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Wildlife advocates urge Nevada to stop annual bear hunt due to severity of wildfires

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(RENO, Nev.) — Animal advocates are urging Nevada state officials to call off this year’s annual bear hunt as wildfires continue to rage across the West.

Wildlife advocates say hunting season should be canceled as the wildfire situation is so dire that bears are undergoing forced migration, potentially throwing the social dynamics of the territorial animals off balance. Several organizations penned a letter to the Nevada Department of Wildlife Wednesday following the emergence of several “heartbreaking photographs” showing bears either injured by the fires or searching for food and water in fire-ravaged areas.

“We need to give our bears a break,” Patrick Donnelly, Nevada state director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “Climate-fueled catastrophic fire isn’t just hard on us, it’s also hard on wildlife. Bears are struggling to survive and recover from the most difficult summer of their lives, and now they’re going to be chased by dogs and shot to death. It’s unacceptable.”

The annual bear hunt in the state typically involves packs of hounds with GPS collars that chase the bear up trees. The season is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, but eight of the 10 locations where bear hunting is permitted are in regions that have burned or are still burning, or are immediately adjacent to those areas, according to the organizations.

State law gives both the Nevada Department of Wildlife and the Nevada Board of Wildlife Commissioners emergency powers to stop hunting in units where an emergency has been declared.

“Our black bears are iconic animals, and at a time of dire need the fate of individual bears is just as important as the fate of the population,” said Don Molde of the Nevada Wildlife Alliance. “Now is not the time to add additional harassment to what they’ve already suffered.”

Bears in the state are also suffering from the effects of climate change, as record heat and and drought are also placing significant stress on populations. Researchers are already seeing climate change have a direct effect on mortality and reproductive failure in bears in the West, the advocates said.

“Not only should the bear hunt be suspended in fire-affected areas — the agency and commission need to take disasters into account when setting their quotas going forward,” said Jeff Dixon of the Humane Society of the United States. “For wildlife policy to be science-based, wildlife management professionals need to factor in global warming’s impact on ecosystems when setting those policies.”

Critical fire threats were plaguing the West on Wednesday, posing the threat of new blazes to spark just as firefighters start to make significant progress in containing the existing wildfires.

Red flag warnings have been posted in several regions across the Northwest Thursday due to dry heat and gusty winds, especially over parts of the Northern Rockies and Northern California, where the Dixie and Caldor fires continue to rage.

Lightning from widely scattered thunderstorms expected in the Northwest could also combine with very dry fuels to ignite more fires in places like Oregon and Idaho.

In addition to the heavy fire conditions, 29 cities were expected to break or tie their daily record high temperatures Thursday. Excessive heat warnings are in effect for parts of the Southwest, from Las Vegas to Phoenix and the California deserts, where temperatures were forecast to hit dangerous temperatures up to 115 degrees, or even 120 degrees in Death Valley.

The heat will then shift over parts of the central Rockies on Friday. Air quality alerts are also in effect over parts of the Pacific Northwest and Rockies due to the wildfire smoke.

ABC News’ Brittany Borer and Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.

FDA delays decision on Juul while banning less popular e-cigarette products

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — After banning sale of nearly 950,000 lesser-known e-cigarette products, the Food and Drug Administration has delayed its decision related to products made by Juul, the largest e-cigarette manufacturer.

The FDA had a court-ordered Sept. 9 deadline to review 6.5 million applications for so-called “new tobacco products,” primarily electronic nicotine-containing products, from over 500 companies to determine whether these devices are safe and can stay on the market.

On Thursday, the FDA said it had reviewed more than 90% of those applications, saying it would “continue to work expeditiously on the remaining applications … many of which are in the final stages of review,” according to a statement.

But Juul is the biggest e-cigarette maker in the U.S. and its products comprise the lion’s share of the market.

The Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids called the move “a significant step in the right direction,” but failure to ban all e-cigarettes “leaves kids at risk.” The American Lung Association, meanwhile, said it was “deeply disappointed” by the delayed decision on Juul and other products.

After years of mounting concern about the youth vaping epidemic, the FDA in recent years has taken progressively tougher regulatory actions over the e-cigarette industry, first prohibiting the sale of candy- and fruit-flavored products that are more appealing to children, and later requiring even more products to cease sales.

E-cigarettes were originally envisioned as a replacement for traditional cigarettes among adults who already smoke. But “the biggest threat with e-cigarettes is that it’s easy to try nicotine for the first time,” said Marielle Brinkman, a tobacco and cancer researcher at The Ohio State University.

E-cigarettes contain high amounts of addictive nicotine and are easy to conceal and use. In a statement, the FDA said flavored e-cigarette products are “extremely popular among youth, with over 80% of e-cigarette users ages 12 through 17 using them.”

These children and teens are typically not regular smokers, but are at risk of becoming addicted to nicotine through vaping. E-cigarettes can also harm brain development in youth, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and pose risks of developing other illnesses in the future.

Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products, has said that according to current regulations, “the burden is on the [manufacturer] to provide evidence to demonstrate that the marketing of their product meets the … standard ‘appropriate for the protection of the public health.'”

In a statement, Juul Labs said, “We respect the central role of the FDA and the required thorough science- and evidence-based review of our applications, which is key to advancing harm reduction and earning a license to operate. We remain committed to transitioning adult smokers away from combustible cigarettes while combating underage use.”

Some studies show a benefit of e-cigarettes in helping smokers quit. However, the FDA must decide whether these products have enough potential benefit that outweighs the risks presented for youth. Given their highly addictive nature and the risk of illnesses linked to e-cigarettes, the standard is very high for companies to convince the FDA they help people quit smoking.

Adela Wu is a neurosurgery resident at Stanford Hospital and contributor to the ABC News Medical Unit. Sony Salzman is the unit’s coordinating producer.

Facebook and Ray-Ban team up on new smart glasses

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — You can now wear Facebook on your face – kind of.

The Ray Ban “Stories” are the result of a collaboration between the famous sunglasses company and social media giant Facebook. The new shades have tiny, forward-facing cameras that can take photos and videos, as well as speakers built into the arms that allow wearers to listen to music, podcasts – and even take phone calls – without the need for headphones.

Facebook isn’t the first to show off smart glasses. Google Glass was met with enthusiasm – and derision – in the early 2010s. Snap, meanwhile, is on it’s fourth generation of Spectacles, which are currently being tested by developers and select Snapchat creators. Engadget Senior Editor Karissa Bell says, while the design of those devices stands out – Facebook is taking a subtler approach.

“What makes these a little different is obviously Facebook partnered with Ray Ban, so they look and feel like Ray Bans, which, you know, are very popular sunglasses. So that’s probably a good thing for Facebook,” says Bell.

What’s more, Google Glass and the latest generation of Snap Spectacles make use of augmented reality technology – projecting information onto the inside of the glasses’ lenses. Ray Ban Stories are limited to snapping pictures or capturing 30-second videos through dual 5-megapixel cameras. Users can review what they’ve recorded through the accompanying smartphone app, “View.” Naturally, the app can also post that content to Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

Ray Ban Stories start at $299 – but Bell says Facebook has aspirations beyond simply selling units.

“They’re more concerned with trying to get this out there, trying to encourage adoption, get[ting] people excited about this technology and where it’s going more than they are about actually just trying to make money off the hardware itself,” says Bell.

Facebook could have a tough road ahead of it. The familiar Ray Ban design allows the shades to more easily blend in with conventional sunglasses – a potential privacy concern when recording devices are involved.

“Being able to take photos out in public in this kind of new format – it looks like sunglasses, it doesn’t look like a camera to people – I think that just kind of on it’s own raises some privacy issues,” says Bell.

Facebook, for it’s part, has integrated some security features into the Ray Ban Stories, such as a small white light that illuminates when the cameras are activated. Additionally, the company says all photos and videos are encrypted. But the glasses do collect some data on wearers, though only to “make your glasses work and function,” according to a blog post from the company. That data could include users’ Facebook login information, battery status, and WiFi connectivity.

What’s more, the company also continues to face criticism for it’s past breaches of user privacy, most notably the Cambridge Analytica scandal in 2018.

“There’s a lot about Facebook’s track record that makes you uncomfortable when you hear, ‘hey, Facebook made a pair of camera sunglasses,'” says Bell.

Hear ABC News Radio’s Michelle Franzen report on the Ray Ban Stories:

North Korea holds 1st military parade since Biden took office

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(NORTH KOREA) — North Korea hosted its 73rd anniversary parade late Wednesday going into early Thursday morning, with a display of soldiers in bright orange hazmat suits and gas masks marching in Pyongyang, according to the Korea Central News Agency, the nation’s state media.

Along with top officials, a thinner Kim Jong Un appeared in the square, where he “extended warm greetings” and waved back to the crowds, KCNA reported. Parachutists came down from the sky, there was a fireworks display and tractors hauled artillery behind soldiers, the news agency reported, though photos depict only fire trucks and tractors.

But the image of a strong, healthy regime painted by the country’s state media is the opposite of what the parade truly showcased, according to Gordon Chang, author of “Nuclear Showdown: North Korea Takes on the World.” The parade indicated a much less ambitious North Korea, Chang said, one that has been decimated by the coronavirus pandemic despite zero cases reported by the country.

“All those guys in the red hazmat suits, which were really striking, that wasn’t directed to us, that was directed to the North Korean people basically saying that the regime has this well in hand because it obviously doesn’t,” he said.

The pandemic and international sanctions have damaged the economy and caused widespread famine. In July, South Korea’s central bank released its 2020 economic estimates for its northern neighbor, finding that North Korea’s economy shrunk by 4.5% last year — the largest decrease in at least 10 years, according to the report.

Photos of Kim at the parade also showed that his weight loss has continued since he began slimming down this summer.

Martyn Williams, a researcher at 38 North, which provides analysis about the country, tweeted that “It’s striking how much healthier Kim is looking in these photos from yesterday. However he is doing it — and there are theories — he looks a lot better than he did a few months ago.”

Chang also speculated as to why Kim had lost weight.

“I think he’s either realized it doesn’t look good from a public relations point of view to be overly heavy, or he’s just dealing with a personal health problem,” he said.

Aside from the apocalyptic looking hazmat suits, the parade lacked North Korea’s signature missiles, which are routinely used to boast the regime’s military might.

This was the nation’s first military parade since President Joe Biden took office. North Korea has been very quiet on the international scene in recent months — which is very uncharacteristic, according to Chang.

“They have been very, very quiet for a long time which means we should start to worry about what’s going on because something is not right,” he said.

Afghan girls in climbing group wait and hope, desperate to escape Taliban rule

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(AFGHANISTAN) — For girls and young women accustomed to mountain climbing and physical fitness training six times a week, being confined in a crowded wedding hall near an airport in northern Afghanistan is a different kind of challenge — one with their fates at stake.

It’s the new reality for dozens of them affiliated with Ascend, an organization that teaches Afghan women and girls athletic-based leadership skills. They came to the airport in Mazar-e-Sharif 10 days ago for evacuation flights the Taliban have blocked, heightening their fears they’ll be left behind.

“We’re trying to remind them we haven’t forgotten you. The world hasn’t forgotten you,” Marina LeGree, founder and executive director of Ascend told ABC News. “But some of them are losing hope.”

While the first passenger flight out of Kabul since the Taliban seized power took off on Thursday, carrying some U.S. citizens and other Westerners on board, life-and-death concerns loom for at-risk Afghans still in the country, especially for women like those of Ascend who have exercised independence in the last 20 years, free from Taliban rule.

Founded in 2014, Ascend is a U.S.-based nonprofit operating in Afghanistan that recruits a new group of Afghan girls and young women aged 15-24 each year to embark on a two-year mountaineering program. The recruits — who have trained in Ghaza Stadium, used by the last Taliban government for public punishment — have a mission of fostering leadership, volunteerism, and physical and mental well-being for the next generation.

But if the group in Mazar-e-Sharif is left behind, LaGree fears they’ll be married off to Taliban fighters — or worse.

New federal rule to require businesses with 100+ employees mandate vaccinations

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will announce on Thursday that federal government employees and contractors will now be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration will create a rule for private businesses with 100 or more employees to require their employees to be vaccinated or undergo weekly testing, according to senior administration officials.

Biden will lay out his new six-part strategy to combat the delta variant in remarks at 5 p.m. ET.

A senior administration official estimated that this new OSHA requirement will cover about 80 million workers and businesses that do not comply with the agency’s rule can face substantial fees — up to $14,000. OSHA will require these employers to offer paid time off for vaccination.

As part of his effort to vaccinate the federal executive branch, the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Indian Health Service and the National Institutes of Health will complete implementation of their previously announced vaccination requirements that cover 2.5 million people, a source familiar with the plans said.

This is an escalation of the president’s action in July calling for federal workers to attest to their vaccination status and submit to mitigation efforts if they are not vaccinated, such as mask usage and regular testing.

The president is also expected to announce that the Transportation Security Administration and interstate travel mask mandate will be extended through Jan. 18, the fine for noncompliance will double and health care facilities that receive Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement must require their employees to be vaccinated. This will cover about 17 million health care workers across the country.

“In total, the new vaccination requirements in the president’s plan cover about 100 million workers, that’s two thirds of all workers in the United States,” a senior administration official said on a briefing call with reporters Thursday afternoon.

Speaking at her daily briefing Wednesday, White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters Biden would “outline the next phase in the fight against the virus and what that looks like, including measures to work with the public and private sector.”

She said he would be “building on the steps that we’ve already announced, the steps we’ve taken over the last few months, requiring more vaccinations, boosting important testing measures and more, making it safer for kids to go to school, all at a time when the American people are listening. Again, this will be six steps that we’ll work to be implementing over the months ahead.”

According to a White House official, the president’s plan will include six areas of focus: vaccinating the unvaccinated; furthering protection for the vaccinated; keeping schools safely open; increasing testing and requiring masking; protecting the economy’s recovery; and improving care for those with COVID-19.

Psaki confirmed there will be new components as part of the president’s announcement but wouldn’t go much beyond general comments about testing access, mandates and making sure kids are protected from the highly transmissible virus as they return to school and Americans return from summer vacations.

She said plans were still being finalized as Biden met with with his COVID-19 response team Wednesday afternoon.

“Will any of those new steps influence the average American’s day-to-day life? Should we expect any new mitigation recommendations, as an example?” a reporter asked.

“It depends on if you’re vaccinated or not,” Psaki replied, but gave no further details.

She highlighted efforts the administration already has taken to try and get the delta variant under control.

“We’ve been at war with the delta variant over the course of the last couple of months. And just to remind you of some of the steps that we have announced, we have announced new government mandates on DOD, our military forces, NIH, other — the VA, the Veterans Affairs — Department of Veterans Affairs, folks who are serving on the front lines on the health — on health — in health roles in that department. We’ve also incentivized additional mandates, whether it is in home — in health care facilities, nursing homes, and others,” Psaki said.

“And we’ve also lifted up and — and incentivized private sector — private sector mandates, because we’ve seen that they have been effective. We’ve also deployed over 700 surge response teams across the country and work closely, again, with the private sector to institute more requirements on vaccinations,” she continued.

“We have more work to do, and we are still at war with the virus and with the delta variant,” she added. “So, we’re going to build on that work. And he’s speaking to it now, because this issue, of course, is on front of mind, top of mind to Americans across the country. People are returning to schools. Workplaces are either reopening, some brick and mortar, or some people are just returning to work after spending some time with family or loved ones over the summer.”

But besides ordering the nation’s 2.1 million federal employees and 1.3 million active duty service members get vaccinated, Biden has limited legal authority to institute a broad vaccine mandate for most Americans.

About 75% of the adult U.S. population has received at least one vaccine dose and 64.4% of the adult U.S. population is fully vaccinated as of Wednesday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Tuesday, Psaki did seem to suggest that Biden will call on the private sector to institute more vaccine mandates. Major corporations such as Facebook, Google and Citigroup have already announced vaccination requirements.

“I will note that we’ve seen that there are a range of ways that we have increased vaccinations across the country, or vaccinations have increased, I should say. One of them is private sector companies mandating in different capacities that their employees get vaccinated. Or certain school districts mandate,” Psaki said.

Biden previewed some of what he planned to say when he spoke about the August jobs numbers, which were much lower than predicted.

“There’s no question the delta variant is why today’s jobs report isn’t stronger. I know people were looking, and I was hoping, for a higher number. But next week, I’ll lay out the next steps that are going to — we’re going to need to combat the delta variant, to address some of those fears and concerns,” Biden said Friday.

A recent ABC News/Washington Post poll showed Americans in August souring on Biden’s handling of the pandemic, with his approval rating for his handling or the response dropping 10 points from June, down to 52%

Biden’s remarks are scheduled for just 11 days before the administration is set to begin widely rolling out booster shots of Pfizer on Sept. 20, a process mired by confusion as some public health experts say the data doesn’t yet support the need for boosters.

Justice Department sues Texas over restrictive abortion law

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department has filed suit against the state of Texas to block its restrictive law against abortions, Attorney General Merrick Garland said on Thursday, setting up a high-stakes legal battle after the Supreme Court allowed the law to go into effect earlier this month.

“That act is clearly unconstitutional under long-standing Supreme Court precedent,” Garland said at a news conference. “Those precedents hold, in the words of Planned Parenthood versus Casey, that ‘regardless of whether exceptions are made for particular circumstances, a state may not prohibit any woman from making the ultimate decision to terminate her pregnancy before viability.'”

He accused Texas Republicans of crafting a “statutory scheme” through the law “to nullify the Constitution of the United States.”

“It does not rely on the state’s executive branch to enforce the law, as is the norm in Texas and everywhere else. Rather, the snatcher deputizes all private citizens without any showing a personal connection or injury to serve as bounty hunters authorized to recover at least $10,000 per claim from individuals who facilitate a woman’s exercise of our constitutional rights,” he said.

As part of its lawsuit, Garland said the DOJ is seeking an immediate court order preventing the enforcement of SB8 in Texas.

Garland also made clear that the department won’t hesitate to take similar legal action against other states who might pursue a similar route to restrict abortions in the state.

“The additional risk here is that other states will follow similar models,” Garland said, and he denied that the decision to file the suit now was in any way based on political pressure from Democrats or the White House.

The lawsuit accuses Texas lawmakers of enacting the law “in open defiance of the Constitution.”

“The United States has the authority and responsibility to ensure that Texas cannot evade its obligations under the Constitution and deprive individuals of their constitutional rights by adopting a statutory scheme designed specifically to evade traditional mechanisms of federal judicial review,” the lawsuit says. “The federal government therefore brings this suit directly against the State of Texas to obtain a declaration that S.B. 8 is invalid, to enjoin its enforcement, and to protect the rights that Texas has violated.”

The suit also alleges that the law conflicts with federal law by intending to prohibit federal agencies from carrying out their responsibilities related to abortion services.

“Because S.B. 8 does not contain an exception for cases of rape or incest, its terms purport to prohibit the federal government and its employees and agents from performing, funding, reimbursing, or facilitating abortions in such cases,” the lawsuit says.

Garland cautioned that the Texas law should concern all Americans, regardless of their politics.

“This kind of scheme to nullify the Constitution of the United States is one that all Americans, whatever their politics or party, should fear. If it prevails, it may become a model for action in other areas by other states and with respect to other constitutional rights and judicial precedents,” he said. “Nor one need think hard or long to realize the damage that would be done to our society if states were allowed to implement laws that empower any private individual to infringe on another’s constitutionally protected rights in this way. The United States has the authority and the responsibility to ensure that no state can deprive individuals of their constitutional rights through a legislative scheme specifically designed to prevent the vindication of those rights.”

The Texas statute, which is the most restrictive abortion law in the country, bars physicians from providing abortions after a fetal heartbeat is detected, or as soon as six weeks into a pregnancy — often before a woman would even know they were pregnant. There is an exception for medical emergencies, but not in cases of rape or incest.

Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court formally rejected a request by Texas abortion providers to block the state’s severe new law as legal challenges continue.

The unsigned order from the court said the providers had “raised serious questions regarding the constitutionality of the Texas law at issue,” but added “their application also presents complex and novel antecedent procedural questions” that they were unable to resolve.

The new law has triggered outrage from those who support a women’s right to an abortion nationwide. Companies like Uber and Lyft have offered to pay legal fees for any driver who is sued under the law and dating apps Match and Bumble, both headquartered in Texas, pledged to support women seeking abortions.

On the other side, many state lawmakers have said they intend to copy the wording of the Texas law in order to enact similar bans in their states.

Trump endorses Harriet Hageman in her effort to unseat Rep. Liz Cheney

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump has endorsed Harriet Hageman, a primary challenger to incumbent Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., ahead of Hageman’s Thursday afternoon announcement that she will run for Cheney’s seat in the House of Representatives.

His endorsement both strikes back at Cheney, who voted for Trump’s impeachment in January and is serving on the Jan. 6 House select commitee, and is another test of how much weight his backing carries in primary races.

“Unlike RINO [Republican in name only] Liz Cheney, Harriet is all in for America First. Harriet has my Complete and Total Endorsement in replacing the Democrats number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney. Make America Great Again!” Trump said in a statement on Thursday morning through his Save America political action committee.

Trump also said that Hageman “is strong on Crime and Borders, powerfully supports the Second Amendment, loves our Military and our Vets, and will fight for Election Integrity and Energy Independence.”

POLITICO reported last month that that Trump and Hageman, who ran for governor in 2018, were going to meet to discuss a congressional bid.

Hageman, an attorney and former national committeewoman for Wyoming on the Republican National Committee, supported Cheney in previous campaigns. But in a statement on her campaign website, she said Cheney had lost her support.

“Like many Wyomingites, I supported Liz Cheney when she ran for Congress. But then she betrayed Wyoming, she betrayed this country, and she betrayed me,” Hageman said. “Every time Wyomingites see President Biden fail us and harm the interests of our nation and our state, they have Liz Cheney to thank.”

Cheney fired back at Trump’s endorsement on Twitter, posting a picture of Trump’s statement with “number one provider of sound bites, Liz Cheney” highlighted in yellow.

“Here’s a sound bite for you: Bring it,” Cheney wrote.

“I am honored to represent the people of Wyoming and proud of my strong conservative record,” Cheney said in a statement to ABC News.

“It is tragic that some in this race have sacrificed those principles, and their duty to the people of Wyoming, out of fear and in favor of loyalty to a former president who deliberately misled the American people about the 2020 election, provoked an attack on the U.S. Capitol, and failed to perform his duties as president as the violence ensued.”

The upcoming Republican primary in Wyoming, which only has one congressional district, will pit Cheney against multiple primary challengers.

Wyofile, a Wyoming-based news service, reported on Wednesday that voters in the state have been receiving illegal robocalls asking about Cheney’s primary challengers. The Wyoming Republican Party has said the calls “are not being generated on behalf of any Wyoming Republican state or county party.”

ABC News’ Meg Cunningham and John Parkinson contributed reporting.

With Texas abortion ban in effect, focus turns to medication abortion

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(TEXAS) — Just one week after a law took effect in Texas that bans nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy, the state is close to enacting another restriction on abortion.

A bill that would shorten the time in which a pregnant person could have a medication abortion is now on the desk of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who has defended his state’s new law that bans most abortions, including in cases of incest and rape.

The bill awaiting Abbott’s signature, Senate Bill 4, would limit the time window for physicians to offer abortion-inducing medication to seven weeks of pregnancy instead of 10 weeks of pregnancy. This would mean that if a person misses the six-week window for a procedure-based abortion, they would have one more additional week to have access to medication abortion.

Access to medication abortion — the use of oral medications mifepristone and misoprostol to end a pregnancy — has become a major focus point since Texas’ controversial law went into effect. The law, and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to not block it amid legal challenges, marked a significant moment in the United States’ history of reproductive rights, experts say.

And now, many experts are keeping their eyes on Texas — a state with a long history of debating abortion rights — to see if its actions encourage other states to impose more restrictions on medication abortion with the goal of limiting abortion access overall.

“Texas looms so large when it comes to abortion rights and access and what we’re really seeing is this coordinated strategy of layering bans and restrictions to very nearly ban abortion,” said Elizabeth Nash, interim associate director of state issues at the Guttmacher institute, a reproductive rights organization. “Medication abortion has been a very high priority in state legislatures in 2021.”

In South Dakota this week, Gov. Kristi Noem, a Republican, issued an executive order directing the state’s Department of Health to establish rules requiring that abortion-inducing drugs only be prescribed and dispensed by a state-licensed physician after an in-person examination. Noem said she also plans to pass legislation next year that makes “these and other protocols permanent.”

Across the country, more than 30 states require clinicians who administer medication abortion to be physicians, while 19 states require the clinician providing a medication abortion to be physically present when the medication is administered, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

The rising restrictions, which began to increase about a decade ago, according to Nash, come as more people are turning to medication abortion.

Medication abortion is now the most common method used for abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, and accounted for almost 40% of all abortions in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Medication abortions were first approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2000. FDA guidelines advise that abortion-inducing pills are safe to use up to 70 days, or 10 weeks, after conception, though evidence shows it can be safe even later in pregnancy, according to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG).

In most cases in a medication abortion, mifepristone is taken first to stop the pregnancy from growing. Then, a second pill, misoprostol, is then taken to empty the uterus.

Of the two medications, mifepristone is more restricted by the FDA. Since 2011, the agency has applied a risk evaluation and mitigation strategy (REMS) to mifepristone, preventing it from being distributed at pharmacies or delivered by mail like other prescription drugs.

It must be ordered, prescribed and dispensed by a health care provider who meets certain qualifications, and may only be distributed in clinics, medical offices, and hospitals by a certified health care provider, according to FDA guidelines.

The FDA’s rules, combined with state restrictions like the one that appears close to becoming a law in Texas, have the effect of not only limiting when, where and how people can get abortions, but also potentially misguiding people on the safety of medication abortion, according to Dr. Jamila Perritt, an OBGYN based in Washington, D.C., and president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health.

“The important thing to know about mifepristone is that it’s regulated as if it were a highly unsafe medication, which is the opposite of the truth,” said Perritt. “It’s actually a very, very safe medication and we have decades of medical evidence that shows people can use it on their own.”

“None of this is about safety,” she said. “It’s all about limiting access to abortion.”

The restrictions around medication abortion also limit the use of telemedicine, which is effectively banned in 19 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

Complications from at-home medication abortions are rare, happening in less than 1% of cases in one study of nearly 20,000 medication abortions, according to ACOG, which says medication abortion “can be provided safely and effectively by telemedicine.”

Last year, during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, and amid a rise in telemedicine, ACOG, an organization that counts more than 60,000 obstetrician–gynecologists as members, joined other groups to urge the FDA to suspend the requirement that mifepristone be dispensed in a medical clinic.

The request for the FDA to temporarily suspend the mifepristone requirement was upheld last year in lower courts. In January, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 6-3 to reinstate the restrictions.

In April, the FDA, under the Biden administration, said it would stop enforcing the in-person dispensing requirement during the pandemic. States though can still set laws about dispensing mifepristone within their state.

Proponents of the FDA’s decision say that allowing greater access to medication abortion, including via telemedicine, gives more options to the people who need them the most.

Around 75% of abortion patients are low-income residents, and nearly 60% of U.S. women of reproductive age live in states where access to abortion is restricted, according to the Guttmacher Institute.

“Restrictions shape who is able to access [abortion],” said Perritt, noting that people of color, young people, immigrants and people living on low-income communities are the most affected, and adding, “We’re going to continue to see a worsening outcome for them because of it.”

ABC News’ Alexandra Svokos contributed to this report.

Marine vet ‘tortured’ 11-year-old girl who played dead after 4 family members killed, sheriff alleges

September 9, 2021 by WDNY Radio

(POLK COUNTY, Fla.)A young girl who was “tortured” and shot multiple times when a former Marine sharpshooter allegedly invaded her home and killed four members of her family, including her baby brother, told investigators she survived by playing dead, authorities said on Thursday.

The 11-year-old is expected to recover from her injuries, but authorities said what she experienced may haunt her for the rest of her life.

Polk County, Florida, authorities said the girl witnessed Bryan Riley, 33, allegedly shoot her father, Justice Gleason, 40; her dad’s girlfriend, Theresa Lanham, 33; and her 3-month-old brother in the Sunday morning massacre near Lakeland, 35 miles east of Tampa. Riley is also accused of killing Lanham’s 62-year-old mother, Catherine Delgado.

Riley allegedly shot and killed the family’s dog, too, officials said.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Gleason’s daughter, the sole survivor of the attack, told investigators how she avoided being killed, after allegedly being tortured and shot by the stranger who had zero connection to her family.

“This 11-year-old was very brave and very smart, and she out-thought him. She said, ‘I played dead and I prayed,'” Judd said at a news conference Thursday.

Riley is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, one count of attempted first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted first-degree murder on a law enforcement officer, shooting into an occupied dwelling, two counts of armed burglary with battery, arson and cruelty to an animal. He is being held without bond.

The sheriff said Riley has shown no remorse. “He’s evil,” Judd said.

Judd said Riley first showed up at the home around 7 p.m. Saturday after picking up a first-aid kit from a friend who lives nearby, which he claimed he planned to donate to a Hurricane Ida relief organization.

Upon leaving his friend’s home, he saw Gleason mowing his front yard and stopped. He allegedly told Gleason that God sent him to speak to a girl named Amber, who he claimed was suicidal and being held as a sex-trafficking victim, Judd said. He was told no one by that name lived at the address and was ordered to leave.

The family called deputies, but they could not find Riley, Judd said. He said Riley returned to the home about 4:30 a.m. Sunday armed with three guns and in full-body armor.

Judd said Riley, who as a Marine was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq, allegedly told investigators that he “created an ops plan.'”

“In his confession, he said, ‘You know what that means? You have to kill everybody,'” said Judd, adding that Riley’s girlfriend told investigators he suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder.

He said the suspect broke into an in-law unit behind the main house and killed Delgado. Riley allegedly shot his way into the main house and found Gleason, Lanham, her baby and the girl hiding in a bathroom, according to the sheriff.

After allegedly killing Gleason, Lanham and the baby, Judd said, Riley took the girl into the living room and questioned her about the whereabouts of Amber, Judd said. When the girl told him she didn’t know Amber, he allegedly counted down, “three, two, one” and shot her in the stomach, Judd said. When she again denied knowing Amber, Riley allegedly shot her in the hand and legs before firing what he wrongly believed to be the fatal shot, Judd said.

When deputies arrived, a shootout ensued. Riley was hit in the stomach and surrendered, Judd said.

Judd said the sheriff’s department is collecting donations to help the family with funeral costs and the young survivor’s hospital bills. He said his agency has established an online page to accept contributions.

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