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Rubio, Lavrov meet after Russian barrage on Kyiv

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Secretary of State Marco Rubio emerged from a 40-minute meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Thursday with an acknowledgment that talks between Moscow and Kyiv for peace in Ukraine have not progressed much.

Rubio said he shared President Donald Trump’s “disappointment and frustration” with his Russian counterparts as the president has expressed distrust in Russian President Vladimir Putin and reversed his administration’s pause on weapons to Ukraine.

“We get a lot of bull**** thrown at us by Putin,” Trump said at the White House on Tuesday. “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

The president is “disappointed and frustrated that there’s not been more flexibility on the Russian side to bring about an end to this conflict,” Rubio said.

Hours before Rubio’s scheduled meeting with Lavrov, their first face-to-face since February, Russia launched a “massive combined strike” of 18 missiles and 400 drones, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The attacks killed two and injured 16, and followed 10 days of drone strikes, which have often broken single-night records — and have marked a shift as Russia continues its summer offensive.

Trump said earlier this week that he was “very unhappy” with Moscow’s latest attacks on Kyiv — and said he is “looking at” an effort by congressional GOP to impose greater sanctions on Russia.

“As has been pointed out, we’ve seen an acceleration of attacks,” Rubio said. “I think it’s probably the largest drone attack in a city close to the Polish border, actually. So it’s a pretty deep strike.”

“I don’t want to overpromise,” he said about talks, citing Russia’s offensive.

Rubio said Russia brought a “new and different approach” to the negotiating table Thursday, but he tempered expectations about a development toward peace.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as something that guarantees peace,” he said.

The bilateral talks between the nations’ top diplomats — held on the sidelines of a summit for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Malaysia — come after Trump said Tuesday he approved the transfer of defensive weapons to Ukraine because Putin is “killing too many people.”

The announcement appeared to reverse a Pentagon-ordered pause last week on some munitions scheduled for Ukraine. Rubio said it was “mischaracterized” in the press and was merely a “pause, pending review” of munitions that were both defensive and offensive.

“Generally speaking, aid to Ukraine continues along the schedule that Congress appropriated,” Rubio said.

Meanwhile, momentum on Capitol Hill for a bill to sanction Russia’s energy industry is building.

After Trump said he was looking at the package “very closely,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Wednesday “there’s a lot of interest in moving it.”

Rubio said that “we told [the Russians] that the moment would come where something like this could happen,” adding that Trump would need “flexibility” on enforcement of the sanctions regime.

Rubio wouldn’t say whether that moment had arrived, saying it was a question for the president.

Woman guilty of stowing away on flight from New York to Paris set to be sentenced

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — Svetlana Dali — the woman found guilty of stowing away on a Delta flight from New York to Paris last year — is set to be sentenced on Thursday after a Brooklyn jury convicted her of a federal stowaway charge in May.

Dali, a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident who most recently lived in Philadelphia, has already been in jail the past seven months, which federal prosecutors said was sufficient as her sentencing guidelines range is zero to six months in prison.

“Stowaway travel is a serious offense that endangers both the offender and other air passengers. Deterrence is particularly important in stowaway cases, as publicized incidents encourage copycat behavior that threatens the safety of air travel and undermines the integrity of airport security systems,” prosecutors said in a sentencing memorandum that noted agreement with the defense.

Dali sneaked onto overnight Delta Flight 264 traveling from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France on Nov. 26, 2024, without having a ticket and deliberately bypassed multiple boarding pass and identification checkpoints.

In a video obtained by ABC News, Dali can be seen walking up to gate B38 at Terminal 4 while other passengers have their boarding passes and passports checked for the Paris flight. After gate attendants assisted a separate group of customers and ushered them toward the jet bridge, Dali followed immediately behind, the video shows.

Once aboard, she went straight into one of the plane’s bathrooms and hid there with her bags for several hours to avoid detection, prosecutors said. When a flight attendant noticed, Dali faked vomiting to excuse her lengthy time in the bathroom.

After a flight attendant asked for her name and boarding pass, Dali gave two fake names and failed to produce any boarding pass or identification, prosecutors said. Alarmed, the flight attendant told Dali to sit in a seat reserved for flight crew as the plane came in for landing.

Dali was flown back to the United States on Dec. 4, 2024. Authorities had attempted to fly her back sooner, but she was twice unable to be transported due to her disruptive behavior, prosecutors said.

During a two-hour law enforcement interview, Dali admitted to flying as a stowaway and intentionally evading airport security officials and Delta employees so that she could travel without buying a ticket.

After being released from custody in early December 2024, Dali allegedly cut off her ankle monitor and traveled to Buffalo, where she tried unsuccessfully to cross over the Peace Bridge into Canada on a bus on Dec. 16, 2024. She has been in custody ever since.

Prosecutors believe Dali attempted to fly as a stowaway on two earlier occasions.

Two days before sneaking onto the Delta flight in New York, Dali snuck into a secure area at Bradley International Airport in Connecticut. Once inside the terminal, she hid inside a bathroom for a lengthy period to avoid detection. She also appeared to try to access a Jet Blue flight by getting in the boarding line but was turned away by gate agents.

In February 2024, Customs and Border Protection agents discovered Dali hiding in a bathroom within a secure area of the Miami International Airport. She claimed she had arrived on an Air France flight and was waiting for her husband but CBP found no records of her on any Air France flight that day.

Dali, who pleaded not guilty, took the witness stand during her trial. She admitted she did not have a boarding pass when she walked onto the flight.

Instead, Dali said she walked through to “where the people were boarding the flights and then I just walked into the airplane.”

House Democrats demand answers from CDC over recent changes to vaccine advisory panel

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — House Democrats on the Oversight Committee are calling for an urgent briefing with staff from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), demanding answers over recent moves that have taken place among the agency’s vaccine advisory panel, ABC News can exclusively report.

House Oversight Committee Ranking Member Rep. Robert Garcia and Oversight Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services Ranking Member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi sent a letter on Thursday morning to CDC chief of staff Matthew Buzzelli, expressing concern over the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).

Recently, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 sitting members of the ACIP and replaced them with hand-selected members, some of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptic views.

During the first meeting with the new members a few weeks later, the ACIP refused to recommend certain flu vaccines with thimerosal, said it would be examining the child immunization schedule — including whether babies needed to receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth — and heard a presentation from “the former president of Secretary Kennedy’s anti-vaccine organization,” according to a copy of the letter viewed by ABC News.

Although not named in the letter, this is in reference to Lyn Redwood, a former president of the Children’s Health Defense, a group founded by Kennedy that pursues anti-vaccine causes.

“Oversight Committee Democrats write to understand how these appointees were selected, whether their decisions align with science, and what potential conflicts of interest may be compromising our public health system,” the letter reads.

Garcia and Krishnamoothi also expressed concern over the failure to vote on recommendations for an updated COVID-19 vaccine before the fall, despite the vote initially being listed on the agenda, as well as concern over potential influence from Kennedy beyond selecting new members for the panel.

Reportedly, a CDC document was removed from the meeting materials for last month’s ACIP meeting before the meeting began. The document allegedly found there was no link between the preservative thimerosal in flu vaccines and autism. Kennedy has previously, and falsely, suggested a connection between the two.

The congressional members called for a briefing with CDC staff by Thursday, July 17, and certain information and documents by Thursday, July 24. These include: communications and documents related to the ACIP meeting held last month and the selection of the new ACIP members; a detailed description of how and why each member was selected; and communications between any individual at HHS or CDC with any of the seven new members between Jan. 20 and June 25

“Secretary Kennedy has repeatedly put his personal political ideology ahead of public health and safety, without regard for genuine scientific evidence,” the letter reads. “His efforts have drawn serious criticism from even Republican public health experts … These attacks on the independent scientific public health process will make Americans sicker.”

The letter comes just a few days after major medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, filed a lawsuit against the HHS and Kennedy over what they called “unlawful, unilateral vaccine changes.”

The organizations accused the HHS and Kennedy of intentionally taking away vaccines, such as the COVID-19 vaccine, and unjustly replacing the entire ACIP.

Russia kills 2 in Kyiv with 10-hour drone, missile bombardment, Zelenskyy says

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LONDON) — At least two people were killed and 22 others were injured in Kyiv in an overnight Russian drone and missile bombardment, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and local officials in the Ukrainian capital said on Thursday.

The “massive combined strike” lasted for nearly 10 hours, Zelenskyy said. Ukraine’s air force said Russia launched 397 drones of various types — among them nearly 200 Iranian-designed Shahed attack craft — and 18 missiles.

Fourteen missiles and 164 attack drones were shot down, the air force said, with another 204 drones and missiles neutralized by electronic warfare measures.

The main target of the attack was Kyiv and the surrounding region, with Chernihiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kirovohrad and Kharkiv regions also attacked, the president said.

The air force said drone strikes were recorded in eight locations, with 33 strike drones impacting. Falling drone debris was reported in 23 locations.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said in a Telegram post that it “carried out a group strike using high-precision long-range weapons and strike drones against military-industrial complex facilities in Kyiv and the infrastructure of a military airfield. The strike achieved its objectives. All designated targets were hit.”

“This is an obvious escalation of terror by Russia: hundreds of ‘Shaheds’ every night, constant strikes, massive attacks against Ukrainian cities,” Zelenskyy wrote in a post to social media.

“This means that acceleration is needed. We need to be faster with sanctions and put pressure on Russia so that it feels the consequences of its terror. Partners need to be faster with investments in weapons production and technology development,” he continued.

On Thursday, Zelenskyy said he will speak with foreign partners “about additional funding for the production of interceptor drones and the supply of air defense for Ukraine. The tasks are absolutely clear. Such Russian strikes must be responded to harshly. That is exactly how we will respond.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry, meanwhile, said its forces shot down 14 Ukrainian drones over Russian regions and the Black Sea overnight.

In Russia’s western Belgorod region, Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram that two people were injured by debris from a downed drone.

Russia’s attacks on Wednesday night followed the largest single barrage of the full-scale war to date, with 728 drones — a mix of attack drones and decoys — and 13 missiles launched into the country on Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.

Moscow is expanding its aerial attacks on Ukraine despite ongoing U.S.-led peace efforts. June saw a new monthly record for the number of long-range drones and missiles launched into Ukraine — 5,438 drones and 239 missiles — according to figures published by the Ukrainian air force.

The first 10 days of July have already seen Russia launch 2,464 drones and 58 missiles into Ukraine, according to Ukrainian air force data.

Russia’s expanded attacks appear to have frustrated President Donald Trump, who despite repeated threats is yet to impose additional sanctions on the Kremlin for its failure to commit to American ceasefire and peace proposals.

Trump said of Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, “We get a lot of b——- thrown at us by Putin,” adding, “He’s very nice all the time, but it turns out to be meaningless.”

Sen. Lindsey Graham told ABC News Wednesday that Trump is “ready” to act on a sweeping Senate bill that would impose tariffs of up to 500% on countries that buy oil and gas from Russia.

Trump, Graham said, is “trying to get Putin to the table, but Putin’s not responding.” The legislation will include a waiver allowing Trump to lift sanctions on countries purchasing Russian oil or uranium for 180 days, Graham said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that Moscow is “calm” about the president’s rhetoric. “We hope to continue our dialogue with Washington and our efforts to repair the badly damaged bilateral relations,” he told journalists during a briefing.

Kyiv is also pressing the White House to resume the supply of U.S.-made key weapons systems, a shipment of which were frozen last week.

Among the munitions held up were Patriot surface-to-air missile interceptors, which have proven vital for Ukraine’s defense against Russian missile and drone strikes.

A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News on Wednesday that the flow of some weapons had resumed as of Monday night, including 155mm artillery rounds and GMLR rockets used by HIMARS launchers.

ABC News’ Luis Martinez, Anne Flaherty, Selina Wang, Patrick Reevell, Will Gretsky and Ellie Kaufman contributed to this report.

Kerr County officials waited 90 minutes to send emergency alert after requested, dispatch audio shows

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — At 4:22 a.m. on Friday, as Texas’ Hill Country began to flood, a firefighter in Ingram – just upstream from Kerrville – asked the Kerr County Sheriff’s Office to alert nearby residents, according to audio obtained by ABC affiliate KSAT. But Kerr County officials took nearly six hours to heed this call.

“The Guadalupe Schumacher sign is underwater on State Highway 39,” the firefighter said in the dispatch audio. “Is there any way we can send a CodeRED out to our Hunt residents, asking them to find higher ground or stay home?”

“Stand by, we have to get that approved with our supervisor,” a Kerr County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher replied.

The first alert didn’t come through Kerr County’s CodeRED system until 90 minutes later. Some messages didn’t arrive until after 10 a.m. By then, hundreds of people had been swept away by the floodwaters.

Kerr County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a Wednesday morning press conference, Kerr County Sheriff Larry Leitha declined to answer a question about delayed emergency alerts, saying that an “after-action” would follow the search and rescue efforts.

“Those questions are gonna be answered,” he added.

Records show Kerr County’s CodeRED Emergency Notification System, which alerts subscribers to emergencies through pre-recorded phone messages, has been in place for at least a decade.

When CodeRED was first introduced by Kerr County and the City of Kerrville in 2014, a government press release claimed it could “notify the entire City / County about emergency situations in a matter of minutes.”

CodeRED relied on the local white pages for users’ contact information, the announcement explained, so “no one should assume his or her number is included.” Residents had to sign up to ensure they would receive alerts.

In 2021, Kerr County incorporated FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert & Warning System (IPAWS) into CodeRED, so that messages could reach tourists and others not in the local database. The IPAWS system allows local officials to broadcast emergency messages and send text blasts to all phones in the area.

At the time, some county officials weren’t sure about the change.

“What’s the benefit?” Kerr County Commissioner Jonathan Letz asked at a May 2021 commissioners’ meeting.

“It’s just another avenue for us to notify people when we have an emergency,” replied Emergency Management Coordinator William “Dub” Thomas.

Then-Commissioner Harley David Belew voted against adding IPAWS to the CodeRED system after noting that it would require switching out the county’s equipment, which he said he’d done recently because of a federal policy change a few years earlier.

“I don’t think it’s going to change anything,” Belew said.

Despite these doubts, Kerr County began using IPAWS alongside its CodeRED system in 2021.

When the area flooded on Friday, Ingram City Council Member Ray Howard told ABC News he got three flash flood alerts from the National Weather Service, but none from Kerr County authorities.

On Monday, Belew went on The Michael Berry Show to discuss the catastrophic flooding. On the show, he said Kerr County Commissioners had considered putting in an early warning system years earlier, but that there weren’t enough cell towers to reach rural parts of the county, “so that idea was scrapped.”

Records show that the topic of a flood warning system for Kerr County came up in at least 20 different county commissioners’ meetings since it was first introduced in 2016 – months before Belew joined the Court.

Belew explained on the radio show that funding for a warning system was also a barrier to implementation, echoing issues he raised at the time, according to meeting minutes.

But even after last week’s tragic flooding, Belew expressed concern over spending on such a system: “God only knows what’s going to happen, what kind of government waste we might get going into an alert system,” he said on Monday’s segment.

“But if we can get any early alert system for the future, that’d give people some peace of mind here,” Belew added. “It’s always been needed.”

At least 31 workers rescued after tunnel collapse in Los Angeles: LAFD

July 10, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(LOS ANGELES) — At least 31 workers were safely rescued after a tunnel collapsed in a large industrial complex in Los Angeles on Wednesday evening, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

The collapse took place at the “18-foot diameter tunnel, being constructed for municipal wastewater management, occurred at an underground (undetermined depth) horizontal excavation site about 5 to 6 miles south of the sole entry/rescue access portal,” LAFD said.

The trapped workers were able to “scramble with some effort” over a 12-15 foot tall pile of loose soil, to meet several coworkers on the other side of the collapse, and be shuttled several at a time by tunnel vehicle to the entry/access point more than five miles away, according to preliminary reports.

“Tonight, we were lucky,” LAFD Interim Chief Ronnie Villanueva told reporters during a press conference.

Mayor Karen Bass also attended the press conference, telling journalists, “We’re all blessed today in Los Angeles. No one injured. Everyone safe, and I am feeling very, very good, that this is a great outcome. And what started as a very scary evening.”
More than 100 LAFD responders were responding to the scene, including LAFD Urban Search and Rescue team members, “specially trained, certified and equipped to handle confined space tunnel rescue,” according to the department.

Workers were brought out of the tunnel area in a cage hoisted up by a crane; it wasn’t immediately clear if that’s the normal way to go in and out of the tunnel project or due to the rescue.

They came out about eight workers at a time in the cage, and many seemed fine walking out.

At least 27 of the workers are being evaluated by paramedics at the scene, but all walked out without visible injury, according to the fire department.

This tunnel is scheduled to be finished by 2027, according to ABC News’ affiliate, KABC.

Bass arrived at the scene and thanked first responders.

“I just spoke with many of the workers who were trapped. Thank you to all of our brave first responders who acted immediately. You are L.A.’s true heroes,” Bass said on X.

‘I needed to get to my boys’: Mother recounts Texas camp flood rescue

July 9, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(KERR COUNTY, Texas ) — In one of the deadliest floods in Texas history, a mother’s worst fears turned into grateful tears when she reunited with her two sons after they survived a harrowing experience at a camp near the Guadalupe River.

The devastating floods that struck central Texas on July 4 have claimed at least 119 lives, with around 170 people still missing. The disaster has been severe in Kerr County, where at least 27 children lost their lives at nearby Camp Mystic.

For Keli Rabon, that morning brought an alarming text message about flooding at Camp La Junta, where her sons Braeden, 9, and his younger brother Brock had arrived just the day before. “There is truly nothing that could prepare you for a moment of uncertainty, which became hours of uncertainty,” Rabon said in an interview with ABC News on Wednesday.

The situation quickly became dire as the camp lost power and cell service.

“Once I saw the information coming in from Camp Mystic that had been posted online, it became clear that this was quite a dire situation,” Rabon recalled. “I needed to just get to my boys as fast as I could.”

During the chaos, Brock and other campers climbed into the cabin rafters to escape rising floodwaters.

“Thank goodness the counselors and counselors in training helped all the campers to the rafters,” Braeden said. “They’re kids, too, but like high school grads. It’s just crazy.”

The camp’s director led efforts to evacuate the children to town. When Rabon finally reached her sons, she was overwhelmed.

“It was a rush of all the emotions, from intense gratitude to see them, hold them as tight as I could,” she said. “I tried my best to hold it together and not cry because I didn’t want to scare them anymore.”

But amid her relief, Rabon couldn’t help thinking of other families. While her boys’ experience ended in relief, the flooding claimed lives at other camps in the region.

“There was this immense sense of guilt and fright for the parents who wouldn’t be able to hold their children that night and maybe ever again,” Rabon said. “Words are not enough to express our gratitude for saving our sons’ lives.”

She said she hopes to thank the camp staff in person in the future.

Senate confirms Bryan Bedford as FAA administrator

July 9, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Bryan Bedford as FAA administrator, putting a former airline executive in charge of the agency responsible for ensuring the safety and efficiency of the nation’s air travel.

The final vote was 53-43.

Bedford, who previously served as CEO of Republic Airways, retired from the position last week after leading the airline for more than 25 years. During his tenure, Republic became one of the largest regional carriers in the nation.

His nomination narrowly cleared the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation vote by 15-13, with all Republican senators voting in favor and all Democrats against.

While Bedford’s nomination has received widespread support from across the aviation industry, he has faced criticism over his position on the FAA’s 1,500-hour flight training rule.

The FAA rule requires pilots have 1,500 hours experience in the cockpit before they can fly for a commercial airline.

The rule was implemented in 2013, in response to the 2009 Colgan Air crash, after an NTSB investigation cited the flight crews’s inadequate training and qualifications as a key safety issue.

In 2022, the FAA rejected a petition from Republic Airways seeking an exemption for its pilots from the 1500-hour rule — calling for it to be brought down to 750 flying hours if the pilots met certain other requirements.

The FAA denied the request, saying “if a reduction in hours was appropriate, an exemption is not the appropriate vehicle with which to make such a determination.”

During his nomination hearing, senators questioned Bedford about his position on the 1,500-hour rule and whether he’d try to change it once becoming FAA administrator.

Illinois Democratic Sen. Duckworth pressed Bedford multiple times over his commitment to the 1500-hour rule. Bedford never answered the question, saying he does not “believe safety is static” since pilot training has changed over time, but reiterated that safety is a priority.

“I will not roll back safety,” Bedford told the committee. “There won’t be safety loopholes. I commit to you. We will never do anything to reduce the safety and competency of our pilots.”

Washington Sen. Maria Cantwell, the panel’s top Democrat, notably voted against advancing Bedford’s nomination out of committee.

Prior to the committee vote, Cantwell released a statement opposing his confirmation, saying Bedford “repeatedly refused to commit to upholding the 1500-hour rule and refused to recuse himself for his full term from granting his own company an exemption from this critical safety requirement.”

Scrutiny over Bedford’s position on the rule comes at a pivotal moment for aviation safety which has been in the spotlight since January’s mid-air collision between an American Airlines flight and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed everyone onboard both aircraft.

Following Bedford’s confirmation, the pilots union released a statement congratulating Bedford and expressing a commitment to working with him, while also reiterating concerns over his position on the pilot training requirements.

“We have concerns about his past efforts to lower pilot training requirements, and we will continue to bring the line pilot’s perspective to any discussions about changing these life-saving measures and hold him to his word that safety is his top priority,” Capt. Jason Ambrosi, president of the Air Line Pilots Association said in a statement. “Maintaining rigorous training requirements and keeping two pilots on the flight deck at all times remain top priorities for ALPA.”

Airlines for America and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association also released statements congratulating Bedford and reiterating their commitment to working with him to ensure aviation safety and to overhaul and modernize the nation’s air traffic control systems and facilities.

Senate considers Neil Jacobs, ‘Sharpiegate’ scientist, as NOAA administrator

July 9, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Neil Jacobs, the atmospheric scientist nominated by President Donald Trump to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has vowed to place science, human safety and technological innovation at the forefront of operations if confirmed as the agency’s administrator.

On Wednesday, U.S. senators interviewed Jacobs on how he would run NOAA, the federal agency that manages the National Weather Service, the nation’s primary source for weather forecasts and data, and is responsible for monitoring and managing coastal and marine resources.

“NOAA has an important, unique mission that spans the sea floor to the Sun’s surface,” Jacobs said. “Not only do they conduct cutting-edge coastal and ocean research, but they also provide life-saving forecast predictions in a wide range of environmental phenomena.”

Jacobs said he has a “very detailed understanding” of what is needed to manage NOAA, from the policy, budget and personnel sides as well as opportunities for innovative solutions.

“If confirmed, it would be a tremendous honor to lead such a distinguished organization,” Jacobs said. “I can assure the committee that I will do my best to ensure this team of scientists, engineers, forecasters and uniformed officers have the resources and leadership needed to fulfill their mission of science, service and stewardship.”

Taylor Jordan, the nominee for assistant secretary of commerce for environmental observation and prediction, and Harris Kumar, nominee for assistant secretary of commerce for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, also appeared in the confirmation hearing,

If confirmed, Jacobs would lead NOAA during a tumultuous time at the agency.

Since his nomination in February, NOAA and the NWS have lost hundreds of staffers, research funding and experienced weather data collection disruptions due to cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)

“I support the president’s budget,” Jacobs said, when asked whether he supports cuts throughout the agency.

If confirmed, this would be Jacobs’ second stint leading NOAA. He served as acting administrator from 2019 until Trump left office at the end of his term in January 2021.

He is remembered for the so-called “Sharpiegate” incident that took place during a press briefing from the Oval Office in September 2019. A map of the storm track of Hurricane Dorian appeared to have been altered with a black pen to include southern Alabama, even though the official storm track by the NWS did not have the storm hitting the state.

Trump had also inaccurately declared a few days earlier that the storm would strike the region. Shortly after, NOAA issued a statement that sided with Trump and admonished the NWS for publicly saying that Alabama was not in danger from the storm.

Dorian ultimately stayed east of Florida and did not make landfall in the U.S.

The NOAA Science Council subsequently investigated Jacobs, saying that he violated the organization’s scientific integrity policy by issuing a statement supporting Trump’s incorrect claim about Dorian’s storm track as an official NOAA release.

When asked by Sen. Ben Ray Luján, D-NM, on Wednesday whether he would “make the same decision again,” Jacobs replied, “There’s probably some things I would do differently.”

At the time of his nomination, Jacobs was the chief science adviser for the community Unified Forecast System (UFS), part of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research’s (UCAR) Cooperative Programs for the Advancement of Earth System Science at North Carolina State University.

Before serving as NOAA’s acting director, Jacobs was the chief atmospheric scientist at Panasonic Avionics Corporation, where he directed the research and development of its aviation weather observing platforms and modeling programs.

Jacobs was recognized as a 2025 Fellow of the American Meteorological Society earlier this year and holds a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from the University of South Carolina and master’s and doctoral degrees in atmospheric science from North Carolina State University.

In a podcast interview in November 2024, Jacobs shared his views on the future of government agencies, like NOAA, and efforts by the GOP to repeal and eliminate various weather and climate initiatives within the agency.

“The executive branch can’t just come in and completely change something that’s authorized in law,” he said.

Jacobs also said that “NOAA has all of these congressional mandates that are codified. Congress would have to rewrite a mountain of legislation to undo all that.”

ABC News’ Matthew Glasser, Daniel Manzo and Daniel Peck contributed to this report.

Student loan interest charges to kick back in for roughly 8 million borrowers

July 9, 2025 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Roughly 8 million student loan borrowers will see their interest charges restart next month, the Department of Education announced Wednesday.

Borrowers on the Biden-era Saving on a Valuable Education Plan — about 7.7 million people — will have interest charges return on Aug. 1 after a yearlong pause on payments. The return to interest charges was first reported by Bloomberg.

“For years, the Biden Administration used so-called ‘loan forgiveness’ promises to win votes, but federal courts repeatedly ruled that those actions were unlawful,” Secretary of Education Linda McMahon wrote in a statement released by the department Wednesday. “Since day one of the Trump Administration, we’ve focused on strengthening the student loan portfolio and simplifying repayment to better serve borrowers.”

The education department said it’s complying with a federal court injunction that blocked implementation of the SAVE Plan earlier this year. But education advocates told ABC News that this move is expected to severely impact those millions of borrowers on SAVE who could potentially enter into more debt as interest accrues in the coming weeks.

Student Borrower Protection Center Executive Director Mike Pierce called the move by the Trump administration a “betrayal” and blasted Secretary of Education Linda McMahon.

“Instead of fixing the broken student loan system, Secretary McMahon is choosing to drown millions of people in unnecessary interest charges and blaming unrelated court cases for her own mismanagement,” Pierce wrote in a statement to ABC News.

SBPC, which focuses on eliminating the burden of debt for Americans, estimates borrowers will pay $3,500 in interest a year on average, which amounts to $27 billion in total, according to an analysis obtained by ABC News.

“Every day we hear from borrowers waiting on hold with their servicer for hours, begging the government to let them out of this forbearance and help them get back on track — instead McMahon is choosing to jack up the cost of their student debt without giving them a way out. These are teachers, nurses and retail workers who trusted the government’s word, only to get sucker-punched by bills that will now cost them hundreds more every month. McMahon is turning a lifeline into a trap, and fueling one of the biggest wealth grabs from working families in modern history,” Pierce said.

The Trump administration said it will support borrowers in selecting a “new, legal repayment plan” that best fits their needs and will begin direct outreach to borrowers enrolled in the SAVE Plan, with “instructions on how to move to a legal repayment plan,” the release said.

For now, SAVE borrowers are still on a forbearance period, which postpones their payments. The SAVE Plan, dubbed the most affordable payment plan ever by the Biden administration, started after the Supreme Court struck down then-President Biden’s Student Loan Forgiveness plan in 2023.

SAVE is an Income Driven Repayment (IDR) program aimed at easing the return to repayment for millions of Americans that calculates payment size based on income and family size.

The interest restart comes as President Donald Trump recently signed into law his signature domestic policy agenda, which included a provision to terminate all current student loan repayment plans — such as SAVE and other IDRs — for loans disbursed on or after July 1, 2026. They will be replaced with two separate repayment plans: a standard repayment plan and a new income-based repayment plan called the Repayment Assistance Plan, according to the text of the megabill. The repayment plans are affected by legal challenges as well, according to the Department of Education release.

The department is urging SAVE borrowers to consider enrolling in the income-based repayment plan authorized under the Higher Education Act until it can launch the Repayment Assistance Plan.

In May, some 5 million Americans with defaulted student loan payments — which means they hadn’t paid their debts for around nine months or 270 days — had their loans sent for collections for the first time since student loan payments were paused due to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this year, McMahon said she has worked to simplify the “overly complex” repayment process and said taxpayers will no longer be responsible for the “irresponsible student loan policies” of the previous administration.

“The Biden Administration misled borrowers: the executive branch does not have the constitutional authority to wipe debt away, nor do the loan balances simply disappear,” McMahon wrote in a department release this spring.

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