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COVID-19 live updates: Aaron Rodgers meets return-to-play requirements, according to report

November 13, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 758,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

Just 68.5% of Americans ages 12 and up are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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

Nov 13, 12:43 pm
Aaron Rodgers meets return-to-play requirements after quarantine: Reports

Aaron Rodgers has remained asymptomatic from COVID-19 and has met the NFL/NFLPA return-to-play protocols, ESPN reported.

“It’s been going great,” Green Bay Packers coach Matt LaFleur said this week, according to ESPN. “Communication’s been there. He’s been in every meeting. He’s been engaged. So, it’s just he’s not with his guys out on the field.”

Rodgers tested positive for COVID-19 on Nov. 3 and required to undergo a 10-day quarantine. The Packers, Rodgers and receiver Allen Lazard were all fined for violations of the protocols that were jointly agreed upon by the NFL and the NFL Players Association, ESPN reported.

Nov 12, 8:33 pm
4 states move toward recommending COVID-19 booster for all adults

As COVID-19 cases increase across the country, at least four states are moving to recommend booster shots for all adults ahead of federal authorization.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order on Thursday declaring the entire state at high risk from COVID-19, thereby making all fully vaccinated adults eligible to receive a booster shot.

“We want to ensure that Coloradans have every tool they need to protect themselves from this deadly virus and to help reduce the stress on our hospitals and health care workers,” Polis said in a statement.

Every Coloradan ages 18 and up who is at least six months past the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or two months past the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, can now receive a booster shot.

“I was relieved to get the booster two weeks ago,” Polis said, “and strongly encourage you to get it too.”

On Friday, the governor of New Mexico issued a similar order, and officials in California and West Virginia have previously encouraged residents to receive a booster shot.

Meanwhile, Pfizer asked the Federal Drug Administration for booster authorization for all adults on Tuesday.

Nov 12, 6:18 pm
US cases up nearly 20% since mid-October

The U.S. is currently averaging around 76,000 new COVID-19 cases a day, up by nearly 20% since mid-October, according to an ABC News analysis of federal data.

North Dakota now has the country’s highest infection rate, followed by Minnesota, Alaska and Vermont.

COVID-19 hospitalizations nationwide also increased for the fourth consecutive day Friday. More than 47,000 patients with COVID-19 are currently receiving care.

-ABC News’ Arielle Mitropoulos

Nov 12, 7:06 am
Colorado approves COVID-19 booster for all adults

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis signed an executive order on Thursday declaring the entire state at high risk from COVID-19, thereby making all fully vaccinated adults eligible to receive a booster shot.

Every Coloradan aged 18 and up who is at least six months past the second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine, or two months past the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine, can now receive a booster shot.

“I was relieved to get the booster two weeks ago,” Polis said, “and strongly encourage you to get it too.”

Nov 11, 2:26 pm
US COVID hospitalizations increase for 3rd consecutive day

Thursday marked the third consecutive day where COVID hospitalizations rose nationwide.

Fourteen states reported a 10% increase in hospital admissions over the last week. The states are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Total hospitalizations are down nearly 55% since mid-August.

Nov 10, 9:21 pm
COVID-19 deaths expected to continue to fall in weeks to come

COVID-19 forecast models used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are currently predicting that weekly death totals will likely continue to fall in the weeks to come, though thousands of Americans are still expected to lose their lives.

The ensemble model expects just under 15,000 more virus-related deaths to occur in the U.S. over the next two weeks, with a total of around 781,500 deaths by Dec. 4.

The model estimates that 13 states and territories of the U.S. have a greater than 50% chance of having more deaths in the next two weeks compared to the past two weeks.

Nov 10, 9:15 pm
Federal judge strikes down Texas ban on school mask mandates

A federal judge ruled Wednesday that Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s executive order prohibiting local mask mandates, including in schools, violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Since the order was issued in late July, state Attorney General Ken Paxton has filed lawsuits against more than a dozen school districts for issuing mask mandates, according to the ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Lee Yeakel. In August, advocacy group Disability Rights Texas filed the lawsuit against the state on behalf of several students with disabilities who faced an increased risk from COVID-19, alleging it denied them equal access to in-person learning.

“The evidence presented by Plaintiffs establishes that Plaintiffs are being denied the benefits of in-person learning on an equal basis as their peers without disabilities,” Yeakel wrote in his ruling.

Yeakel also said the executive order “interferes with local school districts’ ability to satisfy their obligations under the ADA” by placing all authority with the governor.

Yeakel enjoined the state from enforcing the mask mandate ban and ordered that the plaintiffs recover their court costs from the state.

Paxton has said the state is “protecting the rights and freedoms” of residents by banning mask mandates.

Nov 10, 6:43 pm
States sue over vaccine mandate for health care workers

Ten states are suing the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services over the Biden administration’s vaccine mandate targeting health care workers.

About 17 million health care workers who are employed at places that get funding through CMS are required to get vaccinated by Jan. 4, 2022. They do not have the option to test.

“The mandate is a blatant attempt to federalize public health issues involving vaccination that belong within the States’ police power,” stated the suit, which was filed by Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt, a Republican who is running for Senate.

The attorneys general of Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, Alaska, South Dakota, North Dakota and New Hampshire have joined the lawsuit, which is one of many filed against different parts of the Biden administration’s vaccine requirements but the first to target the health care worker mandate.

Twenty-six states are suing over the mandate that applies to businesses, while another handful are suing over the federal worker mandate. Last week, a federal court temporarily blocked the business vaccine rule.

Summer Zervos drops defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Summer Zervos, a former contestant on “The Apprentice,” has agreed to end her defamation lawsuit against former President Donald Trump.

The The joint stipulation said the case is “dismissed and discontinued.”

Zervos’ attorneys and attorneys for Trump filed a stipulation of discontinuance that offered no explanation for the decision.

“Today the parties have ended Zervos v. Trump,” Zervos’ attorney, Beth Wilkinson, said in a statement. “After five years, Ms. Zervos no longer wishes to litigate against the defendant and has secured the right to speak freely about her experience. Ms. Zervos stands by the allegations in her complaint and has accepted no compensation.”

Zervos had claimed Trump groped her in 2007 at a hotel in Beverly Hills, California, and then defamed her when he denied it during the campaign.

In a statement Friday that called the allegations “made up … for publicity or money,” Trump said: “It is so sad when things like this can happen, but so incredibly important to fight for the truth and justice. Only victory can restore one’s reputation!”

Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, said Friday the decision to end the case belonged to Zervos.

“She had no choice but to do so as the facts unearthed in this matter made it abundantly clear that our client did nothing wrong,” Habba said in a statement to ABC News. “It is a privilege to defend President Trump, who has been relentlessly attacked and viciously hounded by bad faith actors.”

Habba also said Trump did not pay Zervos.

The former president had recently been ordered to sit for a deposition before Christmas.

In a statement last month abut the deposition, Zervos’ attorney, Moira Penza, said: “We just don’t believe our client can be further prejudiced in delaying this litigation any longer. We do not believe there are any outstanding issues that would prohibit the parties from engaging in depositions.”

COP26 updates: Developing countries point finger at rich over draft letter

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(GLASGOW, Scotland) — Leaders from nearly every country in the world have converged upon Glasgow, Scotland, for COP26, the United Nations Climate Change Conference that experts are touting as the most important environmental summit in history.

The conference, delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was designed as the check-in for the progress countries are making after entering the Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to well below 2 degrees Celsius, a value that would be disastrous to exceed, according to climate scientists. More ambitious efforts aim to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

Not one country is going into COP26 on track to meeting the goals of the Paris Agreement, according to experts. They will need to work together to find collective solutions that will drastically cut down on greenhouse gas emissions.

“We need to move from commitments into action,” Jim Harmon, chairman of the World Resources Institute, told ABC News. “The path to a better future is still possible, but time is running out.”

All eyes will be on the biggest emitters: China, the U.S. and India. While China is responsible for about 26% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, more than all other developed countries combined, the cumulative emissions from the U.S. over the past century are likely twice that of China’s, David Sandalow, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News.

Latest headlines:
-US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis
-America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says
-Obama addresses COP26, endorses Biden’s ‘Build Back Better’ bill
-American agriculture is ready to tackle climate change, agriculture secretary says
-US needs to ‘get in the game’ on clean energy transitions, energy secretary say
-Biden, world leaders push to conserve global forests

Here’s how the conference is developing. All times Eastern.

Nov 12, 5:10 pm
Final Glasgow deal yet to come as negotiations continue on last day

Despite being the last stipulated date for the COP26, country representatives continue to work on finalizing the draft of the Glasgow deal. The negotiations are expected to continue into the night.

Countries continue to dispute who bears the financial burden of climate action and the deadlines for carbon emissions reductions. Some disagreements also took place over the semantics of the draft as representatives argued over whether “requests” or “urges” was a better fit when talking about climate goals.

The final day also witnessed walkouts and protests from climate activists around the world who claimed their voices were not being heard.

Crowds outside chanted: “Fighting for justice, and for liberation.”

Nov 11, 4:33 pm
Developing, vulnerable countries point fingers at rich countries, COP26 draft letter

Developing countries, including top emitters China and India, are asking for changes to the COP26 draft letter focusing more on reparations from established countries.

On Wednesday, Diego Pacheco Balanza, the head of Bolivia’s delegation and spokesman for the Like-Minded Developing Countries group, along with 21 other countries released an opposition to the draft agreement.

They say it is unfair for rich countries who built their economies on fossil fuels to tell developing countries what to do without recognizing that historical responsibility.

“We will never achieve the targets they are putting forward for the entire world. So we need to fight — the developing world — against this carbon colonialism,” Balanza said at a press conference Friday.

The statement comes amid rising concerns from vulnerable countries in the Global South, which claim that COP26 isn’t focusing enough on their needs.

Uganda’s Vanessa Nakate emphasized that any additional global temperature warming could lead to more suffering in her country.

“A 2.4-degree [warmer] world is a death sentence for communities like mine; 1.2 degrees is already hell for us,” Nakate told reporters Wednesday night.

Similarly, Elizabeth Wathuti from Kenya spoke about climate-related starvation in her country, urging leaders to keep those affected by it at the front of their minds.

“The big question is, are the leaders here going to step up to do what must be done to save those lives and livelihoods that are at stake?” Wathuti asked. “I come from Kenya where over 2 million Kenyans are facing climate-related starvation and I need answers when I go back to my communities to my country. What are we going to tell these people whose lives and livelihoods are at stake when we go back?”

Nov 10, 3:29 pm
US, China announce joint statement addressing climate crisis

Top carbon emitters U.S. and China have committed to working together on reducing emissions and transitioning to renewable energy over the next decade, according to U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry.

Kerry said it’s important that the countries work together on climate issues.

“And as I’ve said many times, the United States and China have no shortage of differences. But on climate, cooperation is the only way to get things done,” he told reporters Wednesday.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Nov 09, 1:39 pm
America ‘ready to take on the challenge,’ Pelosi says

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi focused on the domestic political success of the Build Back Better plan and its investment in climate change while speaking to reporters at COP26, continuing the message that America is back on the international climate stage.

“We come here equipped, ready to take on the challenge to meet the moment,” Pelosi said.

Pelosi said she still plans to pass the reconciliation bill the week of Nov. 15 and backed up remarks made by former President Barack Obama on Monday — that both he and President Biden could take more aggressive action on climate change if it wasn’t for near Republican control on Capitol Hill.

“Let me just say that when President Obama was president and we had majority in the first term … we did pass in the House a very strong climate bill,” she said.

“Sixty votes in the Senate is an obstacle that is very hard to overcome and is another subject for another day.”

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also declared that “America is back” but was more critical, saying that leaders will need to “actually deliver.”

“We’re here to say that we’re not just back, we’re different … and we are more open, I think, to questioning prior assumptions about what is politically possible and that is what is exciting about this time,” she said.

ABC News’ Stephanie Ebbs

Mom of missing New Jersey teen Jashyah Moore charged with child endangerment

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The mother of Jashyah Moore, a 14-year-old from New Jersey who had been missing for about a month, has been charged with two counts of second-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The charges against 39-year-old Jamie Moore were announced in a press release Friday from acting Essex County prosecutor Theodore N. Stephens and East Orange Police Chief Phyllis Bindi, who added that the charges include allegations of physical abuse and neglect.

Moore was arrested early Friday and is being held at the Essex County Correctional Facility.

Jashyah — who was found safe in New York City on Thursday after a weekslong search by local officials since her disappearance on Oct. 14 — and her 3-year-old brother were removed from Moore’s custody by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP).

At a press conference Friday, police said Jashyah had run away from home and did not want to return.

The teen “is currently safe and is being provided all appropriate services,” Stephens said in a statement. Authorities believe Jashyah was alone when she was found. She is said to have found shelter in Brooklyn, but the details of her time in New York are still being uncovered by investigators.

A reward for finding Jashyah had reached $20,000 this week.

“Jashyah is one of our own,” East Orange Mayor Ted Green said. “We’re asking this community, as we have been asking from Day 1, to help us in locating this young lady.”

Jashyah’s family had pleaded with the community to help bring her daughter home.

She had last been seen around 10 a.m. at Poppie’s Deli Store in East Orange after her mother, Jamie Moore, asked her to go to the store for groceries. According to police, surveillance footage shows Jashyah entering the store with an older male who paid for her items. The footage, however, does not appear to show them leaving the store together, police said. The man has cooperated with investigators and was helpful in the search, according to police.

Jashyah initially returned from the store and told her mom she had lost the card the family uses for groceries, police said. Moore said she told Jashyah to retrace her steps to find it.

Moore said that was the last time she saw her daughter.

“I cannot imagine what she might be going through just being away from us this long, being away from her family who loves her very much,” her mother said through tears at a press conference last Friday. “If anybody knows anything, please, please come forward.”

East Orange Police, the FBI and the New Jersey State Police worked in collaboration to help find Jashyah. Anyone who knows about her disappearance should call the East Orange Police at (973) 266-5041.

Defense attorney in Ahmaud Arbery murder trial apologizes for comments about Black pastors

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A defense attorney in the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial apologized a day after he said there shouldn’t be “any more Black pastors” in the Glynn County, Georgia, courtroom, as a representative for Arbery’s family called for his removal from the case.

Addressing Superior Court Judge Timothy Walmsley Thursday while the jury wasn’t present, defense attorney Kevin Gough said he took major offense to learning after the fact that Rev. Al Sharpton had been in the courtroom with the Arbery family Wednesday. Gough called Sharpton’s presence “improper,” “intimidating to the jury” and “an attempt to influence.”

“We have all kinds of pastors in this town, over 100. And the idea that we’re going to be serially bringing these people in to sit with the victim’s family, one after another, obviously there’s only so many pastors they can have,” Gough said. “If their pastor’s Al Sharpton right now, that’s fine. But then that’s it. We don’t want any more Black pastors coming in here.”

Walmsley told Gough to “not overstate what’s going on here” because “this will become a distraction that we’re going to waste a bunch of time on.”

The trial resumed Friday with a brief apology from Gough, who said his statements had been “overly broad.”

“My apologies to anyone who might’ve been inadvertently offended,” he said.

Gough said he had been asked to address the issue, to which Walmsley responded that it wasn’t the court that had asked that.

Gough is representing William “Roddie” Bryan, who filmed Gregory McMichael and his son, Travis McMichael, chasing down Arbery while the 25-year-old Black man was out for a jog last year. Arbery was fatally shot during the confrontation.

In response to Gough’s comments, Sharpton is calling on clergy to join him and Arbery’s family outside the courthouse on Nov. 18.

“The arrogant insensitivity of attorney Kevin Gough in asking a judge to bar me or any minister of the family’s choice underscores the disregard for the value of the human life lost and the grieving of a family in need [of] spiritual and community support,” Sharpton said in a statement Friday.

Ben Crump, an attorney for Arbery’s family, tweeted Friday morning that “we are going to bring 100 Black pastors to pray with the family next week.”

“It is not illegal for Black pastors to support the parents of Ahmaud Arbery or any other Black victims,” he said.

Barbara Arnwine, a representative for Arbery’s family, called the comments “absolutely inappropriate” and “horrible behavior” from a lawyer.

“He really should not be part of this case, it’s very, very disturbing,” she told reporters outside the courtroom Friday.

“We’re gonna bring a whole lot of Black pastors over the week. Get ready,” she added.

Defense attorney Jason Sheffield, who is representing Travis McMichael, also called Gough’s comments “asinine.”

“Everyone is welcome, come one, come all,” he told reporters during lunch recess.

The trial started last Friday under a cloud of controversy after a jury comprised of 11 white people and one Black person was selected, prompting an objection from prosecutors that the selection process, which took nearly three weeks, ended up racially biased.

The high-profile trial is expected to last into Thanksgiving week, Sheffield said.

The three defendants have pleaded not guilty to charges of murder, aggravated assault and criminal attempt to commit false imprisonment.

ABC News’ Bill Hutchinson, Janice McDonald and Alex Presha contributed to this report.

Justice Department charges Steve Bannon with criminal contempt of Congress

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has charged former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon with two counts of criminal contempt of Congress over his defiance of a subpoena from the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol.

The indictment sets off what will likely be a contentious legal battle with significant ramifications for the Jan. 6 committee as it seeks to compel other witnesses to testify about the events leading up to the attempted insurrection, including any communications they may have had with former President Donald Trump.

The case also presents an extraordinary test for the Justice Department under Attorney General Merrick Garland, who has made restoring DOJ’s independence from politicization one of the top priorities of his tenure.

In a recent appearance in front of the House Judiciary Committee, Garland told lawmakers the department would follow “the facts and the law” in its consideration of the contempt referral voted on by the full House of Representatives last month.

Given Bannon was indicted on two counts, if he is convicted on both a judge could decide to stack the counts and he could potentially face a max sentence of two years in jail. His fine on each count could be between $100 and $1000.

While Bannon, if convicted, faces the prospect of a max sentence that could amount to up to 12 months in prison and fines of as much as $100,000 — such prosecutions are rare, and if history is any guide the legal fight could potentially drag on for years and face additional hurdles on appeal.

Reps. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., and Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., the chairman and co-chair of the House Jan. 6 select committee, issued a response to news of Bannon’s indictment Friday afternoon.

“Steve Bannon’s indictment should send a clear message to anyone who thinks they can ignore the Select Committee or try to stonewall our investigation: no one is above the law,” they sad in a joint statement. “We will not hesitate to use the tools at our disposal to get the information we need.”

The last time a criminal contempt case was brought by the Justice Department was in 1983 during the Reagan Administration against an EPA official who was eventually found not guilty by a jury at trial.

Committee members have sought Bannon’s testimony citing his comments leading up to the Jan. 6 attack, including his promotions of the so-called ‘Stop the Steal’ effort and the day before when he predicted on his podcast that “all hell is going to break loose” in Washington.

In its original letter to Bannon seeking his deposition, the committee also raised reports that Bannon and other allies held meetings at the Willard Hotel in Washington leading up Jan. 6, where they strategized about ways to stop or delay Congress’ certification of Biden’s election win.

An attorney for Bannon has repeatedly said his refusal to comply with the committee’s subpoena stems from an assertion of executive privilege made by Trump, though legal experts have cast doubt on the merits of that claim both due to Trump’s status a former president and the fact that Bannon was not a White House advisor at the time of the alleged communications.

Lawsuits against Travis Scott, Astroworld organizers pile up

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(HOUSTON) — Several lawsuits have been filed so far against several parties connected to the deadly stage surge during Astroworld Festival at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, which left at least nine concertgoers dead and many more injured. Now, more than 100 victims of the tragedy are being represented in cases against event organizers, managers and performers.

Astroworld is a music festival founded by rapper Travis Scott and held annually in Houston. This year was the third Astroworld event, which hosted popular rappers and singers including SZA, Bad Bunny, Chief Keef and Tame Impala.

According to Houston Police and witness accounts, a wave of tens of thousands of people surged toward the stage when Scott — and later, rapper Drake — appeared. Concert attendees say they were pushed into one another from all sides, and as the crowd pressed its way forward, some began to fall, pass out and get trampled by others in the audience.

“You’re not moving yourself — it’s more of the crowd moving you, so you don’t have control of your body at that point,” said concertgoer Fatima Muñoz, who shared her experience with ABC News’ daily news podcast “Start Here.” “So when people start falling and losing their balance, it kind of becomes like a domino effect.”

“Somebody next to me started falling, and he kind of took me down with him. And that’s when I had fell right on the floor, and that’s when everybody started tumbling down, and I tried so hard to get up,” Muñoz said. “There’s just too much people like on me, like, they legit dog-pile on me. I was on the floor. Nobody helped. I tried screaming for my life. I tried screaming for help. Nobody helped nobody.”

Muñoz said she bit someone’s leg to bring attention to her laying on the floor and then two attendees helped her up and out of the crowd.

“If those two guys didn’t help me, I mean, I really could have been one of those people for sure,” she said.

The lawsuits, along with some witness accounts, allege that Scott continued to perform despite the presence of emergency vehicles in the audience.

Houston police say the investigation is active and in its early stages.

Lawsuits stack up against concert producers, venue

Live Nation Entertainment and ScoreMore Holdings, two concert production and entertainment companies that organized and produced the event, are being sued, as well as performers Scott and Drake. NRG Park’s venue management and operation agency, the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, is also included as a defendant in the lawsuits.

The family of 21-year-old Axel Acosta, one of the people who died in the crowd surge, say they plan on joining a lawsuit as part of 35 total plaintiffs in a case to be filed by Houston attorney Tony Buzbee against the aforementioned organizers.

Buzbee cited a 2015 disorderly conduct charge against Scott, which he pleaded guilty to, stemming from that year’s Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago when he urged attendees to ignore security, ABC7 Chicago reported at the time.

“Certainly neither Travis Scott nor his handlers, entourage managers, agents, hangers on promoters, organizers or sponsors cared enough about Axel to make even minimal effort to keep him and the others at the concert safe,” Buzbee said in a press conference with the family Monday.

Civil rights attorney Ben Crump and attorney Alex Hilliard are representing more than 100 victims from the Astroworld tragedy, including a 21-year-old attendee who helped lift people up from the floor amid the chaos. They accuse the event’s organizers and Scott of negligence in providing medical equipment, crowd control, safety precautions, adequate hiring and training of staff.

“We are hearing horrific accounts of the terror and helplessness people experienced — the horror of a crushing crowd and the awful trauma of watching people die while trying unsuccessfully to save them,” Crump said in a statement to ABC News. “We will be pursuing justice for all our clients who were harmed in this tragic and preventable event.”

Texas attorney Thomas J. Henry also filed a lawsuit against Scott and Drake, as well as Live Nation and NRG Stadium, on behalf of one of the surviving victims following Friday night’s tragedy.

Henry said he believes a message needs to be sent to “performers, venues and event organizers that a lackadaisical approach to event preparation and attendees safety is no longer acceptable.”

“Live musical performances are meant to inspire catharsis, not tragedy,” Henry said in a statement sent to ABC News. “Many of these concertgoers were looking forward to this event for months, and they deserved a safe environment in which to have fun and enjoy the evening. Instead, their night was one of fear, injury and death.”

Kherkher Garcia, LLP has also filed a lawsuit against event organizers and Scott on behalf of an attendee who the firm said “suffered serious bodily injuries when the uncontrolled crowd at the concert knocked him to the ground and trampled him.”

“He and those who promoted and supported this concert must take responsibility for their heinous actions,” Kherkher Garcia, LLP said in a statement to ABC News. “We intend to hold them fully accountable by showing that this behavior will not be tolerated in our great city.”

Houston attorney Ricardo Ramos told reporters Tuesday night he also plans to file a lawsuit on behalf of as many as 30 concertgoers over alleged injuries and emotional distress, though the defendants are still being determined.

“They went there to have a good time, and they went there to have some fun,” Ramos said. “In return, probably it was the biggest nightmare they have ever experienced.”

Scott and organizers react

Following the concert, Scott released a statement on the tragedy on Twitter, saying, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld festival.”

Scott announced he will cover the funeral costs and further aid to individuals affected by the tragedy and will refund all of the Astroworld concertgoers and ticket holders. He has also said he is cooperating with investigators.

On Instagram, Scott’s girlfriend, Kylie Jenner, who attended the concert, defended Scott.

“I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing,” Jenner wrote in her post.

Drake on Monday night posted a statement on Instagram. “I’ve spent the past few days trying to wrap my mind around this devastating tragedy. I hate resorting to this platform to express an emotion as delicate as grief but this is where I find myself. My heart is broken for the families and friends of those who lost their lives and for anyone who is suffering,” he wrote. “I will continue to pray for all of them, and will be of service in any way I can. May God be with you all.”

In a statement to ABC News, Live Nation said it was working with law enforcement to get answers.

“We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time,” Live Nation said.

Legal analysts, including civil litigation attorney Danielle Cohen Higgins and ABC News’ Dan Abrams, say there are many questions that need to be answered about what exactly happened at the festival.

Higgins said event organizers are going to have to answer for the safety precautions, crowd control procedures and other policies that play a big role in event planning.

“If Live Nation created an environment where they reasonably should have anticipated that a surge was possible — that’s a problem for Live Nation. They are the experts in creating this environment,” Higgins said in an interview with ABC News.

NRG Park representatives declined ABC News’ request for comment.

Higgins and Abrams also pointed out that in 2019, three people were also hospitalized at Astroworld after being trampled when thousands of people rushed to get into the event.

Following that 2019 incident, Houston police tweeted: “We are successfully working together to support Houston’s biggest music festival @astroworldfest at @nrgpark and collaborating closely with the festival to ensure the public safety of everyone attending the event. We look forward to a memorable night.”

Abrams, when asked on Good Morning America about what stands out to him the most about this tragedy, said any of Scott’s actions and comments at the concert could affect these cases.

“There’s going to be social media videos of every moment of that show,” Abrams said. “Every single second will have been documented, so we’ll know exactly what he said and when he said it.”

Number of people quitting their jobs hits new high in September

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The number of people who quit their jobs rose to a record high in September, the Department of Labor said Friday.

Some 4.4 million workers, or 3% of the total workforce, quit their jobs in September, the DOL said, marking the highest number since the government started tracking the data. Moreover, the number of job openings in September was 10.4 million — tying August for the second-highest figure ever recorded and down only slightly from the record 10.9 million job openings seen in July.

The layoffs and discharge rate, meanwhile, was unchanged at 0.9% in September.

The fresh data reflect an ongoing trend among U.S. workers who are reevaluating their work situation and life following the shock of the pandemic.

Job quitting increased in several industries in September, according to the data, with the largest increases seen in the arts, entertainment and recreation sector and in the state and local government education industry.

The record-high levels of people quitting their jobs, combined with soaring job openings, have left many major companies reeling to find staff. Workers now have an upper hand in the labor market that has been linked to a spate of strikes and new employee activism.

Thousands of workers at John Deere remain on strike and new unionization efforts have emerged at major companies including Amazon and Starbucks.

The crunch for workers as the economy reopens has also been linked to rising wages, especially in the service industry where wages were largely stagnant for years before the pandemic.

Preliminary data from the Labor Department indicates that the average hourly earnings of all employees in food and drinking establishments soared to a record high of $17.58 in September, a figure that has slowly climbed each month in 2021.

The overall unemployment rate still remains elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels. The unemployment rate last month was 4.6%, still above the 3.5% seen in February 2020 before the pandemic upended the labor market.

American tourist shot by gang’s gunfire at Mexico beach resort: ‘I thought this is it’

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Tanner Vanvalkenburg is speaking out after he was shot on vacation in a popular resort area in Mexico late last week, caught in the crosshairs of gunfire by rival gangs.

“I was just like, man this is it, like I’m probably not going to make it,” he recalled to ABC News.

The tourist from America was with his partner and two friends when the incident began.

“We were kind of just eating tacos and that’s when I started hearing gunfire,” he said.

The gunmen headed ashore in front of a Hyatt Resort just south of Cancun and opened fire.

The shooting left two dead and four Americans injured. The armed suspects initially escaped, but local authorities confirmed to ABC News on Friday that they have five people in custody.

“We thought that they were fireworks and then more started going off and everyone started to panic and run,” Vanvalkenburg said. “That’s when I took off and all of us jumped into the pool.”

The mele sent tourists scrambling for cover as some hid under pool chairs.

“Right when I jumped into the water, I went to dive and that’s when the bullet hit. And as soon as the bullet hit me, I came up … and I was holding the gunshot wounds as I was bleeding, kind of putting as much pressure as I could because I knew that I had just been hit,” Vanvalkenburg explained.

“I honestly thought that I was gonna die because I thought the gunmen were going to basically come and just kill everyone [who] was there at the resort,” he said.

Vanvalkenburg was taken to a local hospital and later released.

Hyatt told ABC News “the safety and wellbeing of guests and colleagues is always a top priority.”

Now as he recovers back home in Utah, Vanvalkenburg said this incident has left him reconsidering how he travels.

“I never in a million years thought that I would have to worry about my life sitting in a resort,” he said. “So it’s going to be very different now if I travel again.”

Russia may be ‘looking to move further’ into Ukraine, its foreign minister warns

November 12, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — As it again masses troops and equipment on the border with Ukraine, the Russian government is “looking for the opportunity to move further” into Ukrainian territory, the country’s foreign minister warned in an exclusive interview.

“We do not want to scare anyone, but we have to remain vigilant,” Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba told ABC News. “We are extremely worried, but listen — when you live next to Russia for seven years in an armed conflict, you kind of learn to be worried. You get used to it.”

Kuleba just wrapped up a high-profile visit to Washington, meeting Wednesday with President Joe Biden’s top foreign policy aides, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

The visit was just the latest exchange between Biden’s administration and that of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who was infamously urged by former President Donald Trump to announce an investigation into Biden and his son Hunter.

Kuleba noted the “turbulence” in U.S.-Ukrainian relations during the Trump years, but eagerly looked to turn the page — saying ties were “revived, restored, relaunched, whatever word we use.”

U.S. officials have tried to demonstrate that, too, expressing growing concern about Russia’s military movements in recent weeks. Blinken said the U.S. commitment to Ukraine remains “ironclad” and warned Moscow that “any escalatory or aggressive actions would be of great concern by the United States.”

As many as 100,000 Russian troops have been moved to its western border with Ukraine, Zelenskiy said Thursday. Satellite images published by the firm Maxar Technologies last week showed large ground forces deployed 140 miles from the border with heavy equipment, while the defense firm Janes said the buildup was largely covert, with elite ground units and often taking place at night, according to Bloomberg News.

Russian government officials denied the movements, then dismissed concerns about them and accused the U.S. and NATO of aggression.

Ukrainian officials have swung between raising alarm at Russia’s recent actions and downplaying them as a tactic by Russian leader Vladimir Putin meant to create hysteria.

“Russia’s psychological pressure has not worked on us for a long time. Your panic will definitely not help, but it can help the enemy. It can become part of the information war and bring no less harm to the country than the fighting,” Zelenskiy said Thursday.

Standing alongside Kuleba on Wednesday, Blinken said, “We don’t have clarity into Moscow’s intentions, but we do know its playbook,” recalling Putin’s 2014 invasion of Ukraine’s territory, Crimea, which it still occupies, and incursion into eastern Ukraine. That still-smoldering war between Russian-backed separatists and the Ukrainian government has claimed 14,000 lives and counting.

That playbook can be swiftly executed, Kuleba warned, because a similar military buildup in April ended with troops departing, but the infrastructure and equipment largely remaining in place.

“With this infrastructure in place along our border, it will not take Russia a lot of time to resort to an offensive action if it decides to do so, and our goal and our objective is to make everything, everything possible to prevent Russia from making that decision,” he told ABC News.

Part of that effort is boosting U.S. military assistance to Ukraine, which both Kuleba and Blinken called for after their meetings Wednesday. Blinken declined to offer specifics, but Kuleba called for greater intelligence sharing, air defense systems and more.

The Biden administration has been “very specific and very committed” in responding to Russian aggression, he told ABC News, taking a “proactive stance” and walking the walk.

“What is even more important from my conversations here in Washington, I see that the United States are ready not only to talk, but also to act, to act in order to deter Russia and to strengthen Ukraine’s capacity to defend itself,” he said. “This is even more important.”

Selling Ukrainian lethal weapons was at the heart of Trump’s first impeachment and the infamous call between him and Zelenskiy. As the newly elected Ukrainian leader asked Trump for more Javelin anti-tank missiles, Trump turned the conversation to ask for a “favor” and announce a probe of Biden, his son Hunter and Hunter’s time on the board of the Ukrainian state-owned energy company Burisma.

While there was no announcement about new weapons sales, Kuleba said he was “leaving Washington, D.C., in a good mood because this is exactly what we were working for.”

“The truth is, there has been some turbulence in our bilateral relations under the previous administration. There was some hesitations of how this relationship will proceed further in the early days of this administration. But I think that it will not be an exaggeration to say that the quality and the number of contacts between our presidents, between me and foreign secretary, and at all other levels of our teams has been unprecedented,” he told ABC News.

But that’s not to say there aren’t critical differences now, even on the potential threat from Russia. During their joint press conference Wednesday, Blinken refused to say Russia is using energy as a weapon, while Kuleba clearly said it already is, including by halting coal shipments to Ukraine and withholding greater natural gas imports through Ukraine to Europe amid an energy crisis across the continent.

“What is unfolding in Europe now is a very complicated game with many elements in it,” Kuleba said at the State Department, accusing Russia and its ally Belarus of pressuring Europe using energy, propaganda and disinformation, cyber attacks, military buildups, and the migration crisis between Belarus and its neighbors.

Biden has called for stabilizing U.S. relations with Russia, including by holding his summit with Putin in June — a meeting that could have a sequel soon. Kuleba said he understands the sentiment and sees no “risks” that U.S.-Russian dialogue would be “done at the expense of Ukraine,” but he warned that Putin only responds to strength.

“Our experience of recent seven years demonstrates that Moscow understands and respects the language of strength. You do not have to threaten them, you do not have to act, to use force against them, but they respect you if you are strong with them, if you are tough with them,” he said.

One issue, however, where critics say the U.S. is not standing strong is Nord Stream 2, the nearly completed natural gas pipeline connecting Russia and Germany and circumventing Ukraine, Poland and other U.S. partners. Biden waived congressionally-mandated sanctions on the German company constructing the pipeline and its CEO, saying he did not want to damage ties with a key ally. Instead, the U.S. and Germany issued a joint statement, committing to helping Ukraine diversify its energy resources and responding swiftly if Russia withholds gas to Ukraine.

But joined by Poland, Kyiv expressed anger and dismay at the non-binding agreement. Kuleba papered over that disagreement, saying what was most important is that they were talking — but urged action if needed.

“We have differences in seeing how the negative consequences of this project being implemented can be avoided or prevented,” Kuleba told ABC News. “We definitely want the United States to remain vigilant and ready, ready to take action if the current policy fails.”

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