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Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez freed from prison after Trump pardons drug trafficking conviction

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in 2024 of trafficking drugs into the United States, has been freed from prison after he was granted a pardon by President Donald Trump, officials said.

The 57-year-old Hernandez was released from a federal prison in West Virginia, where he had been serving a 45-year sentence, according to a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons and Hernandez’s attorney.

“After nearly four years of pain, waiting, and difficult trials, my husband Juan Orlando Hernandez RETURNED to being a free man, thanks to the presidential pardon granted by President Donald Trump,” Hernandez’s wife, Ana Garcia de Hernandez, said in a social media post.

Hernandez’s wife added, “Today we give thanks to God, because he is just and His timing is perfect. Thank you, Mr. President, for restoring our hope and for recognizing a truth that we always knew.”

Trump formally granted Hernandez a full pardon on Monday evening, Hernandez’s attorney, Renato Stabile, told ABC News.

“True to his word, I can confirm that President Trump has issued a full and unconditional pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez,” Stabile said.

Stabile said Hernandez, a two-term president of Honduras, was released early Tuesday morning from the U.S. Penitentiary, Hazelton, a high-security prison in West Virginia.

“On behalf of President Hernandez and his family, I would like to thank President Trump for correcting this injustice,” Stabile said. “President Hernandez is glad this ordeal is over and is looking forward to regaining his life after almost four years in prison.”

Trump’s pardon of Hernandez came as a surprise to lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who said the decision appears to contradict the Trump administration’s crackdown on drug trafficking from the Caribbean.

“Why would we pardon this guy then go after [Venezuelan president Nicolas] Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said in a social media post over the weekend.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., called Trump’s decision to pardon Hernandez “shocking.”

“He was the leader of one of the largest criminal enterprises that has ever been subject to a conviction in U.S. courts, and less than one year into his sentence, President Trump is pardoning him, suggesting that President Trump cares nothing about narco-trafficking,” Kaine said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday.

Hernandez was extradited to the United States in April 2022 under the Biden administration after he was indicted on charges of conspiring to import cocaine, using and carrying machine guns in furtherance of cocaine importation, and conspiring to use and carry machine guns in furtherance of cocaine importation.

Following Hernandez’s conviction in March 2024 in federal court in New York City, federal prosecutors said Hernandez helped drug cartels “move mountains of cocaine” into the United States and was “at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.”

One of the prosecutors on the case was Emil Bove, who later defended Trump on 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to adult film actress Stormy Daniels for which Trump was convicted of in 2024. Bove now sits on the bench as a judge for the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

In a social media post on Friday, Trump announced, “I will be granting a Full and Complete Pardon to Former President Juan Orlando Hernandez who has been, according to many people that I greatly respect, treated harshly and unfairly.”

In a follow-up social media post on Saturday, Trump said, “The people of Honduras really thought he was set up.”

A one-time ally in the U.S. war on drugs, Hernandez was accused by U.S. federal prosecutors of taking bribes from drug cartels and helping them smuggle an estimated 400 tons of cocaine from Honduras to the United States.

Hernandez, prosecutors alleged, used his power to tip off his brother and other drug traffickers by alerting them to possible interdictions. Hernandez knew where the checkpoints were set up and advised the cartels how to avoid them, according to testimony at his trial.

Federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York also alleged that Hernandez accepted $1 million in bribes to protect Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the notorious boss of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico who is serving a life sentence in the United States.

During his trial, a federal prosecutor alleged Hernandez once boasted at a meeting with narco-traffickers that “together they were going to shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”

Ahead of US meeting, Putin warns Russia is ready if Europe ‘wants to fight’

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — President Vladimir Putin warned that Russia is ready to fight a war if Europe seeks one and claimed European countries are trying to make changes in President Donald Trump’s proposal on ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, ahead of his high-stakes meeting with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in Moscow on Tuesday.

“We can clearly see that these changes are aimed at only one thing: to block the entire peace process,” Putin said in remarks to reporters while accusing Europe of being “on the side of war.”

“We are not going to fight Europe, I have said this a hundred times. But if Europe suddenly wants to fight and starts, we are ready right now,” Putin said.

Russia would allow Europe to return to negotiations on Ukraine if it takes into account the realities on the ground, Putin said.

Putin’s meeting with Witkoff is underway, Russian state media TASS reported Tuesday night local time. Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is also taking part.

Earlier, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the meeting had no time limit and would go on for “as long as necessary.”

Ahead of the meeting, the White House said it was “very optimistic,” as U.S. officials continue their push to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The sit-down follows a series of meetings between top U.S. and Ukrainian officials, during which the parties sought to revise the original peace-plan proposal presented by the Trump administration to Ukraine last month.

Witkoff and other top U.S. officials — including Kushner and Secretary of State Marco Rubio — met on Sunday in Florida with a Ukrainian delegation to attempt to find a deal that Ukraine and Russia might both accept to end the war.

“I think the administration feels very optimistic,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Monday, following the Florida meeting. “They had very good talks with the Ukrainians in Florida. And now, of course, Special Envoy Witkoff is on his way to Russia.”

The top Ukrainian official at the Florida talks said there had been progress, but, he added, “some issues still require further refinement.”

The Kremlin on Monday said a meeting between Witkoff and Putin was scheduled for Tuesday. Putin prepared in recent days by holding meetings with military commanders and a governor of a frontline territory, according to Russian officials.

“We have no doubt that this will be a very important step towards peace and a peaceful settlement,” Peskov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday.

There was little expectation Putin would agree to a deal. The Russian leader signaled last week he would not compromise, repeating in hardline remarks his demand that Ukraine withdraw from territory he claims as Russian soil and saying it was “pointless” to negotiate with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Putin then on Monday claimed without evidence that Russian forces had taken control of two Ukrainian cities where intense fighting has been happening for weeks in the eastern part of the country, a move intended perhaps to burnish the perception of Russia’s leading position on the battlefield.

Zelenskyy, who, along with Trump, was not directly involved with the talks in Florida, met on Monday with French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris. The meetings in France were “substantive and important — above all, focused on the steps that bring a just peace closer,” he said on social media. Zelenskyy landed on Tuesday in Dublin, where he’s expected to meet with Taoiseach Micheal Martin, the Irish prime minister.

As Zelenskyy pushed for European unity against Russian aggression, members of his delegation in Florida were sending updates on what was being discussed. He said on Monday that there were still several “tough issues” to work through in the negotiations, but did not elaborate. Ukraine’s potential relinquishment of some of its territory to Russia was thought to be part of the talks.

Zelenskyy on Monday also said he, Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had again been briefed by Witkoff and the head of the Kyiv delegation, Rustem Umerov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

“Over two very productive days in the United States, we held many hours of meetings and negotiations,” Umerov said in a separate social media update on Monday. “We achieved significant progress, although some issues still require further refinement.”

Umerov and the rest of the negotiating team met with Zelenskyy in person on Tuesday, with the president saying they discussed “the matters that cannot be addressed over the phone.” He praised Ukrainian allies for their partnership. And he also accused Russia of beginning new disinformation campaigns prior to Putin’s meeting with Witkoff.

“Ukraine approaches all diplomatic efforts with utmost seriousness — we are committed to achieving a real peace and guaranteed security,” Zelenskyy said on social media. “This is exactly the level of commitment that must be compelled from the Russian side, and this task can be accomplished only together with our partners.”

The meeting in Moscow would be the sixth such Witkoff-Putin sit-down this year and it comes amid a redoubled effort by the White House to produce a peace deal in the almost 4-year-old conflict.

The meeting on Sunday included discussions of a revised 19-point peace plan that was developed a week ago during another round of American-Ukrainian talks in Geneva, Switzerland. Those talks reworked an earlier 28-point plan that the Trump administration had presented and that had alarmed Kyiv and European allies as heavily favoring Russia. Details about whether further revisions may have been made over the weekend had not been released as of Tuesday morning.

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Leavitt did not detail what the U.S. expected to happen during the negotiations in Moscow, instead deferring to those who would be at the meeting.

“We’ve put points on paper. Those points have been very much refined,” she said. “But as for the details, I will let the negotiators negotiate. But we do feel quite good, and we’re hopeful that this work can finally come to an end.”

ABC News’ Emily Chang and Patrick Reevell contributed to this report.

College student mysteriously dies after football tailgate in Texas, family says

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(AUSTIN, Texas) — Police are investigating the mysterious death of a Texas A&M student who died after a football tailgate this weekend, according to authorities and her family.

Austin police said they responded to a report of an unresponsive individual at an apartment complex around 12:45 a.m. Saturday. Brianna Aguilera was pronounced dead at the scene at 12:57 a.m., police said.

“At this time, the incident is not being investigated as a homicide, and there are no indications of suspicious circumstances,” police said in a statement.

Her cause of death has not been released, police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

According to Aguilera’s family, she died after going to a tailgate for the Texas A&M vs. University of Texas football game in Austin on Friday.

“The details surrounding what happened [after the tailgate] remain unclear,” Aguilera’s family wrote on GoFundMe.

“Our hearts are shattered,” the family said on GoFundMe.

“She was pursuing her dream of becoming a lawyer and was attending The Bush School of Government & Public Service at Texas A&M,” the family said. “She was a year shy of attaining her Aggie ring.”

Afghan national arrested over alleged bomb threat in Texas: DHS

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(FORT WORTH, Texas) — Homeland Security said investigators arrested an Afghan national who allegedly made a social media post about “building a bomb” and threatened to blow up a building in Fort Worth, Texas.

Mohammad Dawood Alokozay’s arrest took place on Nov. 25, Tricia McLaughlin, an assistant secretary with DHS, said in a social media post Saturday.

Alokozay was arrested on state terror charges and is being held at a corrections center in Tarrant County, Texas, according to court records. He was hit with federal charges of transmitting a threatening communication in interstate commerce.

After his arrest one week ago, Alokozay confirmed to investigators that he made the statements in the video and that he deleted his TikTok account after being contacted by people who had seen his comments shared on social media, according to the criminal complaint unsealed Tuesday.

“He concluded that he was not afraid of deportation or getting killed,” prosecutors said in their criminal complaint. “When asked why Alokozay came to the United States, he responded that it was to kill the others on the call. Alokozay stated he wanted to conduct a suicide attack on Americans, too.”

It is not immediately clear when Alokozay will make his first appearance in federal court.

Alokozay’s arrest came just a day before two National Guard members were allegedly shot by another Afghan national — 29-year-old Rahmanullah Lakanwal– in Washington, D.C.

One of the Guard members, U.S. Army Specialist Sarah Beckstrom, later died from her injuries. Lakanwal is now facing a first-degree murder charge.

McLaughlin alleged in an X post that Alokozay “posted a video of himself on TikTok indicating he was building a bomb with an intended target of the Fort Worth area.”

“He was arrested on Tuesday by the Texas Department of Public Safety and FBI JTTF and charged with making Terroristic Threats,” she added.

Attorney information for Alokozay was not immediately available.

McLaughlin said Immigration and Customs Enforcement has lodged a retainer for Alokozay.

-ABC News’ Jenna Harrison contributed to this report.

3 key questions about the US boat strikes that killed survivors

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and a top military commander are facing serious questions about why the U.S. on Sept. 2 killed survivors of a military strike against a suspected drug boat, when the laws of war say survivors on the battlefield should be rescued.

The White House acknowledges that a second strike was ordered on a boat already hit by the military in the Caribbean Sea, and ABC News has confirmed that survivors from the initial strike were killed as a result.

Democrats say that alone could be enough to suggest a war crime occurred. The laws of war require either side in a conflict to provide care for wounded and shipwrecked troops.

Hegseth told Fox News the day after that he watched the operation unfold in real time and defended it as legal. He appears to be leaning on the same legal playbook carved out during the war on terror, in which the U.S. justified the killing of people transporting weapons that it said posed a threat to U.S. forces.

“We’re going to conduct oversight, and we’re going to try to get to the facts,” Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, told reporters on Monday. “And to the extent that we’re able to see videos and see what the orders were, we’ll have a lot more information other than just news reports.”

Here are three key questions about the orders to kill drug smugglers:

What did Hegseth order exactly?

A key question for lawmakers is what Hegseth’s initial “execute order” included and what intelligence was used to justify it.

According to The Washington Post, sources say Hegseth told the military to ensure that none of the 11 passengers aboard the boat should be allowed to survive. After the initial strike left two people clinging to the wreckage, the Post says, Adm. Mitch Bradley made the decision as head of the Joint Special Operations Command to launch a second strike to fulfill Hegseth’s initial order to kill everyone.

Hegseth called the report a “fabrication,” while his chief spokesman, Sean Parnell, said the allegations were a “fake news narrative that Secretary Hegseth gave some sort of ‘kill all survivors’ order.”

The Pentagon declined to answer questions though about what was included in Hegseth’s initial order.

On Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt would confirm only that a second strike occurred and didn’t address a question about survivors. When asked if Adm. Bradley had made the decision on his own, Leavitt suggested that was accurate, replying “And he was well within his authority to do so.”

Why did Adm. Bradley order subsequent strikes after seeing survivors?

Several sources described Bradley, a former Navy SEAL, as a deeply experienced and widely respected commander. At the time of the Sept. 2 strike, Bradley had already spent time overseeing special operations missions in the Middle East under U.S. Central Command and had taken over Joint Special Operations Command, a global command devoted to preparing and executing special operations missions in some of the most challenging and complex operating environments.

When President Donald Trump nominated Bradley to take over U.S. Special Operations Command this fall, the Senate overwhelmingly approved his nomination by voice vote.

Eric Oehlerich, an ABC News contributor and former Navy SEAL who worked under Bradley’s command during the war on terror, said he has never seen Bradley push the bounds of the law.

Oehlerich said that if Bradley ordered subsequent strikes on Sept. 2, as the White House suggested, the decision would have relied on Hegseth’s initial order as well as findings by the intelligence community about why the alleged smugglers on the boats were a threat to the U.S.

Bradley also would have sought counsel from a military lawyer in the room, he said.

“There isn’t a single commander that’s sitting in a position of authority that does not have a lawyer as the closest person to him sitting there watching the entire time,” Oehlerich said.

The attack also would have been directly overseen by Hegseth himself, as he told Fox News on Sept. 3, saying he had watched it “live.” In a post on X on Monday, Hegseth suggested only that the operation was Bradley’s call.

“I stand by him and the combat decisions he has made — on the September 2 mission and all others since,” Hegseth wrote.

Bradley declined to comment but was expected to brief lawmakers later this week.

Who was killed? And were they a threat to the US?

Hegseth’s rationale for killing drug smugglers appears to be the same one used after 9/11 when Congress authorized the military to use force against targets linked to al-Qaida. That authority enabled commanders in places like Iraq and Syria to kill people transporting improvised explosive devices, which it said were an immediate threat to U.S. forces stationed in the region.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump argued that people smuggling illegal narcotics were just as dangerous to Americans as al-Qaida terrorists. He declared several drug cartels would be deemed “foreign terrorist organizations.”

Legal experts have pushed back on the comparison of drug smugglers and al-Qaida or ISIS fighters. They also note that Congress hasn’t provided any kind of authorization for using force.

A key question remains as to who exactly is onboard the boats and what threat they posed exactly — an assessment that would have been done by the intelligence community and signed off on by Hegseth.

Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he is still waiting for information on the role U.S. intelligence played in the strikes and whether the attacks are having a strategic impact. Bradley was expected to brief House lawmakers on Thursday.

“If it is substantiated, whoever made that order needs to get the hell out of Washington,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C. “And if it is not substantiated, whoever the hell created the rage bate should be fired.”

‘I knew it was him immediately,’ officer who found Luigi Mangione testifies at evidence hearing

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A police officer who responded last Dec. 9 to a McDonald’s where witnesses said they may have spotted the man accused of killing a health care CEO testified Tuesday that he knew right away it was the suspect.

“I knew it was him immediately,” Altoona, Pennsylvania, police officer Joseph Detwiler testified about Luigi Mangione, who is accused of killing United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in New York City last year.

Mangione, 27, is in court Tuesday for the second day of a high-stakes hearing in his state criminal case, where his lawyers are fighting to bar prosecutors from using key evidence against him — including the alleged murder weapon and writings that prosecutors say amount to a confession — by arguing it was unlawfully seized when his backpack was searched without a warrant.

The backpack was searched by law enforcement as they arrested Mangione in Pennsylvania, five days after the fatal shooting of Thompson on a sidewalk in midtown Manhattan. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to killing Thompson.

Defense attorneys have alleged that Detwiler violated Mangione’s rights by questioning him for nearly twenty minutes without reading him his Miranda rights. They argue that mistake should justify barring prosecutors from introducing any testimony about the statements Mangione made to police that morning.

Recollecting the events of Dec. 9, Detwiler testified that he responded sarcastically when he got the dispatch call that a local McDonald’s manager reported a “male who looks like the NYC shooter.” He said he didn’t even turn on his police sirens when he drove to the McDonald’s because he “did not think it was going to be him.”

“I did not think it was going to be the person they thought it was,” he testified, though he noted his supervisor promised to buy him a “hoagie” if he “got the NYC shooter.”

“I said consider it done,” Detwiler testified.

An avid watcher of Fox News, Detwiler testified he saw the images of the murder suspect “a lot” and was familiar with the ongoing coverage of the high-profile assassination. Prosecutor Joel Seidemann walked through each of the photos of the suspect that circulated after the shooting; each time, Detwiler responded in a monotone voice that said he saw the pictures in the same place — Fox News.

“I saw a lot of Fox News and saw a lot of video and articles on the shooter. I saw the person’s picture many, many times prior to those five days — many times,” he said.

During Detwiler’s testimony, prosecutors for the first time played his body-camera footage from the morning of Dec. 9. The footage showed Detwiler and his partner casually entering the McDonald’s before turning right to the rear of the restaurant, where they found Mangione sitting at a table.

“What’s your name?” Detwiler asked in the footage.

“Mark,” Mangione said.

“Mark what?” Detwiler asked.

“Mark Rosario,” Mangione said.

“Someone called and said you were suspicious,” Detwiler said in the video. “Thought you looked like someone.”

Prosecutors on the first day of the hearing on Monday played for the first time security camera footage from inside the McDonald’s where Mangione was arrested, the 911 call placed by the store manager who expressed alarm that he “looked like the CEO shooter in New York,” and the minute-to-minute dispatch audio leading to his arrest.

“There’s a male in the store that looks like the NYC shooter,” a dispatcher said in a recording played in court.

The crux of Mangione’s argument is that his constitutional rights were violated when Pennsylvania police interrogated him before reading him his rights and searching his backpack without a warrant.

Defense lawyers allege that officers waited nearly 20 minutes after first approaching Mangione, extensively questioning him about his whereabouts without informing him of his right to remain silent.

They also allege that officers searched through his backpack — which allegedly contained a handgun, magazine, and his journal — without having a warrant.

Citing police body camera footage, they argue that officers searched Mangione’s backpack as early as 9:58 a.m. but waited until after 5 p.m. to seek a warrant. They have asked the judge to limit prosecutors from using the evidence because it was the “fruit” of an illegal search.

Prosecutors argue the arrest and search were conducted lawfully, and that the evidence overwhelmingly proves Mangione’s guilt.

If defense attorneys succeed in limiting the evidence seized from Mangione’s backpack and statements made during his arrests, they could severely undercut the prosecution’s case against the alleged murderer.

Michael and Susan Dell pledge $6.25 billion for kids’ savings accounts

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

Michael and Susan Dell pledge .25 billion for kids’ savings accounts

Michael and Susan Dell pledge $6.25 billion for kids’ savings accounts — Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Computer, and wife Susan announce the donation of $50 million over 10 years to the University of Texas at Austin for the creation of a new Dell Medical School. (Robert Daemmrich/Corbis via Getty Images)

(NEW YORK) — In a major philanthropic move, billionaires Michael and Susan Dell are donating $6.25 billion dollars to deposit $250 into savings accounts for up to 25 million American children.

The announcement from the Dells, which was confirmed by a White House official, gives the funds to Invest America, which sets up a tax-advantaged investment account for American children starting at birth.

The so-called Trump Accounts are a key piece of President Trump’s signature tax and spending legislation, which passed earlier this year.

Under that law, the Treasury Department will give $1,000 to the accounts for children born between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2028. Those accounts become the property of a child’s guardian and “will track a stock index and allow for additional private contributions of up to $5,000 per year,” according to the White House.

The donations from the Dells will supplement that federal funding, expanding the number of children who will qualify for accounts.

The more than $6 billion in funds from the Dells will go to “most children age 10 and under who were born prior to the qualifying date for the federal newborn contribution,” though Tuesday’s announcement adds that some children older than 10 may also be eligible if there is funding left over after the initial sign-ups.

There are still logistical questions about the donations, but the website for Invest America says sign-ups for the accounts are expected to open July 4, 2026.

“We’ve seen what happens when a child gets even a small financial head start – their world expands,” Michael Dell said in a video announcing the news.

Trump celebrated the move Tuesday morning, posting a link to a new article about the announcement and calling the Dells “TWO GREAT PEOPLE.”

“I LOVE DELL!!!,” Trump added in the social media post.

A White House official confirmed that Dell will join Trump at the White House Tuesday for the 2 p.m. announcement. White House spokesperson Kush Desai called the accounts “revolutionary investment by the federal government into the next generation of American children” in a statement about the donation.

“It’s also President Trump’s call to action for American businesses and philanthropists to do their part, too – Michael and Susan Dell’s $6 billion investment into America’s children is the first of many announcements to come for America’s children,” Desai added.

In June, Michael Dell attended a roundtable at the White House and spoke alongside Trump about how access to the savings accounts for American children will be a “simple yet powerful way to transform lives.”

More than 50 million on alert for snow and ice from Kentucky to Maine

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A winter storm brought the first big batch of snow and ice to parts of the Midwest and South on Monday, and now that same storm is bringing ice to parts of Appalachia and heavy snow to the inland Northeast on Tuesday.

On Monday, the Kansas City area saw 3 to 5 inches of snow, while Louisville recorded around 3 inches of snow. St. Louis, Missouri, and Indianapolis both recorded about 2 to 4 inches of snow.

A glaze of ice wreaked havoc on roads in places like Oklahoma and Arkansas on Monday, and on Tuesday, that ice will be a major threat for cities including Boone, North Carolina, and Roanoke, Virginia.

On Tuesday, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and western New York could see 2 to 4 inches of snow.

Winter weather advisories are in place in northern Pennsylvania and central New York, where 4 to 6 inches of snow is possible.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency in several counties.

“With snow and rain in the forecast, we urge all New Jerseyans to be cautious of icy roads and walkways,” he warned on social media on Tuesday.

Many eastern Pennsylvania school districts are closed for the day, according to Philadelphia ABC station WPVI.

Cities directly along the East Coast will be warmer and will likely only get rain, but there is a brief chance for a morning wintry mix around Washington, D.C., that could cause disruption on roads.

A winter storm warning is in place from northeast Pennsylvania to central Maine, where more than 6 inches of snow is in the forecast. Some spots could even see snow totals of 9 to 12 inches.

By Tuesday night, the rain will be ending in New York City but ongoing in Boston, while snow will still falling from Albany, New York, through Maine.

Kids who have smartphones by age 12 have higher risk of depression, obesity: Study

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Children who have smartphones by age 12 are at higher risk of lack of sleep, obesity and depression, according to a new study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.

What’s more, researchers found that the earlier a child received a smartphone, the greater their risk of developing these conditions.

Dr. Ran Barzilay, lead author of the study and a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told ABC News that many experts suggest parents should postpone the age at which children receive their first smartphone.

Barzilay said he and his colleagues wanted to examine whether not delaying smartphone use by children would lead to negative health outcomes. He also had a personal motivation behind the study.

“I have a nine-year-old who wants a phone, and I think [whether to get them a smartphone] is a question that is relevant for every parent of a kid going into adolescence, even before adolescence,” said Barzilay, who’s also an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania.

The study team – comprised of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania; University of California, Berkeley; and Columbia University – looked at data from more than 10,500 participants in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, which is an ongoing study assessing brain development in children throughout adolescence.

Researchers analyzed data on children between ages 9 and 16, collected from 2016 to 2022, to test how smartphone ownership and the age at which a child or teen received their first smartphone affected their health outcomes.

The team found that compared to 12-year-olds who didn’t own a smartphone, those who did had a 1.3 times higher risk of depression, a 1.4 times higher risk of obesity, and a 1.6 times higher risk of insufficient sleep.

Additionally, the earlier the age at which a child received a smartphone, the greater the risk of developing the problems increased – by about 10% for each year earlier in age, starting as young as age 4 – compared to kids who received a device later or not at all.

The study also found that children aged 13 who did not have a smartphone at age 12 but acquired one within the last year also had worse mental health outcomes and poor sleep. This held true even when the researchers controlled for those factors.

“This was quite surprising, I must say,” Barzilay said. “I mean, we designed the study with a question in mind to try and test it, but to find it was quite compelling.”

Barzilay said that while the study only proves association, not causation, it adds to a growing body of evidence linking smartphone use among children to adverse health outcomes.

In a longitudinal review of studies by the American Psychological Association, the emphasis is not only to cut down on screentime – which is linked to socioemotional problems in children – but also to improve the quality and social interactions through screentime.

The team behind the new study, published in Pediatric,s recommended that parents, children and pediatricians have a thoughtful discussion to determine whether children are ready for a phone.

Barzilay said the study results aren’t meant to put blame on parents who gave their kids smartphones at age 12 or younger, noting that his older two children received smartphones prior to age 12.

He added that smartphones do have some benefits, such as increasing connectivity and access to information. However, Barzilay said parents can implement some rules to limit the potential harm smartphone use can cause. Those rules could include not allowing kids to use them in their bedroom at night, and making sure that their children participate in activities that do not require phone use.

As for Barzilay’s nine-year-old who wants a phone, he said they’re “not getting a phone anytime soon. Clear decision.”

Megan Thee Stallion wins civil defamation trial against blogger

December 2, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A social media commentator and blogger was found liable on Monday in a defamation lawsuit filed by hip-hop star Megan Thee Stallion in October 2024.

Milagro Cooper was found liable for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and promotion of an altered sexual depiction, according to court documents obtained by ABC News.

Megan Thee Stallion, whose legal name is Megan Pete, testified that Cooper, who is known on social media as blogger Milagro Gramz, participated in a targeted and coordinated social media campaign to harass, intimidate and defame her.

Pete alleged Cooper was a “paid surrogate” for rapper Tory Lanez and spread lies on his behalf. Lanez was convicted of shooting and injuring Pete in a July 2020 incident.

“We’re thankful for the jury’s commitment to reinforcing the importance of truth, accountability and responsible commentary on social media,” Megan’s attorney, Mari Henderson, said in a statement. “This verdict sends a clear message that spreading dangerous misinformation carries significant consequences.”

Cooper is required to pay $75,000 in damages to Pete.

“I am not ecstatic, of course, you want things to go your way, but like I said, I respect the jury and what they decided, and I think I made out pretty good,” Cooper told reporters outside the courthouse on Monday, according to ABC affiliate WSVN.

“I am just happy to be moving forward; things will be handled. It wasn’t a multimillion-dollar verdict and I think that’s a blessing. God is good through and through,” Cooper added.

The lawsuit alleges that Cooper spread lies about Pete to punish her and attempt to discredit her after she publicly named Lanez as her shooter.

“She’s created a space for a lot of people to come speak negatively about me,” Pete said in trial testimony last month of Cooper, referencing social media posts where the blogger attacked Pete’s character, casting her as a liar and mentally unstable.

Cooper, who took the stand earlier in November, testified that as a blogger, she discussed the shooting on her social media accounts without the influence of Tory Lanez, whose legal name is Daystar Peterson.

But Cooper did acknowledge that she spoke with Peterson and was hoping to have him as a guest on her channel. She also testified that she received payments from Peterson’s father, Sonstar Peterson, but claimed they were for “personal” reasons like her children’s birthdays and “promotional” work.

The jury was shown social media posts in which Cooper claimed that Pete was not shot.

When asked if she believed that Pete was shot, Cooper said, “I can’t say she lied about that because I wasn’t there,” but then Cooper said that she believed that Pete was not shot and had stepped on glass — a claim that Pete made in her initial statement to police.

Peterson is not named as a defendant in Pete’s defamation lawsuit but was asked to give a deposition ahead of the trial. ABC News has reached out to his attorneys, but requests for comment were not immediately returned.

Peterson, who chose not to take the witness stand during the 2022 trial, pleaded not guilty and his defense attorneys argued during the trial that he was not the shooter.

Peterson was sentenced to 10 years in prison without the possibility of parole on Aug. 8, 2023, after he was convicted in December 2022 of felony assault for shooting and injuring Pete in both of her feet in an incident that occurred in the Hollywood Hills on July 12, 2020.

His legal team appealed his conviction, but it was upheld on Nov. 12 by a federal court in Los Angeles.

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