratic representatives. They have fled the state in protest of new voting restrictions, meaning there won’t be enough members to conduct business according to House rules.

Stanford University reports seven breakthrough cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated students

July 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(STANFORD, Calif.) — Stanford University reported at least seven confirmed cases of COVID-19 among fully vaccinated students this week.

All seven students were symptomatic, according to the school.

“As you have seen in the national news, cases of COVID-19 have been ticking upward,” Stanford University officials said in a letter to students on Thursday. “We are seeing some of this in our own community, where we are experiencing an increase in the number of student COVID cases, including among fully vaccinated individuals.”

Although the chances of contracting the novel coronavirus after being fully vaccinated are very rare, so-called breakthrough cases are still possible. Although COVID-19 vaccines have shown to be highly effective, they do not block the virus 100% of the time, meaning that some breakthrough infections occur after vaccination. This is normal and expected, and it’s not proof that the vaccines aren’t working, experts said.

However, health officials and experts alike have warned that new, more contagious variants of the novel coronavirus may be more effective at evading vaccines.

Stanford University officials said “vaccination continues to be our best defense against severe COVID-19 infection.” Face masks, physical distancing and regular hand washing “remain powerful ways to prevent the transmission of COVID-19,” officials added.

All students, faculty, staff, contractors and visitors are required to wear face coverings in spaces that are open to the public on the Ivy League school’s 8,180-acre campus in Stanford, California, about 20 miles northwest of San Jose. Face coverings in crowded indoor spaces on campus are recommended.

Stanford University recently loosened its COVID-19 testing requirements for fully vaccinated students who are living on campus or are coming to campus frequently this summer. Those individuals are no longer required to test weekly for COVID-19 or complete daily submissions on the school’s “Health Check” tool if they are verified as being fully vaccinated against the disease.

Overall, Stanford University has reported at least 257 confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. Some 8,300 students are fully vaccinated against the disease, while 330 are partially vaccinated, according to data posted on the school’s website.

Stanford University’s Vaden Health Services is connecting with each student who tests positive for COVID-19 to identify and notify their close contacts, who will be encouraged to get tested as soon as possible. Students who test positive will be provided with medical care and isolation space, according to the school.

“Again, vaccinations are effective at preventing severe illness. However, we need everyone to be vigilant,” Stanford University officials warned in the letter Thursday. “The variants remain of concern.”

How three counties reached the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in their state

July 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — In Wyoming’s Teton County, nearly 60% of residents are fully vaccinated — almost double the statewide vaccination rate.

It’s an effort that has been noticed in the state, which has one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country and where several counties have fewer than 30% of their population inoculated, state data shows.

“We have spoken to some of our other counties in Wyoming because they wanted to know what we were doing,” Rachael Wheeler, the public health response coordinator at the Teton County Health Department, told ABC News.

As the highly transmissible delta variant has quickly spreads throughout the United States — now making up over 80% of new cases — regions with high vaccination rates are expected to fare better, medical experts say.

ABC News spoke to Wheeler and officials in two other counties leading their states in COVID-19 vaccinations about their campaigns, what they’ve done and where they go from here.

McKinley County, New Mexico

McKinley County, which includes part of the Navajo Nation reservation, was one of the hardest-hit regions in New Mexico early in the pandemic.

For Adam Berry, emergency manager for the county, that may have helped drive vaccinations to where, as of Monday, over 94% of residents ages 18 and up have received at least one dose, according to the latest state health department data. Statewide, that number is 72.2%.

“The spring of 2020 was our first wave; we had a pretty good surge,” Berry said. “We had the highest case number in the state, especially per capita, for several weeks and months, before things tapered off late summer.”

There was a longer, second surge in the winter that filled Gallup hospitals and mortuaries to capacity, he said.

“There’s very few people in the county that don’t know at least one person that was sick, if they weren’t sick themselves,” he said. “Many people know one or more people that unfortunately died due to COVID-19. So I think it’s very personal for a lot of people.”

Berry said there was a little hesitancy in the beginning, but that “it didn’t take very long at all for a lot of people to start lining up to get the vaccine.” Being able to protect themselves and their family, as well as safely see people they had not seen in a while, were big motivators, he said.

The vaccination effort has involved coordination among the county’s emergency management and public health offices, state health department, health care providers, community partners and federal agencies, including the Indian Health Service.

“It was definitely a big community effort. Everybody does their part to try to get as many people vaccinated as possible,” said Berry, a volunteer paramedic who also helped administer vaccines when clinics were short-staffed.

One thing that worked to the county’s advantage in administering the vaccine is having a significant percentage of the county served by the Indian Health Service, he said. Nearly 80% of the county’s residents are Native American, according to the U.S. Census.

“A lot of other counties in New Mexico are dependent on local health care systems and private physicians to vaccinate the bulk of their populations,” he said. “We were fortunate in that aspect that we have a large presence of Indian Health Service facilities to help take care of that population, which allowed for vaccines to come in directly from the federal government to that site.”

The Indian Health Service held drive-thru events at the Fire Rock Casino in Church Rock and did outreach to the Navajo Nation “to make it more convenient” to get the vaccine, Berry said.

The county has lately been focused on bringing people back for their second dose if needed, as well as vaccination efforts in those ages 12 to 16.

Since May 24, the county has reported only three COVID-19 deaths, and the seven-day average of new cases is three, down from a peak of 109 in mid-November, state data shows.

There’s still a lot of mask-wearing, though life has started to “look a little more normal,” Berry said. “We’ve come a long way in the last year.”

Lamoille County, Vermont

There’s stiff competition to be the top county for vaccinations in Vermont, which has the highest vaccination rate in the country.

At the moment, Lamoille County holds that distinction, with over 85% of residents ages 12 and up having received at least one dose, according to state data.

“When we saw those numbers we were very happy about it,” Aaron French, director of the Morrisville Office of Local Health in Lamoille County, told ABC News. “Every county’s working really hard.”

Part of that effort has included reaching Lamoille County’s more rural residents, who may be less inclined to drive to a vaccination clinic out of town.

“I grew up in one of those small towns, and I said, ‘Why don’t we talk to the town … and set something up, and if we only get five people, we’ll get five people,'” French said.

On a recent weekend, the office brought nurses to two towns and was able to vaccinate around 10 people.

“We were happy with that,” French said. “And we’ll continue to do that.”

Health officials have also connected with local churches, schools, manufacturers and ski resorts as part of the vaccination efforts to reach the community and workforce.

As COVID-19 cases rise throughout the United States, Vermont officials said this week they have seen a small increase in the state, likely due to the delta variant, but community spread remains low due to the high vaccination rates.

Lamoille County has had two COVID-19 cases in the last two weeks, state data shows.

French said people in the county have trusted the local department of health and state department of health throughout the pandemic, which has also been a major factor in their vaccination success.

“They needed to hear from people that they could trust, and I think those local people were their local doctors and their commissioner of public health, who’s a physician, and their governor,” he said. “We have a number of federally qualified health care centers around here, and those physicians and nurse practitioners are very well-trusted, so their messaging out to the community and their patients were really important and helpful.”

Lamoille County’s lowest vaccination rates are among those ages 18 to 29, with over 58% of that population vaccinated, state data shows. That is one area the county is focusing on, French said.

The local health office has held clinics at skate parks, fairs and race tracks in the state, and health officials look to continue to do efforts like that to continue to bring numbers up.

“There’s plenty of opportunity and we’re just going to keep plugging away at it,” French said. “I do think we can get higher than that.”

Teton County, Wyoming

There has been a partisan divide in COVID-19 vaccinations, with Democrats more likely to report getting the vaccine than Republicans. Teton County is an outlier in Wyoming as a “blue dot in a red state,” though Wheeler doesn’t think that “can account for everything.”

One major factor that helped Teton County achieve its vaccination rate — which is the highest in the state, and higher than the national average — started with the logistics of the rollout itself.

“We were very easily able to ramp up and hire a lot of additional vaccine staff when our demand was high,” Wheeler said.

That meant hiring anyone from nurses to administer the vaccines to staff to help manage the different schedules. The county also had a lot of volunteer help at vaccine clinics, from checking people in to observing for emergency response, she said.

Teton County was also one of a handful of counties in Wyoming that had an ultra-cold freezer needed at first to store the Pfizer vaccine, the first to be issued an emergency use authorization.

“That was really helpful early on to be able to accept all different types of vaccines that were approved under the EUA at that time,” Wheeler said.

When the county expanded its eligibility to schools and child care providers, the health department held special clinics on the weekends to accommodate them. “That seemed very successful, and they were very appreciative of that,” Wheeler said.

Once students were eligible, the health department held an in-school vaccine clinic before the school year let out that reached over 500 students, Wheeler said.

To reach the broader community, the health department repurposed a public transit system bus into a mobile vaccine clinic, which has been used to bring doses to worksites, like the county’s trash transfer station, and, lately, parks.

“Our goal is to reduce any barriers that there might be for people to get the vaccine,” Wheeler said.

Beyond vaccine access, the county hired an agency to help with its messaging around the COVID-19 vaccine. “They helped us have a more focused campaign that was consistent and looked really professional,” Wheeler said.

Currently, the health department is holding a “Shots for Swag” campaign, in which residents who have received at least one dose of the vaccine can win prizes.

Through the ad agency, the health department also filmed a video featuring local doctors answering common questions about the vaccine, such as around variants, fertility and pregnancy, that “put a more local perspective to it,” Wheeler said.

The health department also partnered with several community nonprofits, including Voices JH, which helped reach immigrants in the Latino and Eastern European communities in the county with resources on vaccination.

Local health officials are anticipating renewed demand for the vaccine as new age ranges become eligible, and possibly when a vaccine has full FDA approval.

For now, they’re planning to bring the mobile vaccine clinic to events throughout the summer and remind employers about the service. From July 1 to July 15, the county reported 31 new COVID-19 cases, 26 of which were in unvaccinated people and included workplace “clusters,” the health department said this week.

“We’re still messaging to everyone that the best defense is getting vaccinated,” Wheeler said. “It’s how you’re going to protect not only yourself, but your family, friends, co-workers, neighbors, community members.”

CDC advisory committee voices support for immunocompromised people getting boosters

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(ATLANTA) — During the last year and a half, immunocompromised people have been at extremely high risk for the virus. And for many, the COVID vaccine didn’t change that.

That’s why a group of independent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention experts at a Thursday meeting largely voiced support for allowing immunocompromised people to talk to their doctors about getting a third shot, a booster, that could increase their antibody response to vaccines.

But the advisory committee didn’t make a formal recommendation, saying more data was needed and, ultimately, regulatory allowance from the Food and Drug Administration.

About 2.7% of U.S. adults are considered immunocompromised, an umbrella category that includes cancer patients, transplant recipients, people with HIV and patients on high-dose steroids.

“We long for a fuller life,” said Phil Canudo, a kidney transplant recipient from Akron, Ohio, who told the CDC advisory committee on Thursday that he had no antibody response after two Pfizer shots.

“I can’t wait to see my stepdaughter’s new Colorado home,” he said, choking up. “I want to eat a medium rare steak at the Diamond Grill.”

Canudo, who spoke before the CDC advisory panel during the public comment period, said he’d been told he still must behave as if he’s not vaccinated.

“I urge you, beg you even, to recommend that we be able to receive a third vaccine dose,” he said. “The benefit could open up the world to us again.”

At the same time, pressure is mounting as other countries, including France and Israel, already have approved boosters for those who are immunosuppressed. In the U.S., debate over booster shots for the general public has ratcheted up as the delta variant wreaks havoc.

Data presented at the meeting said a booster shot could increase antibodies in an immunocompromised person by up to 50%.

Dr. Sara Oliver, an epidemiologist with the CDC who presented the findings, also explained how immunocompromised people are a priority group for booster research because they’re at greater risk of serious COVID-related consequences.

For example, in one U.S. study, 44% of hospitalized breakthrough cases were immunocompromised people. An Israeli study found it was around 40%. Breakthrough cases, which are expected, refer to people who test positive for COVID-19 while fully vaccinated. The vaccines are highly effective against severe disease and hospitalization, but it’s possible for people to develop mild or asymptomatic illness even when vaccinated.

“We want to vaccinate. During this entire conference, we’ve been saying, vaccinate, vaccinate, vaccinate,” said Dr. Pablo Sanchez, a member of the panel. “These people want to be vaccinated, they’re not vaccine hesitant. And it seems to me that we should promote that.”

He argued that the FDA should “at least allow it while we obtain more data” because “we really need to help this population out more.” Patients, Sanchez argued, could end up taking matters into their own hands.

Phil, of Akron, said he planned to do just that.

“Hundreds of us lie to pharmacies and immunization sites about our previous vaccinations, trying to get an extra unauthorized dose,” he told the committee. “I know that’s what I’ll be doing if additional doses are not sanctioned.”

Another ACIP member, Dr. Sandra Fryhofer, a liaison of the American Medical Association, pointed out that there are millions of excess vaccine doses right now that aren’t being taken advantage of in the U.S.

At the same time, there are immunocompromised patients doing “all they can” and still not getting protection.

“I really do share the concerns that have been expressed by our ACIP members about, you know, our patients, right now, they’re immunocompromised, that are doing all they can do by getting vaccinated, by having their close contacts vaccinated, and it’s not enough that they’re still not protected,” Fryhofer said.

The work to assess additional studies is ongoing, and the next step would be for the FDA to issue regulatory guidance.

Ohio man charged with hate crime related to alleged plot to commit mass shooting of women

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — An Ohio man who is a self-proclaimed “incel” was charged by a grand jury for an alleged plot to conduct a mass shooting on a number of female university students, the Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

Tres Genco, 21, is charged with one count of attempting to commit a hate crime, which is punishable by up to life in prison because it involved an alleged intent to kill. He is also charged with one count of illegally possessing a machine gun, which is punishable by up to 10 years, the DOJ said in a statement.

According to the indictment, on Jan. 15, 2020, Genco allegedly conducted surveillance at an Ohio university and searched online topics, including “how to plan a shooting crime” and “when does preparing for a crime become an attempt.”

Genco identified himself online as an “incel” or “involuntary celibate” and had active online profiles that supported the incel movement — a community predominantly of men who harbor anger toward women and “seek to commit violence in support of their belief that women unjustly deny them sexual or romantic attention to which they believe they are entitled,” said the DOJ statement.

Genco also allegedly stated in a written manifesto that he would “slaughter” women “out of hatred, jealousy and revenge.”

As part of their investigation into the alleged plot, law enforcement agents reportedly discovered a note that they say was written by Genco indicating his hope to “aim big” and kill up to 3,000 people, according to the DOJ statement. The note also allegedly indicated his intention to attend military training, which investigators found he completed in December 2019.

In March 2020, local police officers reported finding among other items, a firearm with a bump stock attached, several loaded magazines, body armor and boxes of ammunition in the trunk of Genco’s vehicle, the DOJ statement said.

Hidden inside a heating vent in Genco’s bedroom, police said they also found an unmarked semi-automatic pistol.

Genco’s detention hearing is scheduled for Friday in the Southern District of Ohio.

Some people making $100K or more say the benchmark for financial success has shifted

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — They’re young, successful and making good money. Some call them HENRYs, short for “high earners, not rich yet.”

Usually in their 20s and 30s, these young people make more than $100,000 a year. The median household income in the U.S. is about $70,000 a year, according to 2019 census data.

Although some people might believe HENRYs are living the American dream, experts say that their six-figure salary might not go so far when factoring in student debt, rent and personal spending.

A recent study revealed that 70% of millennials are living paycheck-to-paycheck, a larger share than any other generation. 33% of millennials live paycheck-to-paycheck and struggle to pay their bills.

In interviews with ABC News, some HENRYs said that while they aren’t at that point yet, they can understand why many others feel that way.

Ben Gaut, 33, works as a technology consultant in Atlanta. He said that being in the group of so-called HENRYs was a “position [he] always wanted to be in.” However, he says the “not rich yet” part was not something he expected would be delayed.

For Gaut, a big part of that delay is due to his six-figure student loan debt.

“I don’t want to make any sort of mistake,” he said. “But there’s still work to be done to get to those goals that I had built up in my mind of what would happen at that point.”

In New York City, 30-year-old Turner Cowles has a similar story. He works as an investor educator and makes more than $105,000 a year, but student loan debt eats up so much of his income that at times he says he feels like he’s paying a second rent.

“If this is how I’m feeling now… oh my God, what is somebody who makes the poverty line feeling?” Cowles said. “What is somebody who’s making 30, 40 [or] 50 grand a year and also living in Brooklyn — how do they feel?”

The average student loan debt in the U.S. is nearly $40,000 per person, according to EducationData.org.

Priya Malani is the founder of Stash Wealth, a financial planning firm that works exclusively with HENRYs. She says they typically have double that amount in student loan debt.

“The average HENRY comes to us with around $80,000 in student debt,” she said. “They’ve accumulated additional degrees, they’ve been in school longer and so they have greater debt.”

Courtnie Nichols, 34, doesn’t have high student loan debt, but even with the $300,000 combined salary she and her husband make annually in Virginia, they feel like they must be careful with their money.

“I own my own business. My husband has a high net worth on his own with his job. So when you look at all the tangibles on paper, it’s like, ‘Oh, they’ve got a lot of money,’” she said. “But, for instance, six years ago, we were hit with a tax bill of almost $10,000. … We had an emergency fund. But now it’s like our whole emergency fund is gone, wiped out with one tax bill. So now we’re starting over. It’s like, as soon as … you take a few steps forward, you take a few steps back.”

The HENRYs who shared their stories with ABC News said they weren’t looking for sympathy and recognize they’re better off when compared to so many struggling Americans. But many said they feel like the benchmark for upward mobility has changed.

“The funny thing is I’m spending more on rent than I would on a mortgage. Because my debt to income ratio is based on my student loan debt, so I’m kind of in this catch-twenty-two of spending more money for a wonderful place to live, but I’m not building any equity, so I’m in this kind of position that seems.. difficult it’s difficult to to kind of come to terms with.”

The Consumer Price Index, which measures what consumers pay for everyday goods and services and is often looked at as an inflation barometer, jumped 5% over the last 12 months — the largest increase since August 2008.

Another factor is sky-high living costs. The median price for a home in the U.S. has spiked 23.4% in just one year, and it’s particularly high in cities where many HENRYs live, according to the National Association of Realtors.

The median price for a home in the San Francisco metro area is $1,200,000. In Los Angeles, it’s $682,400; in New York, it’s $514,200; and in Washington D.C., it’s $498,100, according to the National Association of Realtors.

There’s also a desire among high-earners to enjoy some luxuries alongside their hard work, even though not all spending comes from a desire to keep up with others’ success. There are some social elements, like “FOMO,” or “fear of missing out,” culture.

“At 30-something, you would think that in our peer group we are the top of the totem pole. But that is not the case in our circle of friends,” Nichols said. “But we will be like, ‘We have a healthy income, we’re building, but we’re not quite there.’”

A phenomenon known as “lifestyle creep” happens when people’s lifestyles change as their income increases, and certain luxuries someone used to enjoy turn into their perceived necessities.

“The truth of the matter is that even when you do cut back, there’s still this level of almost anxiety,” Cowles said.

Malani said that young people may see friends buying homes or upgrading their cars, for example, but don’t realize that they may be dealing with credit card debt.

“So you just think, ‘Wow, if they can do it, I should be able to do it, too,’ and it becomes this cycle that’s very, very difficult to break,” Malani said.

Jennifer Castillo is a 34-year-old lawyer and blogger from Washington, D.C. She calls herself a HENRY, bringing in about $130,000 a year. She said she hasn’t yet felt squeezed financially and that she is looking to redefine some of the more negative connotations associated with HENRYs.

“I’m so happy to sort of embrace the HENRY title because it speaks to the potential to your own particular financial goals, what you want your wealth building legacy to be,” she said.

Although her online persona shows her living the high life, she said there’s a story behind every post. For example, she pointed to a Gucci belt, saying she’d planned to buy it for two years.

“When you look at my Instagram or you look at my blog, it may appear that I sort of subscribe to this ‘buy it, I’ll do it all,’ lifestyle,” Castillo said. “But it really is a highlight reel. … Nothing that I buy is on a whim. I’m always, like, planning for my purchases. I always save up for them.”

For Castillo, the upcoming birth of her first child is her financial priority, she says.

“I think the biggest shift in my budget is going to be I’ll [have] a lot less money to my fun account,” she said. “I’ve been looking at costs and daycare is expensive, nannies are expensive. Like, every child care option that I have — I work full time — is expensive. So … that’s where the sacrifice is going to lie.”

Experts say financial counseling can also make a huge difference. Nichols reached out to Stash Wealth last year. Now, she knows where every dollar goes.

“I know every month how much I can spend on my credit card. Like to the exact penny, I know how much wiggle room we have,” she said.

No matter how they got there, the HENRYs who shared their stories believe that financial freedom is within their reach.

“My favorite part of the acronym is the ‘not rich yet’ part,” Castillo said, “because it speaks to the future potential of someone that’s a high earner.”

Mississippi asks Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The state of Mississippi formally asked the U.S. Supreme Court Thursday to uphold its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy and overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that gave women the unfettered right to end a pregnancy before a fetus is viable outside the womb.

“Under the Constitution, may a State prohibit elective abortions before viability? Yes. Why? Because nothing in constitutional text, structure, history, or tradition supports a right to abortion,” the state says bluntly in its opening brief in a blockbuster case that will dominate the court’s next term.

The cascade of arguments Mississippi lays out constitute the most direct and aggressive attack on abortion rights in years before the high court.

Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch, leading the case, declares outright that the time has come for the justices to discard long-standing precedent because Roe and Casey, a 1992 decision that reaffirmed the right to abortion access for women, are “egregiously wrong.”

“Roe and Casey are unprincipled decisions that have damaged the democratic process, poisoned our national discourse, plagued the law — and, in doing so, harmed this Court,” the brief says.

Mississippi argues that states have compelling interests in protecting the lives of the unborn — interests that have been neglected, it claims, by decades of flawed legal analyses by the court’s majority.

“Scientific advances show that an unborn child has taken on the human form and features months before viability. States should be able to act on those developments. But Roe and Casey shackle States to a view of the facts that is decades out of date.”

Abortion rights advocates were quick to respond Thursday, calling Mississippi’s legal case “stunning” and “extreme.”

“Their goal is for the Supreme Court to take away our right to control our own bodies and our own futures — not just in Mississippi, but everywhere,” said Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which is challenging the law, in a statement.

“Let’s be clear; any ruling in favor of Mississippi in this case overturns the core holding of Roe — the right to make a decision about whether to continue a pregnancy before viability,” she continued. “The Court has held that the Constitution guarantees this right. If Roe falls, half the states in the country are poised to ban abortion entirely. “

The Supreme Court has not yet scheduled the case for oral argument in the term set to begin in October. A decision is expected by June 2022.

Bootleg Fire now 3rd largest wildfire in Oregon state history

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The Bootleg Fire is now the third-largest fire in Oregon state history as firefighters try to limit its spread amid extremely dry conditions.

The blaze had grown to nearly 400,000 acres in southern Oregon by Thursday morning and remained just 38% contained.

While the wildfire is affecting mostly rural areas, it has climbed to the top three fires to engulf the state, according to records dating back to 1900. The Long Draw Fire in 2012 scorched 557,028 acres, while the Biscuit Fire in 2002 burned 500,000 acres.

In comparison, the Beachie Creek Fire that destroyed more than 1,200 structures in northern Oregon in 2020 burned through 193,573 acres.

This year’s dry season, exacerbated by the megadrought and climate change, has created tinderbox conditions in the West.

Nearly 90 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year.

Thousands of homes are threatened and have been evacuated in Oregon due to the Bootleg Fire.

Evacuations have also been ordered near Lake Tahoe due to the Tamarack Fire, which had burned through more than 50,000 acres by Wednesday morning and was 4% contained.

The Dixie Fire in Butte County, California, had scorched nearly 104,000 acres by Thursday and was 17% contained.

Air quality alerts were issued earlier in the week on the East Coast due to the large amounts of smoke being emitted from the fires.

The possibility for new fires to spark remained high on Thursday. Red flag warnings have been issued in parts of Montana and Idaho due to gusty winds and low humidity, while dry thunderstorms caused by the heat of the Bootleg Fire could bring lightning strikes to the drought-ridden region.

Currently, more than 46% of the contiguous U.S. is in a moderate or worse drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, and some of the regions that need rain the most are not forecast to receive any major precipitation that could alleviate the fires.

Rain is not expected for California and the Pacific Northwest. However, parts of the Southwest are seeing some relief due to monsoon storms.

ABC News’ Matthew Fuhrman, Melissa Griffin and Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.

US sanctions Cuba over crackdown on protests in 1st steps toward new policy

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — In his first steps toward his own Cuba policy, President Joe Biden is sanctioning the Cuban defense minister and its special forces for the aggressive crackdowns on protests across the island nation earlier this month, the White House announced Thursday.

Those protests were some of the largest and most widespread in decades as Cuba reels from a new wave of the coronavirus, the economic pain of COVID-19, and shortages of food and medicine.

They also short-circuited Biden’s administration into a response. Six months into his term, Biden has yet to formulate a policy toward America’s close neighbor after his former boss Barack Obama warmed relations with Cuba’s communist government and his immediate predecessor Donald Trump all but cut contact and implemented the toughest sanctions and restrictions.”This is just the beginning – the United States will continue to sanction individuals responsible for oppression of the Cuban people,” Biden said in a statement Thursday, demanding the government “immediately release wrongfully detained political prisoners, restore internet access, and allow the Cuban people to enjoy their fundamental rights.”

The Treasury Department announced that it sanctioned Defense Minister Alvaro Lopez Miera and the Brigada Especial Nacional, the government’s special forces unit within the Interior Ministry that was deployed “to suppress and attack protesters,” according to the agency.

The new sanctions are not likely to inflict any new pain in Havana beyond the decades-old embargo, but they send a clearer message about where Biden will stand after Obama’s rapprochement and Trump’s heavy penalties. The Cuban Foreign Ministry has not yet responded, but government leaders including President Miguel Díaz-Canel repeatedly blamed the U.S. government or the Cuban diaspora in Miami for stirring up the protests.

“Treasury will continue to enforce its Cuba-related sanctions, including those imposed today, to support the people of Cuba in their quest for democracy and relief from the Cuban regime,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said in a statement.

While he helped Obama’s efforts to ease tensions with Cuba and reopen trade and travel, Biden has kept most of Trump’s sanctions and restrictions in place so far as his administration completes his review.

Beyond Thursday’s sanctions, the administration announced other baby steps in staking out its own Cuba policy earlier this week, including creating a working group to study the issue of remittances — the money that Americans, especially Cuban Americans, send back to the island.

Remittances were severely restricted by the Trump administration, which said they were largely lining the pockets of the Cuban government as it charged large fees for their transmission. The limits imposed by Trump led Western Union, the financial services company, to close its operations in Cuba.

Biden’s new working group will look for ways to allow money to flow to the Cuban people without enriching the Cuban government, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Tuesday.

Biden had said last week that he would not ease those Trump-era restrictions, but administration officials denied they were backing away from that pledge, noting that the president said during a press conference that it was “highly likely that the regime would confiscate those remittances or a big chunk of it.”

“That’s certainly something that we’re mindful of and we’re looking at. That will be a point of discussion in these working groups,” Psaki said Tuesday.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price added that there’s no amount of Cuban government collection on remittances that would be “acceptable to us” but declined to get ahead of what the working group may decide.

He also announced that the State Department will launch its own review about adding staff at the U.S. embassy in Havana. Only a skeleton crew works there now after Trump’s first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson drew down embassy staff after the first reports of medical incidents sometimes known as “Havana syndrome” emerged publicly.

“The staffing at our embassy will serve to enhance our diplomatic, our engagement – our diplomatic activity, our engagement with civil society, our consular service engagement, all of which will be in service of helping the Cuban people to secure greater degrees of human rights, of freedom, of the universal rights that have been denied to them for far too long,” Price said Tuesday.

He declined to provide any timeline on when staffing changes could be made or speak to any changes in security after those “unexplained health incidents,” as the department calls them, that cause “Havana syndrome” — except to say safety will be a top consideration in this review.

Russia battered by deadly COVID 3rd wave

July 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(RUSSIA) — Russia is enduring a devastating third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, registering record numbers of daily virus deaths many days for the past month as the virus rages in the country where there are few quarantine restrictions in place and much of the population is reluctant to get vaccinated.

In many parts of the country doctors have said hospitals have been overflowing for almost a month, placing huge strain on medical workers already battered by a year and a half of the pandemic.

Despite surging death tolls, authorities have declined to introduce tough restrictions or even strictly enforce ones in place like mask wearing.

In the late spring, authorities had hailed a supposed end to the worst of the pandemic, following a grim winter that saw Russia reach the highest death toll per capita among developing nations. The few restrictions in place were almost all lifted. President Vladimir Putin at an economic forum in St. Petersburg at the start of June told a large crowd that “life is gradually returning to its normal course.”

But by mid-June, the virus came roaring back, fuelled by the virus’ delta variant, and Russia’s health system is struggling under a wave that many experts estimate is as bad and potentially even worse than this winter’s deadly one. Although there are signs now the wave is now easing in Moscow, it is continuing to batter much of the rest of the country where it arrived later.

“Compared with the second wave, it’s much tougher,” said Viktoria, an ambulance work in the Leningrad region, who asked to withhold her last name because she did not have permission to speak publicly. “The first wave was tough because no one knew anything what to do. And now it’s just on account of a very high infection rate.”

Since the start of July, Russia’s official coronavirus statistics have shown over 700 people dying most days, on many days breaking previous daily records from the winter.

That may be a significant undercount, many experts said. Throughout the pandemic Russia’s official COVID-19 statistics have been criticized for drastically underplaying its real virus numbers.

Calculations of so-called “excess deaths” from publicly available mortality data — considered internationally as the best way of assessing the pandemic’s true toll — show that Russia has recorded nearly 550,000 more deaths than in an average year between June 2021 and the start of the pandemic.

That is nearly four times higher than the official toll of 150,000, provided by Russia’s government coronavirus task force. It also does not take into account June and July, which have been the deadliest months of the third wave for the country.

[We] “are in the heart of a storm, which no one even tried to prevent,” Alexander Dragan, a data analyst who has tracked Russia’s pandemic statistics, wrote in a Medium post this month.

The wave of infections and deaths has hit as Russia had erected few defences to stem it. By June, authorities had lifted most of the limited restrictions that had been in place and spoke of an end to the pandemic in sight. Restaurants, bars and shops were working as usual, most workers had returned to offices, people were packing out events.

As the numbers surged in June, authorities in some regions scrambled to reimpose measures. In Moscow, where the mayor’s office has taken a more pro-active approach, companies were told to make some staff work from home and bars made to shut at 11 p.m. A small number of badly hit regions reimposed lockdowns.

But in most places restrictions have remained light and life is largely unaltered. In St. Petersburg, authorities in June allowed mass events, permitting thousands to throng during a city-wide graduation celebration and to attend Euros 2020 soccer matches. And in most regions, events involving hundreds of people are still permitted.

The result has been the virus — accelerated by the delta variant — has burned through Russia almost unrestricted.

The wave flooded hospitals in many regions from the start of June. In cities across Russia, local authorities warned they had run out of beds and were forced to open emergency reserve hospitals.

In St. Petersburg, medics told ABC News hospitals were packed with COVID patients since mid-June. Dmitry, a doctor at a hospital in the city said its 450 beds had been filled for the last month and that patients had to be kept in corridors, although the situation had improved in the last week.

The numbers were putting a huge strain on medical workers, he said, saying one medic was often having to look after 30 patients.

“It’s really a lot,” he said, also requesting anonymity because he was not permitted to comment publicly.

In Moscow and St. Petersburg the wave appears to be finally easing, with space appearing at last in hospitals. But in other regions where the wave arrived later, cases continue to climb. And the peak of deaths, which lag two to three weeks behind infections, in most places has still not arrived.

Alexey Raksha, a demographer who formerly worked at Russia’s state statistics agency Rostat, told ABC News he estimated Russia might see between 70,000-90,000 deaths for July alone.

“We’re yet to see the peak of deaths. And I predict that July could be the worst month” so far, Raksha said.

Some doctors and experts blamed the scale of the third wave on the messaging from authorities that the pandemic was essentially over and abandoning restrictions.

“At the end of the second wave they were telling us that everything is going down, down, down, everything is super. They loosened everything up and basically people cut loose,” said Viktoria.

“Russia is the country where COVID dissidents actually won,” Raksha said. “The result is hundreds of thousands (at least 200-300k) deaths above what could have happened otherwise,” he wrote in a message.

Russian officials had said they hoped to end the pandemic with vaccines developed by the country.

But the level of vaccination in Russia has stalled in mid-spring at around 14%, despite Russia having one of the world’s first COVID-19 vaccines, amid widespread reluctance among Russians to get the jab. Polls have showed around two-thirds of Russians do not intend to get vaccinated.

Experts have in part blamed that reluctance on authorities’ refusal to enforce tough restrictions and mixed messages suggesting that the situation in Russia was not so bad and underplaying the real number of deaths.

“Naturally, if people don’t believe that COVID is serious they have no motivation to get vaccinated,” Irina Yakutenko, a science journalist told the Russian news site, Bumaga.”Crudely speaking, the government did a lot so that so many people haven’t got the jab.”

As the third wave hit, authorities have launched a drive to try to overcome the vaccine hesitancy.

Moscow’s mayor made vaccination mandatory for people working in public-facing roles including restaurant workers, teachers, hairdressers and public transport staff — amounting to around 2 million people. A growing number of other regions followed suit, making Russia one of the few countries in the world to introduce large-scale mandatory vaccination.

In Moscow, authorities also announced unvaccinated people would not be able to access routine medical treatments at hospitals. For three weeks, a new rule required people to get a QR-code showing proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test to dine inside restaurants.

The push appears to have had an effect; the number of those vaccinated has climbed in the few weeks, according to official statistics and independent experts.

However, it’s not clear that pace will be kept up. Moscow has now backtracked over the rule requiring vaccination for indoor dining and the Kremlin has indicated it opposes broadening mandatory vaccination to the population at large. That puts in doubt whether Russia will reach a sufficient level of vaccination by the autumn to head off a deadly fourth wave.

Dmitry, the doctor in St. Petersburg said he did not have much hope a new wave would be avoided, even as the current wave eased.

“I think it’s a sort of calm before the storm,” he told ABC News.

He said both authorities and citizens needed to accept more restrictions to do so, alongside vaccination.

“In my view it’s better to cancel concerts for half a year than over the course of two years bury a large number of people,” he said.

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