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What to know about the Japanese royal family as Princess Mako prepares to bow out

October 25, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Princess Mako, niece to Japan’s enthroned emperor, Naruhito, is planning to leave the imperial family, moving out of her family’s estate on Oct. 26 when her marriage to Fordham-educated Kei Komuro is officially registered.

Female members of Japan’s imperial family must renounce their royalty when marrying a commoner. After the high-profile scandal surrounding their courtship, Japanese royalty is being forced to consider not just its dwindling numbers but its future.

Komuro’s mother, involved in an unresolved financial dispute, has been portrayed as a gold digger in tabloids, which have harshly criticized the couple. Princess Mako, an imperial household spokesperson told ABC News, is now suffering from PTSD because of the scrutiny.

Some among the nation’s citizenry are questioning whether maintaining an emperor as a living symbol of the state is still necessary. In 2019, the aging but popular Emperor Akihito abdicated, citing his age and declining health. His son, Naruhito, assumed the throne to reserved fanfare.

The latest scandal surrounding the princess’ fiance has left a bad taste in the mouths of many. Naotaka Kimizuka, a professor at Kanto Gakuin University who specializes in modern British and European political diplomatic history, said the Princess Mako courtship kerfuffle will take a historic toll on the Chrysanthemum Throne, adding: “The pair have already disgraced the heritage of Japan’s imperial household.”

Although Princess Mako has pledged to make a clean break from royalty, refusing the taxpayer-funded, one-time entitlement of 150 million yen (about $1.35 million), distrust remains. Many citizens aren’t convinced they won’t still be on the hook, even after the princess and her husband move to New York.

“The taxpayers will be paying for this in one way or expected to another,” one Tokyo resident told ABC News. “If one is in the imperial family, they’ll always be in the imperial family.”

Japan’s royal family, believed to be the world’s oldest continuous hereditary monarchy, has seen its numbers dwindle. Currently, women can’t ascend to the throne, so royal women marry commoners due to a lack of viable imperial suitors. Children from those marriages are then excluded from the imperial family line.

Hirokazu Matsuno, a government spokesperson, said in response to the question of dwindling numbers among Japanese royals: “The marriage of Princess Mako is scheduled for the 26th of this month. We wish her happiness, and prosperity for the imperial family. An expert panel has been established to address the issue [of dwindling numbers] in the imperial family. Detailed discussions are ongoing.”

More than 80% of Japanese citizens, according to a Kyodo poll, said they’d readily accept either a male or female ascending to the throne, or even a male who descended just from a female member of the imperial family. Most conservatives, including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, disagree. The question of female ascension is a common clash in Japan of liberal vs. conservative values.

Japan ranked 120th in a global gender-equality ranking of 156 countries, according to a 2021 World Economic Forum report. Attorney Kazuko Ito, secretary general of Human Rights Now, said she believes living human beings can never be a symbol.

“I think the treatment toward the royal family and system as a whole is inhuman,” she added. “Exclusion from the royal family might be a good thing for female family members since they will get freedom for the first time as a human being, not as a restricted virtual role model.”

Hideya Kawanishi, an associate professor of Japanese history at Nagoya University, believes that keeping together the imperial family helps keep together Japan.

“There is no doubt that the emperor of Japan is a symbol of Japan’s unity as a nation,” he said. “In fact, it can be said that the emperor is somehow holding together the fragmented Japanese society. I believe that the same phenomenon is occurring in the royal families of Europe, and that a monarchy is needed in the 21st century world and in Japan.”

Supply chain problems forcing small businesses to change how they operate

October 25, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — The supply chain issues the U.S. economy is currently facing are not only affecting consumers during the peak shopping season, but small businesses have also started to feel the effects of these shortages.

According to the most recent U.S. Census Small Business Pulse Survey, conducted between Oct. 11 and Oct. 17, 45% of businesses said they are having domestic supplier delays. The number is up from 26.7% during the first week of the year.

Supplies that small businesses rely on are becoming harder to find, especially since owners cannot always order in bulk or in advance like larger companies.

Rene Kirby, the owner of Marie’s Cafe in Baltimore, works to provide baked goods from her home and in pop-up shops in her community. With essential products not available on shelves, Kirby has been left searching for answers.

“We just can’t serve the same size beverages, or sometimes any beverages, because they don’t have the cups we need in stock,” said Kirby, adding that buying these essential products from other suppliers increases the price, making it “difficult for the consumer to buy these products.”

Jeremy Plemons, the owner of County Manners, a food truck based in southern Maryland, said he has been going to the same businesses for the past six years and has been shocked recently by the lack of products at his local stores. He said he has had trouble finding to-go boxes and forks, essential for his food truck business.

“It would be one thing if I couldn’t find french fries, we can change that, but when we got nothing to put it in, it’s heartbreaking and stressful,” Plemons said.

Plemons said he is looking to his community of restaurant owners to find a short-term solution for the most essential items he needs.

“We have been supporting each other a lot. If anyone needs anything, they know to call me, and I can always call them,” said Plemons, mentioning be might buy a shipping container with a fellow small business owner to stock up on essential, single-use items.

The Biden administration has worked on ways to mend issues with the supply chain, including expanding work hours to 24/7 at Los Angeles and Long Beach ports and agreeing with large private companies to expand their hours as well.

Easing the supply chain bottleneck is one step in the right direction, according to Ayman Omar, an associate professor of supply chain management at American University’s Kogod School of Business.

Omar describes the current situation as a “perfect storm.” Adding that “there is no one single point in time where the delays or disruptions started, it just exacerbated significantly because the volume of disruption is much higher,” pointing to the disruptions in multiple fronts, including the current shortage of truck drivers, stocking up on products, and delays in the shipping industry.

“The worst thing for a supply chain manager is inconsistency, getting 10 units one day 100 units the other day, drives supply chain managers insane,” adding that stocking up is also hurting small businesses “because a business is now ordering more of a product, another business might not get their product, it’s just a big domino effect.”

The outlook for small businesses is improving after many were forced to close during the COVID surge last winter. According to a survey conducted by Facebook and Small Business Roundtable, 16% of small to medium businesses in the U.S. remained close in July 2021, down from 22% in February. However, the speed of supply has not improved during the reopening phase of COVID, according to Omar.

“The infrastructure is at its breaking point, in terms of being able to deal with demand and distribution of supply,” said Omar. “The massive amount of demand that has shot up over the last five to 10 years, capacity has not kept up.”

Omar said he is optimistic about the short-term solution put forward by the Biden administration but added that in the long term, the answer could be “a partnership between private and public sectors” to share supply chain information to pinpoint the issue early on.

Karen Keating, president and CEO of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council, said the issues have been ongoing since the beginning of the pandemic. However, she said small businesses are trying to be proactive to stay competitive.

“Small businesses may have less sophisticated purchasing options, but they do have more flexibility due to their size,” Keating said. She added that small businesses “communicate with customers and clients about the situation” and “stay in contact with their customers about possible disruptions and delays in their products and services” to keep up with current issues.

Kandace Loge, who owns Pidcock Glass, a four-employee business in Nelsonville, Ohio, said she has had trouble finding screen metal, an essential part of her work, since May, saying she’s often had to wait several months before being delivered her orders.

Loge, who has managed the company for almost 20 years, said her solution has been to be upfront with her customers.

“You have to be very honest with your customer; when they know that you are honest, they are usually very nice about it,” said Loge.

Loge has changed her supplier, which has also meant a change in product sizes and changes to the company’s usual workflow and equipment.

“I am now starting to adjust our budget and change the pricing on products,” said Loge.

For many business owners, the concern remains the same: Will they be able to find the products they need, and will it affect their cost of production?

Plemons said he has the same thought every time he goes shopping for his business: “What am I not going to be able to find today?”

1 dead, 7 injured in shooting at off-campus party near Georgia university

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(GEORGIA) — One person is dead and seven others injured after a shooting at an off-campus party near a Georgia university.

The incident occurred early Saturday morning in Fort Valley, near Fort Valley State University, authorities said.

Several students suffered non-life-threatening injuries, the university said.

Georgia Bureau of Investigation, which is investigating the shooting, shared a photo from the “active scene” on Twitter Saturday morning, showing a house located several blocks from the campus.

GBI also confirmed the deceased was not a Fort Valley State University student, though did not share further details.

The university’s campus was temporarily placed on lockdown “until campus police determined there was no threat to the campus community,” school officials said.

The lockdown has since been lifted.

The shooting occurred during the state university’s homecoming weekend.

School officials announced that its Saturday morning alumni breakfast and homecoming parade had been canceled. There will be “increased security protocols” at the homecoming game, scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday, it said.

“Our thoughts are with the students and their families as they recover,” the university said.

Facing rising COVID cases, UK government resists calls for new restrictions ahead

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — Flanked by public health officials, the U.K. Health Secretary painted a bleak picture of the current state of the pandemic in Britain.

“Cases are rising,” Sajid Javid, told the nation this week. “And they could go yet as high as 100,000 a day. We’re also seeing greater pressure on the NHS (National Health Service) across the U.K. We’re now approaching 1,000 hospitalizations per day.”

Yet, despite growing calls from doctors’ associations and scientists across the U.K. — Javid resisted calls to introduce mandated prevention measures, such as mask wearing, which were dropped in England in July.

On Friday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson doubled down on that message, stressing the way forward was for as many eligible people as possible to take booster jabs, a rollout that experts warned is lagging behind demand.

Since July, when virtually all social distancing restrictions were relaxed in England, cases and hospitalizations have steadily increased, though at a rate far lower than previous waves of infections when the population did not have access to vaccines.

This week, the U.K. posted a worrying set of figures.

On Tuesday, the government recorded 223 COVID deaths, the highest since March.

The last time the country recorded less than 20,000 daily cases was July — and this week the latest weekly average stands at over 47,000 daily cases. Deaths, hospitalizations and cases are increasing week over week.

Just under 80% of the population over age 12 have received two doses of coronavirus vaccine, but the evidence suggests that the effectiveness wanes over time, and the U.K. has been slower to vaccinate children than other countries. Rising cases have been linked to the resumption of the school year, where children are not formally required to wear masks and self-isolation rules around COVID-positive schoolchildren have been relaxed.

The booster program, which Israeli officials credit as proving crucial in Israel’s success in getting infections under control this summer, has not been as effective as the first wave of vaccinations, he said. An estimated 5 million people have taken their boosters, but around half of all people eligible are yet to take up the call for a third shot of vaccine, according to a report in the Financial Times.

“The vaccine program has really fallen flat,” according to Professor Tim Spector, an epidemiologist and the lead investigator of the ZOE Covid Symptom app, which tracks coronavirus infections in the U.K “It’s peaked at around 66%, 67% [across the total population] and is hardly moving. And we know now we didn’t know then that that’s not enough. And I think we’re very much back to where we were in March 2020, in some ways.”

U.K. government data still shows that the mortality and hospitalization rates among unvaccinated people are still far higher than the vaccinated.

According to reports in the British media, the government does have a ‘Plan B’ over the winter, which would include reintroducing working from home, mask mandates and potential vaccine passports in nightclubs. “It remains the case we would only look to use that if the pressure on the NHS was looking to become unsustainable,” the prime minister’s spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News this week.

This week, the British Medical Association, a doctors’ trade union, described the government’s approach as “willfully negligent,” while the NHS Confederation has called for new measures to avoid “stumbling into winter crisis.”

Yet Prime Minister Johnson has held out so far against mandating restrictions, and has instead placed greater emphasis on vaccine boosters and the procurement of antiviral drugs. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have different rules than England, with Scotland, for example, mandating mask use and vaccine passports for nightclubs — policies that are part of Johnson’s yet-to-be-implemented ‘Plan B.’ Health Secretary Javid, while acknowledging there was significant pressure on the National Health Service, said the level was not yet “unsustainable.”

Complacency due to the success of the early vaccine rollout, as well as poor public health messaging, has contributed to the recent rise in cases, according to Spector.

“There’s been a total absence of public education, no reiteration of [changes in] symptoms [with the delta variant], no ideas about how to stop spreading it in schools,” he said. “You know, there’s no prevention. There’s no concept of prevention.”

In mid-July, polling from the Office of National Statistics reported that 63% of adults always or often maintained social distancing, but the same body reported that only 39% of adults were doing so in mid-October.

In terms of infections, the U.K. is now far outpacing other countries in Western and Central Europe. In its weekly epidemiological update, the World Health Organization reported that Europe is the only region where coronavirus infections are rising, by 7% over the past seven days, driven by infection rates in the U.K., Russia and Turkey.

Despite the growing concern, the health service is not yet overwhelmed by an influx of coronavirus patients.

“No, we’re not there, we’re not there yet,” Spector said. “But the point is that everyone scientifically, medically, is seeing these curves going up and inevitably these things get worse as you hit winter, and you hit other respiratory infections.”

According to the government’s latest seven-day average, 937 patients per day were hospitalized with COVID, with just over 8,000 currently receiving treatment. In January, meanwhile, prior to the vaccine rollout, daily hospitalizations peaked at over 4,000, while the highest number of patients in hospital reached over 39,000.

Instead, doctors and scientists are warning that with infections rising, there is potential for COVID to add to the winter burdens of an already stretched health service that has faced pressures even in pre-pandemic times.

“This time it genuinely does feel different,” Siva Anandaciva, the chief analyst at the King’s Fund, an independent health think tank, told ABC News. “I think that’s because there are a lot of familiar pressures that you always have … you’ve got the steady ticking up of winter viruses.”

Part of the pressure, he said, is the resumption of ordinary care for the massive backlog of patients waiting to be seen in hospitals, that has built up since the pandemic began. 5.7 million people in the U.K., almost 10% of the population, are on waiting lists for planned routine care, and in a worst case scenario this number could rise up to 14 million, Anandaciva said.

“COVID’s almost like an accelerant on a fire,” he said. “The NHS has always struggled over the winter, and these are pressures that are spread more wildly… It is a problem with COVID, but more fundamentally some of the demand for care coming back after a pause in services and also crucially some of the resourcing issues that have long plagued the NHS. Not having enough staff, not having enough resources.”

Facing pressure this winter, the government has announced new funding for the NHS, but it could be years before the health service begins to function at pre-pandemic levels, according to Anandaciva.

Spector was once critical of the government’s approach for “underreacting, then overreacting” to the pandemic with successive lockdowns, but now says he now doesn’t understand some of the inaction.

“It’s complacency to think that this, you know, this isn’t going to get worse,” he said. “I haven’t heard of anyone who says it’s going to get better next week. So that’s why I can’t understand why introducing some simple measures that don’t cost the economy anything, only have a political cost can’t be implemented.”

Ukraine’s black market in COVID vaccine certificates

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(KYIV, Ukraine) — It doesn’t take long to buy a fake COVID-19 vaccine certificate in Ukraine. Just typing the words into Google brings up a slew of advertisements offering a certificate “without visiting a doctor.”

A would-be customer sends their passport details, address and a phone number through the Telegram messenger app, and the next day, a document showing fake proof of vaccination with Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine arrives in the post, according to several people who have bought one of the fake certificates, and who spoke to ABC News on condition of anonymity because the practice is illegal. They said prices for the certificates can vary anywhere from $20 to $200 (USD) with some fetching as much as $380.

The COVID vaccination certificate black market is becoming a growing concern in Ukraine, which is suffering from a worsening third wave of the pandemic amid low vaccination numbers and as the government tries to impose restrictions on the unvaccinated. The number of people who have already bought fake certificates is unknown, but some Telegram app channel advertising them have thousands of subscribers.

Svitlana is one of them. She said she bought a fake certificate in September showing she was inoculated with Pfizer/BionTech’s vaccine.

“I don’t trust neither vaccines nor the government,” she told ABC News, explaining her decision and declining to give her last name.

The demand for fake vaccine certificates exists despite the ease of getting a free COVID vaccine in Ukraine. As of late September there are over 11 million doses of different coronavirus vaccines in Ukraine now for a population of 44.1 million, according to Ukraine’s health ministry. The vaccine is free for all Ukrainians and in Kyiv, walk-in vaccination centers are even open in some shopping malls.

But despite the availability of vaccines, Ukraine is among one of the least vaccinated countries in Europe, with only around 30.2% of the population having received one dose and 14.7% fully vaccinated, according to a vaccine tracker published by Bloomberg. In late September the health minister Viktor Lyashko said 34,000 doses of Pfizer would be dumped because they had expired.

The low numbers are the product of widespread vaccine hesitancy among Ukrainians: 56% don’t plan to get vaccinated at all, according to a poll from the Ilko Kucheriv Foundation, a well-known independent think tank that conducts sociological studies.

“We observe this trend globally, however in Ukraine, misinformation about vaccination is extremely politicized and is spread both among the general public and the medical community,” Murat Shahin, head of the UNICEF office in Ukraine told ABC News this month.

Another problem is lack of quality medical education on vaccination which leads to incorrect practices and confuses patients, Shahin said.

“We also observe a suboptimal level of trust to state institutions,” he said. “Meanwhile, people trust their relatives, local leaders and their doctors and nurses.”

Some of the social media channels offering fake vaccine certificates are part of that ecosystem pushing anti-vaccine sentiment, sharing anti-vax information and news stories, while urging people to buy fake certificates to avoid getting the shot.

According to the same Ilko Kucheriv Foundation poll, some are reluctant because they are not sure about the safety of the vaccines. Some of those who spoke to ABC News said they resist just because they are forced to vaccinate.

There is no mandatory vaccination in Ukraine, except for teachers and civil servants, meaning there is little pressure to vaccinate. But some companies are pressing their employees to vaccinate, threatening to cut salaries or reduce vacation days.

And a vaccine certificate is necessary to travel. Ukraine has created its own digital certificate in an app, called Diya (“Action”) that is valid in EU countries.

Wanting to go abroad, some Ukrainians are refusing the free shot of the real vaccine and instead are paying money for a fake certificate. On a site listing the phone number of one seller, users reviewed the service.

“We’ve just crossed the border in Rava Russka [in Poland], our border service scanned the certificate and let us go without any problems,” one wrote. “I took it to Germany. All worked,” another said.

Some services provide paper certificates. A fake official stamp is applied using the real names of doctors and clinics, based on samples posted by some of the Telegram channels offering them.

Getting the digital proof of vaccination without being vaccinated is more difficult. It is still possible for a bribe, according to some people ABC News talked to on condition of anonymity.

Some Ukrainians are simply paying doctors to sign off on their digital vaccine certificates, by entering them as vaccinated in Ukraine’s state vaccination register. After that, a digital certificate appears in the official Diya app, which is also valid in the EU.

Oleksiy Vyskyb, Ukraine’s deputy minister for digital transformation, told ABC News that some doctors were charging a fee to falsely enter people’s name into the state register showing vaccinated citizens.

One of the sellers confirmed that in a Telegram chat with an ABC reporter posing as a potential customer. ABC News did not actually purchase a fake certificate.

“We put the data into the register,” a person who identified themselves as a support manager responded when asked by the reporter how it would work.

Another channel said that the clinic where the false vaccination happens “dumps” two real doses of Pfizer and VaxZevria after pretending the client has received them.. They also offer “to save” these doses for the client to be vaccinated later if they change their mind before the vaccine expires two months later. Both options cost around $60.

According to some advertisements you can get a forged vaccination certificate even if you’re a foreigner. It will cost a bit more than for a Ukrainian citizen — $380 if you’re abroad, according to one ad.

Besides becoming part of a dangerous invisible pool of unvaccinated people that undermine restrictions and spread infection, those buying fake certificates may be unable to get a real shot later on since they are already recorded as having received one in the state registry, Shahin said.

Ukraine’s authorities say they are now trying to crackdown on the practice. Ukraine’s security service, the SBU, together with the country’s cyberpolice, said they have opened nearly 500 criminal proceedings relating to the selling of forged paper vaccination certificates and that more than 50 web resources have been blocked. So far, only three cases have been opened against doctors for allegedly entering false information into the register. Those detained face up to six years in prison. But government says it wants to increase the punishment.

This week, Ukraine imposed a full lockdown in four regions as Ukraine’s daily numbers continue to worsen, recently hitting its highest level since the country’s second wave in the spring. Ukrainian authorities reported 22,415 new confirmed infections and 546 deaths in the past 24 hours, the highest numbers since the start of the pandemic. Most experts also believe the real number of cases and deaths are likely higher, since not all are recorded with testing.

“People who use fake certificates create a dangerous space for others,” Maria Karchevych, Ukraine’s deputy health minister said at a press conference in Kyiv last week.

She said the fake COVID vaccine certificate industry also threatens Ukraine’s international image since Ukraine was among the first non-European Union countries to have its national vaccine pass recognized by the EU for travel.

“EU countries expect transparency and honesty in using such documents,” she said.

Hummer EV truck shows it can compete with its gas-powered rivals

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(MICHIGAN) — “Attack the grade here. Now mash the brake and modulate the throttle,” Al Oppenheiser, the chief engineer of GMC’s Hummer EV, guided me as I carefully steered the 9,000-lb. truck up a steep, rocky incline.

Oppenheiser and I were driving an early prototype of the $112,595 pickup truck along a course designed to test its on-road and off-road capabilities at General Motors’ proving grounds in Milford, Michigan.

Oppenheiser, a longtime GM employee and former chief engineer of the Camaro, dedicated nearly three years to building the all-electric Hummer. The leviathan conquers off-roading meccas, nimbly handles tight corners and illustrates how internal combustion engines are relics of the past.

Customer deliveries of the Hummer EV Edition 1 begin in December. First-year production is completely sold out though a GM spokesperson declined to say how many are being built. The next Hummer EV, a sport utility vehicle, launches in the first quarter of 2023.

The Hummer EV, which debuted a year ago, already has formidable competition in the red-hot EV truck market: Tesla’s Cybertruck, Rivian’s R1T, the Ford F-150 Lightning, the Fisker Alaska, Bollinger’s B1 and B2. In January, GM will also introduce an all-electric Sierra pickup truck, built with the same Ultium battery-pack technology as in the Hummer. Seeing GM and Ford workers pull up to production plants in brawny diesel and V8-powered trucks motivated Oppenheiser to develop a hardcore electric pickup.

“I would ask myself, ‘Why would these people buy an electric truck?'” Oppenheiser said. “A truck is a truck in our opinion. The off-roading world has been waiting to see what EV trucks can do.”

GM has invested billions in its third-generation EV platform and is targeting annual global EV sales of more than 1 million by 2025. Battery cells will be mass-produced at a $2.3 billion plant GM is building with its partner LG Chem in Lordstown, Ohio. The Ultium system could offer driving ranges of up to 400 miles on a full charge and 0 to 60 mph acceleration of 3.0 seconds, according to the Detroit automaker.

The Hummer EV gets an estimated range of 350 miles and the truck’s three electric motors make 1,000 horsepower and 11,500 lb-ft of torque. Top speed is 106 mph.

“You’re buying this vehicle for lots of reasons. One of them is 1,000 hp,” Oppenheiser said.

It took engineers 117 weeks to complete the development of the Hummer EV.

Ed Kim, an analyst and vice president at AutoPacific, has his doubts that traditional, die-hard truck owners are ready to shift to EVs. Power and torque — key features on any EV — matter greatly to this core group of buyers but, he argued, truck owners can be averse to change.

“The Hummer won’t have [Ford] F-Series volume here,” he told ABC News, referring to the top-selling truck in the U.S. for 44 straight years. “But GM does not have to sell a ton of Hummers for it to be a success. There are plenty of people out there ready to pay six figures for a high-image vehicle.”

He went on, “Every automaker has decided there is gold to be found in electric trucks. We’re seeing a saturation in truck EV space … there are too many too soon in the short term.”

AutoPacific forecasts U.S. EV sales to total 440,000 units this year, up from 262,000 in 2020 and 253,000 in 2019. That number will keep rising as consumers realize EVs are not disruptive to their daily habits, Kim said.

“Every year we see range going up, better performance … there is a rapid level of learning among automakers,” he noted. “We’ll still see battery hiccups here and there. Everyone is having growing pains. Battery chemistry is new to automakers and engineers are still figuring it out.”

GM’s engineering teams, seeking to maximum power and range in upcoming EVs, are hard at work on the next iteration of cell chemistries, according to Kevin Robinet, assistant chief engineer of GM’s battery electric propulsion systems.

“We’re already talking about battery improvements for mid-decade,” he told ABC News. “It’s an evolving tech. As energy density improves, batteries will weigh less and so will the vehicles.”

K.C. Colwell, Car and Driver’s deputy testing director, expects the Hummer to be a big part of GM’s ambitious EV product plan.

“This is a halo product for GMC and for the Ultium battery technology,” he told ABC News, adding, “GMC has not had a halo product since the Typhoon,” a high-performance SUV that GM produced from 1991 to 1993.

And the reborn Hummer, a shell of its boxy, gas-guzzling former self, may finally win over the environmentalists who once decried its hefty carbon footprint.

“It behaves more like a supercar than a pickup truck,” Colwell said. “GM is going after a completely different audience — the early adopters, the Tesla buyers.”

At the proving grounds, the Hummer EV tackled each drill with finesse, performing a full-turning circle (“You’d never be able to do this in a solid rear-axle truck,” Oppenheiser declared), maneuvering like a crab on dirt, slaloming through serpentine cones and accelerating instantaneously in “Watts to Freedom” launch control mode.

Getting Americans aboard the EV bandwagon will be a daunting task for legacy automakers like GM. But Oppenheiser, a “high-performance car guy” with over 2,000 hp in his garage, said the Hummer will convince others like himself that it’s possible.

“It’s pretty damn cool,” he said with a laugh.

Obama hits campaign trail ahead of gubernatorial elections in Virginia, New Jersey

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(VIRGINIA) — With just over a week to go until the last day of voting in Virginia and New Jersey, former President Barack Obama is joining each state’s Democratic nominee for governor on the campaign trail Saturday, hoping to motivate the party’s base to turn out in their state’s off-year general elections.

Always held the year after a presidential election, the statewide and legislative races in both states are seen as bellwethers for the nation’s political landscape going into the midterms. A strong showing by Democrats could assuage party fears about 2022, but if Republicans make gains, it will serve as a warning shot for Democrats as they try to connect with voters in the post-Trump era.

Obama isn’t the first top surrogate to hit the trail with New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and former Gov. Terry McAuliffe, who is hoping to secure Virginia’s top executive post for a second time after leaving office in 2018. First lady Jill Biden stumped with both Democrats last week, and Georgia’s Stacey Abrams and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned with McAuliffe Sunday and Thursday, respectively.

“Let’s be clear about who this man is. He has the life experience, the professional experience, the experience in this state. … he walks his talk, he is a fighter,” Harris said of McAuliffe. “When you elect somebody or governor, you want to make sure you really know who they are. Well, we know who Terry is.”

Acknowledging how close the race is between McAuliffe and Republican Glenn Youngkin, she added, “We got to make it clear that we’re not taking anything for granted. You know, four years ago, there was a lot of folks who said, ‘Oh, if I don’t vote, everything will be alright. It wasn’t alright.”

McAuliffe also has an event planned with President Joe Biden in deep blue Arlington on Tuesday. While Biden and McAuliffe have been friends for over 40 years, the president hasn’t stumped with him since late July. Earlier this month, McAuliffe acknowledged Biden’s approval rating has taken a hit since then.
“We are facing a lot of headwinds from Washington, as you know. The president is unpopular today unfortunately here in Virginia, so we have got to plow through,” he said at a virtual rally.

Those headwinds appear to be hampering McAuliffe more than Murphy, according to public polling.
A September poll from Monmouth University showed Murphy with a 13-point lead over his Republican opponent, former Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, among New Jersey registered voters. Ciattarelli has taken aim at Murphy’s handling of the COVID19 pandemic, arguing the Democrat’s policies have been too restrictive and the state’s economy has suffered for it. But according to Monmouth’s poll, half of registered voters have more trust in Murphy to handle the pandemic.

On the economy and taxes, issues that have been front and center in Ciattarelli’s campaign, the Republican fares better against Murphy.

In Virginia, however, the gubernatorial race is neck and neck. A Monmouth poll out Wednesday showed McAuliffe and Youngkin, a former private equity executive, tied among registered voters, and for the first time in the university’s polling of this race, Youngkin leads in one probabilistic likely electorate model.

Howard University students protest housing conditions with on-campus tent city

October 23, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Dozens of Howard University students are sleeping outdoors in a tent encampment on campus grounds to protest what they describe as “poor” and “unlivable” conditions in the college dormitories.

Students told ABC News that portions of the university living quarters have mold and insect and rodent infestations, as well as leaky ceilings and flooding — all of which they say put their health at risk.

Lamiya Murray, an 18-year-old freshman currently living in one of the tents, believes the mold that she said she spotted in her dorm room was responsible for a respiratory infection she battled earlier this year.

“I’m not going to say that I expect a lot more, I expect the bare minimum. I expect decent housing,” Murray told ABC News. “I expect to be in a space where I will feel safe and secure, but the dorms became a health hazard. I was waking up every morning with a cough that I didn’t go to sleep with the night before, and struggling to breathe at night.”

Murray said her reports to campus maintenance have often gone unresolved.

@HowardU IM PISSED. OVER 24 hours and NO change. IVE BEEN BREATHING THIS IN. mold has been growing under my microwave, on my mattress. in my closet. on my suitcase. behind my mirror. in my FRIDGE. i am taking legal actions and i’ll be damned if anyone stops me. @fox5dc pic.twitter.com/euJlWdZQAx

— kaedriana (@kaeebhabie) October 15, 2021

Since Oct. 12, Murray and other student demonstrators have taken over the Blackburn University Center, a student hub and cafeteria located in the central yard of the campus. Organizers said they are not allowing administrators inside the Blackburn building.

One day after the protest began, on Oct. 13, the Howard University Division of Student Affairs issued a warning to protesters occupying the Blackburn University Center, citing the demonstrators for multiple violations of the university’s student code of conduct.

“You will proceed through a student conduct hearing and face consequences up to and including expulsion from the University. The judicial process will be conducted within the procedures of the Student Code of Conduct,” Cynthia Evers, vice president for student affairs, wrote in an email to students, obtained by ABC News.

“We take great pride in Howard students leading the nation in public and private fights for justice and equality in all corners of the nation and, in fact, the world,” the email continued. “However, there is a marked delineation between historic protests and what we witnessed yesterday [Oct. 12] . The University looks to fully preserve the integrity and authenticity of students’ constitutionally guaranteed rights of free speech and assembly while protecting against the weaponization of these rights as false representations of the Howard student experience at large.”

Outside the building, a banner draped across the sidewalk reads: “Enough is enough.” A number of students told ABC News they would rather sleep outside than in their dorm rooms.

Fellow student protesters took turns guarding the door of the center, where some demonstrators inside could be seen through the window resting in sleeping bags, studying or eating food donated by alumni and local civil rights groups who visited them in support of their cause.

“All of our Blackburn family is allowed in and out of the building,” Murray said, telling ABC News they are not allowing administrators or press into the building. “It’s the outsiders that we’re worried about. We’re trying to keep students safe and keep everybody in an atmosphere where they feel comfortable to express the things that are happening on campus.”

“if you really support Black Colleges, share this, support us!” #BlackburnTakeover pic.twitter.com/2l4giD3NGh

— Nightmare on Howard Pl 🎃 (@foreverambre) October 13, 2021

A private group message board shared among students and reviewed by ABC News posted photos they say show hazardous dorm environments.

The sit-in, organized by the Young Democratic Socialists of America and The Live Movement, has gone viral under the hashtag #BlackburnTakeover. The tweets have garnered attention from celebrities, including artists from rapper Gucci Mane’s 1017 record label, who pulled out of performing at Howard University’s homecoming this weekend. Students at other historically Black colleges and universities have also shared videos and pictures on social media of alleged low-quality living conditions at their schools.

“There are students whose belongings were lost, or have been destroyed by floods, by mold, by all types of insufficient living conditions and it’s hurtful. Even if you’re not the person who is experiencing that, just listening and taking it in, with us being a community, it’s very hurtful to hear,” said Deja Redding, a Howard University graduate student and director of The Live Movement, a campus-based organization focused on advocating for racial equity in education.

Alumni and local community members provided an outdoor pantry with food, water and…Read More
There have been 34 reports of concerns related to discoloration, or suspected fungal growth, across more than 5,050 beds. This represents 0.67% of the total on-campus beds, according to Howard University officials.

“The well-being of our students is always one of Howard University’s top concerns, and we always support students’ right to peacefully protest. The administration is actively addressing the concerns students have shared. While there have only been a small number of documented reports, we are actively seeking out any issues that may be in the dorms by going door to door to address each room,” Frank Tramble, vice president of communications and chief communications officer at Howard University, said in a statement to ABC News.

Tramble said cabinet members of the university administration have personally visited the campus housing facilities to survey dorms. He also said students impacted have been placed in temporary housing as the university works to address the issues.

“We also remind students to submit a maintenance request so we can address each situation and ensure our students’ living conditions are safe and habitable. We care about our students and are working to ensure that we are finding, addressing, and remediating any issues,” Tramble added.

The Howard University Division of Student Affairs also acknowledged the presence of mold in select residence halls in an email sent to the students, but assured them that the issue is not widespread.

“There have been rooms in select residence halls that were affected by mold growth. The University’s response held the third-party vendor fully accountable, and they are conducting mold remediation and HVAC duct cleaning in the impacted rooms, and throughout the building as part of third quarter preventive maintenance,” Evers said to students in the email statement.

“Long, hot, wet summers, record-high temperatures and humidity are environmental factors that create the climatic conditions that foster mold growth. We have listened to our students’ concerns, and we have been responsive,” Evers added.

However, some students believe the damage may be more widespread than officially reported.

Demonstrators are demanding a town hall with Howard University President Wayne Frederick. They are also pressuring the administration to reinstate students, faculty and alumni on the university board of trustees, who were previously removed from their positions after the university voted unanimously in June to restructure the board to improve the process of governance. Students are also asking for a plan of action to improve housing for incoming students, and provide academic and legal immunity for all the students participating in the protest.

“We are not satisfied. What we’re hearing is all talk. We’re waiting for those actions to be put in place so we can allow Howard to have their Blackburn cafeteria back, but until then, we will still be occupying that space until the demands are met,” Murray said.

Over the past two years, Howard University has received large donations, including a $40 million donation from billionaire philanthropist Mackenzie Scott, Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, the most significant single donor gift in Howard’s history.

HBCUs across the country received approximately $2.6 billion through the CARES Act Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund, a $40 billion funding allocation set aside for higher education as part of the American Rescue Plan. Advocates say more federal resources are needed to fund and support HBCUs.

With the Founders Library in the background, a young man reads on Howard University…Read More
In 2020, HBCUs saw a surge in admissions. Howard University experienced a 15.9% increase in fall 2020 applications, according to a press release.

Interest in attending and supporting HBCUs surfaced following the racial reckoning sparked by the killing of George Floyd and resulting protests, according to an Inside Higher Ed report.

At the start of the 2021 school year, Howard students took to social media calling out the deteriorating and limited housing capacity. Howard University has refuted claims of a housing shortage on campus in statements to students and to ABC News.

“Students have reported on social media that there are Howard University students who are homeless. We have a 94 percent occupancy rate at present, which means we have hundreds of available beds to house students. We encourage any student experiencing housing issues to email hureslife@howard.edu for assistance. As we did last year, we will assist with securing housing, and we have continued to maintain and make available the food pantry on campus for students who are food insecure,” Tramble told ABC News.

Redding said student organizers feel confident their protests will pressure the university administration to reach a resolution to improve on-campus housing.

“It does not matter what happens, we will always find a way to persevere through this,” Redding said.

Annual border arrests hit record high despite trending down in recent months

October 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The U.S. Border Patrol arrested migrants more times in the past year than in any other fiscal year in recorded history, according to Customs and Border Protection data released Friday.

Authorities encountered unauthorized migrants along the southwest border more than 1.73 million times in budget year 2021, according to the data. Of those, about 1.66 million arrests were made by Border Patrol.

The prior record was set in 2000 at about 1.64 million, according to Border Patrol data.

However, migration experts caution that the data has become complicated to track over several decades.

The estimated number of migrants who evaded Border Patrol custody in 2000 was pegged at more than 2.1 million by the Department of Homeland Security. That number declined by about 92% between 2000 and 2018 as Border Patrol funding increased. For 2021, reports analyzed by the Migration Policy Institute estimate the number of successful unlawful entries to be about 540,000.

In recent months, more than a quarter of encounters involved migrants who had previously tried to cross at least once before in the past year. That’s compared to a re-encounter rate of 14% between budget years 2014 and 2019.

Despite the surge of Haitian migrants seen in Del Rio, Texas, last month, overall enforcement actions declined for the second month in a row from 209,840 in August to about 192,000 in September. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas has pointed to the declining numbers as evidence the administration’s migration strategy is working.

“Tragically, former President Trump slashed our international assistance to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, slashed the resources that we were contributing to address the root causes of irregular migration,” Mayorkas said in August as anticipated seasonal migration declines failed to bear out over summer. “Another reason is the end of the cruel policies of the past administration and the restoration of the rule of laws of this country that Congress has passed, including our asylum laws that provide humanitarian relief.”

Immigrant advocates, and some immigration officials, have pointed to the rapid expulsion protocols carried out under Title 42 of the U.S. health code by both the Trump and Biden administrations as the reason behind the elevated rate of repeat offenders attempting to cross illegally.

Biden administration officials have also blamed the Trump administration’s hardline measures at the border, saying it resulted in pent up demand for humanitarian relief. Critics of the administration consider the record-high number of overall encounters to be the product of Biden’s moves to roll back some of Trump’s aggressive policies.

Asked at a CNN town hall event if he planned to go to the border himself, President Joe Biden said, “I guess I should,” but did not provide certainty.

“I’ve been there before and I haven’t — I mean, I know it well,” Biden said. “I guess I should go down. But the whole point of it is, I haven’t had a whole hell of a lot of time to get down.”

Walmart recalls aromatherapy spray linked to rare bacterial illness, 2 deaths

October 22, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Walmart has recalled an aromatherapy spray after it identified a bacteria in the product that has now been linked to four illnesses and two deaths.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Friday that it had identified the bacteria Burkholderia pseudomallei in the aromatherapy spray.

The spray, “Better Homes & Gardens Lavender & Chamomile Essential Oil Infused Aromatherapy Room Spray with Gemstones,” was found Oct. 6 in the home of a Georgia resident who became ill with melioidosis in late July, according to the CDC.

The CDC said it will continue to test the bacteria in the bottle to potentially match the bacteria identified in the four patients. The symptoms of melioidosis are similar to that of a cold or flu, according to the CDC.

The contaminated spray was sold at about 55 Walmart stores and on Walmart’s websites between February and Oct. 21.

Walmart has pulled the remaining bottles of this spray and related products from the shelves and its websites.

“Our hearts go out to the families that have been impacted by this situation,” Inger Damon, director of the CDC’s Division of High-Consequence Pathogens and Pathology, said in a statement. “We at CDC have been very concerned to see these serious related illness spread across time and geography. That is why our scientists have continued to work tirelessly to try to find the potential source for the melioidosis infections in these patients. We hope this work can help protect other people who may have used this spray.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission and Walmart issued a recall for the lavender and chamomile room spray along with five other scents in the same product line.

The CDC will continue to investigate whether other related aromatherapy scents and brands may pose a risk.

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